When Rods Collide

I've said it openly in the past and I'll repeat it now. I actually respect the Governor for his strong desire to hold fast to his no income/sales tax hike pledge. I don't necessarily agree with it. I don't think that he needed to make it. But make it he did, and he has been steadfast in adhering to it.

And since I have criticized him for vacillating on other positions, fairness dictates that I give him credit for sticking to this one.

But the Governor now finds himself in a position where his philosophical mandates may have to yield to practical realities.

Case in point - mass transit funding, a critical issue for riders and non-riders alike. Rep. Hamos and others have been laboring to craft a funding bill that can provide a cash infusion to the RTA while providing for improved accountability and governance. And it appears that a piece of legislation that could stave off route cutbacks and fare increases is but days away.

Good news you say? It looks that way, but there's a catch. A critical part of the funding mechanism rests in a modest hike in the sales tax in those counties in which RTA operates. People benefiting from the RTA (and don't forget that even non-riders benefit) helping fund it. Sounds like a fair idea.

BUT, the Governor has repeatedly said that he will veto any budget sent to him that contains an income or sales tax increase.

AND, in something that I hadn't previously heard, the Governor has now said that if lawmakers override such a veto, he will call them into special session until they rescind the vote. I couldn't make this up if I wanted to.

So here's where we find ourselves - it's essentially a Clash of the Two Rods. (Sounds worse than it is, I think). On one hand, you have the Governor that has drawn such a deep line in the sand on the tax hike issue that he might strike oil. On the other hand, you have the Governor who has done more flips during the special session than Nadia Comaneci did in winning 5 gold medals.

Deviating from his no tax hike pledge would be big news but is, in my opinion, legitimately defensible in this case. If there was any issue to justify a local, targeted sales tax increase, mass transit would be it. He would be sacrificing his core beliefs for the greater good. Would he take hits for it? Almost assuredly, but I think that the majority of people, myself included, would support his decision.

But I'm just not sure that he could bring himself to do it. His no-tax stance has become more than just a pledge, it's something that he can point to with a legitimate sense of righteousness. Breaking it would just add fuel to the political climate at a time when what he needs is an extinguisher.

Conversely, holding his ground in this instance would guarantee the ire of a huge proportion of Chicago, Cook and collar county residents. He would likely be seen as grandstanding at the expense of the masses who rely on mass transit. People would be openly cursing the Governor every time they shelled out $3.00 for a ride.

I have no idea how this situation will play out. For all of the challenges that the Governor has faced, it's interesting that this one could be his biggest test to date.

To read or post comments, visit Open House

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Chicago ABC Channel 7 Uses State-Paid Video

If anyone ever complains about McHenry County Blog’s willingness to allow others to take photographs for publication--like this one from McHenry County Democrats--please keep the following in mind.

Chicago’s ABC Channel 7 used videotape paid for by you and me on Monday night during its six o’clock broadcast.

The story was about an $82 million subsidy granted an electric generating plant’s investors. The story said the plant would pump emissions underground.

I’ve heard of small Downstate stations running Illinois Information Service video, but this is the first time I have seen it on a Chicago station.

This appears to be the Association Press story that was read while the Governor Rod Blagojevich was seen signing the bill and passing out ceremonial pens.

From McHenry County Blog, where you can read how the comment section of Northwest Herald articles has turned into a place to test campaign themes.

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Jury Reform: More Pay And Get People Who Care

Madeline Byrne, as the Associated Press story below describes, was a bit surprised -- and not happy -- when she received her summons to report for jury duty in Sanford, N.C.

Madeline didn't receive her summons as most of us do -- deposited in our mail box. She received hers when a local sheriff handed it to her through an open window in her car.

The AP reports:

The 64-year-old woman was ordered to report for jury duty a little more than an hour later at the Lee County courthouse in Sanford, N.C. When Byrne protested, the sheriff told her: "Be there or you'll be in contempt."

We don't issue a jury summons that way in Illinois but we do have a jury system that needs serious reform, serious tweaking.

One of the most critical reforms is an increase in jury compensation. If Madeline Byrne had been in Illinois, you could understand why she didn't want to be a juror.

While jurors are expected to be compensated, in Illinois they are practically volunteers. Illinois law spells out that jurors be paid between $4 per day and $40 per day. That's right: a juror in Illinois could be summoned to serve for compensation of $4 for a day.

We're not sure if that ridiculous fee is in practice in any Illinois counties but we do know that jurors in the largest county, Cook, receive less than $20 for a full days' service. A juror who can't use public transportation but must drive can not find parking for less than $20 within a reasonable distance of the courthouse.

There are other serious problems with our jury system in Illinois and one of the major obstacles to reform have been -- surprise, surprise -- the people who proclaim they are the "guardians and defenders of the right to trial by jury."

That's right, the plaintiffs' attorneys in Illinois -- represented and directed by the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and their partner, the Illinois State Bar Association, have been the primary opponents of jury reform in Illinois.

There have been several attempts to improve the "jury problem' in Illinois, including earlier this year, but they have been stymied.

On several occasions, the Illinois Civil Justice League has proposed legislation that would begin correcting the problem. It has been a bipartisan effort with Senate sponsorship provided by Chicago Democrat John Cullerton, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and DuPage County Republican, Kirk Dillard, the Co-chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Earlier this year, SB 1548 was introduced by Senator Dillard. A comprehensive jury reform package that included most elements of a bill passed by the Illinois Senate just two years ago, it was doomed from the start.The reason?

Senate President Emil Jones wanted to reform the jury act too, but only by expanding the eligible jury pool to add low income people.

The bill as introduced would have expanded the jury pool to include Illinois citizens claiming an earned income tax credit.

In response, the Illinois Civil Justice League proposed an amendment that would have expanded the jury lists to include all citizens on the tax rolls. In addition, the ICJL amendment would have included some other jury reforms that had been approved in recent years by the entire Senate. However, the Senate Democrat leadership was not receptive to our proposals and the bill was kept in the Rules Committee, despite the fact that identical language had been passed almost unanimously (58-1) by the Senate only a few years earlier. The ICJL intends to redraft a jury reform proposal for consideration next year and it will include these elements, some of which are new:

1. Jurors must be registered voters.
2. Juror must speak English fluently.
3. Jurors must be fairly compensated, especially in lengthy trials.
4. Employers must be protected from having too many employees on jury duty at one time.

Current law in many states, including Illinois does not require that a prospective juror be a registered voter. A registered voter gets on the eligibles list, but so do licensed drivers. So will people on the "earned income tax credit list" if Senator Jones and the bill's sponsor, Sen. Don Harmon, have their way.

It just seems logical that if a person is qualified (or wants to be viewed as qualified) to serve on a jury, that person ought to have demonstrated an interest and willingness to participate in the American system of governance, which includes being eligible to vote.

cross-posted by Ed Murmane at Illinois Justice Blog

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Split Personality

I have to hand it to the Governor, almost effortlessly, he continues to defy any semblance of predictability or consistency.

After months of shunning Springfield during the regular session, the Governor declares his intention to encamp in the capitol city,

"seven days a week until the job is done"

or as it turns out, at least until the next Sunday Cubs game, which was about a week or so later.

Then comes his next condemnation of the General Assembly for trying to work around his inaction and refusal to negotiate by passing a temporary budget.

“A continuing string of one-month budgets is nothing more than a Republican budget in disguise,” he said last month.

In a way, one had to respect his firm convictions. But now he follows up his passionate stand for Democratic values with this, his latest shot at the General Assembly:

“Failure to pass another interim budget will mean that state government shuts down and only emergency public-safety services will continue to operate...If the General Assembly does not finish its work soon, the people of Illinois will pay the price of their inaction.” (emphasis added)

Our inaction? OUR inaction? He spends eight nights of regular session in Springfield, refuses to negotiate with any of the leaders, provides no passable plan for a budget, and decries our inaction. And after slamming his Democratic colleagues for passing a one month budget last month, he now wants one for this month? Is it any wonder we're still in session?

On a brighter note, now that meetings have been taking place with just the four legislative leaders, it appears that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel - and it sure isn't the GRT train. The leaders seem poised to lay the groundwork for a plan that, if approved, could get more accomplished in about a week than we have in the last seven months. Imagine that.

To read or post comments, visit Open House

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Predict the Adjournment Date

Take your shot at predicting the date of the adjournment for the Illinois General Assembly.

This is a similar exercise to Rich Miller's QOTD last week, but it uses Inkling's Really Cool (TM) electronic markets technology.

Check it out:

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Doubling the RTA Sales Tax

Will any McHenry County legislators vote to double the Regional Transportation Authority tax burden on local residents?

That’s the question I’m asking after reading the latest Daily Herald article by Eric Kroh.

Those voting for it will gain instant “tax hiker” status.

Here is a full-sized bus that pulls out of a subdivision between Crystal Springs Road and Mason Hill Road, takes the McHenry Blacktop to Bull Valley Road, turns right, and goes to Route 31 where it turns right again. This is right before 8 AM.

I have yet to see it stop for a passenger.

That's just the kind of efficiency I want to subsidize more of.

Posted first at McHenry County Blog, where political news continues over the weekend, including the dissent on the $21,000 Oberweis fine, which McHenry County Blog reported six months ago.

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An I-Pass Impasse

Artistmac from YouTube talks about his gripes with the Illinois Tollroads and especially the I-Pass.

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Will this be worth it?

Gov. Rod Blagojevich called a special session for Saturday morning to discuss another one-month budget, which would prevent the state from shutting down in the politically important month of August. But Senate President Emil Jones Jr. told reporters he’s not interested in a one-month. House Speaker Michael Madigan said the same Thursday. If any action happened this weekend, it most likely would be behind closed doors.

It’s ideal if leaders focus on drafting a state budget that would get us through the entire fiscal year, but a cloud still hangs over the Statehouse budget negotiations. Individual budget items are moving; yet, core disagreements continue. The amount of new money, the method of raising that money and the beneficiaries of that money isn’t worked out yet. Can they hash it out before the existing temporary budget expires July 31?

If not, bad things would start to happen. And it would be worse than if the state had shut down in July, says Kent Redfield, political studies professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “If we’d have shut down in July, people wouldn’t have been able to get into state parks and stuff. But an August shutdown is much, much more serious because of school formulas, the starting of universities and the state fair.”

Public schools expect their first state aid payments in the first half of August, and the Illinois State Fair kicks off August 10. Without state aid payments, schools would be in a bind. And the nine-day State Fair kicks off campaign season for the next elections. The shutdown of public schools and the absence of a state fair would be noticed by the general public, a politically and economically damaging scenario.

But let’s stick with Redfield’s ray of sunshine in another analysis: As frustrating as this session has been since January, it could be a strategy to tame the expectations now rather than let them build each of the governor’s next three years. We can only hope.

Note: Our Public Affairs Reporting intern, Deanese Williams-Harris, finished her internship this week. We wish her the best of luck and thank her for her hard work and dedication.

On another note, I’m taking the weekend off but will be ready for action Monday.

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Questioning "Illinois Covered"

Let me start by saying I'm a strong supporter of universal health care. The lack of universal health care is one of the most serious challenges - and serious disgraces - facing our nation.

How big of a problem is it? Well, we all know thanks to the Governor's incessant talking points that 1.4 million Illinoisans lack insurance coverage.

What many folks are unaware of is that health care costs currently eat up 16% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and federal experts estimate that health care costs will consume 18.4% of the U.S. GDP by 2013.

For comparison, the 29 other developed nations in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development) spend an average of 8.3 percent of their GDP on health care. Oh yeah, and they live longer on average too.

Those inefficiencies in health care spending sap other consumer spending and constrain our ability to invest in education, infrastructure, and the other resources America needs to compete in the global economy.

Why Illinois Covered Doesn't Work
Clearly, the problem isn't that we aren't spending enough on health care, which is why I have a problem with "Illinois Covered." Illinois Covered does nothing to address the underlying problems that are driving up the cost of health care in Illinois and across the U.S. Instead, it just throws more money at the problem.

And whether "Illinois Covered" raises taxes through a Gross Receipts Tax, a payroll tax, a cigarette tax, or a tax on people who can't do math (aka gambling), it still represents the largest transfer of public dollars to the already profitable private insurance industry in Illinois history.

It's no wonder the insurance companies support Illinois Covered.

So, if throwing more money at these highly profitable insurance companies isn't the answer, what is?

Well, for starters, let's finish the job that we started on HMO reform a few years ago.

Let's ban insurance companies from basing their compensation for utilization review doctors based on the percentage of claims they deny. Rewarding insurance companies for denying coverage doesn't make sense.

Let's implement the same reforms that we implemented a few years ago to end price-gouging by malpractice insurance companies, requiring them to make their rate-setting data available to other companies, requiring rate increases to be approved by the Dept. of Insurance, giving the Dept. of Insurance the authority to order rebates to the folks they insure when price-gouging is discovered, and making sure that the hearings regarding rate-setting are transparent and open to the public.

For the long-term, let's recognize that health care shouldn't be treated as a commodity, like bubblegum for example. Several years ago Illinois enacted the most sweeping reforms of adoption in the country because it recognized that adoption shouldn't be treated like a commodity. Some of those reforms would be well-applied to health insurance, like limiting executive compensation and ultimately banning for-profit companies from engaging in the health insurance business.

The folks in the health insurance business aren't all bad people, but the health insurance industry has become a rigged racket throughout the years. In days of yore, health insurance worked alot like roulette. Everybody put their money on the table, the ball would spin, and when it dropped randomly, insurance companies would pay out claims to some people and pocket the premiums from the rest.

As any actuary worth a grain of salt will tell you, it no longer works that way. Health insurance companies have amassed so much data on us, they know who the ball is going to drop on. They know, but we don't.

To make matters worse, they've become so efficient at limiting, delaying and denying payouts, that just because your number comes up doesn't mean they're going to pay out, at least not in full or any time soon.

Don't get me wrong, I don't blame the insurance companies or folks who work for them, many of who I believe privately wish we'd adopt a better way. It's not their fault that they're the House and the odds are stacked in their favor, its not their fault that they're making big profits because that's what for-profit companies are supposed to do. We're the ones who've chosen to gamble on health care, we're the ones to blame, and we're te ones who have to fix it.

Health Insurance Companies Aside

All the blame for skyrocketing health care costs doesn't lie with the insurance industry.

Medical Information Systems
With all of the advances in medical diagnostic and care technology, the health care industry lags behind every other economic sector when it comes to the application of information technology. That's pretty stupid when you consider just how important getting the right information and getting it fast is to health care.

The answer is electronic medical records, which would create a seamless web connecting insurance companies, doctors and hospitals, while at the same time protecting patient confidentiality and ensuring information was shared on a need-to-know basis only.

According to none other than Newt Gingrich, Electronic Medical Records have the potential to cut $140 million a year in waste from our health care system. At the urging of State Rep. Julie Hamos, Gov. Blagojevich's "Illinois Covered" proposal included an EMR initiative. However, that EMR initiative was a mere task force, and contained no future funding mechanism for funding EMR. That doesn't go far enough in my book, and I'd recommend that any health care proposal include an EMR funding mechanism. One potential revenue source is to seek a waiver from the federal government to use a portion of the state's Medicaid reimbursement to implement EMR at hospitals that have the highest number of Medicaid patients (perhaps requiring matching funding from hospitals on a sliding scale). The cost savings reaped from implementing EMR at those hospitals could then be used to roll out EMR at additional hospitals, and then doctor's clinics, all the way down the line.

Doctor and Nurse Shortages
High labor costs are part of the reason for skyrocketing health care costs, and a shortage of doctors and nurses is partly to blame. Blagojevich and lawmakers should be commended for investing more in nursing training, because increasing the supply of nurses will eventually bring costs down. However, very little is being done to increase the supply of doctors, and the federal government predicts that the U.S. will face a shortage of 85,000 to 200,000 doctors by 2020 unless action is taken soon.

Contrary to claims by the Illinois State Medical Society, the American Medical Association claims that the doctor shortage in Illinois is no worse than the rest of the nation, with 2.6 doctors per 1,000 residents. That's little comfort though, because according to OECD data, the rest of the developed world averages 3.1 doctors per 1,000 residents. The U.S. also has one less nurse and one less hospital bed per 1,000 patients, according to the OECD.

The answer is for Blagojevich and lawmakers to match their commitment to training more nurses with a commitment to training more doctors. Putting insurance companies in their place - a top reason doctors are leaving the profession and new doctors aren't entering - is part of the answer. But increasing scholarships for current college students to encourage them to pursue an M.D., and eventually rethinking our entire education system from high school through college should also be on the table.

Invest more in Public Health
Illinois spending on public health programs is woefully inadequate. Public health programs bring relatively low-cost prevention, early diagnosis and early treatment to the masses which provide astronomical cost savings to the entire health care system, not to mention the cost savings for employers from reduced employee health costs and sick days which reduce productivity. Illinois should ramp up public health spending - doubling it over the next ten years would be a great start. Before everyone faints from sticker shock, the Governor's FY '07 proposed budget for the Illinois Department of Public Health was $397 million. Increasing that budget $40 million a year over the next ten years is more than within reach.

Some Unsolicited Advice for the Governor
The Governor is in desperate political need of some major face-saving. Yet even his latest "Illinois Covered" proposal, with a scaled back budget and less ambitious launch date, is meeting stiff resistance. Part of that resistance comes from those who are loath to launch a new government mandate whose future costs are nearly impossible to predict, creating future obligations for lawmakers down the road. Contrary to the Governor's thinking, the problem isn't that lawmakers don't care about rising health care costs. They do. But they're also concerned about the state's ability to respond to future needs, and locking the state into big, unforeseeable obligations down the road robs the state of the flexibility to respond to future needs.

My unsolicited advice to the Governor: look at these ideas, and bring everyone in your administration back to the drawing board. Take the lawmakers concerns into account and come up with a new plan that comes at health care from a different angle. That doesn't mean you have to give up on "Illinois Covered", you can hold onto that possibility for the future, promising "not to give up the fight," while still making significant progress for Illinoisans and snatching some victory from the jaws of defeat.

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Bollywood Friday - Simpsons

In honor of the Simpsons movie coming out today, a rerun of Bollywood in Springfield.

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12-month budget buzz

BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
The Senate moved a 12-month budget out of committee by an 8 to 4 vote along party lines. The budget proposes a 9 percent increase from fiscal year 2007 and relies on the creation of four additional riverboats, the closure of some corporate tax breaks, the sweep of left over money in dedicated funds and the natural revenue growth.

Some of the spending highlights include dropping $600 million into the state’s pension fund, spending $2.3 billion on school and road construction and placing $900 million in a special fund for education. The minimum amount of state aid spent per child would increase by $554, and the budget would authorize the second year of a “hospital assessment program” that would distribute federal dollars to hospitals that care for Medicaid patients.

What the budget doesn’t include is property-tax relief, funding for transit, funding for the governor’s health care initiative, stem cell research or any mechanisms to address the Medicaid spending cycle. The measure’s sponsor, Sen. Donne Trotter, said those are “stand-alone issues” that will be taken up later in separate legislation.

Senate Republicans oppose the budget because it doesn’t say how any of the money for school and road construction would be spent, leaving little assurance that any money would reach their districts. The AFSCME Council 31 union opposes the budget because it doesn’t include money to address what it calls staffing shortages in state prisons and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

The Senate did not call the bill for a vote on the floor Thursday night. They’re back in session Friday, as is the House. It’s still unknown whether they’ll be working over the weekend.

The House and the Senate approved the $1 billion electricity rate relief package. It also creates a new, independent state agency to procure power on behalf of the utilities, dismisses lawsuits brought against the utilities and power generators, requires the state to implement more energy efficiency programs and requires the state to use more renewable energy sources.
Bethany Carson contributed to this report.

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Power Shift

Historically, whenever Illinois has passed major energy legislation, environmentalists have made good arguments about the impacts of energy production and consumption, worked long and hard to educate legislators, and then ended up with the table scraps from the real deal (studies, task forces, voluntary goals, some new dollars dwarfed by the boatloads sent to coal and nuclear power…..).

