The adults are back in Charge
ArchPundit
Given better work has already been done, read Paul Krugman on the non-stimulus package and Josh Marshall on the pecular incompetence displayed regarding North Korea.
January 2003
The Definition of Brazen:
George Ryan appointing Bill Shaw and numerous others to sweetheart positions to fatten their pensions. Shaw is particularly disturbing given his attempts to put a stalking horse candidate on the ballot versus Jackson Jr.
Another brazen appointment that has not graced this page yet is:
– Joan Mitnick Fawell, the estranged wife of Ryan’s former chief of staff Scott Fawell, was given a four-year term at the Illinois Financial Institutions Department at an annual salary of almost $84,000. Her husband has been indicted on fraud charges in the federal Operation Safe Road investigation of the secretary of state’s office when Ryan ran it.
Brazen. The wholesale looting of the state treasury will come to an end someday, but not soon enough.
Fawell Trial Watch
I’m sure there will be plenty of amusing tidbits coming out of the Fawell trial, so today I’ll start the Fawell trial watch. For the most part it will be links to relevant stories from various news sources. Other times, I may have some commentary.
Today’s installment begins with Mark Brown’s column discussing the sordid background of Alan Drazek, a key witness against Fawell, and recipient of prosecutorial leniency for his testimony. There is also a straight news story available.
Fawell’s defense strategy has to be making GRyan nervous since it seems aimed at blaming Ryan.
Drop me a note
One of the advantages of blogging is that people get to interact with the writer and actually influence their views. I value that interaction so if you think I wrote something either kinda dumb or just absolutely stupid, drop me a line. If you convince me, I’ll write about. If you don’t, but you make a reasonable case, I’ll write about it. While I’m sure other Illinois politics blogs will evolve over time, I’d like this to be a site that provides good insider information for Illinois Politics. To do that I need to hear from those with interesting tidbits.
One quick thing–make sure if you don’t want me to publish something you let me know about or if you just want to be anonymous–say it in your note.
No one agrees with–just ignore me
Rich Miller reports that Obama is picking up steam.
OBAMA PICKS UP STEAM Former US Senator Carol Moseley-Braun may make another run for her old job, but state Sen. Barack Obama (D-Chicago) is picking up some crucial support for the Democratic primary.
Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. has signed on to Obama’s exploratory committee for a 2004 race against US Sen. Peter Fitzgerald. . . .
. . . [S]ome of Obama’s supporters believe that if he can lock up enough support early, then Carol Mosley-Braun might be convinced to stay out of the race – or forced out later this year if she has trouble raising money and finding support.
Don’t dismiss Obama. Yes, he has a strange, even Arabic-sounding name (it doesn’t take a genius to realize that Obama sounds a lot like Osama) at a time when that attribute is far from ideal (if it ever was), but the Harvard Law School grad is raising money and attracting lots of young activists to his campaign.
Obama is the guy I hope I’m wrong about. I think he’d have a tough fight against Fitzgerald, but he is smart and solid. The Jackson tidbit is important because it starts to chip away at Moseley-Braun in the African-American community and provides a machine operation for GOTV on primary day. He is also getting money which is good to hear. If he can force out Moseley-Braun he moves into a very strong position with probably 25% of the vote. And kicking her to the curbside is the best thing for the Illinois Democratic Party.
Update on Senate Race
Running a vanity web site is ultimately a bit about ego and nothing is more humbling than when smart people smack you down–even if they do it nicely. A particularly smart reader wrote in with this to say several things.
First, he points out that Hull is very close to G-Rod and was the single biggest contributor to the campaign and provided the plane to fly around the state. The assumption being that Mell/G-Rod already have him in mind as their guy. Good point and correct.
The second point is that Daley is being coy about Hull. After all, Thomas Hynes, Dan Hynes father, has been very loyal to the Mayor and Hynes probably expects support for Dan, if he runs. This is also an excellent point. I don’t dispute this, but Daley has differing levels of support so it is always hard to figure what he actually wants. I think the reader’s analysis is probably better than my analysis though and Daley will publicly back Hynes assuming he gets in the race and the CW is that Hynes will.
I’ll quote the third point which addresses an egregious error on my part:
you can’t be serious about Gutierrez
and Chico? Gutierrez will never, ever, forgive Chico for backing Marty
Castro in the 4th’s primary in ’02. I know from impeccable sources that
Chico’s aides have been desperately trying to arrange a "sit down," and
Gutierrez is not biting, and won’t. What is more, as I noted above,
Gutierrez has become one of Blago and Hull’s closest pals. There is
already talk that Gutierrez is considering the same kind of suppport for
Hull that he gave Blago — which, according to Neal, clinched Blago’s
primary win. But whatever Gutierrez does, it will not include supporting
in any way Chico.
