Archive for January, 2009
January 30th, 2009
If it’s Friday, there’s probably something brewing with Rod Blagojevich.
Blagojevich has used Fridays for news conferences to defend himself. The first was the “fight, fight, fight” event about two weeks after he was arrested. Last Friday was his “cowboy” speech.
The Friday before that, the governor appointed a new DNR chief and the Friday before that the House voted to impeach the gov.
I can’t imagine the gov will be quiet today after the Senate voted to remove him from office Thursday. Perhaps today is the day he’ll announce he’s filing a lawsuit.
I can’t imagine we’ll go through a Friday without hearing something from or about the governor.
January 29th, 2009
We watched part of Blagojevich’s speech during our editorial board meeting today. We missed this part:
Now, I understand the importance of JCAR committee, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. I understand that six of you here in the Senate are members of that. The fact that you’d be picked to be on JCAR means you’re in good standing with your legislative leaders. I remember when I was a legislator. I remember when I was a freshman in Congress and I got a chance to be on what they called a conference committee when you get to sit with the leaders of the different committees in the House and in the Senate and what a thrill it was for me to be able to, as a freshman congressman, be in a room with legendary U.S. senators like John Glenn and Ted Kennedy and John McCain and John Warner, the senator from Virginia who incidentally had once been married to Elizabeth Taylor. That’s all I could think about when I saw him in that room. And then he asked me for a cup of coffee because he thought I was a staffer. And I didn’t tell him I was a congressman instead I went and asked him, “How do you take it?” And he said “Black.” And I went and got him the coffee. I saw him the following weekend and he asked me for another cup of coffee. He obviously forgot I was a congressman.
A couple of responses: Too bad Starbucks isn’t in a hiring mode … he might have had a good future there. AND … if he would have added cream to the coffee it would have been bleeping golden.
January 29th, 2009
Everyone predicts Rod Blagojevich will be out of office today. His belongings have been boxed up and Pat Quinn is ready to move in.
The soon-to-be-ex governor is expected to make his case to the Senate at 11. The Senate will take a break at 12:30 and then the prosecutor will come back and rebut whatever it was that Blago had to say. Deliberations are scheduled to begin at 2.
Don’t feel too sorry for Blago. Even if he’s impeached, he’ll still be entitled to a better pension than most of the hardworking people in Illinois.
January 28th, 2009
Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn told the Tribune that if he becomes governor, the signs crediting open-road tolling to Rod Blagojevich will come down ASAP.
Quinn called the signs a symbol of “pompous government.” Read the full story HERE.
Lately I think the tollway has been a lot like Blagojevich’s story — full of holes.
January 27th, 2009
Our new U.S. senator, Roland Burris, is collecting a state pension because of his years as a comptroller and attorney general, but he won’t get a federal pension unless he runs for election in 2010 and wins.
According to Rich Carter, a spokesman for U.S. Rep Don Manzullo, members of the House and Senate must serve five years before they are vested for a pension. A few readers thought Burris would be eligible for a federal pension even if he served only a day.
Burris annual salary as a U.S. senator is $169,300.
January 22nd, 2009
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s selection of Kurt Granberg as director of the Department of Natural Resources hasn’t received nearly the attention the governor’s nomination of Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate did. Granberg’s nomination, like Burris’ is expected to be confirmed in the state Senate.
The only editorial I’ve seen that opposes the appointment appeared in the Belleville News Democrat. Read it HERE.
Granberg’s pension will be based on his salary as DNR director even if he only serves on the job for a day. He’ll make more retired than while he was working as a state rep and we taxpayers will foot the bill.
There’s nothing illegal there, it’s just how the system was set up.
State Sen. Dave Syverson told me he didn’t think the Senate could block the nomination. State Rep. Dave Winters said that Granberg is one of the “good old boys” and has made plenty of friends in the Senate.
Of course his best friend right now has to be the governor. The governor sat on this appointment for almost three years so the timing would suggest that Blagojevich is trying to show everyone that he’s still in charge.
January 21st, 2009
Whatever is in the results of an internal survey of the Rockford Police Department can’t be as embarrassing as what our imaginations think might be in the report — or can it?
The reluctance, which borders on defiance, of city officials to release the survey results adds to the distrust between city management and rank-and-file officers and feeds the voting public’s cynicism about government.