Now, the General Assemlby is poised to approve a mandate that 25% of our electricity come from clean, renewable sources like wind by 2025; and to require that utilities plan for helping us customers use less energy.

The environmental benefits of the clean energy pieces of the rate deal are as significant as the shift in the politics of environmental protection in Illinois.

What’s changed? Why are we poised to set off in an entirely new direction on energy policy, instead of throwing more money at the same old, dirty system?

Here’s my take on some of the key factors -

-State Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), seeing in January that the rate crisis would make energy one of the session’s top priority issues, introduced the Affordable, Clean Energy Standards Act (ACES). State Representative Deborah Graham (D-Oak Park) carried it in the Illinois House. The rate deal essentially incorporates the ACES goals for renewable energy (but strengthens them), and for major new energy efficiency programs.

-Attorney General Lisa Madigan and her team insisted that targets for renewable energy development and energy conservation be a part of any final deal. Her smart and dedicated team made sure that the deal worked for consumers and for our environment.

-ComEd and Ameren seem to be realizing that green power is good business, and they ended up to committing to reach ambitious, but achievable goals.

-Speaker Madigan and President Jones kept open minds about talks that started on the narrow topic of a rate freeze or refund. Many rank and file members of both parties understood the importance of clean energy as part of a rate solution, and spoke up for it.

-Governor Blagojevich, while not a direct party to the negotiations, did set the bar last fall with his Sustainable Energy Plan. The clean energy components of the rate deal reflect components of that plan, and his Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity will have a major role in running the new energy conservation programs.

-THE PEOPLE of Illinois are demanding better energy policies. We have never had more people from all over the state standing up to do their part to solve global warming.

From the back of the pack to setting the pace, these are truly exciting times in Illinois, and the results are good for us all.

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Revenue, health care and electricity rates

The House and Senate advanced different pieces of legislation — a cigarette tax and a health care plan in the Senate and an electricity rate relief plan in the House — but there’s no clear indication that these individual pieces could actually converge into the much-delayed state budget. House Democrats spent about three hours in what felt like an end-of-session gathering behind closed doors Wednesday afternoon. And each of the pieces is expected to be heard on the floor in their respective chambers Thursday, but their futures in the opposite chambers are murky. The same goes for their future in Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s office. As House Speaker Michael Madigan said of the cigarette tax advance in the Senate, “We’ll see.” Here’s a recap of the different measures:

Cigarette tax
BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
Seven days before a possible government shutdown, lawmakers moved a bill out of committee that would generate additional revenue for the state by taxing smokers.

The measure would increase the tax on cigarettes by 75 cents a pack. If approved by both chambers and signed by the governor, the proposed tax on cigarettes would generate about $328 million a year.

It’s unclear how the money would actually be spent, but its sponsor, Chicago Democratic Sen. John Cullerton, said that so far, the money would go into the state’s general revenue fund and be intended to fund a road and school construction plan. Cullerton also said legislators have their own wish lists for the money, such as education funding, capital and health care. However, he assured the final decision would be made collectively by the General Assembly.

Sen. Chris Lauzen, an Aurora Republican, wasn’t so quick to jump on the cigarette tax band wagon. He said Democrats would control where the money goes. “What’s happened to the rest of us who serve a quarter of a million people back home is truly disgraceful,” he said, mentioning unfunded projects for school and road construction in Republican districts.

“Somebody’s [going to] have to take a chance,” Cullerton said. “I know one thing. We can’t fund it at all if there’s no new revenue. This is new revenue, and it’s the easiest way I can think of to get support of three-fifths.”

Opponents voiced concern about small businesses losing revenue from people crossing the borders to buy cigarettes. Coincidentally, Indiana increased its cigarette tax by $1.01. In Washington, the U.S. Senate also approved a $1 tax on cigarettes.

The Illinois Department of Revenue said it supports the proposed cigarette tax, straying away from the governor’s campaign pledge not to sign any legislation that would increase sales tax. “This is different than the sales tax,” said Larry Doll, spokesman for the department. “It’s an excise item. It’s different than a general sales tax. A sales tax is applied to all items including necessities. People need food, clothing, what have you, whereas I don’t think you can make the same argument for cigarettes.” Doll also said it’s his understanding that the governor would sign the legislation if it wins approval.

The governor’s office hasn’t confirmed that yet. If approved, the legislation would immediately go into effect.

Revamped health care proposal
BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
Despite a weird afternoon of goofs and misunderstandings, the governor’s scaled-back Illinois Covered health care proposal moved out of a Senate committee with a 7-4 vote along party lines.

The governor wants to pay for the $1.2 billion initiative with a 3 percent payroll tax on businesses that employ at least 10 but that don’t provide comprehensive health benefits to them. The biggest question of the day was how many businesses would actually be subject to the tax. The committee will have to wait for that answer because no one had those numbers on hand.

The $1.2 billion would go into a trust fund, and the General Assembly would be limited to spending 90 percent of the cash per year to curtail overspending.

Some Senators voiced concern that almost 500,000 of the 1.4 million uninsured and underinsured Illinoisans wouldn’t qualify for either of the two health care packages the governor proposed. Eligibility would be modified as the program moves forward, depending on the revenue generated. Sen. Carol Ronen, the measure's sponsor and Blagojevich ally, estimates that 300,000 people will qualify for one of the programs, and 600,000 would qualify for a second option.

Todd Maisch of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce said the payroll assessment tax would “target the most vulnerable employers.” He also called the tax erroneous and excessive. “The major change is funding,” he said. “This is not a scaled back proposal.”

The proposal will most likely be called for a vote in the Senate this week.

Electricity rate relief
BY BETHANY CARSON
The $1 billion in electricity rate relief for Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison customers is one step closer to becoming law. It’s not without controversy, however, as House Republicans aren’t happy that they weren’t part of closed-door negotiations for most of the past month. If Wednesday night’s House committee hearing was any indication, House Republicans could protest by voting “no” or “present” when the legislation reaches the House floor. But it would still have enough votes among Democrats to return to the Senate.

House Speaker Michael Madigan seemed to smile as he welcomed the chance of Republican rejection. “If there’s some member of the legislature who wishes to vote ‘no’ against $1 billion of rate relief, be my guest.” In other words, a Republican “no” vote for rate relief would make prime campaign literature for the Democrats during election season — it’s the equivalent of saying their opponent voted against health care for children or meals for the elderly.

One controversial portion of the deal that’s unsettling to some is that the state would dismiss six lawsuits brought against the utilities and power companies as a result of the September power auction. That includes the case filed by Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office that alleged the power companies colluded to set electricity prices that robbed customers of an extra $4.3 million.

Rep. Jim Durkin, a Western Springs Republican, was one of the skeptics. “How’s the public protected by not following through and getting to the bottom of each one of these lawsuits instead of just dismissing them with the signing of this letter of understanding and the passage of this legislation? How in good faith can the state of Illinois settle those two cases when you have made serious allegations of manipulation and fraud upon the public?” He was the lone Republican to vote “present” in committee because he said he supported offering rate relief but didn’t like the process of coming to this deal.

Susan Hedman, senior assistant attorney general, justified the dismissal of the lawsuits by saying her office believed rate relief was needed now and that the procurement of power needed to be reformed for the future. “There’s a tradeoff between getting relief up front and waiting. If we do not get reforms in the procurement process now, it would mean that every year that we’re litigating that case, there could be another reverse auction with the danger of the same problems that we observed last time.” She later cut someone off and said, rather bluntly, that without dismissal of the lawsuits, “the deal falls apart.”

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Feds Think Fish Heads Mad Cow Disease Threat

If you ever wanted to see the federal government run amuck, the Northwest Herald’s Kevin Craver’s expansion of McHenry County Blog’s Saturday article ought to fill the bill.

Mayo Underwood runs Underwood Gardens, an organic garden supply company, as well as selling heirloom plant seeds.

One of her products is fermented salmon heads. They provide good fertilizer and the product stinks so much it keeps away the critters.

Underwood told me Friday that the fish heads were “a threat to Homeland Security.”

Craver has found something even more stupid.

The United States Agriculture Department thinks the jars might contain mad cow disease.

Really.

2,000 customers rely on the product, Underwood told Craver.

After prodding, U.S. Congresswoman Melissa Bean’s staff told Underwood she would have an answer by Monday.

Apparently, it didn’t come.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog, of course.

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Illinois Property Tax Appeals Board asks Lisa about Dad

Yesterday in Crains: Madigan asked to rule on dad’s potential conflict

The Tax Appeals Board's Ronald Messina writes Illinois's AG a letter,

In an official — and politically explosive — letter, the Illinois Property Tax Appeals Board requested that Ms. Madigan issue a formal opinion on whether her father’s second job as a property-tax appeals lawyer disqualifies him from taking a leadership role in a huge ongoing debate over whether to extend or cut an existing 7% annual limit on tax hikes on residential property in Cook County.
[***]
But the letter potentially places Ms. Madigan in an awkward position. If she rules he’s in a conflict, she would be publicly chastising her father. If she rules he’s not, she would open herself up to criticism of pulling a punch to benefit her father.

Guess that's the conflicts you get when your in a family business.

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McLean County Pundit: Hastert not running

The pundit says,

Following on the heals of Mike Stokke’s announcement on McLean County Pundit that he would not seek Dennis Hastert’s Congressional seat, sources close to Speaker Hastert’s office (not Mike Stokke) have informed McLean County Pundit that employees have been told to update their resumes and seek other employment. The former Speaker of the House will not seek re-election. Developing . . . .

via Illinois Review

Going to be fun times in both parties in Illinois's 14th district.

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Callis Passes Big Test With Skeptical Audience

Ann Callis traveled 300 miles from Madison County to Cook County to appear before an audience that has been highly critical of her courthouse for decades. In a sense, it was a jury sitting in judgment of the judicial system in Madison County and Ann Callis, Chief Judge of the Third Judicial District, was the top witness -- maybe even the defendant.

Callis was the featured speaker at the annual luncheon of the Illinois Civil Justice League, an organization that has been in the forefront in criticizing the Madison County court system and several of its judges for more than a decade.

The fact that Callis was invited to speak -- and that she accepted -- were both signals that times are changing in Madison County.

This was not the first time the Chief Judge has met with the Illinois Civil Justice League to discuss ways of improving the perception, and the reality, of the Madison County Court system. One meeting was held shortly before last November's election when Callis was seeking retention, and four other meetings have been held, including two involving Illinois doctors and hospitals.

Last Thursday's event, however, was not a small meeting with one of two ICJL staff and a handful of officials from the Illinois State Medical Society or the Illinois Hospital Association.

Thursday's audience included leaders of major national civil justice reform groups, including the American Tort Reform Association, the U.S. Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform and the American Justice Partnership.

Other attendees included more than a dozen representatives of major U.S. corporations who were in Chicago for a meeting of the Civil Justice Reform Group.

The presidents of the Illinois Business Roundtable and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce were there as were the presidents and chairman of the Illinois State Medical Society and ISMIE Mutual.

Callis had moral support -- three colleagues from the Madison County judiciary also attended: Judge Dan Stack and Associate Judges Tom Chapman and Steve Stobbs.

But this was not an easy audience for the Chief Judge of the most talked-about judicial jurisdiction in the United States. This was not an audience of students at Edwardsville High School.

And she passed, with flying colors.

When she described the first change in procedures to be implemented in Madison County -- a procedure to eliminate "judge shopping' in class action cases and close a trial lawyer loophole, the audience responded with applause.

She talked about other changes including requiring arbitration and mediation before trials and she made it clear that she, as Chief Judge, wants to correct the judicial system in Madison County and there was no disagreement from her colleagues in the room. In fact, she said all the changes that have been implemented or proposed (some require Illinois Supreme Court approval) have been agreed to unanimously by the circuit judges in Madison and Bond counties (which make up the Third Circuit).

The impact of the reform of the Madison County judiciary will be felt over a period of time, not overnight. But that period of time may be shorter than anticipated. Already there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of problem lawsuits in Madison County and if trial lawyers, particularly those from out of state and the bottom-feeders, realize the game has changed in Madison County, the positive impact will be felt quickly.

Callis -- and her colleagues -- deserve credit for what is happening. And they need encouragement to keep it going. They'll get both credit and encouragement from Thursday's audience.Judge Ann Callis won a lot of respect from a tough audience last Thursday.

Cross-posted by Ed Murnane at Illinois Justice Blog.

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How do you spell relief?

A long awaited plan for electricity rate relief was announced Tuesday by Illinois’ two major utilities. It’s expected to be discussed and possibly voted on in the House Wednesday. The package is the result of months of public hearings and closed-door meetings, but it may not meet some expectations.

Customers around the state could get a lump sum credit in their September bills ranging from about $50 to about $80, which would cover some of their increased costs for the first half of the year. Starting in October, they would get monthly credits that would eventually decrease until they phased out in 2009.

Officials from the utilities — Commonwealth Edison that serves northern Illinois and Ameren Illinois that serves south of I-80 — held separate press conferences in Springfield to say they supported the compromise proposal.

“It is a very expensive deal for, I think, our industry and for the generators in this state, but I think it does strike all of the right balances,” said Frank Clark, ComEd chairman and chief executive officer.

It’s expensive for power generators because they’re footing most of the $1 billion package, which prevents Clark and Scott Cisel, Ameren Illinois president and chief executive officer, from projecting financial bankruptcy like they did for months as the General Assembly threatened to refreeze electricity rates to give customers a break. But in exchange for the power generators paying for the credits, state lawmakers agreed not to reinstate a freeze or levy a tax on power generators, Clark said.

There’s also something for everyone. House Speaker Michael Madigan and Attorney General Lisa Madigan would get their Illinois Power Authority, a new public power agency that would buy power on behalf of the utilities and potentially generate its own power. Gov. Rod Blagojevich also would get some of his environmental policy proposals for energy efficiency and renewable resources. And Senate President Emil Jones Jr. doesn’t have to vote on a rate freeze.

But it’s not a completely rosy picture. There are lots of questions about the pending legislation. State Rep. Bill Black, a Danville Republican, pointed out on the House floor Tuesday that the monthly credits won’t live up to the hype. “You may see a 70 percent reduction in the increase, but you’re not going to get a 70 percent reduction of your bill,” he yelled. He’s right.

Here’s a chart with examples of Ameren Illinois bills before and after the relief. Regional info can be found here. ComEd customers in October and beyond would get an average monthly credit of about $7 — that’s half of the $14 average increase they were paying over their 2006 monthly bills. “When you hear us talk about $7 a month, I know that’s not overly exciting,” Clark said, “but it’s approximately half of the increase.”

From the industry’s point of view, here’s a few ongoing questions:
- A newly created Illinois Power Authority would buy power on behalf of the Illinois utilities, but it’s unknown how successful the state would be in buying power at a cheaper rate than the utilities.
- It’s also unknown how the state would succeed in building power plants and essentially competing with existing power suppliers.
- It’s also unclear how the proposal would be flexible in allowing utilities and their parent companies to restructure. Further, what are the implications of any restructuring?

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Broken Record

There are records you want to break, and those you don't. Tomorrow will bring the longest overtime session in the modern-day history of the state. The previous record was set a whopping 3 years ago. Read into that what you will.

Truth be told, it is essentially anybody's guess as to whether or not we will even have a budget deal by the end of this month. I had a discussion last night about the irony of what has to transpire to make a budget deal a reality.

Essentially our state government, which has understandably been accused of an inability to get things done, would have to reach consensus on most, if not all, of the following major issues in the next week:

Electric rate relief - essentially done

Property tax relief - who the heck knows after yesterday's aldermanic press conference. It will be interesting to see their reaction if the end result is no extension of the 7% bill.

Mass transit funding - likely through a .25 regional sales tax, with enabling legislation to allow Chicago to levy a transfer tax.

Education funding - is a 1% income tax hike in the works to do this? I'm not sure that the votes are there for it.

Gaming expansion - there are probably Republican votes for this if it's to fund capital projects, but these bills tend to die under their own weight, so it's still 50/50

Health care expansion - this is the make-or-break issue for the Governor, but his 'scaled back' plan is still a billion dollar plus program with a lot of skeptics. An interesting question is if the House and Senate can reach agreement on all of the issues but the last one, does that get the job done?

Ethics - Incredibly, the administration is still ducking this one. Passing HB1, which would end 'pay-to-play' politics, passed the House unanimously, and has 45 Senate sponsors, should be a no-brainer. Instead, the Governor, who promised to 'rock the system' years ago, and then didn't lift a finger to pass anything, still says that he doesn't want to pass this bill because 'it doesn't do enough'. And he said it with a straight face.

An interesting question if a deal can't be reached, then what? A one-month budget seems highly unlikely, leaving wide open the 's' word.

A shutdown.

I think that it would be a travesty if there was to be a shutdown. It's wrong to have state employees, their families, and the people of our state, suffer because of political gamesmanship and posturing over issues that should have been dealt with in the Spring.

At a time when the public deserves to have their confidence in state government restored, a shutdown would do just the opposite. It would tarnish the process, hurt the Democratic party, and set the stage for nothing but more problems in the years ahead.

Buckle up, there's a lot of work to do ahead.

To read or post comments, visit Open House

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The Trib's 2007 presidential campaign contributions

This is neat but select the option to sort by contribution amount and you'll get a list in ascending order with negative numbers on top.

So what kind of contributions are those?

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Jennifer Hunter's Life Long Republican

James R. Ronca writes Jennifer Hunter he really is (was) a life long Republican.

This campaign against you and me is ridiculous and I think evidence of how the Republican Party works. They make an effort to pressure journalists to print what they want and avoid what the Republican Party does not like. No free thinking or free press is allowed. They smear everyone who opposes them from big fish like Joe Wilson to small fries like me.

I am going to have some investigation done into the source and funding for this blog and I will give it to you. Maybe we can get you some information so you can write a Pulitzer Prize-winning article on the Republican conservative party sneak attacks on free press and free speech.

Jack Kelly writes today he's not convinced.

Jennifer Hunter is married to Chicago Sun-Times publisher John Cruickshank, which explains why Ms. Hunter writes a column for the Chicago Sun-Times. Here is why she should not.

On July 16, Ms. Hunter wrote a column which began: "After watching the top five Democratic candidates for president speak before a trial lawyers' group Sunday, attorney Jim Ronca of Philadelphia, a staunch Republican, became certain of one thing: He is not going to vote for a Republican in the 2008 presidential election."

A suspicious reader checked out Mr. Ronca's political contributions. Mr. Ronca had made 14 since 1994 -- 12 to Democrats. The Democratic candidates received $7,000; the GOP candidates $750.

Mr. Ronca's contribution record was posted on several Web sites, whose readers flooded Ms. Hunter with demands for a correction.

If Ms. Hunter had fessed up, I wouldn't be writing about her. But she responded by attacking Web loggers for doing the research she should have done, and blaming her error on her editor.

I had no idea who Mr. Ronca was and could have cared less what he thought, or when or why he changed his mind. I haven't a clue why Mr. Ronca was news to start with in Hunter's column.

But I sure wonder though what's going on over at the Sun Times.

I get stories about Obama cleaning up centuries of corruption and the Mayor's alleged buddies bombing restaurants. We deserve a little better Journalism than this in Chicago.

A Pulitzer prize in all of this Mr. Ronca? I don't think so.

PS: Patterico's Pontification was the blog that broke the story.

Update: Reverse Spin deconstructs why Hunter gave us yesterday's bizarre column.

Why is Hunter digging in and threatening to enlarge this story when she is so obviously wrong? Maybe because she is reaching the point where her mistakes are becoming an issue—even though she has plenty of cover as wife of the Sun-Times publisher.

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Aldermen blast Madigan in tax-cap fight

From Crain's...

The Chicago City Council is jumping into a bitter Springfield political war over property taxes, siding with Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan and Illinois Senate President Emil Jones against Speaker Michael Madigan and Mayor Richard M. Daley on the question of how much tax relief should be offered to whom.

At a Monday morning press conference, aldermen released a letter signed by 49 of the 50 council members alleging that tens of thousands of homeowners in their wards will suffer under the “weak” relief plan being pushed by Mr. Madigan. The speaker’s bill “is nothing more than a disingenuous attempt at property tax relief and will result in most homeowners seeing increases as great as 40%” the letter states.