My bad. I forgot about Chico and Castro. Duh.
Thanks to the reader. All good points.
Sometime later in the week, I’ll start updating the contenders similar to how Daily Kos does for Presidential Candidates. The one clear implication from the above is that Chico is going to lose if he runs (and he says he is). Without the Hispanic vote (and Gutierrez will be the key to much of that) he has little chance. He doesn’t have Daley’s support and won’t. He doesn’t have THynes support and he won’t get Madigan’s support. His business connections might be slightly helpful, but with Hull, Hynes and possibly Pappas in the race, forget about it.
Where does that leave us:
1) Mosely-Braun: With 25% of the vote locked up she has to be the front runner
2) Hynes: Connections, connections, connections
3) Hull: (really interchangeable with Hynes): Money, connections, money
4) Pappas: Strategic and wily
5) Obama: Not much there if Moseley-Braun is in the race
6) Chico: When will he get squeezed out
7) Schakowsky: No room especially if Pappas enters the race
I haven’t made up my mind about who I like the most which is rare even this early. For now:
1) Hynes–wins in November, smart guy, could be a bit more experienced
2) Hull–wins in November, slight downgrade for not having been elected previously
3) Obama–he has my heart, but not my expectation of being able to win over Fitzgerald easily
4) Pappas–smart and can win–good reformer
5) Chico–not much good, not much bad
6) Schakowsky–too liberal in November, not that impressive strategically
7) Moseley-Braun–everything I hate about the Republican Party
Republicans
1)Fitzgerald: Got the Wingnut ground operation behind him
2)McKenna: won’t inspire anyone besides combine folks
Prefer:
1) Fitzgerald–he is beatable and if he does pull off a victory at least the US Attorneys will be agressive
2) McKenna–so is he, but not as easily in the burbs
The Political State Report
My first article is up. Probably nothing new for regular readers, but take a look around the site.
John Lewis is an American Hero
PLA is always a good read, but today Dwight has an especially poignant post concerning the Freedom Riders. John Lewis is an American Hero.
John Danforth is going to be pissed…
The real problem isn’t the hanging with Nazis…it is being absolutely batty…
She was not a particularly bad bishop. She was, in fact, quite typical of Episcopal bishops of the first quarter of the 21st century: agnostic, compulsively political and radical and given to placing a small idol of Isis on the alter when she said the Communion service. By 2037, when she was tried for heresy, convicted and burned, she had outlived her era. By that time only a handful of Episcopalians still recognized female clergy, and it would have been easy enough to let the old fool rant our her final years in obscurity. But we are a people who do our duty.
(I live about 4 blocks from the church where Danforth is Associate Pastor so this seemed especially disturbing and funny at the same time.
Atrios links to Lind’s, ummm, story concerning some sort of dark futuristic d-rate Handmaid’s Tale universe–but Lind seems to think this is a good thing.
one of the choicer quotes:
The Deep Greeners took over Oregon, and North Americans got their first taste of totalitarianism. If you weren?t one of them, you didn?t get a Breathing License and they tied a plastic gad over your head. That lasted three years until the rest of the state recaptured Portland with Japanese help (they needed the timber). Both Portland and Washington are doing okay now; recently they got the right of send non-voting delegates to the Diet in Tokyo.
The real money paragraph is right here:
It?s funny how clearly the American century is marked: 1865 to 1965. The first Civil War made us one nation. After 1965 and another war, we disunited ? deconstructed ? with equal sped into blacks, whites, Hispanics, womyn, gays, victims, oppressors, left-handed albinos, you name it. In three decades we covered the distance that had taken Rome three centuries. As recently as the early 1960s ? God, it?s hard to believe ? America was still the greatest nation on earth, the most powerful, the most productive, the freest, a place of safe homes, dutiful children in good schools, strong families and a hot lunch for orphans.
So I wonder what was special about that year to Lind? Actually, I don’t wonder. Oh, Trent, your guest is ready…
Slower Traffice Stay to the Right
From the Capitol Fax:
* Representative-elect John Millner (R-Carol Stream) hasn’t even been sworn in yet, but he’s already receiving national publicity. Millner told the Daily Herald newspaper that he wants to spend some time this spring focusing on the problem of slow drivers in the fast lane. The State Journal-Register mentioned the item yesterday, and the Reno (Nevada) Gazette-Journal followed up with a favorable story in this morning’s edition.
As far as aspirations go, this is a pretty good one for a Freshman legislator in the Illinois lege. It probably occurred to him on the first trip back and forth, but will quickly wane once he figures he can take the state plane right to O’Hare. He’ll probably be on the right in terms of big thinkers in Sprinfield as well.