Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Trib watch

Posted in:

Illinois

* The Tribune editorial board railed today against the way legislators decided to define what is and isn’t candy in a new law that removes the sales tax exemption from candy.

As I’ve already told you, legislators relied on a solution devised by the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board which settled on exempting candy with flour in it.

The Tribune proposes its own definition…

Here’s our test. If it comes in a brightly colored wrapper and it’s a staple of Halloween and you know you shouldn’t have it and you feel a little guilty eating it and yet you can’t help yourself, it’s candy.

OK, so try writing that into an actual law, Tribsters. The reason the SSTGB came up with this idea is that it’s simply impossible to draft legislation which claims that anything enclosed in “brightly colored wrappers” which is also a “staple of Halloween” is candy, and everything else isn’t.

Sheesh.

* Yesterday’s Tribune editorial page included a love letter to the Chicago Rickets (née Cubs) and a defense of its own coverage of the team…

The fact that the Cubs and this newspaper have been corporate cousins is a constant vexation for Tribune sportswriters and editors: No matter the coverage, some readers — why, hello, South Siders! — will accuse the paper of rampant favoritism.

Except the editorial characteristically failed to mention the enormous tax break that Sam Zell devised, which was mentioned earlier today on this blog…

His sale of the Cubs also is structured to minimize taxes. It calls for Tribune to retain a 5 percent stake in the team. Otherwise, the $845 million sale would trigger massive capital gains, as Tribune paid only $20.5 million for the Cubs in 1981.

* A few days ago, the Tribune reiterated its criticism of college presidents who want to lower the drinking age to 18 by, um, pointing to a study which showed binge drinking among male college students rose more than 30 percent since the drinking age was raised to 21.

Hoookay.

* Last week, the edit board stomped its feet on the U of I trustee matter…

Quinn said he still holds out hope that the trustees will step aside voluntarily, but he also signaled that he’s confident he has the authority to remove them if they don’t.

That would be a fitting way to deliver on the promised week of reform.

That sort of misguided, overheated, under-thought rhetoric (”Throw them all out for the symbolic value regardless of the consequences or actual evidence!”) helped prod Quinn into backing himself into a corner on the issue, as we’ve already discussed.

The Tribune editorial page is one of the most feared entities in Illinois politics. Newspapers all over the state follow its lead like so many sheep. Politicians routinely ask “How high?” when the edit board says “Jump!” Yet time and time again the page proves why it shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:06 am

Comments

Hmm…brightly colored wrapper and a staple of halloween.

Does this mean Snickers and Hershey’s are excluded due to their dull, brown wrappers while Oral-B toothbrushes are included?

Oral-B’s have brightly colored packaging, and I ALWAYS got at least one when I trick or treated as a kid…

I also frequently got an apple - brightly colored packaging - so is that considered candy by the Tribsters?

Comment by Jerry 101 Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:10 am
They’re in a shell-shocked daze over there.

Just two or three years ago, they were as they had been for more than 100 years, the Battleship Tribune, the extraordinarily rich, undisputed voice of the Midwest. If you worked there for a few years, your career was set for life.

Now. in my travels, you can’t find a newsprint Tribune in most of Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa and surprisingly large areas of Illinois. And no matter who you are there, you could be canned tomorrow.

It’s hard to be thoughtful and insightful when you spend most of your time wondering what happened — and what will happen next.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:18 am
Capt Fax
with all due respect, the Trib WAS one of the most respected/influential edit pages — especially when they threw the weight of the entire paper behind their slate.
Not only did they handle the pols but their did a great job fronting for ComEd and United Airlines.

The current product does not cut it.

Part of the problem is lack of coordination and their own legal problems (ESOP and Wrigley).

BTW I am sure the Trib or their trade groups had a voice a the streamline sale tax gatherings. Their focus was trying to help papers remain tax cheats.

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:20 am
The Trib used to be feared. Daley has emasculated it.

Comment by Ravenswood Right Winger Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:26 am
Rich

Perhaps the Tribune editorial page was “feared” as in the past tense, but no longer. The Tribune has lost a lot of its readership and among its readers it lost a lot of credibility the last 12 months between Zell’s playing footsie with Blago and the THREE MONTHS OF SCREAMING HEADLINES ABOUT THE U OF I. Perhaps even more credibility was lost over the past 5 years with its endorsement of GW Bush in 2004 and other mini ed-page scandals.

Maybe at one time the Tribune mattered most in the Midwest, but I believe that its endorsement counts for less in elections than ever before.

I agree with you. It should no longer be feared. Yes, investigative / watchdog journalism is a must-have - but the marketing piece / front page article they ran in late June about “being your advocate” was self-glorifying and very cheesy.

All that said, they did something innovative and new in yesterday’s Sunday edition. They published a “mash up” section put together by high school student journalism inerns. First time in many years I’ve seen them do something that actually might help grow their readership and foster interest in journalism too.

Paul

Comment by Paul Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:54 am
===but no longer===

It’s still feared. If it wasn’t, why did Blagojevich obsess over it so much? Also, look at the way the page helped derail the budget in May with its hyperventilating on reform.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 12:02 pm
I guess I don’t understand this constant harping on the Trib’s editorial page. You can find poorly researched content & illogical opinions in any major paper. Why single out the Tribune?

Comment by Pelon Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 12:09 pm
Rich, if you want to dilute the perceived impact of the Tribune editorial page, just find a good photo of Editorial Page Editor Bruce dold from back in the mid-1970s, when he was spinning jazz records at Northwestern’s college radio station!

Comment by fedup dem Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 12:11 pm
The former Governor sort of started this idea that people appointed to terms could be dismissed at will, and with the exception of his Cabinet, that isn’t supposed to be true. I’m very uncomfortable with this idea of willy-nilly dismissing people from places like the UofI board. There are supposed to be specific charges that have to be met to dismiss them, and I don’t hear anyone claiming that to be the case with certain of these board members. It is a bad precedent.

Comment by steve schnorf Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 12:11 pm
On Saturday Steve Rosenbloom said on his WSCR show that his “Hit and Run” column was killed by the Tribune because of his criticism of the Cubs, and that it was ordered killed a couple of months early because they didn’t want to give that appearance.

Comment by lake county democrat Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 12:20 pm
Brightly colored wrapper and a staple of Halloween…wouldn’t that require condoms and certain edible clothing be put in the candy isle? Just saying

Comment by Belle Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 12:27 pm
How about any product either 1) fit the definition of a candy under the FDA’s federal regulations, i.e., 21 CFR 170.3 (pick the subsctions you want to tax) or 2) is marketed as a confection or candy?

Comment by lake county democrat Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 12:29 pm
Once the Rickett’s but the Chicago National League Baseball Franchise they are going to officially change the name from CUBS to CUBA.

Completely
Useless
By
August!

Go Cards!

Comment by BIG R.PH. Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 12:38 pm
The interesting question is “Why has the Trib editorial page become so sloppy and ill-informed?” At the same time, the State Journal-Register has actually become much, much more competent and substantive in its editorials and policies.

Comment by Abe's Ghost Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 12:57 pm
The Trib is to editorials what Inc was to reporting.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 1:15 pm