But a spokesman for the speaker suggested that the aldermen “are not fully aware of the facts” and that “rich people” do not need property tax relief.

At issue is Assessor Houlihan’s proposal to renew for another three years a measure that has effectively capped property-tax hikes at 7% a year for most homeowners. The law originally was enacted three years ago because the value of most residential property in Cook County has been rising far more than 7% a year.

But Mr. Madigan has argued that such measures mostly favor owners of large homes and result in higher taxes on other homeowners and businesses.

Under Mr. Madigan’s bill, which is awaiting a vote in the Senate, the full tax relief would apply only to those who have lived in their homes for more than 10 years and have a total household income of less than $75,000 a year.

As an aside to this article mentioned Mayor Daley. I wondered why he isn't getting involved in this budget struggle? He is one of the top dog Democrats in the state. Though maybe there are people out there who are glad he isn't.

Back to this article though...

Mayor Daley had been allied with Assessor Houlihan in the tax squabble, but switched sides several weeks ago amid rumors that Mr. Madigan had promised help on some of the city’s other initiatives in Springfield.

President Jones has not indicated whether he will pass, defeat or amend Mr. Madigan’s bill. Meanwhile, business groups say that any reduction in taxes for homeowners forces up taxes on them, and support only a limited cap.

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One of those weeks

Monday’s events could set the tone for an action-packed but odd week at the Capitol. Strange bedfellows flew around the state to announce an electricity rate relief package that took months to unfold, and the governor spent the day in Chicago while busloads of Chicago ministers drove down to Springfield to rally and pray outside of his Statehouse office, as well as the House and the Senate.

First, the strange bedfellows of Senate President Emil Jones Jr., House Speaker Michael Madigan and state Attorney General Lisa Madigan flew around the state Monday announcing a long-awaited deal to relieve electricity rates for Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison customers. Details of the agreement are provided from the House Democrats’ Web site in this press release and this fact sheet. Highlights: In addition to one-time credits, customers’ bills would reflect between 40 percent and 70 percent off of the 2007 rates. The rates going forward would be set by the new Illinois Power Authority, which would scrap the type of auction that set this year’s rates and that was supposed to transition Illinois into a deregulated system. Legislation is expected to move soon.

Second, four busloads of ministers and education advocates tried to storm the Capitol to urge state lawmakers and the governor to increase education funding. When guards calmly told them they couldn’t get onto the floor of each chamber, the group knelt in prayer and then sang spiritual hymns as they walked to the next door. When they approached the governor’s office, they were again greeted by guards and then by the governor’s chief of staff, John Harris. Their momentum deflated when Harris told them the governor wasn’t even in the Capitol, that he was in Chicago signing the statewide smoking ban. The ministers were invited to a meeting with all legislative leaders and the governor in the Capitol Tuesday, but most of them returned to their busses.

Earlier, the ministers held a Statehouse press conference and said lawmakers have a “moral obligation” to increase education funding. They stressed they weren’t in town for anyone’s agenda other than the children’s and that they were in Springfield to urge the governor to stand by his promise to put more money into education. (Blagojevich and Jones proposed $1.5 billion for education.)

“We’ve had the governor to our churches on several occasions, singing, what’s his favorite song, ‘Precious Lord, take my hand,’” Rev. Roosevelt Watkins of Bethlehem Star Church in Chicago said. “I think that if there’s no budget, absolutely, he’ll get a different reception. Not only him, but we’ll have Emil Jones, who we have a lot of lines with. All of them, they all will get a different reception.”

But Rep. Arthur Turner, a Chicago Democrat, said the group is the first of many to stressing the need for more education funding, but they’re just starting to realize the complexity of weighing all the budgetary needs. “If you’ve got funding in the schools and the CTA busses aren’t running on a school day, you’re still no better off than you were before,” he said after speaking with the ministers.

Third, AFSCME Council 31, which represents about 40,000 state employees, sent a letter Friday urging the leaders and the governor to avoid a government shutdown, preferably with a 12-month budget or at least with another one-month budget.

Fourth, the governor signed the statewide smoking ban in Chicago Monday. It bans smoking in restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, hospitals, nursing homes, sports arenas, casinos and other places January 1, 2008.

More action gets under way Tuesday.
Deanese Williams-Harris contributed to this report.

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Someone has figured it all out....

From OpenLine in the Beacon News (the column people call in with opinions)

Dissension refreshing
I kind of like what's going on down in Springfield. I like the dissension in the ranks amongst the Democratic Party because it shows that they're each individual thinkers and they have their disagreements, unlike the Republican Party that is run like a communist dictatorship in that no one is allowed to disagree with the party. If anyone disagrees with the party, their campaign funds are cut off and they are summarily thrown out of the party. That's the way it works nationally, anyway. Is that what you want? You want a communist dictatorship running the country?

Dude, if the Communists worked like Illinois Republicans Communism would have died out in 1918...

OneMan

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Will Rod Grow?

Tom Roeser wrote a piece on July 16th in which he detailed the acceptance of Republicans by the Georgetown crowd. He referred to it as “Standing Tall in Georgetown.”

When a Republican got mature enough in Washington, he abandoned the reasons that got him elected to please the media and political elite, he was “Standing Tall in Georgetown.”

Political novelist and New York Times Washington Bureau newsman Allan Drury came up with the term.

What’s it mean? Here’s what Roeser says,

”Georgetown in Drury’s 1959 novel (‘Advise and Consent’) is the same Georgetown as exists today, the home of culturally literate, guilt-ridden and politically correct affluent white liberals who formulate much of the media agenda.

“If you are a repentant conservative and embrace liberal dogma supposedly heedless of what it will do to your career… because you are an idealist… you will

(a) stand tall in Georgetown and be invited to its cocktail soirees and

(b) thereupon get a huge bunch of favorable media attention in the main journals that excite liberals: the ‘Washington Post,’ ‘New York Times,’ ‘Christian Science Monitor’ and powerful media interests in the east.

“That will enable you to catapult to the topmost stature overnight…being depicted as one who has 'grown'…has become ‘mature through sobering events.’

“The intriguing thing is that while STIG gets adulatory coverage for its protagonists in the short-run, thus far all of them have failed to score with the subliminal object: the presidency.”

So, the question I raise today is whether Governor Rod Blagojevich will be tempted by House Speaker Mike Madigan’s challenge to endorse a state income tax hike?

Will he mature enough to become a real tax hiking Democrat? (Not that I concede that he hasn’t hiked lots of taxes already.)

What should the Illinois counterpart of “Standing Tall in Georgetown” be?

Do the media biggies live on the North Shore? In Downtown Chicago condos?

I couldn’t have cared less before starting this story.

I don’t think being praised by John Kass’ “Bipartisan Combine” quite fits.

Maybe someone can come up with a better description for the change in media attitude that Blagojevich’s breaking of his promise not to raise income or sales taxes would bring about.

And, what would be Rod's Reward?

Perhaps an end to cartoonists' ridiculing him.

= = = = =
The article with Mike Madigan's pitch for an income tax hike comes from July 19th's Chicago Sun-Times. The clown depiction of Governor Rod Blagojevich with his $600 hairdoo was drawn by Springfield's State Journal-Register cartoonist Chris Britt and re-printed in the Chicago Tribune, which, like the Northwest Herald, does not have its own cartoonist, on July 18th.

And, of course, there is more on McHenry County Blog.

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Saturday Morning L0Lz: Aaron Patterson

When I think of the Red Liner's attempts to bring down the King, I often imagine a fish flopping around at the bottom of a boat with a big hook in it's mouth. Sure, it's going to squawk, make a lot of noise, and crap all over the interior of your brand new Ranger, but it's all just a gigantic act of futility.

Speaking of futility, their recent attempts to vanquish da mare by bringing up ancient history will most certainly be an exercise in such. I trust that you all remember Aaron Patterson, convicted murderer and leader of the extraordinarily brutal Apache Rangers street gang. Aaron, as you'll recall, was one of those folks wrongfully pardoned George Ryan.

After being pardoned, Patterson swore that he would conduct an investigation into police corruption and Find The Real Killers (TM). In order to accomplish this noble task, Patterson needed 2 things: a felonious amount of drugs and several blow back operated, fully automatic MAC-10 machine pistols. Obviously, these purchasing habits attracted the federal government (whom - duh - are in on it with Da Mare) who then conspired to lock him back up, which brings us to present time at Patterson's second sentencing, where he had to be "dragged kicking and screaming" from court at the prospect of being 'wrongfully' convicted...........again.

One post child for Boutique Citizens down. Not even the rabidly Daley hating Chicago MSM is covering much of Patterson's latest story, simply because this myth about him being set up by the police is just too much BS - even for them.


Thankfully, neither the Red Liners nor Patterson are terribly smart. The Red Liners, short a respectable citizen to champion their cause, instead selected a thug - a career criminal who couldn't 'leave the game' if he wanted to. Patterson, whom should have taken his free pass on a double homicide and disappeared, stuck around to continue his life of criminal behavior only to be stuck in the clink again.

For more humor associated with the wasted criminal life of Aaron Patterson, now resident of a federal pen., enjoy the following links:

0009.org: "Patterson gears up and gets political, fighting, as anyone would, against the broken and corrupt system that screwed him over so hard, and reaching back to help those still stuck within it’s horrific grip."

"Hip Hop War Report": "Aaron Patterson has survived police torture and years spent on death row for a crime he didn’t commit and he came out swinging against a corrupt and racist criminal justice system. By targeting him, the Chicago Police Department and the U.S. Justice Department are trying to tell victims of police and prosecutorial misconduct to suffer in silence."

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D2 Day

Cross posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

Today’s the day for campaign finance disclosure. The usual suspects have or will be filing at the State Board of Elections and ICPR and the Sunshine Project will start work standardizing the names, coding the donors and analyzing the receipts. In the meantime, here’s a summary of three new PACs that were active this Spring.

The First CD Victory PAC (Local ID # 13868) was formed on January 24, 2007 with Congressman Bobby Rush as Chair and Chicago man-about-town Elzie Higginbottom as Treasurer. Before the February elections it raised 43 donations totaling $118K (averaging $2.7K) and gave that money mostly to Aldermanic candidates in the First Congressional District, which Rush represents. Then something happened to the committee. Rush left as Chair, Higginbottom as took over, and the fund really started raising money. After the February 27 elections, the PAC raised another 75 donations totaling $544K (averaging $7.2K). Donors included a who’s who of Connected Chicago, along with a few big box retailers. And, as was widely noted at the time, the PAC started giving to Aldermanic candidates who were (1) in run-offs, regardless of which Congressional District they lived in, and (2) were perceived as being friendly to the Mayor. The funded ended the reporting period with $19K.

ActBlue Illinois (State ID #9277) is a Massachusetts-based in Massachusetts and formed late last year that raises money “To support all Democrats running for state legislative or statewide offices.” It looks like it’s taking a page from U.S. Senator Barack Obama and others who have focused on Internet fundraising on a national scale; but this one seeks to funnel that money into state legislative races. The PAC reported just under $24K in receipts, including about $7K in non-itemized receipts (ie, from donors who gave less than the $150 disclosure threshold). Of its itemized receipts, about half (52%) came from in-state while the rest came from Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, California – you get the idea. It’s an interesting idea in fundraising. Most of the money raised went to one candidate – Daniel Biss, a challenger for a House seat (and what didn’t go to Biss went to processing fees, not other candidates). The PAC ended the period with about $4K on hand.

Citizens for Tax Fairness, Healthcare & Education (State ID #9366) was formed earlier this year to “To advocate for and contribute to the public debate on tax fairness, healthcare and education.” They broadcast a bunch of TV spots ($800K worth, including a few radio ads) in support of Gov. Blagojevich’s proposed Gross Receipts Tax, but didn’t give to any candidates. Their receipts came from four PACs: the IEA ($400K), the IFT ($200K), the Illinois Hospital Assn ($250K), and Planned Parenthood Votes Illinois ($5K. And no, that’s not a typo, just a difference of scale). The Committee listed a PO Box for an address, but if there was ever any doubt who they were affiliated with, one donor listed an address matching the same street and suite number as Friends of Rod Blagojevich. The PAC ended the period with about $19K available.

That’s just three of the over 3,000 committees that should be filing by today. Go look at the State Board of Elections website to see what else is available. And check back to ICPR’s website for an updated Sunshine Database in a few weeks.

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Fish Heads Threat To Homeland Security

Mayo Underwood runs a certified organic, heirloom seed, plant and supply firm called Underwood Gardens. It’s located east of Woodstock, Illinois.

After 15 years old in business, Underwood has run afoul of the Homeland Security Department.

She was giving a talk in Fairbury (near Bloomington) to a group of organic farmers about two weeks ago. They had expected her to bring down cases of concentrated liquid plant food made from wild Canadian salmon heads.

They didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when she told them that the shipment had been held up in Customs in Detroit “as a threat to homeland security.”

That’s strange because she received a half a pallet load of the stinky stuff, called Salmon Plant Food, in April.

No problem then.

“Something changed between April and June,” when she made another order, Underwood said.

The Canadian manufacturing company, Envirem, submitted every piece of documentation that the U.S. Department of Agriculture requested “immediately.”

“OK, we’ve done everything they requested. Now, we have to wait for the USDA to approve,” the firm’s President Colin Murray told Underwood.

She contacted State Senator Pam Althoff and her assistant, county board member Tina Hill, suggested contacting Congresswoman Melissa Bean.

Underwood did that July 5th.

A letter dated July 9th came back from Bean’s office asking “to allow 30 to 60 days for a response.”

“I called and my caseworker is Susan Giannone, who said that’s the standard and there’s nothing more they can do.

“Then on my answering machine I had a response from them saying it takes 60-90 days to get a response,” she continued.

“So, I called back, 30 to 60, 60 to 90, asking which was correct and saying these are farmers waiting for it now and this doesn’t help and I would have to tell the farmers what Melissa Bean’s office was telling me.”

D“At that, she said, ‘I’ll get back to you.’”

“Ten minutes later she called back and said, ‘You might have an answer in ten days.’

“And, Monday will be ten days.

“In the meanwhile, I contacted Dick Durbin, Don Manzullo and Barack Obama. I only did those Wednesday and Thursday and haven’t heard back yet.

“I’ll take help from anybody.”

The embargoed product “is one of the major weapons in an organic farmers arsenal,” Underwood said. “It not only boosts plant health and production, it also deters pests—deer, rabbit and cucumber beetles. Most mammals do not like the smell.”

= = = = =
The photographs were supplied by Underwood. The heirloom flowers grown by Underwood include, from top to bottom, Amaranth Joseph's Coat, Bee Balm Close and Dwarf Bees Close. A number of the "farmers are growers for the Chicago restaurateur Rick Bayless. They supply him with organic heirloom tomatoes and unusual edibles like the amaranth and bean flowers below, lily buds, etc.," Underwood says.

Much, much more on McHenry County Blog this weekend, including possible successors to retiring State Rep. Pat Lindner.

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Former corrections chief and contractors indicted

Donald Snyder Jr., former director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, was indicted on federal charges of receiving about $50,000 in illegal kickbacks from two lobbyists who represented health-care companies holding large contracts with the state. The indictments stem from a federal investigation, “Operation Safe Road,” that led to the corruption conviction of former Gov. George Ryan. The former governor appointed Snyder, of Pittsfield, to his post that ran from 1999 to 2003.

“As a top state official, Mr. Snyder was bound by various rules governing his acceptance of gifts or favors of any kind,” said U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in a press release. “He was forbidden from receiving cash kickbacks from anyone, much less from lobbyists representing companies doing millions of dollars in business with IDOC.”

Lobbyist John Robinson of Barrington Hills in northern Illinois represented an Illinois-based company that held a multi-million dollar contract with the state to provide health-care services for Illinois inmates. He also is the former Cook County undersheriff. Between 1996 and 2003, he allegedly arranged a contract with the health-care company to receive $2,500 a month in addition to 5 percent of the company’s income from contracts with the Department of Corrections. The indictment says Robinson expected to get an increased payment of $4,500 a month as soon as the health-care company’s state contract exceeded $4 million.

Larry Sims of Pleasant Plains in central Illinois, represented a Pennsylvania health-care company that also held multi-million dollar contracts with the corrections department. He allegedly co-schemed with Snyder and Robinson to file false statements with the state to hide the illegal payments to Snyder.

Snyder and Robinson were each charged with five counts of mail fraud, one carrying a maximum sentence of one year in prison and four others carrying up to 20 years in prison. Sims was charged with one count of perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury during the investigation, an offense carrying a maximum punishment of five years in prison. The indictment also seeks $50,000 from Snyder. If convicted, all three also could have to pay a $250,000 fine on each count.

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Budget negotiation update

BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS

Today’s leaders’ meeting focused on spending instead of ways to generate new revenue. There also was talk that electric rate relief may be around the corner.

As far as the budget, there seems to be no visible movement. “Reports that there’s a deal and so forth, that’s erroneous,” Senate President Emil Jones Jr. said.

However, Deputy Governor Shelia Nix said progress has been made, and that next week should be a key week in getting the budget wrapped up by the end of the month.

Sen. Jones said, “The governor had his revenue proposal to drive the budget, and that’s been rejected by the House. We the Senate Democrats put forth our revenue proposal to fund education, to take care of the capital needs of state of Illinois, the House rejected that,”

He also said, “Now perhaps the House will come forth with its revenue measure and maybe the speaker will go ahead and push the income tax.”

In other news, electric rate relief proposal may be in the final stages of completion.

Jones, along with House Speaker Michael Madigan and Attorney General Lisa Madigan has scheduled a fly-around trip to discuss details of a statewide electric rate relief package. “It’s being put together,” Jones said. “It’s not complete as of yet.” However, he did say “the deal is pretty, pretty close.”

The group intends to release the details on Monday said Jones. The trip will begin in Peoria, then to Decatur, Cahokia and end in Marion.

Both chambers will be out for the weekend, the first time since the special sessions began. They’re scheduled to get back to work Monday afternoon.

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George Ryan's Corrections Director Indicted for $50,000 in Kickbacks

First a disclaimer: I worked closely with Don Synder, a former county sheriff, when he was Director of the Department of Corrections under former Governor George Ryan. He was the most responsive Director that I worked with on the Prison Reform Committee. One of the men charged along with Synder is John J. Robinson of Barrington Hills.

What follows is the press release from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald:

U.S. INDICTMENT ALLEGES FORMER IDOC DIRECTOR PAID $50,000 IN KICKBACKS BY TWO LOBBYISTS REPRESENTING STATE PRISON VENDORS

CHICAGO – A former Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), who allegedly received approximately $50,000 in illegal kickbacks, and two lobbyists accused of paying him the kickbacks while representing vendors that had multi-million-dollar contracts with the state prison agency, were indicted today on federal charges. The defendants, Donald N. Snyder, Jr., who was IDOC director from 1999 until early 2003, and lobbyists John J. Robinson, a former Undersheriff of Cook County, and Larry E. Sims were charged in a six-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Snyder, 52, of downstate Pittsfield, Il., allegedly received the kickbacks while he served in the state cabinet during the administration of former Gov. George Ryan. Today’s indictment stems from an investigation that grew out of the Operation Safe Road probe of corruption during Ryan’s terms as Governor and, earlier, Secretary of State. Snyder, who was appointed by Ryan, had approval authority over the award of millions of dollars in contracts to vendors, including health care providers, who provided inmate health care services in IDOC institutions.

Robinson, 59, of Barrington Hills, who was Undersheriff of Cook County from 1991 until 2001, also worked between 1996 and 2003 as a paid consultant/ lobbyist for several vendors and/or institutions seeking to promote and develop their business with IDOC. Robinson formed J. Patrick Noll (JPN), which developed and promoted correctional business on behalf of clients, including Vendor A, an Illinois health care company that was awarded millions of dollars in contracts to provide health care services at Illinois prisons during Snyder’s tenure at IDOC. Under a 1996 contract with Vendor A, JPN was initially paid $2,500 a month, plus five percent of Vendor A’s income from Illinois corrections contracts, with a provision that the monthly retainer would rise to $4,500 a month when Vendor A’s Illinois prisons contracts exceeded $4 million, the indictment states.

