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* If this is true, then Treasurer Giannoulias may have gotten a very bad political issue off the table…

There is bright news for the thousands of parents who invested college savings money in Illinois’ Bright Start Savings Plan. In January, this column revealed that one of the fund managers within the Bright Start plan had made unauthorized trades that cost investors in its most conservative fund $85 million.

Now, after months of negotiations with Oppenheimer, the fund management company, the state has a tentative agreement to recover $77 million for fund investors — which would be a remarkably high recovery for a negotiated settlement. The amount that will be returned to each affected account will depend on a complicated formula that is still being negotiated.

But…

The treasurer’s office said it was “concerned” that the filing of individual claims could scuttle the deal, which would apply to all investors. Anyone filing an individual claim would not be part of the settlement, but an avalanche of individual claims could rupture the fragile agreement

Which leads us to this…

Well-known consumer advocate and plaintiff’s attorney Andrew Stoltman filed the claim on behalf of Tom and Leigh Ann Reusche, whose 19-year-old daughter, Nadya, will be a sophomore this fall at DePauw University in Indiana. […]

Stoltmann created a Web site, recover529losses.com, to reach investors. He says the Reusche filing was the first of more than a dozen he has lined up, in an attempt to get investors’ money back, plus damages and legal fees. […]

Told of the pending settlement over the weekend, Stoltman replied, “Let’s see the final result. Nine out of 10 times, the ultimate recoveries by a state are much smaller than what I can settle for with my individual clients. … If the state recovers all the money, I’d recommend she take the settlement. But if they can’t get back all the money that was lost, then I’m going after them.”

* Meanwhile, in other US Senate candidate news…

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk’s office said Friday the congressman and his wife of eight years, Kimberly Ann Vertolli, are divorcing.

The divorce becomes final Monday.

“They remain friends, and the legal filings related to the divorce will not be sealed,” according to a brief statement from the Highland Park Republican’s office.

The filing was made under seal in Virginia, which kicked up some questions and apparently necessitated a press release on Friday. Glad to see it will be made public so we don’t have to go through yet another wrenching divorce drama. Also glad to see that it probably won’t be contentious. Nobody needs that.

* Moving over to gubernatorial politics, probable GOP candidate Dan Proft talks about Medicaid to Jeff Berkowitz…

Proft: Blagojevich is gone. That illegal expansion of [Medicaid by Blago] is not [gone]. Doubling the eligibility of Medicaid has resulted in a 33% increase in Medicaid spending by the state just in the last three years. […]

Dan Proft: In this fiscal year, according to Quinn’s budget…it looks like they are projecting about 18 billion dollars in Medicaid spending, so it would save you about five billion dollars, that’s the increase over the last three fiscal years alone.

Jeff Berkowitz: It would save about 5 billion dollars in the 2010 budget…?

Dan Proft: It would save at least that amount.

According to the Taxpayer Action Board report, total Medicaid spending was $10.3 billion in Fiscal Year 2007 and has risen to $11.2 billion this fiscal year. Also, the system grew fastest during George Ryan’s term…

For example, in July 2000 the income eligibility threshold for the aged and disabled population was increased. This change alone has resulted in approximately 136,000 new enrollees in this category. In October 2002, the income standards for parents of low-income children, already eligible for coverage, were also increased, adding another 170,000 enrollees to the program… Finally, beginning with the enactment of legislation covering all uninsured children of any income level in November 2005, Illinois began an aggressive public relations campaign to promote enrollment of children in the All Kids health insurance program. This campaign has resulted in 68,600 additional children being added to the Medicaid program.

* Potential Democratic statewide candidate Rep. Mike Boland is furious at the U of I…

Fallout from questionable admissions practices at the University of Illinois continued Sunday as a state representative called for the resignation of the school system’s president and the trustees who meddled with student applications.

State Rep. Mike Boland (D-East Moline), chairman of the state House Higher Education Committee, said President B. Joseph White and other university leaders betrayed the public’s confidence by giving preferential treatment to politically connected applicants.

“They were trusted to protect our university,” Boland said. “In my eyes, they failed in that regard and they should resign.”

Mike Boland’s upset at preferential treatment for politically connected applicants? Really?

