June 2003

Don’t tell the SLPS Board about this

ArchPundit June 5, 2003 No Comments

A rather fascinating story out of Fairview Heights about the importance of seating arrangements. I have to admit it is a nice change of pace from the usual St. Clair County Hijinks. The beginning reminds me of Peter Gabriel’s Games Without Frontiers

FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS — Lydia won’t sit next to Pat. Pat won’t move. And Harvey doesn’t want to talk about it.

What started with one city alderman’s desire to change seats last month evolved into a public spat that has been the talk of the City Council as much as any item on its agenda.

"You read things about this in other areas and think it doesn’t happen, but apparently it does," said Ward 5 Alderman Bonnie Crosley, a City Council newcomer. "I think that there are a lot more pressing issues to address."

Ward 3 Alderman Pat Baeske made the seat-switch to a vacated spot next to fellow Ward 3 Alderman Lydia Cruez before the City Council meeting on May 6.

"It should not be a big deal," Baeske said. "I could never see when someone gave a presentation. After four years, I decided I wanted another seat."

The action provoked City Clerk Harvey Noubarian to try to switch the seats back — a move that resulted in a public debate with Baeske over the issue before the meeting started. The exchange caught the attention of the public in attendance.

"Some business developers and chamber members were sitting in the public area laughing at these proceedings," said Charles Kassly, who attended the meeting and wrote to Mayor Gail Mitchell about it. "The council meeting that followed was tense and strained at best."

Cruez, who has sat in the same seat for 22 years, moved to the other side of the room during the seating arrangement drama. "It was not a big deal to me," Cruez said. "I moved because I don’t think two aldermen from the same ward should sit side-by-side."

The confusion continued May 19 when no name placards were present and again on Tuesday when all the placards were set out in one place, allowing aldermen to place them where they wanted. Baeske returned to the seat she took last month.

When asked about the city’s rules on seating arrangements, Noubarian said, "There is no rule." He declined further comment about the affair.

"I just think it blew out of proportion and I don’t think there’s any controversy anymore," Ward 1 Alderman Gil Klein said. "I think it’s going to blow over and there’s a lot more bigger issues that we need to discuss."

Topinka Subpeona Verified

ArchPundit June 5, 2003 No Comments

The Trib reports Jeff Trigg’s scoop from yesterday that Judy Baar Topinka is being investigated for having staff do political work.

This leaves the question to be who hasn’t been subpeonaed and the answer would by Hynes, Lisa Madigan, Blagojevich and White with only White and Hynes having been in office long enough. If someone isn’t doing political work in the Secretary of State’s office, that would be a miracle and the first time since the creation of the office. While I won’t go out on a limb on Hynes, my understanding is that he is relatively careful about such things because he is ambitious. I’d be shocked to not see a subpeona for White by the time this is all over. The only office that isn’t suspect is Jim Ryan’s AG office before Madigan took over. He may not have been very aggressive in taking on corruption, but I’ve never heard of issues out of that office.

The particular investigation doesn’t look good for Topinka because there is a whistle blower,

In an interview Wednesday, Santos said she responded to her subpoena by supplying a two-page "testimonial affidavit" to federal authorities she prepared in November. It detailed instances when Santos alleged she and others in the treasurer’s office were pressured by supervisors on state time to do work for Topinka’s successful 2002 re-election effort.

Santos said she witnessed treasurer’s office employees during work hours setting up fundraiser events for Topinka, as well as doing advance work for political events and holding strategy meetings in the treasurer’s 4th-floor offices at the Thompson Center in the Loop.

"I just thought it was so reckless and I was told everybody does it," Santos said.

The accusations mirror claims made by former state Rep. Tom Dart, Topinka’s Democratic opponent last fall, who during the campaign alleged that employees of the treasurer’s office were campaigning for her while they were supposed to be working for the state.

Of course, the story just underscores the point that the political culture is one that accepts illegal activity as normal. After having several whistleblowers for Lee Daniels the GOP hasn’t pressured him to resign his seat which is remarkable.

