Manzullo's Health Care Town Hall Meeting

No signs were allowing inside McHenry County College on Sunday for 16th District Congressman Don Manzullo's Town Hall meeting on Health Care, but that didn't stop this motorcycle owner from getting his message across.

The skeleton on back is labeled "Obama Care."

Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

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The Illinois Congressional Pork Report

by Cal Skinner

Taxpayers for Common Sense have totaled up the congressional earmarks in the budget bill being voted on this week.

I was reminded of that when I read an editorial cartoon sent to me by my Joplin, Missouri, brother-in-law. It was in the Saganaw News.

Scene: Husband and wife sitting at the breakfast table.

Husband: “Sez here they arrested a D.C. Madam for running a house of ill repute...”

Wife: “They arrested Polisi?”

Below is the list of who got what in this year's budget, which is due to be passed only about six months after the beginning of the fiscal year. They are listed in descending order from highest to lowest dollar amount of pork projects.

• Ray LaHood, 23 earmarks totaling $8,774,250

• Rahm Emanuel, 10 earmarks totaling $6,523,000

• Jerry Costello, 12 earmarks totaling $5,425,175

• Dan Lipinski, 12 projects totaling $4,451,172

• Melissa Bean, 10 earmarks totaling $3,687,314 (one in McHenry County)

• Bill Foster, 12 earmarks totaling $3,095,000

• Danny Davis, 10 earmarks totaling $3,066,014

• Tim Johnson, 8 earmarks totaling $2,806,100

• Jesse Jackson, Jr., 15 earmarks totaling $2,783,500

• Peter Roskam, 12 earmarks totaling $2,655,330

• John Shimkus, 13 earmarks totaling $2,421,750

• Bobby Rush, 8 earmarks totaling $2,073,375

• Don Manzullo, 6 earmarks totaling $2,070,500 (one in McHenry County)

• Phil Hare, 7 earmarks totaling $2,031,000

• Jan Schakowsky, 8 earmarks totaling $1,644,000

• Luis Gutierrez, 2 earmarks totaling $760,000

• Jerry Weller, 7 earmarks totaling $1,243,250

$47.8 million in total.

Eschewing pork were Republicans Judy Biggert and Mark Kirk.

Three retired members, Rahm Emanuel, Ray LaHood and Jerry Weller get credit for projects anyway.

Newly elected Congress folks Debbie Halvorson and Aaron Shock were not listed.

Previous Illinois pork reports on McHenry County Blog:

2-28-9 Illinois Pork in the Commerce, Justice and Science Budgets

3-1-9 Illinois Defense Department Pork

3-2-9 Homeland Security Pork in Illinois

3-2-9 Return of Planetarium Pork

3-3-9 Ray LaHood Tucks $90,000 Bandstand Renovation in Congressional Budget

3-3-9 Pork Where You Might Expect It – in the Agriculture Budget

3-4-9 Illinois Earmarks for Interior, Environment Bills

3-5-9 Illinois Comes Out on Short End of Military Pork

3-6-9 Illinois Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Congressional Earmarks – Part 1

3-7-9 Illinois Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Congressional Earmarks – Part 2 - Dick Durbin's

3-8-9 Illinois Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Congressional Earmarks – Part 3

3-9-9 Illinois Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Congressional Earmarks – Part 4

3-10-9 Illinois Corps of Engineers Pork

Tomorrow at McHenry County Blog the bacon our United States Senators brought home.
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Scott Summers' Reflects on Lack of Civility in the 3-Way Rockford Congressional Debate

The following has just arrived from Green Party 16th district congressional candidate Scott Summers. It is posted on his web site Summers Times, as well.

Whatever happened
to civility in politics?
The Manzullo-Abboud
television meltdown
(U.S. Congress, IL-16)

"On Thursday, August 28th, WIFR-TV (Channel 23, Rockford) graciously hosted a 16th district Congressional candidate forum.

"It presented me and my opponents, Democrat Robert Abboud and incumbent Republican Representative Don Manzullo, in a discussion of issues.

"The event quickly disintegrated into spectacle.

"Manzullo and Abboud brutally attacked each other. They argued. They shouted. And they repeatedly ignored the direction of the news anchors to stop.

"Thoughtful viewer questions were almost completely cast aside.

"Abboud and Manzullo -- and, I suppose, I, too, acquiescing to a certain extent, standing alongside them in silence -- did viewers a colossal disservice.

