Archive for March, 2008
March 25th, 2008
A recent fax alerting the media to one of Rep. Ron Wait’s publicity events looked as if somebody had scribbled it on a random sheet of scratch paper.
Actually, it looked as if the writer opted to write it with writing instrument clenched firmly in fist. The penmanship was a little rough, you might say.
In substance, the advisory contained the necessary points: It announced a Ron Wait press conference at 1 p.m. on March 10 at Dial Machine in Rockford concerning the “capital budget & economic development.” Yet in style, the advisory, pictured here, was most peculiar.
Wait, R-Belvidere, is a veteran lawmaker. Moreover, this is an election year and Wait is facing a stiff challenge from Rockford lawyer Greg Tuite, the immediate past chairman of the Winnebago County Democratic Party. One might think Wait would be on his toes.
“Geez, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Wait told our Statehouse intern, Andrea Zimmermann, by phone on Friday. “It’s sure not my writing. I have never seen this before. I sure wouldn’t have sent this out. It’s new to me. … I don’t know who would have sent this out. … Believe me, I’ll start asking questions though.”
Tuite saw the media release as well, and said it struck him as odd.
“We all have our ways of communicating, but you would think that a state representative would try to put out something a little more professional when he’s communicating either with the media or with businesses,” Tuite told Zimmermann.
On Monday, a spokesman for House GOP Leader Tom Cross called and said that Wait’s staff had, in fact, distributed the scribbled advisory to media. The spokesman, David Dring, said the staffers were determined to notify the media of Wait’s appearance as quickly as possible.
Just for the record, House GOP staff subsequently distributed a formal media advisory for the Dial Machine event. This time, they typed it.
March 21st, 2008
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has tried his best to act like he’s not paying attention to the federal corruption trial of his pal Tony Rezko. He has said repeatedly that he is not following the case and that, in fact, it has nothing to do with him.
You might conclude, then, that Blagojevich has nothing to hide. You might think he’d be happy to talk about that which he presumably is familiar — those matters pertaining to his administration.
Only, he doesn’t have much to say about that, either. He rarely appears in public. When he does, he does so only during short, highly choreographed events with a cadre of guards and stiff-lipped press aides.
If you buy the case made by federal prosecutors, Rezko’s allegedly corrupt activities were practically synonymous with Blagojevich’s administration in its early years. It may be no wonder, then, that Blagojevich insists he knows nothing of Rezko’s allegedly crooked behavior, even as he won’t talk about the activities of his own administration.
With each passing day of testimony at Rezko’s trial, they appear increasingly indistinguishable, according to reports published by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Associated Press and other media.
Susan Lichtenstein, the governor’s former general counsel, testified that when she interviewed to become top attorney for the governor, Rezko sat in on her interview. An aide to Blagojevich’s patronage chief testified that the patronage chief, Joe Cini, met Rezko every Monday morning. The aide, Jennifer Thomas, went to those meetings and brought along a spreadsheet so Rezko could view open state positions.
Thomas testified that she and Cini visited Rezko’s Chicago office on “most Mondays” between late March of 2003 through June of that year. She brought with her a spreadsheet of open positions on various state boards and commissions to Rezko’s office so they could talk over how to fill vacancies. They would also talk about how Rezko’s favored people were faring in the vetting process.
Separately, the governor’s director of boards and commissions testified that Rezko had great influence over who won appointments to state boards.
The Health Facilities Planning Board’s former chairman testified that he schemed with Rezko concerning board approval of hospital construction. Guess who appointed him to the board, at Rezko’s behest?
Thomas Beck, appointed by Blagojevich in 2003 as chairman of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning board, testified under immunity from prosecution that he got the post after seeking out support from Rezko. When he approached Rezko, Beck said he also came with a $1,000 donation to the governor’s campaign fund.
Prosecutors played tape of Beck calling co-conspirator Stuart Levine on the phone to talk about their plan to rig an upcoming board vote. Beck referred to Rezko in that call.
“I got the marching orders,” Beck told Levine. “…Our boy wants to help them.”
Rezko allegedly conspired with Stuart Levine, a longtime political insider, to shake down firms seeking business from the state. Their alleged scheme related to two state boards, in particular, where Levine had seats — the Teachers’ Retirement System, which manages a pension fund for teachers, and the Health Facilities Management Board, which regulates hospital construction projects.