The Illinois Attorney General’s office considers the survey “public records which should be made available for public inspection.” Judge Ron Pirrello has twice ordered the survey’s release. Yet city leaders persist in keeping the results to themselves and plan to appeal Pirrello’s latest order.
In the absence of information, the void is filled with all kinds of theories. The distrust those theories create is the greatest embarrassment.
January 19th, 2009
On Friday the governor appointed Kurt Granberg the new director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Granberg had been a state rep since 1987. He resigned his House seat before the House voted to impeach the governor. Some facts speak for themselves and need no comment.
There’s nothing in Granberg’s background that suggests he has any training or even interest in the outdoors. The closest I saw was that he’s “said to be a bird hunter.”
Granberg has been rumored to be the next DNR chief for about a year if not longer. The timing seems suspect. Looks like the governor wants to give the appearance that he’s still on the job and still in charge.
The Illinois Senate is supposed to confirm the appointment. If state senators thought it was wrong for the governor to appoint Roland Burris to U.S. Senate, will they be outraged by this appointment?
I think the DNR chief should have some credentials, whether it be a degree in biology, zoology, whatever, or at least an avid interest in the outdoors.
January 16th, 2009
Machesney Park Village President Linda Vaughn sent me this e-mail in response to today’s column:
I read with interest your editorial on government officials’ pay. You mentioned some of the smaller municipalities and gave them credit for reducing or maintaining elected officials’ pay. It would be nice to see the paper give credit to the Village of Machesney Park for our consistent approach at holding the line on elected officials’ pay.
Machesney Park is slightly larger in population than Loves Park. Yet my salary is $20,000 less than that of the Loves Park Mayor. (Beginning May 1, I will make less than the Loves Park Clerk and Treasurer.) The Machesney Park Clerk’s salary is also roughly $20,000 less than that of Loves Park’s clerk. The Machesney Park Treasurer’s salary is $4,500 per year. Trustees receive $7,800 per year, an amount that has been constant for the past eight years. The Mayor and Clerk received a minimal pay increase last year and the Treasurer and Trustees received no increase. In fact, salaries for the Mayor and Clerk are tied to the CPI by Village ordinance, which, this year, will most likely compute to a decrease in pay. Based on figures from Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2008, if I was to receive a raise today it would be $64 per year or $5.30 per month.
On a related note, the method of government that Machesney Park uses has helped the Village remain less affected than others by the downturn in the economy. Through outsourcing and contracting (such as police services, snow and ice control, garbage) the Village does not carry the burden of benefits, pensions, and other related costs that most cities have. Machesney Park has only 12 full-time employees for a community of nearly 24,000 people. All this in a Village that does not levy a property tax. While the Village has consistently taken a conservative approach to budgeting, it will not be necessary to eliminate personnel or extensive budget cuts with the budget we are preparing for FY 2009-2010. We have been a model for other communities in Illinois in the way we do business, and have made presentations at state conferences on contracting and outsourcing. Residents living in Machesney Park are getting more for their tax dollars than the majority of people living in Winnebago County,
Thanks for your work in pointing out elected officials salaries. In future articles I ask that you please point out the communities that have in past years, and continue to, operate an affordable government for residents by keeping costs down.
January 14th, 2009
Most of the people I talked to and most of the people quoted in Mike Wiser’s story this morning prefer a primary over a caucus. The turnout last night was 133 people and if you subtract the candidates, their families and elected officials who came to show their support, you probably had 50-75 people. As one reader who posted a comment at the end of Mike’s story noted, that seems more like elitism than democracy.
One of the things I thought was unfair was that people could vote and leave before all the candidates had their three minutes at the podium. Adam Prymak was the last speaker and pointed out how township officials approved nice raises for themselves without much outcry from the media. His message of being a good steward with taxpayer dollars should have resonated with Republicans, but by the time he walked on stage, there were about 75 people left. He was not chosen to advance to the general election.
I do agree with John Sweeney, one of the precinct committeemen who voted to have a caucus, on at least one thing. The caucus did give folks a chance to talk to meet the candidates, which is better than reading about a candidate in a flier.
However, the same thing could have been accomplised with a cocktail party. I talked to a lot of elected officials past and present last night and it reminded me of being at the Register Star’s Excalibur Awards banquet — without the food or drink.
I want to thank Carl LaBella, a retired teacher, for being my guide last night. Carl introduced me to a lot of folks and kept me company most of the night.
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