* Possible Cook County Board President candidate Dorothy Brown stops taking cash from her employees…

Let’s begin by congratulating Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown for her decision to stop accepting cash gifts from employees. Though she long defended the practice as perfectly legal (sad but true) and completely voluntary (unlikely), Brown now acknowledges that at the very least, it looks bad.

She still won’t tell us how much those gifts were worth, though. That looks worse.

Appearances are everything as Brown mulls a run for Cook County Board president and tries to convince voters that the operations of her office have improved. The last thing she needs is a replay of last September’s embarrassing coverage of her 55th birthday celebration at the Hotel Allegro. Employees groused privately that their “invitations” included a request for a minimum $125 campaign contribution. The bash was organized by a group called “The X Company,” whose members are mostly senior staffers in the clerk’s office. In addition to being dinged for a campaign contribution, employees were offered the opportunity to add their personal birthday wishes to a souvenir book — for a price. Proceeds from the book were given to Brown as a gift.

* And former reform commission chairman Patrick Collins pens an op-ed in the Tribune entitled: Bring on the elections…

Every political candidate should be asked three questions. What have you done in the last five years to restore the public trust? When have you taken a stand against your political or party self-interest? What will you do to repair the integrity crisis?

If voters insist on making subsequent elections a referendum on corruption, we could get meaningful reform in Illinois.

Candidate or not? What say ye?

…Adding… Oops. Missed this one…

[Carbondale] Mayor Brad Cole is considering a run for statewide office as part of the Republican ticket in 2010 and is beginning a fundraising effort.

Cole announced his decision in a letter mailed Friday to possible supporters, although he did not name in the letter or say in an interview which office he will seek. […]

After college, he was hired to run then-Gov. George Ryan’s Marion office, the first Southern Illinois of an Illinois governor, he said. He was later deputy chief of staff.

* Related and semi-related…

* Entitlements for some, providing they have the right clout: Sure there are a some downstate and Chicago lawmakers” names tucked into the records, but the list is overwhelmingly suburban. Thumb through the records and you”ll find names like state Sen. Chris Lauzen, a Republican from Aurora who has degrees from Duke and Harvard. He has fought against minority “entitlements.” In a column posted on his website he had this to say, “American Hispanics, native and immigrant (both legal and illegal), are at a crossroad. They are deciding individually and as a group whether America for them is a land of earned opportunity or a land of demanded entitlement.” He contends life should be based on merit. But he did make a call on behalf of a constituent”s kid. He contends he was trying to help the applicant deal with the bureaucracy and his inquiry was misinterpreted.

* PJStar: Top U of I officials failed this test

* How UI’s admissions have changed: Requests, pressures may have increased

* Rezko U., policing itself

* Digging through documents on UI special admissions

* Top-notch professors, coaches don’t come cheap

* Louis Gornick: the $83,000-a-year public university chef

* Legislators’ pension plan finally in line

* Legislators prepare for 2010 redistricting

* Illinois: real politics or reality TV?

* Ald. Carothers Due In Court On Bribery Charges

* Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman is not afraid to bite mayoral hand that feeds him

* Runoff still possible for Daley Council ally Solis

* Daley nephew’s deals

* Another way to make money on pension funds

* Daley kin Vanecko tied to bankrupt project

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 10:40 am

Comments

Patrick Collins is running. For Governor. As a Republican.

I’ll put money on it.

The problem: Since he left the U.S. Attorney’s office, Collins has made all his dough defending corporate clients from federal white collar crime charges.

In other words, his philosophy is that politicians need to cleanup their act, while corporations just need to hire a better lawyer.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 10:46 am
Dan Proft is smoking something.

Even beyond the error you pointed out Rich, he is saying that reducing eligibility back to before All Kids would save 33% of the Medicaid budget? Are you serious?

The entire budget for children’s healthcare is not anywhere near 33% of the total cost of Medicaid as is. The part can’t give a return of more than the whole.

Comment by George Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 10:50 am
There is a saying that 8 percent unemployment always feels like 100 percent unemployment to the guy that loses his job. That’s still 8 million dollars of some kids future his parents lost thanks to alexi.

Also jan’s out of the senate race.

I had hopes for proft as a new voice, he comes off as arrogant and shadowy in that berkowitz show.

In d.c. you don’t need the speakers permission to hold a hearing on a subject, why is madigan so arrogant that they can’t investigate rezko u?

Comment by shore Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 10:52 am
Wait, or is Proft talking about the “illegal” FamilyCare expansion?

