Archive for January, 2008
January 30th, 2008
In the hotly-contested state’s attorney’s race in Winnebago County’s Republican primary, both candidates are using positive quotes from and pictures of former state’s attorney Paul Logli, who stepped down Aug. 10 2007 to accept a circuit judge appointment.
A Nicolosi mail piece features Logli’s picture and a quote he made at the August 2007 swearing-in ceremony for Phil Nicolosi, appointed by the County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen to replace him. The board ratified Scotty’s choice, 23-3.
“It’s my privilege, and I mean that, to pass this on to Phil Nicolosi, who’s going to be a great state’s attorney,” Logli said at the ceremony. That’s the quote Nicolosi used in a a recent mail piece.
Prorok has used Logli pictures and quotes in several mail pieces. The latest says Logli is among several people listed who “support” Prorok, and it uses this quote from Logli’s July, 13, 2007 letter to the County Board. In it, Logli urged Prorok’s appointment to the SA’s post: “There is no question in my mind that Mr. Prorok has the greatest depth of experience and clearest understanding of the office of state’s attorney of probably any lawyer in Winnebago County.”
So, which is it? Logli confirmed to me that yes, he has said the nice things being trumpeted by the campaigns of Nicolosi and Prorok. And Logli, now a 17th Circuit judge handling Boone County cases, seemed somewhat amused at all the attention he’s getting.
“This makes up for all the Sadie Hawkins dances I never got asked to in high school. I’m really feeling flattered,” Logli said.
Logli said, “I believe Chuck deserved the appointment then, and I believe it now. I’ve always supported Chuck for that position.” But Logli added that he’s “held off making a formal endorsement.”
And, Logli didn’t quarrel with Nicolosi’s use of complimentary quotes he made at Phil’s swearing-in ceremony last August.
“All the quotes I’ve said are accurate. The Nicolosi campaign used comments I made at the swearing in ceremony. To their credit, they called and said they had the quote. I said, I’m not going to stop you. That’s what I said.”
January 28th, 2008
Ald. Jeff Holt’s flip-flop put Mayor Larry Morrissey on the hot seat Monday night, and Morrissey had to jump.
Holt, D-8th, flipped on Jan. 14 in favor of allowing an asphalt plant to be built on the floor of Rockford Blacktop’s Mulford Quarry. But he flopped Monday night and voted against the ordinance to formalize the zoning change.
So, instead of a repeat of Jan. 14’s 8-5 yes vote, aldermen voted 7-6 for the ordinance. Morrissey asked Legal Director Pat Hayes how many votes were needed. Hayes said 8.
The only eighth vote available would have to come from Hizzoner.
Morrissey promptly voted yes.
That was greeted by hoots, boos and cynical “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” from a crowd of county residents who live near the quarry. Because the anti-asphalt plant people are mostly county residents, they’re of little risk to Morrissey’s political future as mayor.
But they could have been a big problem for Holt, who is leaving Rockford for the confines of the Cherry Valley area, where those anti-quarry people live. If Holt wants to continue his political career, it’s not nice to anger Mulford’s Wildwood Avengers.
Flip-flopping is not new for Holt. Remember, he was FOR the city’s sales tax refrendum before he was AGAINST it.
Now we’ll see whether Rockford Blacktop’s promises of a clean, odorless plant come true. The city has put 19 conditions on the plant, and the IEPA will strictly monitor it. Still, it is an asphalt making factory, not a bakery, or the minty-smelling gum factory over on Forest Hills.
Has has anyone talked to the many home owners around the Nimtz Road quarry, where Blacktop’s asphalt plant has been located for 22 years? I’d like to know if the current plant has been a problem for people who moved there well after the plant went in. Let me know.
Ald. Linda McNeely, D-13th, was absent from both votes on the asphalt plant. Does anyone know why she missed both those meetings?
January 26th, 2008
I am always delighted to see the word “trounced” in front of the word “Clinton,” and I’m enthused that Barck Obama won South Carolina in overwhelming fashion, with 55 percent of the vote against the tag team of Hill ‘n’ Bill Clinton, who got 27 percent, and John “Two Americas” Edwards, who received 18 percent.
Obama won throughout the state, in poor counties, in the richest county, among black women and white men, the young. He proved that his coalition strategy of brining diverse groups together has defeated the Clintonian politics of divide and conquer, “the old Saxon game” to quote from a Scottish folk song about the English.
Obama has been toughened by the Clinton attack machine, which pulled out all the stops in South Carolina. Bill Clinton peeled the thin curtain off the old Democratic Party establishment’s attitude about blacks — vote, but don’t get uppity — and it wasn’t pretty. Even Saturday he was doing it, comparing Obama’s win with Jesse Jackson’s victories in that state, which is his birthplace. Bill, after all, came up in politics under the sponsorship of segregationist Sen. J. William Fullbright, who knew how to keep blacks in their place in Arkansas while projecting the aura of liberal statesman around the world.
So, Bill knows fullbright-well how to play the race card. Only trouble is, gee whiz, it doesn’t work in this generation.
Best line of the night was delivered by Republican commentator Bill Bennett on CNN. He said that Obama should turn Billy’s “fairy tale” line about him to advantage, saying that some may call his campaign a fairy tale, but in reality it is the American Dream. Bennett seemed actually inspired by Obama. Bennett acknowledged that Republicans want to run against Clinton, not Obama, but that it would serve the country better if Obama would rid America of the Clintons now, not later.
