RezkoWatch Blog

Surprized it didn't happen sooner. A blog devoted to Rezko. There is a blog roll with other Rezko watchers.

HT Flying Debris

Update: Raw Story on the scrubbing of the site with the Rezko-Blagojevich pictures.

After rumors began circulating that Auchi may have met with Obama, information was deleted from two websites connected to Auchi's company about a spring 2004 visit to the United States that occurred as Obama was campaigning to be Illinois' junior senator.

And then this at the bottom,

More recently, according to the FBI, Rezko had contacted "certain Illinois government officials" to help Auchi get a visa to the United States. Although the senator has stated that he did not work in any way to help Auchi receive a visa, news accounts raised questions of whether Rezko may at one time have introduced Obama to Auchi.

"[W]hen he was running for the Senate, Mr. Obama stopped by to shake hands while Mr. Rezko, an immigrant from Syria, was entertaining Middle Eastern bankers considering an investment in one of his projects," the New York Times reported in June 2007.

But Obama's campaign says that the senator never met with Auchi.

"He has no recollection of ever meeting him," wrote campaign spokesman Bill Burton in an e-mail to RAW STORY.

I wonder if this will lead to bans on digital cameras at political fundraisers?

Read more...

Top Fundraising Races in the 2008 Primary

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

With just a few days to go before Tuesday’s state primary election, the largest fundraising totals are being racked up by candidates seeking the Democratic Party nomination in General Assembly districts where the party nomination is tantamount to a general election victory.

According to an Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR) analysis of contribution reports, the five Democratic candidates in Chicago’s 26th House District could amass enough money to break the state record of $479,000 spent in a House primary election.

Top Five House Contests (Cash on hand January 1, 2007 and all reported fundraising since)

26th District Democratic - $861,300
Jeffries, Elga (I)- $31,300
Chadha, Paul - $81,600
Jackson, Philip - $58,200
Burns, William - $291,300
Johnson, Kenny(a) - $399,000

25th District Democratic - $333,300
Currie, Barbara Flynn (I)- $333,300
Latiker, Sharon - $0

49th District Republican - $261,500
Schmitz, Timothy (I) - $178,300
Krenz, James - $83,200

9th District Democratic - $248,300
Walton, Dorothy - $10,400
Turner, Art (I) - $227,900

92nd District Democratic - $225,500
Mayer, G. Allen - $128,200
Gordon, Jehan - $97,300

(a) Since candidate Kenny Johnson ran for alderman in the Spring, 2007 elections, his totals reflect only cash on hand on July 1 and all reported fundraising since.

The five candidates in the 26th District (see chart above) have received at least $861,300 to date. Rep. Elga Jeffries, the incumbent, has reported only $31,300 in contributions, the lowest total of the five candidates. The $399,000 in contributions to the campaign of Kenny Johnson is the highest of the five candidates in the 26th District, as well as the highest of any House candidate in a contested primary so far this year. Will Burns, who has reported $291,300 in contributions, is the second highest in the 26th District.

For more information about contributions to all of these campaigns, visit ICPR’s website (www.ilcampaign.org) and the Sunshine Database, a powerful search tool and the only database that has standardized the names of all donors to Illinois candidates. The webiste also is home to the Illinois Voters’ Guide, a non-partisan guide to candidates running for seats on the Illinois supreme, appellate and circuit courts.

In addition to campaigns poised to break fundraising records, ICPR’s analysis also found a few candidates in House races reporting no income or expenditures, and at least one may have misrepresented receipts and expenditures on disclosure reports.

Sharon Latiker, running a second time against incumbent Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie in the 25th District, has not formed or activated a political committee, a step required by any candidate raising or spending more than $3,000.

In the 10th District, Rep. Annazette Collins reported raising and spending no funds at all for the past 13 months. Other political committees, however, reported giving her campaign $20,000. It appears that she is severely under–reporting her campaign resources. If she were to report receipts and expenditures, it is likely that the 10th District Race would crack the Top Five. Her challenger, Eddie Winters, reports $155,700.

In both House and Senate primaries, many of the contests are in areas of the City of Chicago that saw turnover in last year’s aldermanic races.

Top Five Senate Contests
(Cash on hand January 1, 2007 and all reported fundraising since)

20th District Democratic - $609,800
Martinez, Iris (I)- $469,500
Bradley, Richard - $117,800
Guevara, Carlos - $22,400

5th District Democratic - $500,600
Hendon, Rickey (I)- $273,000
Bedi, Jonathan- $181,800
Mertens, Amy Sue - $45,800

36th District Democratic - $319,900
Rumler, Paul - $29,800
Jacobs, Mike(I)- $290,100

2nd District Democratic - $282,900
Moreno, Proco "Joe" - $142,600
Delgado, William (A-I) -$140,400

41st District Republican - $269,100
Radogno, Christine (I)- $246,400
Abbott, Greg - $11,000
Bartoz, Brian- $11,800

In Cook County races, two stand out for fundraising. The announcement by incumbent State’s Attorney Dick Devine that he will retire after 12 years in office has prompted a free-for-all among factions of Chicago politics. Five of the six candidates in the Democratic primary have raised more than $500,000, and total fundraising among the Democrats has reached $4.3 million (Republican Tony Peraica is unopposed in his primary, but reports $251,700 in fundraising).

The race for the Democratic nomination to the Board of Review in the 2nd District could have significant spending . The election is between incumbent (and Cook County Democratic Party Chair) Joseph Berrios and challenger Jay Paul Deratany. However, predictions are complicated by Berrios’ holding of $1.3 million in investments in one of his funds. While it seems unlikely he would spend that much, his challenger reports $672,600 in funds raised, and this race could easily surpass $1 million.

Top Contested Cook County Contests
(Cash on hand January 1, 2007 and all reported fundraising since)

State’s Attorney Democratic - $4,289,100
Allen, Tom(b) - $1,161,500
Alvarez, Anita - $711,800
Brookins Jr, Howard(b) - $577,700
Suffredin, Larry - $996,600
Milan, Robert- $804,700
Brewer, Tommy - $35,900

Board of Review, 2nd District (D) - $2,542,000
Berrios, Joseph (I) - $1,869,400
Deratany, Jay Paul - $672,600

Recorder of Deeds Democratic - $767,600
Moore, Eugene (I)- $494,500
Smith, Ed(b)- $273,100

(b) Since candidates Tom Allen, Howard Brookins, and Ed Smith ran for alderman in the Spring, 2007 elections, their totals reflect only cash on hand on July 1 and all reported fundraising since.

ICPR will have updates of these numbers, and judicial races, between now and next Tuesday's election.

Read more...

Controversial Chicago State University president stepping down

You could put this story under, "what took her so long?" If you haven't been tracking the story, there were issues with finances and contracts at Chicago State. So now we see someone is taking a hit for these flaps from today's Trib...

Elnora Daniel, the beleaguered president of Chicago State University, told colleagues Wednesday that she plans to retire, following a year in which her spending practices and leadership repeatedly came under fire.

She plans to leave on June 30, the day her contract is set to expire, but she will continue to collect her $241,025 salary and other benefits until June 30, 2009, as an "educational leave" clause in her contract allows.

Daniel announced her departure in an e-mail sent early Wednesday morning to faculty and staff at the 7,000-student South Side university, which serves more African-American students than any other university in the state.

Daniel had been asking the board since at least June to extend her contract, but the board never acted on her requests.

Her contract requires that she give the board "reasonable notice" of her intention to seek a paid leave, which becomes an option if her contract is not renewed, according to the agreement.

Her announcement comes as federal authorities are set to audit the university's spending on a government-funded project in west Africa, the subject of a recent Tribune investigation.

"It is with both sadness and a great deal of pride that I leave the university," Daniel wrote in her e-mail, a copy of which was forwarded to the Tribune. She wrote that the decision was difficult, but that "all good things must inevitably come to an end."

Daniel did not respond to calls or e-mails requesting comment.

Daniel, 66, has been president of Chicago State for the last decade. At a July news conference, called so she could defend her spending practices, Daniel said that she had no plans to step down.

"I will not resign. Never," Daniel said. "There are many important things that have been accomplished as a result of me being at this institution."

In Wednesday's e-mail, Daniel cited the university's new library and convocation center among her accomplishments. She also pointed to the creation of the doctoral program in educational leadership—the university's first PhD program—and the new College of Pharmacy, which will welcome its first class this fall.

Let's hope that Chicago State can appoint a leader who can right the ship and make that university into a desireable destination for those looking for a school to attend.

Related posts from my blog
Chicago St. president pays back $8,650
Chicago State copier buys were inside deal

Read more...

'Obama Country' ad is nothing more than an "idiot" card

My “idiot” card arrived in my mail Wednesday.

Now I can breathe a sigh of relief, as I finally know how I am supposed to vote come Tuesday’s primary elections. At least that’s how the Cook County Democratic Party wants me to react now that I have received their mailing telling me how to cast my ballot.

I received a campaign mailing telling me the party’s slate of candidates running for countywide offices here in the Land of Cook.

So now I realize that Joseph Berrios is a quality public official who deserves to have yet another term on the Cook County Board of Review, the panel that oversees tax appeals. I’m sure the fact that Berrios is also chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party had nothing to do with his endorsement for re-election to his government post.

Such cards are not new. The “Chicago machine” has used palm cards for decades. They are meant to be disposable and small (tiny enough to fit in the palm of one’s hand), and to provide a “friendly reminder” of which candidates have the official support of the party leadership.

They get the nickname of “idiot” cards because they allegedly are meant for people who are so absentminded/stupid that they need a blunt reminder of who the organization wants to get support – and more importantly, who it does NOT want to see anymore after Election Day.

But this palm card differs from past examples because of its quality; four pages printed on a full-color, quality posterboard stock. At first glance, it looks like a little book, at the very least a campaign brochure.

It also is larger than the traditional palm card – each page measures 6 x 9.25 inches. The only way I can fit it in the “palm” of my hand is if I hold it with my old baseball glove (a Bud Harrelson model, for those who are curious).

The card also is put together in a more sophisticated manner than usual palm cards, which typically are nothing more than a list of names.

Its cover promotes Barack Obama’s presidential campaign with a silhouette of the United States and the state of Illinois highlighted as “Obama Country.” At first glance, I thought I had received a brochure from the Obama campaign.

When I opened it up and saw pictures and quotes from Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., I thought that maybe I had received a Durbin campaign brochure urging support for Obama based on the concept of party unity. But upon further inspection, it became obvious that it was just a glossy idiot card.

The card contains a “sample ballot” listing all the slated candidates in Cook County, along with the small-print legalese informing me that I can take the card into the voting booth with me when I make my visit Tuesday to the neighborhood Lutheran church (which in my neighborhood doubles as an Election Day polling place).

After scouring all four pages, I found the very tiny typeface telling me the card was, “Paid for by the Cook County Democratic Party.”

A part of me feels like I’m handling sleaze, since the party obviously spent quite a bit of money on printing up these idiot cards. One does not get this quality of paper and so much full color (including color photographs of every judicial candidate the Cook County Democratic Party wants to see retained) without spending some serious cash.

I also feel simple-minded after reading the portion telling me that Democrats stand for “good schools,” “safe neighborhoods,” “quality healthcare” and “clean environment.” Does anyone seriously oppose such vague pronouncements? I have never heard of any campaign – GOP or Dem – that said publicly it favors bad schools and wants rotten healthcare.

There must have been something more worthwhile that the money could have been spent on. A voter registration effort to get people to actually vote would have been a morally superior cause, even though I realize that political professionals actually do not want higher voter turnout unless they could be assured that ALL of the additional votes would be for their candidate.

Will anybody actually take this card with them into the polling place? I know in past years I have seen people take various voter aids into the voting booth when they mark up their ballot. Usually, it is a newspaper advertisement put together by some activist group that wants to get candidates elected who are sympathetic to their cause.

I have always wondered just why such ads and cards do not constitute electioneering. After all, there are limits on how close campaign workers can come to a polling place before their activity is officially considered illegal influence of a voter.

Back in 1988 when I was a general assignment reporter for the now-defunct City News Bureau of Chicago, I had a police officer watching me like a hawk on Election Day. I had been assigned to talk to people as they got ready to vote, in hopes of doing some icky-sweet feature about the experience of casting a ballot in Chicago. The cop was trying to make sure that I was not telling people inside the polling place who to vote for.

I suppose the idea that one voluntarily chooses which idiot cards (if any) to take with them into a voting booth is what makes it legal. But if I were feeling malicious, I could try to influence others inside the polling place by making sure they saw the card with its “Stay True Blue” logo in my possession.

There’s only one “flaw” to this version of an idiot card. It does not tell me for whom to vote for Cook County state’s attorney. That’s because the party itself did not slate any candidate to replace retiring prosecutor Dick Devine.

Hence, the primary for that office is a free-for-all. Six candidates, each of whom have legitimate credentials on paper for the post are fighting each other for the right to challenge the Republican nominee come the Nov. 4 general election.

So for the position of state’s attorney, the publishers of the idiot card have let me down. I’m actually going to have to make up my own mind.

It’s a good thing my mail also included a full-color, glossy campaign card from state’s attorney hopeful Howard Brookins, telling me that he’s an ace (as in a deck of playing cards), compared to opponents Larry Suffredin, Tom Allen and Bob Milan who are merely kings, and future GOP candidate Tony Peraica, who is a joker and, “a right-wing zealot.”

Seeing that kind of silly campaign trash almost sways me to cast my ballot for one of the candidates he didn’t mention – Anita Alvarez, who is a deputy to departing prosecutor Devine.

Now I’m sure that some of the candidates named on the idiot card are qualified officials. I may even vote for some of them.

But I think I’m going to leave the cards at home come Tuesday. I’ll follow the Cook County Democratic Party’s lead for state’s attorney and apply it to the entire ballot.

When I walk into the voting booth (these days, it’s little more than a computer touch screen with next to nothing to provide a sense of privacy), I’ll just have to think for myself.

-30-

Originally posted at www.ChicagoArgus.blogspot.com

Read more...

Mayberry This Ain't

Just when I thought that there was nothing to really blog about, given the campaign season and the fact that we haven't been in session, comes this doozy:

With an upcoming trial poised to focus (even more) attention on the Governor's operations, one would realize that it is only natural that the Governor would be confronted by (even more) questions about the issue of how he has run his administration and his campaign apparatus.

But rather than find an thoughtful way to try to manage the issue, the Governor busts out his best Opie Taylor impersonation and tries to turn the table on the press.

There is a bigger issue, and it could suggest why those newspapers are gettin' skinnier and skinnier. Because these guys like to write about stuff that don't really matter to people.

Wow. With a straight face no less.

- This from the Governor that charged into office on a stated mission from God to clean up corruption in state government, only to give us five more years of the headlines that Illinoisans had been sick of seeing in the years leading up to his first election.

- This from the Governor that promised two years ago to 'rock the system' and reform campaign finance in Illinois, then did - nothing.

- This from the Governor who has bottled up House Bill 1, which would end pay-to-play politics in our state, since LAST APRIL.

I think it's pretty clear who this stuff 'don't' matter to. Aunt Bea must be turning in her grave.

To read or post comments, visit Open House

Read more...

Feds recast FutureGen's future

FutureGen isn’t dead, yet. But it’s dead as we know it. The 13 energy companies that formed the FutureGen Alliance and selected Mattoon as the host of the groundbreaking project also isn’t dead, yet. In fact, Mattoon and the Alliance could land another version of the multibillion-dollar project with state-of-the art technology for cleaner energy production if they go through another long, detailed, competitive bidding process. And the Alliance would have to come up with a way to fund it other than borrowing, as it proposed in the original FutureGen deal with the federal government.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced in a conference call Wednesday that a new approach to FutureGen would be an “all around better deal for America” for less money and less risk. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the department would start from scratch, seeking new bids for new projects that would a) allow for commercial operation of clean coal plants, b) use multiple locations and c) sequester “double the amount” of carbon dioxide emissions than proposed in 2003. (That’s when President George W. Bush unveiled the original FutureGen plan.) The restructured FutureGen also would aim to generate enough electricity to power 400,000 homes, more than the FutureGen projection, and faster.

New plants would be operational by 2015. Interested applicants have until March 3 to submit proposals.

The halt on federal funding for the original FutureGen site started to trickle down when the FutureGen Alliance announced Mattoon as the selected site in December. In fact, the Energy Department urged the Alliance not to continue with the announcement because of funding and feasibility concerns and didn’t attend the unveiling in Washington, D.C.

The concerns, according to DOE’s Deputy Secretary Clay Sell, focus on the cost estimates nearly doubling to $1.8 billion and drastic changes in clean-coal technology in the past five years. He said more than 33 companies are seeking permits to build plants that use similar technology that could do what made FutureGen so promising: generate electricity and hydrogen from coal and then sequester the carbon dioxide emissions underground rather than releasing them as air pollutants. The costs and the market changes underpinned the decision to take a different approach, Sell said.

It really didn’t help that the FutureGen Alliance proposed that its share of the costs would be financed by mortgage loans. “Quite simply, the financing approach advanced by the FutureGen Alliance would place interests of U.S. taxpayers at risk to that of private mortgage holders,” Sell said. “This would represent a substantial departure from DOE practice for projects which the government bears a majority of costs. And we think it would significantly and unduly increase taxpayer risk.” Ultimately, the feds and the Alliance couldn’t agree on a way to restructure FutureGen.

But what if costs escalate just as they did for the original project? “I can’t guarantee anything five years in the future, and neither can anyone in the Congress,” Sell said. Responding to the Illinois delegation’s harsh words that the feds put the kibosh on Mattoon’s version of the FutureGen, Sell added that the administration has much more confidence that the new approach wouldn’t suffer the same fate.