"Voters are entitled -- entitled -- to informed discourse from their candidates.

"It's perfectly satisfactory for that discourse to be close and spirited at times. Candidates must articulate and defend their positions. Decency requires that they be allowed to respond, clarify, and redirect their thinking on the issues of the day.

"For four days, I've thought about what happened.

"We will never make progress in this country if candidates for election refuse to comport themselves with dignity and decency.

"The scope of the problems facing us as a nation demand keen thinking and collaborative problem-solving on a multipartisan -- multipartisan -- basis.

"The established political parties in Illinois -- for the moment, Democratic, Green, and Republican -- don't have to agree. Their members don't have to like one another.

"But every candidate for office MUST be civil. Every elected official MUST work cooperatively in order to get the nation's business done.

"Insults and invective in the fashions exhibited by my opponents on Thursday evening simply will not do.

"Permit me to tie the desperate need for political civility today to a time exactly one hundred and fifty years ago.

"This past Saturday (August 30th), I was in Freeport. My little band of campaign supporters and I marched in a glorious parade.

"It was Freeport's observance of the sesquicentennial of the Lincoln-Douglas debate in their community. After the parade, I lingered to watch two splendid re-enactors, George Buss and Tim Connors, portray the duo.

"As I stood off to one side, leaning against a post and watching, I couldn't help but think that I was observing precisely what I should have been participating in on Channel 23.

"Sharp and pointed discourse, at close quarters. Jousting. Sparring. Shrewd maneuvering. A bit of veiled rancor. But civility. Always civility.

"I suppose that that's my 'takeaway' from the awful television spectacle.

"If you elect me, I pledge to work cooperatively with my colleagues in Congress. I will listen, speak, challenge and cajole.

"But most of all, I shall be civil.

"You as voters deserve no less."

= = = = =
Democratic Party challenger Robert Abboud also weighed in on the debate in a post-debate press release, which you can read here.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog,where you can read the second part of Barack Obama's "Sin of Omission."

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16th Race Heats Up: Abboud Takes on Manzullo for Debate Statements

Labor Day is the traditional beginning of political campaigns and Robert Abboud, the Democratic Party candidate for 16th congressional district United States Representative Don Manzullo's is taking the opportunity to blast his GOP opponent for things he said in a Thursday Rockford television debate.

Here it is:

Abboud: Let Me Educate You Mr. Manzullo

Abboud Demands Manzullo Answer for his Own Record on Trade, Off-Shoring Jobs, Tax Breaks for Companies Operating Overseas

ROCKFORD – Bob Abboud, Democratic challenger in Illinois 16^th Congressional district, called on his Republican opponent to own up to his clear record of supporting the off-shoring of American jobs, favored nation trading status with China and tax breaks for companies who move their operations overseas, after being accused of misrepresenting facts and needing ‘to be educated’ on facts related to Rep. Manzullo’s record on these critical issues.

During the live debate on WIFR-23 in Rockford, Manzullo repeatedly told Abboud he ‘needed to be educated’ on the incumbent’s record. Abboud wasted no time in calling into question Manzullo’s own grasp of the facts.

“Either my opponent has been in office so long he can’t remember, or he is afraid to own up to the damaging policies he has supported,” Abboud said. “I have the facts, and apparently I must educate Mr. Manzullo. Since he took office in 1992 he has had a clear record of supporting unfair trade with China and corporations who avoid taxation and ship jobs overseas.”

Manzullo, despite claiming the title of ‘Mr. Manufacturing’, has voted repeatedly for tax breaks and trade policies that favor overseas companies and the off shoring of American jobs. Over the past 16 years Don Manzullo has been one of the chief architects of policies that have resulted in the 11 percent unemployment rate in Rockford, the decline in family household incomes and the loss of thousands of jobs in the 16^th District. During his term Manzullo voted for the following:

• The Singapore Trade Agreement which directly led to the loss of 100 Rockford jobs at Hamilton Sundstrand

• Voted 7 times for most favored nation trading status and improved trading status for China

• Voted against restricting nuclear sales to China

• Voted to support international loans for China

• Voted for foreign companies to receive Homeland Security contracts

• Voted against preventing American companies from laying off more U.S. workers than foreign workers

• Voted to give overseas companies federal contracts

• Voted for $12.8 billion in corporate tax breaks, allowing multinational companies with extensive offshore operations to fully use foreign tax credits to offset their tax liability.