I wonder if he’ll go home to the Democrats from whence he came?
Now Obama heads to Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, with 22 states holding primaries or caucuses, and many of those states — California, the biggest state, for instance — have Democratic power structures solidly in the Clintons’ camp. We’ll now see whether Obama’s grass roots change brigades can overcome the Clinton Wreckin’ Crew.
AT this point, even with the SC big win, it’s still an uphill climb for Obama. I think he ought to put Oprah back out on the road.
January 25th, 2008
I urged Mayor Larry Morrissey and Ald. Frank Beach to keep a close watch on the COLICM, site of a major league fracas last weekend. They sure did. The city sent the SWAT team of inspectors into the place and condemnd it for electrical and safety code violations. And the mayor, who is also the liquor commissioner, yanked the joint’s license because he says it was not transfered from the old owner to the new.
The city’s swift action against COLICM, has sent a strong signal to nightclub owners to run a clean, safe and above board operation. Or, in the words of Talking Heads: This ain’t no party, this aint no disco, this ain’t no foolin’ around.
January 25th, 2008
The economic stimulus package deal agreed to by President Bush and the Democratic leaders of Congress won’t have an immediate impact because it’s going to take the bureaucracies of Washington months to calculate the tax rebates.
They’ll have to write the self-congratulatory letters from Bush, Speaker of the House Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, get the envelopes stuffed and mailed by the United States Postal Service and into our mailboxes.
That should happen sometime in August, September or, who knows, October? That would be in time to make us feel good about our government in the last few weeks before the November election.
If they really wanted to stimulate the economy, Herb Allen of Main Street Financial Group in Rockford has a suggestion: just reduce the payroll tax. They could do it immediately. It would pump billions into general circulation overnight.
No letters or checks required.
Herb is logical and smart. (Full disclosure: He’d better be smart. He is the guy who invests my money.) It makes perfect sense to do the simplest thing that has the most immediate impact.
But politicians aren’t like Dr. Herb. The first thing they think about is themselves and their re-election chances. Or, in the case of “W,” his legacy.
Politicians like to make it look like they’re doing something, while in reality they won’t do anything. In our fractured republic, politicians like to keep the problems going so they can continue to blame the other guys for blocking progress. That’s the way they get re-elected.
So, they’ll send out cheery letters that tell us how responsible they are, along with the checks that won’t do anything to stimulate the economy.
Ain’t that America, Mr. Mellenkamp?
January 25th, 2008
I am happy to admit this: I had no idea who Heath Ledger was until he died.
This is an addition to my earlier post on Heath Ledger, which has attracted several comments. I’m not terribly familiar with most Hollywood movies these days because they’re not very good. I’m not in the demographic the movie makers are trying to reach, and they’re succeeding in not reaching me.
Our newspaper, the Rockford Register Star, has “Movie Man” Will Pfeifer, who has a blog, and who writes about movies and pop culture in the paper. It’s his specialty, and Will is very good at what he does. My blog is a political thing.
January 22nd, 2008
Rockford can’t afford a repeat of last weekend’s barroom brawl at the COLICM. Efforts underway to rehab the aging retail strip from Fairview to Alpine, a priority of Ald. Frank Beach, R-10th, simply can’t withstand such mayhem. Investors, especially in this financially risky environment, won’t be willing to put money into a retail and entertainment area that people don’t consider safe.
Mayor Larry Morrissey has acted swiftly to send a message to the tavern’s new owners, and shut down the sale of liquor at the COLICM until the owners properly transfer the license from the old owners to themselves. The new owners had better concentrate on improving their behavior standards. The mayor, who is the liquor commissioner, an Ald. Beach, must keep a sharp eye on this establishment..
January 22nd, 2008
Congressman Don Manzullo, R-Egan, will not immediately endorse another presidential candidate now that Fred Thompson has officially quit the race.
Manzullo was an early-on supporter of the former Tennessee senator and Hollywood actor, but Thompson never captured the imagination of enough voters to catch-on. He certainly didn’t act like an enthused candidate. Thompson without a script to read turned out to be a very boring guy.
Manzullo, first elected in 1992 and a candidate for re-election, will be neutral on the presidential race for the time being, said Rich Carter, his spokesman.
“He’s going to take some time to evaluate the economic policies and records of the remaining candidates,” Carter said Tuesday afternoon.
So, who’s remaining? Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. Thompson’s withdrawal could help Mitt, and it could also help Huck. I’m not sure Giuliani is really in the race, certainly he will be out of it if he doesn’t win Florida, the only place he’s been campaigning.
Right now it’s basically McCain, Romney, Huckabee race in the GOP.
Yes, I know Ron Paul, the white collar anarchist, is also a Republican candidate. While he has no chance of winning the nomination, he will eventually affect the outcome because at some point his supporters will migrate to other candidates.
January 22nd, 2008
Kudos once again to the city of Rockford’s public works department, newly revamped by Tim Hanson, for plowing Monday night’s snow effectively.
It figures that Hanson would know what to do when the snow falls, for he used to be the UPS site manager at RFD. Those two dozen big jets that arrive and depart each night must have clear runways — there’s no room for slush.
There, I’ve said something nice about City Hall.
January 20th, 2008
Game over. NY wins. IT’s NY and NE in the Brady Bowl. Boring.
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