Move America Forward caravan comes to Niles

On Tuesday evening, the Move America Forward "Fight for Victory" tour came to Niles, Illinois--the town just west of Morton Grove.

Work kept me from attending, so I did the next best thing: I sent Mrs. Marathon Pundit, who took several college level courses in photography in her native Latvia.

She did a fabulous job, especially since my instructions to her were basic--show up and take some pictures.

Up on top is retired Air Force Lt. Colonel Buzz Patterson, who in his "retirement" manages to write best-selling books, appear frequently on television, and of course, take part in the Move America Forward Caravan.

Over on the right is Dr. Steve Sauerberg, who is running for the Republican nomination for the US Senate in 2008 in Illinois--Dick Durbin's seat. Next to Sauerberg is a vote Durbin won't be counting on next November.

Diana Nagy sang Where Freedom Flies. Anne Leary of Backyard Conservative, who has her own post on Tuesday's rally, reports some of Nagy's relatives, who live twenty five miles south in Downers Grove, made the trip to up to Niles to see her peform. Leary also reports that there were a few Freepers in the crowd.

Anne wasn't the only blogger there, intrepid reporter Jake Jacobsen of the Freedom Folks showed up, that's Jake in red on the right. Their post isn't up yet, but I'm sure Jake and The Bald Chick will add their contribution soon.

And finally, a group shot of some proud Americans on September 11, 2007 showing their support of the troops in Niles, Illinois on a pleasant late summer evening.

Of the local media, CBS 2 and WGN-TV covered the rally.

To comment on this post, please visit Marathon Pundit.

Read more...

Not Fare - UPDATE: Governor to the Rescue?-

Despite all of the miscues in Springfield since this session started, I just can't see any of them having the potential impact of our failure to successfully address the mass transit funding issue thus far.

As many of you know, I have not historically been a fan of how the CTA was operated, believing that a lot of their problems were self-inflicted over time. That was why I introduced and passed the resolution directing Auditor General William Holland to perform a comprehensive audit of the CTA last session.

If the CTA was going to get any additional funding from the State, taxpayers deserved to know that the money was being efficiently utilized.

With the audit in hand, Rep. Julie Hamos has done a Herculean effort of trying to build consensus for SB572, legislation aimed at not just reforming the dated funding formula for the RTA, but actually providing for greater accountability so that riders and non-riders alike are getting their money's worth in regional mass transit. I am proud to be a co-sponsor of the bill and stand in full respect of Julie for her determination in this battle.

It's hard to believe that you would have to convince people, legislators or not, of the critical nature of mass transit. The anti-congestion benefits. The environmental benefits. The economic benefits. The impact on day-to-day life.

Yet there are still people that refuse to help advance this issue. It is baffling to me that the legislation that we are trying to pass places the (minimal) burden solely on the affected region, provides additional funding for transit agencies statewide, is vital to the economic engine that is the Chicagoland area, and yet the support to date from many legislators outside the area has been lacking.

The upcoming 'doomsday' fare hikes and service cuts are not just a mere inconvenience for people. For some people, it may be the difference in whether or not they can get to their jobs. For others, the fare hike isn't about bus money or beer money; it's about rent money or grocery money.

For weeks (months?), the Governor (from Chicago, who lives in an area hugely dependent upon mass transit) has said that he would veto SB572 because he opposes and and all sales tax hikes - even if his veto would create more hardship on the working men and women that he says he is looking out for than would the sales tax dragon that he is hell-bent on slaying.

Compounding the issue is that he and Senate President Jones have failed to put any passable alternative on the table. (Now that I think about it, this is sounding like his GRT proposal on wheels.)

My real point, again, is that this issue is not one for political posturing, like scheduling Senate session the day after the cuts are supposed to go into effect. This should not be an exercise in bad political judgment.

