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PI apologizes for
last week's interruption due to vacation-related technical
difficulties. For
this week, we have included a couple of the high-light
articles from the "lost" edition. |
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Nearly
every state in the nation has experienced a rebounding
economy. It turns out, though, that Illinois is not enjoying the
benefits of other states. Illinois
finished Fiscal Year 2005 with a $3 Billion deficit and is
in the hole a total of $17 Billion! Only two other
states finished with a deficit for the year, Wisconsin and North
Carolina and New Jersey is the only other
state that had negative net assets. Finally, Illinois finished 49th for
total of all funds on hand.
John
Filan, Illinois Budget Director, says that the picture is
better than the figures indicate. "In terms of running
the joint day-to-day, so to speak, we've taken in more money
than we've spent," Filan said. The deficit is being
blamed on the previous Republican administration even though
Gov. Blagojevich has been in office over 3 1/2 years and has
announced every year that the state's budget is
balanced. |
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Last week
was a busy week for the Blagojevich hiring scandal as it was
revealed that well into the second year of the administration,
the Governor's Chief of Staff Lon Monk was still
signing off on hiring's by name and that the
administration hid federal subpoenas from the media, staff
and agency directors.
Initially, the
administration claimed that it had cleaned up the process by
which people were hired into Illinois government by
making the system "blind"; by removing names from the
selection process. It was then reported that in fact
well into 2003 names were still being used. The excuse
then was that the forms they were using were left-over from
George Ryan and that since then names had been removed from
the forms. Last week, documents were revealed, however,
that into 2004, Joe Cini, the Governor's patronage chief and
Lon Monk, his current campaign manager were personally
approving hiring decisions for positions such as film office
intern and other non-political
positions.
Additionally, it
came to light last week that the Governor's chief legal
counsel did not request documents and computer records from
numerous state agencies in order to assist with the on-going
federal probe. In reality, the records were ordered by a
federal subpoena, which the Governor's office hid from the
public and agency directors. The Blagojevich
administration contends that they can no longer discuss the
on-going investigation because of privacy
concerns.
Finally,
last week Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office announced
that it was reviewing Blagojevich claims that it cannot speak
about the federal subpoenas. Blagojevich has argued
that the subpoenas are based on confidential proceedings and
cannot be released or discussed. However, Madigan's
office noted last week that AG Madigan interprets the state's
Freedom of Information Act to cover subpoenas as public
documents. |
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The last
time a Republican controlled the Cook County Board presidency,
it was 1966 and Richard Ogilvie was elected. History has an outside
chance of repeating itself in 2006, according to some
pundits.
County Board Commissioner Tony
Peraica is the GOP nominee and has been running a steady race
during all of the chaos following President John Stroger's
stroke, his eventual win over a strong Democratic primary
opponent and the ensuing battle to replace Stroger. Peraica now faces
Stroger's son, Alderman Todd Stroger for the President's
seat.
 "Yes, he (Peraica) has a chance," said
Dick Simpson, professor of political science at University of
Illinois at Chicago. But he cautioned, "It's not going to be
easy, and Peraica is still the underdog." Part
of Peraica's "underdog" status, apart from his political party
affiliation, is that some of his political views may be seen
as too conservative in liberal-leaning Cook
County. However, that may be
overcome by a general dissatisfaction among Democratic voters
with the closed-door politics of Cook County Democrats. Susan Marks, a former
Claypool supporter, is the type of Democrat voter that Peraica
will need to entice in order to win. Marks said of the
selection process, "they were irresponsible and blatantly
disrespectful of the voting public in choosing a candidate
because of his parentage. It so contradicts the idea of living
in a democracy."
Peraica recently released a poll completed by a
respected polling firm showing him leading Todd Stroger by 4
points. |
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In
a move that angered many in his own party, Governor
Blagojevich used his executive power to provide $5 million in
funding for stem cell research. This year's surprise
funding was transferred from an executive agency and was not a
line item in this year's budget. Last year, the
Governor provided $10 million in funding from a line item
entitled "Research".
Last year's move surprised members of both parties and
lead to direct questioning of the Governor during this year's
budget negotiations by legislative members of his own
party.
