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The Illinois Enviroblog put together by the Illinois Environmental Council. It’ll be permalinked soon, but for now, it’s right here.
2006
National Attention for G-Rod and Illinois Dems
With his proposal for universal pre-k (something all states should be moving towards), Blagojevich is getting good press for a very progressive agenda over the last few years. Newman lists some of the most important issues that the Democratic Legislature and Governor have passed for those who agree with them, though I’d add Blagojevich’s Pharmacy rule as a critical progressive initiative as are Patti’s efforts to expand access and education surrounding contraceptives. Important environmental initiatives are his move to reduce mercury emissions and incentives for fuel efficiency.
Ezra Klein added to that in praise of the Pre-K plan as does Sam Rosenfeld who suggests the progressive agenda should trump concerns over corruption and references the complaints over the Blagojevich Administration
I’ll give this to the administration is that so far, the scandal hasn’t reached as high as scandals in Jim Edgar’s administration and it’s hard to make the case that it’s any worse than business as usual. It may well turn out that there are actual quid pro quos for donations, but as of right now, the best evidence is that there are the typical convenient arrangements between donors and donees in an all too comfortable arrangement.
All that said, there are several issues where I think Rosenfeld completely misses the mark on why so many Democrats and progressives are upset with the Blagojevich administration. First and foremost, he promised to run the state differently than it has been run in the past and he hasn’t. It’s a broken promise and that counts. Of course, on that issue there is no serious Republican who can argue they’ll be much better without being so repugnant on policy as to be not a consideration.
More importantly, the corruption does affect social justice. Tony Rezco, who the Governor refuses to throw under the bus so far, has been identified as the real proprietor of Crucial Inc which has received state and Chicago business as a minority contractor. Rezko does not qualify as a minority and appears to have put the company together to skirt those rules.
This is simply unacceptable for those that share values of equal opportunity.
Further, his refusal to even consider increases in the sales or income tax means that these gains may be temporary. Without a fiscal base to pay for these programs, it is not certain they can continue. The Early Child Care initiative will be expensive and the state budget is not in good shape. We still have K-12, Higher Ed, and transportation infrastructure to work on while adding two new programs. If correct about managed care, the All Kids initiative won’t be too burdensome, but there is no cheap way to do universal pre-k.
At the same time, he is continuing practices that look an awful like Pay to Play or Pay to Lay as Birkett recently called it in a great line, and that saps the budget of money as favored interests get money that should be utilized for those initiatives that are progressive. Tony Rezco and Panda Pavillion aren’t in need of help, poor kids with substandard education are–and he has no significant plan to reform the state funding formula which is killing poor rural school districts even with the extra funds that have gone into K-12 education.
Being progressive is more than simply spending money–its creating sustainable conditions for such programs so that while they will continue exist in the future, they won’t be well funded. There are structural problems in the Illinois budget that put several of these initiatives at risk over the long term.
I can’t say I didn’t expect it from Blagojevich because in 2002, I predicted pretty much what has happened. If the legacy of strong policy initiatives is to continue beyond Rod’s Administration whether that be in one year or 5 or perhaps more, the budget has to be put on solid footing. Balanced budgets are critical to social justice in the long term.
I will give the Blagojevich Administration that reality is tough right now given the federal government is spending like there is no tomorrow and decreasing money to state governments. That certainly exacerbates the problems, but it is not the only problem that exists with the Illinois budget.
Crossposted at Illinoize
More to say later
But consider this a budget address open thread.
Commenting
Since I’m having some problems–first, anonymous commenters should only be using one handle in comments. The particular person currently using at least two will have their comments deleted if more than one handle is used again.
Some folks use their real name and an anonymous handle–that is okay, but only one anonymous handle.
Second, I’ll be doing open threads through the primary at least–please don’t put off-topic comments in substantive posts–you’ll be able to rant all you want in the open thread.
Third, one particular person should carefully consider if their ranting is doing their cause more harm than good. I won’t stop the person from posting (other than if they use two handles), but really, check yourself.
Consider this a general open thread.
Let’s Make Ciro Rodriguez the John Sullivan of Texas
Leo’s got a post up at several sites singing the praises of John Sullivan who is challenging Lipper the Lessoer AKA Skeletor in IL-03’s primary. More fun is Jeff Berkowitz talking to both of them this week on the Illinois Channel–even I get that down here on cable access.
What someone needs to ask the guy is who did he support in the 2000 Presidential Election. I’m sure he’ll make it up given he appears to be making it up where he voted in the last several elections. My understanding was he was quite fond of Pat Buchanan in 2000.
Jeff’s interview is incredibly damning. It’s just brutal. Let me make a point here–while someone could claim to be a resident of their home state while in grad school I changed my registration in 1995 after moving to Missouri in the fall of 1995 to attend Washington University for my PhD in political science. I damn sure know when I’ve voted and when I haven’t and I can tell you the special elections I’ve missed–in fact I missed the August Primary in Missouri last year because I was in the field all day (yeah, should have voted early–I know). Why can I do that? Because I talk about politics nearly every day and when I was teaching, I talked about it to students nearly every day meaning I was constantly using real world examples to illustrate theoretical points.
