Posts filed under 'Illinois politics'
May 6th, 2008
Continuing to raise his profile while traveling Illinois, state Comptroller Dan Hynes on Monday slammed Gov. Rod Blagojevich for reportedly threatening to cut higher education funding.
Blagojevich has said the state has a $750 million deficit in the budget ending June 30, and his aides have said a number of programs — including perhaps higher education — may not get all the funding that lawmakers appropriated for them this year.
In a news release following a visit to Western Illinois University, Hynes said the governor ought to honor the state’s commitment.
“The Governor says we can’t afford to give colleges and universities the state assistance they promised this year,” Hynes said following a round table discussion with administrators from Western Illinois University. “I say we can’t afford not to. I say investing in our colleges and universities is one of the best investments this state can make to help ensure a thriving economy and a solid future for the next generation. The Governor needs to keep his word and give the universities the funding they were promised.”
It was the third time in a month that Hynes, a third-term comptroller, took a shot directly at Blagojevich. But compared to his speech at Southern Illinois University, in which he offered an exhaustive and nuanced criticism of Blagojevich’s budget practices, this announcement didn’t strike me as too constructive. It seemed like boilerplate campaign rhetoric in which one candidate attacks another candidate in an attempt to garner some publicity, but then doesn’t really say how he or she would do things differently.
I sent a few questions by e-mail to Hynes spokeswoman Carol Knowles:
Does Hynes dispute the governor’s statement that the state has a $750
million deficit in the current year? If so, then does Hynes believe that
there is a deficit? And if so, how large does he believe that it is?
If Hynes does not dispute the governor’s deficit figure, then where does
he suggest the administration find the promised money for higher ed?
Would Hynes prefer to see across-the-board cuts or some alternative
approach to reconciling the budget deficit?
She responded:
The Comptroller doesn’t know where/how the governor’s Office/GOMBY came
up with that figure.
As you are aware, the Comptroller has said repeatedly, over the last
several years that the state’s budget is not balanced because of
Medicaid carryover.
The Comptroller would point out that the cuts the governor has
threatened will not really address the long-term funding concerns for
education, pensions and health care and that entities such as the
universities and the U of I Extension are being unfairly targeted.
The comptroller has indeed been steadfast in his dour assessment of state finances. The governor, for his part, has been anything but focused on reconciling the state’s massive debt load. Still, do you think it is fair of the comptroller to continually rail against irresponsible budget practices, then criticize a particularly spending cut and then not provide a specific alternative cut? You tell me.
April 8th, 2008
Rockford Sen. Dave Syverson, Clare Sen. Brad Burzynski and other Senate Republicans last week unveiled a seven-point economic stimulus plan.
Let’s look at those points, one at a time. First up: The Senate Republicans say Gov. Rod Blagojevich must not “demonize” businesses. From their report:
Businesses not only provide jobs for our
citizens, they also pay the tax revenues
that fund our state budget and allow us to
implement our priorities. Since taking office,
the Governor and his administration have
repeatedly portrayed the business community
as a group of “fat cats” to be taxed and
demeaned, rather than entrepreneurs who
provide our economy with needed jobs, taxes
and investment.
Indeed, Blagojevich has repeatedly vilified Illinois businesses to suit his political needs, saying for instance that they ought to pay their “fair share” in taxes. The Senate GOP report continues:
Today, Illinois is renowned for its
hostile business climate – something which does not
go unnoticed to prospective businesses. The more the
Governor and his allies fuel this notion, the fewer jobs
and investments we will see in Illinois. In addition,
harsh anti-business rhetoric scares other companies
from coming to Illinois and expanding their business.
It’s time to stop the antibusiness
rhetoric and harmful tax-and-spend
proposals that seek to balance the state
budget on the backs of business owners and,
more importantly, the jobs they provide for
our economy.
And now for the kicker:
Demonizing the business community doesn’t
just have a negative impact on the owners of
companies. When hit with higher taxes and
fees, business owners end up passing the
new costs on to their customers – working
families. This is a point even the Governor’s
staunchest supporters concede – during
last year’s committee hearings on the GRT,
a sponsor of the measure, Senate President
Emil Jones, acknowledged: “Any costs
that businesses incur, they pass it on to
consumers.”
So here’s the question for you: Does the governor’s tone truly affect a business’ decision on whether to stay in, or relocate to, Illinois? Clearly, a business will weigh the tax burden in Illinois as compared to neighboring states. But the governor’s tone?
March 24th, 2008
Last week, the Chicago Tribune’s local politics blog had an interesting interview with Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross.
