Surprise Redesign
ArchPundit
Not planned since the old theme just broke. Let me know how it looks and operates. Also, regular posting to return in the next few days.
June 2008
Very Slow
For a few days. Check back in from time to time, but I’ll be slow posting.
Breaking: New Michelle Obama Videotape
It’s not here yet, but I am reliably told by many that it will show Michelle’s mentor Herman Simpson teaching her to hate Whitey…….
Update:
Not the full video, but here is nefarious Whitey hating Herman Simpson:
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This is surely the end of the Obama campaign.
In a Bit of Shock
I went to college in Mount Vernon, Iowa and I’m having a very hard time watching the news from Cedar Rapids.
The Historic Sutliff Bridge just fell–it was a regular cycling destination for me for my time in Iowa.
From the Halvorson Campaign
The question not being asked is who does Ozinga think should control an airport in Will County? Elk Grove Village and Governor Rod Blagojevich or Will County elected officials? Does Ozinga think the Weller bill that required federal procurement rules and Will County control was a bad idea? Or does he think that Elk Grove Village should control the relationship with the private companies developing an airport in Will County?
If he doesn’t like the Will County plan, does Ozinga want to defer to ALNAC?
Independent Fighter Debbie Halvorson Puts Local Interests Before Chicago Style Politics
Joliet, IL –On Wednesday, Congressional Candidate and State Senator Debbie Halvorson issued the following statement:
“I am an independent fighter for the people I represent and I won’t let Chicago politicians tell us what to do in the 11th Congressional District.
“I sponsored the Will County Airport Authority bill on behalf of Will County Labor, Business and Government. This bill has bipartisan support from the legislators in Will County because this third airport bill is about local control and not handing over an airport in Will County over to bigwigs from Chicago. Our plan gives one appointment to the Governor, and ALNAC’s plan ultimately gives five.
“This issue is too important for petty politics, and shame on anyone for suggesting ties to convicted felon Rezko–someone whom I have never even met.”
More on Jackson and Blagojevich
Apparently the June 2006 meeting shouldn’t have been surprising to Jackson since:
Finally, Jackson said he spoke with Gov,. Blagojevich today, during which time the Governor proposed creating a gubernatorial-appointed commission to oversee development of the airport. Jackson said he rejected the concept, noting that the two private development firms who are willing to finance the project are under an exclusive contract with ALNAC.
“The State brings $75 million worth of land. ALNAC and its developers bring $200 million to finance construction of the airport. The airport commission should reflect the interests of both the State and ALNAC,” Jackson said. “ALNAC has agreed to give the governor four appointments on its nine-member board. That seems fair and equitable.”
This was before the 5th slot was given to the Governor a few months later according to the ALNAC proposal.
You might think listening to Jackson and reading Bryant that it was out of nowhere that a commission with Gubernatorial appointments were brought up. Actually, Jackson had proposed it and had been negotiating with the Governor for months before a Rezko meeting took place…
Why Is Jackson Getting Away With This?
Seriously, how the hell is Jackson getting away with this nonsense?
Download Title
Let’s revisit Jackson’s plan in February 2006:
Under the new Intergovernmental Agreement, ALNAC’s Board of Directors will consist of nine members – at least five being Will County residents. During the construction phase, Cook County home-rule communities will hold four seats. After opening day, Cook loses one seat to a home-rule municipality from Kankakee County.
“In short, our plan gives Will County majority control before, during and after opening day,” Jackson said.
Specifically, ALNAC’s new governance structure is as follows:
* During the construction phase, the Board will be comprised of one appointee each from University Park, Park Forest, South Holland, Calumet Park and Elk Grove Village, plus four appointees by the Governor from Will County home-rule communities.
*After Opening Day, Elk Grove Village departs and is replaced by a Governor’s appointment from the Kankakee County home-rule communities.