Sims, 58, of Pleasant Plains, Il., near Springfield, was a lobbyist for several vendors, including Vendor B, a Pennsylvania health care company that was trying to promote and develop its corrections business and was awarded millions of dollars in contracts to provide healthcare services to IDOC inmates during Snyder’s tenure.

Snyder and Robinson were each charged with five counts of mail fraud, and Sims was charged with one count of perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury during the investigation. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of $50,000 from Snyder. All three defendants will be arraigned at a later date in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

“As a top state official, Mr. Snyder was bound by various rules governing his acceptance of gifts or favors of any kind. He was forbidden from receiving cash kickbacks from anyone, much less from lobbyists representing companies doing millions of dollars in business with IDOC,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “The indictment alleges that he brazenly violated the duty he owed to the state and its citizens to perform his job honestly.”

Mr. Fitzgerald announced the charges with Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Thomas P. Brady, Postal Inspector-in-Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Alvin Patton, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division; and Michelle McVicker, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, all in Chicago.

According to the indictment, Robinson and Sims were involved in separate kickback deals with Snyder, but in both instances – in consideration for the cash payments – Snyder allegedly gave each of them information and assistance on issues and concerns they raised on behalf of their various vendor clients. To conceal the scheme, Snyder allegedly filed false Statements of Economic Interest with the state, failing to disclose the cash payments he received from Robinson and Sims, and Sims allegedly filed false lobbyist registration statements, failing to disclose any of the money he paid to Snyder. All three allegedly lied to federal agents investigating whether Robinson and Sims had given anything of value to Snyder.

Regarding the payments by Sims to Snyder, the indictment alleges that in late 1999 or early 2000, Snyder and Sims discussed the compensation that Sims received from Vendor B, and Sims agreed to pay Snyder a portion of the monthly fee that Sims received from that client. Beginning in early 2000 and continuing until approximately the end of 2002, Sims gave cash to Snyder each month, totaling approximately $30,000, after Sims received his monthly fee from Vendor B.

Regarding the payments by Robinson to Snyder, the indictment alleges that in late 1999 or early 2000, Snyder agreed to accept cash derived from the consulting or lobbying fees that Robinson earned from their representation of one or more vendors doing business with IDOC. From early 2000 until December 2002, Robinson allegedly paid kickbacks to Snyder totaling approximately $20,000, which amounted to about one-fourth of the monthly fees that Robinson’s company, JPN, received from Vendor A. Robinson paid Snyder periodically when they met at various corrections-related meetings or events, the indictment alleges.

The perjury count against Sims alleges that on May 5, 2005, he lied when he testified before a grand jury that he never gave Snyder any cash gifts, and that he could not remember if he ever gave Snyder any gifts at all other than a Green Bay Packers sweatshirt on one occasion. Sims, in fact, had given Snyder cash kickbacks derived from lobbying fees that Sims received from Vendor B.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joel Levin and Laurie Barsella.

If convicted, Snyder and Robinson each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison on one count of mail fraud and 20 years in prison on each of the other four counts of mail fraud, and Sims faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted of perjury. All three defendants also face a maximum fine of $250,000 on each count. The Court, however, would determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Monahan Money

Cross-posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

Today the US Attorney for Northern Illinois announced an indictment against Aidan Monahan, of Monahan Landscape Company. The indictment, which alleges that Monahan fraudulently obtained landscaping contracts with the Chicago Public Schools that should have been set aside for minorities and women, is available here (PDF), and the press release is here (PDF).

Monahan and his company have given generously to politicians in the Chicagoland area: over $200K according to the State Board of Elections website, mostly between 1999 and 2003. He appears to have made no donations since 2005. The allegations in today's indictment focus on activities from 2003-2006.

Top recipients include:

Democratic Party of Illinois - $108K (between '99-'02)
Friends of Michael J Madigan - $27K ('99)
Citizens for Lisa Madigan - $25K ('02)
Statesman of the Year (IUOE Local 150) - $23,125 ('99-'05)
33rd Ward RDO - $10.9K ('00-'02) (not including $200 to Citizens for Richard Mell in '99)
Friends of [Chgo Ald.] Patrick J. Levar - $5.5K ('00-'02) (not including $750 to 45th Ward RDO in '99)
Friends of Blagojevich - $5K ('02)
Richard M Daley Campaign Committee - $1.5K ('03)
Citizens for [Former Chgo Ald. Arenda] Troutman - $1.5K ('02)
Citizens for [Former Cook Sheriff] Michael F. Sheahan - $250 ('01)

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Ex-Aldermen snubbed

Yesterday should have been a joyous occasion in the Englewood neighborhood because the new Kennedy-King College (a two year college that's part of the City Colleges of Chicago) was recently finished and there was to have been a ribbon cutting ceremony. Then I wake up this morning and find that the joyous occasion was disrupted by two ousted Alderman, Arenda Troutman, who many of you know was not only ousted in the first round in February but was indicted on corruption charges in federal court and there's Shirley Coleman, who was ousted in the runoffs in April.

Now unless you believe either the mayor or Montel Gayles director of the Public Building Commision, who were quoted in articles from the Sun-Times and the Tribune as saying that Troutman and Coleman were invited to the Kennedy-King ribbon cutting ceremony...

"We believe we sent you an invitation," he said to Coleman and Troutman as he stood on the stage near them. "Whether we sent it or not from my heart I apologize for you not receiving one, but we would not be here today if it wasn't for the work these two aldermen put forth. With no hard feelings and no regret, I am glad they are here. I am glad that they are here to share with us the success of this day. Now with that said, let's move on with our program."
...
"I would never, never ever slight any elected official or former elected official. They were invited," Daley said.

If this was true then why did Coleman and Troutman arrive at this ceremony in a huff? If Mayor Daley did snub the pair what could possibly be the reason for it?

That's when I saw this story at Clout City...

But Shirley Coleman? The mayor's people didn't invite her to yesterday's ceremony either, and she was one of Daley's most loyal council supporters. She provided one of the three flip-flop votes he needed to kill the big-box living-wage ordinance, and it probably cost her last April's election to Joann Thompson, who was backed by the unions.

Although, come to think of it, Coleman also voted against the Olympics, a desperate, last-ditch move to stave off defeat by showing she wasn't a complete Daley puppet. Maybe that's why the mayor snubbed her at yesterday's ceremony. He has a very long memory.

Any way you look at it, this should be a lesson for other loyalists thinking about the mayor's TIFs, taxes, and Olympics. Vote against him, even once, and you're exiled.

I wrote about this story minus the Clout City article this morning I said that while I'm not a regular reader of John Kass' columns from the Tribune, there was one thing I have gotten from them. That is when Daley has no use for you he eventually turns on you. Clout City might have clinched it for me.

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Transit woes

BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS

As the clock ticks toward a possible government shutdown, Sen. Martin Sandoval said Thursday he wouldn’t support a state budget that lacks funding for education and transportation.

“Once again, there needs to be a recognition there is a crisis in Illinois and that service cuts will happen 60 days from today as a result of our inability to fund this priority,” he said during a Statehouse press conference Thursday morning. “I, from my own perspective, will not vote, and cannot, in right conscience, vote on any budget compromise that does not include money for the RTA, CTA, PACE and Metra.”

He joined legislators from both chambers to talk about ways to avoid service reductions in transportation services scheduled to take place in northeastern Illinois as early as September 17.

The CTA plans to eliminate 63 bus routes and two rail lines. Fares also would rise from $2 to $4.25 during rush hour, and workers would be laid off. PACE plans to cut all weekend bus services, all Metra station routes and 23 regional routes for the entire suburban Chicago area. It also would raise fares by 33 percent and reduce transportation for the disabled to the federally-mandated standards.

Rep. Julie Hamos, an Evanston Democrat, said legislators are in the final stages of drafting legislation that would generate additional funding for transit. “The transit system has not been fully supported by the state budget in 24 years,” she said. “This is no time now to take on the responsibility for transit as part of our state budget. What the system does not need is a one-year bailout that would put us back in not only the same place next year, but in an even worse condition.”

Lawmakers propose a regional tax increase and a full range of reforms that would address transit spending and pension system accountability.

So far, legislators have two funding components on the table that include a one-quarter percent sales tax increase for the six counties in northeastern Illinois and a real estate transfer tax in Chicago. Gov. Rod Blagojevich has repeated his campaign promise that he wouldn’t approve any legislation to raise state income or sales taxes. Therefore, if the measure wins the approval of both chambers, lawmakers could override his veto.

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Bad Apples

The Mayor talking about his refusal to release the names of CPD officers and the number of compliants filed against them,

Mayor Richard Daley on Wednesday defended the Chicago Police Department and its troubled Special Operations Section after revelations that officers in the unit have been the subject of hundreds of citizen complaints.

"We have a very good police department," Daley declared. "You cannot say there are a few bad apples and write them off just like the media does.

"You have a few bad apples as well," he told reporters.

Frankly I fear corrupt cops more than I fear corrupt Press-Lords swindling shareholders.

When my Senator blames Chicago's violence on gun stores and bad parenting, I sometimes wonder if maybe the real problem isn't just bad policing by some very bad apples.

Instead of having a Senator tell me to how to be a Dad, I'd rather have him tell the Mayor how to sort out the rotton ones.

xp Prairie State Blue

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Minutemen Bring Ohio Sheriff to Crystal Lake

Tuesday, a Chicago Sun-Times page two photograph and headline told the story of what happened in Waukegan as its city council voted to continue on the path of training two supervisory policemen in how to detain murders, rapists and other heavy-hitting criminals prior to deportation.

It is amazing that anyone would object to local police playing such a role.

But 3,000 showed up to oppose the action.

Wednesday, the new, self-proclaimed “liberal” editorial page of the Sun-Times threw me a curve.

Take a look at the headline, which I consider eminently appropriate, and tell me how the “liberal” editors reached such a logical conclusion.

Illinois Minutemen are sponsoring a seminar on the topic of enforcement on August 25th at Crystal Lake’s Holiday Inn. The event requires purchase of a $10 ticket.

The group is bringing in Sheriff Dan Beck of the 108,000-population Allen County, Ohio, to tell of how he has deported 80 illegal aliens in the last year and a half. My guess is they want those who hear him to help pay for his travel expenses.

For tickets, mail a $10 check made out to the Illinois Minuteman Project to P.O. Box 911, Skokie, IL 60076. For more information, call Illinois Minuteman Project Director Rosanna Pulido at 773-250-3399. Pulido is of Mexican heritage.

Published first on McHenry County Blog.

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Tax talk

It’s almost like we’ve come full circle. The spring session started with momentum behind talk of state tax increases to address funding for education, public employee pensions and health care. But the Statehouse chatter fizzled by the time the General Assembly missed its May 31 deadline to approve a state budget. Now, 48 days later, a couple tax ideas have popped back into summer budget negotiations.

It’s like déjà vu. House Speaker Michael Madigan announced on Chicago talk radio and to the Statehouse press Wednesday that the best way for Gov. Rod Blagojevich to get new revenue is to consider that the majority of House Democrats support some kind of an income tax increase. But Blagojevich has repeatedly and passionately promised to reject an increase in the state income or sales tax. The only possible change is by Senate President Emil Jones Jr., who has sided with the governor since he first proposed the now defunct gross receipts tax on businesses to fund health care. Jones said Wednesday, however, he would consider an income tax increase.

“[HB] 750 had the regressive sales tax, which I strongly oppose,” Jones said after a budget meeting in the governor’s Statehouse office. “But I’m open to the income tax, as well.” (The 750 legislation has long called for an increase in income and sales taxes to reduce property taxes and reform the way the state funds education.) When asked whether he could change the governor’s mind on an income tax increase, Jones said, “The governor was opposed to gaming, and I persuaded him to back off his opposition to gaming. And so if the House passes the income tax as the speaker indicated on WVON, he should go ahead and pass the legislation, and we would give it a strong consideration in the Senate.”

Madigan even made a point to tell the press that he had dinner with Jones Tuesday night in Springfield. “The most significant thing for me coming out of the meeting was that Sen. Jones strongly indicated that he was willing to work with me to finalize the budget for the next fiscal year,” Madigan said. He also said gaming was not in the budget that he was preparing.

But Jones said he wouldn’t accept a budget without gaming expansion unless Madigan came up with an alternative revenue source to fund Jones’ desired $1.5 billion increase in education funding. Jones said other revenue ideas still on the table include the closure of some corporate tax breaks and an alternative minimum tax, which would apply to businesses that make a lot of money but that don’t pay a lot of state taxes. The way to come up with a compromise on alternative revenue ideas, Jones said, was up to the speaker. “Now it’s up to [Madigan] to provide the quality leadership to get additional dollars we need for education — quality leadership.”

Senate Republicans oppose the idea of an income tax increase, according to Sen. Minority Leader Frank Watson. But his caucus’ votes wouldn’t be needed if the Senate Democrats utilized their veto-proof majority of 37 to 22. Over in the House, Republicans would be needed to override to a governor’s veto on an income tax increase.

House Minority Leader Tom Cross wasn’t feeling today’s leaders' meeting as he made an early exit. “We’re having the same discussion that we had in January, February, March, April, May, June, and now July,” he said, raising his voice a little more than normal and seeming more perturbed. “We’ve had a budget process, we’ve had a committee process, we have caucuses, and we hear political rhetoric and political speeches everyday, and it doesn’t bring us any closer to conclusion.”

Poll results favor Illinois Covered
BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
Will the results of a poll released today by Lake Research Partners make some lawmakers change their tune about the governor’s Illinois Covered proposal? One survey question in particular foreshadows campaign season. When asked whether they would be more likely to re-elect their legislator if he or she supported the governor's health insurance plan, out of the 600 likely Illinois voters surveyed, 55 percent said they would. That number breaks down to 67 percent Democrats, 40 percent Republicans and 52 percent Independents.

Participants also were asked whether they would support a plan if it were paid for by an increase in gaming taxes, a tax on employers who don’t offer comprehensive health insurance and an insurance premium based on the ability to pay. Seventy-eight percent were in favor of those three funding sources; 15 percent opposed and 8 percent were undecided.

People also identified that they thought the focus for this summer's special sessions should be health care costs and health care reform (88 percent), education investments and reform (80 percent), improving roads and transportation (65 percent), as well as unfunded state pensions (53 percent).

“The people of Illinois are telling us that health care is their top priority and we cannot let them down,” said Gov. Rod Blagojevich in a press release today. “This year in Illinois, we have a unique opportunity to pass the most comprehensive health care plan in the country that would give every family and small business in our state access to affordable health coverage.”

The poll was sponsored by America’s Agenda Health Care Education Fund, the AARP, the AFL-CIO and the Campaign for Better Health Care. All of those organizations supported Blagojevich’s Illinois Covered plan from the beginning.

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Do Things Right

Cross posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette recently noted the strong sentiment among Illinois voters for cleaning up government. Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Senate President Emil Jones say they support ethics reform, but the newspaper said they haven't delivered it.

"They talk a good game but their actions show nothing but contempt for ethics reforms," The News-Gazette said in a strong editorial. (Read all of it here.)

Regular readers of this blog know that House Bill 1, which would limit opportunities for pay-to-play in state government, passed the House without any opposition on April 25th, but Senate President Jones has kept it locked in the Senate Rules Committee even though 45 senators have signed on a co-sponsors.

Other important reform legislation also has met a roadblock in the Senate.

The News-Gazette asked some important questions: " . . . why don't the Senate president and his pal, Rod "We do things right" Blagojevich, get behind tough disclosure laws on elected officials, lobbyists, contractors and subcontractors? Why don't they limit no-bid state contracts? Why don't they open up ethics commission investigations?"

This would be a good time for answers and for passing restrictions on pay-to-play opportunities.

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POTENTIAL FOES MONITOR STROGER’S “CREDIBILITY” - by Russ Stewart

[Russ Stewart has asked that I begin posting his columns here. His web master isn’t posting them online for a couple of days. This is cross-posted at his own Capitol Fax Blog page.]

POTENTIAL FOES MONITOR STROGER’S “CREDIBILITY”

ANALYSIS & OPINION BY RUSS STEWART

There is absolutely, positively no doubt that black Democrat Todd Stroger, had he publicized his diagnosis of prostate cancer, would not have been his incapacitated father’s replacement as Cook County Board president nominee in 2006. Nor, had he done so later, would he have been elected.

John Stroger had a stroke in March, before he won the Democratic primary. Todd Stroger was diagnosed in April, but concealed that information. And the county Democratic central committee chose Todd to run in August.

In the November election, Republican County Commissioner Tony Peraica ripped Stroger for his method of appointment and his inexperience, and called for “reform” in county government. In a turnout of 1,263,539, Stroger topped Peraica by a narrow 94,457 votes (53.7 percent). Had Stroger’s health issue subterfuge surfaced, Peraica would have likely won.

Looking ahead to 2010, when Todd Stroger’s term expires, there is absolutely, positively no doubt that Stroger’s “credibility” will be the over-riding issue – but not necessarily on the matter of his illness. Instead, it will be whether Stroger has fulfilled his 2006 promise to cap county spending, avoid tax hikes, and reform the county’s hiring process, which is the subject of a federal investigation.

As prostate cancer is treatable and curable, there is every expectation that Stroger, age 44, will run for re-election. And there is absolutely, positively no doubt that there will be a credible field of opponents, among both Democrats and Republicans.

Democratic county commissioners Forrest Claypool, Mike Quigley and Larry Suffredin are angling to run. Claypool opposed John Stroger in the 2006 primary, and his “reform” message was developing momentum. But Stroger’s stroke put the contest into limbo. The incumbent got a huge outpouring of votes from the black community, and sympathy votes from many whites. Stroger won by 318,634-276,682 (53.5 percent), a 41,952-vote margin. Claypool is definitely running again in 2010. Quigley announced in 2005 that he was running, but then withdrew and endorsed Claypool. He won’t defer to Claypool in 2010.

Claypool represents a Northwest Side county board district, while Quigley is from the Lakefront, and Suffredin from the North Shore. All are white. If two or more run as 2010’s “reformer,” then Stroger wins easily.

Peraica wants a rematch, but Republican Commissioner Liz Gorman, who – like Quigley – stepped aside in 2006, won’t do so in 2010. She is now the Republican county chairman, and she and Peraica detest each other. A vicious primary looms.

Various newspapers have editorialized about the need for “full disclosure” of candidates’ health. Does the public have the right to know if a potential (or current) elected official is sick and/or dying? The Stroger Clan has perfected the art of non-disclosure. John’s stroke, two weeks before the 2006 primary, didn’t derail his renomination, but secrecy surrounding his condition, and potential recorvery, did delay his replacement until the latest possible moment.

Young Stroger, then the alderman of his dad’s black South Side 8th Ward, just south of Hyde Park, was the obvious successor, for several reasons:
First, the ward’s Stroger Machine, comprised of at least 1,200 county and city jobholders, has long been a bulwark of support for the Daley Machine. Without a Stroger to protect those jobs, the ward’s Machine would crumble; and the 3,000-plus county jobholders in other South Side black wards would be adrift, and not a cog in the Stroger/Daley Machine. Daley needs a visible, powerful black to provide tangible support.

In the 2007 mayoral election, Mayor Rich Daley won the 8th Ward by 4,450-2,875 over black Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, who lives in the area. Daley carried all 20 black-majority wards.

Second, young Stroger would be a compliant board president, acceding to instructions from the mayor’s brother, Commissioner John Daley, the finance committee chairman. Stroger has not disappointed.

In the 2006 campaign, Stroger was derogated as an “Amiable Dunce,” and called the “Toddler.” Peraica chastised him as a “puppet” of the mayor, and warned that if Stroger won, the county’s existing $500 million budget deficit would necessitate a 2007 tax hike. It didn’t happen.