That was about 5,000 families, right?

The cost there is about $25 million. Not $5 billion.

Comment by George Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 10:54 am
I’m glad you called out Boland for giving his GA scholarships to his highest donors. Sure, a lot of legislators do it, but it is a bit hypocritical to blast the U of I for his own practice.

Comment by 71st District Republican Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:01 am
Look like Proft has claimed his spot on the list of people who think they know what they are talking about but don’t, or did we already know that

Comment by steve schnorf Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:01 am
Either Pat Collins just really loves all the attention or he is running for, my guess, Senator as a Republican (better odds to win).

My gut says he just likes the attention. How could such a pure soul run for office in a large state with multiple media markets. It would take — horrors of horrors — money. Where could he raise it without being an incredible hypocrite?

Plus, after years in the U.S. attorney’s office, he’s finally making some real (gasp) money in private practice.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:04 am
Mr. Schnorf, not only did Proft claim his spot on that list, he cut in front of everyone else to the head of the line!

Comment by cover Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:05 am
sorry about not seeing the jan thing below.

collins just added a 5th kid. You can’t pay for 5 south bend educations on the 160k you make in the senate.

Comment by shore Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:07 am
Hoffman’s press conference and report on the meter deal was very strange. It was very high school civics — there should have been more study, different variables should have looked at, etc.

More auditor general than inspector general.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:08 am
YDD, I like your theory about Collins but wonder about a couple things.

1) Do you think he’ll have problems raising money after his memorable appearances in the ‘Patch?

2) Under your analysis of Collins’ view of politicians and corporations (which I agree with) would Mayor Daley’s nephew and his clumsy development company be counted as a “politician,” a “corporation,”, both, or none of the above?
(AA has already answered his own question here in re: the other party involved in this company.)

Comment by Arthur Andersen Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:11 am
Smart move on Schakowsky’s part. She might have seen good things in her poll, but she didn’t have a chance statewide.

Comment by TTL, III Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:17 am
Collins isn’t running for anything. It’s a convenient to look for a motive behind his pronouncements, but I think people miss the very obvious motive. He believes the system is screwed up and wants to fix it. That’s it.

Frankly, if he really wanted to run for office, he would have hired someone to help him have more success in Springfield on the PR and legislative front. He didn’t. He just called it like he saw it and let the chips fall where they may. I know that sounds noble, but Quinn’s been doing the same thing and it has been no more successful for him than it was for Collins.

Politics is more than speechmaking. Unfortunately well intentioned people often miss that.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:19 am
Seems to me you could fix the Category I issue at U of I one of two ways: 1. Clean house at U of I, or 2. Go to the root of the problem and remove the pressure (mostly emanating from Springfield) to admit these underqualified students. No political pressure, no Category I. The problem comes when the politicians try to fix a problem that they themselves are creating.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:20 am
electing the Board of Trustees would be a nice start. Then sack White and Herman.

Comment by Fire Ron Guenther Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:25 am
Rep. Boland is a total hypocrite; stepping in front of the cameras on this issue. Surely he can offer all the fake outrage he wants, but I would give it more credibility if it came from someone who has more depth of experience on the issue than just being chairman of the Higher Ed committee for 5 months.

Statewide (in his dreams) Boland strikes again!

YDD is a great CPB poster and I usually agree with what he says, but I am not so sure that Collins is a candidate. If he is - then he can get off his high horse because he just became a (gasp) “politician” !!!

Comment by siriusly Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:27 am
Collins isn’t so much running for office as he is publicly coping with such a humiliating defeat. He and the rest of the reform community blew it, and probably set back meaningful reform for years and years. When will these reformers admit to their own failures, instead of blaming others?

Comment by Doubting T Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:28 am
I hope if Boland’s committee gets formed that they can ask him about his own scholarship abuses.

Comment by Easy Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:29 am
=== Collins isn’t running for anything. It’s a convenient to look for a motive behind his pronouncements, but I think people miss the very obvious motive. He believes the system is screwed up and wants to fix it. That’s it. ===

Nah COllins has been gunning for Madigan for years; dedicated a large porition of his life to investigating him and came up empty handed. It is no coincidence that 99% of the reforms pushed by collins have nothin to do with the office of the Gov, and everything to do with the general assembly and its leaders.