He also quashed skepticism that the administration pulled the plug on the Mattoon site as retribution for the project not landing in the president’s home state of Texas, as well as the notion that the DOE conveniently set a timeline that coincides with the end of Bush’s term. “Had I wanted to just wash my hands of this, I would have let it go. And the folks of Mattoon, Ill., could have continued to celebrate this for a year or maybe two years. And then when the thing went south, I could have blamed it on the next administration for failing to bring this great idea to fruition. But we recognized that we had a problem. We recognized that we needed to restructure it.”

So now the feds have to deal with the persistent Illinois Congressional delegation, as well as the state legislature and the governor, who all vow to fight for Mattoon and FutureGen.

Read more...

Prairie State Blue: Kane's Early Primary Numbers - Are Dems abstaining from Special?

A good post by Jordal over at Prairie State Blue: Kane's Early Primary Numbers - Are Dems abstaining from Special? Looks like the proprotion of Democratic and Republican ballots in the Congressional Primary are even, and then a disproportionate share of voters pull GOP ballots in the special.

Why are 12% of early-voting Democrats not voting in the Special Primary? Are they waiting until Feb 5th? (Is it even possible to wait?) Whether or not it’s intentional on the part of voters, it seems reasonable to state that the closer the race is, the more likely it is that Democrats will wind up with two different nominees for March and November, and given that these discrepancies disproportionately affect the Democratic Primary, there should be special attention paid amongst Kane County Democrats.

I'm guessing it's Democrats crossying over to vote against Oberweis after having cast a ballot for Obama.

Read more...

Rezko or Alsammare in that picture with Blagojevich and Auchi?

ABC linked to Middle East Online for a series of photos of Nadhmi Auchi with Blagojevich and Emil Jones.

ABC claims the man to Blagojevich's right is Rezko,

A Middle East Web site shows a photograph of what it described as Auchi visiting Illinois government officials in April 2004, with Rezko visible on the right of the photo.

He doesn't look like Rezko to me and instead looks like Aiham Alsammarae shown here in photo I downloaded from the NYT: Escaped Minister Says He Fled Iraqi Jail ‘the Chicago Way’

Alsammarae would have been Iraq's Minister of Electricitiy at the time of this photo in April 2004 so I'm not sure he would have been in country for this event. But it sure doesn't look like Tony Rezko in the photo as ABC is saying here.


Rich originally linked the ABC photo here.

Another Auchi Blagojevich photo op from GMH's website.

Update: Middle East Online and GMH have trashed their links to the Auchi Blagojevich Emil Jones bash so here's the pic of Auchi and Jones from the site yesterday,

Update: Nibras Kazimi also believes it's Alsammare in the top photo,

Regarding that top picture, I immediately recognized the third man as Alsamarrae.

Check the comments in his post Obama’s Saddam Connection?


xp Bill Baar's West Side

Read more...

Energy bust

It very well could be too good to be true for Mattoon and the state, which lost federal support of the groundbreaking FutureGen coal power plant one month after winning the project. I thought something was peculiar when I listened to President George W. Bush’s last State of the Union speech Monday night. He mentioned the need “to build a future of energy security” and pioneering “a new generation of clean energy technology,” but he didn’t name FutureGen, an international project touted to do just that.

Mattoon was selected by the energy industry group, FutureGen Alliance, to host the $1.75 billion project capable of generating energy with much less pollution. It was to be an economic boon and an environmental breakthrough. The blow to Mattoon and the entire state came Tuesday after news of a meeting between the U.S. delegation of Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Tim Johnson and U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, according to published reports.

Durbin said in a statement that the feds’ move was unmatched in “cruel deception.”

“After our meeting today it is clear that Secretary of Energy Sam Bodman has misled the people of Illinois, creating false hope in a FutureGen project which he has no intention of funding or supporting.”

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said in a statement that the state will not give up the fight to make FutureGen a reality in Illinois.

Even if Illinois were to fight and win a scaled-down version of FutureGen or another kind of clean coal technology project, it likely would cost a lot more than the original estimate. FutureGen Alliance’s Michael Mudd gave an online interview about the unknown reason the U.S. Department of Energy had yet to issue a decision by mid-January. But he also said the more delay, the higher the cost — as much as $10 million a month — because of inflation.

Editor’s note: The upcoming February issue of Illinois Issues has an article about FutureGen that was printed before it could be updated with today’s news. Watch the blog and our March issue for more updates.

Utility debate returns
Get ready for another round of energy debates involving natural gas and electricity rates for Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois customers. A group of consumer advocates gathered Tuesday to say consumers have a voice and should get involved in the rate-setting debates before the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Ameren proposes collecting about $245 million from customers of all three subsidiaries to deliver natural gas and electricity. The utility also proposes something called “decoupling,” which would allow it to add a surcharge on natural gas delivery rates to make up for a decline in the average amount of therms used by customers. For instance, Beth Bosch of the Illinois Commerce Commission gave this example: If Illinois has a warm winter and Ameren Illinois customers use less heat, then the utility would lose money. There is a cost to deliver the natural gas no matter how much or little customers use, says Leigh Morris, Ameren Illinois spokesman. He adds the amount of the surcharge would be minimal. The proposal also could benefit customers in the opposite scenario: If Illinois had a colder than normal winter and the utility made more money, then customers could get a credit on their bills.

The Illinois attorney general opposes that billing scheme. Janice Dale, chief of the public utilities bureau in the AG’s office, says it’s “a plan to have customers pay for natural gas service that they won’t use.”

Dale joined AARP at a Statehouse news conference Tuesday. Along with the Citizens Utility Board, they want to organize opposition to proposed rate increases and ask customers to attend public hearings before the Illinois Commerce Commission accepts some, all or none of the rate increases. Any rate changes wouldn’t be effective until at least this fall, according to Bosch.

Morris says Ameren Illinois asks customers to participate with an open mind about the company’s proposal, considering those rates apply only to the cost of delivering the power, amounting to about 25 percent of customers’ bills. Last year’s political turmoil contributed to the company’s poor credit rating, which makes it more expensive to borrow money when other costs — equipment, operations, fuel — are increasing. The company also plans to spend $900 million on infrastructure through 2010. “A rate increase is essential to our ability to meet our mission,” he says.

Public hearings are scheduled for 7 p.m. throughout Ameren’s service area:
- February 4 at the Decatur Public Library
- February 6 at Marion’s Williamson County Pavilion
- February 13 at the Belleville City Council chambers
- February 19 at Peoria City Hall
- February 26 at the Quincy City Council chambers
- February 28 at the Champaign City Council chambers.

Read more...

Durbin's Morgenthaler endorsement

An email from her campaign,

New Endorsements With just one week to go before Illinois voters head to the polls, United States Senator Dick Durbin has endorsed Jill Morgenthaler for Congress in Illinois ’ 6th District.

Senator Durbin said:

“ Jill Morgenthaler is a mom and a patriot who served her country for 30 years in the armed forces with tours in Iraq, Bosnia, Germany and Korea .

"Over the last few years, running Illinois ’ homeland security department, Jill’s made our state safer with innovation and a can-do attitude.

Jill’s combination of commonsense Illinois values and homeland security experience make her just the right person to represent the 6th district. I lend her my support in the Democratic primary, and I look forward to helping her win in November.”

Jill has also been endorsed by the Pioneer Press, Daily Herald, Sun Times, and the Chicago Tribune.

How Durbin and Morganthaler square their words will be something Roskam should ask.

Colonel Morganthaler,

Figen shared with me what it was like to spend 7 months under Iraqi occupation. As she told me the horrors of living in Kuwait under the occupation, I realized that if we had not had the first war, Saddam may have been impossible to stop with the oil under his total control. The men who did terrible things to the Kuwaitis, especially the Kuwaiti women are very similar to the men we are fighting. As people get upset about Abu Ghraib, one thing that should never be forgotten: these are men who have murdered Americans and would continue to murder Americans if given the opportunity.

Sen Durbin, (PDF file)

When you read some of the graphic descriptions of what has occurred here -- I almost hesitate to put them in the record, and yet they have to be added to this debate. Let me read to you what one FBI agent saw. And I quote from his report:

On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold....

On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.

If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

I'd like to know if those abused at Abu Garib murdered Americans as Morganther said, if she believes they would continue, and if so, does she think Durbin ought never forget?

Update: Colonel Morgenthaler from today's Trib.

Morgenthaler does not support a pullout of troops and said she believes it is likely the U.S. will have to maintain a presence of 30,000 troops because of its national interests in the region. The surge is working, she said.

“What the surge is not capable of is bringing the political solutions to Iraq. I don’t know if democracy is exportable. I think it has to be homegrown,” she said.

She's a Democrat I could support. If Durbin agrees, he should say so.

Now, I wish she'd express some regret on the those Abu Garib comments and instead quote the Taguba report on the real heros from that sad public-relations defeat,

4. (U) The individual Soldiers and Sailors that we observed and believe should be favorably noted include:

a. (U) Master-at-Arms First Class William J. Kimbro, US Navy Dog Handler, knew his duties and refused to participate in improper interrogations despite significant pressure from the MI personnel at Abu Ghraib.

b. (U) SPC Joseph M. Darby, 372nd MP Company discovered evidence of abuse and turned it over to military law enforcement.

c. (U) 1LT David O. Sutton, 229th MP Company, took immediate action and stopped an abuse, then reported the incident to the chain of command.

I don't think you'll find soldiers like this in any other Army in the world.

Read more...

Breaking: Rezko bail request denied, will stay in jail

Breaking news via WBBM News Radio Chicago: Tony Rezko's bail request has been denied, he will have to remain in jail until a verdict is reached in his federal trial, which begins on February 25.

Rather than residing in the stately home on the left for the next few months, the strange-looking building on the right will be the home for Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the indicted Democratic political insider and onetime friend and associate of Barack Obama.

According to WBBM-AM reporter Steve Miller, Rezko entered the hearing this afternoon "in an orange jump suit and leg shackles." I presume he left the same way.

Five years ago, Rezko hosted a $1,000 a-head fundraiser for Obama's US Senate campaign at his Wilmette residence.

The question that has to be asked is this? After a taste of life behind bars, will that make Rezko want to "drop a dime" on Governor Rod Blagojevich in exchange for sentence leniency? Reverse Spin wonders the same thing.

In other Rezko news, Stuart Levine, a Republican who is cooperating in with prosecution's case against Rezko, was ordered to undergo drug testing by Judge Amy St. Eve, after a request made by Rezko's defense team.

Levine pleaded guilty to various corruption charges in 2006, receiving a relatively light sentence in agreeing to testity against Rezko.

To comment on this post, please visit Marathon Pundit.

Read more...

Lauzen's Moolah Mailers

...as negative ads go, Lauzen's are fun.

Read more...

New Sunshine

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

The due date for filing campaign disclosure reports with the State Board of Elections was one week ago. One week from today, voters to the polls. And today, ICPR and the Sunshine Project are proud to announce a series of updates to ilcampaign.org, your front-door portal for information on campaign finance and reform.

The Sunshine Database has been updated through December 31, 2007. If you want to see which how much candidates in your area are raising, and from whom, go here.

If you want to know about campaign receipts and expenditures by candidates for Supreme our Appellate Court, go here.

If you want to know which candidates have signed the Code of Fair Campaign Practices, go here.

If you want to know where the candidates stand on a range of reform issues, from campaign finance reform to ethics laws to judicial elections, go here.

If you want to know which of the legislative leaders received $15,000 from Exelon in 2007, go here (hint: It wasn’t Emil Jones; he got $21K from Com Ed, and another $20K from Ameren, not to mention receipts in the Senate Democratic Fund).

If you want biographical and other information on judicial candidates, go here.

In the final days before the 2008 Primary, check back to ilcampaign.org for up-to-the-minute updates on the hottest legislative and judicial contests.

Read more...

Camelot Lives

Standing before a packed auditorium of nearly 4,000 American University students Senator Edward Kenney, Congressman Patrick Kennedy, and Caroline Kennedy passed the torch to a new generation, and formally endorsed Barack Obama.

There had been rumors in the party for the past week that Ted Kennedy was not very pleased with President Clinton’s campaign tactics, and he even went so far as to personally call him to tell him so. However, even as the news broke the other night that Caroline Kennedy was going to write an op-ed piece in the New York Times for Obama, few in the media believed that Sen. Kennedy would break his silence. That all changed yesterday.

Ted Kennedy approached the podium, his frailty and old age apparent, amongst a sea of fresh faces that weren’t alive to witness his fight for civil rights or his bid for the presidency nearly three decades ago. The barn-burner that ensued left few of those same people questioning why they call him the “Liberal Lion of the Senate.” Kennedy railed against cynicism and a “politics of distortion” while the crowd intermittently screamed back “yes we can.”

In what can be considered the biggest refutation of Hillary Clinton’s campaign to date, Kennedy took up nearly every accusation by the Clintons. "With Barack Obama we will close the book on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, ethnic group against ethnic group, and straight against gay," Kennedy said.

"There was another time, when another young candidate was running for president and challenging America to cross a new frontier. He faced criticism from the preceding Democratic president, who was widely respected in the party," Kennedy contiuned, referring to Harry S. Truman.

"And John Kennedy replied, 'The world is changing. The old ways will not do. ... It is time for a new generation of leadership.’ "So it is with Barack Obama.”

The end of his speech boasted what I thought was the sharpest jab at Clinton, with the Senator chuckling that he knows he is “ready to lead on Day One.”

There are several tangible benefits that Obama will receive from this endorsement. First and foremost, it will offer cover for other high profile politicians to jump on the bandwagon. I personally witnessed the commanding respect that Kennedy has over his colleagues when I interned in the Senate last spring. Many Democratic Senators look to him for guidance and leadership. Kennedy’s endorsement is likely to open up the flood gates to other like-minded officials.

Second, and probably most useful, Kennedy has promised to stump for Obama in the Southwestern states before the February 5^th primary. This could greatly help him with his lagging support among Latinos and older voters that associate Kennedy with his initiatives on immigration reform and health care.

Lastly, there is a huge symbolic benefit from this endorsement. Aside from a coronation of the Kennedy image, this endorsement is largely apolitical. Senator Kennedy did not stand to gain politically from this move. If anything, it may severely endanger his relationship with Hillary is she becomes the nominee. Additionally, Caroline’s endorsement may bear even greater weight. She mostly stays out of the spotlight, and to the best of my knowledge has never formally endorsed a candidate. Furthermore, for her to write something as personal as a piece entitled “A President like My Father,” really hits home with Americans hungry for another administration like Kennedy’s.

Only time will tell how important yesterday was, but if Obama wins the nomination I’ll bet it will be seen as a turning point.

Read more...

Tony Rezko: "a philanthropist to the medical community" with some help from Nadhmi Auchi.

Today's Sun Times,

On Monday, prosecutors said that, in 2005, Rezko "directly appealed to the State Department" and, "it appears, asked certain Illinois government officials" to let Iraqi-born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi enter this country. At the time, Auchi was "unable to enter the United States" because of a criminal conviction in France. His sentence "was suspended as long as Auchi committed no new crimes."

Aides to Obama and Blagojevich said Monday that Rezko never requested -- nor did they deliver -- any help to Auchi, whose business empire includes 62 acres in the South Loop that Rezko's development company once owned.

Last April 4, Auchi's firm, General Mediterranean Holding, transferred $3.5 million to a bank account held by the law firm Freeborn & Peters on behalf of Rezko, according to prosecutors. The next day, more than $1.3 million of that was paid to a Rezko-controlled business, three family bank accounts -- including $700,000 to his wife Rita's bank account, which previously had a balance of $4,000 -- and to creditors. Among them was Dr. Robert Simon, head of Cook County's $1 billion hospital system, who got $50,000.

Simon said Monday he's known Rezko for years, calling him "a philanthropist to the medical community." "I provided him with a loan that was solely based upon a personal friendship, and it was repaid to me in full," Simon said in a statement on county letterhead.

Rezko spent much of the rest of the remaining money on lawyers, prosecutors said.

And Nick Cohen writing back in 2003 on Nadhmi Auchi: The politics of sleaze

There is a rumour that MI6 liked to have him around because he understood the Iraqi regime. I can't substantiate it, and it may be nonsense. All I can do is point to a strange coincidence. Britain handed Auchi to France in the spring when the overthrow of Saddam's regime became inevitable and knowledge of that regime was no longer a unique selling point. The flight of Saddam should provide a happy ending of sorts, were it not for a small problem. When the Coalition handed out contracts to set-up mobile phone networks in liberated Iraq, one went to a firm called Orascom. And who's backing Orascom?

For Orascom, Check Time from 2003 Cronyism in Iraq? Also, the Financial Times original story and this apology of a sorts dated just a few weeks ago to Auchi,

An article published by the Financial Times on 11 November 2003 headed ”US delays mobile phone contracts to investigate” stated that US authorities in Iraq had launched an investigation into the award of mobile phone operators licenses to enquire into possible corrupt practices. The article further stated that the investigation would focus on the role played by Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born billionaire, in the awarding of the contracts. The US Government ultimately decided not to pursue the investigation, beyond a preliminary enquiry, as there was no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Mr Auchi. We are happy to correct the position and apologise for any misunderstanding.

Maybe Waxman's not looking hard enough. There is a fascinating trail of philanthropy between Chicago and Baghdad worth sorting out, and considerable sorting it's going to take.

Read more...

Rezko and the middle east

AP: Rezko's bond revoked; judge declares him a flight risk

U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve said, among other things, she grew concerned after learning Rezko — a key supporter who contributed heavily to the campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich and raised thousands more — received $3.5 million from a company in Lebanon after claiming he didn't have any income.

Rezko will be the Democrat's nightmare. He'll be a catastrophe for the party as his story unfolds.

More from the Sun Times,

“The reality is this defendant has played a shell game,” and has “misled the court” about his financial situation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid J. Schar said.

Rezko allegedly secretly received millions of dollars in a bank account and funneled the money through third parties to family, friends and creditors -- all without telling the court, prosecutors alleged.

