Capparelli Cashes In Big

When I was working for Illinois Leader, I tried to keep up with what retired legislators did with any surplus money.

I only found one who gave sizable amounts to charity. He was former State Senator John Maitland, a farmer from McLean County.

Looking at the newly filed campaign disclosure forms, I just discovered what may be the biggest transfer of money from campaign fund to a retired legislator:

$418,582.89

The transfer occurred June 14, 2006.

As I read the D-2, there is another $349,000 left in the fund.

Citizens for Capparelli gave the $418,600 to Ralph Capparelli, a Democrat who lost his 2004 race for the Illinois House to fellow incumbent Rep. Michael McAuliffe. McAuliffe is the only Republican state representative from Chicago. During the three -ember district days, his Mike’s father Roger and Capparelli were in the same district and close friends.

It is list the expenditure thusly,

services pursuant to 10ILCS5/9-8.10(11)

That means the money was in the campaign fund on the day that the Illinois General Assembly forbade candidates to drain their funds for personal purposes.

$4,261 went to IRS from the campaign fund, while the Illinois Revenue Department got $983.

Undoubtedly, a hefty chuck on money was paid in personal income taxes.

“It does look to be biggest so far,” David Morrison, Deputy Director of the Campaign for Political Reform.

Ralph was one of the first Democrats I met in Springfield in 1973. I met him in the Revenue Committee when he introduced a bill to provide some oversight over the imposition of what are called state multipliers. He worked for Harry Semrow then. Semrow was a member of the Cook County Board of (Property Tax) Appeals.

We worked out language which I think is still state law.

Capparelli was the Dean of the House when he was defeated. In other words, he had been there longer than other member.

You can also find a school district that has asked the United States Justice Department to investigate itself on McHenry County Blog.

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Third Time's a Charm?

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

Today's Tribune reports on a leaked report from the governor's Inspector General, this one finding that a state employee engaged in political work with taxpayer resources. This is the third time that a report of the governor's IG has been leaked to the press. News coverage of the report give the strong impression that the IG investigated this instance thoroughly and reached a reasonable determination. However, for reasons we find totally indefensible, the law requires these reports to be confidential.

Since the IG's office was created in 2004, the office has concluded over 685 investigations. The Ethics law allows the IG to announce only the number of investigations it has conducted. The public, by statute, is kept in the dark unless and until the IG sends a complaint to the Ethics Commission. To date, the Commission has received only one report, out of over 2500 allegation filed, and that one has not yet been resolved.

ICPR believes that the public has a right to know more about investigations undertaken by the Inspectors General. We shouldn't have to rely on leaks to determine whether our government is working or not. The General Assembly should amend the Ethics Act to allow for sunshine in ethics.

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Update in the 17th

The lifeless race for the 17th CD has at least had a couple noteworthy events to talk about. But first I will bring everyone up to speed by quoting an editorial in my local newspaper yesterday.

Six months ago we thought the race to replace Lane Evans in Congress was going to be one of the most competitive, high profile, big spending campaigns in the country. It has turned out to be anything but, so voters will have to work a little harder to find out about the candidates.
Considering this is an open seat and the control of Congress is up for grabs, voters in the 17th District have to be wondering, "What happened?"

Republican Andrea Zinga and Democrat Phil Hare have generated about as much interest as the start of the professional hockey season. While these two candidates are trying to get the public's attention, they can't. They've hardly generated any interest even among party loyalists.

This race has been uninspiring, that's for sure. The final debate will occur between these two candidates tonight in the Quad Cities. It will be at Augustana College.

Additionally, Zinga missed the FEC filing dealine recently, which has brought more bad publicity to her campaign. There are several good articles floating around but I will once again quote The Galesburg Register Mail

"If Ms. Zinga chooses to keep voters in the dark and either can't or won't follow the campaign finance laws, how can voters reasonably expect her to do better with a congressional office budget or with voting on the U.S. national budget?" Samuels said.

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Happy Warrior - Republican Ray Wardingley

There is always a crowd at Kean Gas Station at 111th & Talman in the Morgan Park neighborhood of Chicago. Thick with 19th Ward Democrats, Kean is a family owned gas station and convenience store that serves hot coffee and fresh news from The Daily Southtown: Tom the plumbing contractor, Geno the ComEd linesman, Ed the Fire Lieutenant, Shirley the Corrections Officer, and then there's Ray.