Under John Stroger’s aegis, he had a 9-8 majority. Under Todd’s, the 2007 omnibus – and zero-growth — budget of $3 billion passed 13-4, with a 17 percent across-the-board cut in all county offices. Of the county’s 23,383 jobs, 2,193 positions were not budgeted, and 1,700 workers eliminated, including 129 sheriff’s police, 102 state’s attorney’s prosecutors and public defenders, 134 in the clerk’s office, and 230 courtroom deputies; also infertility and plastic surgery treatment at Stroger Hospital was terminated. Public safety spending declined three percent, healthcare declined eight percent (with 14 health clinics closed, and 176 nurses and 81 physicians terminated), while pensions were up 19 percent. Those cuts saved $350 million, and a refinance of pension bonds saved $150 million. The county property tax levy remained stable at $720 million, and overall spending was $112 million less than in 2006. Todd kept his promise.

Had this been accomplished while Peraica was president, a thunderous hue and cry would have arisen among liberals and Democrats. Peraica would have been vilified with the usual refrain of “balancing the budget on the backs of the poor.” Yet they were mum on Todd.

Ironically, Stroger’s fiercest critic was Peraica, who was incensed that while 712 high-paid management jobs were cut, 827 were added, for a net increase of 115, at a cost of $7.6 million. Spokesmen for Sheriff Tom Dart and State’s Attorney Dick Devine bemoaned the fact that the budget allegedly cut “front-line jobs” while padding high-paid jobs. “The bloat is still there,” said Peraica. Republican county commissioners Gorman, Pete Silvestri, and Gregg Goslin backed the Stroger budget, as did Quigley.

But what was definitely not cut were friends and family – derisively called the “Todd Squad.” Stroger’s sister got the $98,000-a-year job as chief of administrative services, his cousin the $143,000-a-year post of chief financial officer. Two brothers-in-law and a sister-in-law got cushy jobs, as did the wife of his best friend ($116,000 as purchasing agent), his father’s doctor ($310,000 as hospital chief), his friend ($142,000 as human resources director), and another buddy ($150,000 as “liaison to the 8th Ward’). The son of a former state representative, who served with Todd in Springfield, was named the $103,000 assistant comptroller. And the president’s “spokesman,” who rarely uttered a word about anything, while getting $110,000 under John’s administration, was demoted to a $95,000-a-year “liaison to churches” post.

That is not “reform.”

In the meantime, the U.S. Attorney’s investigation continues. Last September, all county personnel records were seized, as part of a probe into doctored hiring tests and favoritism. The county’s patronage chief, 8th Warder Gerald Nichols, was suspended, and later fired. There will surely be some federal indictments before 2010.

Commissioner Bobbie Steele was acting board president during 2006, and she publicly griped about “systemic issues that impede efficient operation” of county government. That meant too many employees getting too much money for doing too little work. And that hasn’t changed under Stroger. There are fewer employees, but those in management get paid more.

Fundraising is an accurate harbinger of support: In 2006, John Stroger spent $1,690,078, and had cash-on-hand of $259,267 in his account as of 12/31/06. Todd Stroger raised $1,962,523, spent $1,715,969, and had cash-on-hand of $52,910. As an incumbent, he can readily amass $1.5 million in contributions for the 2010 contest. Peraica raised $688,206, loaned himself $546,566, spent $1,194,556, and had cash-on-hand of $29,618.

Claypool raised $2,402,068, spent $2,754,000, and had Dec. 31 cash-on-hand of $17,499. Quigley, who was unopposed, raised $139,212 and had a cash-on-hand of $499,068. Suffredin, also unopposed in 2006, raised $8,740 and had a cash-on-hand of $1,426. Gorman raised $70,635 and had cash-on-hand of $60,174. Suffredin is personally wealthy, as are Gorman and her family. Either could self-fund a race.

The bottom line: The proverbial 800-pound gorilla is Claypool. He garnered over $2.5 million in donations, ran against a popular black incumbent who he ripped for being inept and corrupt, had his campaign suspended due to Stroger’s stroke – and still almost won. Claypool is in the best position to beat the Toddler in 2010.

Of course, there will be real or fabricated county budgetary crises in December of 2007, 2008 and 2009. To survive in 2010, Stroger must acquit himself well – which means no tax hikes or spending spurts, and some modicum of restraint in friends-and-family hiring and promotions. And the feds’ investigation into county corruption must come to naught.

Otherwise, Stroger will lose, and his defeat would jeopardize the 2011 mayoral re-election prospects of Mayor Rich Daley. Young Stroger has thus far proven that he’s not the Amiable Dunce many thought, but the 2010 election will be a referendum as to whether he can keep on proving it.

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Cell Phones & Political Polling

Reposted from: F&A's Political Polling Blog

As we enter the presidential primary polling season articles are already surfacing questioning if cell-phone only users are distorting polling data. The common response to these allegations is that cell-phone only households account for 12.8% of US households, and their responses are not likely to be much different from their associated demographic group. Initial research has shown cell-phone only voters not to be married, younger, more mobile, less affluent, more likely to be a minority, and more liberal. Pollsters have summarized up to now that the cell-phone only demographic are those less likely to vote and likely are not all that different from other voters in their (18-34) group. We've consistently heard that cell-phone only voters have a minimal impact on results (one to two percentage points) and fall within the margin of error on most standard surveys.

Younger voters, the go-to demographic to describe cellular-only voters, do indeed vote and are a significant part of the electorate (We've explained this before on this blog.) Recent research from the Pew Research Center has dispelled another myth about cell-phone only voters. They are not the same as their land-line counterparts. The Pew Research Center conducted a dual frame survey between Land Line and Cell-Only voters. Across the survey's 46 different questions, there was an average of 7.8% difference between the two groups, with a range of differences from 0% to 29%. The Pew Research Center estimated that the maximum change in the final survey with cell-phone responses added would only account for 2%. The mean change accounted for less than a percent (0.7%). Those results are within the margin or error for most surveys.

While today Cell-phone only voters are concentrated among the demographic groups outlined above, there is evidence to suggest that the proportion of cell-phone only households is only likely to increase and by a result of growth in “wireless” services and aging demographics, the profile of a cell-phone only voter is evolving. Wireless substitution will grow exponentially as the cost of services continues to decrease and their quality and convenience increases. Wireless substitution is also complicated by the ever-evolving technology available. For example, T-Mobile recently launched a Wi-Fi and Mobile Calling integrated phone (dual mode GSM/WiFi) that allows their cellular phone to become a “landline” phone while in range of their wireless router. Other service providers are currently developing similar services.

Some pollsters suggest weighting samples to account for the uncovered population (such as weighting up certain demographics in a college town based on known demographics and voting behavior). While this tactic in general may work in larger, national surveys, a political survey for a state legislative district that captures less than 5% of the 18-34 demographic cannot be reliably weighted within that age group for several reasons. Weighting may serve well as a stop-gap attempt to keep polling data accurate if we believe that as more Americans become cellular-only voters that their opinions will normalize to the population as a whole.

Other “soft sciences” have explored the “digital divide” and its effect on communities. As communication technologies change and integrate into internet hybrid services, such as VOIP (voice over internet protocol) and WiFi based UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access), voters will continue to be further segmented along various demographic lines associated with access to digital communication technology. We do not believe there will be a dramatic "normalizing" effect between the various groups. No one can be certain yet where demographic lines will be drawn along still emerging technology channels.

Calling cellular phones is complicated for several reasons. Federal law prohibits the use of automated dialing devices when calling cell phones. Calls to cellular phones have to be done by hand, greatly reducing the efficiency of call centers. On the other end of the cost spectrum, cellular users typically have a cost per minute rate plan. Cellular-based voters would incur a cost to participate in a survey, which would likely drive down participation rates. While compensation / reimbursements could be offered for the use of a participant's cellular minutes, this would add additional cost to conduct to surveying. There are also issues of liability. What legal responsibilities does the pollster have if a respondent is driving while participating in a survey and gets into an accident? Cellular phones are also not tied to a geographic location and create difficulties in screening eligible participants. A respondent may live in one area but maintain previous address's area code and phone number. As we've discussed, cell-only voters of today tend to be younger and create some challenges in accurately developing a balanced sample for a political survey.

Moving beyond the problems of contacting cellular voters, some pollsters have increased their reliance on internet polling, such as pollster John Zobgy of Zogby International. While internet polling has its own drawbacks, a conversation for another day, the process of mixed-use polling (to borrow a term from urban planners) seems like the most reliable and cost-effective method of reducing sampling and non-response problems associated with cellular-only households. Mixed-use polling is a blending of surveys such as traditional telephone surveys and accompanying internet polls. The methodology needs to be refined and adapted, but the future of traditional telephone polling is apparent. Adapt or Bust.

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Restructuring the CTA's Pension Plan

From Dennis Byrne over at Heartland Institute dated August 1, 2007 (?). Wonder if the Mayor is sending Springfield a message here.

A groundbreaking effort to switch a public employee pension system from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan is underway in Chicago.

The Chicago Transit Authority wants to follow a growing trend in the private sector toward a 401(k)-type retirement system in which the employer and employee make regular contributions into a retirement account controlled by the employee. Supporters say this approach can save taxpayers money while still providing solid retirement income for state workers.

A CTA spokeswoman said Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, the state's most powerful Democrat, has signed on to the retirement restructuring.

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Sun Times on Corruption

Yesterday the ST's Jennifer Hunt wrote Could Obama end centuries of corruption? telling us,

Even in colonial days, chicanery and corruption were endemic among American politicians. It's become part of the American electoral tradition.

Can it ever be fixed? Barack Obama has been a champion of improving government ethics at both the state and federal level, but he faces a long history of improbity among our elected officials.

Today the ST hits us with Daley pal implicated in mob bombing

Outfit hit man Nicholas Calabrese on Tuesday implicated a close friend of Mayor Daley's, Fred Barbara, as taking part in the bombing of a suburban restaurant in the early 1980s.

Calabrese is the star witness in the Family Secrets mob case and testified that Barbara, now a multimillionaire businessman, was one of six men who split up into teams to throw bombs on the roofs of two restaurants.

Barbara has never been charged in the case but allegedly teamed up with Chicago mob captain Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra and reputed mob killer James DiForti to bomb Horwath's Restaurant in Elmwood Park, which was a well-known hangout for mobsters.

A little further down is this qualifier,

Barbara could not be reached for comment but has disavowed any connection to organized crime.

"Show me my connection to organized crime," Barbara said in an interview three years ago with the Sun-Times. "Did I turn the corner? You show me anything in the last 24 years that reflects to that nature."

A spokeswoman for the mayor could not be reached for comment.

In a full day of testimony, the mention of Barbara was a small part of Nicholas Calabrese's testimony.

I'm not trained as journalist but both stories over the top to me. Obama is sure no reformer, and just about everyone in Chicago's a pal of the mayor.

ST's crossed some fine line here. Neither story tells much. One's a puff piece for Obama and the other a slur without evidence on the Mayor.

Barbara nailed it three years ago: show us the connections please.

Update: The ST connects a few dots today: Man named in trial 'a very good' banker
BARBARA Implicated in Outfit bombing, Daley friend now sits on local boards

xp Bill Baar's West Side

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Electricity deal could come soon

The Capitol is buzzing about a potential deal on electricity rate relief for Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison customers, who have been paying between an average of 25 percent to 55 percent higher electricity rates since a state law expired January 2.

The general framework of the relief package footed by the power utilities and potentially their parent companies is expected to total about $1 billion — doubling the former proposal — and offer relief for customers over three years, according to Sen. James Clayborne, a Belleville Democrat who’s been following the negotiations. Customers could receive checks for credits as early as two weeks after the agreement were approved by the state legislature and processed through the Illinois Commerce Commission. Another major change could be the creation of an Illinois Power Authority, which I wrote about in our June issue and could procure and generate power for Illinoisans.

We’ve been following the electricity rate debate and private negotiations for months, but Clayborne says, “We’re very, very close,” and, “I think we pretty much have an agreement. Logistically, we have to work out some issues.”

Rep. John Bradley, a Marion Democrat also close to the negotiations, said those details that still have to be ironed out are enough to stop him from screaming from the rooftops that a deal is coming. “The deal isn’t completely done. It’s being finalized. It’s in the final stages, but it’s not completely done.” But he did say he didn’t deny anything Clayborne said or deny that the deal is very close to being turned into legislation for the General Assembly to consider.

Ameren Illinois spokesman Leigh Morris had this to say: “I’m very optimistic that we are going to see a positive resolution to all of this in the very near future.” He added, “We certainly will be making the appropriate announcements to the news media. I think you will hear the thunder of feet running to the Blue Room.” (The Blue Room is in the Statehouse Press Room where people hold press conferences in front of a blue curtain.)

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected to approve an electricity rate relief package that comes his way. “For several months, the governor has urged the legislature to pass a bill that provides consumers significant relief from skyrocketing electric rates,” wrote Blagojevich spokeswoman, Rebecca Rausch, in an e-mail. “We understand negotiators are close to an agreement, and we look forward to reviewing the final product.”

Small group meetings or small progress?
The governor has been in town since Monday, but no official leaders’ meetings have convened. The legislature has broken up into small group meetings so far to discuss gaming, a capital plan, education, revenue, agency spending and the Illinois Department of Corrections. They’re closed to the public.

The governor also sent a letter to House Speaker Michael Madigan, House Minority Leader Tom Cross and Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson criticizing them for halting progress on a proposal to expand gaming, which would pay for the debt service on a capital plan and for education. “Negotiations broke down over your refusal to dedicate some portion of new gaming revenue to education,” the governor wrote. He also said, “A budget that invests in infrastructure without providing resources for education and health care is not an option. We must find a way to meet all of our obligations.”

A leaders’ meeting will convene in the governor’s Capitol office Wednesday afternoon. The Senate Education Committee also is holding multiple-hour hearings every day this week, and many witnesses testify about the impact of the state budget problems on education and its relationship to student achievement. The hearings are a well-organized love fest between educators and some of the lawmakers and won’t result in a vote on legislation.

Other legislative movement
Illinois is on an even playing field with Texas in the final stages of competition for a $1 billion coal gasification plant, which would bring national and international attention to the state, according to sponsors of legislation designed to attract the FutureGen project to Tuscola or Mattoon in central Illinois. The Illinois House approved the incentive package 99 to 0 with one voting present this afternoon. If Illinois were chosen by an international alliance, this state would house the world’s first zero-emissions coal-fired power plant that’s touted to be a cleaner source of energy. It also would be a groundbreaking public-private partnership between local, state, national and international entities, with the added perk of creating a lot of new jobs wherever it lands. The bill has to go back to the Senate for final approval.

The House also “approved” a resolution stating the current governor should stay in Springfield during overtime session. It’s written to identify and pressure Gov. Rod Blagojevich, not future governors. Despite loud “boos” primarily from Democrats, who said the resolution was unfair and presented only for political gain, the resolution was considered approved by a “voice vote.” The measure is nonbinding.

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The Bright One

The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto "gets into" Jennifer Hunter's story from yesterday's Sun-Times about the "staunch Republican" lawyer, Jim Ronca, who boldly declared after last weekend's Democratic candidate forum in Chicago that "I'm not only going to vote Democratic, I'm going to financially support the Democrats."

Taranto, who apparently learned more about Ronca from his office in New York than Hunter did after interviewing him face-to-face, reports in his "Best of the Web" column today that in the past 4 election cycles, "Ronca has given $6,750 to Democrats, nine times as much as the $750 he has given Republicans; and his most recent GOP donation was three elections ago."

Maybe Mr. Ronca is from the Mike Madigan wing of the Republican Party.

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Deadline to Disclosure

Cross posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

This Friday is the deadline for campaign disclosure reports for the first half of 2007. The new deadline was signed into law last month and the State Board of Elections now lists on its Disclosure Homepage that "The deadline for filing the June 2007 Semiannual Report is July 20th."

When they use the red ink like that, you know they're serious.

With the legislature still in session, this is a prime opportunity to see who's been giving to whom to influence policy. Electric utilities? Gambling interests? All will be revealed. And don't forget the Chicago elections -- if you've been wondering exactly how much Big box supporters and their opponents in the labor unions ponied up in their proxy wars, check the SBE on Friday. ICPR will post the new data to the Sunshine Database just as soon as our crack staff can process it.

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Durbin: know the foe

This seems offensive to me at time of war. Especially from a Senate leader with little to show for this session of Congress.

Via the Trib,

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Thursday that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and state legislative leaders must end a budget impasse that threatens federal transportation money Congress has approved for the state.

"I would say we are looking for some leadership in Springfield," the Senate's No. 2 Democrat said in an interview with The Associated Press.

His comments came after a question-and-answer session with visiting constituents during which he cracked a joke comparing the logjam at the Illinois Capitol to religious strife in Iraq. Durbin said he had been asked to mediate the dispute between Blagojevich and state lawmakers, though he did not specify by whom.

"I told them that I was going to decline," he said. "I'd rather deal with the Sunnis and Shias than an open civil war. It's easier to figure out who your enemy is."

And Iraqi PM Maliki explaining the foes are neither Sunnis or Shias, but a deadly foe Durbin tragically at a loss to see,

"We put everyone before their moral responsibility to take a clear and strong stand in the face of terrorism in Iraq and we expect cooperation to dry up resources for terrorism," stressed Maliki. He added, "The terrorism that is claiming the lives of Iraqi citizens in Baghdad, Hilla, Mosul and Anbar is the same terrorism that intimidated citizens in Saudi Arabia, targeted the people of Egypt, and blew up the twin towers in New York and subways in Madrid and London."

Senator Durbin really ought to butt out of Illinois's budget despite the risk of loss of funds, and go back to the US Senate where there is real work he should have done.

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Andrew Ferguson video on his new book, Land of Lincoln

One neat thing about blogging is that a suggestion from another blogger, in this case Bill Hobbs, can send me into a direction that I otherwise would not have ventured into.

Hobbs tipped me off to a video from the Hoover Institution where Peter Robinson interviews author Andrew Ferguson about his new book, Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America.

Ferguson writes in the forward:

Abraham Lincoln hasn't been forgotten, but he's shrunk...That earlier Lincoln, that large Lincoln, seems to be slipping away.

Ferguson traveled throughout America to measure how contemporary Americans view the great President. His first stop? Thai Little Home Cafe in Ferguson's home town of Chicago. The owners maintain a Lincoln shrine inside the restaurant; they were first drawn to the Great Emancipator when they noticed the phrase "Land of Lincoln" on Illinois license plates.

Lincoln hasn't shrunk in the eyes of these restaurant owners.

It's a terrific video, Ferguson is a great story teller--I'm looking forward to picking up his book.

Related Marathon Pundit post:

Thirty hours in Lincoln's Springfield, Illinois

To comment on this post, please visit Marathon Pundit.

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Word From the Feds

Not those feds, our U.S. Senators. In case you forgot what it sounds like to hear an intelligent comment about reaching a budget resolution, check out the today's comments from Sen. Obama:

"My advice would be to come together and recognize not everybody's gonna get everything they want but it's still possible to craft a budget that takes care of the basics - that transportation is adequately funded, that we are making some expansion of the health care system particularly when it comes to covering kids, that there ... is an infusion of education dollars so that schools at least aren't falling behind but are moving forward," Obama said.

A former state senator from Chicago, Obama also questioned the wisdom of a major gambling expansion to fill budget gaps and pay for things that "we should be willing to pay for out of our tax dollars.

In an equally poignant, yet lighter comment, Sen. Durbin weighed with this gem:

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, said he had been asked to mediate the dispute between Blagojevich and state lawmakers, but declined.

"I'd rather deal with the Sunnis and Shias than an open civil war. It's easier to figure out who your enemy is," Durbin said.

Deadlocked lawmakers also shouldn't count on Obama to help them sort things out.

"We've got enough dysfunction in Washington to deal with," he said.

Be funnier if it wasn't so true.

To read or post comments, visit Open House

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Half an Oak - Dying in Illinois

McHenry County Blog presents as its "Message of the Day" today a tree.

An oak tree, to be more specific.

This one sits on Stateline Road.

It's a road McHenry County folks take to the Wilmot Ski Resort.

That’s the road that runs between Illinois and Wisconsin.