Rezko got $3.5 million from a British-based Iraqi billionaire to whom he has business ties and also cashed out of a large land investment on the South Side, prosecutors alleged.

The slum lord stuff is going to look like small potatoes.

And the Trib on Blagojevich and Obama's shared Rezko indigestion.

So when five of the six Democratic statewide officers from lieutenant governor to treasurer appeared Monday at a news conference urging voters to turn out for Obama in the Feb. 5 primary, Blagojevich’s absence was notable.

About an hour after the event began, Rezko, who raised campaign cash for Blagojevich and Obama, found himself jailed after a federal judge revoked his bond in advance of his corruption trial scheduled for late February.

Both the Obama and Blagojevich camps, however, insisted the governor’s absence was unrelated to Rezko’s legal travails.

Instead, they said Blagojevich was asked to call Democratic governors who’ve yet to endorse a presidential candidate and lobby them to back Obama. Blagojevich got that assignment because it’s something only he can do among the statewide officers, governor spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said.

I'd love to hear the reaction to a call from the Gov.

Read more...

Just in Time for Super Tuesday

Hillary Clinton received a gift from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald today.

Rod Blagojevich fund raiser and Barack Obama political career launcher Tony Rezko has been taken into custody.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

He’s to be tried on various corruption charges, starting late next month.

The arrest will put the Hillary Clinton’s Rezko attack on front pages in numerous states.

Read more...

Do Voters Care About Tort Reform? Nope, Says Poll

According to a new poll by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, few voters rank tort reform as an important issue. So few in fact, it should renew courage for legislative Democrats in the upcoming elections.

The poll of 800 likely voters had a margin of error of 3.5%.

When asked to name the single most important issue facing Illinois, just 1% ranked "civil litigation reform" as their top issue, and only another 1% ranked it as their #2 issue.

Even more revealing were the crosstabs.

Not surprisingly, 0% of Democrats ranked tort reform as a top priority.

But Democratic lawmakers in Chicago's suburbs and downstate Illinois will be relieved to know that 0% of women and 0% of Independents ranked tort reform as a top issue as well.

In fact, the only group that ranked tort reform as a top priority was Republican men, votes that Democrats were never going to get anyway, and even then tort reform ranked dead last among GOP concerns.

Read more...

Fifth Appellate District Headlines Downstate Primary Races

ICJL’s Weekly Report has featured the races for the Cook County Appellate, Circuit and Subcircuits for February 5th’s primary election. In this final, we feature the primary races for downstate Appellate and Circuit seats. There are 106 judicial candidates running in Cook County this spring. A total of 79 judicial candidates are running in the other 101 Illinois counties. However, some of the most interesting primary storylines this year are found in places like the Fifth Appellate District and Will County.

As always, the Illinois Civil Justice League encourages its readers to check out the full judicial profiles in these competitions, including links to biographies and answers to the ICJL questionnaire, all available at www.IllinoisJudges.net.

Fifth District Appellate: The revelation that a candidate loaned herself $670,000 in her run for Appellate Court hit the pages of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin this week. It’s not the first headline about judicial campaign fundraising in the state’s southern-most Appellate district.

Longtime Democrat Judge James Wexstten is battling personal injury lawyer Judy Cates. Cates, the immediate past president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, is doing little fundraising, financing most of the race from her personal fortune. Wexstten, a past president of the Illinois Judges Association, has more than $400,000 in donations from a broad and diverse collection of doctors, plaintiffs’ lawyers, insurance interests and labor unions.

Wexstten, who served nearly three terms as a Circuit Court Judge in Mt. Vernon, outscored Cates in the ISBA poll. Cates was found “Not Recommended” by the judicial advisory poll with a score of 51.52. Wexstten scored an 89.33 and was found “Recommended.” Cates’ scored an 88.22 in legal ability, yet scored 46.81 in “impartiality.” A separate evaluations committee found both candidates “qualified.”

Wexstten has been endorsed by numerous law enforcement, medical, party, and union organizations and representatives. Cates has stated she is not seeking endorsements, and she has received none.

Wexstten also has been endorsed by the Chicago Tribune, the only major newspaper to endorse in the contest as of Sunday, January 27.

Cates has spent much time in Springfield the past few General Assembly sessions lobbying on behalf of ITLA legislation – and against legislation supported by legal reform advocates. In fact, a Madison County photo of her speaking opposite Glen Amundsen and State Representative Renee Kosel is displayed on Cates’ website. Both candidates’ websites feature their TV commercials. Chances are that several more headlines make it into the ICJL News Update before February 5th.

Complete Analysis Of Downstate Judicial Races Here.

Visit www.IllinoisJudges.net.

-- Al Adomite
Illinois Civil Justice League
January 28, 2008

Read more...

A video from Brookins for State's Attorney

The first time I checked out Ald. Howard Brookins' campaign website in a while. Up until recently there wasn't much going on there.

At about 1 minute into this video the rudest thing happened. He attempted to talk to a couple who were at a vending machine as he approaches them with literature. They get their goods and then they walk away from him without a word. Brookins stands there looking at the camera, confused, befuddled, or whatever adjective you can come up with.

I was going to post this with the idea that maybe Brookins didn't do a good thing here. Well let me just say this, I know some people don't care for politicians but there's just no reason for behavior such as this. It doesn't help if you were caught on camera doing that. Yeah I could go into race on this one, but that's just too convenient. Besides I don't know what went thru their heads when they did what they did.

Read more...

The Washington Post looks at Super Tuesday in Illinois...

So we won't just be voting for our junior Senator who is running for the Democratic Presidential nomination (he had just won in South Carolina, btw) but we've got congressional races to worry about among other things come February 5th. Here are the congressional races of note in this article...

-3rd District: Democratic Rep. Daniel Lipinski ascended to this Chicago-area seat -- held by his father, William, for more than two decades -- in 2004, in a classic example of party insiders flexing their muscles. (The elder Lipinski won his party's nomination that year, then announced his retirement less than two weeks before the deadline to replace a candidate who withdraws; he put forward his son, who was nominated with no opposition.) Lawyer Mark Pera is challenging the close connection between the Lipinskis and has become a darling of the liberal Net roots. Still, the race is a long shot for the challenger.

-8th District: Wealthy businessman and former minor-league hockey player Steve Greenberg is touted as a blue-chip recruit by national Republicans. Assuming he gets through the primary, Greenberg will face Rep. Melissa Bean (D) in November in a GOP-leaning district that she has held since 2005.

-10th District: Democrat Dan Seals, who came within six points of knocking off Rep. Mark Steven Kirk (R) in 2006 in this affluent district north of Chicago, is back for a second run, facing former Clinton administration official Jay Footlik in next week's primary. Seals has won the endorsement of Illinois Sen. Richard J. Durbin and is the heavy favorite, despite the fact Footlik has been well financed.

-14th District: The resignation of former House speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R) has set off a special election to replace him, a contest that is among the nastiest in the country. In the GOP primary race, dairy magnate Jim Oberweis is bashing state Sen. Chris Lauzen for accepting contributions (later returned) from a company that was sued over a series of sexual harassment claims; Lauzen is pushing back, casting Oberweis's ad as a "cruel, politically motivated lie." Hastert has endorsed Oberweis, but the race is up in the air. Scientist Bill Foster is the likely Democratic nominee. The primary winners will face each other in a special election on March 8.

-18th District: Youthful state Rep. Aaron Schock -- he's 26! -- is the favorite to win the three-way Republican primary to replace retiring Rep. Ray LaHood (R) in this downstate district. Democrats have struggled to find a top-tier recruit, so if Schock wins the primary nod, he will be favored to claim the seat in November.

Read more...

Weekend mailers - Foster

Foster bores more than watching a Federally-subsidized ethanol-train roll through Freeport Illinois.

Read more...

Weekend mailers - Oberweis

This one is dirty.

Read more...

Weekend mailers - Lauzen

Not much to say other than this one's fun.

Read more...

Il-14th Democrat's debate - Joe Serra: the guy with a job

From WBEZ,

Three of the candidates have debated a number of times before - agreeing on ending the Iraq war and on expanding health care. Last night's debate, though, added a fourth candidate to the mix. Geneva resident Joe Serra hasn't made many public appearances. That's because he says

SERRA: I have a job.

Serra says he'd like to see U.S. troops stay in Iraq a while longer.

Read more...

Update on Blagojevich's health care lawsuit

Don’t expect to find out whether Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s health care expansion plans are ruled unconstitutional until at least next month. After a hearing in Chicago Friday, each party in the lawsuit needs to spell out its arguments in briefs for the judge to review. A status hearing isn’t scheduled until February 19, which happens to be the day before the governor’s annual and much-anticipated — or dreaded, depending on who you are — budget address. That’s when he maps out his agenda for the year.

Background: Attorney Richard Caro of Riverside sued the administration alleging the governor’s actions to expand state-sponsored health care were unconstitutional because he would have extended coverage to 147,000 more people for $42 million in the first year — all without legislative approval. The lawsuit includes similar allegations by the Illinois Coalition for Jobs, Growth, and Prosperity, represented by businessman Ron Gidwitz, a Republican who ran for governor, and Greg Baise, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturer’s Association.

History: The governor first couldn’t get his health care plans through the Illinois General Assembly last year, mostly because he proposed paying for it with a huge tax on businesses. Then he tried to use his executive authority and advance the plan through the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, made up of six Democrats and six Republicans. That didn’t work, either. The committee rejected the emergency plan in November.

Future: Jim Duffett, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Better Health Care that’s supporting the governor’s efforts, said he hopes the court case doesn’t have a chilling effect on lawmakers who actually want to expand health care. He advises against using the lawsuit as a diversion to the evidence that a majority of Illinois voters are concerned about health care and want guaranteed affordable health care for all. See a summary of the statewide survey here.

Watch for more about the health care lawsuit against the governor in the next edition of Illinois Issues magazine, due out in early February.

Read more...

Myron "Individual H" Cherry with Bill Clinton picture available here

Although he has not been accused of wrongdoing and is cooperating with authorities, Myron "Mike" Cherry is the "Individual H" in the October, 2006 Tony Rezko indictment.

Do you want to see Cherry with Bill Clinton? Click here, via a PDF file on Cherry's website, while it's still there.

Last summer, he was a co-host of a Hillary Rodham Clinton fundraiser in Chicago.

Cherry also represents Buffalo Grove, Illinois based International Profit Associates "in several legal matters."

International Profit Associates is being sued by the federal government for allegations of sexual harassment claimed by 113 female IPA mployees, and the Better Business Bureau, as well as the Illinois Attorney General's office, are investigating claims of deceptive business practices.

Twenty one businesses are suing International Profit Associates on charges that they "schemed to defraud."

As I've reported before, the allegations of sexual harrassment at International Profit Associates were featured on the Oprah Show in 2005.

Hillary Clinton's campaign fund has received over $150,000 in poliical donations from IPA executives, which a staffer was something they "(would) be reviewing" in 2006.

Many politicians, including Barack Obama, have returned their IPA-connected contributions, but not Senator Clinton.

Related Marathon Pundit posts:

Where is the outrage? Dem atty gen'l group takes $50K from International Profit Associates
Hillary's vacuous vetting exposes International Profit Associates hypocrisy
And now Hillary and her controversial campaign donors
More on International Profit Associates
Obama ditching more Rezko linked cash, but what about Hillary?
Potential cabin chatter between Obama and Oprah: International Profit Associates
Hillary returns Hsu money, but what about International Profit Associates cash?

To comment on this post, please click here.

Read more...

Ridin' Dirty

On January 15th I sat down and watched the Republican primary debate in the 14th district between state Senator Chris Lauzen and dairy magnate Jim Oberweis. I'd only been in Springfield for about a week at that point, but had already smelled the blood in the water. I had heard that the two candidates really didn't like each other, and that if anything it should be "entertaining to watch."

After seeing the two square off in what could only be compared to Mad Max's Thuderdome (two men enter, one man leaves) , I walked away utterly disgusted. In the first of the opening statements, something that I had always assumed was your time to tell the voters about yourself and highlight the important issues facing the constituency, Jim Oberweis spent the entire time flinging mud at his opponent. Sen. Lauzen's statement was closer to what I had previously described, but he ultimately dove into the mud later in the debate.

When it got to the point that Oberweis mocked his opponent for the shoes he wore, I decided that I could better spend my time by sticking a fork in an electrical socket; and decided to turn off my computer.

The primary was off to a good start, and has only gotten more "entertaining" since. I saw these two mailers Thursday on Bill Baar's blog:










I can understand if two opponents have legitimate policy differences, but at what point does it cross the line? This is the kind of campaigning that leaves voters disenchanted with the political process all together. If I was a voter registered in the IL- 14th primary I'd stay home.

Read more...

Now it's the Clintons and Rezko?

This is headlining on the Drudge Report today:

From Drudge's "Internet Exclusive":

Clinton tells NBC 'TODAY' show on Friday: 'I probably have taken hundreds of thousands of pictures. I don't know the man. I wouldn't know him if he walked in the door'...

Well, this certainly makes things more interesting. I wonder who leaked it to Matt Drudge...

Read more...

EveryBlock launches in Chicago

Earlier this week, EveryBlock.com launched in Chicago as well as San Francisco and NYC. While I can't directly benefit from this new Web site, I do like the idea and think it's something Chicagoans should give a try.

What is EveryBlock? Simply put, the site aggregates information -- including news, public records and even Craigslist-style personals and lost-and-found listings -- and presents the data visually over a map. You can find relevant information to your location. Just type in your address, zip code, neighborhood, etc. and instantly it all comes up.

EveryBlock creator Adrian Holovaty calls this "geocoding," but don't label it "hyperlocalism" he says in an interview with Poynter:

To be honest, I prefer to avoid using that word, as it has become meaningless. Some people use it to refer to neighborhoods, while others use it to refer to entire suburban areas. But I think the concept of address-specific news is important because, well, people tend to be more interested in news that happens near them. It's as simple as that!

You might remember Holovaty from his prior work for ChicagoCrime.org, which took information gathered from Chicago Police Department's CLEAR Geographic Information System and mashed it up with Google Maps.

Chicago papers could take a lesson from Holovaty's geocoding projects. Start investing in journalists that don't just know how to write a lede, but can also code. Start up web projects that provide a level of utility for individuals, not just a product that paints with a broad brush. Integrate these directly to your web product and develop advertising that's targeted around it.

The problem with most newspaper companies is that they don't innovate. They're playing catch-up to the curve. Meanwhile, they're missing a huge opportunity to capture online advertising revenue from great ideas like EveryBlock. Obviously, EveryBlock isn't meant to replace the Tribune or Sun-Times, but rather it act in a supplemental role. And it's these online-only initiatives that will make their news product become an information product, diversifying their options for advertisers to choose from. This is how you exploit the Internet for revenue, not just repackaging your newspaper online.

When it comes down to empowering individuals with information directly related to them, their neighborhood and, literally, their block, it's becoming more and more obvious that traditional news organizations are simply not up to the task. Or maybe they just don't think it's important. Honestly, I'm not sure which is worse.

(Cross posted to Nerdlusus)

Read more...

Pate was right -- nothing wrong with registration deadlines

It’s not everyday that I think this, but former Illinois Senate President James “Pate” Philip was right – when it came to voter registration.

Specifically, Pate used to complain whenever the Illinois Senate was forced to consider a measure meant to make it easier for people to register to vote.

I lost count of the number of times the Republican lawmaker from suburban Wood Dale would vote against the registration reforms on the grounds that he thought it already was easy enough to register to vote.

One can go to their village hall, a county clerk’s office or Illinois secretary of state facilities to fill out the brief paperwork needed to legally get oneself on the voter rolls. There also are countless occasions where officials will set up temporary stands in places with high people traffic, in hopes that passersby will take a few minutes to bother to fill out a card and register.

So I have a hard time getting upset at the notion that the absolute, last-minute, drop-dead time limit with no more extensions possible passed on Tuesday.

Some of my brethren who write on the Internet (I'm not going to bother publicizing them, they know who they are) are using their weblogs to rant and rage that the government is engaging in a criminal conspiracy by refusing to let anyone vote on Feb. 5, if they have not bothered to register by now.

Perhaps it is because I worked in the news business for two decades, but I can appreciate the concept of a deadline. There is a certain amount of time needed by clerks to prepare for an election. Everything has a point at which it becomes too late to do anything further.

Why should casting a ballot on Election Day be any different?

People were given ample chances to register locally by Jan. 8, and could still register at the county clerk’s office in downtown Chicago up until Tuesday – provided they were willing to immediately cast their ballot for the Feb. 5 elections.

Pate Philip’s response would have been to say something along the lines of, “with as many ways as there are to register, do we really want these people voting if they can’t get their act together and take the time and initiative to fill out a registration card?”

Then, he would have taken a drag on his cigar, and probably blown the smoke in your angered face.

And I would be sitting on the sidelines, holding back a chuckle at your predicament.

-30-

Originally posted at http://www.chicagoargus.blogspot.com/

Read more...

Mailer Fest bonus mailer - Jim MacRunnels for Kane County Chairman

Read more...

Illinois 14th CD Thursday mailer fest - Lauzen

Read more...

Illinois 14th CD Thursday mailer fest - Foster

Read more...

Illinois 14th CD Thursday mailer fest - Oberweis

Read more...

Hillary is 44: chirping Rezko Rezko

geez, hardball doesn't get any harder this....

Read more...

J B Powers on Stroger Hospital

Powers knocks MSM save the Daily Herald for not covering the proposed board for Stroger Hospital.

Perhaps overwhelmed by promotion of winning a date with Drew Peterson (Chicago Tribune), or championing the ”Midwest Teen Sex Show” (Sun-Times), our two leading print newspapers neglected to report the overhaul at Cook County Hospitals.

It is not all that shocking for the Trib and Sun-Times just to ignore an entire story; it is another matter entirely when they have covered a story thoroughly, then just stop. What it is about the biggest story in the County that would want to make our newspapers keep it under wraps? My suspicion is that Todd Stroger performing like a responsible manager and sensible politician does not fit the resume that has been concocted for him by the press, so the story was just stifled, until there is some unflattering detail to publish.

