October 27th, 2009 03:36pm
Chuck Sweeny
Andy McKenna, who quit the Illinois Republican chairmanship last summer, has joined the race for governor in the February 2010 GOP primary.
McKenna comes with a pre-packaged lieutenant governor running mate, state Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine. McKenna says he’s against raising taxes and says the state must make serious spending cuts. According to the Sun-Times he criticized spending $2.5 million on the lieutenant governor’s office even though the post is vacant.
Here’s a hint, Andy. Have your running-mate vow to quit the lite gov’s office if elected — because there’s really nothing for the lite gov to do except wait for the governor to be removed from office — and then reallocate the lite gov’s budget to debt reduction.
Meanwhile: I expect former attorney general and 2002 Republican governor candidate Jim Ryan to run again for the GOP nomination. He has a website, www.jimryan2010.com, and on it are printable petitions.
Ryan could have a good shot at the nomination because voters may feel guilty for snubbing the quiet candidate in 2002. Instead they went for the Elvis-singing, basketball-twirling, fast-talking Rod Blagojevich, and the rest is misery.
Ryan’s web site features a 2002 TV commercial that says, in part, “He’s faced his share of challenges. Some he could prepare for, some he couldn’t. But he never quit, and he never let us down. A man of integrity and strength, a governor who will make us proud. ”
The campaign could re-run that commercial, with the added words, “Remember what could have been? It still could be. Jim Ryan. For Governor.”
Ryan still has campaign consultant Dan Curry on board.
Meanwhile, state Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Elmhurst, another gov candidate, has hired Rockford native Wes Bleed as his communications director. Wes was, until recently, the longtime news director of WGN radio in Chicago.
October 23rd, 2009 09:13pm
Chuck Sweeny
U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Egan, makes it official Monday: He’s running for another term. Manzullo was first elected in 1992 and has been easily re-elected every two years since then.
Manzullo has no opposition in his party. Last week, Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp surprised everyone — especially Manzullo — when he said he will run for Manzullo’s seat as a Democrat.
October 23rd, 2009 01:26pm
Chuck Sweeny
Soupy Sales, 83, has died.
The slapstick comedian who threw whipped cream pies in people’s faces, was watched by millions of Baby Boomers on TV. I never cared too much for Soupy, but I did watch him sometimes. I think his show was on Saturdays at noon. (I was more of a Lone Ranger fan.)
However, I must confess to attending a performance starring Soupy Sales in “Hellzapoppin 67.” Soupy was appearing in the show at Expo ‘67 in Montreal, Quebec.
My friend Steve Anderson and I traveled by bus to Montreal to go to the fair, a fantastic experience. No, not the bus ride. We hated that 24-hour ride (changed buses at Toronto) so much we turned in our return tickets in Montreal and bought train tickets back. Changed trains at Toronto, but the ride was much better.
We stayed for two weeks at my Aunt Maggie’s house in Dorval and took the CP commuter train every morning downtown, then rode the Metro and light-rail trains to Expo. We’d come home late at night and order chicken delivered from St. Hubert Bar B-Q. (The popular Quebec chicken chain started in Montreal in 1951, in a small shop on rue St. Hubert.)
Soupy’s death ironically brought back fond memories of a wonderful two weeks at what was probably the last really big-time, world-class World’s Fair. It was the era of the Cold War, and the Soviet Union and U.S. tried to outdo one another with competing pavilions. The Soviet one featured a simulated ride into space, an exhibit called “Atoms for Peace” and exhibits describing Soviet life as the Soviets wanted it shown. Outside the steel and glass building with a sweeping, curved roof, was a giant hammer and sickle and the numbers 1917-1967. The U.S.S.R. was 50 years old in 1967.
The U.S. pavilion was completley different: a 250-foot high Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome that featured American pop-culture as well as science and technology. I recall an Elvis guitar, Andy Warhol paintings and Hollywood movies. We put our space technology on show, too.
Oh, and did I mention that the Trinidad-Tobago-Grenada pavilion had a superb steel-drum band that performed on an island in an artificial lagoon?
