• TURN OF EVENTS IN TOP TARGETED LEGISLATIVE RACE
• TOPINKA PLEDGES $8.2 BILLION FOR EDUCATION
• THIRD IL CONGRESSIONAL RACE STARTS TO HEAT UP
• UNITY, OR LACK THEREOF, AT THE STATE FAIR
• BLAGOJEVICH PICKS UP NYC MAYOR'S ENDORSEMENT
• "COMMON SENSE EXPRESS" TOURS STATE
• EDITORIAL OF THE WEEK: DECATUR HERALD-REVIEW - "STATE'S BUSINESS CONCERNS NEED ADDRESSING NOW"

TURN OF EVENTS IN TOP TARGETED LEGISLATIVE RACE

Former Quincy Mayor Chuck Scholz has dropped out of the legislative race in the 93^rd House District.  Scholz, the Democratic nominee, faced State Rep. Jil Tracy who was appointed to fill Art Tenhouse's term after he retired earlier this year to take a new job.  Scholz has been diagnosed with a rare, life threatening liver disease.  Adams County Democrats have until August 28^th to appoint a replacement.

The race for the 93^rd District was shaping up to be expensive for both Republicans and Democrats.  Scholz retains enormous popularity in Quincy with Tracy saying, "Chuck has been a leader in our community for many years, and now he needs our strength and support," upon hearing of his condition.

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TOPINKA PLEDGES $8.2 BILLION FOR EDUCATION

State Treasurer and GOP gubernatorial nominee Judy Baar Topinka announced on Sunday that if elected her administration will provide $8.2 billion in new money for schools over the next four years as well as $3 billion for school construction.  Topinka will seek to raise the "foundation level" of funding provided by the state by $1,000 over the next four years, she discussed streamlining the state's block grant programs to direct 75% of the money to schools that are failing to meet standards and said that she would not raid teacher pension funds.  Additionally, Topinka said that she would like to provide teachers with a $5,000 stipend if they choose to work for five years in a struggling school as well as a tax credit for teacher's out-of-pocket classroom expenses.

The Illinois Education Association nor the Illinois Federation of Teachers has yet to endorse a candidate for the state's top spot.  IFT last month made its endorsements for the rest of the ticket but held off a gubernatorial endorsement until next month.  The candidates meet with IEA in the next few days in hopes of winning that organization's endorsement.

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THIRD IL CONGRESSIONAL RACE STARTS TO HEAT UP

Cong. Mark Kirk
National party members, the media and Illinois political pundits have been focused on two congressional races this year, the 6^th and 8^th.  With incumbent Rep. Melissa Bean the number one GOP target in the nation, GOP nominee Dave McSweeney is receiving a great deal of support in an attempt to knock off the freshman legislator.  Rep. Henry Hyde is retiring after a long career in politics.  National Dems would like to pick up the open seat in a traditionally GOP district.  The Dem candidate is an Iraqi war vet, Tammy Duckworth, and the GOP candidate is State Sen. Peter Roskam.

 Dan Seals

However, it is the 10^th District race that is now beginning to receive some notice from national party leaders of both stripes.  Incumbent Congressman Mark Kirk has been the lone national Republican voter getter in a district that went for Gore and Kerry.  Kirk this year is up against one of his toughest foes, Dan Seals.  Seals has been able to raise more money than any previous Kirk opponent and is in line with the national Democratic party issues.  While Seals is attracting much attention, beating Kirk will be tough.  Kirk has raised almost $2 million to Seals' $700,000.  Additionally, Kirk has a strong campaign staff and party backing.  The national Democrats have put all of their eggs in the Bean/Duckworth basket and there may not be anything left to assist in the 10^th.

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UNITY, OR LACK THEREOF, AT THE STATE FAIR

It was fair week in the Capitol city.  Corn dogs, elephant ears, lemon shake-ups, pork chops on a stick, perfectly groomed livestock, giant garden vegetables and politicians for as far as the eye could see.  Every year, the Illinois State Fair brings together agriculture, hundreds of thousands of people and politicians of every stripe.  During an election cycle, however, the politicians eclipse the agricultural function of the State Fair.

Last Wednesday the traditional Governor's Day at the Fair included 60 bus loads of people brought in by the Blagojevich campaign to rally for his re-election.  Governor's Day, however, brought word of great discord within Democratic Party ranks.  Until the last moment, Speaker Mike Madigan indicated that he wouldn't participate in the day's political activities.  His daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, did not, in fact, participate and indicated that she would remain neutral in the gubernatorial contest because of conflict issues regarding the on-going investigations into Blagojevich.

The following day, Republican Day at the Fair found an entirely different atmosphere from Governor's Day and from GOP day 12 months previous.  Last year, there were many candidates for Governor, public comments about division within the Party and outright hostility shown between candidates and high-ranking party officials.  This year, "unity" was the catch phrase and candidates and party officials seemed to understand that this could be a winning attitude in November.

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BLAGOJEVICH PICKS UP NYC MAYOR'S ENDORSEMENT

Last week the Democratic National Committee held its annual meeting in Chicago.  Republican New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was in town pitching NYC for the '08 Dem nominating convention, endorsed Blagojevich.  "If I lived in Illinois, I would vote for him to be governor," Bloomberg said.  The Topinka campaign responded by saying that her campaign has the only NYC mayor's endorsement that counts, that of former Mayor Guliani.

Blagojevich disturbed many of his fellow national party members by staying true to form and keeping the gathering waiting 20 minutes.  After Howard Dean stalled until Blagojevich was able to make the event, the Governor regaled those in attendance with his standard joke about being mistaken for Mayor Daley on his way to the meeting.

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"COMMON SENSE EXPRESS" TOURS STATE

The five GOP state wide candidates pushed off on a week-long, 2,000 mile bus tour of Illinois last week.  "We're doing this to show people in southern, central and western Illinois that we are accessible to them," said Topinka. "We see a lot of people along the way that we know and we also get to meet a lot of new people along the way. A lot of these little communities we're visiting are places that the governor doesn't even know exists."  The bus trip, while highlighting Topinka, includes Joe Birkett, Lt. Gov. candidate, Stu Umholtz, Attorney General candidate, Christine Radogno, Treasurer candidate and Carol Pankau, Comptroller candidate.

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EDITORIAL OF THE WEEK: DECATUR HERALD-REVIEW - "STATE'S BUSINESS CONCERNS NEED ADDRESSING NOW"

"Here's a warning to state and local officials that should be heeded now.  Illinois is having trouble competing with neighboring states to attract and keep businesses.

In the current climate, that sounds a little bit like Chicken Little. The state has led the region in job growth for the past few months and that growth has extended to Decatur.  The concern is that the current uptick in job growth is masking a much more serious and long-term problem.

At a recent conference, sponsored by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County, Northern Illinois University researcher John Lewis presented facts that showed the cost of doing business in Illinois is higher than in many other states in the Great Lakes Region. Lewis' figures included wages, operating costs and taxes. He pointed out that taxes in Illinois are regularly higher than Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin. Only Michigan has higher taxes."  Read the whole thing...

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