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* Put this into the “I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’” file. The Illinois Republican Party whacks Democratic US Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias for talking out of both sides of his mouth…
Alexi: So I’m also proud to be the first candidate running for the U.S. Senate in the history of the state of Illinois not to take money from lobbyists or from corporate PACs…
Roma: In that spirit of swearing off corporate PACs and lobbyist contributions, what about all special interest money, from unions, from trial lawyers, from, zero PAC money, is that something that you think politicians should all do?
Alexi: I personally do.
But according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, Giannoulias already accepted union and special interest PAC contributions to his Senate exploratory committee.
Apparently, when Giannouolias said “I personally do,” he was referring to the question of “should politicians reject” all special interest money - and wasn’t trying to say that he actually does it.
Hokay.
The Giannoulias campaign attempts to explain…
“Mark Kirk has taken millions of dollars of special interest money and voted their way in Washington for almost a decade. Alexi Giannoulias is the first US Senate candidate in Illinois history to refuse money from federal lobbyists and corporate PACs because he believes that we will never change the way we do business in Washington until we change the way we elect people to represent us in Washington.”
* Comptroller Dan Hynes’ campaign has been whacking Gov. Pat Quinn for the past few days, but Hynes’ campaign Twitter page has lately focused on sports…
Upset that Charles Tillman is out for a while. Hope he gets better soon - Bears need his secondary help.
about 1 hour agoLooking forward to seeing Mark Buehrle read David Letterman’s Top Ten List tonight.
about 22 hours ago
Lotsa red meat there, Dan. Way to get all controversial on us.
* Republican William Kelly has a bit of fun with his state comptroller campaign kickoff video…
Kelly’s background from a press release…
A Second City-trained humorist, Kelly is he host and executive producer of the TV series, “Sportsaholic” and the Emmy award-winning “Upscale TV,” which just completed a successful three-year run on FOX.
No stranger to Illinois politics, Kelly was previously the Executive Director of the National Taxpayers Union of Illinois. He is a former GOP candidate for Congress and currently oversees a non-profit reform organization, RebuildIllinois.com. He has a long-standing history of anti-tax and government waste activism, which was the subject of the National Review article, “Rebel with a Cause.”
* Sen. Durbin apparently doesn’t know anything more than we do about Chris Kennedy…
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Monday he was in the dark about any potential statewide bid of Merchandise Mart boss Chris Kennedy, the nephew of his Senate colleague Ted Kennedy. […]
Lately, media reports have said he is eying a run for governor after backing off a senate bid. That would put him in competition with Gov. Pat Quinn and Comptroller Dan Hynes.
Asked about Chris Kennedy Monday, Durbin said flatly, “I have heard so many rumors.”
“I don’t know where he is whether it is governor or senator or something else,” Durbin said.
* Democratic State Rep. Julie Hamos claims $200,000 in contribution pledges for her 10th Congressional District run…
“We’ve already received pledges of over $200,000 in just the one week that I’ve been making phone calls. I think that’s a great start and I think it shows again the strength of my support.”
Here’s her campaign video announcement…
Carlos Hernandez-Gomez ponders Hamos on Twitter…
.She’s bright, charasmatic w/ a great story, but how will her transit tax & Quinn tax vote play?
* State Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) talks to Fox Chicago News about running for Congress…
* Memo to newspapers: Get your own houses in order before complaining about blogs. Case in point, the Naperville Sun gave GOP Congresscritter Judy Biggert sponsorship credit for a major local project…
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation that would allocate $1 million for improvement of the EJ&E railroad crossing at Ogden Avenue in Aurora.
The bill, H.R. 3288, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert (R-13th), provides fiscal year 2010 appropriations for the Department of Transportation, included a total of $1.5 million requested by Biggert for a Metra Station in Tinley Park and freight-related traffic relief along Ogden Avenue. The bill passed the House on Thursday evening and now heads to the Senate.