Collins beleives this is his chance to get Madigan; pursing his hidden agenda under the cover of eliminating hidden agendas. That he migh also want to be a GOP canidate would not surprise me either.

Comment by Ghost Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:57 am
Ron, I think you have identified the potential solutions to the Rezko U problem very well but picked just one (laying off the pressure) instead of both, (also cleaning house at UIUC.)

The Champaign N-G ran a good story yesterday including interviews with the old bulls who held the legislative liaison jobs in the 60s and 70s and a couple former UI presidents. What I took away from the story was 1)there were requests on a much smaller scale by legislators, trustees, and others to check, assist, or help with admissions-they called it “the brown folder” back in the day because all the relevant information fit in one 2) these folks had no problem saying No to legislators and No was an acceptable answer.

The article infers, and others have said, that the change to appointed trustees and the increasing micromanagment of the campuses by some of the trustees allowed this practice to flourish.

I don’t know that I buy that, but from reading the gory (redacted) details of a terribly embarrassing process that I doubt we’ve heard the last of, the U of I can not be allowed to investigate itself. Nor can the General Assembly, the prime beneficiaries of the political favoritism, be allowed to investigate its own members and leadership. As the Tribune suggested, an outside monitor, like a retired judge of trial lawyer, is a preferable alternative.

As unfortunate as fate of the students who were unfairly denied admission is the almost totally passive reaction of the UI admissions staff and various deans, etc. dealing with the Category I pressure. With one or two notable exceptions, they were in complete “go along to get along” mode, like the former Dean of the College of Business, now the UI Vice President for Academic Affairs (the top academic in the UI System) who took just a few minutes to admit the Rezko relative after being asked to “look into the matter” by Chancellor Herman. Perhaps how that’s how one gets promoted at Rezko U.

On the other hand, the (former) Dean of the Law School fought hard to keep unqualified applicants out, not always winning. She is no longer the Dean, but still is an endowed Professor at the Law School. Co-inky-dink?

Comment by Arthur Andersen Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 11:58 am
Fire Ron Guenther, the U of I Board of Trustees used to be elected. The school still had problems with politicians conveniently giving scholarships to less than qualified students whose parents just coincidentally happened to be big political donors. (Rich linked to such a story on Rep. Boland himself.)

If that’s the heads side of the coin, then this Category I nonsense is the tails.

Making Trustees elected again will still require a firewall between the school and the politicians… Even when they were elected the people who ran for the office were often connected insiders anyway.

–

I disagree Collins is running for office. Similar rumors have percolated on Fitz for years and that hasn’t happened either.

I take his statements to mean we voters need to step up to the plate. Of course, that takes some competition, which our system (as little-d democratic as it is) is geared against given district gerrymandering, the evermore onerous primary process, etc.

Comment by Rob_N Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 12:01 pm
Ghost,

What makes you think Collins has been gunning for Madigan for year? Seems like a pretty big allegation in need of some facts.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 12:02 pm
Ghost, If Collins wants to “get Madigan” he’ll have to get elected to the State House along with a majority of other State Reps who would elect him Speaker….

Kinda hard to do.

Barring that, Madigan has proven rather adept at handling governors from both sides of the aisle and at following at least the letter of the law (if not, perhaps, always the spirit).

Comment by Rob_N Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 12:06 pm
Rob_N: 1) The General Assembly scholarships should be eliminated. I have been saying this for years, even though my sister received one.

2) Electing the Trustees at least gives the voters and taxpayers a voice, however limited, in running the UI. The school, IMHO has gone downhill since the BOT became appointed.

Comment by Fire Ron Guenther Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 12:13 pm
A little help please.

Mark Kirk’s divorce was filed under seal in Virginia? If it was filed under seal, how can Kirk say it’s not under seal?

I guess I’m a little confused. Anyone know what’s the story?

Comment by just sayin Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 12:56 pm
===If it was filed under seal, how can Kirk say it’s not under seal?===

It will all be unsealed, apparently, today.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 12:59 pm
If Collins is going to run for something as a GOPer, it should be the AG’s office. He has the resume to run on BUT, I think Birkett has that locked up?? Plus it’s getting close to passin petitions around, so I doubt Collins makes a move.

AND Brad Cole statewide…maybe Lt Gov??

Comment by scoot Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 1:22 pm
Thanks for the clarification Rich.

It just seems odd it would be filed under seal if there is nothing to worry about. Why file under seal then?