It should be about legislators, around the state, recognizing that we have a real problem that needs to be immediately addressed, and that these are the types of issues that they were elected to fix. If we are ever going to get away from the archaic Chicago/Suburban/Downstate divides that are increasingly irrelevant in today's economy, this would be a great place to start.

UPDATE - ABC7 is reporting that Governor Blagojevich may be riding to the rescue by providing the CTA with $20 million in order to forestall the doomsday plan.

Gov. Blagojevich said he will talk about his plan later this week. On Tuesday, public transit authorities and employees made a public plea to the governor and other state officials for more money. Without the state bailout, the CTA said it will cut service and raise fares.

I haven't yet heard where the money would come from, and I certainly hope that the Legislature can do its part and find a solution should we have an extra month to do so, but if the Governor is able to come through, there will be a lot of commuters breathing a big sigh of relief come Sunday.

To read or post comments, visit Open House

Read more...

Some more thoughts on the loopholes...

Zorn had some off the 'corporate loopholes' that the Governor wants to address and I figured I was as good as anyone to respond.

Repeal deduction for foreign and domestic dividends received by corporations--Corporations are allowed to deduct dividends received from other corporations, while individuals are required to include dividends as income and pay tax on dividends received. Corporations exploit this loophole to create foreign subsidiaries that return profits to the U.S. parent corporation in the form of dividends, which cannot be taxed under current Illinois law. For example, an Illinois manufacturer creates a subsidiary in Mexico to manufacture widgets and closes its Illinois widget manufacturing facility. The subsidiary returns its profits to the Illinois parent as a dividend. This deduction is encouraging companies to export jobs overseas.

So raising a tax will help keep jobs in Illinois? That's just illogical. No one moves a widget operation overseas to just save the income tax expense. You move manufacturing overseas due to lower labor and material costs (material costs which can go up due to taxes). The likely difference in shipping costs (domestic vs. importing) would eat up any tax savings from this loophole.

Tax canned software which is subject to written license agreement -- Illinois is the only state the does not tax licenses of prewritten (canned) software and is one of only five that do not tax the prewritten base of software that is modified. Large businesses often escape sales tax on the acquisition of software when they do so through a license agreement, even though the software is identical to that which is taxed when it is purchased by individuals or other businesses. It is unfair to tax the individual or small business user, but not the large business user.

First, where does it say that because every other state taxes something we need to do so as well? There are other implications to the licensing of software besides the tax implications that make it worthwhile to license it (including the cost of upgrades, etc) Also with the growth of Software As A Service (think gmail) where you just pay a per-seat monthly fee to use the software over time corporate expenditures on software produced by other companies is going to go down. This golden goose is going to get killed by technology. Also software requires new hardware, training, etc. The state should be encouraging software licenses and sales not taxing them.

Disclosure moment, I work for a company that licenses software.

Repeal exemption for fuel transported to out of state destinations --By closing this loophole, fuel stored in Illinois will be taxed at the same rate, whether the ultimate destination of the fuel is in Illinois or in another state. Currently the state collects this tax for the LUST fund (Leaking Underground Storage Tax), but gives an exemption for that fuel which is sold in another state. Fuel stored in Illinois and exported to another state poses an environmental risk so the same tax should be charged. Further, the exemption gives a gasoline retailer in a border state at $.011 per gallon advantage over an Illinois retailer, if both buy fuel from the same Illinois distributor. In addition to ending the exemption, this proposal will actually reduce the tax rate from $.011 per gallon to $.010 per gallon, thus reducing the tax on fuel used in Illinois.

For more information about the LUST fund. For the last annual report available on-line 2003.

Perhaps the most illogical of them all, the LUST fund is primarily for storage tanks at gas stations. Not for tanks that store for distribution. Also it would appear that if you are not subject to the tax you can't enjoy the benefit.

That is a distribution facility would not be eligible for remediation with LUST funds. So if we start taxing that fuel, that is fuel that is just at a storage facility will LUST now be responsible for clean-up? That may be a penny wise and a pound foolish.

