The Capitol Fax Blog

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

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- posted by Rich Miller Comments Off

Radio station rally pics

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

* A “protest” organized by WMAY radio in Springfield attracted a handful of ralliers. Ben Yount of Metro Networks had some pics, even though he’s a radio guy…

* Background on the rally can be found at this link.

- posted by Rich Miller 36 Comments

Softball mania *** UPDATED x1 ***

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

* The annual House vs. Senate softball game starts at 5:30 today in Springfield’s Lincoln Park. Capitol Fax is sponsoring the event.

Sen. Rickey Hendon playfully called out the House during Senate debate today…

“We have lost to the lower chamber the last few years. No fault of our own. The umpires were clearly paid off by the speaker of the House. Every call went against us.

“This year, my brothers and sisters in the Senate. … We’re going to show those minions in the lower chamber that we are the House of Lords, they are the House of Commons. We will be victorious tonight.

“We will crush the House. We in the Senate will prove once and for all that we deserve the title of House of Lords, king of kings, rulers of the world!”

Heh.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Rep. John Fritchey responds…

“It’s going to be hard for [Hendon] to run the bases while carrying all of Emil’s water!”

Touché.

Hope to see you there.

* Here’s a video from last year’s game…

- posted by Rich Miller Comments Off

This just in… Larry McKeon passes away

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

* 11:11 am - Former state Rep. Larry McKeon (D-Chicago) passed away last night after suffering a stroke, according to an announcement on the House floor a few minutes ago.

…Adding… Bernie profiled Larry just last Sunday. Read it here.

And before the governor sends out his press release lauding McKeon’s memory, perhaps he should first commit to fixing this problem as a fitting tribute to the former legislator…

McKeon also called it a “tragedy” that, after pushing his first years in the General Assembly to reduce a backlog of discrimination cases before the Illinois Department of Human Rights, he believes there is a backlog now, partly because of lack of needed staff.

“I seriously question the competence at the senior level” of the department, he added, including “the director’s ability to effectively manage.”

* 1:24 pm - The Tribune story is now online…

An Army veteran and former lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, McKeon came to Chicago in the 1980s to pursue a degree in social service administration.

He worked as a director at United Charities and became involved with gay activist groups, leading to his run for political office. In 1992, he was hired as executive director of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, serving as Mayor Richard Daley’s liaison to gay and lesbian leaders in the city.

McKeon was elected to the House in 1996 by voters in the North Side’s 34th District. During that campaign, he acknowledged being HIV-positive.

One of his major legislative priorities was to expand gay rights. In 2005, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed into law a measure that added sexual orientation to the state’s human rights act banning discrimination against gays and lesbians by landlords, real estate agents, employers and lenders.

- posted by Rich Miller 20 Comments

Guv’s top lawyer forced document hunt

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

* Interesting…

A month before opening arguments were made in Antoin Rezko’s federal corruption trial, Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s top lawyer issued a memo to the governor’s senior aides.

The Feb. 8 directive called on staff members to search their computers, calendars and files for any information relating to Rezko and eight other notable people whose names have found their way into allegations of corruption within state government.

“If you find any documents or information relating to these individuals, you must notify the Office of the General Counsel in accordance with the directions set out below,” wrote William Quinlan, the governor’s senior legal advisor.

The memo appears to show the governor’s office was attempting to determine the extent of information in its own files about Rezko, whose trial is now nearing its end.

Among the names listed in the memo were Chris Kelly, David Wilhelm, Milan Petrovic, William Cellini, Robert Kjellander, Amrish Mahajan and Melvyn Weiss.

You may not recognize those last two names. Here’s a bit of background…

* Amrish Mahajan…

A Chicago banker whose wife is accused of bilking millions from a no-bid state contract has helped raise more than a half million dollars for Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaigns since 2001. […]

Mahajan’s ties to Blagojevich run deep–including hiring the Democratic governor’s wife last year as a real estate agent on $5.7 million in private land deals. […]

At one political event last year, the governor’s 10-year-old daughter, Amy, was overheard by at least two Blagojevich supporters interviewed by the Tribune referring to Mahajan as “Uncle Amrish.” […]

Mahajan’s wife, Anita, was arrested [in March of 2007] on charges of overbilling millions of dollars on her state contract to provide drug screenings to clients of the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services. Her downtown Chicago company, K.K. Bio-Science Inc., has held the no-bid state contract since the early 1990s.

* Melvyn Weiss…

Melvyn Weiss paid $5,000 toward lodging, meals and entertainment for Blagojevich’s entourage during its December 2003 trip to New York.

Weiss, his law firm and its attorneys also donated $45,000 to the Blagojevich campaign, including $10,000 on May 13, 2004. Twelve days later, the TRS board voted to place Weiss’ law firm on its list of outside litigators.

[In May of 2006], Weiss’ law firm and two of his partners were indicted by a federal grand jury in a kickback scheme. Weiss did not return a message left at his New York office.

- posted by Rich Miller 31 Comments

Question of the day

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Caption?

