Interesting Appointments
ArchPundit
Chris Kelly oversaw much of the gambling policy for the Governor and is a gambling addict.
Stuart Levine is on the llinois Health Facilities Planning Board and is a drug addict.
What’s next?
January 2008
One Week, Nothing More Important
Democrats are pissed off that the new Democratic Congress has been weak an ineffective. Signing on to bills to make George Bush think about the war instead of simply saying not one more damn dollar for this fiasco. Signing on to destroy the 4th Amendment by giving the Executive broad powers to tap phones without judicial oversight.
But how do you send a signal when the other side is even worse? You take out some of the worst of your own party in the primaries. Dan Lipinski came to his office through an act of fraud when the elder Lipinski withdrew and made sure there’d be no competition by sticking a plant on the Republican side of the ballot. He remains in that seat with the blessing of the supposedly tough on corruption Chicago Tribune that dismisses the rank corruption that got him in office and has kept him in office as a number of interlocking State and Federal PACs and Campaign Committees throw money around to keep control of the 23rd Ward and the 3rd Congressional District. Federal employees work for these State PACs and Campaign committees while earning a good living on the tax payer dime. State PACs run by a registered lobbyist.
Oh, and he’s horrible on gay rights, immigrant rights, contraception and abortion, and civil rights.
And he’s in a safe Democratic seat where the primary will determine the ultimate victor. He’s the perfect target: corrupt and conservative.
Mark Pera, on the other hand, got in a race that looked nearly impossible and is oh so close to pulling it off. Help him do it.
Donate or help on the ground or both.
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Why A French Immigrant and not Latino Immigrants
ICIRR points out the reprehensible behavior of Lipinski in going to bat for one immigrant while shafting all the others…
While ICIRR was glad to see Congressman Dan Lipinski come to the aid of French immigrant Corina Turcinovic and her community this week, leaders in Congressman Lipinski’s third congressional district are asking, “What is he doing for the other 11,999,999 undocumented immigrants still living in the shadows?”
he Congressman has voted for legislation that would criminalize pastors, doctors, and teachers for aiding undocumented immigrants, for an extreme amendment that would cut funding to cities like Chicago for declining to enforce federal immigration measures, and for enforcement-only measures like the Secure Fence Act, which assumes we can “block our way out of the current immigration mess.”
Read a statement from community leaders in the 3rd District, or watch the video of last Sunday’s community forum there, which the Congressman did not attend.
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Zorn Points Out the Point of Moving up the Primary in Illinois
I include myself when I use the term “Stupid Tuesday,” as there are several races, most notably the Democratic primary battle for the very important office of Cook County state’s attorney, where I don’t feel I’ve learned enough or seen the candidates in action enough to be sure of my vote.
And the shorter season also increases the importance of incumbency, money and endorsements by other politicians.
Hmm. The bipartisan support in the General Assembly for cutting six weeks out of the cycle starts to make a lot of sense, doesn’t it?
The Extent of the Rezko Cash
The Sun-Times and Trib really have covered this story well and are simply outperforming the supposed national media stars who continually get the portions of the story just wrong.
Here is a list of top receivers of Rezko cash (Sun-Times April 27, 2007)
1. John Stroger, ex-Cook County
Board president — $148,300
A Rezko company had a contract to maintain pay telephones at the Cook County Jail under Stroger. Also, Rezko has had business ties with Stroger family members and friends.
2. Gov. Blagojevich Gov. Blagojevich -Search using:— $117,652
Rezko has been a longtime supporter and top fund-raiser for Blagojevich, having raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for his campaigns. As governor, Blagojevich gave jobs and state appointments to Rezko friends. Rezko has been indicted on federal charges that accuse him of demanding kickbacks from companies seeking state business under Blagojevich.
3. Mayor Daley — $55,950
Soon after Daley became mayor 18 years ago, Rezko’s company, Rezmar Corp., got into the low-income housing business with the city. Rezmar ended up getting more than $25 million from the Daley administration to rehab buildings for affordable housing.
Sen. Barack Obama -Search using:— $54,416
Rezko has been friends with Obama for 17 years. As a lawyer at a small Chicago law firm, Obama worked on low-income housing deals involving Rezko’s company. Rezko has been Obama’s political patron since he ran for the Illinois Senate a dozen years ago. Obama has apologized for buying a piece of property from Rezko’s wife last year to expand his yard.
5. Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan — $43,000
6. Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan — $35,500 Madigan got those donations between 1998 and 2000 — “ancient history,” according to a Madigan spokesman.
7. Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn — $32,000
As state treasurer, Quinn appointed Rezko to serve on a state housing task force.
8. Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) — $31,375
Rezko was the longtime head of Preckwinkle’s campaign-finance committee. Six of Rezko’s troubled housing projects were in Preckwinkle’s ward.
9. Rep. Luis Gutierrez — $27,250
Friends for more than 20 years. Gutierrez was working for then-Mayor Harold Washington when he met Rezko, at the time a top official with a company that had a Chicago Park District concession contract. As alderman, Gutierrez chaired the Chicago City Council Housing Committee that gave Rezko city property to redevelop into affordable housing. Four years ago, Gutierrez paid the lowest price for a riverfront town house in a Rezko development. The congressman sold it last year for a 40 percent profit.
10. John Schmidt — $25,000
Mayor Daley’s former chief of staff, who ran losing campaigns for attorney general and governor.
11. Secretary of State
Jesse White — $23,848
12. Illinois Comptroller
Dan Hynes — $22,500
13. Ald. Arenda Troutman (20th) — $20,750
Most of Rezko’s low-income buildings were in her ward. Rezko’s contractor and his architect also rehabbed a building owned by Troutman’s late father, Benjamin Troutman.
14. State Sen.
James Meeks — $20,000
15. Former Gov. Jim Edgar — $18,804
Rezko “was very helpful” raising money when Edgar was first elected governor in 1990, according to one of Edgar’s top fund-raisers. While Edgar was governor, Rezko’s company got $9.7 million in state loans to fix up apartments in Chicago
NARAL Mailers Against Lipinski
Great mailings and apparently they have a good list in the 3rd with 16,000 people in their mailing universe for the race.
But let me point out, this isn’t just about abortion, but contraception. Lipinski has voted against emergency contraception which is the birth control pill in a higher dosage. It’s not about abortion, it’s about controlling women’s bodies.
It Must Be the Water
Family Taxpayers Network has a hysterical rant up about Oberweis picking on their poor candidate:
Oberweis is running one of the filthiest campaigns we’ve ever seen. What’s really despicable about it is he’s running it against one of the few really decent public servants we have left in Illinois. Oberweis is willing to forget about all the truly bad players out there. He’s now instead using his milk money to smear one truly good man.Hastert, Topinka and all of their old pals are fine, let’s instead destroy Chris Lauzen, probably the best champion for conservative causes in Springfield. What Oberweis is doing is not only selfish and insane, it’s downright disgraceful.No, Lauzen isn’t perfect. No one is. But Chris is head and shoulders above nearly everyone else in Springfield. Chris is a man of integrity who has stood-up for Republican principles time and time again. Often he’s had to stand alone.Frankly, if Lauzen had run for Governor in 2006, he almost certainly would have been our man. But he didn’t. And it’s just as well. Chris is truly Congressional material. He deserves a promotion to Washington.Oberweis on the other hand still has no political accomplishments he can point to. His only strategy is to tear a good man down.Sure, we were tough on Topinka in 2006. But Topinka had a long history of nastiness, wackiness and dishonesty. She has always belonged in the Democratic Party and she was unworthy of Republican support. The bottom line is Chris Lauzen is not Judy Baar Topinka.Jim cried poor to us when he ran for Governor. But now he’s sparing no expense on mud and attack dogs. Oberweis is paying Alan Keyes’ former New Jersey hit-man at least $15,000 a month to trash Lauzen. But that’s just for starters. Oberweis is throwing plenty more cash at the former Hastert staffers he put on the campaign payroll. He’s also advertising on the sewer blogs.This is all happening with Hastert’s blessing of course. As recently as early December, Hastert was still pretending that he didn’t know who he would endorse – even though some of his former senior staff was already on the Oberweis campaign. It was all just more dishonesty and stonewalling from The Quitter.But Hastert did all he could to keep up the phony charade as long as possible, telling the Beacon News on December 1st that he would only support a “positive” candidate and not “somebody that’s going to do political trash talk all the time.”Well, obviously trash talk is all Oberweis has done this campaign. It’s another dishonest scam exposed, and it’s another filthy chapter added to Hastert’s shameful legacy.Jim Oberweis has finally found his true home. We can only hope that in eight days it will also be the final resting place for a failed political career that once had promise, but now ends with dishonor.