Um, no…
But the paper forgot one tiny detail — along with the rest of Illinois’ Republican delegation, Biggert voted against the bill. The Sun staff report also falsely asserted that she “sponsored” the measure (in fact, she did no such thing).
The newspaper story appears to be a clumsy rewrite of an official press release. Oops.
* Related…
* Dirty Money Watch: Rep. Danny Davis
* Al Hofeld, Jr., may seek state Senate seat: A Chicago lawyer whose father changed the face of Illinois politics says he’s getting ready for a possible race for the state Senate.
* GOP Businessman Dick Green Close to Announcing Bid for IL-10
* Giannoulias Kicks Off Senate Campaign In Marion
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 12:51 pm
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Breaking news from Dan Hynes Twitter…
DanHynesCool Rolling Stone article on Springsteen’s stop in Chicago this fall - http://tinyurl.com/nywzwr
5 minutes ago from web
Comment by UISer Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 1:13 pm
The Biggert nonsense is particularly bothersome. The brazen hypocrisy and disingenuous language thanking “my colleagues” from the press release are mildly revolting.
And for the paper to essentially cut and paste its contents with no apparent attempt at fact-checking fires me up as well.
Comment by The Doc Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 1:18 pm
In addition to Dick Green, as noted in the link above, I also profiled former John Porter staffer Bill Cadigan, who is also considering jumping in IL-10.
http://teamamerica10th.blogspot.com/2009/07/former-porter-staffer-bill-cadigan.html
Comment by Team America Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 1:24 pm
Compared to some of the embarrassing Tweets coming from other politicians why wouldn’t Hynes focus on non-controversial stuff?
Comment by Rob_N Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 1:24 pm
Hamos starts with the hypocrisy on day 1. Sunday her website makes no mention of fiscal responsibility, she’s on t.v. all over the place begging for tax hikes and now she wants moderation and talks of fiscal responsibility. Video at a beach, fitting because she’s already wearing flip flops.
Comment by Shore Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 1:41 pm
“Video at a beach, fitting because she’s already wearing flip flops.”
ZZZZZZZZZZZING
Comment by Kamp Krusty Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 1:48 pm
i stopped watching the Hamos video the second time she pulled up her script. really bad.
Assistant State’s Attorney? really? oh, please,let’s hear from some of the men and women who held/hold that position so we can hear what they thought of their colleague!
Comment by Amy Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 1:55 pm
Ok so let me get this straight hofeld wAnts to run against senator raoul (one of the hardest working senators in Springfield) why?
Comment by GreAt Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 2:25 pm
I’m not sure the “I pledge not to take any special interest money unless its my kind of special interest money” is a good campaign strategy for team alexi.
Comment by 10th Indy Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 2:34 pm
Giannoulais encounters VanillaMan…
Alexi: So I’m also proud to be the first candidate running for the U.S. Senate in the history of the state of Illinois not to take money from lobbyists or from corporate PACs…
VM: What makes you proud of that?
Alexi: I’m proud. Really, really proud. Of that. I won’t take money from PACs. Or lobbyists. Isn’t that great? Kirk takes money from them. Not me. Not from them. I’m proud to be the first candidate running for the U.S. Senate in the history of the state of Illinois not to do that.
VM: You are the first? Out of all the US Senators from Illinois, all of them took PAC and lobbyist money? Even back in the old days before there were PACs or lobbyists? How do you know that?
Alexi: No. Not in the old days, you know, today.
VM: So do you think that Dick Durbin is corrupted because he takes PAC or lobbyist money?
Alexi: No, of course not.
VM: How about President Obama? Is he corrupt because he took PAC and lobbyist money?
Alexi: Of course not.
VM: So what makes you proud?
Alexi: Mark Kirk takes PAC and lobbyist money, and I won’t.
VM: What about all special interest money, from unions, from trial lawyers, from, zero PAC money, is that something that you think politicians should all do?
Alexi: I personally do.
VM: Did you ever take money from any of these organizations? How do people contribute to your campaign?