- posted by Rich Miller 114 Comments

Strange ruling from DuPage

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

* This just seems wrong to me…

[DuPage County’s] three-member electoral board voted 2-1 Tuesday to remove a state Senate hopeful from the ballot, but the candidate vows to fight the decision.

GOP officials charge Tom Cullerton is an elephant in donkey’s clothing. They say he voted Republican in the February primary but was then slated as a Democrat two months later to run against Republican state Sen. Carole Pankau. The board ruled he couldn’t do that. […]

Cullerton’s attorneys argue the electoral board’s interpretation of state law on party switching doesn’t apply to their client because he wasn’t a candidate when he voted in February.

But the board agreed with Republicans who cited a 1974 Illinois Supreme Court decision on party switching that declares “standards governing party changes by candidates may and should be more restrictive than those relating to voters.”

* Here’s some more background…

“I am totally convinced that you cannot participate in both parties in Illinois during the same election cycle,” said attorney Burt Odelson, who is handling the Republicans’ objection to Cullerton’s candidacy. […]

Odelson argues that because Cullerton declared himself a Republican voter for this “election cycle,” he can’t become a Democratic candidate.

[Cullerton’s attorney, Michael Dorf] counters that the election code makes no mention of the term “election cycle” when dealing with party switching.

“The only thing it says is if you lost a primary you can’t run in the general on the other side,” Dorf said. “My client only voted in the Republican primary.”

* That last point is a good one. The Republicans’ own brief quotes a recent Illinois appellate court ruling…

In addition, this court must interpret the Election Code as written and we may not depart from the plain language of the statute by reading into it exceptions, limitations, or conditions that conflict with the express legislative intent.

The General Assembly never specifically banned candidates from running who voted in one primary and are then appointed to the ballot as a member of a different party.

Also, if local Democratic, Republican or Green Party leaders decide to place a candidate onto the ballot after the primary, then those parties have decided that their candidates are legit party members.

I do think there’s a problem with Cullerton’s vote in the February GOP primary, but that’s a political issue (flip-flopping, trust, etc.) that he should have to deal with this fall. There are also some questions about the way he was appointed. Fair enough. But this ruling doesn’t sit well with me, and calls into question the Republican-dominated board’s judgement.

Perhaps I’m wrong. What are your thoughts?

- posted by Rich Miller 32 Comments

The city that (prompts) smirks *** UPDATED x1 ***

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

*** UPDATE *** The city council has overturned the foie gras ban…

Over the shouted objections of Ald. Joe Moore (49th), the ban’s sponsor, the council used a parliamentary manuever to put the ordinance on the floor for a vote.

The council voted 37-6 to repeal the two-year-old ban, which critics argued had made Chicago–and the City Council–a national laughingstock. […]

Moore, whose pleas for a debate were ignored by Daley, warned fellow aldermen “tomorrow it could happen to you.”

**************************

* One step forward…

Aldermen opposed to Chicago’s controversial restaurant ban on foie gras said they will try to force a vote Wednesday to repeal the measure, which gained the City Council widespread notoriety since its approval two years ago. […]

The ban was passed in April 2006 by a 48-1 vote. But Tunney noted Tuesday that there was no discussion of the measure on the council floor before the vote. The ban was passed in an “omnibus” vote at the end of a meeting, packaged together with other ordinances considered to be routine.

I don’t eat veal, unless it’s free range (the conditions for veal calves are truly appalling), but I don’t want to see it banned. I’d like to see some tougher standards for raising the calves and transporting them, but I’m not much into banning things.

* This goofy ordinance has been pulled for now, so call it a quarter step forward…

The “Event Promoters” ordinance requires any event promoter to have a license from the city of Chicago and liability insurance of $300,000, but that’s just the start:

* The definition of “event promoter” is so loosely defined it could apply to a band that books its own shows or a theater company that’s in town for a one-week run.
* “Event Promoter” must be licensed and will pay $500 - $2000 depending on expected audience size.
* To get the license, applicant must be over 21, get fingerprinted, submit to a background check, and jump over several other hurdles.
* This ordinance seems targeted towards smaller venues, since those with 500+ permanent seats are exempt.
* Police must be notified at least 7 days in advance of event.

* And two steps back…

Two days before a pivotal Plan Commission showdown, Mayor Daley said today he’s not afraid of a protracted court battle over his plan to build a $100 million Children’s Museum in Grant Park. […]

“Everything is gonna be tied up in court. … Meigs Field would have never been changed if you were worried about lawyers. I don’t know why everybody is always worried about lawyers. This is ridiculous. You could never function at all — both in the public and private sector — if you were worried about lawyers. You could never make a decision,” he said. […]

[Daley also rejected] demands that a half-finished soccer field in Lincoln Park built with $2 million in funding from the elite Latin School be restored to a grassy meadow.

“This a recreation field. This is adjacent to all of the baseball and softball diamonds as well as soccer and everything else. You want people to use the park. Parks are for people. You need soccer. You need all of these things. We have enough meadows. We want people to come and use the parks, the mayor said.

“If you were worried about lawyers you could never make a decision.”

- Tell that to Sorich.

“Parks are for people.”

- Yeah, public parks are there to give the scions of rich people exclusive access.