Ouch... JP, I linked the Herald story here. While it may be a good management move on Todd Stroger's part, it does look like a sole source deal with Rush (which maybe should have been the deal to make before building the new hospital).

This intervention by a US Senator and a Hospital Exec is going to be an interesting thing to watch.... Suggestions for the board would be forwarded to Stroger by a county health care group assembled by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and led by RUSH University Medical Center President Larry Goodman.

Durbin sure not a Cook County resident. Not certain about Goodman. So those elected by Cook County Residents can't govern a key County institution? If so, what qualifies this pair to do better?

Read more...

New voter? Take a hike. It's now illegal to register.

Tuesday, democracy's door swung shut in Illinois. With the most exciting presidential primary of the last two decades less than two weeks away, the new voters, the unregistered and those who have moved since they last voted are now officially locked out of the primary.

What a shame.

It's illegal to register to vote for the primary at this point. It's illegal to register at your new address.

And in two weeks, tens of thousands of people in Illinois will try to vote and be turned away. (No data to prove that, as the government doesn't keep records of the people who show up at their precinct polling place and ask if they are permitted to help elect their leaders and politely but firmly told to take a hike because they didn't register with the government ahead of time. But I'm confident that the numbers are significant. If it's a few people in each precinct, and we've got 10,000 or so precincts in Illinois, you can do the math).

In this day and age, there is simply no good reason to continue to disenfrachise people who want to vote.

Illinois needs to follow the lead of seven states and implement same-day voter registration.

And if you're concerned about voter fraud, then you're largely chasing a ghost. There just isn't any significant voter fraud in the United States. Read the report from the Brennan Center for Justice on the topic, or from Demos before instinctively reacting with the fear of fraud.

Citizens deserve the right to pick the people who run the government, no matter when they decide to register to vote.

Read more...

Radio interview with Steve Brown

While searching Technorati to see if any students had blogged about the Legislative Leadership Forum that I missed, I found an interview with Steve Brown, spokesperson for Speaker Madigan.

The interview is conducted by Ray Hanania for his Radio Chicagoland (1530 AM - blog here).

Brown discusses the CTA, Blagojevich and last year's session. It's an insightful thing to listen to if you've got 20 minutes or so.

The files are in Windows Media Audio format (.wma), so this means that you Mac users will need to download Windows Media Player for Mac. Hanania looks like he's had a list of pretty interesting interview subjects, I just wish his stuff was available as a podcast on iTunes.

Read more...

A Clean Water Ticket For MWRD

Sierra Club has endorsed three candidates in the February 5th Democratic Primary for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. Sierra Club recommends a “clean water ticket” of Dean Maragos, Matthew Podgorski , and Mariyana Spyropoulos to Democratic primary voters in Cook County.

The safety and quality of our water supply will be on the ballot on February 5th, and these are three candidates voters can trust to safeguard our Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Each is committed to clean water, and will be champions for the changes we need to make to protect public health and drinking water.

The revival of the Chicago River is a huge success story, and people are flocking to it as a recreational resource. They should not be exposed to dangerous bacteria and pathogens in the water because MWRD chooses not to install the same disinfection equipment used by cities and towns all across Illinois and America, including by the MWRD itself at its plants in the suburbs.

None of the incumbents have committed to install disinfection equipment.

Maragos, Podgorski, and Spyropoulos would work to change that, and protect our water supply. We think they deserve the vote of those who want clean water on February 5th.

This is a chance to complete the revival of the Chicago River, and make it a safe and vibrant centerpiece of our city. Maragos, Podgorski, and Spyropoulos are leaders who have a vision for a clean and healthy river system for future generations.

The MWRD also has important responsibilities for protecting open space and guarding against flooding. Maragos, Podgorski, and Spyropoulos support new protections for Cook County’s last remaining wetlands, which soak up rainwater during storms, and using MWRD’s large land holdings for public purposes like recreation, wildlife habitat, and other non-commercial uses.

"We are at a generational crossroads where the decisions we make today regarding our natural resources will affect future generations. We have the knowledge and capability to make the right decisions, such as protecting Lake Michigan from pollutants and disinfecting our waterways,” said Mariyana Spyropoulos. “Let’s find the will to protect our natural resources."

“I would like to thank the members of the Sierra Club for putting their faith in me to serve as a true steward of our water environment,” said Matthew Podgorski. “Paying lip service to environmental causes will no longer suffice. The voters are ready to elect a Commissoner to the MWRD that has proven environmental leadership credentials.”

“What many voters do not realize is that the MWRD is one of the largest single landowners in Cook County. The District must pursue the best and highest use of that land, be it for picnicking, recreation or prairies,” said Dean Maragos, who is currently a Commissioner at the Illinois International Port District, the agency that controls most of Chicago’s southern lakefront. “The Sierra Club’s endorsement of my candidacy is a great honor I won’t soon forget. It will give voters an opportunity to better understand where I stand on important environmental issues while highlighting my sincere desire to increase recreational access to Chicago’s rivers and streams, which is an important step in improving our region’s water resources,” Maragos added.

Read more...

Chicago May Be ready for Reform

I found this post from Crimefiles first over at Second City Cop. I could almost wonder how Crimefiles was able to get this scoop that I thought I would only find in the major newspapers. I wonder how Mr. Paul Huebels got any piece of this story of a power couple he refers to as "the King and Queen of Chicago...

A new investigation is expected to be launched into the criminal activities of Chicago Alderman Edward M. Burke and his wife, Illinois Supreme Court Justice, Anne M. Burke. The Burkes are accused of fixing murder cases and at least one high profile child molestation case.

There are some serious issues involving statutes of limitations that won’t affect State Bar and judicial conduct matters. There are plenty of matters recent enough to bring indictments.

Payoffs in the form of contracts awarded for Chicago’s legal work, Chicago Mob ties, new ghost pay-rolling allegations, along with fixing a court appeal to help the Emerald Gambling Casino regain their revoked license will all be under a new government microscope.

So what does everyone think. Is there any truth to this? Any reason to doubt this?

If this is true I look forward to finding out more soon!

Read more...

WINDY CITY TO PARK CITY

Flashpoint, the Academy of Media Arts and Sciences hosted a high profile party during the 2008 Sundance Film Festival to celebrate the best in independent filmmaking in Illinois. Held on Friday, January 18, 2008 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the SKY360º by Delta—Park City venue at 449 Main Street, Flashpoint Academy brought out the movers-and-shakers from the Illinois film and entertainment industries to rub elbows with the Hollywood indie moviemaking elite. The event recognized the Illinois Film Office and honored the festival premiere of “The Merry Gentleman,” filmed entirely in Illinois.

With Paula Froehle, Dean of Flashpoint Academy as hostess, the entire producing team of “The Merry Gentleman,” along with the writer Chicagoan Ron Lazzeretti attended the pre-reception to their critically received movie. With this being his directorial debut, actor Michael Keaton was welcomed by both Froehle and Betsy Steinberg, Managing Director of the Illinois Film Office, to a frenzy of flashbulbs before heading to the movie’s screening.Actor Jimmy Jean-Lewis of the hit NBC show HEROES, stopped by the party to support the growing motion picture community in Illinois along with countless others from the Hollywood film industry. Chicago was also well represented within the 300 guests that were in attendance with the likes of Ereka Vetrini, co-host of In The Loop with iVillage and Billy Dec, President and Partner of Rockit Ranch Productions along with the film’s cast and crew all making the trip from the "Windy City to Park City" for the Illinois independent film festivities.

As guests arrived they were treated to a darling pre-recorded introduction from Howard Tullman, President and CEO of Flashpoint Academy and Froehle followed directly by an entertaining and informative clips about the Academy on the eight plasma screens throughout the venue.The evening wrapped up with thanks from Froehle and Steinberg followed by a raffle prize of a weekend stay at the Peninsula Chicago, Keaton’s resident while shooting “The Merry Gentleman,” awarded to none other than one of the film’s producers and co-stars Tom Bastounes.

Read more...

The harsh truth

By Patrick O’Brien
The first round of students affected by the state’s Truth-in-Tuition law could have sticker shock when they open their bills this fall. Students at state schools with a locked-in tuition in the past are now vulnerable to a fluctuating economy because the state law does not guarantee a set tuition beyond four years unless a student’s academic program is designed for five or six years.

This spring marks the end of the first four-year group of students’ guarantee on tuition. Students returning for a fifth year of school will experience tuition hikes in the works at some state schools, and the first group of Truth-in-Tuition students can expect hefty increases as they try to finish their degrees.

The state budget picture hasn’t been rosy for higher education in the past few years. As state schools tighten their belts, they are forced to pass costs onto students.

Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, for example, first enrolled undergraduate students at $124 a credit hour in fall 2004, but it will propose that those students receive a 25 percent tuition increase starting in fall 2008 to $155 a credit hour. While this is only a proposal, the standard procedure in adopting tuition increases indicates this probably will be the size of the hike.

One reason the school is proposing such a large increase, seven times the rate of inflation, is because the first class of students were guaranteed stable tuition rates that were too low, according to Mark Wilcockson, the university’s vice president of finance and administration. Even with that 25 percent increase, this group of students at the school will pay the least in tuition at the university.

Wilcockson added that the Truth-in-Tuition law made it difficult to project costs four years ago, especially with the state’s economic picture playing such a large role in tuition increases. State aid to schools has decreased steadily since 2002, so students will feel the pinch this fall when state aid is unlikely to increase much and may actually decline.

While the Truth-in-Tuition law does take into account the rising costs of education, it does not take into account the increasing amount of time it takes to earn a degree. Students who have not finished their degrees in four years often complain about the limited availability of courses they need to finish their degree, according to Wilcockson.

Nationally, one in four students completes a degree in four years, according to Eastern Illinois University. The school has instituted a program, EIU4, which guarantees qualified students a four-year degree if they meet certain benchmarks.

As state universities continue to feel the budget crunch, however, the ability to increase course offerings — a key component in reducing the time it takes to graduate — is seriously hampered, according to Wilcockson.

Read more...

LIVEBLOG DEADBLOG: Legislative Leaders Forum at Northwestern University

UPDATE 2: The Daily Northwestern now has their article online of the event. Found this tidbit:

Jones said the Chicago area's tax dollars end up benefitting lllinois' rural population, or "downstaters."

"We feed you guys," Jones joked, looking at Watson, who represents the more-rural 51st District.

Watson did not reply.

"That's what you get, I guess," Jones said.

From the comments, it's mentioned that Illinois Channel might have taped this. If so, that'd be cool to see.

UPDATE: Well, the liveblogging didn't quite go off as planned. Should have left work early, but oh well.

However, the Chicago Tribune has this Clout Street blog entry, which says about 125-150 students showed up. Not many quotations in the story, (Cross, for one, isn't even quoted). Here's the lede:

If the year-long tussle in Springfield over budget priorities, capital projects and transit funding proved frustrating for voters in 2007, the state's legislative leaders on Wednesday night gave little cause for optimism that 2008 will go any smoother.

House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), in particular, said he did not see the "collective will" among lawmakers to make the tough fiscal and policy decisions and reach consensus over these matters.

I was wondering how Northwestern was able to get the four tops to have this forum, but a quick look at the student paper, The Daily Northwestern, reveals something that I didn't know:

Andrew Madigan, a co-president of Civic Awareness, said the idea for the forum started over the summer.

"Clearly there was a strong interest from all four legislative leaders to want to educate people and create civic awareness," said Madigan, whose father, Michael Madigan, is Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and a participant in the forum. "There was also the idea about how unprecedented the idea was. I think it will be momentous because it hasn't occurred before."

Last year, the same group brought in Blagojevich to speak. The Daily Northwestern hasn't updated their site yet, so I'm not sure if they covered the forum tonight (I'm sure they did, since they had enough sense to preview it the day before).

Again, apologies for the handful of you who were looking forward to a liveblog of this event. I learned my lesson though: I-94 West + snow + Chicagoland traffic = 2x normal travel time.

Older...
I'll be liveblogging the Legislative Leaders Forum at Northwestern University, starting around 7 p.m. today.

Unfortunately, between a bad laptop battery and other technical issues, I'm forced to use Twitter to do my updates. You can follow the liveblog here:

http://twitter.com/illinoizeyoshi
And here's an RSS feed, too.

The latest 20 updates will be here on this blog post, but for full updates, you will have to visit the Twitter page.

Anyone else going tonight? Any predictions? Post them in the comments.

LIVEBLOG Updates!

follow me on Twitter

Read more...

Bill Foster's America Firster mailer

Foster's latest. He's gone America First.

Also, he says on the third page he quit Fermi Lab to do something about Bush's War and that doesn't square with the lengthy four page resignation letter he wrote about the resignation.

...I also realize that my voice will not be heard, since after years of insisting that unpleasant technical realities be respected in strategic planning in HEP, I find myself branded as a troublemaker with an axe to grind.

No mention of Bush's War in that letter.

Now he's ready to walk from our Iraqi allies. Democrats weren't always so quick to abandon friends. Even when the majority of Americans weren't always with Democrats.

Far from it, while Lindbergh was talking America First (and even Lindbergh dropped the America First talk after we were in it, and fought like heck over FDR's objections to get in it); FDR's Harry Hopkins said this to an ally few Americans were ready to stand with at the time,

Few dramatists could match the poignant scene when Britain stood alone against the Nazi power that dominated a conquered or fawningly neutral Europe. Roosevelt sent his envoy Harry Hopkins to Churchill. At dinner Hopkins quoted from the Book of Ruth: "Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people and their God my God," softly adding, "Even to the end." --From Meachem Franklin and Winston

Even to the end... no more Democrats like that. The world (and history) will note that from now on.

The mailer,

Read more...

Cook County Subcircuit Primaries Competitive, Crowded

With 75 total candidates on the Cook County subcircuit ballots on February 5th, there are almost as many subcircuit candidates as there are circuit judge candidates in all of the other 101 counties in Illinois. Most Cook County voters would be unable to tell you there are fifteen total subcircuits and – most likely – many in the legal profession in Cook County would have a hard time describing the obscure subcircuit boundary lines (shown below).

As Manuel Galvan stated in a January 1993 article in Illinois Issues magazine, critiquing the first election under the new subcircuit plan:

Proponents of subcircuit districts for Cook County judges promised that the new system would put more minorities on the bench and remove politics from the selection process. Detractors warned of more politics and less qualified judges. Both sides were right — and wrong.

Fifteen years later, the hallmark of this election cycle’s subcircuit races is “competition.” The Fifteenth Subcircuit vacancy has eleven candidates (nine Democrats and two Republicans). The Eighth Subcircuit has an eight-way Democrat primary. Vacancies in the Fourth, Sixth, Seventh and Tenth subcircuits each have five-way Democrat primaries.

As always, the Illinois Civil Justice League encourages its readers to check out the full judicial profiles in these competitions, including links to biographies and answers to the ICJL questionnaire, all available at www.IllinoisJudges.net.

(Editor’s Note: Candidates for the Cook County appellate and countywide circuit races
were featured last week and downstate primary races will be featured next week.)

First Subcircuit: Three Democrat candidates vie for the Turkington vacancy in the subcircuit that borders Indiana. The candidate appointed to the vacancy is Judge Laguina Clay-Clark, who previously served as a trial judge with the Illinois Court of Claims. Clay-Clark has two opponents. Donna Cooper is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Illinois National Guard – the first African American JAG to serve in the our state’s National Guard. She currently is an attorney with the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Both Clay-Clark and Cooper received qualified ratings from the ISBA and CBA. A third candidate, Zach Braden III, practices criminal defense, personal injury and police brutality law.

Follow Link To Nine More Subcircuits And 68 More Candidates.

Read more...

D2 Day

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

Today is D2 Day, the deadline for political committees for state and local office to file their semi-annual disclosure statements for the second half of 2007. The day comes a little early, by traditional standards, for the same reason that the primary comes early: the same law that moved the primary earlier also reset the disclosure calendar. But if you're counting, it's actually late by statutory standards. By law, reports are due by the 20th, but this year, that fell on a Sunday, and Monday was a state holiday; Tuesday the 22nd is the first day of business after the deadline, so today is when reports are due.

If you want to watch the reports come in, click here. The State Board of Elections website instantly updates when new reports are filed; it's all there for your perusal the instant the report is submitted. If you're not quite sure of what you're looking for, however, our Sunshine Database will be updated and posted to our site in about a week. We hope to have the data for legislative incumbents and challengers, judicial candidates, and most Cook County offices standardized and coded so that we can post it one week from today.

Read more...

Cook County Recorder of Deeds: Moore on Smith; and Stroger Hospital Plan

Today's ST,

Moore is quick to claim that Smith is just another politician looking to pad his pension by jumping jobs.

"He just wants to get another salary -- that's all this is about," Moore said. "He's through in the 28th Ward, he knows it. I mean, the guy doesn't have a Walgreens in his ward."

Smith's office a stones-throw from what was once one the largest retail-powerhouses of Chicago: Madison and Pulaski. It's no more....

Also, the plan for an Independent board to govern Stroger Hospital,

• The board would comprise seven health care professionals nominated by Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, but approved by the county board. Suggestions for the board would be forwarded to Stroger by a county health care group assembled by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and led by RUSH University Medical Center President Larry Goodman.

• The new seven-member board would select its own CEO and president.

• The system's board would have taxing authority, but its budget would be subject to final approval by the Cook County Board.

• All hiring and contract authority would be transferred to the health system board.

Sounds more like a sole source bid to Rush. Maybe just sell Stroger and bid the care competitively instead?

Read more...

Clinton goes Rezko

She used Rezko.



Update: This...

Also, Obama consistently got caught in a debate trap by responding to every charge with an explanation. It's a standup thing to do on one hand, but it ends up putting Obama off message....