Ray Wardingley is and has been a proud Republican who cheerfully parries Terry's cracks like a rhetorical Bobby Riggs. Today's Daily Southtown features a nice report by Courtney Greve on one of the nicest people in Illinois politics. Give it a glance.

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/101079,1NWS5-18.article

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Card Game

The backstory is this:

A campaign official for Cook County Board president candidate Ald. Todd Stroger (8th) resigned his position Tuesday following news of his arrest last week for allegedly harassing an ex-girlfriend.

Sean Howard, who was a scheduler for Stroger and who also serves as spokesman for the Village of Dolton, quit his campaign post after a spokesman for Stroger's opponent, Cook County Commissioner Anthony Peraica (R-16th), mentioned Howard's arrest to a group of reporters Tuesday morning.

But making a bad situation much worse is this:

Robert Shaw, who with his brother is a longtime supporter of the Stroger family, said he was outraged the Peraica campaign would stoop to leaking arrest information about Howard, and claimed it was racially and politically motivated.

"This leak is from an individual who's trying to get at Todd Stroger, in my opinion," Robert Shaw said. "It can't be nothing but something anti-black."

"I've been in this business (of politics) for 54 years, and I've seen all kinds of tricks. I think this is an attempt to malign a respected black man," Shaw said.

Now Dan Proft and I may disagree on some things, but not on this on issue. In fact, I think that he summed things up pretty well.

Peraica campaign spokesman Dan Proft scoffed, saying, "Howard got arrested, and it's our fault? These guys are embarrassing.

"This has nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with us, nothing to do with race. This is a charge filed by a black woman against a black man by the Flossmoor Police Department. That is where the circle closes."

Given their past relationships, and a little knowledge of the Shaw brothers, I'm working from the presumption that Shaw's comments were made with the intention of helping the Stroger campaign.

But if his logic is that he can ramp up turnout in the African-American community by playing the race card where it doesn't appear to be at issue, that strategy seems not only disrespectful to the very community at which it is aimed, but also likely to backfire.

I think that frivolously playing the race card is an offense to the legacy of all people who fought for, and continue to fight for, civil rights. And I believe that the vast majority of intelligent people, of every color, feel the same way.

If, on the other hand, Shaw sincerely believes his comments, that's just inexplicable. Maybe I'm being naive, but I don't remotely see any indicia of race in what happened. I've seen worse done than leaking public information in countless elections involving white, black and Latino candidates. (Maybe somebody should ask the Shaws about what was done to Rep. David Miller in the last election cycle.) Noble politics? No. Racist? Not a chance.

In any event, I think that Shaw's remarks will do nothing but force Stroger to have to comment about them which, three weeks out from an election in an surprisingly tight race, cannot be what he wants to be doing.

To read, or post, comments, visit Open House

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The Gang of four plus one

A comment by Muletown,

Obama, Jackson, Emmanuel, and Rush are in the process of taking over the Democrat Party in Illinois. Jackson will beat Daley the next time around. None of the four have any use for Blagojevich. This is the first public step in the dumping of Blagojevich by the gang of 4 plus Meeks that will keep the African American vote for Blago at a minimum. The Governor is dead!!! Mayor Daley is on life support and the gang of 4 are looking for the plug to the respirator!!!

OK, well, is this such a bad thing? I have no use for Blagojevich; and admit to liking Obama, Jackson, Emanuel, and Rush in the same way I like the seedy side of life in Chicago. I feel at home there. It's real. Blajojevich insults me as a phony. These guys don't. Although if Obama keeps trying to play the family values cards with me he'll cross the line.

So, is this the gang taking over the party? What happened to the Madigans?

As for Daley's plug. The Mayor will always be the example for me of not knowing when to leave on the high note. His will be a tragic story. My Father-in-Law, on the way to Michigan, says south Lake Shore Drive has never looked better. He's right, and it will be sad to see the Mayor go down because I think he's done a lot for Chicago and truly loves the place.

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Harold Ford Jr. and Chicago's E2 nightclub tragedy

While I was in the Volunteer State a couple of weeks ago, I heard a radio commercial from Tennessee Republican Senate candidate Bob Corker about a $1,000 donation his opponent's campaign fund made to the Dwain Kyles Defense Fund that jogged my memory.

Rep. Harold Ford Jr. is the Democratic candidate for the senate seat being vacated by Bill Frist.

