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* Whenever your heart starts palpitating after reading a lede like this….

A $100,000 state grant for a botanic garden in Englewood that then-state Sen. Barack Obama awarded in 2001 to a group headed by a onetime campaign volunteer is now under investigation by the Illinois attorney general amid new questions, prompted by Chicago Sun-Times reports, about whether the money might have been misspent.

You should take a deep breath and always scroll down for the buried nugget…

Madigan’s office has notified Obama’s presidential campaign of the probe, which was launched this week. But Obama’s actions in awarding the money are not a focus of the investigation, Smith said.

* Same with stuff like this…

After helping Cicero’s town president win a close election, political strategist Dan Proft received no-bid contracts worth $578,000 a year to serve as the mouthpiece for the town and two local school districts.

Not only is Proft’s firm receiving $180,000 a year to boost Cicero Town President Larry Dominick’s agenda, but the town—in a highly unusual move—also agreed to pay the company another $308,000 a year to promote the new Municipal Complex.

Proft argues that if ever a town needed positive public relations, it’s Cicero.

Scroll way down to almost the very bottom and you’ll see this…

Proft said the town will spend less than 1 percent of the project’s $60 million budget on public relations. The contract will expire next month when the municipal complex is complete.

The money Urquhart collects is not pure profit, he said, noting it is distributed to subcontractors and a staff of three in addition to paying for the expertise of Proft and his partner, Jeff Davis.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Here’s another example…

Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration said Wednesday that it has taken the first formal steps toward recovering a $1 million grant given to a politically connected private school that has yet to open its doors.

The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity wrote to officials at the Loop Lab School and told them they were in violation of their grant agreement.

Scrolling downwards…

But school officials have said Blagojevich himself promised the money to them, and have publicly thanked the governor for his kindness.

The school used the money to buy the second floor in a downtown office building near the Sears Tower and renovate the space for classrooms.

Aside from the general cover-up in this thing, how is the state gonna get its money if it’s already been spent? Are we as taxpayers going to own that second floor now?

*** UPDATE 2 *** A funny example from the New York Times…

CHICAGO — In this state with a history of corruption at the highest levels of government and little history of meaningful reform, lawmakers and the governor have embarked on a sudden, surprising scurry to enact ethics legislation this week.

Scroll down…

Further, some said they were certain that it would die in the House, where the leader, John A. Fritchey, chief sponsor of the original bill, is openly disdainful of the governor.

Fritchey is the leader of the House, eh? Anybody tell Madigan yet?

* Related…

* Cicero PR Guy Getting More Than $300K A Year

* School ordered to return $1M mistakenly given by state

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 10:14 am

Comments

Look at Madigan making a name for herself.

Comment by JakeCP Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 10:24 am
I did scroll down. And I fouond this:

“Obama and Kenny Smith announced the “Englewood Botanic Garden Project” at a January 2000 news conference at Englewood High School. Obama was in the midst of a failed bid to oust South Side Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush for a seat in Congress. The garden — planned near and under L tracks between 59th Place and 62nd Place — fell outside of Obama’s Illinois Senate district but within the congressional district’s borders.

“Obama vowed to “work tirelessly” to raise $1.1 million to help Smith’s organization turn the City of Chicago-owned lot into an oasis of trees and paths. But Obama lost the congressional race, no more money was raised, and today the garden site is a mess of weeds, chunks of concrete and garbage. The only noticeable improvement is a gazebo.”

After a bit more scrolling, I read this:

“Obama spokesman Michael Ortiz said Wednesday the senator’s staff in Washington will monitor the Madigan probe and an additional review under way by Gov. Blagojevich’s administration to make sure “the taxpayer funds allocated for the construction of the garden are recuperated from CBHA if the agencies determine that the funds were not properly spent.”

My conclusion? When spending other people’s money on a project and claiming credit for it was a great press pop for Obama during an election, he was fine with it. When he lost the election and the project was never even begun, Obama either failed to follow up, or did follow up, but took no action because it would reflect negatively on him and his former worker. No other alternative explanations.

Now? Well, he’s running for higher office again, so NOW he’s gonna keep an eye on this, to make sure he can do damage control as needed.

Well, it would appear that Obama broke his promise to “work tirelessly” on that project, doesn’t it? Why? Because he lost the election, it was outside of his senate district, so it wasn’t worth any votes for him. Why should he bother?

Anybody still care to believe his empty promises?