Levine has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the feds. In exchange for a reduced sentence, he is the government’s chief witness against Rezko. He has spent the better part of this week on the stand describing Rezko’s uncanny power over Blagojevich’s office.
On Thursday, prosecutors played a tape of Levine talking on the phone about Rezko’s extraordinary influence over state government.
Levine was plainly excited to be so close to power and eager to share his feelings with others – including corrupt contractor Jacob Kiferbaum.
“I have never been in a better position than I am right now,” Levine tells Kiferbaum on a recording played at the trial. “Maybe it’s because there has never been such tight control of the central apparatus.”
“I mean, this guy is making decisions,” he says on the recording.
“He can get anything done that he wants done,” he said.
In the courtroom, Levine was on the stand.
The “central apparatus,” Levine testified, was Gov. Blagojevich’s office. And the guy who was “making decisions,” according to Levine, was Rezko.
“Although I had been involved in politics and in corrupt political deals before,” Levine said, “I had never witnessed . . . someone who was able to influence the governor as I saw that Mr. Rezko could. And I had never been as close to an individual who had that type of power.”
On Wednesday, Levine told the jury about a plane ride he shared with Blagojevich after the governor reappointed him to the Health Facilities Management Board. Levine said he thanked the governor for reappointing him.
Levine told jurors this morning at the corruption trial of indicted Blagojevich fund-raiser Tony Rezko that Blagojevich responded: “Never discuss any state board with me. You discuss them with Tony Rezko or Chris Kelly, but you stick with us, and you’ll do very well for yourself.”
Levine told the jury how he interpreted that statement: “I took it to mean I would have an opportunity to make a lot of money.”
Also Wednesday, Levine said Rezko reached through Blagojevich’s chief of staff, Lon Monk, to control all major decisions made by the governor’s office.
According to Levine, “Mr. Rezko told me that all major decisions that were made in the governor’s office were cleared by Mr. Monk through Mr. Rezko.”
A Blagojevich spokeswoman, breaking with the governor’s know-nothing position, confronted the damning testimony directly on Wednesday.
“Stuart Levine’s assertions about the governor are wrong,” communications director Abby Ottenhoff said in an e-mailed response. “As we’ve said before, that’s not how the governor does business.”
I suppose that’s progress. At least the governor’s spokeswoman acknowledged that the government’s key witness is on the stand in federal court saying he viewed the governor as a fellow crook. These are serious allegations and the public deserves a serious response — something the governor has yet to provide.
Rezko is innocent until proven guilty. Chris Kelly, another top Blagojevich fundraiser and adviser under indictment in a separate case, also is innocent until proven guilty. Blagojevich has not been charged with a crime.
But federal prosecutors in Chicago don’t often lose when they take on public corruption. The odds are stacked against Rezko, Kelly and, yes, Blagojevich. Blagojevich’s campaign fund allegedly stood to share in kickbacks demanded by Rezko and Levine.
At the very least, if you believe a parade of former Blagojevich insiders, Blagojevich handed control of his administration’s affairs to Rezko. The governor has not even begun to explain why he made that happen.
March 20th, 2008
The Feb. 14 shooting deaths at NIU’s Cole Hall, coupled with the previous massacre at Virginia Tech, have fueled a movement dedicated to encouraging concealed guns on college campuses.
A group called Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is growing at campuses across the nation, as at least 12 states are considering legislation to allow college students to carry concealed guns on campus, NPR reports. A print version of NPR’s story, as well as a link to an audio interview with a SCCC leader, are here.
After deadly shootings at schools in Illinois and Virginia, 12 states are considering legislation to allow guns on college campuses. Stephen Feltoon, a director for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), is part of a movement that says college students should have the same gun ownership rights as others.
Feltoon says he purchased his first gun for recreation. “Now I own it for defense,” he says. “I can take a firearm anywhere that’s not a college campus, a liquor establishment, or any business that posts a ‘no gun’ sign. When am I carrying it? That’s the beauty of conceal and carry. You’ll never know until I need it.”
It’s not clear how great of a presence SCCC has among Illinois campuses. But students at four Illinois colleges identify themselves as local contacts for the group. Their names and contact info are here. (The list of contacts, nationwide, is extensive and worth a look.)
Illinois law does not permit concealed carry, despite the best efforts of advocates. However, there are those who argue that Illinois law does permit a citizen to carry a handgun concealed in a fanny pack.