“For 16 years Mr. Manzullo has depended upon people looking the other way and his extraordinary talent for duplicity” said Michael Carroll, Communications Director for the Abboud campaign. “He says he wants to support manufacturing and he will give you a long list of tiny accomplishments that he believes proves his support of working families. But the second we turn our backs, Mr. Manzullo is voting to ship our jobs overseas and giving companies that do it a tax break. Enough is enough – the families struggling to make ends meet in our community deserve better, they deserve the truth.”

With documented unemployment in the Rockford drifting further and further into double digits, Abboud says the 16^th District communities can no longer afford to suffer Don Manzullo’s broken promises and failed leadership.

“Our community needs a Congressman who understands how critical manufacturing is, a congressman who has run a business and created jobs,” Abboud said. “My opponent has never run a business and it’s clear he doesn’t understand how important manufacturing is to this district. If we want new jobs then we can’t suffer any more of Don Manzullo’s empty rhetoric and do nothing policies.”

To read Abboud’s economic platform and plan to bring jobs back to the 16^th District, visit www.robertabboud.com.

= = = = =
On top you see the three candidates for the 16th congressional seat. From left to right are Green Party candidate Scott Summers, Democratic Party candidate Robert Abboud and Republican Party incumbent and candidate for re-election Don Manzullo. I do not know the names of the WIRF-23 folks asking the questions.

Posted first at McHenry County Blog, which has a story about Congressman Don Manzullo's talk to NFIB members and Democrats celebrating in a non-union Holiday Inn they boycotted for their Jefferson Day Dinner.

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Abboud Reports $13,755 Available for Campaign as of July 1st; Paying Canvassers

I haven’t seen it anywhere else, so I decided to take a look at what the campaign finance figures were for the 16th congressional district.

You know, that’s the three-way race in which Democratic Party candidate Robert Abboud and Green Party candidate Scott Summers are challenging incumbent Republican Don Manzullo.

Come to find out, Abboud, from the rich enclave of Barrington Hills in the far southeastern corner of the district, had only $13,755 at the end of June. And, the committee owes $91,569.

The committee raised $40,796 during the last three months, but spent $91,324. That pretty much wiped out the April 1st beginning balance of $64,283.

Abboud has loaned his campaign $63,395.

I looked at what he is spending his campaign money on and found it interesting that he is paying Loves Park’s Marianna Anderson to canvas. And she's not the only one.

That pretty much means that Abboud has not found volunteers in the Rockford area willing to do the same work for free. She seems to be getting about $84 per day.

As I looked down the alphabetical list of expenditures, I found more Rockford canvassers:

Nicholas Brener, Ryan Denk, Dave Fernandez, Daniel Grams, Cole Hubbard, Dan Koteski, Jason Looney, Mike Olson, and Larry Standfield, although Fernandez appears to live in DeKalb now.

Abboud has also paid Chicago’s Nick Crnkovica and Kristen Trigg for canvassing.

From Crystal Lake, Eric Howanietz is being paid to canvas.

It’s interesting that the Abboud campaign treasurer did not know the addresses of a good number of the canvassers. For James Nicolos there is not even a home town.

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Abboud Reports $13,755 Available for Campaign as of July 1st; Paying Canvassers

I haven’t seen it anywhere else, so I decided to take a look at what the campaign finance figures were for the 16th congressional district.

You know, that’s the three-way race in which Democratic Party candidate Robert Abboud and Green Party candidate Scott Summers are challenging incumbent Republican Don Manzullo.

Come to find out, Abboud, from the rich enclave of Barrington Hills in the far southeastern corner of the district, had only $13,755 at the end of June. And, the committee owes $91,569.

The committee raised $40,796 during the last three months, but spent $91,324. That pretty much wiped out the April 1st beginning balance of $64,283.

Abboud has loaned his campaign $63,395.

I looked at what he is spending his campaign money on and found it interesting that he is paying Loves Park’s Marianna Anderson to canvas. And she's not the only one.

That pretty much means that Abboud has not found volunteers in the Rockford area willing to do the same work for free. She seems to be getting about $84 per day.

As I looked down the alphabetical list of expenditures, I found more Rockford canvassers:

Nicholas Brener, Ryan Denk, Dave Fernandez, Daniel Grams, Cole Hubbard, Dan Koteski, Jason Looney, Mike Olson, and Larry Standfield, although Fernandez appears to live in DeKalb now.

