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 The Illinois Chamber of
Commerce sponsored the
first gubernatorial debate last week and by all accounts, it
was a runaway success.
The debate held at North Central College and sponsors and
attendees came away very happy with the results. The four GOP
candidates, State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, State Senator
Bill Brady, businessman Ron Gidwitz and businessman Jim
Oberweis debated for 60 minutes before a crowd comprised
largely of the Naperville business
community. Many in attendance
enjoyed the lively debate but felt more details could have
been provided.
There is already
talk that Naperville could play host to
a televised debate during the general election, as well. Plans are already
being made for such an opportunity. "That very night, as soon
as it was over, the station manager at CBS approached me and
said she was absolutely thrilled and said she would love to do
another one for the general election," said Laura Crawford,
vice president of marketing and legislative communications for
the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, one of the debate's
sponsors. One major hurdle is
getting a major Democratic state-wide candidate to sign on to
a debate in heavily Republican
Naperville.
The Illinois
Chamber will sponsor a
second GOP debate in conjunction with Business Lobby Day on
March 7th in Springfield. The debate will be
carried live on ABC News Channel 20. The Chamber has
invited the Democratic candidates, Gov. Blagojevich and Edwin
Eisendrath, to debate in a similar fashion. Eisendrath has
accepted but, as of yet, there is no word from the Blagojevich
camp. |
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As
reported in this morning's Chicago Tribune, Gov.
Blagojevich's lawyers have elected to use an unusual defense
that has met with judicial approval. Blagojevich is being
sued by a number of fired state correctional employees who
claim they lost their jobs "because
of politics in the governor's personnel decisions or because
they criticized decisions they said threatened prison
safety." The
attorney representing the 16 former state workers points to
Blagojevich's promises made during and after the '02
campaign.
In
defense of the Governor, his lawyers claim that Blagojevich's
promises were "classic political puffery." Certainly an
interesting defense for a sitting Governor seeking re-election
based upon policies, programs and promises set and made during
his first term.
Given the voters level of disapproval for Blagojevich,
this unusual defense could become fodder for the upcoming
campaign season. |
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Illinois continues to look
for new forms of revenue to prop up the State's struggling
finances.
However, it appears that Illinois will not be joining other
states and municipalities by leasing Illinois toll roads to
private management firms. "The
focus right now is making Illinois the only state with open
road tolling, and building the I-355 extension," said Bradley
Tusk, the governor's top policy
aide.
Indiana this past week
entered into a $3.85 billion deal to lease its toll road to a
private interest for 75 years. Chicago
recently sold operating rights of the Skyway for $1.4
billion. Now a
number of business groups and political leaders are urging
Illinois to consider such an
option. It is
hard to tell what price Illinois could set for such
a valuable asset.
Currently, the Illinois toll road is 286 miles, twice
as long as Indiana's and carries 10
times as many cars.
Merrill Lynch reported that the New York and New
Jersey toll roads could bring $20-$30
billion.
Illinois Tollway
Director Jack Hartman announced
last week that he was stepping down after three years on
the job. Hartman
will be joining a construction-related firm and said he will
not do any work with the
tollway. |
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Last
year, Gov. Blagojevich signed into law a new provision that will
allow Illinois voters the ability to vote up to a month prior
to Election Day.
For the March 21 primary, voters will begin voting as
early as February 21.
Early voting is essentially voting absentee but the
voter does not have to provide a reason for voting early.
The idea
behind the new law is to increase voter turnout. As it turns out, in
the 18 states with early voting, turn out has not increased
but as many as 40-50% of voters have chosen to voter
early. This
pattern could assist election officials save money in the long
run by not having to provide large numbers of judges and staff
for one day voting.
On the
flip side, early voting may cause candidates to spend more
money to get messages to voters up to a month early. Many campaigns
back-end their media expenditures knowing that voters will be
going to the polls on one particular day and campaigns load up
on mail, TV and radio just prior to election day. With early voting,
campaigns will have to switch tactics a bit to ensure that
they get their supporters out in case they are unable to swing
undecideds during a longer voting
period. |
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There is
no debate that mercury is a poison, and no longer a debate
over whether coal-burning power plants will cut their
emissions of it. But thanks to a proposal by Gov. Blagojevich,
there now is a debate over whether Illinois should make deeper
and faster cuts than those pushed by the Bush administration.
The threat from Washington's
slower approach is not clear enough, and Blagojevich's
proposed solution not promising enough, for us to say
Illinois should. Read
the whole thing... |
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