October 22nd, 2009 04:08pm
Chuck Sweeny
Here’s a news release Rockford Legal Director Patrick Hayes just sent out. It’s written in a language I’m calling “Purple Hayes”:
ROCKFORD – October 22, 2009 – The Rockford Police Department announced the
withdrawal of electronic control devices from daily use by the department effective
on the commencement of today’s afternoon shift at 4:00 p.m. The announcement was
in response to the supplier’s revised warnings, which modified the preferred target
area. The notice was received Wednesday afternoon, and the City took action today
following internal meetings on the content of the bulletin.
The modified warnings will require extensive review and potentially revision of
policies and training if the device is to be re-deployed. The police department will
continue its review of the bulletin, but in the interim determined the best course of
action was to withdraw the units from daily use.
Now, here it is in Chuckster’s English: Rockford Police will stop using Tasers at 4 p.m. today because the manufacturer advised police agencies not to aim the 50,000 volt weapons at people’s chests. Taser officials said Wednesday there’s a low risk of what they called an “adverse cardiac event” when people are hit in the chest.
The RPD will study whether to change the target area or whether to even use Tasers again.
See, Patrick, that wasn’t difficult, was it?
October 22nd, 2009 03:27pm
Chuck Sweeny
Gov. Pat Quinn was supposed to stop at Chicago Rockford International Airport late Thursday afternoon on his airborne trip around the state to announce his candidacy for governor.
We got the word in the News Tower from a veteran Democratic official, not from Quinn’s campaign. We waited for something from the Quinn campaign.
Thursday morning, nothing had come, so I called the veteran Democratic official again (OK, it’s Doug Aurand,) and he said Quinn was not coming to Rockford.
Oh, Quinn did do a nine-city fly-around, but Rockford was not on the flight plan.
I am disappointed. But I am not surprised. This is generally the way Rockford has been treated by Springfield politicians — for generations. It can be summed up in this oft-repeated quote from former Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago: “Rockford? Where’s Rockford?”
If only we could secede from Illinois and join the Badger State maybe we could get some respect.
October 22nd, 2009 10:05am
Chuck Sweeny
Did you know Winnebago County has a song? Neither did I.
Chuck Newburg from down the block came across this song in a book published in 1902. It was one of three songs under the title of “A Trinity of School Songs, the county, the state, the nation.” The song lyrics were written by Harriott Wight Sheratt of Rockford, on Oct. 23, 1901.
This is sung to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic:
From the groves of Winnebago where the limpid water gleams,
Where the watch-fires of the Indians blazed along the rushing streams,
Where our fathers built their altars, where they dreamed prophetic dreams,
Our children lift their song.
Chorus:
God be with thee Winnebago,
Glory, glory Winnebago,
Hallelujah, Winnebago,
Our children lift their song.
2.
From the homes of Winnebago to where our mothers knelt in praer,
Where their cabin fires were lighted in this new world fresh and fair,
From the kingdom of the fireside where the happy children are,
They lift triumphant song.
Chorus last line: They lift triumphant song.
3.
From the fields of Winnebago where her golden harvests lie,
From the busy towns and cities underneath her sunny sky,
Lift the song of glad rejoicing, let all woe and discord die,
For God hath blessed the land.
Chorus, last line: For God hath blessed the land.
4.
Lift the flag o’er Winnebago, sacred flag to me and mine,
Flag our fathers bore in triumph o’er the battle’s deadly line,
Emblem of our righteous freedom, freedom born of law divine,
Our fathers’ flag and ours.
Chorus last line: Our fathers’ flag and ours.
5.
Grant O God of Winnebago, and of all the sons of men,
That the cannon’s lips be silent, that they may not speak again,
Let the sword drop from the scabbard, while the people cry amen.
Let Peace reign evermore.
Chorus last line: Let peace reign evermore.
OK, so the lyrics are archaic. They are also poignant, when you ponder this: At the beginning of the 20th century, this song expressed the hope that that cannons — I’m sure they were talking about the cannons of the 1861-65 Civil War — would be forever silent and that peace would reign.
The 20th century turned out to be the bloodiest, most violent and horrific century in the history of mankind.