Abboud has also paid Chicago’s Nick Crnkovica and Kristen Trigg for canvassing.

From Crystal Lake, Eric Howanietz is being paid to canvas.

It’s interesting that the Abboud campaign treasurer did not know the addresses of a good number of the canvassers. For James Nicolos there is not even a home town.

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Scott Summers-Equal Opportunity Blaster

Yesterday, I ran a statement from 16th congressional district Green Party candidate Scott Summers. It blasted Don Manzullo for wanting to take the oil out of the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge.

Today he takes on Democratic Party candidate Robert Abboud for his emphasis on using nuclear power.

Congressional candidate
Robert Abboud:
All Nuclear, All the Time

On May 3rd, the Rockford Register-Star's Chuck Sweeny ran an article on my Congressional opponents, Don Manzullo and Robert Abboud, and their respective takes on energy policy.

(Memo to self: tell Sweeny that Summers is running, too.)

Wow. Abboud wants one hundred new nuclear power plants. Public-private partnership.

Well, I guess we all should have expected something like this from Abboud.

Don't get me wrong: Abboud strikes me as a highly intelligent man. He's a nuclear engineer. And of course he's going to be a proponent of new nukes. And as part of our three-way discourse in the 16th district this year, he has every right to put it out there for voters to consider.

But excuuuuuuuse me: one-friggin'-hundred? This is as preposterous as it is grandiose as it is ridiculous as it is irresponsible as it is reprehensible.

It will come as no particular surprise to my readers that I am adamantly opposed to the expansion of nuclear power.

Permit me to summarize the ways. For the sake of brevity, I'll limit it to the first one hundred and four.

Reasons 1 – 100. Memo to Abboud: What? What? You want to build one hundred new T-E-R-R-O-R-I-S-T T-A-R-G-E-T-S ????

Reason 101. It's over sixty-five years since Enrico Fermi's team split the atom at the University of Chicago. And we STILL haven't figured out how to store (much less dispose of, much less effectively reprocess) thousands of tons of highly radioactive waste.

Sorry, Bob: as a condition of even PROPOSING more nukes, it's up to proponents like you to have a plan for dealing with the (polite word) stuff. (Oh, and by the way: make the investors, and the stockholders of the utility companies, and their ratepayers – not the taxpayers – pay for it.)

Reason 102. No more subsidies to the nuclear industry for (a) research (b) construction and (c ) disposal. (See investor/stockholder responsibility. Geez, whatever happened to capitalism in this country?)

Reason 103. No more federal insurance caps on nukes: make the nuclear industry pay for its own insurance, at market rates -- if they can get it, that is.

Did you know that the federal Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act caps government insurance for each site at $300 million, plus operator contributions per reactor of $95.8 million? So in the event of an accident -- Three Mile Island, anyone? -- there's less than $400 million to go around. For an incident of such enormity, that's chump change, folks. That's less than two days of war in Iraq. And taxpayers – not operators -- are on the hook for over three-quarters of that pittance!

Reason 104. State insurance regulators should compel insurers to remove nuclear exclusions from policies – or at least offer an optional endorsement at a ridiculously high extra premium. (And did you know that, homeowners? If your home gets irradiated from a nuclear accident at oh, say, Byron, you probably have no coverage, because your insurer pointedly excludes nuclear accidents?)

And not only that: if you personally are lucky enough not to be too terribly irradiated, and can move a thousand miles away for the rest of your life, why, please, just keep paying your mortgage on your uninhabitable home. (Do you really think your lender is going to give you a break?)

Let's talk the obvious. Absent huge public subsidies, and absent a requirement that the nuclear industry (and not the public at large) come up with ways of storing the s**t, and absent the almost complete lack of financial liability in the event of an accident, nuclear energy simply would not be able to compete in the energy marketplace. (See “Whatever Happened to Capitalism, Continued”.)

For cryin' out loud, Mr. Abboud, it's time to STOP building more reactors! And if only we would let market forces rule -- there wouldn't BE any more reactors!

I'll speak on energy solutions in other posts.

This campaign could be fun to watch.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

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Posturing for Judgeships?

Two Illinois legislators have recently taken surprising political stands.

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

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

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

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

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

Franks is similarly boxed in politically.

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

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

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

Does Franks run against State Senator Pam Althoff next year?

Only if he is very, very brave.