The man is a Congressional Scholar–he’d remember who he voted for in a Congressional Race and where he did it. In fact, his book is on Congressional Communication so he’d be paying attention to the contact he’d have with his Representatives through franking and other means.
I do know some political scientists who don’t vote–more than you might think, but that’s not typical. The whole not knowing where you are registered is nonsense. The way to check this all out is to check out Durham County, North Carolina and Knox County, Tennessee. If he ever registered in either place and then voted in Illinois again after that without reregistering in Illinois, we have voter fraud.
This is an important one–if you can help, go here.
Hastert did learn the keep the roll call trick from someone
We can thank Da Speaker for that particular innovation in Illinois. And a god awful ballpark to boot.
embittered, junkie, white college drop out angry at successful black man with a Harvard JD
Tell me what’s incorrect about the above?
CALLER: Oh, they’re putting him up because he’s well spoken, he’s well mannered, he gets in front of the camera, he has a presence, but he says nothing. He looks — he’s like a Bill Clinton, but just a different shade, that’s all. And you know, you were right about [Sen. Joe] Lieberman [D-CT]. In this Connecticut area, there’s a groundswell now with some local senators and representatives in his district saying, “Based on his stance on the war, let’s not re-elect Joe Lieberman.” So, if you’re a Democrat, you go against it, so now Lieberman is, by his own party in Connecticut — the groundswell is starting. But they’ll put him — Barack Obama — on a pedestal.
LIMBAUGH: Yeah, well, I don’t know. I kind of like that analogy that he is the Donavan McNabb of the U.S. Senate —
CALLER: Don’t say too much about him, Rush.
LIMBAUGH: — in the sense that he is being propped up. He’s being —
Oh yeah, Barack is happily married to his first wife and has children. He’s got family values too.
Last I checked Barack also isn’t out shooting watermelons in his backyard to demonstrate how the Cheney shooting was a conspiracy.
Hackett’s Whining
Usually, the ‘calls to donors’ aren’t high level people, but people who are connected and friends of other candidates and campaigns, always in the mode of thinking its them against the world interpret that to mean they are being frozen out by a vast conspiracy.
One of the stories about the Hackett campaign is that isn’t well known is they didn’t actually have a voters list until two weeks before the race when some folks came in at the last second and set up the ground operation. They did a good job, but it was late and ultimately, Hackett was a great candidate, but his campaign wasn’t as strong as it seemed.
Those sorts of concerns are why Schumer and others were worried about him and Rahm was trying to get a good candidate he could back and back heavy in a hard district to win with a better plan than last time. That’s not insulting, that’s a compliment as Markos points out.
Being Thrown Under the Bus is Worse than being Sprayed
I’m not sure why Mike Allen felt the need to make Karl look this good in the story, but it’s pretty funny:
The Vice President was the press strategist, and Karl Rove was the investigative reporter.
I had some sympathy
For the V-P. While he produced outrageously funny headlines, he had shot a friend. That sympathy evaporated when I saw this:
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan tried to absolve Cheney of blame for shooting wealthy Austin lawyer Harry Whittington, saying that hunting “protocol was not followed by Mr. Whittington when it came to notifying others that he was there. And so, you know, unfortunately, these types of hunting accidents happen from time to time.”
I’m not a hunter, and long time readers know I don’t like guns. I don’t like them in a different way than most people who say they hate guns. I don’t mind if people own them, use them for recreation or self-defense. I’m not wild about concealed carry, but it honestly hasn’t made much of a difference in Missouri.
I don’t like them because when handling them you have to be hyperaware of your surroundings, your actions, and the firearm. It’s too much work to concentrate upon those three things and enjoy myself. I shoot everyone once in a while, but it’s only if I happen to be around when someone else happens to be planning on shooting. I’m absentminded so having a gun around the house, especially with kids, would be a horrible idea in my case.
The reason I’m like that is that before I ever layed hands on a firearm it was drilled into me that if you pull the trigger, you damn well know at what you are shooting and know that there is a backstop or no way another person could be in the way of the shot. Period.
People screw up though–and we are all human so every so often someone gets shot by accident. It happens and it’s sad, but we always know the guy who pulled the trigger is responsible.
Trying to pass it off as Whittington not following prototocol is the mark of a jackass. It doesn’t matter if Whittington did something stupid, Cheney shot him (and not sprayed–shot). This is especially true because Cheney did know Whittington was retrieving a bird and he had to be somewhere out there.
Add this to the surreal idea that they were all driving around the ranch cherry picking quail off within viewing distance of the car.
Cheney can redeem himself by going before the press (meaning the media that does not include people who have claimed Hillary had Vince Foster killed) and acknowledging his responsibility and his mistake. I’m sure he feels horrible about his mistake, but he is the Vice-President of the United States.
I crack myself up.