Who is Dwain Kyles? He was the owner of Chicago's E2 nightclub, where on February 17, 2003, 21 club patrons were killed in a stampede.

Kyles was subsequently charged for involuntary manslaughter. The club was greatly overcrowded that night. Kyles had rented out E2 to a local dance promoter whose security guards used pepper spray to subdue two women involved in a fight. The spraying panicked the 1,000 or so club customers, many of whom streamed toward the front door entrance of the E2--but that door had been bolted shut in a terribly misguided attempt to defuse the uproar.

Chicago fire marshals deemed that the capacity of the club 250 people, of course far more than that had packed on that busy night, the Sunday of President's Day weekend.

The tragedy of course dominated the Chicago news outlets for days. What was odd, was that several of the city's African-American leaders--all of the victims were black--were quick to defend the Kyles, who also is African American.

From the February 19, 2003 Chicago Tribune, free registration required:

In the days since the 21 patrons were killed, Jackson and his son U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) have rushed to defend Kyles and the club, as have U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and a host of prominent Chicago ministers.

"Dwain Kyles is a childhood friend of mine. Today, he's a lawyer ... and an upstanding example of a young professional person in our community," the younger Jackson said in a prepared statement.

While calling Monday's disaster "unfortunate and tragic," he insisted "extending blame and pointing fingers is inappropriate and unnecessary before the first funeral has been held and the investigation is complete."

A year later, one of the victims, Eazay Rogers still (free reg. for the link) still didn't have a headstone.

And another year later, the campaign fund of Congressman Harold Ford donated $1,000 to the Dwain Kyles Defense Fund.

Via Free Republic, from the Chattanooga Times Free Press:

"The Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles is a pastor in Memphis, and his son in Chicago is a business owner, and there was a tragedy," the Memphis congressman said.

Rep. Ford said the elder Mr. Kyles is a well-known figure in Memphis and knew Martin Luther King Jr. Making such a contribution is "not something I ordinarily would do," Rep. Ford said. "I don’t think he did anything wrong. It was an awful thing."

Ben Mitchell, campaign manager for Republican Senate candidate Bob Corker, of Chattanooga, called the contribution "another in a series of questionable decisions by Congressman Ford."

"It’s difficult to understand how support for a criminal defendant in Chicago has anything to do with the Senate race in Tennessee, but I guess that’s a discussion he’ll probably need to have with his donors," Mr. Mitchell said.

Kyles' father was a founding member of Operation Push, Jesse Jackson's organization.

In my opinion, it's pretty bizarre that Ford's campaign wrote a check for Kyles' fund. Campaign financing laws might prohibit it, but if Eazay Rogers still doesn't have a headstone for her grave, perhaps Ford's campaign fund can buy one.

For comments on this post, please visit Marathon Pundit.

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Blago Donates 1%

One of the things I admired about Governor Jim Edgar is that he tithed.

He gave 10% of his family income to church.

When I see an article about a politician’s revealing his income tax forms, I’m always curious as to what percentage he or she donates to church and charity.

The governor has finally filed his income tax forms and reports donating $2,900, according to the Chicago Tribune.

That’s out of $286,920.

So, Governor and Mrs. Rod Blagojevich donated a little over 1% of their 1995 household income to charitable and religious activities.

= = = = =
McHenry County Blog reveals today the politician who has taken the most from his campaign fund for personal use. It's over 400 grand so far.

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7th Leo High School Veterans Observance - November 3rd at 11 AM

The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and Leo High School invites every one to the 7th Annual Leo High School Veterans Observance Ceremony at the Leo War Memorial in the Leo High School Courtyard on 79th Street at 11AM on Friday November 3rd.

Leo High School has held this event on the Friday before Veterans Day each year at the Leo WarMemorial dedicated in 1965 by the Leo High School Alumni. The two hundred names of Leo Men killed in the service of their country has been expanded to include all public servicemen ( Police, Fire, Postal, Government, and Charitable). Chicago Police Office, Marine Veteran, and Leo Alumnus Eric Lee's Family was so honored when Eric Lee was killed in the line of duty.

Assistant Director for Illinois Veterans Affairs, Rochelle Crump has been instumental in making this annual event a great success. The Windy City Veterans, Leo Alumni Association, The Montford Point Marine Association, The Burbank Marine Color Guard and students of Leo High School welcome the public and honor all who serve their country and their communities. Call Mr. Pat Hickey at ( 773) 224-9600 for more information.