 State Rep. Gary Hannig, the Democrats
lead budget negotiator told the administration that a budget
with even $1 of stem cell money would not pass. "So
we told the governor and the comptroller, who is also very
interested in the process, that they should pursue the issue
with a separate appropriation bill" to keep the issue separate
from the main budget," Hannig said. Hannig added that this
move by the Governor further weakens his relationship with the
General Assembly.
The relationship between the executive and legislative
branches has been strained to the point that most agreements
are now put in writing as memorandums of agreement.
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 State Senator Christine Radogno and
banker Alexi Giannoulias met in debate in Chicago
last week at an event sponsored by the National Association of
Women Business Owners.
During the
debate, both candidates were restrained in their
comments.
Following the event, however, in separate media
briefings, each candidate took several swipes at their
opponent.
Radogno,
the GOP nominee, mentioned the fact that Giannoulias' family
bank has reportedly made a number of loans to convicted felons
in recent years.
"My
question is: Is that the person we want representing the
public, who thinks that that's a perfectly acceptable
practice? I don't believe that's true. I think that we need
more integrity in government, not less," Radogno
said. Giannoulias
responded by saying that his campaign had addressed this issue
and said of Radogno, "She's a good state legislator - she
should remain it." |
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 GOP Comptroller Candidate State Senator
Carole Pankau toured the state last week discussing some of
her plans for the office should she defeat incumbent Dan
Hynes on November 7th. Pankau criticized her
opponent last week because of the release of the State's
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. The report was
released mid-summer this year rather than in early spring in
order to assist lawmakers as they craft a budget. Pankau also discussed
her idea of attaching performance measures to state programs
so that legislators can determine success and, therefore,
funding priorities.
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The
Chicago City Council has in the recent past made some
interesting policy decisions including banning
foie gras, smoking in public, looking to ban all trans-fat
and considering mandatory micro-chipping of every dog in city
limits. Last
week, they took government intervention to a new level by
demanding a "living wage" from all "big-box" retailers. The ordinance as
passed requires retailers, such as Wal-Mart, who meet certain
size and profit parameters to pay their employees a minimum
wage of $10/hour as well as supply cash for benefits. Although opposed by
Mayor Daley and the business community, the ordinance passed
with a large majority.
Last
week, the City Council also provided themselves with a large
pay raise. The majority vote will
increase the salary for each council member from the current
$98,125 by the federal Consumer Price Index over the next four
years. The
Council decided against micro-chipping dogs, for the time
being. |
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Texas
Governor Rick Perry's re-election campaign team had to issue
an apology and clarification last week in how the campaign
coded small contributions. Perry, a Republican,
has been hit with a number of small donations as a protest of
his campaign. The
donations, some as small at three cents, were being coded as
"A
Small Supporter 06" or ASS 06. The code was
placed on all of the canceled checks that, of course, were
returned to the original protesting donor. The campaign says that
it will change the coding. |
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"Here's a
dubious distinction for Illinois: Our state racked
up a $3 billion budget deficit in fiscal 2005, the largest
nationwide. It works out to about $17.5 billion, even as costs
for programs new and old mount. Aren't you proud?
The
deficit should be the biggest issue this fall, and a political
opportunity for minority Republicans. But don't expect any
bold plans any time soon - the two parties seem locked in a
stalemate, one that neither side seems inclined to break.
Dishonesty with the numbers and competing statistical talking
points abound."
Read
the whole thing... |
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"Is Rod
Blagojevich running for re- election as governor of Illinois, or as dictator?
His heavy- handedness last week makes us think
dictator.
On
Thursday, he announced the state will spend $5 million on stem
cell research -- an action lawmakers from both parties
criticized.
Maybe
Blagojevich slept through his civics class lesson on the
legislative process. Blagojevich earlier this year asked
lawmakers to spend $100 million over the next five years on
stem cell research. They said no, and that should have been
the end of it." Read
the whole thing... |
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State Senator Dan Rutherford, the GOP
nominee for Secretary of State, put forth a number of
proposals last week in his bid to unseat two term incumbent
Jesse White.