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

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

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

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

I don’t think so.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What else it left?

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

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

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

How about a federal judgeship?

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

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

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

But, Durbin is a practical kind of guy.

I don’t see that as an obstacle.

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

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

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

Posted originally on McHenry County Blog.

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Manzullo Finally Gets Credit

One of the issues that Don Manzullo attacked his one-term Democratic Party opponent on in 1992 was spending taxpayer dollars to promote himself.

Congressmen are low profile folks in huge metropolitan areas. They don’t get their names in the paper much or on TV unless they are leaders like Denny Hastert was and Rahm Emmanuel is.

So, most congressmen take advantage of the incumbent protection program known as “franking.”

It gives them free postage.

Just affix your signature to an envelope, stick in the post office and it gets delivered free.

Your name appears in every mailbox in your district and you don’t even have to address it.

Associated Press’ former Springfield buy, Dennis Conrad did the research on who did how much franking this year for a Sunday article.

Tucked away in the bottom is this paragraph:

Rockford GOP Rep. Donald Manzullo has never spent money on mass mailings during a 14-yea congressional career. He has returned more than $1.1 million in unused office allowances, spokesman Rich Carter said.

And in the Sun-Times version, Manzullo $1.1 million even rated a sub-headline, as you can see here.

"(Cook County U.S. Rep. Daniel) Lipinski acknowledged that some mailings are difficult to differentiate from advertising, and said he understands how some people may view them as propaganda," the article said.

Peoria’s Republican Ray LaHood, whose district is dominated by Peoria media, making him well-known, told AP that he considers the mass mailings “self-promotion.”

Self-obvious, it would seem to me.

First posted on McHenry County Blog.

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Manzullo Lashes Out at Blagojevich on McHenry County's Rt. 31 Funding Loss

An angry United States Congressman Don Manzullo lashed out at Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich during the question and answer session of his press conference

“I don’t know of any governor who takes money from the Road Fund,” Manzullo said with hand gestures of increasing intensity.

“He ought to be in an automobile to see how bad traffic is in McHenry County, instead of in a helicopter flying around the state,” he continued.

As Brian Slupski, editorial page editor of the Northwest Herald discovered, the Western Bypass has been eliminated from the long-range plan of the Illinois Department of Transportation, even though it has about $20 million of funds earmarked for its construction through Manzullo’s efforts.

Manzullo’s words came after State Rep. Mike Tryon (R-Crystal Lake) and State Senator Pam Althoff (R-McHenry) set the stage.

Referring to Blagojevich, the Crystal Laker state representative said,

“He has never stepped foot in McHenry County.”

Continuing, “We can’t ask our congressman to do any more than he) has already done.

Tyron pointed out that Governor Blagojevich “took $800 million from the Road Fund and gave it to education.”

Continuing, he explained that the cost of re-construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway had ballooned “from $400 million to almost one billion.”

“It is costing the suburban areas of Illinois.”

The Western Bypass, which was fully funded at $38 million, now will cost $75 million.

“We simply cannot look the other way anymore,” the Crystal Lake legislator continued, calling for support of the capital funding bill that Illinois House Republicans have proposed.

(This plan would be financed though expansion of gambling in Illinois.)

“We need the governor to keep his word,” Tyron concluded, pointing to the promises made in previous plans issued by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Prior to Tryon’s statement, State Senator Pam Althoff spoke.

She said she was “extremely disappointed with the way the current administration is handing this project.

“Everyone I McHenry County came together to agree this was the number one project,” the McHenry legislator continued. “We had enough to engineer and construct it in 1999.

“As soon as this administration came into office we watched as the money was continually eroded.”

Others speaking after Manzullo’s opening statement and before his harsh criticism of the governor included

• McHenry County Board member Ken Koehler,
• Algonquin Village President John Schmitt,
• Lakewood Village President Julie Richardson,
• Barrington Hills Village President Robert Abboud—Manzullo’s Democratic Party opponent.

Marengo Mayor Don Lockhart attended the press conference as well, as did McHenry County Board members Dan Shea (R-Fox River Grove)and Don Dvorak (R-Crystal Lake), plus Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady-Mueller.

“I probably got into my political career because of this intersection 15 years ago,” McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler said when he took the microphone in support of the Western Bypass’ being funded.

“We have a governor who is unresponsive to the needs of McHenry County,” Koehler added.

Koehler favored the Northern Bypass at in the 1990's.