Cross told the Trib that the recent election to replace Dennis Hastert proves that Illinois Republicans need to stop fighting with each other. Hastert’s district was considered a strongly Republican district, but the GOP challenger there, Jim Oberweis, lost by a significant margin to Democrat Bill Foster.
Cross said the congressional results point to a larger problem for Republicans in general—a continued “fight because people aren’t on our same page on every issue”—that could leave the GOP “in the minority for a long time.”
“For us to lose, even in a special election, the seat held by the former speaker of the United States House of Representatives should be a big wake-up call for every Republican that the infighting—because someone’s not conservative enough or this enough or that enough—may have lasting consequences for us,” he said.
Cross’ words reminded me of something Jim Edgar, the popular Illinois governor who Republicans beg to run for a new office each election year, said when he visited one of my grad school classes last year.
Edgar predicted that the only way the Republican Party could win back the governor’s mansion will be with a moderate GOP candidate, because Illinois, once considered a belwether state, is becoming more and more Democratic.
Now Democrats do have a stranglehold on state government leadership, and by picking up Hastert’s seat, may be slowly pushing the Congressional delegation further into blue territory as well.
But I have to wonder: If Gov. Rod Blagojevich does eventually get indicted, as some people are predicting, isn’t it easier to believe it wouldn’t be quite so hard for Republicans to get a GOP governor?
After all, Blagojevich in 2003 was able to become the first Democratic governor since the ’70s, because former Gov. George Ryan was under investigation for federal corruption charges as well. He was able to win re-election in 2006 by very effectively beating this same dead horse.
I know it is not as simple as that, but it seems like the state Republicans could easily capitalize on the very public infighting among the state Democrats.
In a 2007 freelance article for an Illinois political magazine, our own Aaron Chambers took a close look at the state GOP.
The unraveling of the party’s stature laid bare the fragility of its statewide organization and the gulf between its leadership and its base. That weakness, ironically, may have resulted partly from the long string of top-of-the-ticket victories. The levers of party control were concentrated in the governor’s office through 26 years of Republican rule under Thompson, former Gov. Jim Edgar, and Ryan.
So when considering this issue, it seems we must also take remember this:
Statewide political organizations are not what they used to be. Increasingly, campaigns are driven by flashy candidates and television commercials, rather than party slating and palm cards. Last year, for instance, the Illinois Democratic Party couldn’t deliver a nomination for the one nonincumbent statewide candidate it backed in the primary election. Following the wishes of House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat who is that party’s state chairman, Democrats slated Knox County State’s Attorney Paul Mangieri for treasurer, but primary voters nominated Chicago banker Alexi Giannoulias, who enjoyed a personal endorsement from ultrapopular U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.
Don’t forget to slather on a layer of “angry voter” backlash from an increasingly unpopular GOP administration in the White House, and maybe that simple equation actually looks more like a Harvard-level calculus problem.
Finding viable Republican candidates that can win contests against Illinois Democrats brings its own set of problems.
Part of this may come from the fractured views of what the state party should be. While Edgar, a moderate, would say a social moderate is the ideal Republican candidate to win in Illinois, others believe the party should return to its ideological roots.
One way to foresee the future of the state Republican Party may be through its “farm team” - or through the up-and-coming politicos throughout the state that the party is throwing its support behind financially and otherwise.
A good example of that was the southern Illinois race between incumbent Mayor Brad Cole and then-Councilwoman Sheila Simon, the daughter of the late Sen. Paul Simon. I covered that race for the student newspaper, and in a story just a few weeks before the April election, Cross’ spokesman David Dring, explained why the state Republicans donated so much money to a mayoral race in this 30,000-person college town.
“We’ve been trying to do a better job of grooming young talent such as Mayor Cole,” Dring said. “If he chooses, we believe he has a bright future.”
Back to the Trib piece, Cross, who is considered a moderate, also had one other interesting point:
Still, Cross acknowledged there is no one with the authority within the GOP to stop the infighting.
“I’d like to think in an ideal world, we’d have the big strong person who comes in, bangs everybody’s head together and says, ‘This is stupid. It doesn’t accomplish anything. It hurts us,’ ” he said. “I don’t know that that person exists right now.”
But then again, maybe Republicans will be able to use the November election to start swinging things back in their favor, or at least be able to minimize the damage, according to this Stateline article.
Nationally, it is possible that the Democrats could make significant gains once again, but history is against them. Some of the biggest landslides in voting for the legislatures have come during midterm elections — 1958, 1966, 1974, 1994 and 2006 among them — and not presidential years. This pattern isn’t set in stone, but early analysis by “Out There” sees only modest legislative gains this cycle — maybe even a wash — meaning that Democratic strength in the legislatures looks likely to last for at least another cycle.