You see, he’s negative and that’s a horrible thing. Unlike FTN which is ….
Daily Dolt: Illinois Review
Earth to Ted, Caroline, Patrick and others who are marketing Sen. Barack Obama as the new JFK. Kennedy family, get over yourselves. If you really think Sen. Barack Obama is the new JFK, then maybe you didn’t know the record of the real JFK from 1947 to 1963. Let’s review the bidding.
If you live in Illinois and voted for JFK or Nixon in the 1960 election, I am sorry to be the one to do the math but even if that was your first vote you have at least passed your 68th birthday and are on your way to the “gettin up there” stage of life. So what? So that’s a very long time to hold on to a myth that was never real to start with and expect that it will impress people whose only knowledge of JFK comes from fawning historians and aging journalists.
During 1962, Jack Kennedy was alive and well. Everyone called him Jack. No one ever called him “John Fitzgerald” in that mournful patter until after he was murdered by a communist in 1963. If you still doubt that and are an honest person, read Gerald Posner’s book, Case Closed, and set aside your doubts for all time.
Yes, the Kennedy family doesn’t know anything about the history of their own family. But Illinois Review will correct that for them. And throw in a Assassination Conspiracy theory to boot.
Hillaryis44 Comedy
And this isn’t a scattershot at Clinton supporters in general or Hillary Clinton–many are fine people and I’ll be a big one is she is the nominee. Hillaryis44 seems to be not understanding how counterproductive their current strategy is:
Hillary Clinton Versus The Kooks
James Carville and Paul Begala are out at CNN. Carville and Begala are Hillary supporters. Hillary supporters on Big Media broadcasts will not be tolerated.
Carville and Begala have been targeted for a long time by the denizens of Kookville and other assorted Hillary Hating Naderites and PINOs. The Kooks whined that Carville and Begala did not disclose their love of Hillary and their support of Hillary. Fine. We love and are all for full disclosure. Point taken. CNN however has now gotten rid of the Hillary supporting duo. Disclosure is not the issue now, CNN has simply removed them.
A while back, the New York Times devoted its busy pages to push the unrelenting attack against those naughty boys – C & B. The New York Times even quoted the Head Kook:
“Would it kill CNN to disclose that James Carville is a partisan Clinton supporter when talking about the presidential race?” wrote Daily Kos. “Would it kill James Carville to disclose that he is a partisan Clinton supporter when on the air talking about the presidential race? Apparently so.”
Of course the Head Kook himself has been hired by Newsweek magazine to represent Democrats. Problem is, the Head Kook is not a Democrat. Newsweek hired a dyed in the wool Republican to represent Republican views on its pages – Karl Rove. Democrats get the Head Kook. The Head Kook loves attacking Democrats while pretending to support Democrats. But the Head Kook is a self-interested “libertarian” or somesuch. And — the Head Kook has endorsed Obama. Does the Head Kook disclose that? The Head Kook has trashed Hillary (recall the great “waitress tips” witch hunt) on his orange sulfur, waste enhancement plant, which we lovingly and accurately call DailyKooks.
Newsweek should follow the CNN model and remove the Head Kook as a Democratic spokesman.. Newsweek should get a real Democrat to represent real Democrats.
Criticizing Markos is fair game just as anyone is and Newsweek can decide how they choose to deal with such issues in the primary, but this is pretty lame. In fact, really lame.
Big Endorsement on the Way
Sweet says there is a big Obama endorsement planned for tomorrow
Sweet: Obama wins South Carolina. His way. Big endorsement coming Sunday?
COLUMBIA, S.C.–Barack Obama clinchedt he South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday after a race with a nasty tone where former President Bill Clinton’s aggresive push for his wife became an issue.In a state where race played a roll, and with a hefty black electorate, exit polls showed that Obama snared a whooping 81 per cent of the African-American vote and the white splitting between the three rivals.
Obama delivers a victory speech at 9 p.m. eastern, and I hear that Obama will talk about how his victories in Iowa and South Carolina–states with vastly different popullations–show that his “movement” politics are taking hold.
And that big endorsement I hear is coming….the two biggest out there are Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass) and former Vice President Al Gore.