...is a very bad habit I've noticed very smart people new to politics do. You're not obligated to talk about everything and sometimes the best bet is just smile and talk about what you want said instead.

Read more...

Giuliani to speak at DuPage County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has done well in opinion polls in Illinois, but I don't believe any new ones have done since the caucuses and primaries have started. His urban background and ethnic name has appeal in the Chicago area.

If he does well in Florida next week, he's going to have to do well in states like Illinois as well--a Super Tuesday state.

Four days before Super Tuesday, the "Mayor of America" will make an appearance in the Land of Lincoln.

From a press release:

Today, the DuPage County Republican Party released details of former New York City Mayor and current Presidential Candidate Rudy Giuliani’s participation in their 47th Annual Lincoln Day Dinner on Friday, February 1st.

"We are excited to have Mayor Giuliani as our Lincoln Day Dinner keynote speaker," said DuPage County Republican Chairman and Illinois State Senator Dan Cronin. "His participation in this event highlights the importance of DuPage County in determining the outcome of the Illinois Republican Party’s Presidential Primary on Tuesday, February 5th," he added.

"Additionally, we are looking for this event to continue to build the Republican base in DuPage County and maximize our opportunity to elect Republicans this November. Our goal is to continue Republican leadership in the White House and work to elect Republicans at every level of government," Cronin said.

DuPage County’s 47th Annual Lincoln Day Dinner will be held at the Drury Lane Oakbrook, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. The event will begin with a social hour at 6:00 P.M., continue with dinner at 7:00 P.M., and will be followed by a program featuring Mayor Rudy Giuliani. For ticket information please call us at 630-653-7200 or e-mail mary@dupagegop.com

Guests attending this year's Lincoln Day Dinner celebration will have the opportunity to dialogue with U.S. Congresswoman Judy Biggert and U.S. Congressman Peter Roskam; delegates for the Presidential Candidates; Republican state legislators and other DuPage County Republican leaders.

"This Lincoln Day Dinner provides DuPage Republicans an opportunity to celebrate our accomplishments, recount our proud history and honor the father of our party, Abraham Lincoln. We are looking forward to having new and old friends join us in our
celebration by welcoming Mayor Giuliani and strengthening the Republican Party in DuPage County," Cronin concluded.

DuPage was once a rock-solid Republican party that worked, in conjuction with downstate Illinois, as a strong counterweight to the massive Democratic vote that comes out of Cook County (Chicago) each Election Day.

It's still a Republican county, but the Dems have been making inroads in DuPage, which is one of the reasons that Illinois is a Blue State. To take back Illinois, we need to "run up the score" in DuPage again.

To comment on this post, or to vote in the Pajamas Media presidential straw poll, please visit Marathon Pundit.

Read more...

Democrats Out Polling Republicans in Early Voting

The McHenry County Democratic Party is acting, well, like a party.

Its chairman, Tom “This is our year” Cynor has someone looking at the names and parties of people who have voted early.

And, he was “happy to share the information.”

He should be, considering what he found.

As of the end of voting Saturday, 2,056 people had voted.

1,054 Democrats

990 Republicans
4 Greens

Can you believe that?

51.3% Democrats

Someone people are certainly working for their presidential candidate(s).

There were also 6 people who only voted in some referendum. Guess they don’t care who is nominated president or state's attorney.

I think it is safe to say that the level of intensity of support for presidential candidates is stronger among Democrats than among Republicans, although I did see my first Republican presidential bumper sticker on the way home from McHenry Friday night. It was for Romney, the best financed of the GOP candidates.

In politics, intensity counts for a lot.

More at McHenry County Blog, where you can read about the 94-year old who wanted to vote for "the guy who was in prison."

Read more...

Rahm Emanuel's New Deal

Rahm Emanuel's A New Deal for a New Economy

Kane Democrats were telling me I was a sucker for finding something progressive about ideas like this below back in 2005.

Every Democrat running for Congress should be asked for thoughts on this.

The third plank of the New Deal is savings. In the past two years, America's personal savings rate reached its lowest level since the Great Depression, and fewer Americans can look forward to receiving a guaranteed pension when they retire.

I think we can increase savings and improve retirement security by creating Universal Savings Accounts. Like 401(k) plans, the account would supplement, not supplant, Social Security. Employers and employees would contribute 1 percent of paychecks on a tax-deductible basis and workers could make additional contributions if they chose to do so. These accounts would encourage savings, give workers more control over their economic future and provide more peace of mind when it comes to their own retirement.

Read more...

Who gets to say they're Latino?

On the surface, it is just a Chicago neighborhood election for a seat in the Illinois Senate.

But the candidates wishing to go to Springfield to represent a set of Northwest Side neighborhoods have managed to touch on an issue that impacts Hispanic people across the United States. Namely, who exactly gets to use the label “Latino?”

Illinois state Rep. Rich Bradley, D-Chicago, a 12-year veteran of the Illinois House of Representatives, says he has decided to try to move up politically to a higher-ranking office. He has decided to run for a seat in the Illinois state Senate.

What is really happening here is that the daughter of Chicago Alderman Dick Mell has decided she wants to run for political office, and she has decided to run for the post now held by Bradley. To avert a political brawl with the family of a high-ranking Chicago alderman, Bradley decided it would be easier to knock off the incumbent state senator from his home neighborhood.

That would be state Sen. Iris Martinez, D-Chicago, who understandably has no desire to be dumped from electoral politics just because Bradley is being squeezed out of his incumbent position.

Martinez is appealing to the growing Spanish-speaking population in the neighborhoods represented by the legislative district, hoping to get them to comprehend that some “Anglo” guy is trying to knock one of their own out of a political post.

There’s only problem with this strategy.

It turns out Bradley has just as much right to claim the Hispanic/Latino label as Martinez. His mother’s side of the family comes from Mexico. His grandparents on his mother’s side of the family come from the Mexican state of Guanajuato (which also happens to be the state where my paternal grandfather was born).

If Bradley had been named in the Castilian Spanish tradition, he would be Ricardo Bradley Cerda.

His mother went so far last week as to have her son’s campaign distribute a prepared statement on her behalf demanding an apology from Martinez about her claims that Bradley is just another political white boy.

“As a woman proud of her 100 percent Mexican background, I was shocked and appalled to… read that Iris Martinez’ campaign had called my son the ‘non-Latino’ candidate,” Margaret Cerda said. “This is an insult to our family, who always took pride in their Latino heritage after moving to the United States from Mexico.”

For what it’s worth, Bradley has not kept his ethnic ties a secret. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund – which wants to elect as many Hispanic/Latino lawmakers as possible – made a special effort to ensure that political people who prepared the legislative district boundaries in 2001 were aware of Bradley’s Mexican ethnicity so that he would be given a “safe” district to run for office in.

Now I don’t expect Martinez -- who in 2003 became the first Latina/Hispanic woman elected to serve in the Illinois Senate – to get all concerned about hurting Rich Bradley’s feelings. I don’t expect her to issue an apology anytime soon to Margaret Cerda.

It doesn’t even surprise me to learn that candidates are taking verbal cheap shots against their political opponents. Electoral politics played by “Chicago rules” almost mandates such accusations – particularly in the lower level legislative races where about the only way to gain any attention from potential voters is to stir up some sort of trouble.

But dragging ethnicity issues into this political debate stinks.

I would hate to think that Hispanic/Latino people are going to have to start providing detailed genealogical studies in order to justify their use of the ethnic label. I wonder if, to people like Martinez, I need to start identifying myself as “Gregorio Tejeda Vargas,” just to reiterate that grandparents on both sides of my family came from Mexico.

I’m not comfortable bringing up degrees of ethnicity and trying to set standards about who qualifies and who does not. To my mindset, it reeks too much of the old racial standards by which people in this country were judged based on what percentage of “white” versus “black” blood they allegedly had coursing through their veins.

Bradley actually wouldn’t be the most prominent political victim of Hispanic confusion.

Aides to former Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said their efforts to gain support among Latino/Hispanic voters would have been so much easier had their candidate had a Spanish last name.

Would candidate Guillermo Richardson Lopez (that’s what his name would have been, had his Irish-American father and Mexican mother named him in the Castilian Spanish tradition) be running even with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in this year’s presidential race?

Who’s to say?

With his droll campaign style and lack of decent funding, Richardson might still be on his way back to Santa Fe to fulfill his duties as New Mexico governor. But there wouldn’t be so much confusion about his ethnic roots, even though to me one look at Richardson’s face makes me see his “mestizo” roots and realize that he is a “Mexicano” at heart.

Then, there’s my all-time favorite Hispanic/Latino guy who got stuck going through life with an Anglo name – the late actor Anthony Quinn.

He was born Antonio Quinn Oaxaca in Mexico, and the Irish Quinn portion of his name originated with his paternal grandfather, who married into a Mexican family and went native.

Be honest.

How many of you assumed after watching “Zorba the Greek” and seeing his skin tone, that Hollywood went out and got a real Greek guy to play a Greek part? They didn’t, although Quinn’s appearance there is not as ridiculous as the notion of Natalie Wood playing the female lead role of a Puerto Rican girl in the film version of “West Side Story.”

In Quinn’s case, he got the chance to play Mexican roles when he was more established in his career – particularly in the 1978 film “Children of Sanchez,” based on a 1950s sociological study of life in a Mexico City slum neighborhood, and 1995’s “A Walk in the Clouds.”

Getting back to Bradley, he is just as much as Mexican as an Irish guy. His half-Anglo roots should not be held against him. Nobody’s perfect.

Having the ethnicity issue brought up is just too low a blow, even in a city where a liberal Jewish guy once campaigned for mayor against a black man by urging voters to cast their ballots for him, “before it’s too late.” Besides, there are enough other issues for the two to run on. It’s not like Bradley and Martinez ought to be natural allies.

Bradley is a long-time supporter of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, whereas Martinez is allied with state Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, and has said publicly she sides with Gov. Rod Blagojevich in his political differences against Madigan.

I have no problem if the two of them want to turn their legislative campaigns into a surrogate brawl between the forces of Madigan and Blagojevich. That’s fair play. As writer Finley Peter Dunne’s ever-quotable Chicago bartender character Mr. Dooley often told us, “politics ain’t beanbag.”

-30-

Originally posted at www.ChicagoArgus.blogspot.com

Read more...

Crazy Political Rantings: Fixing Illinois

The Crazy Politico offers his proposal for solving the problem of transit in the suburbs and for increasing representation in the General Assembly.

Instead, a "spread the weath" formula needs to be developed. While the 2020 groups contention that faster rail would make folks more likely to use it has merit, so does the idea that a non-Chicagocentric system for the RTA would help. Making it easier to get from Points A and B, without going through Chicago, or close to it would help. Metropolis 2020 ignores the fact that a lot of the traffic on Chicago freeways isn't going to Chicago, it's going somewhere less well served by our current transit structure.

One of the downsides to the current transit structure is that is makes it nearly impossible for the collar counties to develop their own transit systems, the money they have for it is already tied up in the bloated RTA, CTA, Pace, Metra system leaving little for regional transport outside of Chicago.

Chicago Metropolis 2020 points out that the number of trucks jamming the roads is part of the problem. Easing truck congestion is much easier than anyone will admit, because it doesn't fit in the "Chicago First" mold. Rockford has an excellent airport that is tossed occasional bones in cargo transit, but is basically locked out of becoming a major regional hub by O'Hare contracts. The same is true of major brand airlines trying to fly from Rockford. Anything that takes away from idea of O'Hare as the epicenter of Northern Illinois transit is looked on as bad, and whispers of punishment from the O'Hare folks shut down the idea quickly.

DeKalb and Rockford both have the rail, road and air transport facilities to reduce the congestion in the O'Hare area, and Chicago area as a whole, but have been, through state and regional actions, hampered in developing them to their full potential. Both area also closer to other states time and distance wise than Chicago, and could be used to attract business from them, growing Illinois, but the same groups that want to grow Illinois by making Chicago better ignore methods that would grow Illinois anywhere but Chicago.

So, how does this get fixed? Well this year Illinois has the chance to vote on holding a Constitutitional Convention to rewrite or Amend the State Constitution. Changing Article IV of the State Constitution to change the makeup of the state legislature would be a good start. Currently the makeup is completely population based, with 59 districts, each providing one Senator and 2 Assembly members. Because over 65% of the states population is located in Cook County and it's "collar counties" both houses of our the legislature are disproportionately representative of that area, making everything else in the state second rate as far as the legislature is concerned.

A good change would be to make the Legislature more like the Federal Government. The Assembly could be made slightly bigger, by coming up with 70-75 districts based on population, with 2 members from each. However, the Senate could be based on Counties instead of population, with 1 Senator from each of the 102 counties. By giving equal voice to all of the counties in one branch of the legislature we'd be able to mitigate some of the Chicago First mentality, and maybe, just maybe, grow the whole state from different angles, instead of hoping growth radiates from an overgrown and overburdened epicenter.

Read more...

Oberweis as the 14th's Hillary Clinton

Lisa Smith writing in today's Herald,

"The Republicans are fighting amongst themselves so much that they're fracturing their base, and that's helping us out a lot," said Andrew Dupuy, a spokesman for Democrat Bill Foster's campaign. "With a couple weeks to go, they've passed the tipping point of any kind of unified Republican electorate. I don't think it will resonate well" with voters.

Foster's main primary opponent, two-time candidate John Laesch, says GOP infighting "creates a great opportunity for us."

"I've met people who are part of the Lauzen camp who say if Oberweis gets the nomination they'll vote for me and vice-versa," he said. "Some are even Republican precinct committeepeople."

I think Oberweis would hand the 14th to either Foster or Laesch (with Laesch being the stronger contender).

Oberweis is the 14th's Hillary. His negatives are way to high.

All Laesch would need to do is hand out that Oberweis mailer of Oberweis gazing on Hastert and tell shoppers at the grocery stores,

....the middle aged guy on the right is the one who quit Congress early to grease the skids for the middle aged guy on the left. They're both dealers Pols who's time has past. Vote for me instead.

Somehow I think Laesch could sell that case better than Foster; who wouldn't be able to resist adding he's the sharpest tack in the box too.

Lauzen a guy who could pull the reverse Giuliani: a social conservative who could reach moderates because he's studied the issues and has avoided harshness. I'm not sure the GOP around here are ready for that though.

Also check Illinois Review.

Read more...

Tony Rezko's long arm

It's a tragedy. Moms always tell you to be careful about the crowd you hang with... poor Barack wasn't listening. He'll pay dearly.

Sun-Times Exclusive: Obama surfaces in Rekzo's federal corruption case

Obama is not named in the Dec. 21 court document. But a source familiar with the case confirmed that Obama is the unnamed “political candidate” referred to in a section of the document that accuses Rezko of orchestrating a scheme in which a firm hired to handle state teacher pension investments first had to pay $250,000 in “sham” finder’s fees. From that money, $10,000 was donated to Obama’s successful run for the Senate in the name of a Rezko business associate, according to the court filing and the source.

Rezko, who was part of Obama’s senatorial finance committee, also is accused of directing “at least one other individual” to donate money to Obama and then reimbursing that individual — in possible violation of federal election law.

Update: Rich is tracking. It was the first thing my wife told me coming home from shopping this afternoon. And she doesn't care for politics much...

Update: More today on donations to the Senater campaign Obama will return,

The money his campaign said Saturday would be given away includes three $10,000 contributions from donors the campaign identified as having connections to Rezko: Michel Malek, Craig Morgan and Elie Maloof. Malek is a neurosurgeon who Rezko recommended for appointment to a state board involved with Rezko's alleged wrongdoing.

Read more...

Oberweis Immigration Mailer

America doesn't need divisive ads in war time.

If you support Free Trade in goods, capital, and services, then you should support the free movement of labor. Every citizen of a NAFTA / CAFTA signatory nation should be entitled to reside and work in the US if they have a legit job offer.

We don't need ten million people working here illegally. We need ten million people working here as allies from Free and Democratic nations.

The last thing we need at war time is a politican trying to pit free people against each other.

Read more...

Il-14th: Bill Foster in a bow tie

The latest mailer with Foster trying to fill Paul Simon's shoes.

Mighty ones to fill too and I wish Foster had remembered Simon for his courage during Rwanda per wikipedia rather than the green-eye-shade common sense.

I'm sure History will honor Simon's courage more than pay go during what was otherwise a shameful instance of inaction by the United States,

...he was an outspoken critic of President Bill Clinton's response to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Simon believed America should have acted faster, and Clinton later said his belated response was the biggest mistake of his presidency.[10] He is, together with Jim Jeffords, credited by Canadian Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire, Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) from 1993 to 1994, for actively lobbying the U.S. administration into mounting a humanitarian mission to Rwanda during the genocide. According to Dallaire's book Shake Hands with the Devil, he "owe[s] a great debt of gratitude" to both senators.

Read more...

"We are so done," for now

Those were the words of Rep. Julie Hamos, the Evanston Democrat in charge of months of mass transit negotiations. Mass transit riders and workers in northeastern Illinois are saved from major service cuts and layoffs, and Illinois seniors will start to get free rides on public buses and commuter rail lines within their districts by March.

That's the rosy picture from Springfield Thursday after the Illinois General Assembly approved a mass transit deal and a last-minute idea by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to grant free rides to seniors. But some lawmakers had to hold their noses to support the governor's program. Here's why:

Last minute: The governor's move to create a new “free rides” program for seniors came in the 11th hour. If he would have offered the same deal months earlier, then last summer's drama of threatened layoffs and service cuts could have been avoided. And the mass transit issue might not have distracted lawmakers from other important pieces of legislation. Several lawmakers of both political parties bashed the governor's last-minute actions as a political ploy to benefit his possible re-election campaign. The governor, however, didn't mind the wait. “All's well that ends well,” he said at a Statehouse news conference Thursday evening. “This was a process that took nine months for the General Assembly to finally pass something that I could act on. The wait was well worth it.”