In November 2005, the Register Star published this report:
SPRINGFIELD — Just store your handgun and ammunition separately in your fanny pack, and go about your day.
As long as you own the gun legally and you don’t happen to be in a local government that precludes such a move, you’re perfectly legal in Illinois.
At least that’s the interpretation of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, which raised the issue Tuesday during a Capitol news conference where law-enforcement officials called for greater state restrictions on guns.
Giacomo “Jack” Pecoraro, the group’s executive director, called the loophole “Illinois’ implied conceal carry” law.
“If you’ve seen tourists with the small bags, you can have the firearm in the bag over here and the clip or the necessary rounds. It takes a mere second to load it,” he said. “And that’s allowable, and this is what we’re trying to stop.”
Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, agreed with that interpretation. However, he said an individual carrying an unloaded gun in a fanny pack would not be legal “on a public street.”
UPDATE 1
Stateline.org offers a good deal of background on how state lawmakers around the nation are revisiting concealed carry laws in light of campus violence. These two stories are dated — they were published last spring, following the Virgina Tech shootings — but useful nonetheless.
The first story:
The most recent legislative debate in Virginia, one of 48 states that issue permits allowing citizens to carry concealed firearms, arose after Virginia Tech disciplined an unnamed student who brought a firearm to class in 2005.
State Del. Mark Cole (R) this spring failed to push through a measure that would have let students with concealed-carry permits bring firearms on campus, trumping the school’s policy prohibiting them. The legislation languished in a subcommittee after a hearing. A similar measure failed last year.
The same issue came up this year in Utah, too, with the opposite result. The University of Utah gave up its struggle to keep its gun restrictions. A new law signed last month by Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) allows students to request roommates who don’t have a concealed-carry permit. Students 21 or older can bring firearms to campus if they have permits.
The second story:
In reaction to the Virginia Tech shooting spree, a Louisiana state lawmaker and higher education officials unveiled legislation Wednesday (April 18) to make clear that the state’s public universities can ban guns in student dorm rooms.
Legislation by Louisiana state Rep. Richard Gallot (D) seeks to remove any doubt that guns are banned from college dorm rooms, despite a conflict between a state law allowing Louisiana residents to keep guns in their homes and one banning firearms at universities.
The Louisiana proposal is the latest illustration of the collision between gun-free policies at state-run universities and state laws that are making it easier for citizens to carry firearms in other public places. While some states explicitly allow college campuses to ban guns, public universities such as Virginia Tech have had to defend their firearm restrictions in the face of laws in 48 states allowing citizens to get permits to carry concealed firearms. Sometimes, students have been the ones to challenge campus gun bans.
UPDATE 2
I reached out to the SCCC’s contacts at Illinois campuses to find out more about the group’s activity in this state. D. Scott Dennison, the SCCC campus leader at Parkland College in Champaign, responded by e-mail:
Thank you for the email and for your interest in the SCCC cause. It is very difficult to say exactly how many members are from a particular area. Anyone can become a member, and disclosing your location is not required. This is also the case for your question about exactly which campuses are active. What I can say, though, is that we are very proudly over 20,000 members strong and are still rapidly growing. From the beginning, SCCC has been a nation wide organization, so all states have always been included. Unfortunately, Illinois is one of the only two remaining non-carry states. Therefore, we Illinois based campus leaders have a much more serious situation on our hands. We must appeal to state representatives as well as college campuses. Illinois and Wisconsin will come to their senses soon enough. Again, thank you for contacting me.
March 18th, 2008
David Axelrod is the Chicago-based mastermind behind U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. The political consultant has long been well known to Illinois political insiders, with clients like Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, and insiders of national politics too, with a slew of congressional races and other high-profile races behind him.
Now the behind-the-scenes campaign guru is gaining a celebrity of his own.
In the most recent in a series of Axelrod profiles, Business Week looks at Axelrod’s other consulting firm, ASK Public Strategies. The firm has worked mostly in secret, though its clients have included ComEd and AT&T. Just as Axelrod’s well-known firm, AKP&D Message and Media, is focused on aiding the campaigns of Democratic candidates, ASK is geared toward the (super-secret) interests of corporations.