This analysis calls Illinois a “Likely D” state, but not safely Democratic. With a 67-51 split in the House and a 37-22 mix in the Senate, is the Illinois Republican Party on its way to an early grave? Or can they claw their way back into relevance? If so, how? Or would you argue that politics is cyclical and voters will begin choosing Republicans soon enough? There is even more to this story, I’m sure, and I’m interested to hear your thoughts.
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 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 17th, 2008
The New York Times had a piece today that shows Illinois isn’t the only state with budget problems, in fact, some states have it much worse.
Many states are reporting their largest budget shortfalls since the recessions of 2001 and 1991-2.
Of course, the usual suspects appear in the Times’ story as the reasons that states are hurting financially.
Ms. Lav pointed to a confluence of factors — including weak consumer spending, high energy prices, dropping housing values and growing foreclosure rates — that suggest states will face a protracted struggle to keep their budgets afloat.
Earlier we told you how the Illinois tax revenue is slowing, and the state’s mound of unpaid bills is growing by the day. In fact, even though our governor’s pet issue is health care, Illinois’ mutli-million dollar Medicaid debt landed the state on the list of states with proposed health care cuts. (Check out this great graphic that shows where Illinois and other states fall. You will need to click on the graphic to see it better.)
The governor delivered a skeleton budget this year with old revenue ideas that have failed before, but unsurprisingly, he was mum on the idea of a tax increase. A few Democratic senators, however, believe this is the only way to pay off the state’s bills.
A couple of other states agree.
While most states are looking to address their budget anguish through cuts, tax increases are occasionally broached.
The Maryland Legislature made the difficult choice of increasing the state’s sales tax to 6 percent from 5 percent, raising its corporate taxes to 8.25 percent from 7 percent, and bumping the state’s cigarette tax to $2 per pack from $1. In Kentucky, the governor has proposed a 70-cent increase on cigarette taxes, raising it to $1 a pack, and Mr. Schwarzenegger in California has spoken vaguely about closing “tax loopholes” in his state.
The piece ends with this warning:
Ray Scheppach, the executive director of the National Governors Association, said things were likely to worsen over all. “The major impact on states is the year after a recession stops or the following year,” Mr. Scheppach said, because personal income taxes tend to lag economic recoveries. “It is really sort of the worst as you begin to recover.”
March 17th, 2008
Rockford Mass Transit buses may soon carry more blue-haired passengers than normal.
RMTD spokeswoman Lisa Brown said senior citizens have been flooding the city’s mass transit office in recent weeks to make sure they can get their state-mandated free rides.
Today marks the first day that Rockford residents and others in metropolitan cities across the state can hitch a free ride on the mass transit buses.
“I think that we will see more and more people join the family of transit riders,” Brown said.
Of course, the governor, who is trying to deflect the negative publicity he is getting while a top fundraiser is on trial for federal corruption charges, is milking the free-ride story for all its worth. On Tuesday, the administration is sending one of its lackeys to Rockford, where he will be joined by other transit officials, to hold a news conference about the new option.
The press pops seemed to help Blagojevich’s poll numbers, which jumped a bit in January, and he was able to seem like he was swooping in to save the day for seniors. However, this plan did backfire when he visited seniors on the north side of Chicago.
In response to one lady who asked a lengthy question about the governor’s policies on mass transit and taxation, the governor finished with this:
“It’s not so bad. Just hold your nose and take a bus for free.”
At the end of the day, seniors got free rides and sadly for Blagojevich, the governor’s good press ended quickly.
In Rockford, people who are 65 years and older must have a RMTD-issued photo ID card to get their free ride. Brown said the office holds photo ID sessions every other Wednesday, and the sessions, which normal handle 15 people, have averaged 70 customers sinc late February.
Starting Monday, March 17, 2008, all senior citizens will be able to ride RMTD’s fixed routes for free. To take advantage of free rides To take advantage of the free rides, anyone 65 years of age or older will need an RMTD photo ID. Photo ID’s are taken every other Wednesday between 1:00 and 4:30 pm at 501 W. State Street.
The cost is $2.00 and proof of age, such as a State ID, driver’s license or birth certificate will also be required. For more information call 815.961.9000 today.
Before today, seniors purchased half-price tickets to ride the bus, but political manuevering in January created the free rides for seniors.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich agreed to break his campaign promise to not raise taxes in order break a legislative stalemate over crucial funding for the Chicago transit systems, but before doing so, he demanded the Legislature approve his free-ride provision.
In January, Brown said RMTD did not expect to lose much money on free-ride clause, because seniors, who already paid half price, also only consisted of 24,000 of the 1.4 million Rockford mass transit riders.