Confusion: Seniors will get free rides but only in the districts in which they live. They might not understand that seniors who live in central Illinois won't be able to get a free ride on the Chicago commuter trains.

Limitless income eligibility: There is no income limit for seniors. They only have to be 65 or older. The House tried and approved a measure to include income limits, but it never got called in the Senate.

Seniors only, for now: The free rides program does not apply to other low-income riders. The House also tried to change that to allow free rides for people with disabilities, but again, that plan never got called in the Senate. Hamos said it's sensible to include people with disabilities in the free rides program,but she fears a slippery slope. “I really am seriously worried that this program will balloon out of sight over the next few years. We don't like to say no to hardly anyone.”

Cost: Estimates already have increased from $15 million to $30 million a year, with about $1 million for downstate transit systems. Ron Huberman, president of the Chicago Transit Authority, issued caution. “We can't pretend that it comes at no cost. We need to understand it. We need to have an intellectual debate about the public policy, understanding full well what the costs are going to be.”

No guaranteed follow-up: There's no guarantee the Senate will pursue a follow-up measure to enact income limits or free rides for people with disabilities. Senate President Emil Jones Jr. said he would not rush to judgment on the House Democrats' proposal and that there's still time to tweak the free-ride program.

Sales tax increase: The regional sales tax increase does apply to food and drugs in the area under the Regional Transportation Authority. Hamos said that's an unintended consequence. The state sales tax exempts food and drugs, but the portion of the sales tax for municipalities and the RTA still do apply to food and drugs. Tax reform could fix that.

There's still no capital deal: Downstate lawmakers for months tried to use political leverage, saying they wouldn't support a Chicago-area mass transit deal until they got a statewide plan for construction projects. They lost that leverage last week when enough lawmakers approved the mass transit deal, but that doesn't change the increasing capital needs across the state. Regional Transportation Authority executive director Steve Schlickman said, “We have to rebuild the infrastructure of our system. If we don't do that, some of these dollars we're getting for operating are going to be wasted.”

Good news: Downstate transit systems will get more operating assistance from the state as a part of this deal. A 10 percent jump from 55 percent to 65 percent could offset some of the lost revenue. The increased state aid also has potential to allow some rural transit districts to expand to areas that have up to this point lacked any public transportation, said Bill Jung, who runs Rides Mass Transit in the southern tip of Illinois. Read more about the downstate transit needs in our November feature.

Long-term outlook: While mass transit is saved from financial peril for a while, a few lawmakers argued that the lawmaking process is broken. Actually, Sen. Martin Sandoval, a Chicago Democrat, called it a three-ring circus. In the other chamber, Rep. John Fritchey, another Chicago Democrat, filed a constitutional amendment to take away the governor's power to change only part of a measure. The amendatory veto is intended to smooth out the legislative process by allowing the governor to make minor changes to improve the legislation. Fritchey said Blagojevich has abused that power and significantly altered measures to fit his own agenda.

On a lighter note: The highlight of the debate, at least for chocolate lovers, was Rep. Jack Frank's comparison of the governor to a 3-year-old dripping in chocolate and running through a clothing store, touching all the linens and leaving a mess for everyone else to clean up. Franks is a Woodstock Democrat who often has harsh words for the governor.

Read more...

Il-14th: Wealthy Scientist Trying to Buy a Seat in Congress

Jotham Stein's newest video. It you get points for humor in an election, this has to win a few. He could be a stand up comic. Stein made a joke at the League of Women voters debate about the head of the Kane County Democratic Party fumbling pronouncing his first name.

Read more...

Democratic War in Illinois: How Do We Get Rid of the Governor

Read this post over at Newsalert. Isn't it amazing that the members of the governor's own party are trying to get rid of him? So when are the Democratic members of the legislature going to impeach or place in the state constitution a recall amendment?

Read more...

Col Morganthaler's free ride in the 6th

An email below from Morganthaler's campaign on the Trib's endorsement.

The Trib, and the redeploy-away-from-Iraq-now activists, really should press Morganthaler on this from her Iraq blog,

As she told me the horrors of living in Kuwait under the occupation, I realized that if we had not had the first war, Saddam may have been impossible to stop with the oil under his total control. The men who did terrible things to the Kuwaitis, especially the Kuwaiti women are very similar to the men we are fighting. As people get upset about Abu Ghraib, one thing that should never be forgotten: these are men who have murdered Americans and would continue to murder Americans if given the opportunity.

Does she still stand by it? Where the prisoners abused at Abu Garib really people who murdered Americans, or just common criminals or hapless prisoners in a very badly managed military jail?

Morganthaler and Gen Sanchez commanded our forces at the nadir of the war in Iraq with Abu Garib.

This primary is a free ride for a candidate with much to explain about her participation in it. No questions are asked, and only silence from a candidate trained in Public Relations, charged for Public Relations in Iraq; on a Public Relations debacle that devastated the Army's mission.

For Democrats to unite now around Sanchez without the press or anti-war activists asking any questions --just this bland endorsement from the Trib for a mom- does not serve America well.

The press and the left have a duty and they're failing badly.

Dear Supporter,

I’ve got some very exciting news! Today, the Chicago Tribune endorsed our campaign to take on Peter Roskam and fix the broken system in Washington.

The Tribune wrote:

“Democrat Jill Morgenthaler of Des Plaines is running under the slogan "Army colonel/businesswoman/Des Plaines mom." She served in the Army Reserve for 30 years and was most recently head of homeland security in the Blagojevich administration. She is competent, smart and thoughtful.”

Our campaign is on a roll, but we need your help. In just 3 short weeks, we’ll go to the polls and vote for the person we believe is the best candidate to take on Peter Roskam and represent our values in Washington. Here's how you you can help:

Contribute: Our fundraising deadline is today. Please consider clicking here and making a contribution of $10, $25, $50 or whatever you can afford. Your contribution will go a long way towards helping us be successful.

Volunteer: This Saturday and Sunday Jill will be in the office calling voters to tell them about her campaign and she needs help! Please plan on coming in for two hours and joining Jill. Our office is located at 190 N Swift Road in Addison, at the corner of Swift Road and Army Trail Road. We’ll have enough pizza and drinks to feed an Army but please RSVP by calling (630) 627-0900.

Our office is open seven days a week from 9 AM - 9 PM so please stop by any time you can help. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to give us a call.

The Chicago Tribune endorsement is just the beginning. We’re going all the way thru to November, sending Jill to Washington to stop the bickering, roll up her sleeves and get the things that matter most done. We’ll see you on the trail!

Thanks,

Charles Blumenthal
Campaign Manager
Jill Morgenthaler for Congress
Army Colonel. Businesswoman. Des Plaines Mom.

Read more...

Oberweis negative mailer

I can't stop 'em. A new one every day.

Read more...

Tribune Enters into Front Page Advocacy Journalism

Must saves the bus and train seats of Tribune readers.

How else can one explain the huge front page story on today’s Chicago Tribune?

It's not Monday.

Monday is transportation reporter Jon Hilkevitch’s day to shine.

Most of his stories are not time sensitive, so that’s when the Tribune usually runs them.

This one comes on a Wednesday, though.

One day before the Illinois House is scheduled to vote on Governor Rod Blagojevich’s amendatory veto to give me a free ride anytime I want to take the train to Chicago.

And, it's only going to cost one half a billion dollars a year. I note that little tidbit is not in the Tribune editorial.

It gives legislators another chance to save collar county residents from a 200% increase of the RTA sales tax in the collar counties while Cook’s County’s hike is only 25%.

And, yes, I know that the collar county boards have been bribed with half of the increase.

Yesterday, the Tribune asked for the veto to be overridden.

I wrote a story entitled,

"A third rail on transit"

"Hey, you Republicans" the Tribune urges.

"Jump on board."

Do more to damage your anti-tax brand that State Senators Dan Cronin, Kirk Dillard and Dave Millner already have.

Right.

Give the Democrats more targets than they already have in Beth Coulson, Rosemary Mulligan and Sid Mathias.

Got to congratulate Democratic Party State Representative Julie Hamos.

She certainly has stuck it to the collar counties.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

Read more...

ILLINOIS JUDICIAL ELECTION GUIDE NOW ON-LINE

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

A non-partisan guide to candidates running for seats on Illinois supreme, appellate and circuit courts is available at www.ilcampaign.org.

“Most voters say they have too little information about candidates for judicial office, and many voters are surprised to see any judicial candidates on their Election Day ballots,” said Cynthia Canary, Director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR).

“This on-line voters guide will give voters a chance to find out who is running, consider their qualifications and find out why these candidates say they merit support,” Canary said. “The guide also reports the evaluations of the bar associations and provide links for voters to find out more information about the candidates.”

This is the fourth election cycle that ICPR has produced the Illinois Voters’ Guide, which can be accessed from the main ICPR website (www.ilcampaign.org) and is available at www.illinoisvotersguide.org.

There are 185 candidates seeking election to 62 vacancies at all levels of the judiciary. There are 34 contested Democratic primaries and 13 contested Republican primaries.

The Democratic primary race for a 5th District Appellate Court seat has received the most news media attention and likely will attract the most campaign contributions of any judicial primary contest in Illinois this year. The two competing candidates are Judy Cates, an attorney who lives in Swansea, and James M. Wexstten, a circuit court judge residing in Mt. Vernon who was appointed to a vacancy on the 5th District Appellate Court last year. The 5th District includes 37 counties in the southern one-third of Illinois. There are also contested Appellate Court primaries for two seats in the 1st District, which is Cook County, and an uncontested primary for a Supreme Court seat in the 1st District.

All judicial candidates on the primary ballot were invited to participate in the on-line guide. In addition to biographical information, the candidates were asked to respond to two general questions about the administration of justice in Illinois, and their unedited responses are in the guide.

Visitors to the Illinois Voter’s Guide site also will find links to the websites of several bar associations in Illinois, the Illinois State Board of Elections, the official site of the Illinois Courts and reform organizations.

Read more...

Beacon News: Pat Quinn to endorse John Laesch

This is big. Quinn weilds a lot of influence among the Democrats in the 14th.

From the Beacon News,

AURORA -- Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn will be in town this morning to throw his support behind John Laesch in the Democratic primary in the 14th Congressional District, Laesch confirmed Tuesday.

Quinn will join Laesch for a press conference at 10 a.m. today at Laesch's campaign office on Downer Place in downtown Aurora.

update: A picture and link from Leasch's site.



And Archpundit who thinks Laesch will get pinged by Dems for opposing the Alternative Min Tax....

I don't think so.

Update: Noam Chomsky for Laesh too. Chomsky a guy who has issues with the taxman too, so Laesch on the AMT may not be such a problem....

Read more...

Lauzen: "When we go for an ice cream cone..."

Chicago Argus on the Lauzen Oberweis debate at Aurora University, Also here...

His attempt to use humor in taking a pot shot at GOP primary opponent Jim Oberweis gave us a chuckle. Lauzen was seriously trying to contrast the experience he gained in 15 years serving in the Illinois Senate, compared to Oberweis, who runs a dairy and chain of ice cream parlors – but has never held elective office.

Or, as Lauzen so “eloquently” put it while motioning with his right hand to Oberweis, “When we go for an ice cream cone, we go to someone with experience in doing it.”

Also, a post on Chicago's fractured Democratic Party as the obstacle to getting anything accomplished,

Anytime a Republican legislator negotiated some sort of deal or compromise with a Democrat, he automatically picked up all of the Democrat’s enemies.

In the world of Chicago politics, enemies don’t just vote against you. They go out of their way to round up others to vote against you. Then, they try to make you suffer for your arrogance in trying to get something past them in the first place.

“It’s never a problem with the actual issue at hand, it’s always a personal slight with those guys,” the Republican said. “Somebody did something to insult someone or steal a girl away back when the two of them were working their way through law school at night, so they’re enemies for life.

“It’s just so much easier, less of a hassle, to not bother with the other side and try to do it ourselves,” he told me.

If the GOP can elect a mayor in NYC, I don't understand why they concede Chicago without a vote. Democrat's dominance there is devastating the state. The whole bizarre culture just spills over and brings Illinois to a halt.

Read more...

Lauzen mailer on immigration

Today's mailer from Lauzen on immigration.

The top of the second side reads, If you want something done in Washington about illegal immigration...

Note quote from the Trib dated 2/25/04 on Oberweis ads widely criticized as "racist"... and Hastert's comment from 6/2004 calling Oberweis unfit for the nomination...

Well, they were horrible ads. The GOP doesn't need that.

They debate tonight at 7pm. Check them out.

Read more...

Six of One...Updated

I don't have the time to do an extensive post right now, but I just have to put this thought out there.

I just got done listening to the Governor's Q + A at a northside senior building today, in which he says that his problem with the sales tax increase is that the sales tax is

'A regressive tax that disproportionately affects low-income people'.

This from the same Governor that is proposing a massive gaming expansion in order to fund a capital bill. Does he not realize that gambling is the most regressive revenue generator out there?

Or is that only an issue when it's convenient for him?

UPDATE - I also picked up on this gem from the Governor:

To give seniors a free ride on public transportation, I don't think that takes a lot of political courage.

Correct. But to admit that it's a poorly thought-out idea, doesn't bear a rational relationship to needs or policy, was done outside the legislative process, and that the transit systems can't afford it - that does take political courage.

To read or post comments, visit Open House

Read more...

Village of Campton Hills: hardball in the sticks

Developer money behind the campaign to dissolve the newly incorporated Village of Campton Hills.

From the city to Dekalb, developement creates the issues.

Read more...

An email from Tammy Duckworth

An email from Duckworth for Morganthaler; the quiet campaign in the 6th CD.

Dear Friend,

As you may have heard, I have decided not to run for Congress in 2008. I love working on behalf of the Veterans of Illinois and believe we are making a lot of progress. It is work I am committed to and I want to see it through.

But I wanted to take a moment to tell you about someone who is running for Congress, who I believe deserves our full support: my friend, Jill Morgenthaler.

Jill just stepped down from her position as Illinois ' homeland security adviser. She spent two years on the job, working with local, state, and federal authorities to keep all of us in Illinois safe. She did a remarkable job.

She's also a retired Colonel, a thirty year army Veteran, who has first hand experience in some of the most complex and dangerous regions of the world. She'll be the leader we need to help get our foreign policy back on track. When making decisions about Iraq and about other complex foreign policy issues facing our nation, Jill will ensure that sound judgment trumps partisan politics.

She's also a wife, a mother, and a 16 year resident of Des Plaines . Both of her kids went to local public schools. Jill knows that we need to take some of the financial pressure off of families in the 6th Congressional District.

She'll do it by working together with anyone—Democrat or Republican—who understands that we need to reign in runaway federal spending to lower taxes, make health care more affordable, end our dependence on foreign oil, secure our borders and keep our families safe.

I really believe in Jill and I can personally attest to what a great leader she is.

Please join me in continuing the fight we proudly waged in 2006 by giving Jill Morgenthaler the same friendship and support that you shared with me.

A contribution today of $50, $75 or $100 would go a long way toward helping Jill meet her fund raising goals for the February 5th primary and toward helping her retire Peter Roskam in 2008.

You can make your contribution securely online or mail it to Jill Morgenthaler for Congress 190 N. Swift Road Addison, IL 60101. It will really make a difference.

Thank you and God Bless,

Tammy Duckworth

Read more...

Bill Ayers on the militarization of Chicago's schools

Bill Ayers's blog taking on Mayor Daley over ROTC programs in Chicago High Schools.

Mayor Daley’s claim that “[military programs] provide… students with the order and discipline that is too often lacking at home” taps into and fuels racialized perceptions and fears of unruly black and brown families and youth. They must be controlled, regulated, and made docile for their own good and for ours.

hmmm... unruly black and brown youths.

Read more...

A Call to Action from America's Heartland

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

If you accept Tip O'Neil's maxim that all politics is local, then a new book on reform efforts in five Midwestern states is must-reading. Democratic Renewal: A Call to Action from America's Heartland outlines how reformers in very different political cultures are trying to address threats to democracy.

Edited by UIS Professor of Political Studies and Public Policy Kent Redfield, Democratic Renewal looks at how political cultures diverge within the Midwest and how those cultures affect efforts to enhance voters' role in the political process.

Reformers are at work in a range of areas, including campaign finance, redistricting, judicial elections, ethics and corruption, broadcast coverage of politics and elections, and election administration, and Democratic Renewal localizes each of these efforts in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

The Illinois story not only recounts the state’s recent history of political corruption, but also addresses weak lobbying laws, uncompetitive elections, restrictive ballot access and the concentration of power in the hands of legislative leadership. Despite the many problems Illinois faces, the book also highlights recent victories in the cause of reform, including adoption of the 1998 Gift Ban Act and the 2003 State Ethics law.

The book is released under the aegis of the Midwest Democracy Network., an alliance of reform groups in all five states, including ICPR. Copies of the book are available through MDN.

Read more...

2008 Cook County Appellate & Circuit Primary Races

The Cook County judicial election landscape is littered with primary races that function more like November general elections, due to the fact that the primary winner will not face Republican competition. Most of the judicial candidates nominated by the Cook County Democrat primary electors will simply have to wait until December to be sworn in for their six-year terms. As a preview, of sorts, of these February 5th races, the Illinois Civil Justice League encourages its readers to check out the full judicial profiles, and answers from judges of the ICJL questionnaire, available at http://www.illinoisjudges.net/.

The 2008 primary election, while highly compressed, features many candidates with detailed websites. In fact, more than half (16 of 31) of the Cook County candidates detailed below have campaign websites, certainly a record. Add to those sites the great work by Chicago legal blogger Jack Leyhane, whose For What It’s Worth Blog has been following the judicial races since August. Voters certainly have more resources to get educated about the candidates than ever before.

(Editor’s Note: Candidates for the Cook County subcircuit and downstate primary races will be featured in the next two weeks.)