Alexi: Mark Kirk has taken millions of dollars of special interest money and voted their way in Washington for almost a decade. I am the first US Senate candidate in Illinois history to refuse money from federal lobbyists and corporate PACs because I believe that we will never change the way we do business in Washington until we change the way we elect people to represent us in Washington.
VM: You had that memorized, didn’t you?
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 2:36 pm
Shore,
So first you want her to say “fiscal responsibility” and then when she does you don’t like it.
That makes you the one wearing flip flops on the shore, my friend.
Besides, not everyone thinks “fiscal responsibility” means not just cutting to the bone but through it and into the marrow.
Some people think fiscal responsibility actually means things like PAYGO and raising revenues to cover existing necessities and expenses, something conservatives in Congress wouldn’t know much about considering how often they were raising our national debt ceiling thanks to their profligate spending and lack of spine on actually paying for all their big ticket purchases.
Comment by Rob_N Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 3:33 pm
V-Man, you just did Alexi a huge favor. I promise you that tonight they are going over that exact Q&A.
Comment by Cosmic Charlie Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 3:48 pm
Rob, the point is that on sunday she made no mention of fiscal responsibility anywhere on her website or things like competitiveness. On tuesday in her letter to supporters she magically includes them. That’s not like foreign policy where you expect a candidate to change focuses in going from state to national, thats a philosophical change typical of a smarmy career politician from outside the district pretending to be something she’s spent her career not being.
Dan Seals is going to have a field day with her calling her out on her record in springfield the way he trashed footlik for his work as a lobbyist in d.c.
He can start with this.
http://web.archive.org/web/20041119011031/www.juliehamos.org/photogallery/RxClubKickoff/pages/5_jpg.htm
Comment by Shore Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 4:08 pm
Now, now Shore. Let’s allow the Democrats to rip each other to shreds in the 10th, shall we?
My problem with her video is that she sounded so boring on it. What was new and exciting about it? Nothing?
Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 4:25 pm
I agree, Louis. I couldn’t watch that video past about a minute.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 4:28 pm
Alexi has already locked up 2/3 of the Democratic operatives in the state and has claim on most of the Washington money. Kennedy is too late to matter now.
Comment by Newburg Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 4:32 pm
Wow, that Hamos video is brutal, especially her frequent glances at her script. Is it too much for her to speak from the heart? Or at least spring for some cue cards?
Comment by pingu Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 4:41 pm
Shore,
For your claim to be accurate you would need to go back through her entire legislative career, not just back to two days ago, and report back on whether or not she has ever been in favor of fiscal responsibility.
And again, just because you have a different definition of “fiscal responsibility” than the rest of us doesn’t mean your baseless attacks have any validity.
Comment by Rob_N Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 4:44 pm
Alexi should have leant Ms. Hamos his teleprompter. She can be so engaging and exciting in person - this is awkward and dull as dishwater.
Comment by 10th Indy Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 5:00 pm
Shore, every D member of the GA has a photo like that. Heck, every R member of the GA had a photo like that with George Ryan (those have all probably been purged by now).
I can tell you where it was taken too…the annual Scheonberg/Hamos holiday open house. I am amazed Rod found his way to the north suburbs.
Let’s see. Who pushed, kicked, and pulled her GA colleagues, and stayed true to her constituents, on disability issues? On transit issues? On affordable housing issues? On open space? On fiscal issues?
I’m thinking it was Julie Hamos.
Comment by Mongo Tuesday, Jul 28, 09 @ 6:06 pm
Hey Charlie - Team Alexi should have taken your advice. From the Quad-City Times:
“Like Rod Blagojevich before him, Alexi Giannoulias launched his campaign pledging reform - but his actions speak louder than words,” said Illinois GOP spokesman Lance Trover.
“The difference is we don’t take money from PACs that are for-profit,” Giannoulias said.
There is so myuch wrong with Alexi’s statement I don’t even know where to start.
Comment by 10th Indy Wednesday, Jul 29, 09 @ 8:11 am
The video is so bad. Why would you put it out? Strange.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jul 29, 09 @ 11:01 am