* Then there’s this: City may oppose Iran invasion [Kevin has more on this at Illinoize]

* Yet, they can’t get basic things right…

A cable fire near some Loop elevated tracks late Saturday forced the CTA to shut down all elevated train service in the Loop for almost seven hours.

* Why was this totally predictable? Chicago Carless explains…

1.) CTA decides to suspend service in the State Street subway and on the Loop ‘L’ along Lake and Wabash most hours outside of business hours for the rest of 2008;

2.) CTA personnel posted at shuttered stops to help riders themselves have no clue how to figure out the diversions; and

3.) In the span of 24 hours, a simple, weekly bridge lift and a small fire force Loop elevated service to be suspended for almost seven and a half hours. […]

Eliminating your back-up plan is a rotten way to try and accelerate capital work. I’d rather have track work take longer than have skeleton ‘L’ service–and the threat of no service if one small thing goes wrong.

- posted by Rich Miller 20 Comments

Get it right first

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

* One legitimate criticism of Gov. Blagojevich’s endless quest to expand health care coverage is that he is doing such a poor job administering the state’s existing health care programs that he can’t be trusted to do the right thing with new programs…

Comptroller Dan Hynes and several lawmakers used a stinging new audit to blast Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration for trying to expand state-subsidized health care when the current state Medicaid program is racking up huge deficits and is sometimes taking months to pay doctors who care for the poor and elderly.

Auditor General William Holland’s examination provided the first hard evidence of how the administration has camouflaged the state’s budget problems by rolling over about $1.5 billion in Medicaid bills each year. Moreover, the report said, it is taking the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services an average of 77 days to pay doctors and pharmacists who are not associated with large hospitals.

“This is appalling and inexcusable,” Hynes said. “Health-care providers have been forced out of business as a result of the ongoing mismanagement of this program.” […]

Rep. Frank Mautino (D-Spring Valley) said he was especially troubled by the audit’s finding that the state is taking nearly three months before telling many providers that a payment request has been rejected. [emphasis added]

* Hynes gave a quick outline of the Auditor General’s report in a statement issued to reporters…

–During the last three fiscal years on average $1.5 billion in medical claims went unpaid in the same year the services were provided.

–Due to the late payments, the [Department of Healthcare and Family Services] accrued potentially $81 million in interest costs since FY2000. In the current fiscal year alone, Hynes noted, the state has paid out more than $20 million in late-payment interest for healthcare-related bills.

–The agency failed to develop a system to pay interest on late medical reimbursements until nearly eight years after it should have done so. It took an average of 452 days to pay interest due to some healthcare providers.

* More from Hynes’ statement…

“This audit provides more evidence that the administration has been mismanaging the Medicaid system and has been manipulating the payment process,” Hynes said. “By doing so, they are not helping people as they claim. Rather, they are harming some of the most vulnerable Illinoisans and the dedicated healthcare professionals who are trying to provide those citizens with critical services.”

* One local angle…

In Rockford, SwedishAmerican Hospital is waiting on state reimbursement it requested five months ago for Medicaid-related expenses, said Richard Walsh, chief operating officer, adding that the hospital is waiting on $12.5 million.

“It’s frustrating for all health-care systems,” he said, that the state “continues to balance its budget by not paying for services that are being provided to Medicaid patients throughout the year, particularly when we can’t refuse those patients when they show up at our door.”

That’s the nut of it right there. The state is literally balancing its budget by borrowing from Medicaid providers. Illinois has always done this, but it’s gotten worse under the Blagojevich administration. Putting new people into Medicaid programs only puts more strain on the system.

The governor did try to address this last year, but his Gross Receipts Tax proposal - which would have pumped lots of money into Medicaid programs - was just too bizarre and too costly.

HYNES: We have to ask ourselves whether we’re really helping people if we’re expanding a system that’s broken, that’s underfunded, and where doctors don’t want to participate.

Correct.

* Somewhat related…

* Lawmakers: Enough space for IDOT in Springfield

* The Protest For/Against Everything

* No pay raises for state lawmakers

* Battle to unlock downstate transit funding faces impending deadline

* Authorities urge state to help curb child abuse

- posted by Rich Miller 30 Comments

Morning Shorts

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

* Zell rejects state-Wrigley deal; Thompson still trying

“I got Sam’s letter. I’m not telling you what it said. … We are still in negotiations with the Cubs-despite the letter, despite all of the stories,” Thompson said.

* Cubs sale could face new delay

Former Illinois Gov. James Thompson, who heads the state agency, said Tuesday on Tribune Co.-owned WGN-AM 720 that the deal “still has life as far as I’m concerned” and that he planned “to act properly by going back to Sam Zell and negotiating further.”

* State honors Tutu with portrait in Lincoln library

* No joke: It’s Jacksons vs. Secret Service

“My family is deeply concerned and distressed by reports that federal law enforcement officials were disseminating information and anecdotes about a possible assassination of our father and mother,” Jackson Jr. said in a prepared statement.

* Illinois House panel OKs bill to require label for lead toys

* Con Con Considerations: Transparency