It’s at the corner of 336th Avenue and 128th Street.

On the Illinois side in Lake County is a home named Vista del Norte.

This picture was taken from the west.

Whether there is any significance to the Wisconsin side of the tree being alive and the Illinois side dead is unknown.

All photos may be enlarged by clicking on their images.

If you are not into symbolism, you can find the next stop of the Illinois Minuteman on McHenry County Blog.

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Obama expected to walk Congress Hotel picket line today

Okay kids, this one is local. And I'm not parroting Fox News talking points.


I worked at the Congress Hotel for nine years as either a catering or convention services manager. I worked with a lot of interesting groups, including International Mr. Leather, the annual meeting of the leftist rag In These Times, a swingers group, a street gang summit, and some Wiccans.

My time there helps explain why I'm so loosely wired.

Four years ago, the unionized workers there went on strike. My opinion on organized labor is mostly negative--many unions tend to be corrupt dens of nepotism.

However, in this battle, I'm on the side of the union. The dishwashers, bartenders, room attendants, and waiters walking the picket line were not well paid. Their union, Hotel Employees-Restaurant Employees Local #1 was recently cleaned up by the federal government, negotiated a major pay increase for their members with the bargaining unit hired by the big Chicago hotels. All signed on, except the Congress.

The owners are crying they can't afford the pay raise, but don't believe them. The core of the partnership, led by New Yorker Albert Nasser, has been in control of the Congress since 1987. Despite a 1995 bankruptcy declaration, they've obviously found owning the Congress worthwhile. Besides, they could always sell the hotel. The land the hotel sits on--the corner of Congress and Michigan Avenue overlooking Buckingham Fountain--is undoubtedly worth a fortune.

Or the owners could fix up the place and stop maintaining a dump. Renovated and run properly, the place would be a gold mine.

Click here from more on the owners of the Congress Hotel, including their man on-the-site, Shlomo Nahmias.

Sometime today, Senator Barack Obama will walk the hotel picket line with his striking constituents. Just as I support the union in this struggle, I'm with Obama today.

I'll end this post with a little story. I rented out the the hotel's Buckingham Room to an education society once. Two years later, I booked them again--I'd like to think it was because of me they returned. Anyway, when the group's president walked in the room for the second meeting, she pointed out a cracked window, and said, "Look that window is cracked, just as it was two years ago!"

That's the Congress Hotel.

To comment on this post, or to congratulate me on the fact that I live in one of America's "Ten Best Towns for Families," click here.

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Bill Gates as Illini Farmer

Dennis Byrne on the coming Farm Bill which he suggests Bush veto.

Crain's Chicago Business reported July 2 that [Bill] Gates has spent $14 million buying Illinois farmland since 2006. Gates also owns 20 percent of California-based Pacific Ethanol Inc., the holder of almost $65 million worth of American farmland. Gates, the publication said, was positioning himself to benefit from the boom in ethanol, which is made from corn, soybeans and other biomass generated down on the farm.

And while he hasn't posted it yet, by sig other hear Samuelson Sez suggest Congress take next year off without pay since they've managed to accomplish absolutely nothing to date.

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1,000 New Reasons to Buy a Hybrid

Here's a bright idea from State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulis - a $1,000 rebate when you buy a hybrid and you get a car loan through a participating financial institution.

26% of Illinois' global warming pollution comes from cars and trucks. To hit the goals science tells us we need to reach, we have to make cars cleaner and encourage people to choose the most efficient car that meets their needs. Now there are $1,000 more reasons for Illinois drivers to make the right car choice.

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Crystal Lake Stylist Does Rod's Hair for $600

Springfield Lee Newspapers reporter Mike Riopell gets the credit for discovering that taxpayers paid Crystal Lake beautician Deborah Dee $600 to get Governor Rod Blagojevich ready to deliver his annual budget address.

The professional hair stylist was apparently paid $600 by both the state and the governor’s campaign fund.

The $600 was for travel and advice on the lighting for the budget address. No word on whether smoke and mirrors were extra.

Riopell reports that Dee had sent a reimbursement check to the state.

This is apparently not the first time Blagojevich has engaged Dee’s services. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed reported on April 20th

"HAIR SCARE . . .

"Gov. Blagojevich's detractors tell Sneed the gov spent $5,700 for eight trips to the 'beauty parlor' during the last four years.

"- The flipside: So here's what really happened -- the expenditures to Deborah Dee and Co. were, in fact, for event preparation services for Blagojevich, his wife Patti and anyone else in campaign ads and political fetes, according to the gov's office."

Dee’s address is listed at 3790 Ravenglass Road on the State Board of Elections web site. Friends of Blagojevich reported the Crystal Laker was paid $1,700 for “event preparation” in 2006.
This says she worked on “Ground Hog Day” and "The Kid Who Loved Christmas."

She also is credited with “Hair for Harry Dean Stanton” in Disney’s “the straight story” and “The Game of Their Lives” here.

Another web site adds these:

• What About Joan
• This Is Michael Bolton
• Evil Has a Face
• Legacy of Lies
• The Untouchables

If you want to have some fun, tell us how these movies prepared Dee for her role with Blagojevich.

If you don't know the story, go with the title.

And, you don't even have to come to McHenry County Blog to make a comment, although, if you do, you'll be able to read about an editorial cartoonist who was laid off, but still promoted on a WBBM-TV ad nine months after he left the paper's payroll.

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Family Circle Magazine names Morton Grove, IL one of its "10 Best Towns for Families"

My hometown of Morton Grove, Illinois is in the news again, and for once it's not about the controversial, first-in-the-nation handgun ban.

Family Circle Magazine's latest edition lists America's "10 Best Towns for Families."

And Morton Grove made the cut.

From Michael J. Weiss' article:

Family-friendly perk: About 20 percent of the town's land is set aside as a forest preserve for running, walking, cycling, and picnics.

Which explains how I ended up here.

Here are the other Family Circle winners:

Castle Rock, Colorado, Kennesaw, Georgia, Cooper City, Florida, Diamond Bar, California, Madison, Mississippi, Franklin, Massachusetts, Derby, Kansas, and Chanhassen, Minnesota.

Of course these "communities rated" lists are far from scientific, and the different books rankings' vary greatly from one another--other than always having a whole bunch of towns from Michigan bringing up the rear.

Here's some irony: In response to Morton Grove enacting it's anti-handgun ordinance, another Family Circle top family town, Kennesaw Georgia, put into law a requirement that with a few exceptions, all households must have a gun with ammunition within the home.

As for the other towns, the only one I've been to is Chanhassen, Minnesota. It's a pleasant town southwest of Minneapolis.

To comment on this post, please visit Marathon Pundit.

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Gov: No gaming without health care

On Tuesday we learned that Gov. Rod Blagojevich was willing to delay his plan to provide health insurance for adults. That would help lawmakers break the deadlock and approve a state budget, he said. On Thursday we learned state lawmakers were considering an expansion of gaming to pay for improvement of roads, bridges and schools. Friday’s developments taught us that the governor won’t sign an expansion of gaming without first having a health care bill approved.

Blagojevich’s point person in the House, Democratic Rep. Jay Hoffman of Chicago, spoke for him after a leaders’ meeting in the governor’s Statehouse office. Hoffman said the governor was willing to scale back his health care plan, but “scale back” doesn’t mean reducing the price. “We’re not talking about scaling back the goals,” Hoffman said. “We’re not talking about scaling back any of the means of providing affordable access to health care for everyone. We would look at taking the employer assessment as well as potentially some other revenue and implementing the health care plan beginning June 1, 2008, and over a four-year period.”

The “employer assessment” is a 3 percent tax on businesses that employ more than 10 people but that don’t offer health insurance for them. That’s still expected to generate about $1 billion, which Hoffman said would be available to help kick start the adult insurance plan in 2008, easing the burden on this year’s state budget. A pilot project isn’t an option, he said. Hoffman mentioned such other revenue sources as consolidating state funds and ending more corporate tax breaks.

But still, as the legislative leaders of both political parties look to fund construction projects through a gaming expansion — however they define expansion — they would have to swallow a health care plan in order to get the governor’s signature. “We would work on the health care piece, which is a prerequisite of signing any gaming bill, from other sources of revenue in the state of Illinois,” Hoffman said.

We also learned Friday that state legislators will have the day off Sunday, July 15, the first day since the governor has ordered them to be in Springfield every day since July 5 to negotiate an already delayed budget. But when lawmakers come back Monday, they’ll have 16 days before the current, one-month budget expires and threatens a state shutdown without another budget in place.

The threat of a state shutdown could be a good thing because it could force a compromise, according to Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson. “There’s just constantly more and more people saying, ‘Why should we vote for another one-month budget?’” he said after the budget meeting. “I’m not for shutting the state government down, but to bring some sort of conclusion to this, some people think that may be the only solution.”

House Speaker Michael Madigan agreed all caucuses want to avoid more 30-day budgets. “Those people probably have not contemplated what they would do if they were a leader and it’s the fifth day of August and paychecks aren’t going out,” he said. “I would hope that the end of the spending authority at the end of the month would move people toward a resolution.”

But he had this damper for people hoping to get that gaming bill: “It’s a very wide-ranging discussion. I wouldn’t put a lot of hope on it.”

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Troutman - Dancing with Developers

Giving Chicago Aldermen life and death power over development in their wards has led to many an indictment.

The most recent to succumb to temptation seems to be just defeated Alderwoman Andrea Troutman.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was kind enough to allow her to be arrested before the election. Now, he has charged her with 13 more crimes.

It sounds like a good ol’ Chicago Democratic Party shake-down.

The same dance we have seen before, except this time a female is taking the lead.

Or, perhaps Troutman had a better analogy when she said,

“Well, the thing is, most alderman, most politicians are hos.”

Who says we need a federal Equal Rights Amendment?

So, why isn't some Republican making a big deal about this?

This was published first on McHenry County Blog, where you can find out (probably exclusively) which prominent Illinois Republican is getting out of jail on Saturday, plus the latest in obstruction of justice charges brought by McHenry County State's Attorney Lou Bianchi.

= = = = =
The photograph of ex-Chicago Alderwoman Andrea Troutman came from her campaign web site.

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Gaming discussed without the governor

The Senate is expected to recast its gaming bill that it originally approved May 31, the last day of the regular session. Now both Democrats and Republicans in that chamber are willing to expand gaming with one new riverboat in Chicago and up to three others anywhere else in the state. Senate President Emil Jones Jr. previously wanted to limit the new boats within certain distances from state borders. Now Rockford, Danville and other areas around Illinois would be able to bid on one of the new gaming licenses.

But there’s a lot of negotiating to be done before lawmakers decide where the boats would go and what the revenue would go toward. Education and major capital projects were the two priorities discussed in a closed-door meeting in the governor’s Statehouse office Thursday, but Gov. Rod Blagojevich wasn’t there. And his beloved health care idea wasn’t talked about.

The governor was in Chicago announcing a new executive order to prohibit insurance companies from basing premium increases on a client’s health status. Blagojevich’s absence changed the tone of the meeting in his office, the lawmakers said. “In fact, I think the governor would be a distraction today based on the feeling about him in this building,” said Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat who recently released his frustrations on the House floor about the governor’s leadership. Thursday’s meeting was more “business-like,” according to Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson.

But the gaming meeting didn’t advance any new legislation, and there's a long way to go. For years, a slew of hang-ups have stymied efforts to expand gaming for state revenue. The horseracing industry wants subsidies from the state so it can compete with expansion of other gaming. But there’s debate about the subsidy level and the mechanism — slots at racetracks or an “impact fee” charged on casinos. And there's a trust issue about whether the state will simply change the law after the first wave of cash flows in, said Rep. Bob Molaro, a Chicago Democrat in the meeting. Other sticking points include the number of new boats and their locations. Lang said in early June that his version of gaming legislation spelled out nine Chicago-area communities in need of economic development that would qualify for one of the new gaming licenses.

Two other complications were raised after the meeting. One was by House Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego: “I think for everyone, one of the central questions here is, when would this money become available, assuming you bought into any of these concepts? We’re into July, and to get any of these things up and running, if you bought into that, you’d have to be pretty aggressive [for it] to be in the ’08 fiscal year.”

The other was mentioned by Sen. James DeLeo, another Chicago Democrat in the meeting. The priority of using gaming revenue for road and school construction projects might be more complicated. “We were warned by the budget director that casino revenues, gaming revenues are very hard to sell bonds on,” DeLeo said. “There’s a lot of if, if, ifs in gaming.”

So one of the lingering “ifs” is whether gaming will even appear in the final budget. If you need a refresher, here's where the key players stand on the gaming issue:
- The governor and Jones have said they support four new casinos in the Chicago area, and Jones has said he wants the money to go to education.
- Cross and House Speaker Michael Madigan said their caucuses still support expansion of gaming only at existing casinos, with the money going toward road and school construction projects.
- And Watson said Thursday the Senate GOP Caucus is open and flexible but would prefer the revenue fund a capital program.

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Legislators: It's time to 'rock the system'

BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
Bethany Carson contributed to this report
Several legislators are asking Gov. Rod Blagojevich to convene a special session specifically for ethics reform. Today, Sen. Christine Radogno, a Lemont Republican, led the group in an attempt to persuade the governor to add ethics and campaign finance reform to the list of topics to be addressed during this summer’s ongoing special sessions.

Until Wednesday, the special sessions called by the governor have focused on the much-delayed state budget. But Blagojevich Tuesday proclaimed today’s special session to focus on gun control, leading Radogno and Chicago Democratic Rep. John Fritchey to urge the governor to take the same steps to end pay-to-play politics.

"It may not be time to take up contentious legislation, but I'll tell you what, Governor, if you're serious about taking care of unfinished business, I've got a suggestion for you," Fritchey said Tuesday on the House floor. "There's a piece of legislation that's not contentious. There's a piece of legislation that was supported by every member of this chamber, the 117 of us that were there. That was House Bill 1, the bill that will end pay to play."

House Bill 1 is just one of three ethics reform measures stuck in the Senate. It would set a $25,000 limit on how much contractors could give to state officials who received state contracts.

In yesterday's budget talks at the governor’s mansion, Radogno said lawmakers confronted Blagojevich about why the legislature hasn't acted on ethics legislation in any of the special sessions. According to Radogno, the governor said they were going to get to it, that nothing comprehensive was out there and that he called HB 1 "inadequate." Radogno said, "This, mind you, from the same man that told us two years ago that he was going to ‘rock the system,’ He has done absolutely, positively nothing with regards to ethics reform in this state."

Blagojevich did enact an ethics package during his first term that requires all state employees to take an annual ethics exam and that created ethics inspectors general for each executive office.

Radogno went on to say that there are two other measures being held in the Senate rules committee that are comprehensive ethics reform bills. The House also has approved both HB 3 and SB 1305, which have yet to be called for action on the Senate floor.

"We can stay in session for more than 10 minutes to work on this very important topic, and we need to do that," Radogno said.

During the special sessions, the governor has continued to advocate for his proposals to increase education funding and to provide health care for the estimated 1.4 million uninsured Illinoisans. He also wants gun control legislation. However, Fritchey says the most dominant issues in our state and in the headlines hasn't been education funding or gun legislation. "Its scandals and allegations and indictments," he said Tuesday on the floor. "Tell people that when you said you wanted to rock the system, you meant it."

The governor continues to keep his lips sealed about the subpoenas received by his office from federal investigators. As of this posting, the governor's office hasn't responded to our question whether he plans to call a special session for ethics reform.

UPDATE
The governor's call to spend an entire special session on gun control (the eighth special session) backfired Wednesday. One sponsor of the gun control legislation, Chicago Democratic Rep. Harry Osterman, repeated what he's been saying for the past few days: He will not call the legislation for a vote until it has enough votes for approval. That will take 71, to which Osterman said, "This bill will not get 71 votes ... It would be irresponsible of me the sponsor of this legislation to call this bill for a vote, knowing that it's going to fail."

In fact, if the bill is amended to need only 60 votes, as Osterman intends to do, the effective date will be June of 2008. "June of 2008," he repeated on the House floor. "So if passed with 60 votes, it won't take effect until June. So there is no need to rush a vote today or tomorrow."

Osterman will have to work to gain the votes on the controversial measure, but, he said, "Today is not that day. We need to be focused on the budget of our state. That is our collective priority."

House members clapped as he closed his comments.

The governor responded with a letter to House Speaker Michael Madigan that said, "I urge you to convene a Committee of the Whole to limit access to deadly large capacity ammunition clips. Giving the full House an opportunity to hear from law enforcement officials, anti-gun violence advocates and victims’ families will help us move closer to consensus on this important issue." He said he looked forward to working with the sponsor and the speaker's office to get the bill approved.

There was no leaders' meeting today.

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Rod Blagojevich Facts

Atleast three people had fun with my last post, and they made such a great effort, I wanted to recognize their contribution to the humanity that is Illinois politics.

For those of you not familiar with Rod Blagojevich Facts (a snarky celebration of our Governor's leadership ego), see my early post, visit it's inspiration, Chuck Norris Facts dot com, or simply read:

When Rod Blagojevich tells the truth, an angel gets his wings. Unfortunately, Rod Blagojevich is incapable of telling the truth.

I reviewed submissions based on a two-part test. First, form. The proper form of a Rod Blagojevich Fact is neither as strict nor as complicated as Rod Haiku, something I can't quite figure out, but it still seems to escape some people. So those got tossed. Sorry.

Secondly, I employed what I call the "milk test." Someone once said something so funny at the cafeteria table in elementary school that a classmate of mine laughed the milk he was drinking out of his nose. That was almost 30 years ago and I remember it like it just happened, so I think its safe to say at this point that I'm scarred for life. Anything that I would have trepidation about reading while drinking milk must be pretty darn funny.

So, here's my A-List from submissions so far:

People didn't vote for Rod because he is a Democrat. They voted for Democrats because of Rod.

When Rod Blagojevich jumps in the water, Rod Blagojevich doesn't get wet. Water gets dishonest and incompetent.

Comparisons between Rod Blagojevich and Elvis Presley are designed to enrage the living but reclusive King into exposing himself to the world.

Rod Blagojevich is the one subject on which Illinois' crackpot, pseudonymous lefty bloggers can agree.

Rod Blagojevich is the karmic price Illinois Democrats must pay for Barack Obama.

Contrary to popular myth, Rod Blagojevich doesn't use a brush to style his hair. Rod Blagojevich repeats his talking points until his hairs fall into line.

The First Commandment, "I am the Lord thy Rod," was misprinted due to a clerical error. Rod Blagojevich has put Heaven on notice that he will hold them in special session until they fix it.

The Capitol Building does not have a dome. It is actually the Hair.

When Rod rubs a balloon in the Hair, the balloon does not become charged with static electricity. The balloon becomes charged with an electro-magnetic pulse.

The Hair does not get bed head. The bed gets Hair head.

Rod does not actually fly a plane to Springfield everyday. The Hair brings him there.

Michael Madigan is a rogue grey Hair. The rest of the Hair is not pleased.

And a new one of my own, added to bridge the Blagojevich/Hair divide:

Rod Blagojevich doesn't have hair. The Hair has a lofty view and plenty of fresh fertilizer.

Comment on these or add your own. But remember folks, anybody can be mean, form makes it art.

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Roland Burris, Tax Hiker

Watching former State Comptroller Roland Burris, who defeated me in his re-election effort in 1982, on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight Monday reminded me why it was fun running against him.

He’s a tax hiker.

Monday night, Burris boldly went where few other than paid tax hike advocate Ralph Martire have dared go.

Burris wants the General Assembly to pass a budget with a tax hike, wait for Governor Rod Blagojevich to veto it and, then, override the expected veto.

To her credit Judy Barr Topinka did not agree with his suggestion.

After what I wrote about Blagojevich, I find it really exciting to be on his side on at least one issue.

Posted on McHenry County Blog first, of course, where you can find out who is planning to junket in India.

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No need for Republicans, but what about Democrats?

Despite more lawmakers’ comments that budget talks aren’t getting anywhere, Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced an idea Tuesday night that he thinks could potentially break the nagging budget impasse. But his ideas still require major revenue enhancements, which continue to lack consensus among Democrats, let alone both parties.