Also the LUST fund is supposed to pay for tank cleanup, is the LUST fund short of funds? Or is the goal of expanding the tax to make more money available for general revenue funds? Also if they are serious about this, how about removing the exemption for...

Those exempt include airports with more than 300,000 operations per year located in a city of more than 1,000,000 inhabitants (O'Hare International Airport and Midway Airport in Chicago);

Sounds like the Aurora Municipal Airport has to pay so why not O'Hare? I bet that would add some revenue!

So here is the question on this one, does the LUST fund need more money (and should it pick up some liability) or is this being eyed as a way to add some general revenue funds.

If the idea is help Illinois gas stations with out of state compition, then .01 a gallon might help. Reducing the .25% difference in the sales tax on gas with Indiana would help more. Gas is always more than $0.01 cheaper on the other side of the state line. There is a reason there are a lot more gas stations and truck stops on the Indiana side of I-80 and the LUST fund is not the reason...

Require income tax withholding on gaming winnings over $1000 from non-residents--Closing this loophole will allow the state to withhold tax from the gambling winnings of nonresidents, which is consistent with the laws of neighboring states. Currently Illinois residents have to pay Indiana taxes when they win at Indiana casinos, but Indiana residents don’t have to pay Illinois taxes when the win at Illinois Casinos. It is unfair to tax Illinois residents but not those from neighboring states on their winnings at Illinois casinos. The withholding requirements will both ease the burden on taxpayers and will assure that gambling winnings are reported.

Fine. I don't see how this is a corporate loophole however. Last time I checked Boeing doesn't go drop money at the boats.

Also are we doing this now for the lottery? How about the tracks?

Read more...

Rod Blagojevich Breaks Another Promise

During the 2002 campaign, candidate Rod Blagojevich made all sorts of promises to state employees to re-open state facilities that Governor George Ryan had closed or scheduled for closing.

Blagojevich also promised to open facilities that were completed, but had not been opened, supposedly to save money in admittedly tight times.

One of the facilities that Blagojevich promised to re-open was the Developmental Center in Lincoln.

To put Ryan’s closing in perspective, it costs much more money to take care of the disabled in state facilities than it does in community settings.

When that budget came before an appropriations committee I served on, I always asked if at least 50% of that part of the budget were going to the community agencies. They care for most of the affected people.

(Pioneer Center is the agency that does most of that in McHenry County, although I think Little City had at least two group homes in 2000, maybe more now.)

Once, under Ryan, the Director of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities said she a majority of the DD money was going to community agencies.

I wonder if it does now.

In any event, Blagojevich’s promise is kaput, according to Capitol Fax Blog. (See the 5:28 PM entry here.)

No one will be surprised that he has broken another promise.

Post on McHenry County Blog first.

Read more...

Zorn has got the list of corporate loopholes! Fiscal notes later

Good news. Eric Zorn got the list of corporate loopholes that the Governor wants to close to generate revenue.

The list is here.

The list does not include fiscal notes, likely because no one has good estimates as to what they might generate, but Zorn wrote that they will come soon. I hope they come very soon to get a sense of the size and scope of these loopholes.

It looks like the Governor's office did a good job explaining each of the loopholes to close as well.

The list looks good to me. At first blush, I think we ought to close all of them. Here's a good example:

Repeal deduction for foreign and domestic dividends received by corporations--Corporations are allowed to deduct dividends received from other corporations, while individuals are required to include dividends as income and pay tax on dividends received. Corporations exploit this loophole to create foreign subsidiaries that return profits to the U.S. parent corporation in the form of dividends, which cannot be taxed under current Illinois law. For example, an Illinois manufacturer creates a subsidiary in Mexico to manufacture widgets and closes its Illinois widget manufacturing facility. The subsidiary returns its profits to the Illinois parent as a dividend. This deduction is encouraging companies to export jobs overseas.

Why should we give a tax break to ADM or John Deere to export jobs?