Comment by Snidely Whiplash Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 10:32 am
Speaking of scrolling down the Naperville Sun does a near complete peal back on the GOP effort to defend their candidate from being too cozy with controversial developer and supporting tax giveaways. Next time the paper might do a little fact check before reporting the GOP rant. Headedline should said “Opps” or “Correction” …
McGuire defends campaign ads
Cites survey as source of abortion stance

By TED SLOWIK tslowik@scn1.com
Democratic state representative candidate Dianne McGuire on Wednesday defended her campaign’s use of mailers that her opponent’s supporters characterized as sleazy attack ads.

McGuire told The Sun that the mailers about her opponent - Naperville City Council member Darlene Senger - are accurate and were meant to inform voters about Senger’s positions on issues.

“Everything in these fliers is documented,” said McGuire, a retired Naperville School District 203 teacher. “This is pointing out the differences between myself and my opponent. It is not a smear or an attack. It’s educational.”

Senger, the Republican nominee seeking to succeed retiring 96th District state Rep. Joe Dunn, R-Naperville, held a press conference Tuesday with all but one of the members of the Naperville City Council to respond to the mailers about Senger. One mailing sent to households accused Senger of denying money for schools by supporting creation of a tax-increment financing district for Naperville’s Water Street development.

McGuire produced council minutes showing that on Dec. 4, Senger voted in favor of creation of the TIF district for the Water Street project. Senger, during a separate vote, voted against the actual development, citing concerns about density and height.

[NOTE FROM RICH: Please, do not paste entire articles into your comments.]

So Senger was FOR the tax break and anti-choice for rape and incest victims YIKES!!!!!

Comment by EmptySuitParade Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 10:51 am
You are offering good advice Rich!
It seems that as consumers of “news” and “opinions”, we must thoroughly read any material and read cynically. We must be aware of sources, note whether they are primary, secondary or crap, and find biased sources that consistently view issues so that we can understand a balance.

Those who depend on a single secondary source of news are leaving themselves open to being misinformed. Those who consistently read sources with the same bias, are also being misinformed.

We all must scroll, read, think, and confirm these days as we go through news sources. It is too easy to become narrowly focused. We have been indulged by educators, parents and others who lack the courage to challenge our assumptions for fear of being labeled a crumudgeon.

So we have to do this ourselves. We can not depend on schools or newspapers to do this for us anymore.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 10:52 am
There’s a bit of a difference between “Obama is not the target of the investigation” and Proft’s contract not being “pure profit.” I mean, some of the Cicero money is ending up in Proft’s pocket, isn’t it? And all of it is part of his firm’s gross revenue.

That aside, though, I’m surprised that Proft hasn’t changed the name of his firm. For those who don’t get the Urquhart reference, it’s from a series of novels and a BBC production “House of Cards” about a prime minister who blackmails and murders people to achieve his political goals.

A PR firm named after a murderer is supposed to promote the City of Cicero which has the reputation of being mobbed up? Epic fail.

Comment by the Other Anonymous Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 11:14 am
That’s an absurd amount of money being paid by Cicero.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 11:17 am
Capt. Fax:
I clipped two or three grafs from the story….was that not enough?
Sorry

Comment by EmptySuitParade Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 11:53 am
Four or five grafs top, please.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 11:56 am
“Please, do not paste entire articles into your comments.]”

I trust ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ are still permissable?

Comment by Frank Sobotka Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 12:14 pm
“…aside from the general cover-up in this thing, how is the state gonna get its money if it’s already been spent? Are we as taxpayers going to own that second floor now?”

-Hello, IDOT Traffic Safety offices!

Comment by Kremlinologist Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 12:26 pm
=John A. Fritchey, chief sponsor of the original bill, is openly disdainful of the governor.=

Who isn’t openly disdainful of the governor?

Comment by OneMan Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 12:26 pm
What a sloppy NYT mistake. And it still hasn’t been fixed online?

Comment by Greg Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 12:37 pm
RE: NYT ding: after pulling off the ethics bill passage, I’d say Fritchey is a leader, wouldn’t you say Rich?

Comment by Loop Lady Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 12:48 pm
“A leader” maybe. But not “the leader.”

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 12:50 pm
Those numbers are outrageous. That’s a looting of Cicero by the people who got that Larry Dominick (former Cicero top “cop” under Betty Loren-Maltese) elected.

Comment by GOP'er Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 2:34 pm
I am surprised that no one has commented on the long term connection between Dan Proft and Tony Peraica. Does it strike anyone as funny that Peraica who tries to convince people that he is some sort of reformer (laughable!) and wants to be State’s Attorney is tied at the hip with Dan Proft and the rest of the Cicero corrupt caball?

Comment by Anon Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 8:15 pm