Chick Finishes the Bible Tract Series

ArchPundit June 5, 2003 No Comments

Yo Scoobie! You’ve been falling down on Chick patrol…

Number 25: Here He Comes is posted. What is the final episode? Unabashed Catholic Bashing! Woooohoooooo…you have the feeling Chick’s type were burning the crosses when Al Smith campaigned in the South don’t you?

Howard Dean on Charlie Rose

ArchPundit June 4, 2003 No Comments

Dean’s campaign has a link to a Quicktime version of Dean’s interview with Rose. As with all Charlie Rose interviews it was interesting and dealt with issues in far more detail than most venues.

What continues to impress me about Dean is that he knows why he is running and clearly explains it. Beyond that he clearly knows who he is which is a fiscal moderate and social liberal. After spending the early 1990s beating my head on the wall talking to Iowa political activists about the importance of fiscal discipline, I couldn’t think of a better standard bearer.

Is that an endorsement–well pretty damn close. No candidate is perfect, but after my previous disasters of Kerrey and Bradley, I’m finally find a fighter who isn’t going to sit back for the Gore/Clinton hardball that John Kerry seems to be adopting.

A Challenger in IL 15

ArchPundit June 4, 2003 No Comments

Chicago Test Scores: Much Adieu about Nothing

ArchPundit June 4, 2003 No Comments

The Trib argues that the mild decreases in test scores for the Chicago Public Schools is nothing to get in a tizzy about.

Even in the era of higher accountability, there’s no need to panic over the slightly surprising dip in reading scores among Chicago public school children.

Not yet, at least.

Comparing one year to the previous doesn’t yield all that much wisdom. It’s the longer term trend lines that count. If scores continue to drop next year and the year after, then it’s time for a serious talk.

Here’s the more useful perspective:

The latest scores from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills show that 41 percent of elementary students scored at or above the national norm in reading comprehension. Compare that to five years ago, when only 36.9 percent of 3rd through 8th graders did as well. And compare that to a decade ago, when far fewer students met national norms in reading.

Any testing expert knows that plateaus in standardized test scores are typical. Early gains often follow serious reform efforts, with the most significant jumps made by the lowest-performing students.

Simply placing more importance on the test itself has a psychological effect on students to take it more seriously, and therefore, to perform better on it. Teachers also start adjusting their lesson plans to make sure they cover material they know will appear on the test. Those gains tend to level off, however, after a few years.

That phenomenon continued with the latest scores released Monday by Chicago Public Schools Chief Arne Duncan. The more than 10 percentage point drop in children scoring in the lowest-achieving quartile in both reading and math is significant and heartening. So is the more modest historic increase in those achieving at the top quartile.

Test scores can, in the aggregate, go up or down significantly in any given year without being representative of individual results. It is one of the ugly truths of testing that many don’t fully grasp. Tests are reasonable approximations, but any given test should not be focused on too much. The trend line over time is still excellent for Chicago. If it were to continue there would be a problem, but one-year’s results aren’t that important.

The real problem may start when LNCB starts hitting districts for small yearly differences.

Where Democrats can be Democrats

ArchPundit June 4, 2003 No Comments

Nathan Newman (via Matt Yglesias cites the accomplishments of the Illinois Lege under unified Democratic control with a Democratic Governor.

# Raising the minimum wage to $6.50 per hour by Jan 1, 2005.
# Investing in 195,000 jobs through funding expansion of O’Hare airport.
# Passing the Equal Pay Act against disparities of pay on basis of gender.
# Right to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for victims of sexual or domestic violence.
# State Lawsuit Immunity Act- this legislation waives Illinois’ 11th Amendment immunity to federal anti-discrimination laws, essentially nullifying recent "states rights" Supreme Court decisions in Illinois. This gives state workers rights to sue under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
# New law that permits public employees to form unions based on card-check recognition, meaning when a majority of workers signs cards, the union automatically comes into existence.
# Amended Illinois Human Rights Act to recognize a civil rights violation for employers adopting or implementing so-called "English-only" work rules.
# Illinois Prohibition of Goods from Forced Labor Act- state procurement contracts cannot use foreign-made goods produced by forced, convict, or indentured labor.
# Amendment to the Employment of Strikebreakers Act and the Day and Temporary Services Act- prevents employers from contracting with day and temporary labor service firms to replace workers during a strike or a lockout. Bill bars labor service agencies from sending workers to job sites where a strike, lockout or other labor problem exists.
# Illinois Whistleblower Act- bars employers from creating rules or policies preventing employees from disclosing violations of law to state or federal law enforcement agencies.