And, some people think that these corporate loopholes are boring. They obviously have never dealt with the LUST fund. Check it out (cue disco ball):

Repeal exemption for fuel transported to out of state destinations --By closing this loophole, fuel stored in Illinois will be taxed at the same rate, whether the ultimate destination of the fuel is in Illinois or in another state. Currently the state collects this tax for the LUST fund (Leaking Underground Storage Tax), but gives an exemption for that fuel which is sold in another state. Fuel stored in Illinois and exported to another state poses an environmental risk so the same tax should be charged. Further, the exemption gives a gasoline retailer in a border state at $.011 per gallon advantage over an Illinois retailer, if both buy fuel from the same Illinois distributor. In addition to ending the exemption, this proposal will actually reduce the tax rate from $.011 per gallon to $.010 per gallon, thus reducing the tax on fuel used in Illinois.

Oh yes. Tell me you're not hot and bothered by generating some more revenue for the LUST fund....

Anyway, all of these loophole closings look like smart policy moves to me. That being said, we need a much higher income tax in Illinois on high incomes and the Governor should drop his opposition to that move.

And, he ought to ask his allies in the General Assembly to file some bills that actually close these loopholes. I've worked on a few bills that would have closed some of them (SB 2122, introduced by Senator Martin Sandoval in last year's General Assembly would have returned to the three-factor income tax apportionment that would have generated in the neighborhood of $100M annually), and I have no idea why these loopholes haven't been filed yet. The sooner they get filed, the better.

Read more...

Two common mistakes that cost local campaigns their elections.

Cross Posted from Fako & Associates' Political Polling Blog.

Campaigns outside of major population centers, lower budget and local campaigns often rule out conducting strategic opinion surveys for two reasons: they think they can't afford a strategic survey and the candidate and/or staff believes they know the city or district where they are asking for votes. These mistakes set up local and lower budget campaigns for failure.

While having a comprehensive survey that allows for an in-depth evaluation of the election dynamics and gauging voters' philosophical outlook would benefit any campaign, that level of information is not necessary to develop a winning strategy for a campaign that will likely be driven by direct voter contact (field campaigning) and direct mail.

A poll, regardless of size and length, should be designed to develop a strategy. As we've discussed previously on this blog, the cost of polling is arrived at primarily though the number of interviews conducted and the length of the survey (in minutes, not necessarily the number of questions). Even a shorter poll can highlight the persuasive winning arguments and expose the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates. A modest poll doesn't mean you are only going to find out who is winning, losing and better known… All polls are about developing and refining strategies that maximize the use of a campaign's finite resources.

Localized races like District Attorney, County Board, and Alderman and Mayor (in smaller cities) can make use of smaller sample sizes (depending on the size of the voting population) and shorter surveys that last 5 to 10 minutes. Surveys of this scope can accurately evaluate the opinions of the candidates and other public figures, test the strength of support for the candidates, identify key targets, and test a limited number of messages for the campaign while not breaking the campaign's budget.

One of the main objectives of a lower budget campaign in seeking polling should be to find the message(s) that have the widest appeal to the largest amount of voters and niche messages that are targetable to subgroups of appropriate scope.

When determining which messages tend to work better with certain subgroups, it may not be possible to determine with high statistical accuracy that a particular message works better with a very specific, micro-targeted subgroup in poll with a small sample size. Larger and more practically targeted subgroups will allow for a statistically reliable reading of which message is most persuasive among broader subgroups and the sub-set will be useful and practical for your direct mail and field campaign budget.

To give an example on targeting for a lower budget campaign, let's assume the campaign's survey reveals that your candidate has weaker support among younger women. Generally speaking, it is more effective for a lower budget campaign to use a more practical, broader direct mail targeting criteria (such as "women under 50" instead of "Women 18-25 in households with children with net income over 100K") and deliver a message that tests well among many voters within a broader subgroup. Distributing your best messages to the largest amount of voters as possible is vital because campaigns at the local level already are dealing with a small numbers of voters, are lower profile, gather less earned media, and the candidates are typically less known and get less attention than other higher profile campaigns.