Blagojevich isn’t giving up on his beloved universal health care idea or his desired education funding increase — two of many items that have contributed to the gap between his proposed budget and the much smaller version preferred by three of the four legislative leaders. At his Springfield mansion Tuesday night, Blagojevich simply suggested that the education and health care portions of his spending plan be separated from the fiscal year 2008 budget. They would then be packaged with a revenue plan, yet to be determined or agreed upon, and voted on so that the programs would become effective after June 1, 2008. That date is key because it means the legislation creating the programs would only need a simple majority, not the three-fifths majority that currently requires some Republican votes in the House.

Sen. Carol Ronen, a Chicago Democrat and Blagojevich point person in her chamber, stood with the governor after the meeting and said Republicans wouldn’t be needed because a simple majority of Democrats could enact new revenue ideas that would make money available just in time for the programs to start in 2008. But that assumes at least 30 Democrats in the Senate and 60 Democrats in the House would support anywhere from $1 billion to $3 billion in new revenue. That’s not guaranteed. What makes this more questionable is that neither Republicans nor Democrats who support a smaller budget have any incentive to vote for education and health care plans they previously rejected just because the effective date changed.

The only other new information came with the idea that the lawmakers would break away from the rather large budget gatherings in the ballroom of the governor’s mansion and convene in smaller groups, which some GOP members suggested Monday.

Other than that, members said the meeting lacked progress but was full of drama, including the ongoing disagreements about new casinos and horse track subsidies and whether the state should invest in roads and schools before expanding health care and education. And, once again, the governor bashed House Speaker Michael Madigan by saying he hides behind his conservative Republican allies and needs to start acting like a Democrat. Of course, Madigan repeated his criticism of the governor’s “lack of understanding of the severity of the problem, the severity of the gap in understanding between the participants.” He added, “The governor came very close to losing his temper, but I tried to act like a father again. And he made a real nice recovery.”

UPDATE
The House members were told this afternoon that the remainder of July weekend sessions would convene at 9 a.m. Saturdays and 5 p.m. Sundays.

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Special Session for Ethics?

Posted Earlier Today at ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

The Governor has worked himself into a Special Session because a gun control measure, SB 1007, passed the Senate by one vote and hasn't been called for a vote in the House. If he's going to call a Special Session every time a bill passes one chamber and isn't called in the other, this could be a long string of Special Sessions.

But, playing out that hypothetical, if he's really so concerned about the fate of bills that pass one and then don't get called, maybe he should take a look at HB 1, the pay to play ban, which passed the House last April on a unanimous vote and yet hasn't even been assigned to a committee in the Senate. Not that it's unpopular in the upper chamber -- it has 45 sponsors -- more than enough to pass, even if some of them do stay home.

We're not saying that he should call a Special Session for ethics. But if he did, we can see the quote now. "How is it that a bill that passed... the State House that would ban pay to play, didn't get a chance to have a vote in the Senate?" How indeed.

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Session on guns called

Gov. Rod Blagojevich ignored the concerns of some lawmakers and legislative leaders by calling a special session Wednesday that will focus on gun control.

Rep. Lou Lang of Skokie and Rep. John Bradley of Marion, both Democrats on opposite sides of the issue, said Monday that the governor’s special session on gun control was meant to further divide lawmakers. They, along with House Speaker Michael Madigan and House Minority Leader Tom Cross, agreed that any special sessions should focus on finalizing a state budget, which has been deadlocked since regular session ended May 31.

The governor’s proclamation made an attempt to tie gun control to the budget by saying the session would “consider and discuss Senate Bill 1007 as well as the impact of assault weapon violence on the state’s health care expenditures and general fiscal health.”

Here’s what we wrote about the legislation May 28:
Ban on some ammunition clips

A proposed ban on ammunition clips that shoot off more than 10 rounds won approval by a House committee. Supporters say the ban would ease the emotional and social costs of losing innocent victims of gun violence, while opponents say it would worsen economic loses when gun manufacturers move to other states. The emotional issue has continued to come up in Illinois since a 1994 federal ban on assault weapons and the high-capacity magazine clips expired. Such opponents as the National Rifle Association and downstate lawmakers trying to protect sport say the legislation is too broad and would ban some firearms without stopping plotted crimes like those at Virginia Tech this spring.

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REAL Testicular Virility

When I came across this website, www.ChuckNorrisFacts.com, its snarky, pithy description of Chuck Norris's machismo made me think immediately of Gov. Blagojevich's efforts to project his machismo throughout the budget process. And laugh my head off.

My favorite Chuck Norris "facts":

1. There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.
2. Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy, it is a Chucktatorship.
3. There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Chuck Norris lives in Oklahoma.
4. Some people wear Superman pajamas. Superman wears Chuck Norris pajamas.
5. When Chuck Norris jumps in the water, Chuck Norris doesn't get wet. Water gets Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris's favorite Chuck Norris "fact":

When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.


Question:

What's your favorite Rod Blagojevich "fact"?

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Sausage and Gridlock

Cross posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

The gridlock in Springfield has a lot of people talking about how to streamline the process and increase accountability in the legislative and executive branches. ICPR's Director Cindi Canary has some thoughts on that question in this week's Crain's Chicago Business.

"It's not just the budget. Other major concerns like the quality of public schools, public transit, skyrocketing electric rates, pension debt and even ethics are debated but not resolved.

"It's no wonder that a recent poll found 90% of Illinoisans believe changes are needed in the way we govern and practice politics in this state.

"We should begin by shaking up the power structure and rules that help determine who gets a vote in Springfield."

Read more here.

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Iron out the differences

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the four legislative leaders and their caucus members can’t iron out their differences about budget priorities. But after five consecutive days of special sessions, we could start to get a hint soon of where House Speaker Michael Madigan and House Minority Leader Tom Cross think the state should cut funding in the pending state budget.

At least 50 legislators joined the leaders and the governor in budget negotiations at the governor’s mansion again, but some said yesterday’s progress of starting to talk about actual numbers already stalled. “The governor’s position is: He wants health care,” Madigan said Monday evening after the meeting. “That puts us anywhere from $1 to $3 billion apart. There’s no change.”

While everyone agrees the state has a budget deficit, Madigan said Republicans and Democrats agree the budget hole exceeds the governor’s $800 million projection. Madigan also said there was a bipartisan proposal to evaluate the budget line by line to find out where state agencies can cut costs. He said the administration rejected that idea, but Deputy Gov. Sheila Nix said the governor actually welcomes the idea and hopes to see a list of proposed cuts.

Cross said he suggested looking to the 2004 budget. Lawmakers met into mid-July in overtime budget talks, and the state made across-the-board cuts in nonessential services excluding education, public safety and human services. He said that could save $200 to $300 million this time around. He also said more progress would be made in finalizing a budget if negotiations consisted of smaller groups, not the 50-plus groups in the governor’s mansion for the past few days.

Madigan had a more stinging comment about what it would take to make actual progress: “Good leadership. And it’s not here.”

The governor spent the early afternoon at a Chicago press conference about gun control, leading some lawmakers of both parties to speak out in opposition to the potential of the governor proclaiming a special session just to focus on the issue. Downstate and Chicago area lawmakers often have opposite stances on gun control, but two agreed Monday afternoon that the state budget should take precedence in the second month of overtime session and the seventh day of special sessions called by the governor.

“To bring a gun control issue to the floor at this time would only be for the purpose of deflecting our energies and deflecting the media away from what we’re doing here,” said Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat who supports such gun control measures. “I for one believe we should be concentrating on our budget and only on our budget until we get this work done.”

The governor did call a special session for Tuesday afternoon, when the topic will be “supportive living” for the elderly, the poor and the disabled.

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If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It. But What If It Is Broke?

Failure of Illinois government in 2007 could pave way for Con-Con OKin 2008; Wouldn't that teach them!

There is no way of telling how many citizens - and voters - of Illinois are paying any attention to what is happening in our state government in Springfield this July.

We're approaching the mid-point of summer, vacations are getting underway, temperatures are climbing and the guess here is that very few Illinoisans are paying attention to the complete breakdown of government leadership we are experiencing in Illinois in 2007.

Headlines on two separate stories included in our Springfield Watch section below include the words "constitutional crisis" and "constitutional controversy."

Illinois Government is not working - at least that part of the government that is under the control of the state's top elected leaders.

We're not alone in viewing the governor of Illinois as a complete disaster. We won't go as far as State Rep. Joseph Lyons, D-Chicago, who called him a "mad man" and "insane" over the weekend. Lyons is a Democrat, the same as the governor, and probably voted for him last November. So, it seems likely, did House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, also a Democrat and one of the saner voices in Springfield this year. Gov. Rod Blagojevich described him as acting like a "right-wing Republican" in one of his rants.

A true card-carrying Republican, Rep. Michael Bost, R-Murphysboro, called for impeachment proceedings to begin against Blagojevich.

It may be going to far to call it a "constitutional" crisis just yet as it's the personalities involved -- particularly the governor -- rather than the Illinois Constitution, that is causing the problem.

But if Illinois voters -- at least those who are paying attention and are getting furious -- decide that something has to be done and that maybe the Constitution is part of the problem or, more likely, that changes in the Constitution could be used to prevent similar silliness in the future, there is not a better time for action.

In November, 2008, at the next General Election, Illinois voters will be asked if the state should convene a constitutional convention to revise or even re-draw the 1970 Illinois Constitution.

And a new constitution could be written in a way to remove legislative -- and gubernatorial -- control over some major issues.

A few that are mentioned over and over include:

* Education funding;
* The role of gambling in Illinois;
* Moral issues, such as same-sex marriage; abortion, parental notification prior to abortions for teens;
* Funding for public transportation;
* The size and composition of the General Assembly itself: return to multi-member districts; reduce the size by considering a unicameral system (one chamber) as in Nebraska;
* Reduce the size of the Executive branch: eliminate elected lieutenant governor;
combine comptroller and treasurer (and eliminate?).

There also are several issues that are close to the agenda and interests of the Illinois Civil Justice League:

* Selection of judges: merit selection rather than election;
* Public financing of judicial elections;
* Giving the legislature the authority to impose limits on damages OR
* Prohibiting the legislature from establishing limits on damages.

It would not take a lot of time or effort for fertile imaginations to develop a substantially longer list of potential constitutional issues and there are many special interest groups on all sides of every issue who would be ready to mobilize in a hurry.

It's true that a "Constitution" should be a framework for government, not encumbered with many specific issues that should be left to the elected legislators and implemented by the elected executive branch.

But when the system doesn't seem to be working -- and it clearly is not working right now -- voters have a tendency to get uneasy and in 2008, they are going to have the chance to take a first step toward making some major fundamental changes in governance in Illinois.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But if it IS broke, there are lots of interests that would be happy to jump in and fix it.

Cross-posted by Ed Murnane at Illinois Justice Blog.

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Who's the REAL Republican?

Lately, Governor Blagojevich has found great diversion by attacking House Speaker Michael Madigan for acting like a Republican for having the chutzpah to oppose his budget proposals.

What are the Governor's budget proposals that Madigan has opposed?

• The $7.5 billion Gross Receipts Tax, which even Emil Jones and the Governor's top staff admit would have been passed on to working families in the form of higher prices on everything from gasoline and groceries to auto purchases and home sales;
• Privatizing the Lottery, a state agency;
• Increasing state debt by issuing bonds;
• A massive expansion of gambling, which would enrich state government insiders at the expense of the poor and working class.

So, the Governor wants to balance the state budget on the backs of working families, privative state government, drive the state into debt, and stuff money into the pockets of well-connected insiders.

Sounds like Blagojevich is the Republican to me.

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Numbers on the table

BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS

Finally, there’s a number on the table for the budget. Unfortunately, lawmakers still can’t agree on what the number is.

The budgeteers submitted a report to the governor and the legislative leaders at the leader’s meeting today at the governor’s mansion. Legislators also were invited to attend.

“The report from the budgeteers appeared to be inconclusive,” House Speaker Michael Madigan said. “My expectation is that the governor will continue to work with the budgeteers to make the report more definitive, more concrete, which will better able us to move forward on this budget.”

While budget negotiations appeared to move forward, legislators still aren’t on the same page. “There was a piece of paper with numbers, and the numbers are the numbers, but in terms of the discussion, there was disagreement,” Madigan said.

Sen. Donne Trotter, his chamber’s budget expert, said so far, there’s an $874 million hole in the budget.

“Before we start talking about any kind of growth, we have to first recognize what that hole is and those responsibilities on payments we have to do, pensions and all that,” he said. “There’s certainly no dollars for expansion of education, no expansions for Illinois Covered or any kind of health care. No dollars for constitutional officers, and certainly no dollars for mass transportation, for [the] RTA with the hole.”

Regardless of the discourse in the room, Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson thought today’s meeting was productive. “This is a big first step,” he said.

Tomorrow the House will convene in the afternoon. It’s not clear if the Senate will actually meet. Today, the Senate met for about 10 minutes before adjourning. The House convened a meeting of the whole to hear testimony from the Teachers’ Retirement System that is scheduled to continue on Monday.

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Mike Madigan a Republican

And Rod Blagojevich is a Governor.

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A leadership lunch

BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS

There wasn’t any progress on the budget at the Capitol today, but lawmakers will be back at it tomorrow.

Today’s special session in the House began with a debate on whether Speaker Michael Madigan was crossing the constitutional line by convening his chamber hours before the time that the governor requested. It ended with Rep. Mike Bost, a Murphysboro Republican, asking what the constitutional grounds for impeachment are. His downstate colleague, Rep. William Black, a Danville Republican, quickly responded that he didn’t think that was the answer to the budget gridlock.

Before the Senate could convene at 2 p.m., pension experts and both chambers were invited to join the leader’s meeting at the governor’s mansion. Guests were served a pasta lunch before beginning a discussion about the state’s public employee pension liability. The media also was invited to the mansion, and was offered beverages, turkey sandwiches and an assortment of cookies while waiting in the downstairs governor's office to hear the outcome of the meeting. Some even had time to take a tour of the mansion.

The governor stepped out of the meeting to share some insight on how the meeting was going. “It’s a healthy, honest discussion, people expressing their views," he said. "It’s a healthy dialogue, it’s all good.”

Yesterday wasn’t as pleasant for the governor, as the House shot down a resolution to lease the Illinois Lottery. While the governor didn’t say he was backing away from his proposal to lease the Lottery for $10 billion and borrow an additional $16 billion to cover the state’s pension obligations, he said he was open to new ideas on how to accomplish that. However, he’s not backing down on providing health care for the state’s uninsured and increasing education funding.

“There’s give and take in this process all the time,” Blagojevich said. “You can’t get a budget without give and take. At the same time, you don’t abandon your principles and your values and your priorities. I’m not going to abandon education, I’m not going to abandon health care. I’m flexible on the means.”

Meanwhile House Speaker Michael Madigan, called on the the governor to reduce the rhetoric, a reference to the governor's’s charge that Madigan has become a conservative Republican.

“I simply call upon the governor to stop the personal insults,” he said. “I simply told him that I don’t think it accomplishes anything to be attacking me personally. It doesn’t help with what we’re trying to do with the budget. It doesn’t help relationships in the Capitol Building. I just hope he takes my advice to heart.”

The Republicans didn’t think much was accomplished today at the leader’s meeting.

“We’ve heard all this before,” House Minority Leader Tom Cross said. “The bottom line is we need a leaders meeting, we need a few people to sit around in a room, take a piece of paper and a pencil and figure out how much money we have and how we’re going to spend it.”

The only agreement in the meeting today was that the budgeteers need to get together tomorrow and follow that up with a leaders meeting said Cross.

The budgeteers are schedule to meet tomorrow at 4 p.m. and a leaders meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Both chambers are scheduled to convene at 4 p.m. as well.

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Rep. Mike McAuliffe: "he knows how to drive"

The Sun Times quoting McAuliffe on the administrations rehiring of Eugene C. Davis: Controversial aide back on state dime.

Davis’ re-emergence on the state payroll when Blagojevich and legislative leaders are deadlocked on a budget drew bipartisan criticism.

State Rep. Mike McAuliffe (R-Chicago) said his constituents would “hate” Davis’ hiring because of his inexperience in transportation and lack of a college degree. But the lawmaker noted an obvious irony in IDOT’s hiring. “I guess the one thing we know is he knows how to drive,” McAuliffe said.

Now, I wonder how Davis feels about his pension plan and if he thinks rewriting the 1994 law to lower the funding requirements makes sense or if reforming the system along the lines of the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986 is a better fix.

Or maybe Davis is like my buddy who plans for his retirment with ten bucks thrown at lotto tickets each week.

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An argument against the "Fairness Doctrine," Lar Daly

A liberal blogger, Rob of Illinois Reason, is having fun at my expense because I'm against the renewal of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine." The misnamed broadcast requirement became part of the regulatory swagger of the Federal Communications Commission in 1949 stating that broadcasters "afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views of public importance."

The broadcast airwaves were viewed as a scarce resource then. Since 1949, the number of television stations and radio outlets has grown dramatically, shooting the scarcity argument in favor of the "Fairness Doctrine" down.

In the 1980s the Reagan administration, no fan of government regulation, steadily chipped away at the "Fairness Doctrine" until 1987, when the FCC, stocked with Reagan appointees, abolished it altogether.

Well done, Gipper.

And shortly thereafter, conservative talkers such as Rush Limbaugh and a whole bunch of others put down stakes in the dying AM band of the radio dial, and helped engineer the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress.

The Democrats, whose supporters dominate the other media, plotted almost immediately after the it long overdue cancellation to put the "Fairness Doctrine" into law. But Republican Congresses and presidents have stood in the way since then.

The "Fairness Doctrine" is anything but fair. Pundits have rightfully remarked that re-instituting such constraints on freedom of speech is analogous to Hugo Chavez shutting down opposition television stations in Venezuela.

But the libs claim all they want are "equal voices" on the airwaves.

Be careful what you wish for.

Chicagoans my age and older may remember Lar "America First" Daly. Sometimes he ran as a Democrat, sometimes as a Republican, other times for his "America First" party.

For many years Daly campaigned in an Uncle Sam suit, until a tragedy of sorts struck--someone stole the costume and Daly never bothered to replace it.

Daly was opposed to public schools, supported casino gambling (he was ahead of this time on that one), and he was supporter capital punishment for members of the Communist Party, along with a whole bunch of other extreme causes.

In 1975, while my brothers and tuned in to WGN-TV early for a Saturday night Chicago Black Hawks hockey game, we caught in-progess Lar Daly instead. Daly, we learned at the end of the broadcast, had commandeered airtime from WGN as a result of the "equal time" provision of the "Fairness Doctrine."

This was not the first time Daly knocked the puck at the back of the net, so to speak, as Time Magazine described in 1959 and 1964.

After several presidential runs and attempts to win the office of Mayor of Chicago from the incumbent Richard J. Daley, the legendary "Boss of Chicago," "No 'E'" Daly threw his hat in the mayoral ring once again. And he forced WGN to air a half hour of his mindless ramblings before the Black Hawks hit the ice.

I can't remember his precise political positions for that campaign, but it was standard, for him that is, whack job stuff.

But what stands out to me 32 years later was the "Lar Daly Curse." During on Channel 9 rant, Daly explained in his resonant baritone that he had placed a curse on the Kennedy brothers, John and Robert of course, for knocking him off of the Democratic ballot in the 1960 New Hampshire primary.

I can't remember his precise words, but he said something along the lines of "Both of them are now dead."

Both men of course were assassinated, and the Kennedy killings in 1975 were still fairly recent events. To put it into perspective, 9/11 happened six years ago--seven years to prior '75, Bobby Kennedy was shot to death.

Daly then went on to place a new curse: This time on Mayor Richard J. Daley.

Read closely now supporters of the "Fairness Doctrine": Because of that ditched regulation you want put into law, it's by no means a stretch of the imagination that you'll have a crackpot like Lar Daly on television implying a death curse on a leading public official. Or worse, a Jihadist nut.

Is that your idea of "fairness?"

Be careful of what you wish for.