ASK’s predilection for operating in the shadows shows up in its work. On behalf of ComEd and Comcast, the firm helped set up front organizations that were listed as sponsors of public-issue ads. Industry insiders call such practices “Astroturfing,” a reference to manufacturing grassroots support. Alderman Brendan Reilly of the 42nd Ward, who has been battling the Children’s Museum’s relocation plans, describes ASK as “the gold standard in Astroturf organizing. This is an emerging industry, and ASK has made a name for itself in shaping public opinion and manufacturing public support.”
ASK’s Web site says little about the firm’s activities. AKP&D’s Web site, on the other hand, is loaded with info, including the firm’s impressive client list.
Perhaps the more comprehensive profile of Axelrod appeared last spring in the New York Times Magazine. It walks through the evolution of Axelrod’s career, from his days as a Chicago Tribune reporter to campaign aide for the late U.S. Paul Simon of Illinois to chief strategist for Obama’s presidential race.
When the first major profile of Axelrod appeared in Chicago magazine in 1987, three years after he left a high-profile job as the lead political reporter for The Chicago Tribune to work as a political operative, the article (“Hatchet Man: The Rise of David Axelrod”) began by comparing him to an “exotic rodent.”
The Times Magazine story continues:
Two decades later, there remains the matter of the comb-over and the damp mustache, but his looks seem less important now. In the last four years, Axelrod has helped steer campaigns for fully four of the Democrats now running for president — Obama, Clinton, John Edwards and Chris Dodd — and one who dropped out (Tom Vilsack); framed the messages for the new young governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick; and served as the chief political adviser for Representative Rahm Emanuel when the congressman helped orchestrate the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives last fall.
The Washington Post also profiled Axelrod last February.
A measure of his status in the top tier of Democratic spinners, scripters and fixers is that when his peers detect something subtle and good, they presume Axelrod must have had a hand in it.
Of course Axelrod won’t take credit for specific lines. Consultants are supposed to stay in the background. “One thing I came to realize early in the process of working with Barack was, he was always going to be the best writer in the room,” Axelrod says. “If you appreciate words and the power of them, he’s a wonderful person to work with. . . . I’d say 80 percent of what he did on that platform on Saturday was in that initial draft,” which Obama had e-mailed to Axelrod at about 4 a.m. Thursday.
The liberal Nation weekly also weighed in last February. And if you’re looking for video, here is PBS’s Charlie Rose’s interview with Axelrod. A Tribune profile, complete with video, is here.
From the Trib:
By 1984, while still in his 20s, David Axelrod had already built an impressive career as a star political reporter, columnist and City Hall bureau chief for the Tribune, the largest and most influential newspaper in Illinois.
It was his dream job. But he was unhappy.
Always awash with doubts and anxieties, Axelrod would agonize over the nuances of the stories he was writing, putting in long hours in the city’s wards doing research and then spending hours more at the computer keyboard. But that was who he was.
March 12th, 2008
As the Register Star reported this morning, Rockford’s two senators aren’t impressed with Rockford’s plan to install red light cameras at intersections around the city …
“For people to say that this isn’t about revenue, I think, is being disingenuous,” said Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford. “This is about revenue.”
Sen. Brad Burzynski, a Clare Republican who represents the far east edge of Rockford, added in a statement, “It’s more about issuing citations and bringing in money than public safety.”
The statement that Burzynski issued jointly with Syverson is here.
March 11th, 2008
Just in case their constituents weren’t convinced, certain lawmakers appear determined to show them that they’re serious about God. They’re backing legislation to create yet another license plate in Illinois, this one saying “In God We Trust.”
Last week, the House overwhelmingly approved the bill, sending it to the Senate for consideration. The Rock River Valley’s four House lawmakers — Rep. Chuck Jefferson, D-Rockford; Rep. Ron Wait, R-Belvidere; Rep. Dave Winters, R-Shirland; and Rep. Jim Sacia, R-Pecatonica — all voted for it.
Here is the complete roll call.
GateHouse noted that Rob Sherman, this state’s crusading atheist, has his own take on the bill:
Atheist Rob Sherman believes that if Illinoisans are able to buy license plates saying “In God We Trust,” they also should have the right to purchase “God is Make-Believe” plates.
Sherman, a resident of Buffalo Grove, said he wouldn’t put such a plate on his car, “but if some Christian wants it on their car, that’s fine.”
Initiatives such as this tend to come from lawmakers representing the more conservative areas of the state. In this case, Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, is the lead sponsor. Other lawmakers generally find it difficult to oppose them, so, as was the case here, they get behind them too.