Appellate Court
Two of these types of primary races will fill seats on the Cook County, or First District, Appellate Courts. Two groups of three Democrat candidates are seeking to fill the vacancies created by Justice Anne Burke, who was promoted to the Supreme Court, and Justice Calvin Campbell.

All three of the candidates for the Burke vacancy have judicial experience in Cook County. Alan Greiman, a veteran Cook County jurist and former state legislator, is currently an appointed Appellate Court justice. His opponents, Judges William O’Neal and Sharon Johnson Coleman are both sitting Cook County Circuit Judges. Justice Greiman has locked up nearly all of the endorsements and been rated “Highly Qualified” by the ISBA for this race, giving him an edge to retain his seat.

For the Campbell vacancy, two qualified veteran judges are seeking the other vacancy on the Appellate Court. Judges John Steele and Richard Walsh both have informative websites about their careers and accomplishments, giving Cook County voters an opportunity to be fully versed before entering the polls on February 5th. The third candidate, Frank Gardner, was found “Not Qualified” by the ISBA.

Cook County Circuit Court – Circuitwides
The Disko Vacancy provides a real race between two Cook County heavyweights. The judge appointed to the vacancy, Lauretta Higgins Wolfson, has won many of the endorsements, has been found “Qualified” by nearly all of the bar associations, and has many legal and political heavyweights on her campaign committee (such as retired Judge Gino DiVito, state legislator Julie Hamos, Congressman Bobby Rush, and Dawn Clark Netsch). However, Judge Dennis Burke has earned the highest rating of “Highly Qualified” from the bar association. Judge Burke’s website goes out of its way to tout the large jury verdicts and settlements found in his courtroom since his move to the Law Division. That being said, the Chicago Council of Lawyers has called “fair, hard-working, and even tempered” with “good legal ability.”

The Glowacki Vacancy pits an Associate Judge, Jesse Reyes, against a public defender, Terry MacCarthy. Judge Reyes is the past president of the Illinois Judges Association. MacCarthy touts his membership in AFSCME. Both have websites and Reyes even has a MySpace page (he’s a Scorpio, in case you were wondering).

The Healy Vacancy features former Bell, Boyd & Lloyd partner Maureen Ward Kirby, who was appointed to the vacancy, against Peter Curielli. Judge Kirby is rated as “Qualified” and her opponent is rated “Not Qualified” by ISBA.

The situation is almost identical in the race for the Keehan Vacancy, where Marilyn Johnson was appointed to the vacancy and has many endorsements. Her opponent, Joseph Robert Papavero of Community Investment Corporation, was found “Not Qualified” by the ISBA.

Both candidates in the Lott Vacancy race have earned “Qualified” ratings. Jody Rogers, an attorney with Ellison, Nielsen, Zehe & Antas, squares up with Thomas Byrne of the Cook County State’s Attorneys Office. Byrne has earned most of the endorsements in the race.

Clausen Miller attorney Debra Walker leads the list of candidates for the Montelione Vacancy. She is a past president of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois. She will face Judge Thaddeus Wilson, who was appointed to the vacancy and is endorsed by the Cook County Democratic Party. He touts endorsements from Roland Burris, Alexi Giannoulias, and Emil Jones. A third candidate, Thomas Doran is an attorney for the City of Chicago.

Paula Lingo faces two Ryans in the Murphy Vacancy race. Lingo, who has collected all the major endorsements, is the Chief Legal Counsel for the Cook County Recorder of Deeds. Kristyna Ryan was found “Not Qualified” by the ISBA for the seat and Frank Ryan of Ryan & Ehrenstrom was not rated by the ISBA.

Judge Michael Hyman gained the “Highly Qualified” rating from the ISBA for the Nowicki Vacancy. Judge Hyman, who practiced with Much Shelist prior to his appointment to the vacancy, faces Jack Murphy, who specializes in representing school districts, Kim Kardas and Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Brian Sexton.

Judge Joan Powell was given the early nod by being appointed to the Thomas Vacancy and she has earned the endorsement of the Cook County Democrats. Her and her political strategist husband Phil Krone recently made headlines fundraising for Obama in Iowa. Patrick Riley, not the basketball coach but a former insurance defense litigator with O’Connor, Schiff & Myers, has also earned a “Qualified” rating from the ISBA, as has E. Madeline O’Neill, a hearing officer with the Child Protection Division of the Cook County Juvenile Court. David Mulvihill is an attorney with LaSalle Bank.

Visit IllinoisJudges.net.

-- Al Adomite
Illinois Civil Justice League
January 14, 2008

Read more...

Madigan on Rezko: take a look at what happened.

Lets hope we don't stop looking either. The full story's yet to be told.

Read more...

Dr. Strangelove in the 14th: more Bill Foster mailers

Foster continues the Scientist-above-the-fray frame with the latest mailer.

My fellow Unitarian Universalist, and former Clinton Administration Secretary of Defense, William Perry (UU's contributed three past SecDef's in the past few years: William Perry, William Cohen, and Elliot Richardson) joined former Clinton Administration Assistant Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter in June 2006 calling for this preemptive attack,

...if North Korea persists in its launch preparations, the United States should immediately make clear its intention to strike and destroy the North Korean Taepodong missile before it can be launched.

I'd argue one reason Bush didn't preemtively attack was the success of Reagan's Star War's investment. The successful missle interceptions reduced risk of the threat from North Korea.

As a Scientist, I wish Bill Foster would comment about this huge investment in Science which seems to have paid off peacefully. Will he vote to continue in Congress, or change? That's a bit of success in Washington we should bicker over before making changes.

The mailer,

Read more...

Book review: "Why The Democrats Are Blue"

Blue, so blue, my love is burning blue.
Any brighter flame would be a lie.
"How Much I Lied," Gram Parsons, 1973.

Using the word "blue" for the Democrats works on so many levels. Brother Marathon Pundit gave me Mark Sricherz' Why the Democrats are Blue: Secular Liberalism and the Decline of the People's Party for my birthday last month, which I finished reading last week during my vacation.

This is not a "Why The Democrats Suck" book. Sticherz is a Democrat and a practicing Catholic. And a large part of why the Democrats have lost seven out of the last ten presidential elections is that the Dems have spurned the Catholic vote. The affinity for Roman Catholics to the Democratic Party goes back to the 1830s, but the post-1968 Democratic Party elite has little use for them. Not even having a Catholic (some dispute that, calling John Kerry a "CINO," a Catholic-in-name-only) at the top of the Democrats' ticket helped them four years ago, the Republicans won the Catholic vote, as they have every presidential election since 1976. And Jimmy Carter won that year.

Hmm...I think we are on to something.

The situation reminds me of the famous Ronald Reagan quip, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me." Reagan wasn't Catholic (his father was, and he was a Democrat), and Reagan became a Republican in 1962. It's not a perfect analogy, but Reagan's comment resonated with my parents (both Catholic) and millions of people like them.

From the ashes of the 1968 Democratic National Convention fiasco came the McGovern Commission. Whereas most people remember the quadrennial get-together for Boss Daley's cops beating up hippies, the McGovern Commission had the greater influence on the party.

From Why The Democrats Are Blue:

Officially known as the the Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection, the commission was approved by a majority of delegates at the convention that (Bill)Clinton deplored, the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The twenty-eight member panel is best known for creating the modern presidential nominating system, in which primary and caucus voters rather than big-city and state bosses choose the party's nominee. It is also known for its first chairman, Senator George McGovern, who won the party's nomination in 1972.

What an amazing coincidence that McGovern got the nod!

More...

The most significant consequence of the McGovern Commission is that the Democratic Party's coalition changed and shrank. The New Deal or Roosevelt coalition had included white southerners, Catholics, union members, blacks, and intellectuals. Under this coalition, the national party was a majority party, and its presidential candidates won seven of the ten elections from 1932 to 1968.

Seven of ten elections? Where have I heard that before?

And some more...

The McGovern Commission destroyed this old alliance and replaced it with the social change coalition led by secular liberals. The commission pushed through a rules change that required informal delegate quotas for women and young people. The proposal had three major consequences. First, while the Democratic coalition added feminists and secular professionals, it drove away blue-collar workers and Catholics, many of whom became Reagan Democrats. Second, it broke the Democratic Party's longstanding alliance with the Catholic Church. Third, it reduced the number of Democratic constituents. According to the party strategists, William Galston and Elaine Kamarck, only 21 percent of the electorate regard themselves as liberal, while 34 percent regard themselves as conservative.

The Democrats are playing a sport popular in small high schools, nine man football. But the Republicans have eleven players suited up for each game.

The 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach was a disaster for the party. Besides nominating the hapless McGovern, who managed to win just one state and the District of Columbia in the general election, the conventions credentials committee kicked the elected delegate slate led by the one of the bosses, Mayor Richard J. Daley, replacing it with a "more representative" group of liberal activists, minorities, and women led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and lakefront liberal William Singer.

The contrast of this confrontation couldn't be more stark. Stricherz doesn't go into detail about this incident, but I will. I recall a column by Mike Royko, which explained that if Jesse really felt that sincere about toppling the Daley slate that year, then he should have run his own slate in the Illinois Democratic Primary. Not only did he not do that, he didn't even bother to vote in the primary.

But quotas were viewed more as "fair" than having an elected slate of delegates at the convention, and the legendary mayor and his fellow delegates were sent home. Daley, known for his Irish temper and stubbornness among other things, was understandably livid about getting "86ed" in Miami Beach.

That fall, McGovern attempted a rapprochement with Daley, but it was too late. Not only did Richard Nixon win Illinois by an enormous margin, he accomplished the seemingly impossible--he got more votes than McGovern in Cook County, something no Republican presidential candidate has accomplished since.

In fact, to lose Cook, the Democrats have to try to lose, which is exactly what they did in 1972.

Besides making the contemporary Democratic Party more hospitable to Catholics and other voters of faith, Stricherz has a number of suggestions to repair the problems the world's oldest political party faces, but going back to the Boss System is not one of them. You have to read--and buy--to find out what they are, but dumping quotas and caucus elections are just two of them.

Whether you are a Democrat of Republican, this book is a must-read for any political junkie.

To comment on this post, or to vote in the Pajamas Media presidential straw poll, click here.

Read more...

Jotham Stein mailer in IL-14

Jotham Stein, for a change, in my mailbox today. Real Solutions, Real Change, really... I'm not sure this Change frame is going to work for Dems this year.

Read more...

Hillary is 44: What is a Rezko?

The Illinois GOP doesn't play like this.

Rezko for Dummies via Hillary is 44.

Today, in a light-hearted, “down-to-earth” style, we will discuss REZKO. We will answer such questions as “What is a Rezko?”, “Why should I care about the REZKO?”, “What is the deeper meaning of the REZKO?”

As regular reader of Big Pink know, we have tried to explain the REZKO before. We’ve written repeatedly about the REZKO. Among other articles, we have written Will Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald Destroy the Obama Campaign?, The Case of the Missing State Senator, A Challenge To Big Media and Big Blogs, Obama’s $925,000 Question. But some people still don’t get it.

Yesterday, we received some assistance from ABC News and Good Morning America (We love that name - so sunshinny and cheery). Good Morning America ran a package on Obama and Rezko. The ABC package was Youtubed. Patrick Fitzgerald is on the video. ABC News also posted the story on its website The Rezko Connection: Obama’s Achilles Heel?

Update: Rich quoting Madigan from the Fox interview.

* On Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly and their relationship with Blagojevich: “I made a decision very early on in the Blagojevich administration not to be associated with what they were doing.”

* Why? “Take a look at what happened.”

If Loyola ever needs a case for graduting sharper Lawyers than Harvard, this would have to be at the top.

The ivy league left Obama in a fog about wheeler-dealer men.

Read more...

Gin Mills and Smoke

I stopped at a long established, neighborhood shot-and-a-beer joint in the tri-cities area yesterday. I've had a beer there over the years late afternoons when locals would be dropping in after work. It used to be thick with smoke, and crowded enough by five thirty you'd likely stand.

Yesterday stools abounded and air clean and fresh. The barmaid said day-time business had tanked and she expected they'd fold by March if things didn't turn around.

Read more...

Apathy, Shmapathy

I don't think that anything can measure the excitement that Barack has created about the Presidential race as does the torrid pace of new voter registrations.

I sent out an e-mail last week to remind people about the looming deadline and to encourage them to participate in this historic election. The replies were all marked by an almost giddy eagerness by people about the election.

In my little neighborhood district office alone, we registered dozens of new voters on just Monday and Tuesday, which was the deadline. First time voters, recent grads still registered in another state, people bringing their roommates in to register, but all people looking forward to February 5th.

(By the way, unregistered voters can still register and vote, but it must be done at the Board of Elections. When registering during the “grace period,” a person needs to show two valid pieces of identification, one showing the current residence address.)

According to Jim Allen, communications director for the Chicago Board of Elections, between January 3, the day of the Iowa caucuses, and January 8, when traditional voter registration closed in Illinois, nearly 20,000 city residents signed up to vote. And the registrations were "heavily skewed" to people under 30, Allen said.

Now obviously, in my opinion, a lot of this is Barack-centric. But what's magnifying it even more is his timing. We have a leader with the charisma to win young people over and the substance to back it up who is hitting the scene in a perfect convergence with the YouTube etc. explosion that has irreparably changed the political landscape by drawing in this same demographic.

The same way that a telegenic John F. Kennedy may have closed the door on a sweaty Richard Nixon during their televised debate (at the old CBS studio on McClurg Ct. btw), Barack is a natural to appeal to the MySpace generation, evidenced only in part by the wave of online contributions received by the campaign.

So what does it mean? If the country stays on the pace reflected in the record turnouts in Iowa and New Hampshire, with many of the new participants being newly-engaged young adults energized by the 'tall, skinny kid with the funny name', we may soon be calling him Mr. President. And I'm good with that.

To read or post comments, visit Open House

Read more...

Blagojevich Creates New Homeless Shelters - Rolling Ones

With Governor Rod Blagojevich announcing that those over 65 can ride the rails and buses for free, I see an unintended consequence.

You’ve heard about Charlie, who had to ride Boston’s MTW forever because he didn’t have the dime to get off?

Well, with free fares, homeless seniors can ride CTA buses and trains and Metra trains for as long as they want.

Now, they will have to schedule their route so they don’t end up in Harvard, at the end of the line, without a way back, but, with some skill, the homeless will be able to keep warm on frigid days.

Certainly, some homeless advocate group will provide such schedules.

Here is the House roll call.

Here is the Senate roll call.

Read more...

On the settlement with Chicago Police Torture victims

The State of..., one of my favorite blogs discusses the news that Chicago's city council settled with the victims of torture by Lt. Jon Burge. Says that Chicago's voters have short memories and that if Mayor Richard Daley (who was State's Attorney in the time period of the torture allegations) could win re-election in a landslide today!

Read more...

Let's hope it's not a lemon

By Patrick O’Brien and Bethany Jaeger
Correction
I mistakenly labeled Democratic Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi as a Republican. My apologies. Sen. Wilhelmi is a Joliet Democrat.

The House and Senate finally agreed on major legislation for the first time since the electric rate debate. They approved a mass transit deal Thursday, but the hitch is that Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he’d make a change that would allow all seniors in the state to ride public transportation, including trains, for free. “I’m going to turn what I believe is a lemon into lemonade. I’m going to sweeten the bill,” he said at a Statehouse press conference.

The “sweetness” of the deal would cost almost $20 million statewide in fares that seniors would have paid in reduced rates. The change also means lawmakers will have to come back next week to either accept the governors changes or reject them with a super majority of votes, which would be difficult given that they’re short by a handful of votes in each chamber and that it’s a few short weeks before the primary elections.

House Democrat Julie Hamos stressed caution about declaring victory too early. “This is not over yet. It’s incumbent on us to bring back to Springfield 60 supportive voters in the House and 30 supportive voters in the Senate."

Regional Transportation Authority Chairman Jim Reilly said the job was only half done because the transit systems of northern Illinois needs upwards of $10 billion in infrastructure improvements. That requires a statewide capital bill.

Chicago Transit Authority President Ron Huberman said the deal could close a “difficult chapter” in the CTA history, especially when his employees received layoff notices three times last year. But he said his agency must “keep the wheels in motion” for January 20 service cuts until a “signed, executable bill” is delivered by state government. The CTA’s doomsday scenario involves more than 2,400 job cuts and eliminating half of all bus lines.

After months of wrangling, the General Assembly delivered a bill to the governor in a matter of hours. A last-minute change of heart by Democratic Sen. James Clayborne of Belleville allowed the bill to pass with no margin to spare in the Senate. The bill passed by two votes in the House.

Clayborne, who voted present for the bill last night, explained his switch: “I had to deal with reality. I want a capital bill. I think everybody in the Senate wants one. But until Madigan sits at the table and decides that we’re all going to negotiate in good faith like we did with medical malpractice, like we did with Ameren, then why should we jeopardize services in Chicago?”

He added that downstate transit riders also benefit from this version because the state aid for mass transit districts increases from 55 percent of operating costs to 65 percent. See our November feature, Token support. The increase means a lot for those districts.

The measure, HB 656, uses a small sales tax increase in Chicago and the surrounding counties, one-quarter of one percent, to fund the following:

- $100 million for paratransit services for people with disabilities

- A 10 percent increase in state aid for downstate transit districts

- $20 million for PACE bus services in the Chicago suburbs

- $100 million a year if the Chicago City Council enacts a real estate transfer tax. The revenue would help fund pension and health care costs of CTA retirees.

- The counties surrounding Chicago also would have the option of using their funds from the sales tax increase for public safety purposes

Republicans are still relevant
by Bethany Jaeger
The approval of a mass transit plan has political ramifications for House and Senate Republicans. All along they’ve fought for a statewide capital bill to fix roads, bridges and schools in their districts. They tried to gain leverage by saying they wouldn’t vote for a mass transit plan without the promise of a capital bill.