It’s also odd that Kirk has been saying it’s not going to be sealed, but now we learn that’s exactly what they did.

More importantly, how will we know everything has been released, that is if anything is released?

I think it’s fair to be skeptical, especially given the fact that Mark Kirk’s operative allies are the very same people who went after Jack Ryan the most. It’s also right to be skeptical since it looks like the word games have already started from Kirk’s camp.

Comment by just sayin Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 2:38 pm
AA, you are absolutely right 20 years ago I watched extreme pressure being put on UofI to admit someone to their engineering program. The answer was “Sorry, we won’t, do what you have to do” (their approp was being threatened).

Comment by steve schnorf Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 3:29 pm
Just sayin says “Mark Kirk’s operative allies are the very same people who went after Jack Ryan the most”

Got evidence?

It was Gen. John Borling’s 2004 primary campaign manager who went crying to the media with a non-redacted, pre-sealed copy of the Ryans’ divorce papers.

Borling fired the guy and the media barely touched the story before the primary because the copy of the papers was not obtained through legal, legitimate means.

It was only after that incident that the Trib and others went to court in California to have the documents made public again (they had been public before Ryan decided to run for Senate). The news media won that case during the summer of 2004.

And, yes, the Obama Senate campaign pushed hard for the media to look into it further, but it was the Borling campaign that got that ball rolling (despite Borling’s own objections).

I don’t recall anything related to Mark Kirk’s organization having anything to do with those events. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Comment by Rob_N Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 3:34 pm
Scoot — if I were advising Cole, I’d be telling him to shoot for Lt. Gov., too. That gets your name out there without much risk…if you lose, especially at his age, at least people will know who he is for his next run.

Lose a race for a higher office, like Treasurer or something, and he’ll be branded a loser.

Meh. As with Judge Don…I’d vote for him.

Comment by Concerned Observer Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 4:16 pm
Thanks for doing your homework, Rich, and pointing out the duplicity of Boland — and, I am told, that was not the only incidence of favoring a donor. I’ll never know why pols open themselves up for assault — there has always been a way to handle scholarships ethically.

Gosh, I had forgotten that the trustees are appointed, now — let’s hope Quinn does some house cleaning.

Comment by hohum Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 6:28 pm
The problems at Rezko U (I have to stop writing that) go beyond the BoT, though canning all but a couple of the current batch would be a nice first step.

The increasing political manipulation of the UI started with the retirement of the rock-solid Stan Ikenberry and his legislative team, followed by the lightweight Stukel and the people he promoted (including the current GA team, all who should resign forthwith for the good of the UI, and academic airheads like Nancy “Screw the Chief-Go ahead and shut down my office” Cantor and Chet “We really need an Internet university around here” Gardner) and the people he ignored, most notably Craig Bazzani, probably the savviest and most dedicated UI staffer in the history of the UI. The retirement and untimely passing of Sen. Stan Weaver, the UI’s longtime legislative advocate and protector and the increasing number of key Staff positions filled by non-alumni (even the CEO of the Alumni Association, for Gosh sakes!-great back story on how a former trustee who has always looked out for himself and the Mrs. screwed up that search, but I digress) are intangible elements in how the Big U has lost its ethical balance and embarrassed many hard working faculty and staff, not to mention alums like old AA who have grown weary over getting the five-figure shakedown for everything from football seats to the Library to the Business Faculty to you name it.

Step up, Pat. These headlines were made for a guy like you. Yes, there are more important issues in the grand scheme. However, clouted admissions are an integral art of the grand scheme of Corrupt Illinois that you promised to clean up-you don’t have the option of ignoring corruption dumped in your lap because the timing is inconvenient.

Remove the Board, tell White and Herman to freshen the resumes, and put former Law Dean Heidi Hurd in charge of cleaning up the mess. She was the only administrator to push back against this scheme, is well-respected, and a very straight shooter.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 8:46 pm
AA, keep up the good work giving the rest of us insight on the U of I. Our Illinois universities and community colleges should really be more central in our politics, in the Greek sense of the word.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 8, 09 @ 10:07 pm
See Downtowner at The Progressive Fox for her take on IL-14 in the wake of Ethan Hastert’s announcement that he’s officially in. http://www.progressivefox.com/?p=636

Comment by n0madic Tuesday, Jun 9, 09 @ 9:33 am