John Schmitt, now Algonquin Village President, on the other hand opposed the Northern Bypass, which was rejected by the committee put together by the McHenry County Board that recommended the Western Bypass.

“It’s really unusual when you have complete unanimity (on a highway project),” Schmitt explained, adding, “We were told we’d be driving on it in 2007."

Schmitt was a leader of the opposition to the Northern Bypass.

“This is not just a pork project—a bridge to nowhere,” Schmitt pointed out as traffic at a noise level that made it impossible to hear speakers without a microphone swept over the crowd gathered for the press conference.

“This is probably one of the most important projects,” Lakewood’s Julie Richardson asserted.

“We…contribute $22 million (a year in Motor Fuel Taxes),” she echoed a fact that Manzullo had thrown out in his opening statement. “We’re just asking for our fair share.”

“Traffic backs all the way up to Barrington Road,” observed Abboud, in his first joint appearance with Manzullo.

“I’m a little at a loss why the governor and IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation has cut funding),” Abboud said, perhaps signaling a trend among prospective Democratic Party candidates to distance themselves from Blagojevich.

And, there is more on McHenry County Blog, where you can find the congressman's press release and prepared remarks.

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Manzullo Has Well-Heeled McHerny County Demo Challenge

The Rockford Register-Star's Political Reporter Chuck Sweeney Something called had an interesting rumor about a potential Democratic Party candidate against Republican Congressman Don Manzullo in his Sunday column.

Instead of having an under-financed 2008 general election opponent, Manzullo will face Robert Abboud, village president of Barrington Hills, Sweeney reports.

While Abboud runs his own company--RGA Labs--now, if memory serves me correctly, the nuclear engineer used to work for Commonwealth Edison.

Abboud is probably best known for being his father’s son. The elder A. Robert Abboud was President of the First National Bank of Chicago and, later, the Occidental Petroleum Corporation.

You can read Abboud's political views in the Rockford Sunday column. I’d suggest reading the comments, too, some of which Abboud replies to.

What Sweeney did not mention is that Retired General John Borling may run for Congress as an independent this time, instead of as a write-in candidate as he did in 2006. (Borling did next to nothing in McHenry County and garnered 76 write-in votes. Manzullo got 66% of the votes cast in McHenry County.)

Whether that would cut into Manzullo’s base or the Democratic Party’s base will take some pretty sophisticated polling to figure out.

Someone named Sean on The Swing State Project laid out this strategy for an Abboud victory:

What a Democrat must do to win the district is not that hard. They must run at least even in the small counties along the Wisconsin border like Boone, Stephenson, and hold Manzullo to about 53% in Jo Daviess, 55% in Carroll, and to 58% in Ogle. As for the big population centers, they have to win big in Winnebago county(about 57%), and hold Manzullo to 56% in the district's portion of McHenry county.

While Abboud now lives in Barrington Hills, he grew up in Fox River Grove, where his father was quite active in reform politics.

Abboud and his wife Patricia gave $2,520 to Democratic Party State Representative Jack Franks in 2006, a year when Franks had no opponent.

Posted first at McHenry County Blog.

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Rockford Amtrak Progressing

The Union Pacific freight train that was roaring through Marengo with horns blasting a little after noon Saturday was not a precursor of Amtrak service to McHenry County.

That was made abundantly clear at a Rockford College presentation Saturday morning.

The once-a-day round trip Amtrak engines and coaches are on the track from Chicago to Rockford and Dubuque though.

They’re picking up speed, but not through McHenry County.

There was a clue late last week when U.S. Senator Dick Durbin’s press release announcing Saturday’s meeting did not even mention McHenry County.

McHenry County officials from Huntley and Marengo attended anyway.

Under the aegis of Durbin and Congressman Don Manzullo, Amtrak officials presented the results of a study stimulated by a meeting last July.

There were three alternative routes, but the old Blackhawk route to Dubuque is the one that is so, so most likely to be selected.

Its major problem is “some congestion issues around Chicago,” where there is a need for “additional capacity.” The cost would be about $23 million for what the Amtrak chart calls the “direct route” with estimated annual ridership of 113,300 passengers.

The “Belvidere” route, which would go through Huntley and Marengo, has “no connection between Metra and Union Pacific in Elgin” and would need “a connector in Rockford.” The cost would be $32 million and the number of passengers 62,200.