Leo High School
7901 S. Sangamon Street
Chicago, IL 60620

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Rasmussen poll on Gov race

It's out but I don't subscribe. They show JBT at 43% with the Gov at 49% and no idea where Whitney the Green is. This was Oct 12 with 500 LVs so maybe it's the Rezko effect.

Big swing from the Trib WGN poll.

Maybe it's time for Quinn to start talking about his plan for cleaning house as Governor to keep Democrats ahead.

Update: Rich had the Rasmussen poll covered here and there's some question if it's really post-Rezko.

Footnote: Proviso Probe has a post on Blagojevich and Danny Davis at a meeting on the West Side. (Carl also covered it here at Austin Weekly News.)

Here's a quote from Carl's post. I think he's right and it shows what's become of the left. I can't imagine a Paul Douglas, a Paul Simon, or a Leon Despres agreeing with a thought like this. But it's true and I think reflects what's become of reform in Illinois. We get tricks, lies, and Pat Quinn's silence.

He [Blagojevich] cast himself as fighting for a progressive vision. He acknowledged that politics is sometimes dirty and dishonest. He told a story about how he tricked the "Pro Life" legislators on stem cell research. Blagojevich knew the anti-abortion crowd wanted to strip funding for stem cell research from the budget. Blagojevich gave the legislature the budget without enough time for the anti-abortion legislators to find where Blagojevich put the stem cell research money. When asked about the issue, Blagojevich proudly explained, "I told them the truth. I'm not saying [if there's stem cell research money or not]."

I thought this anecdote did a good job of making the case that if you want to make progress in politics sometimes you have to play dirty.

However, Blagojevich crossed into bs territory when he said that he wanted his legacy to be to build a progressive movement that would sustain itself beyond his gubernatorial campaign.

That's the progressive movement. It's no bs.

xp Bill Baar's West Side

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Voters face unhappy choice

You know I've kind of been saying this on the blog for awhile. This article from the Tribune is just one way for me to just say, "Man I'm not the only one who feels this way."

I've followed the primary and there were some people there I liked better than others. For the last two years conservatives wanted to wrestle the IL GOP away from the "old guard" with seemingly little or no success. My discontent of Topinka stems not from the primary back in the Spring but from her brief term as IL GOP Chair. I'm still a little upset that (although it may not have been her doing she really didn't do much to settle this) they had forced the resignation of the original GOP nominee (Jack Ryan) for the US Senate seat now held by Barack Obama. As for the incumbent all you have to do is watch and read the news.

Here's some interesting information I ran across as far as the political climate of the State of Illinois...

Topinka is also struggling to take advantage of the discontent that independent voters display toward Blagojevich. The backing of independents is a requirement for Republicans in a state that has grown increasingly Democratic.
...
Blagojevich is viewed unfavorably by 56 percent of independent voters, an increase of 15 percentage points from a similar survey a month ago. While Blagojevich saw a drop in support among independents, Topinka did as well, and third-party candidate Whitney was the beneficiary.

Now the results are from a survey and here's one respondent who has an opinion of Topinka...

Poll respondent Joan MacLennan, 67, of Des Plaines, who calls herself an independent voter, said investigations of alleged corruption involving the current administration have lessened her opinion of the governor, while Topinka's shoot-from-the-hip statements in public have diminished her view of the state treasurer.

"The things she says, they just aren't very gubernatorial," MacLennan said. "And with Blagojevich, you have all these fraud investigations. I just have no idea what to do."

Well not to change the subject but I just want to point this out on another note. Topinka found her way into Glamor magazine as a local rising star. A former Republican governor of New Jersey had this to say about Topinka...

Christine Todd Whitman is quoted as saying this about Judy Baar Topinka, "She doesn't need on-the-job training; she already knows how to get things done."

If only she could get Illinois to feel the same way about her.

Crossposted @ It's My Mind

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A Governor Pat Quinn

Illinois has to be the only State were people seriously argue one should vote for a candidate because they're likely to get indicted, resign, and then their Lieutenant (a reform sort of fellow) will take over.

Sadly, that seems to be the outcome we'll probably see.

So, assuming the case, what does a Governor Pat Quinn do? Lets say in the first hundred days.

Seems he'll be under crushing pressure to disassociate himself from the Blagojevich years, and that means dumping people. Something I'm not sure he can easily do.

So what does Pat Quinn do? Seems fair to speculate. Almost seems Quinn should be speaking to it.

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