October 21st, 2009 10:22pm
Chuck Sweeny
One year ago Derek Bergsten was a fire captain on Engine Co. 2. On Nov. 14, he was transformed into Rockford’s fire chief, overseeing a $37 million budget and a full-time emergency response force that includes 270 sworn members, 255 of whom staff the city’s 11 fire stations around the clock.
In his short tenure, Bergsten, 39, has had to deal with budget crises, layoffs, union negotiations and callbacks. But he’s not complaining.
“This is one of the things I’ve always wanted to do,” Bergsten says. “I enjoy the challenge. This is a wonderful group of people with a passion for what they do. Everybody here likes what they do.”
Tight times mean the department has left positions vacant when people move on. Six firefighter recruits were laid off, only to be rehired a week later when firefighters and City Hall agreed on a contract. The sworn staff is down 10 positions from its authorized strength. There’s little money to buy new equipment.
The city needs to add at least one, maybe two ambulances if Bergsten can find money to buy them at $180,000 a pop. The need is great because the city’s population is aging and getting poorer. More than three-fourths of the fire department’s 23,635 calls in 2008 were for medical emergencies. The vehicle fleet doesn’t reflect that ratio. Rockford has 13 working fire engines of various types, and five working ambulances. The similarly sized cities of Naperville, Aurora and Elgin have six to seven ambulances each.
Bergsten says the department can’t cut fire engines because Rockford ranks second only to Chicago in the number of fires. The department also needs to update the fire engine fleet, but a new, basic fire engine costs $270,000.
A better deal would be to buy used engines from Madison, Wis., which replaces them after 10 years and buys top-of-the line Pierce trucks made in Osh Kosh, Wis. Rockford could buy used Madison trucks for $25,000 to $30,000 a piece.
I asked the chief why Rockford dispatches a fire engine to medical emergencies before sending an ambulance. The result is five or six people and two vehicles responding to Grandma’s “I’m having trouble breathing” call.
That’s on purpose, Bergsten says. Engines respond from the nearest fire station and usually arrive within four minutes. Today’s firefighters are either EMTs or paramedics with a higher level of training. (All firefighters on board more than three months are EMTs. They then must train to be paramedics.)
So, when the firefighters arrive, they’re bringing a mobile emergency room with them into the home. They perform life-saving procedures and transmit complex, computerized information to the receiving hospital so that doctors will know exactly what protocol to follow when the patient is delivered, Bergsten says.
The department still performs fire safety inspections on homes, and you can call 815-987-5660 to request one. If you don’t have a smoke detector, you can get one free, through a grant program. The department also inspects homes when it makes emergency calls — 18,000 were done last year.
Bergsten knows from experience that this kind of routine safety check saves lives.
“I went on a medical call, and we noticed the house didn’t have a smoke detector, We put one in. Four months later we had fire call from that house. A child had been lighting matches. The smoke detector saved the people’s lives.”One year ago Derek Bergsten was a fire captain on Engine Co. 2. On Nov. 14, he was transformed into Rockford’s fire chief, overseeing a $37 million budget and a full-time emergency response force that includes 270 sworn members, 255 of whom staff the city’s 11 fire stations around the clock.
In his short tenure, Bergsten, 39, has had to deal with budget crises, layoffs, union negotiations and callbacks. But he’s not complaining.
“This is one of the things I’ve always wanted to do,” Bergsten says. “I enjoy the challenge. This is a wonderful group of people with a passion for what they do. Everybody here likes what they do.”
Tight times mean the department has left positions vacant when people move on. Six firefighter recruits were laid off, only to be rehired a week later when firefighters and City Hall agreed on a contract. The sworn staff is down 10 positions from its authorized strength. There’s little money to buy new equipment.
The city needs to add at least one, maybe two ambulances if Bergsten can find money to buy them at $180,000 a pop. The need is great because the city’s population is aging and getting poorer. More than three-fourths of the fire department’s 23,635 calls in 2008 were for medical emergencies. The vehicle fleet doesn’t reflect that ratio. Rockford has 13 working fire engines of various types, and five working ambulances. The similarly sized cities of Naperville, Aurora and Elgin have six to seven ambulances each.