An experienced polling company should be able to evaluate the messages your campaign wants to test and help you refine them in a way that will maximize the quality of the data your survey will provide. Subgroup analysis to determine message targeting is still possible with smaller sample sizes, even with the inherently higher margin of error that a smaller sample size brings. The bottom line is that a campaign shouldn't spend money for a survey that provides data that the campaign’s budget won't allow it to use.

The other common mistake of lower budget and local campaigns is assuming a level of knowledge about the voters, their concerns, and what messages will work for their campaign. While it is possible to knock on every door in a smaller city or county, it is impossible for a candidate or campaign to gather the type of information that is revealed by a random sample survey of likely voters. Even the briefest of political polls will screen for likely Election Day voters and sample the electorate in proportion to the predicted Election Day turnout. The screening process helps to ensure that the opinions reflected in the survey are those of voters who will likely participate in and ultimately decide the outcome of the election. The response campaigns receive from activists, supporters, and voters at the door do not generally represent or generalize to the opinion of all those who are likely to cast their ballot on Election Day. Polling provides vital strategic data to compliment the anecdotal information that your campaign will receive.

Getting wrapped up in the cost of political polling and the need for full-blown, multiple micro-targeted direct mail campaign often reinforces the belief among candidates and their staff that their campaign doesn't need strategic research to understand their electorate. The reality is that lower budget and local campaigns can rarely afford to go into an election without the research that a basic survey can provide. Good information is the foundation of a successful campaign strategy. Thinking that political polling is too expensive and that they know their electorate well enough cost campaigns their elections.

Read more...

CTA Fare Hikes

Click on the ad the Chicago Transit Authority spend oodles placing in Chicago’s newspapers and you will see what CTA riders will have to pay to get to and from work.

How does it compare with what you have to pay?

It looks like $6 a day on a rapid transit train and $5 per day, if you take a bus.

Get a monthly pass, however, and the cost is $84. With twenty working days a month, that seems to be about $4 a day, assuming one doesn’t use bus or train service any time else during the month.

What do you pay to get to work each month?

When you fill up your motor vehicle with gas, how much does it cost?

Did your cost of gasoline increase 50% this year?

Do you have to fill it up at least twice a month?

Do you have car payments?

Even if you don’t, there is obviously depreciation on your car as you use it. when it wears out, you'll have to buy a new one.

Just wondering.

Is keeping CTA, Metra and Pace fares down worth it to have your RTA sales taxes tripled from one-quarter of one percent to three-quarters of a percent,
even if half of the increase is going to be given to the McHenry County Board to spend improving the roads of its choice?

Just wondering.

It's going to cost the average McHenry County family about $200 a year if the CTA bailout bill is passed.

And for those reading from outside the Chicago area in Illinois, part of your share of the sales tax will be ripped off. In that Governor Rod Blagojevich's spokeswoman is correct.

The Metra engine is pulling into Crystal Lake's train station from Chicago. The Pace buses are on Bull Valley Road at the McHenry spur's grade crossing. Tell us where the CTA bus is, Chicago readers.

You know this went up on McHenry County Blog first.

Read more...

Move America Forward "Fight for Victory" caravan coming to Niles, IL on 9/11

Good news is coming to Niles, Illinois. The Move America Forward "Fight for Victory" caravan is heading to my neighborhood: Niles, Illinois. I cannot make it, but Mrs. Marathon Pundit and Little Marathon Pundit will be there to show their support and take photographs.

Here are the details:

6:00 PM - Niles, Illinois
Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference & 9/11 Observance
Milwaukee Ave & W. Touhy Ave (Just north of the Chicago city limits.)

Bring letters, cards, notes of support & appreciation for our wounded warriors to this event, we will collect them and bring them to our recovering troops at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. at the conclusion of the national caravan.

