What Have the Reps Said about The Plame case
ArchPundit
Over at Talking Points Memo, someone called Biggert’s office and got a non-response.
July 2005
Lang’s Report: $16000 In Polling
As the reports start to trickle in, and with some chatter about Lang running for Governor, I checked his report. The only thing out of the ordinary to me were two polling expenses. One in late May, one on the last day of June for a total of $16,000. Fako and Associates did the polling
A rough estimate on cost using a state of the art facility would make that an 8-10 minute survey with 600 respondents if it was one poll. Depending on the length and number of respondents that could vary, but if it is one poll, it’s a pretty good number. That’s effectively a state wide audience–though it could be a smaller samples for the House seat as well if he split it up.
It’s probably safe to say he’s looking at some sort of statewide run, but that only leaves a race for Treasurer or Governor. Or he just polled early in his House seat. Yeah, right.
Devine’s report doesn’t show anything, though there are a million ways to pay for these things so I wouldn’t take that as meaning there is nothing going on.
Cycling Crackdown
While I didn’t have time to respond to Eric’s post on Daley’s crackdown on cyclists, I’m not suprised at all by the reaction of many cyclists
While I don’t currently commute by bike I did for a long time. Most of the serious cyclists I know have no problem with increased enforcement on cyclists because if done right, it’s a powerful educational tool. While I agree with Eric that being overly agressive would be stupid, ticketing reckless cyclists treats cyclists as they should be treated–as traffic. The biggest problem is that in cities traffic enforcement is quite poor so as a whole, there’s a lot of recklessness by motorists and cyclists.
Who are you supporting for governor and why?
That’s Rich’s question of the day
My answer:
In honor of Steve Rosenbloom of the Trib, Is Death an Option?
The Day the Tide Turned on Daley
May well be today. While I’ve often thought he’d pretty much have another teflon scandal, the tone and evidence in terms of the Sorich indictment seems to change that calculus. Dan Mihalopoulos and Matt O’Connor cover the most recent events.
Before these scandals, it always seemed to be several levels removed, but having the patronage chief indicted raises a question of how could Daley not know, and if he didn’t, he should have.
No one ever thought that the City followed Shakman, but the new allegation is one that not only was the city giving lipservice to Shakman, but actually rigging civil service tests which raises the stakes.
O’Connor and Gary Washburn give some reasons why this is different. The most important to me is that it isn’t just some lackey or some clown who got a benefit and had given the Mayor money–it’s a key friend and Bridgeport neighbor. When you read about Daley’s father, people with money were important, but they were the people that let him run the Party and help out those from less wealthy backgrounds. He’d take their money, give them favors, but they weren’t the people for which he was looking out. The people he was looking out for were the working class people in bungalows and those were his friends.
As much as the son is an echo of his father, that same attitude prevails.
When I think of Daley’s administration giving contracts to Rezko or the Duff’s, it makes me mad, but I usually figured Daley kept his fingerprints off of such things. It’s the garbage he expects others to deal with and keep him from having to deal with and there better not be a problem because he’ll have to talk to the press. He does care about the people coming to get jobs from the City. He might not review the lists like his father did every day on the way into the office, but he cares. To show he cares he put a close ally in Sorich in the position and expected him to take care of it. That’s a lot closer than the scandals over contracts and it’s one of those types of scandals that people understand.
It’s hard to imagine that any of these guys turn on Daley so if he did know, they won’t say. I still don’t believe he’s very vulnerable to criminal prosecution if for nothing else trying to untangle his mangled syntax could provide a jury reasonable doubt on whatever he said.
It does, however, seriously open him up politically. I’m still not convinced anybody, but a guy in DC who has his sights set on something bigger than Mayor can beat the guy, but the possibility of a competitive race is certainly strong today.
The Women Strategy for Blagojevich
Blago’s poll numbers, especially Downstate, have gone south. So with all of that, why would anyone suggest that Blagojevich is well positioned to retake the governor’s office in 2006?
Women.
Unabashedly pro-choice, Blagojevich has taken on pharmacists who refuse to dispense emergency birth control. Without even asking the Legislature, he has just earmarked money for stem cell research. And he’s provided insurance to 330,000 uninsured families.
“As a woman in this state,” says state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago), “what he has done for women and health care is taken the ball and run with it.” Feigenholtz argues that “too much testosterone” has clouded the political discussion about Blagojevich and his battles with the mostly male Legislature.
And let’s not forget, Patti has begun an initiative on contraception contraceptives.illinois.gov
From the Kaiser Network release:
Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich on Wednesday launched a Web site — contraceptives.illinois.gov — aimed at helping women in the state attain insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives or gain access to lower-cost contraceptives, the AP/Belleville News Democrat reports (AP/Belleville News Democrat, 7/13). At a news conference launching the site, Blagojevich said, “Birth control in Illinois is supposed to be covered by insurance, but right now it’s far too complicated for women to know which insurers cover birth control and what they cover.” She added that women of reproductive age pay about 68% more than men in health care costs, mainly because of contraceptives. The Web site provides a list of the contraceptives covered by the five largest insurance companies in the U.S.: Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Aetna, Humana and UnitedHealthcare. The Web site also includes a link to a form allowing women to report insurance companies that do not comply with a 2004 state law requiring insurance providers that provide prescription drug coverage to cover FDA-approved contraceptives or with Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s (D) executive order requiring pharmacies in the state to fill all prescriptions — including those for contraceptives — “without delay.” For women without health insurance, the site provides a link to I-SaveRx, the state discount medication program, which imports drugs from Canada and Europe and sells them to state residents at discounts of up to 88%. The I-SaveRx program currently offers eight types of birth control pills, according to the Tribune.
If you assume you are going to face a social conservative, this strategy is a very good one. It takes stem cell research and contraception which are generally popular in opinion polls and allows him to side with public opinion as a strong advocate for women’s health care–an issue especially popular with suburban women.
Blagojevich has other problems that may make this irrelevant, but the strategy itself is quite smart. As soon as Kaiser sent out the release, Illinois Federation for Right to Life sent it out. He wants right wing groups to attack him over these issues so he can control the issues to be about social issues and not fiscal management, state operations or contracts. He gets to a substantive discussion that swings in his favor over talking about mismanagement and corruption.
In addition to changing the subject, it invites attacks by loons like the Pharmacists for Life or others who make over the top attacks at him and who he can then make the enemy.
The biggest danger he faces is Judy Baar Topinka who neutralizes the issues of abortion, gay and lesbian rights, contraception and I believe is pro-embryonic stem cell research and thus makes the advantage with women lower. The flip side with Judy is she has been around in state government so has ties to George Ryan and others, but it’s hard to see that without a significant scandal breaking how that swings Blagojevich’s way–especially with the number of scandals he’s racking up.
When Finance Reporting is Weird
Look at Illinois AFL-CIO COPE expenditures:
ticket purchase
White Citizens for Jesse
Vallas Report
Nothing to see here folks, move along.
Roskam IL-06
Quarter/Cycle $395080.46
On Hand $369675.22
The vast majority of it is local money meaning anyone who was calling around came up dry–I think Pankau’s decision not to run is pretty clear after looking at the report. He put up incumbent numbers for a Member of Congress in a very short period based on local donations. I had speculated that with $88,000 or so in internet fund raising, he had hit a national base, but it really wasn’t. Those donors seem to be a nice extra on the report–the local donors dominate the report.
Bean IL-08
Quarter 454921.39
Cycle $956580.89 (just missed the $1 million over a year out)
On Hand $735308.19
This is going to be a real expensive race and she won’t be relying on donations from small donors given the battle that is coming.