Bergsten says the department can’t cut fire engines because Rockford ranks second only to Chicago in the number of fires. The department also needs to update the fire engine fleet, but a new, basic fire engine costs $270,000.
A better deal would be to buy used engines from Madison, Wis., which replaces them after 10 years and buys top-of-the line Pierce trucks made in Osh Kosh, Wis. Rockford could buy used Madison trucks for $25,000 to $30,000 a piece.
I asked the chief why Rockford dispatches a fire engine to medical emergencies before sending an ambulance. The result is five or six people and two vehicles responding to Grandma’s “I’m having trouble breathing” call.
That’s on purpose, Bergsten says. Engines respond from the nearest fire station and usually arrive within four minutes. Today’s firefighters are either EMTs or paramedics with a higher level of training. (All firefighters on board more than three months are EMTs. They then must train to be paramedics.)
So, when the firefighters arrive, they’re bringing a mobile emergency room with them into the home. They perform life-saving procedures and transmit complex, computerized information to the receiving hospital so that doctors will know exactly what protocol to follow when the patient is delivered, Bergsten says.
The department still performs fire safety inspections on homes, and you can call 815-987-5660 to request one. If you don’t have a smoke detector, you can get one free, through a grant program. The department also inspects homes when it makes emergency calls — 18,000 were done last year.
Bergsten knows from experience that this kind of routine safety check saves lives.
“I went on a medical call, and we noticed the house didn’t have a smoke detector, We put one in. Four months later we had fire call from that house. A child had been lighting matches. The smoke detector saved the people’s lives.”
October 17th, 2009 11:06pm
Chuck Sweeny
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Chinese General Sun-Tzu, circa 400 BC.
“Michael, you have to learn to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. “Don Vito Corleone to Michael Corleone in
The Godfather II.
“Mr. President, what were you thinking?” Me.
The lesson taught by Sun Tzu and Don Vito is evidently one that Mr. Obama did not learn in Political Science 101. He had his communications director, Anita Dunn, go on pit bull duty last week and attack the entire Fox News Channel, saying the network is the propaganda arm of the Republican Party.
This naturally gave the opinion show hosts on Fox a license to increase their attacks on Obama and play the victim.
They’ve been talking up the O’criticism all week. Plus, Glenn Beck found video of Anita Dunn telling college or high school graduates, (I’m not sure which) that her favorite philosophers are Chairman Mao, the butcher of China, and Mother Teresa, the compassionate caregiver of Calcutta. She gave the graduates a Mao quote, “You fight your war, I’ll fight mine.” But there was nothing from Mother Teresa.
See what’s going on here? Fox is now in full attack mode, when it was not before. Although liberals who don’t watch Fox love to attack the channel, it has more liberals on its network than MSNBC has conservatives.
On Fox you can regularly hear NPR’s Mara Liaison and Juan Williams, and of course Geraldo has his own show. Shep Smith’s news hour is scrupulously fair and balanced.
Sure, overall Fox has a conservative slant, just as ABC, NBC, CBS and MSNBC have liberal slants. CNN is generally neutral, except for Lou Dobbs, who must be Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s favorite talk show host.
No, if I were Mr. President, I would do what former Rockford mayor John McNara did in his first term as mayor in the early 1980s. The 4th ward alderman, Ken Staaf, was a frequent critic of McNamara. The mayor decided that instead of attacking back, he would make Staaf the chairman of a key committee. Making Staaf a player neutralized criticism and actually produced better results focity.
Instead of attacking Fox by refusing to call on its correspondents, refusing to go on Fox News Sunday when he went on every other Sunday show, and sending Anita Dunn to label Fox a Republican front, Obama should go on an “openness offensive.” Go on Fox. A lot. Go on Fox News Sunday. Go on Mike Huckabee’s show (Huck just might because he might be the GOP nominee in 2012.)
Who does the White House thinks watches Fox News? They’ve got the best ratings in cable TV news, and the audience isn’t made up only of Republican base voters. A politically smart Obama would be very close to Fox - on a first name basis, actually.