There's a nice plaza with a waterfall there--it's a great spot for the rally.

Hat tip to Third Wave Dave and Backyard Conservative.

To comment on this post, or read about my appearance in North Shore Magazine, click here.

Read more...

Taxpayer Suit Against Blagojevich for Putting Illegal Aliens on State Paid Health Benefits

Tom Roeser writes in the Chicago Daily Observer about a suit filed by Riverside attorney Richard Caro “to determine the constitutionality of a ‘de facto appropriation and designation of approximately $16 million’ by the governor.

Roeser describes it as

”An historic request for a temporary restraining order to prevent Gov. Blagojevich from expanding coverage of the Illinois All-Kids Healthcare act to persons not otherwise eligible.”

Details of the suit are contained in the article.

Published on McHenry County Blog first.

Read more...

LBJ's feast of the cannibals

’You know the difference between cannibals and liberals? Cannibals eat only their enemies.'’
--Lyndon Johnson

Open left's Chris Bower's: Il-03 A good place to start the primary challenges, and he links some familiar Illinois bloggers.

Bower writes,

This is a blue district in absolutely no danger of falling into Republican hands. It should be represented by a strong progressive.

and gives some of Lipinski's vulnerabilities as his stands on Iraq, FISA, choice, and GLBT issues.

Those issues look to me more like the LBJ's pot starting-to-simmer instead of weaknesses.

Illinois has been here before. I remember progressives boiling a far more venerable Democrat than Lipinski.

From Peggy Boyer Long's Paul Douglas practiced 'a liberalism that made sense to the voters

But Douglas’ conscience led to his defeat in an altogether unexpected way during his fourth run for the Senate. As a defender of America’s interests abroad, he ran afoul of anti-war protesters during the Vietnam era. The aging Douglas was outflanked on his left by a young corporate Republican named Charles Percy.

McCain or Giuliani not young corporate Republicans, but don't underestimate their coat tails on the top of the ticket in Illinois.

Then All IL-03 would need is a GOP candidate making sense to Democrats like Douglas made sense to so many Republicans. After Progressives pitch Lipinski into the kettle, the IL-03 may not look so blue .

Read more...

Blagojevich and Madigan: Bad Newz Kennels

AP via CBS,

(AP) SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich has sent letters to every school district superintendent in Illinois blaming House Speaker Michael Madigan for a delay in an education funding increase.

The governor's letter, sent Friday, lambastes fellow Democrat Madigan, saying $554 million for schools can't be distributed without a budget implementation bill.
[***]
"I think the dog fight between the governor and the speaker is something I don't need to be pushed into," said Normal-based Unit 5 Superintendent Gary Niehaus after hearing about the letters.

...don't need to get pushed into.. no kidding.

Goes for all of us in Illinois. Illinois deserves better than getting pushed into a dog fight,

NFL star Michael Vick was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday on charges of sponsoring a dogfighting operation so grisly the losers either died in the pit or sometimes were electrocuted, drowned, hanged or shot.
[***]
The operation was named "Bad Newz Kennels,"....

Read more...

Sen Millner on Guerra

ST Today: Millner on Guerra,

Sen. John Millner (R-Elmhurst), a retired cop, called the accusations against Guerra "appalling" and said he should immediately step down or be fired.

"If a police officer committed a felony -- he may be the best cop in the world -- you can't hire him. So therefore, how can they hire a $120,000-a-year deputy chief of staff in the governor's office with a past like this?"

But the politician who recommended Guerra for his state job, U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), lavished praise on a longtime acquaintance who "made what he considered a principled decision, and he paid a heavy price for that decision."

"I have known Steven for a long time. He is a good man who cares about making our state a better place to live," said Gutierrez, who persuaded President Bill Clinton to grant clemency to 11 imprisoned FALN members in 1999.

Millner kinda has a point here.

Let's see a GOP Gov hire Libby.

Read more...