The “In God We Trust” plan is just the latest in a series of measures that lawmakers have used over the years to reassert their commitment to God. In 2005, Rep. David Reis, R-Olney, sponsored a resolution affirming his commitment to keeping the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.
It’s not that anybody was threatening, at least not seriously, to remove “under God” from the Pledge. Nonetheless, Reis wanted to make a statement. The House approved the resolution with a voice vote.
March 10th, 2008
I caught up this morning with Rep. Harry Osterman, a Chicago Democrat spearheading legislation to make landlords pay for the cost of housing tenants when the landlord’s property is condemned.
Rep. Chuck Jefferson, D-Rockford, is co-sponsoring the measure, and the mayor’s office is backing it, as the Register Star reported this morning.
“If a municipality takes an action against a building with condemnation or makes a ruling on safety hazards, and the people are forced to vacate the building because it is deemed unhealthy by the municipality, many of these people don’t have the means to go and find another place to live. They’re going to go live with their relatives,” Osterman told me by phone.
“So what we want to do is have this individual slumlord or landlord, who’s responsible for this building, pay to move someone to another place to live. If for whatever reason that (landlord) is not able to do that, we would enable municipalities to front-end those costs, and then to try to get them back through a civil action against the landlord. The bottom line is what we’re trying to do is if there are renters, who through no fault of their own are in a building that is in disrepair and has been condemned, we want to make sure they have some kind of protections.”
Osterman’s bill:
The landlord would need to pay each displaced tenant $2,000 per unit or three times the monthly rent, whichever is greater, plus the tenant’s deposit, interest and prepaid rent, within seven days of getting a condemnation notice, under the bill.
Critics complain that the measure doesn’t recognize the possibility that a tenant may have caused the damage to a rental unit, prompting the city to condemn it. Osterman said he is prepared to negotiate a provision making that clear.
“What I have committed to do is to work with them to strengthen that provision, to very explicitly and flesh out in an amendment, that this is not the tenant’s fault, but this is something due to the inaction of the owner,” he said.
March 7th, 2008
House Republican Leader Tom Cross plans to visit Rockford on Monday to promote his economic and capital construction plan.
And, by staging a joint appearance with Rep. Ron Wait, he could give Wait a boost in his bid to keep his seat in the House. Wait, R-Belvidere, is facing a challenge in this election from Greg Tuite, a Rockford Democrat.
Cross and Wait plan to appear at 1 p.m. Monday at Dial Machine, 2902 Eastrock Dr., Rockford.
Tuite came surprisingly close to beating Wait in 2006. This year, Wait may need all the help he can get.
March 6th, 2008
Winnebago County Democrats elected Dan Lewandowski their new party chairman, according to a party news release issued Thursday.
Lewandowski is a Rockford lawyer who in 2006 ran unsuccessfully against Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford.
Lewandowski succeeds Greg Tuite, another Rockford lawyer, in the Democratic party post. Tuite is challenging Rep. Ron Wait, R-Belvidere, in this election.
The party’s news release is here.
March 6th, 2008
Rockford may abandon its push for legislation to give it additional power to crack down on “chronic nuisances.”
A House committee on Wednesday voted 9-0 in favor of the bill sought by Rockford after Rep. Chuck Jefferson, D-Rockford, presented it. The bill would add the following language to state law:
Chronic nuisance ordinances. The corporate authorities of any municipality may, by ordinance, regulate chronic nuisance offenses within the municipality. The term “chronic nuisance offenses” includes, but is not limited to, illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor, mob action, repeat violations of municipal building codes or sanitation codes, noise, and disorderly conduct. The ordinance may provide increased penalties for repeated violations.
But city Legal Director Patrick Hayes told me today, during a visit to the Capitol, that the city put the plan on hold. He said the city plans to focus on the authority it has under existing law.
Committee members on Wednesday approved the bill with a unanimous vote, sending to the House floor for consideration, after two members said they were confused by the bill’s language.
One member wanted to know why the definition of “chronic nuisance” included mob action. Another wanted to know why it included drinking by minors.
Jefferson told the committee he didn’t know the answer to either question. He said he believed the city wanted the bill so it could more closely regulate vehicles blasting loud music. He said after the hearing that Hayes drafted the bill and that he’d have to get back with Hayes for answers.
UPDATE 1
Our coverage today includes more comment from Hayes.
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