Mayor Daley did die, of natural causes, a year later. Not to be outdone, Lar Daly followed him to the next world in 1979. History has not recorded if he had been cursed beforehand.

Of course Richard J. Daley's son now rules Chicago, the Daley family, with an "E" that is, one-upped Lar Daly.

And if Lar Daly was around today, he probably wouldn't think that was fair.

To comment on this or any other Marathon Pundit post, click here.

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Legislative Mushrooms

Larry DiPrima started it.

The Royal Order of Mushrooms.

They sat in the back of the Illinois House chamber.

And they played the role of a typical mushroom.

They were kept in the dark and fed, well, you know McHenry County Blog is at worst a PG-rated blog, so you will have to fill in the blank.

And, why do the mushrooms like Governor Rod Blagojevich?

You’ll have to read that at McHenry County Blog.

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Mounting frustrations

BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS

In the morning, a group of representatives and senators from both sides of the aisle wanted to prevent this summer’s fiasco from happening again. In the afternoon, the governor met with Senate Democrats but continued to blame House Democratic leadership for the fiasco.

Lawmakers are agitated because legislative leaders did not meet yesterday or today to discuss the budget, and they’re ready to take action. “These [special] sessions, when we come to Springfield, should not be a waste of time,” Sen. James Meeks said. Meeks wants the legislative leaders and the governor to meet everyday and address the full General Assembly after each meeting. “We need a full account of what happened at each budget meeting,” he said.

Two separate measures have been introduced in the Senate to address further budget stalemate. If both chambers fail to approve a budget by July 1, SB1848 would allow the state to continue funding its obligations at the level of the previous year until a new budget is approved. The second measure, SB1849 would require the governor and all four legislative leaders to include the members of both chambers in budget negotiations on a daily basis.

The governor and the leaders also would have to share where they stand on any given proposal. Budget proposals would have to be posted on the state government website no later than two days after submission for the public to view, and would have to be physically given to legislators five days before it’s called for a vote.

“We expect more transparency and inclusion in the over all budget process,” Sen. Susan Garrett said. “Especially during special session when the tax-payers are footing the bill of $36,000 a day.”

It just so happens the Senate Democrats got their wish, because after both chambers recessed, the governor met with the Senate Democrats in President Emil Jones’ office to discuss funding for education and healthcare. But he was still focused on blaming House leadership for the special session.

“The reason we’re in overtime and special session is because the Democratic Speaker of the House Mr. Madigan has formed a coalition, an alliance, with the conservative Republican leader of the Senate,” Blagojevich said. “The way to be able to finally get budgets that achieve the objectives of healthcare and education for families is to get Mr. Madigan to be a Democrat again and stop being a George Bush Republican.”

The governor also said he is not leaning toward any single solution, but he's determined to make sure increasing education funding and healthcare is a part of the budget.

So far, the House and the Senate is scheduled to meet over the weekend. Stay tuned for more updates to see if the non-binding resolution on whether to support selling the Lottery is called for a vote later today.

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WQAD: Blagojevich: Democratic House speaker really a Republican

What a circus Illinois's become. Via WQAD,

Blagojevich said today that the House speaker should "stop being a Republican." Blagojevich may be blaming Madigan and the House Democrats, but they're not the only roadblock. The Democratic-controlled state Senate hasn't approved his budget either.

JPT (and the GOP) so lucky she lost the election.

Where did the Greens go with all of this? All I see on their website is the War in Iraq taking top billing.

When the Democratic Gov is outting a key Democrat Party Leader as a closet Republican it might be the time for a third party to come out and say the Gov's right and here's what makes Greens different.

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An early analysis of the 14 District GOP Primary.

From Eric Krol, in today’s Daily Herald:

A Hastert retirement would set up a likely Republican primary pitting Oberweis against Aurora state Sen. Chris Lauzen. The two conservatives would battle it out for their party’s base of support

If that's what the field looks like heading into Februrary, my prediction is that Lauzen wins.

In the 2006 Republican primary, Kane County represented 58% of the total votes in the 14th District. Kendall represented 17%. Obviously those two counties, Kane in particular, are must wins for the nomination. Oberweis' poorest showing in Kane was in 2004 (29%, compared to 56% and 40% in ’02 and ’06, respectively) when the race included a State Senator from Kane (Rauschenberger). I think the same dynamic will play out in ’08, and Lauzen will beat Oberweis in Kane.

In Kendall, Lauzen already has a base (his district includes part of the county), while Oberweis has seen his number go down from 61% in ’02 to 42% and 37% in ’06 and ’04, respectively, even though no “favorite son” was in the picture in the later two cycles. Once again, I predict a Lauzen win in Kendall. Lauzen also won most of the western counties in the district when he ran for Comptroller in '98.

If Oberweis is willing to set his sights lower than Governor and U.S. Senator in order to get elected, maybe he should skip Congress and run for Lauzen's State Senate seat.

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Earlier Disclosure

Cross posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

The governor and the general assembly can't agree on much this year, but one thing they have agreed on is that political committees should file their reports earlier than in the past. One of the only 12 bills signed into law so far this year is HB 426 (it's PA 95-6, if you're counting).

Likely best known as the bill that moves the primary date, it also moves the dates when campaign disclosure reports are due. Signed on June 20 and effective immediately, it moved up the dates on which campaign reports must be filed with the State Board of Elections by 11 days.

Political committees now have to file their reports by July 20, two weeks from today. Candidates and other PACs in Chicago's elections (and all of the other municipals), a few statehouse announced challengers, and of course all of the statewides and incumbent legislators -- all of that data is due to www.elections.il.gov in a mere two weeks. Get ready, get set!

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Many questions, few answers

BY BETHANY CARSON AND DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
Even with no testimony from Gov. Rod Blagojevich and with few details provided on privatizing the state lottery, Illinois lawmakers could vote Friday on whether to give the governor authorization to do two things: 1) lease the lottery to a private firm for at least $10 billion and 2) issue $16 billion in bonds. Both are tactics to reduce state debt in the public employee pension systems.

Hours of testimony in a special House committee and in a separate Senate committee provided few answers for some of the biggest questions. For instance, many asked how much revenue the state would share with a private operator, as well as how the state would compensate for revenue lost by leasing the state asset. Lawmakers also expressed skepticism because only a handful of states are considering privatizing their lotteries, but none have actually done it.

“Do we want to be first, or maybe we’d be better off second or third?” said Sen. Terry Link, a Waukegan Democrat, during the Senate committee.

Mark Florian, marketing director for Goldman, Sachs & Co., which is advising the governor’s office on the deal and stands to profit if the deal goes through, said the size of Illinois’ lottery makes this state a potential frontrunner. “People are going to stretch and stretch very, very hard [so] that there will be a premium, a trophy premium, to have access to this lottery system,” he told the committee. The Blagojevich Administration often cites estimated revenue at about $10 billion.

That’s exactly why some lawmakers questioned why the state would want to lease the lottery if it has so much potential for revenue growth, which would put more money into the state’s education system.

Some of the same questions came up during about 6 hours of questioning by a special committee of the entire House, in which the governor was invited to participate but declined. “I must confess that I believe you are more interested in playing games and taking solutions off the table than trying to find solutions to solve real problems,” he wrote in a letter to House Speaker Michael Madigan that was shared with legislators and the media. A series of rather snippy letters have been exchanged between the speaker and the governor this week, continuing the gridlock that led Blagojevich to convene a special session seven days a week until a full state budget comes to fruition.

“If the governor believes this is a waste of time, I think that’s pathetic,” said Rep. Jack Franks after the House committee. The Woodstock Democrat came up with the idea to invite the governor to the committee of the entire chamber and led Thursday’s hearing. “I think it’s cowardly for him not to have been here after calling the [special] session.”

At the end of the business day, the House moved three pieces of legislation, one proposing the lease of the Illinois Lottery, one proposing the issuance of pension bonds and one nonbinding resolution urging the General Assembly to resolve pension reform and debt before the legislative session adjourns for good in 2007.

Tom Johnson, president of the Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois, said the administration was putting the cart before the horse because the lottery proposal comes up with a funding mechanism for state pension obligations before it addresses mounting pension liabilities. He said a better plan would evaluate the expense of the benefits offered as a way to cut costs. “The lottery is the taxpayers’ asset,” Johnson said. “The [pension obligation bond] debt will be the taxpayers’ debt.”

John Filan, chief operating officer, said with $41 billion in debt, “all solutions will be expensive, very expensive, and require major revenues.” When asked whether the governor’s initial gross receipts tax proposal was still on the table, Filan didn’t answer yes or no. He simply said the administration would consider other forms of business taxes, such as ending some corporate tax breaks.

The governor is not expected to appear before the House Friday, either.

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Posturing for Judgeships?

Two Illinois legislators have recently taken surprising political stands.

State Senator Kirk Dillard (R-DuPage County) cut a campaign ad segment for Barack Obama. It made big news in the Chicago metropolitan market and got big criticism from Republicans.

State Representative Jack Franks (D-Bull Valley) has endorsed Hillary Clinton for President.

So, why would Dillard go out onto a limb for Obama and Franks onto a similar branch for Hillary?

Dillard lost in the Illinois Senate Leadership fight to Frank Watson. Dillard also just voluntarily gave up the traditional power base of Chairman of the DuPage County Republican Central Committee.

Maybe he would like to be a federal judge in Chicago. Couldn't hurt to have a president or a vice president or even a U.S. Senator as an advocate.

Franks is similarly boxed in politically.

He could run for Congress against Republican Congressman Don Manzullo in the 16th congressional district.

But that would by no means be a slam-dunk.

And one of his 2006 contributors, Robert Abboud, is acting as if he is going to run against Manzullo.

Does Franks run against State Senator Pam Althoff next year?

Only if he is very, very brave.

He’d have to knock on twice as many doors and, surely, he has gotten tired of knocking on doors by now. It’s been eight years of going door-to-door.

As I have stated repeatedly, I have seen that women have a five- percentage point advantage over men in this area.

Why would he run for the state senate if Althoff were not vacating her seat to challenge Congresswoman Melissa Bean?

So, could Franks, who barely beat Dr. Tom Salvi—a man, I point out—afford to spot Althoff five-percentage points?

I don’t think so.

And, why take the risk by leaving what is by now a “safe” seat?

Or has Franks’ support of Hillary blown the conservative “cover” has spent low these many years creating?

Maybe it would make him vulnerable in his legislative seat, especially if a woman ran against him.

Franks got lots of publicity posturing for a Democratic Party primary challenge against Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Indeed, Franks is the anti-Blagojevich in the Illinois General Assembly.

So, why would Franks want to be a state senator under the leadership of Rod Blagojevich lover Emil Jones?

He gets paid the same as a state representative. And he seems to have reached a détente with McHenry County Republicans on giving Mike Tryon a free ride to Springfield, that is, no Democratic Party opponent, in return for his having no opposition.

And, Franks get to work with the father of Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who must love it every time Franks takes on the man the Speaker wants to beat in a gubernatorial primary election in 2010.

What else it left?

Franks could run for Attorney General, if Lisa Madigan ran for governor. I thought that most likely until Franks' endorsement of Hillary.

But that is a statewide race and his stances on hot button Democratic Party issues like homosexual rights and abortion have not been liberal enough to gain the support of the Personal PAC’s and gay rights supporters in Illinois.

So, what’s left that would be a step up?

How about a federal judgeship?

If Hillary gets elected president, Franks would have been one of the few prominent Illinois Democrats to have supported her before the primary election.

Trust me. Politicians remember who supported them when it counted most.

Sure, Franks would have to have the support of U.S. Senator Dick Durbin.

But, Durbin is a practical kind of guy.

I don’t see that as an obstacle.

So, if Hillary wins, I figure Franks has his choice of sitting on the federal bench in Rockford or in Chicago.

It’s a toss-up, in my mind, as to which he would pick.

= = = = =
The picture of Kirk Dillard and Frank Watson came from the Illinois Channel, which Comcast refuses to broadcast in McHenry County. Hillary Clinton's photograph comes from her campaign web site. The photos of Don Manzullo and Robert Abboud, Pam Althoff, Jack Franks, Mike Tryon and Dick Durbin were take by your intrepid photographer, most with need for a flash. All can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Posted originally on McHenry County Blog.

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Why at least a bill about leasing the lottery is a good thing

So we are going to have a committee of the whole meeting to talk about selling the lottery or perhaps we will not.

I have to admit, the letters between Madigan and the Governor have been entertaining. However there is one thing I think Speaker Madigan needs to point out.

We can't really get an idea of what the lottery is worth (part of the governor's solution to the pension issue) without knowing what the bill authorizing the lease looks like.

Why...
I have blogged a bit on this in the past. In May of 2006 (no, we haven't been talking this concept to death at all) I calculated the NPV (what you would pay today to get the next 30 years of cash flow of the lottery) of the lottery at about $24 billion today. The big problem is the number of unknowns in the calculations when taking a non-guaranteed cash flow and trying to figure out how much it is worth. If you lease the lottery you don't know if folks are still going to want to play the lottery in 30 years.

I have blogged about some of the issues with valuing the lottery in a post here.


The big advantage is having some sort of 'lease bill' out there is you can then start figuring out what (if any) discount you need to calculate to cover risks such as local taxation of lottery sales (IE the City of Chicago starts taxing lottery sales), changes in the multi-state compact (the Big Game), risks of the lottery being ruled illegal, if a government entity within the state could start it's own lottery (The city of Aurora presents 'City of Lights Ball'), regulatory issues about marketing the games, etc. A bill starts answering these questions, because I don't see how you value a lottery lease until you get some answers to these questions.

Leasing a lottery isn't like leasing a a tollway. You know the lead times for new road creation and know the odds (or can calculate them) of some event or events that can impact your revenues. Gas costing $10 a gallon, people using personal jet packs, etc. The problem with the lottery is there is lots of stuff that can hurt you financially that can occur without any real warning or any redress for the leaseholder if it happens.

Heck worse case with a tollway lease where people stop driving you can rent the space out...

The big advantage of a lottery lease bill is you can start eliminating some of the variables that reduce the value and can start evaluating the others.

For more on some of the issues on leasing the lottery do a search over at OneMan's Thoughts
or look here for some information of the value or here for some of the risks a leasholder might face.

OneMan

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FOID Warning

Received my new Firearm Owner’s Identification Card and discovered something I don’t think I have seen before.

There’s a

“CAUTION: This card does not permit bearer to UNLAWFULLY carry or use firearms.”

But, there’s more:

“This does not authorize the carrying of a concealed weapon.”

Really.

As if most gun owners in Illinois don't know that Illinois is one of the few states in the Union that does not grant that privilege to its law abiding citizens.

The new card does have a nifty little hologram in the lower right hand corner. It is much more colorful in the photograph than when I look at it. It must be the flash.

First posted on McHenry County Blog.

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Huh?

So I just read the Governor's response to the Speaker's request that he be at the Committee of the Whole in which the Governor appears to say that he won't attend the committee hearing, but will have staff and others there to testify and answer questions.

I'm not even going to attempt to dissect the statement (an amusing but exhausting exercise), but I will put a few thoughts out there:

1. While it's great that he is going to have 'members of (his) administration and financial experts available to testify at the Committee of the Whole on the nature of the pension problem and potential solutions', why does that mean that he shouldn't be there himself? Aren't they proferring ideas that he has okayed? And are they going to be there to defend the specifics (to whatever extent they exist) of his lottery proposal as requested by the Speaker?

I'm really not trying to be sarcastic in my questions, but the Governor's parsing of the English language makes President Clinton's wordsmithing look downright amateurish. You truly have to break his sentences down word by word to figure out what he is, or isn't, saying.

2. The Governor goes on to state, 'But if the purpose is simply to vote down my proposed solution, then it is just more games. It is this type of gamesmanship that has brought us into overtime and has left me no choice but to call the members into Special Session. I must confess that I believe you are more interested in playing games and taking solutions off the table than trying to find solutions to solve real problems. So I will not be attending your Committee.'

First off, isn't voting on proposals why he wants the legislators to be in Special Session? And again, what does this have to do with his attending the committee hearing? HE called the Special Session. HE wanted more interaction with the legislators. Is he only going to attend hearings if we promise to support his proposals?

I am NOT trying to be funny, I just don't understand the rationale of the letter. It contains so much misdirection, it's like watching The Usual Suspects while playing a back-of-the-bus game of three card monte. You just can't keep up with it.

Lastly, he states, 'As I’ve said before, I have put forth my solution, but I am remain flexible as to the means to get there.'

Is this the same Governor that spent the entire regular session saying that anything other than GRT was off the table?

Redundancy alert - I do NOT enjoy being at odds with the Governor, whether he is from my party or another party. The fact that he is my constituent and predecessor makes this less, not more, enjoyable. But I just cannot fathom his thought process at this juncture.

I'm sure that Springfield is enjoyable in August. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

To read or post comments, visit Open House

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Reaping What You Sow

The Chicago Free Press did both a front page article (see cover photo on left) and an editorial on the Governor's anonymous attack on Reps. Feigenholtz, Harris and me.

I wrote about the whole incident last week, so there's no real point in rehashing it here. But both the Free Press article and editorial are worth reading in their entireties.

Here are a few tidbits from the editorial.

The Chicago Pride Parade June 24 brought out record crowds to watch the familiar assortment of fabulous floats, dancers, twirlers, community organizations, businesses and politicians.

Unfortunately, it also attracted a mean-spirited attack directed against some of the GLBT community’s members and allies.

We’re not talking about the handful of anti-gay protesters who always show up. We’re talking about the ham-handed, cowardly actions of members of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s staff...

But wait, there's more:

Whatever—Blagojevich is free to posture all he wants. But having his aides use our Pride Parade to falsely attack three of our community’s strongest allies was a petty stunt that demeaned his office and incorrectly assumed that GLBTs in Chicago aren’t smart enough to know better.

Further, for the governor’s office to threaten HIV/AIDS organizations that get state funding made the action even more despicable.

Let’s make it plain—Feigenholtz, Fritchey and Harris are deservedly held in the highest regard by Chicago’s GLBT community. They’ve been there for years for us—on HIV/AIDS, GLBT rights and any other issue of importance to us.

And as always, they were also proudly there to march in our Pride Parade June 24, while the governor was nowhere to be found.

But then again, that’s one of the oldest tricks in the book—a ringleader having his henchmen commit the crime while he stays far away from the scene. Feigenholtz, Fritchey and Harris deserve better. So does Illinois.

Now mind you, the GLBT community have been staunch supporters of the Governor in the past, which is what makes the Governor's move that much more ill-conceived.

It just goes to make the title of my previous post, Burning Bridges, all the more poignant.

To read or post comments, visit Open House

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Ethanol

Was on I-80 Monday just west of the Quad Cities and saw another ethanol plant going up with all sorts of American Flags giving it patriotic flare.

Here's GovExec on the impacts of the 2005 Energy Policy Act. They point out something I think few people realize: ethanol can't be mixed at the refinary but requires its own distribution system and then mixing at the point of delivery.

There are other problems as well, says Conklin. Ethanol production plants must be close to feedstocks. Yet feedstocks are predominately in the Midwest - not on the coasts where ethanol is most needed. And ethanol is too corrosive to be moved in pipelines, so it must be shipped by truck or rail, which puts more pressure on the fossil-fuel-dependent transportation system.

I don't think Gov can ever get an energy policy right.

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Melissa Bean's TV habits

Jeff Emanuel over at Red State

Check out this picture as evidence (click for high-res version). Ms. Bean has up her obligatory Blue-Dog Dem anti-debt sign, decrying the "national debt" and blaring the figure of $29,000 owed per person in the US. (The Blue Dogs apparently do this in a vain attempt to seem like they care about the debt - as if using tax dollars to buy a bunch of signs doesn't simply add to the total, as well).

In the foreground is a nice contrast to the sign: four brand new LCD flat panel HD televisions waiting to be installed in her office. The model number, clearly displayed on the box, is KDL-40S2010, which is a 40 inch Bravia LCD HDTV television that retails for $1,699.99 each.

Maybe she invites constituents over for the Bears Games?

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London Calling