Most of these are unequivocally good if you are a Democrat and don’t really raise the ire of many. But as with most achievement posts it leaves out some of the ugly.

1) SBC! This should be count for about five bad things. Instead of having the ICC look at the issue, the Lege and the Governor caved.

2) one-time gimmicks to balance the budget. While not as bad as I expected, it is still problematic. Overall the budget was an improvement over recent years, but it still relies on too many gimmicks. Pate and G-Ry can’t be blamed anymore.

3) Absolutely no movement on school consolidation or even the decreasing the costs of Regional Superintendents.

4) Subsidies continue for horse tracks and ADM

5) The appointment of another tollway authority Board Member with shady dealings.

6) an ethics bill with no teeth

That being said other good things include,

1) Lisa Madigan taking on Rosemont and Don Stephens over the Emerald Casino license. Rosemont wants a bail out for the deal, she says no way.

2) movement on civil rights regardless of sexual orientation

Overall, not a bad session. While pork still got through, it wasn’t as much as I expected. The budget isn’t entirely rational, but it is improved. The Democrats didn’t go crazy and go overboard–with no money there was only so much that could be done.

I believe that two strong competing parties provide the best overall outcomes. However, the biggest development in state politics is the movement of the Republican Party rightward. As they do so they are less competitive and barring major scandals, Democrats face less pressure to check themselves.

New Blog and Rumors for Topinka

ArchPundit June 4, 2003 No Comments

I’ll be adding three new blogs to the blogroll that are Illinois-centric. The first is Jeff Trigg, the Exec Director of the Illinois Libertarian Party. The blog is his personal one to make it clear. I recommend you take a look around–he has some great stories and a very good understanding of Illinois politics. And truth be told, Illinois Libertarians have a great sense of humor.

He is reporting that Judy Baar Topinka, head of the Illinois Republican Party and State Treasurer, is being investigated by a federal grand jury.

Let me also recommend his post on the Drug Czar getting the power to spend tax money defeating drug decriminalization/legalization referendums.

Dog Bites Man:Payday Lenders Skirt Rules

ArchPundit June 4, 2003 No Comments

In one of the least surprising elements it turns out that payday loan companies are skirting recent regulations in Illinois by increasing the length of loans by one day,

Illinois regulations aimed at reining in the fast-growing but controversial business of payday lending have proven ?virtually irrelevant? as the lenders find ways to skirt the rules, a draft study by state financial regulators says.

The preliminary report by the Illinois Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) shows that the state?s more than 800 licensed payday-loan locations are avoiding state-imposed limits on how much they can loan to an individual and how many times they can refinance a loan.
The rules apply to loans with terms of 30 days or less; lenders are dodging the restrictions by writing loans of 31 days, the report says. Before the rules were instituted, the standard payday loan?designed to tide over strapped borrowers until their next paycheck?came due in 14 days.

The regulations, issued in 2001 by the DFI over industry objections, were hailed at the time as the first substantial oversight of Illinois? payday lenders. They barred lenders from ?rolling over,? or refinancing, a loan more than twice and required that at least 20% of the outstanding principal balance be repaid when a loan is refinanced.

But today, the industry operates nearly as freely in Illinois as it did before the rules, the DFI report indicates.

?They were dead on arrival once they were promulgated because of what the industry did in reaction,? says Alan Alop, deputy director at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, which gives free legal advice to indigent Cook County residents. ?I?ve never seen a payday loan since those rules were issued that fell within the purview of the rules.?

The Good Sports News

ArchPundit June 4, 2003 No Comments

The Bears are locking up Brian Urlacher for his career.

I don’t talk about first place Chicago baseball teams that are not the Sox when they are in 1st Place. Ever. It is bad karma and I’m extremely superstitious.