Rockford transit policy allows non-residents to also ride the bus, but they must have the same photo ID as Rockford riders. Because of the way the state law is written, each transit district must set their own rules, which means guidelines can vary between cities and seniors may not be able to ride for free everywhere.
March 15th, 2008
In today’s paper, I told you about the six local people who will get to attend the lavish Democratic and Republican national conventions.
These multi-million dollar parties are technically where the Republican and Democratic nominees for president get the official nod. In recent history, the country and the parties have known well before the conventions who will be the presumptive nominee.
This is because of one single word — delegates. These delegates are one part of the complex primary process we use to decide on one candidate for each party to advance to the general election in November. And no one has probably paid more attention to delegates like the country has this year.
In January, it became more and more clear that delegates were going to be an issue in the primary season, so I attempted to give you a lot of background information, including the delegates’ role at the conventions. Also Bernie Schoenberg, who also works for GateHouse newspapers, did a good job explaining what happens at the conventions.
Now after Illinois voters chose their Republican and Democratic delegates during the Feb. 5 primary, only some of those delegates could celebrate when the unofficial results came in. Those were the Republican delegates, because in Illinois, the top four vote-getting Republican delegates go to the convention.
On the Democrat side, however, the selection process is much more difficult. The votes people cast on Feb. 5 was only one part of the equation. In fact, the four people chosen from the 16th Congressional District (which includes Rockford) were ranked first, second, fourth and seventh in order of most votes received.
This is why Clinton delegate Barbara Giolitto was so surprised when I called her about being a delegate. Giolitto, who was a state representative for one term, took seventh place after Feb. 5. Rockford City Councilman Victory Bell and state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, actually received more votes than Giolitto.
So why did this happen?
Well, the national Democratic Party sets rules for the delegate process but allows the state Democratic Party to choose from a few options to ultimately decide how the Illinois delegates are chosen. Not only are the delegates doled out based on the proportional vote in a Congressional District, but other factors, such as gender equality, may play a role. Because of the proportional vote, Obama received three delegates from our district, and Clinton received one.
The gender equality factor is what allowed Giolitto to get the nod, and it is also the reason that Eleanor “Bobbie” Colbert did not. Colbert placed third, but Sunil Puri was able to leap frog her because Mary Tuite placed second and thus was the first woman to be selected.
And before you start thinking all these technicalities is a way for the Democratic Machine to control the delegates, these same rules prevented party chairman Michael Madigan’s wife, Shirely, from getting to join her fellow Democrats in Denver for the convention.
Other people have written about this process recently as well (including the even more confusing Michigan and Florida delegates):
March 12th, 2008
Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, said he is reworking his bill that aimed to help schools learn more about a job applicant’s past.
Late last week, Syverson’s bill was thrown into flux after it turned out that schools could already check the state-managed list of people who have been accused of sexual misconduct but never criminally charged.
Before the Rockford Republican could present his bill to the full Senate, however, a state agency noted existing law already allows a School District to learn about sexual misconduct in an applicant’s past.
The Department of Children and Family Services tracks potential child abusers — in which DCFS deems a complaint against somebody “founded” — and school districts can access the information if job applicants consent.
So Syverson is changing his course, saying he may introduce different legislation making it mandatory for schools to check applicant names against the DCFS list, something other agencies, like day-care providers, are required to do.
Today he said he is still working with the Department of Children and Family Services and the Illinois State Board of Education to figure out why it can take up to three months for a school district to find out whether an applicant is on such a list, and if there is some way to reduce the backlog.
He also said he is working with these state agencies to spread the word to school districts that they can access this list.
March 11th, 2008
Former Lee County Sheriff Tim Bivins on Tuesday began his first day in his new job — as the state senator from the 45th district.
The 55-year-old Dixon resident was sworn in Friday by a Lee County judge to replace retiring Sen. Todd Sieben, R-Geneseo.
Although Bivins was appointed to the seat, he still must be elected during November’s general election. Marty Mulcahey, who works for the Illinois Secretary of State and is the son of former Rep. Dick Mulcahey, is Bivins’ Democratic opponent.
In February, Bivins won the Republican primary for Sieben’s district, which includes the western part of Winnebago County and all of Stephenson County. Sieben has said he hopes his retirement will give Bivins an advantage over Mulcahey during the general election.
Bivins, who was the Lee County sheriff from 1986 to 2006, said one of his legislative initiatives will be to watch the state budget closely.
“We can’t borrow ourselves out of debt,” he said.
In the short term, Bivins’ largest task will be learning how Springfield works and of course, learning names.
“(I’ve forgotten) all of them, including my own,” he said.
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