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Who'd a
thunk? In a time
when property assessments in the City of Chicago are climbing
faster than university tuition and fees, the nearly 4,000
square foot home owned by the Blagojevich family actually
decreased in value, according to the Cook County Assessor's
office. The
Governor's home in the hot Ravenswood neighborhood, not the
Executive
Mansion in Springfield, appears to be
have an aberrant market value and has received more than its
fair share of attention from the Assessor's
office.
The Cook County
Assessor's office, when questioned by the media, indicated
that they increased the home's value to much a couple of years
ago and that this drop was a correction. The Blagojevich's did
not appeal the initial increase in assessment, therefore not
flagging this as a troublesome assessment. How
is it, some have asked, that the Assessor's office is so well
staffed that they were able to pick out this mistake for this
one house amongst tens of thousands of properties? Additionally,
according to neighbors, the market value listed for the
Blagojevich's manse is far below the Ravenswood market. The home is valued at
about $425,000 when similar homes are selling for
$800,000. |
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In a decision that
will be watched closely by charitable institutions statewide,
Provena Covenant Medical Center was stripped of
its non-profit status by Illinois Dept. of Revenue Director
Brian Hamer, last week.
The move, which will be appealed, came after an
administrative law judge with the Dept. of Revenue ruled that
Provena should have its non-profit status restored. Lisa Lagger,
spokeswoman for Provena, said, "we
can't help but draw the conclusion that this was a politically
motivated decision."
Hamer made his decision based upon his belief that
Provena does not provide enough free and discounted medical
care.
The Service
Employee's International Union (SEIU) has spearheaded an
effort to remove the non-profit status of hospitals across
Illinois. Vasyl Markus, policy
director for the SEIU effort said, "it's a far-reaching
decision, it's well thought out, and it makes a lot of sense
from the point of view of consumers." SEIU has donated
millions of dollars to the Blagojevich campaign fund and seeks
to benefit their membership by removing the non-profit status
of hospitals and other institutions.
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The PI reported in
past editions about the political activities of unions that
members and the public are finally getting to see because of
new disclosure rules handed down by the U.S. Dept. of
Labor. The newest
disclosure reports, as highlighted in the Wall Street Journal,
show some disturbing expenditures.
The AFL-CIO, for
example, spent a whopping $49 million from July '04-June '05
on political activities and lobbying. The National Education
Association has spent millions more on political activities
but on their IRS forms they left blank the line for "direct or
indirect political expenditures". In fact, the NEA spent
$25 million from September '04-August '05, for the most-part a
non-election cycle.
The political forms also share a glimpse of overall
expenses by unions.
Including the fact that many of the largest union
bosses take home more than $1 million a year and that the big
unions spent close to $650,000 at non-union big box stores
like Wal-Mart and K-Mart. |
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Treasurer Topinka
and Governor Blagojevich will appear at a live debate at
Millikin
University in
Decatur for an hour-long
debate sponsored by the Illinois Radio Network. The debate will begin
shortly after 8pm.
The two candidates have agreed to a second debate in
Chicago for the end of
October. |
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"Bobbie Steele,
interim president of the Cook County Board, plans to speak
Thursday on the state of county government. No, she likely
won't use the adjectives "bloated, wasteful,
corrupt."
She'll be more polite, lay out the findings
and proposals of her transition teams, then describe what she
hopes to accomplish. But if Steele wants to be seen as more
than a placeholder for the next board president, here's the
truth-telling preamble she'll deliver:
Good afternoon.
I won't waste your time by being anything but candid. I need
to acknowledge at the get-go that most citizens view
Cook County government with
anger and distrust.
Those citizens work hard to pay
their taxes. They're embarrassed by how recklessly and
selfishly their county has behaved in return." Read
the whole thing...
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