“There’s no question there’s a leverage issue that’s gone,” said House Minority Leader Tom Cross after his chamber approved the measure Thursday. “But there’s still a need there from a policy standpoint to do this bill that spans the whole state. So I hope people recognize that.”

Republicans also have lost their seat at the negotiating table that they enjoyed for the past seven months of overtime session. Democrats still have a majority in each chamber, but the new calendar year means the House and Senate technically don’t need Republican votes to approve legislation. The House has 67 Democrats but only needs 60 votes; the Senate has 37 Democrats but only needs 30 votes.

Republicans fear the politically difficult, clunky legislation for a gaming expansion coming any time soon is “as likely as the Cubs winning the World Series,” as Sen. Kirk Dillard said during Senate floor debate. Dillard lives in Hinsdale and said DuPage County has dire transportation needs that are met by the approved mass transit deal. He and Sen. Dan Cronin of Elmhurst broke with their GOP Caucus to vote in support of mass transit despite lacking a capital bill.

Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson said he’s disappointed but that he would never tell his fellow lawmakers that they shouldn’t vote with their districts. But now they're back to square one on capital. “I think we’ve lost an opportunity to make sure that capital, infrastructure would be a part of any solution here," Watson said. "I think we’ve taken a step backwards"

Republicans are still needed, however, for major spending and borrowing plans that require three-fifths majority. Capital for infrastructure projects is the biggest example. So are other budget-related items and overrides of the governor’s vetoes.

Republicans also may be needed as a buffer between the dueling Democrats. Cross already took the role as peacemaker last year. He and Watson partook in “shuttle diplomacy” between legislative offices because House Speaker Michael Madigan declined to join a series of leaders’ meetings that included the governor.

Watson said that practice has to end. “Everyone has to be in the room. Everyone has to check their egos at the door. Everyone has to understand this is an important issue for the state as an entirety, not just a region.”

Read more...

Common Sense Thrown Under the Bus

Leave it to the Governor to get me back to blogging before I can even leave for home. No sooner had I sent an e-mail out to thousands of my constituents telling them that the bill had passed and the only thing standing in the way of it becoming law was the Governor, that very same Governor decides to amendatorily veto the bill.

In what can only be described as a bizarre misdirection to get around his vaunted, but unwarranted, no-tax pledge, the Governor issued a statement that, while he is willing to break his pledge, he is going to change the bill in order to allow senior citizens to ride public transportation in Illinois for free.

In his statement, the Governor said "I'm particularly concerned about seniors who live on fixed incomes and who don't have the ability to absorb a higher sales tax without making cuts in other areas. That's why I will rewrite the bill to allow all senior citizens in Illinois to take public transportation for free."

Where should I even start with the outrageousness of this latest action? Let's try these:

1. The bill is the product of unprecedented negotiations and compromise by elected officials, transit leaders, union leaders, pretty much everybody but the Governor. His action, once again, tries to supplant his unilateral will over the greater good, not to mention common sense.

2. A .25% sales tax increase amounts to a penny on a $4 purchase. A quarter on a $100 purchase. This is a reasonable price to pay for the benefits of a good mass transit system, benefits realized by riders and non-riders alike .

3. The seniors on fixed income who the Governor is so concerned about get absolutely NO benefit from the Governor's action if they are not mass transit users.

4. The tax is only imposed on consumers in the RTA service area. What's the basis for providing free rides to seniors on downstate mass transit since they aren't impacted by the sales tax increase? This measure also cuts into the revenues of these transit systems at a time when we passed a bill trying to give them more funding, not less.

Lastly, by virtue of his actions, the bill which passed the House with a slim margin of 62 votes, now has to go back for reconsideration, thus risking it again being held hostage by the capital bill/gaming bill proponents.

I could keep going, but I really want to get on the road. File today under the category of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

To read or post comments, visit Open House

Read more...

John Kass Still Owes an Apology

John Kass apologized yesterday for comparing Hillary to C.S. Lewis's "The White Witch", but still thinks its okay to compare to compare U.S. Senator Barack Obama to this guy:



That's Mr. Tumnus, the satyr, from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Not surprisingly, Kass's comparison drew this comment (#173) from one of his supporters:

" This Monkey will never be Prez-O-Dent" - Chi-Town, Excelsior, MN

Way to go, Kass. Nice company you keep.

BTW, New Hampshire was one of the last states in the country to recognize Martin Luther King Day, in 1999.

Way to go, Hillary. Nice company you keep.

Read more...

Mass transit stalls on the tracks

By Patrick O’Brien and Bethany Jaeger
Correction
I mistakenly labeled Democratic Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi as a Republican. My apologies. Sen. Wilhelmi is a Joliet Democrat.

The House and Senate finally agreed on major legislation for the first time since the electric rate debate. They approved a mass transit deal Thursday, but the hitch is that Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he’d make a change that would allow all seniors in the state to ride public transportation, including trains, for free. “I’m going to turn what I believe is a lemon into lemonade. I’m going to sweeten the bill,” he said at a Statehouse press conference.

The “sweetness” of the deal would cost almost $20 million statewide in fares that seniors would have paid in reduced rates. The change also means lawmakers will have to come back next week to either accept the governors changes or reject them with a super majority of votes, which would be difficult given that they’re short by a handful of votes in each chamber and that it’s a few short weeks before the primary elections.

House Democrat Julie Hamos stressed caution about declaring victory too early. “This is not over yet. It’s incumbent on us to bring back to Springfield 60 supportive voters in the House and 30 supportive voters in the Senate."

Regional Transportation Authority Chairman Jim Reilly said the job was only half done because the transit systems of northern Illinois needs upwards of $10 billion in infrastructure improvements. That requires a statewide capital bill.

Chicago Transit Authority President Ron Huberman said the deal could close a “difficult chapter” in the CTA history, especially when his employees received layoff notices three times last year. But he said his agency must “keep the wheels in motion” for January 20 service cuts until a “signed, executable bill” is delivered by state government. The CTA’s doomsday scenario involves more than 2,400 job cuts and eliminating half of all bus lines.

After months of wrangling, the General Assembly delivered a bill to the governor in a matter of hours. A last-minute change of heart by Democratic Sen. James Clayborne of Belleville allowed the bill to pass with no margin to spare in the Senate. The bill passed by two votes in the House.

Clayborne, who voted present for the bill last night, explained his switch: “I had to deal with reality. I want a capital bill. I think everybody in the Senate wants one. But until Madigan sits at the table and decides that we’re all going to negotiate in good faith like we did with medical malpractice, like we did with Ameren, then why should we jeopardize services in Chicago?”

He added that downstate transit riders also benefit from this version because the state aid for mass transit districts increases from 55 percent of operating costs to 65 percent. See our November feature, Token support. The increase means a lot for those districts.

The measure, HB 656, uses a small sales tax increase in Chicago and the surrounding counties, one-quarter of one percent, to fund the following:

- $100 million for paratransit services for people with disabilities

- A 10 percent increase in state aid for downstate transit districts

- $20 million for PACE bus services in the Chicago suburbs

- $100 million a year if the Chicago City Council enacts a real estate transfer tax. The revenue would help fund pension and health care costs of CTA retirees.

- The counties surrounding Chicago also would have the option of using their funds from the sales tax increase for public safety purposes

Republicans are still relevant
by Bethany Jaeger
The approval of a mass transit plan has political ramifications for House and Senate Republicans. All along they’ve fought for a statewide capital bill to fix roads, bridges and schools in their districts. They tried to gain leverage by saying they wouldn’t vote for a mass transit plan without the promise of a capital bill.

“There’s no question there’s a leverage issue that’s gone,” said House Minority Leader Tom Cross after his chamber approved the measure Thursday. “But there’s still a need there from a policy standpoint to do this bill that spans the whole state. So I hope people recognize that.”

Republicans also have lost their seat at the negotiating table that they enjoyed for the past seven months of overtime session. Democrats still have a majority in each chamber, but the new calendar year means the House and Senate technically don’t need Republican votes to approve legislation. The House has 67 Democrats but only needs 60 votes; the Senate has 37 Democrats but only needs 30 votes.

Republicans fear the politically difficult, clunky legislation for a gaming expansion coming any time soon is “as likely as the Cubs winning the World Series,” as Sen. Kirk Dillard said during Senate floor debate. Dillard lives in Hinsdale and said DuPage County has dire transportation needs that are met by the approved mass transit deal. He and Sen. Dan Cronin of Elmhurst broke with their GOP Caucus to vote in support of mass transit despite lacking a capital bill.

Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson said he’s disappointed but that he would never tell his fellow lawmakers that they shouldn’t vote with their districts. But now they're back to square one on capital. “I think we’ve lost an opportunity to make sure that capital, infrastructure would be a part of any solution here," Watson said. "I think we’ve taken a step backwards"

Republicans are still needed, however, for major spending and borrowing plans that require three-fifths majority. Capital for infrastructure projects is the biggest example. So are other budget-related items and overrides of the governor’s vetoes.

Republicans also may be needed as a buffer between the dueling Democrats. Cross already took the role as peacemaker last year. He and Watson partook in “shuttle diplomacy” between legislative offices because House Speaker Michael Madigan declined to join a series of leaders’ meetings that included the governor.

Watson said that practice has to end. “Everyone has to be in the room. Everyone has to check their egos at the door. Everyone has to understand this is an important issue for the state as an entirety, not just a region.”

Read more...

Laesch handouts on Oberweis investments in China

Laesch supporters were handing these out last night.

With regard to the post below on Iraq as the only issue, Laesch is Out Now on Iraq, but he did get worked up about Bin Laden and told how he was sent to Africa in the service after the two embassy attacks in 1998.

His intensity conjured up an image from the movie Independence Day where the President climbs into the cockpit of a jet fighter to take on the alien space invaders himself. I have the feeling Laesch would do the same with Bin Laden. This only half- in-jest. Laesch is if anything intense.

My next thought was what the heck did we really do instead back in 1998.

Not enough maybe. No one ordered into the cockpit. The Al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Sudan was destroyed with cruise missles instead because of faulty intelligence.

Anyway, here's the ever passionate Laesch taking on Oberweis in a mailer he lacks the funds to mail. It's hard to have warm and fuzzies for a less than Democratic China. Oberweis might want to review a lot of investments.

Read more...

Foster, Bush, Oberweis and Iraq

Today's Daily Herald: Democrat goes after Bush, Oberweis. Foster critizes Oberweis for supporting Bush's pocket veto of the Defense Appropriation bill.

Congress approved the $696.3 billion 2008 Defense Authorization Act before adjourning for its holiday break last month. But Bush, who objected to a provision in the measure that he said would delay Iraq reconstruction, refused to sign it, effectively exercising his right to a pocket veto.

The Herald fails to not that provision was one that would allow lawsuits against our Iraqi Allies, and the immediate freeze on their asset for crimes committed by Saddam Hussein.

Yesterday's Washingot Post criticizes Democrats and Foster fits: See No Good: Why do the Democratic candidates refuse to acknowledge progress in Iraq?

What Ms. Clinton, Mr. Obama, John Edwards and Bill Richardson instead offered was an exclusive focus on the Iraqi political failures -- coupled with a blizzard of assertions about the war that were at best unfounded and in several cases simply false. Mr. Obama led the way, claiming that Sunni tribes in Anbar province joined forces with U.S. troops against al-Qaeda in response to the Democratic victory in the 2006 elections -- a far-fetched assertion for which he offered no evidence.

Mr. Obama acknowledged some reduction of violence, but said he had predicted that adding troops would have that effect. In fact, on Jan. 8, 2007, he said that in the absence of political progress, "I don't think 15,000 or 20,000 more troops is going to make a difference in Iraq and in Baghdad." He also said he saw "no evidence that additional American troops would change the behavior of Iraqi sectarian politicians and make them start reining in violence by members of their religious groups." Ms. Clinton, for her part, refused to retract a statement she made in September, when she said it would require "a suspension of disbelief" to believe that the surge was working.

Even more disturbing was the refusal of the Democrats to adjust their policies to the changed situation. Ms. Clinton said she didn't "see any reason why [U.S. troops] should remain beyond, you know, today" and outlined a withdrawal plan premised on a defeat comparable to Vietnam ("We have to figure out what we're going to do with the 100,000-plus American civilians who are there" and "all the Iraqis who sided with us. . . . Are we going to leave them?"). Mr. Obama stuck to his plan for "a phased redeployment"; if his scheme of a year ago had been followed, almost all American troops would be out by this March.

Foster said back in September: The first, second and third issue is Iraq.

Foster was right.

Iraq an issue worth bickering and Oberweis responded last last night to the question about Iraq with an answer worthy of John McCain. Note McCain's quoted here saying yesterday in the WSJ,

“The first reason I’m running for president is the war in Iraq,” Sen. McCain said when he took the microphone. “The final reason I’m running is the war in Iraq.”

Quit worrying about who can sue our Iraqi allies Mr. Foster for crimes committed by the tyrant who caused them so much suffering.

Get back to issues 1, 2, and 3. Stop the bickering-kids-ad nonsense for there is much adults must debate.

A good start would be a response to the Washington Post's editorial. A response not as scientist, or businessman, but as a patriot, about what America's duty should be to the youngest democracy in the middle-east.

Read more...

Fran Eaton's Anti-Christianism Rises Again as Obama Heats Up, UPDATED

I have written several times before, as have others (here and here by ArchPundit plus here by Pastor Dan), about the anti-Christianism emanating from conservative Illinois Review editor Fran Eaton when it comes to her perverse discussions of the church where her apparent nemesis Sen. Barack Obama worships, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

Trinity United is hardly different from any other Christian church around the world. It is community-focused and reflects its congregation, to be sure, but that is no different than any other house of worship. In fact, in recent weeks, there was a great outpouring of sympathy throughout Chicagoland for Trinity United as their energetic and joy-filled choir director was found murdered under mysterious circumstances.

Ms. Eaton herself is both a self-proclaimed "Christian" (which is odd given how staunchly she opposes this one church) and is also rabidly anti-Obama. She was an Alan Keyes campaigner in 2004 when he packed his Maryland bags and ran for Senate against Obama here in Illinois. She also opposed then-State Sen. Obama for many years before his US Senate run on issue after issue in Springfield.

Unfortunately for those who value honest debate Ms. Eaton's biases are leading her to infopimp twisted hokum that just isn't true and, despite the fact honest Americans have repeatedly pointed this out, she is continuing to do so. Perhaps the glare of the spotlights is too appealing as she plays the part of publicity hound busily burying bones of out-of-context hooey here, there and everywhere she can.

To put it bluntly, Ms. Eaton is diametrically opposed to Sen. Obama and would be happy to tear him down any way she can and in the wake of his big Iowa win and close New Hampshire second, several more conservative media outlets are all too happy to help her continue to shovel her bull.

She began last year by originally using the hyperbole that Trinity United espoused "black supremacy" and is "racist" among other choice words. The local Star Newspaper group even gave her a forum for publishing her strange ramblings to a wider audience than the narrowcasted conservative blog Illinois Review allows (there's that gosh-darned [not so] "liberal" media again). Many in that newspaper's audience were nonplussed.
In fact, it was one of her newspaper columns which touched off this peculiar series of anti-Christian infopimping that she is all too happy to continue. From the original Fran Eaton column in the local Chicago suburban Star Newspapers:

"It is troubling that his church’s doctrine may demand he promote affirmative action, racial quotas, reparations, bussing and more government programs dependent upon skin color."

Of course, nowhere in any Trinity United material is any of this actually "promoted", despite these claims from staunchly conservative Ms. Eaton. Besides, I'm sure all the white folks who worship at Trinity United (there are several white congregants) would be just as surprised to learn of these things as other honest folks are. Indeed, Trinity United's head pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, is opposed to any notion of "supremacy" whatsoever and isn't afraid to say so.

Oddly, Ms. Eaton claims that the fact Rev. Wright has written a series of tenets called the "Black Values System" is some sort of evidence of her non-existent black supremacy movement at the church. Yet, in reading what those values actually are they appear to be little different in tone than the "conservative values" espoused by Ms. Eaton* herself as I explained in an earlier post on the topic:

Is there a place for such nattering nabobs of negativity in today’s partisan political marketplace? Apparently yes, as Fran Eaton’s Chicken Little cries of “racist church” continue to be echoed throughout conservativedom with constant drips and drabs of “some say Sen. Obama’s church is racist” sprinkled throughout conservative talk shows and publications.

Here, again, is another quarter for the Clue Bus: “middleclassness” (like the rest of the 12-points at TUCC) is a way for the church to encourage its congregants to rise above the base material-centered world and become engaged in a Christ-centered fellowship of responsibility and accountability.

And here I thought that was what the so-called social conservatives also wanted to encourage — anti-materialism, responsibility for one’s self and a Christ-filled life.

Unfortunately, in their blind partisan zealotry they’d rather spout off anti-Christian fiction about a church they don’t like just because one of its members happens to be running for president. (Can you imagine the fire and brimstone if the coin were flipped and partisan liberals repeatedly lied about Pres. Bush’s church like this?)

Ms. Eaton has since ratcheted down her heated rhetoric (barely) as she began to attract the publicity she sought. Such "liberal" (not) media icons as Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity picked up the malarkey on their TV shows... malarkey ultimately traced back to Ms. Eaton herself. And even supposedly neutral outlets like CNN ("Is Sen. Barack Obama's church racist?") and dead tree media like the Chicago Tribune ("...South Side church's tenets spark criticism...") and USA Today ("Activist Obama church enters spotlight") have helped Ms. Eaton infopimp the non-controversy by distributing stories based on her twisted interpretation of Trinity United.

For one thing, all churches by their very nature are "activist". For another, all churches promote their "values". Finally, as explained above, all churches promote the notion that congregants ought to better both themselves and their communities. In these regards, Barack Obama's Trinity United is no different in its efforts than Fran Eaton's church.

So there must be some other reason for Ms. Eaton to be so adamant in her promotion of these racially-tinged fallacies about Tri