October 13th, 2009 03:07pm
Chuck Sweeny
Rich Carter, U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo’s press secretary, sent along this man-bites-dog news story from AP — Democratic unions opposing the Max Baucus health are plan that passed the Senate Finance Committee this morning on a 14-9 vote:
Says Carter: “The Baucus bill is supposed to be the one that mostly closely matches the President’s principles.”
Unions will oppose Baucus bill unless it’s changed
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top labor lobbyist says about 30 unions will run a full-page ad in newspapers Wednesday announcing their opposition to the Senate Finance Committee’s health overhaul bill.
The ad says that unless the bill brought to the Senate floor makes substantial progress to address the concerns of working men and women, unions will oppose it.
The legislative director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Chuck Loveless, says unions are unhappy that the legislation lacks a publicly run insurance plan and would tax insurers that provide expensive coverage.
Sponsors included the AFL-CIO and the Communications Workers of America. The ad will run in The Washington Post, USA Today and Capitol Hill newspapers.
An update: The powerful American Federation of Teachers has just weighed in on the Baucus bill:
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate Finance Committee’s healthcare reform bill was developed with good intentions, but it has serious defects that could jeopardize insurance affordability for both the insured and the uninsured. The only way to truly reform our healthcare system and strengthen our economy is to make health insurance affordable so it is accessible. The Finance Committee’s failure to include a robust national public plan to provide competition to private insurers makes achieving this goal difficult, if not impossible.
The subsidies available in the bill’s health insurance exchanges for the uninsured are inadequate, making the cost of health insurance out of reach for many families and individuals. But affordability doesn’t just affect the uninsured. It also affects the more than 160 million workers and their families, who through negotiations or otherwise, have employer-provided coverage. Over $1,000 from the premium of each family plan—paid by employers and employees—actually subsidizes the cost of the uninsured. The Finance Committee’s bill’s health insurance tax increases will add to these costs and become, in effect, a tax on the middle class.
The mark of true health care reform is that it is affordable, accessible and encourages—not discourages—good and continued coverage for the already insured. These goals cannot be achieved without a public option, nor can they be achieved by increasing the tax burden on middle-class workers with employer-provided coverage.
The AFT will continue to fight for true healthcare reform, and we urge members of Congress to vote only for a bill that provides it.
October 13th, 2009 12:02pm
Chuck Sweeny
BELVIDERE — State Rep. Ron Wait, R-69th, who has been in the House for all but two years since 1983, is stepping down from that job and will instead run for the newly-created position of Boone County judge.
Wait’s exit clears the field for a new representative in the district that takes in all of Boone County, a small part of DeKalb County and a wide swath of Winnebago County. Already, there are two Rockford-based candidates for the seat, Ald. Joe Sosnowski, R-1, and Michele Corirossi. No Democratic candidates have surfaced.
The district, which will be redrawn after the 2010 census, has been safe for most Republicans, although Democrat Barb Giolitto dethroned Wait in 1992 in what was widely interpreted as a reaction to Wait’s perceived inaction in the House. Wait took back the seat in 1994.
Wait, who made his campaign announcement at the Boone County Courthouse, said he welcomes the new challenge.
“As one great experience comes to an end, another opportunity arises. It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that I will not be seeking reelection to represent the people of the 69th Legislative District. Yet I am excited for the new horizon ahead and I know I can further serve the people by being their next judge,” Wait said.
Wait, 65, has been a teacher, lawyer, farmer, and accountant. In the House he served on the Criminal Law and Civil Law committees for over a decade.
“A vast majority of the types of laws a Circuit Judge would have to rule upon come through these two committees. Civil law deals with divorce, child support and custody, contracts, torts (accidents), and many other types of issues,” Wait’s campaign announcement said.
Wait said he believes in law and order, “as seen through my passage of laws isolating gang members. As judge, I will not let my personal feelings or past experiences sway my judgment. If a person breaks the law, then they will be punished accordingly. To me, this is just common sense and that is how I plan to rule if I was so honored to be elected as your Resident Circuit Judge of Boone County.”
Wait is the first announced candidate to enter the judge race.
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