Part of the route through the Rockford Airport is so bad that it would require “a complete rebuilding” and the “East is quite poor,” Franke said. The cost would be $55-62 million with 51,200.

The old Blackhawk route is the cheapest and Durbin, Manzullo and Acting Illinois Department of Transportation Director Milt Sees want action now. A cursory glance shows construction cost of $200 per annual passenger, while the Belvidere route is in the neighborhood of $513 and the airport route $1,100-1,200.

On capital cost, then, there is no question that the “direct route” is cheapest.

It wins on annual operating cost, too. The Belvidere route is 1.2 times as expensive, while the airport route is 1.24 times higher.

In absolute dollars of annual subsidy, however, the difference between the three is only $600,000.

The congress folks and IDOT want action so “now” that the public hearing will be on Monday, April 16th!

That’s two weeks from now.

And, disagreement is likely to kill the possibilities.

As Sees put it,

I, too, have been in this racket for a long time. The only way for people to get their projects is to agree.

Anytime you get into a protracted debate, you lose time and time increases money.

The window of opportunity can close on you very rapidly.

You have to help them help you,

Sees said, indicating the two congressmen.

Rockford Mayor Larry Morrisey, whose city wins regardless of which route is selected, said, “We don’t want to be fighting against ourselves. We look forward to rail coming to our communities.”

After Amtrak’s Mike Franke indicated service could be started as soon as two years from now, assuming negotiations with the railroad go well, Drubin said, “I’d sure hate to waste this construction season.”

Durbin called for “a spirit of cooperation,” for "not letting the best become the enemy of the good."

Other problems include the need for train stations.

“It’s going to be up to the locals to build the stations,” Franke said. “Five or six stations make sense.”

“Don’t come to us for earmarks for stations,” Manzullo warned.

There would be “no food service” and “the supply of Amtrak rolling stock is extremely tight.”

If Amtrak is to supply them, they will “have to be taken out of storage and rehabbed.”

Only one ordinary citizen was allowed to speak.

Janet Fisher, describing herself as “The Crazy Train Lady,” said, “I’m just thrilled with all of this. If we get something in place, it will blossom and grow.”

Manzullo wanted to know if the train could be used for commuting from Rockford to Chicago. He was told that the trip would take an hour and 45 minutes, leaving Rockford early enough for commuters and leaving Chicago at 6:15 in the evening for the return trip.

Manzullo made a point of stating,

There is not one passenger train that operates (without a subsidy).

Two of the people allowed to speak were state representatives.

Republican State Representative Dave Winters asked whether this effort could be part of the effort to extend Amtrak service to Minneapolis.

He got a “No” for an answer.

At one point, when Durbin was pointing out that it would take state legislation to change the "footprint" of Metra, Winters indicated that "very informal" talks were taking place that would apparently give the Rockford Airport Authority the power to deal with trains.

It is my impression that the Rockford Airport Authority has significant non-referendum bonding authority. Maybe local influentials intend to use that power to get money to pay for local Amtrak track repairs.

Rockford Democratic Party State Rep. Chuck Jefferson was the final speaker. He was effusive in his praise of Durbin.

Also introduced was Boone County’s Republican State Rep. Ron Wait.

Attending from McHenry County were Huntley Village President Chuck Sass and Village Manager Carl Tomaso, plus Marengo Mayor Don Lockhart and City Administrator Scott Hartman.

None got an opportunity to speak at the forum.

= = = = =
The Union Pacific train was on the track speeding through Marengo right after noon.

Next can be seen the three routes being considered and the table showing the cost figures for each route.

Acting IDOT Secretary Milt Sees is below on the right.

Rockford Mayor Larry Morrisey is down to the left with Senator Dick Durbin's picture to his right.

Underneath is a photography of Congressman Don Manzullo.

Below her is "Crazy Train Lady" Janet Fisher.

The three state legislators attending come next. On top, at the left, is Dave Winters. Below him is Chuck Jefferson. To Jefferson's right is Ron Wait.

Beneath the photo credit line are pictures of Huntley Village President Chuck Sass and his Village Manager Carl Tomaso leaving the meeting.

Next is a "before meeting" shot of Belvidere Mayor Fred Brereton and Marengo Mayor Don Lockhart. Brereton got to speak, as did Boone County Board Vice Chairman David Taylor and Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen. Christiansen is seen to the left.

There is, of course, much more on McHenry County Blog this weekend.

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