Let’s add this from December 27, 2007 (Trib-Mclatchey article):
The repeal vote was a political victory for Jackson, who has quarreled with Weller for years over the details of the airport. And it came three months after Weller announced his retirement amid questions about his Nicaraguan land dealings and his relationship to an indicted defense contractor.
The amendment Weller guided through the GOP-controlled Congress in 2005 had required a majority of the members of the airport’s governing body be from Will County. It also would have made the airport comply with federal procurement guidelines instead of the state rules Jackson’s public-private partnership has followed.
Weller’s office could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.
The horrors of federal procurement rules….
Of course, those wouldn’t work for ALNAC because as a compact, they are largely able to hand pick the developers instead of engaging in competitive bidding. At best, the issues of pay to play are pot-kettle issues here with the ALNAC plan having plenty of room for the kind of mischief Jackson says he’s fighting.
More to the point, ALNAC’s plan gives two non-Will County communities the ability to sue to force expansion regardless of what Will County citizens want. Make no mistake about it, ALNAC is a scheme to keep control of a third airport in the hands of people who don’t live around it. Trying to claim it’s all about pay-to-play ignores that ALNAC has the same potential problems, but with Cook County communities for a development project in Will County
Let’s revisit what Halvorson’s bill did:
(1) Four directors shall be appointed by the Will
County Executive, with the advice and consent of the Will
County Board; one of these 4 directors shall be a resident
of the 6 township eastern Will County area consisting of
the townships of Crete, Green Garden, Monee, Peotone,
Washington and Will;
(2) one director shall be appointed collectively by the
municipalities of Beecher, Crete, Monee, Peotone and
University Park; the selection procedure for this director
shall be as follows: the village president of each
municipality, with the advice and consent of the
municipality’s board of trustees, shall submit one
candidate for consideration within 30 days after the
effective date of this Act, and thereafter within 30 days
of any vacancy or expiration of the term of the board
member selected pursuant to this subsection; the
municipalities may, by intergovernmental agreement,
establish an open interview or other public hearing process
to review the candidates; the Board of each such
municipality shall vote, within 30 days of receipt of
candidate nominations, for one candidate; candidates
receiving the highest vote total shall be appointed to the
Board; in the event of a tie vote among the candidates
receiving the two highest vote totals, within 15 days of
receiving notice of the tie vote, the village presidents of
each municipality shall cast a vote for a single candidate
to break the tie; the failure of a municipality’s village
president or board to act within any of the time frames set
forth in this subsection shall forfeit that municipality’s
right to participate further in the selection and
appointment process for the Authority’s board position
then under consideration;
(3) one director shall be appointed by the Governor
upon the recommendation of the Cook County Township
Supervisors whose townships border Will County; the
director must reside in one of the Cook County Townships
that border Will County;
(4) one director shall be appointed by the Chairman of
the Kankakee County Board, with the advice and consent of
the Kankakee County Board.
(b) One of the directors appointed by the Will County
Executive, with the advice and consent of the Will County
Board, shall be designated and serve as the Board Chair.
(c) Each appointment shall be certified by the appointing
officer to the Secretary of State of Illinois and the Secretary
of the Authority.
(d) The appointing officers shall make their initial
appointments within 60 days after the effective date of this
Act. The failure of any appointment to be so made shall not
affect the establishment of the Authority or the exercise of
its powers.
Case In Point
Also Via Rich
That whole abuse of power thingy
As you may already know, last month JCAR blocked a rule change proposed by Governor Blagojevich that would have allowed him to immediately expand the eligibility for government-funded health-insurance programs. Health insurance is the governor’s top priority, and he had previously claimed the right to veto spending from one part of the state budget and spend it on expanding health care, which would be unconstitutional, but that’s another story.
After the committee blocked the rules, Blagojevich ordered his agency directors to proceed as though JCAR actually approved the rule.
The governor then sent his press office out to tell reporters that JCAR was unconstitutional and didn’t have the authority to block his new idea – even though Blagojevich signed that aforementioned law that allowed JCAR to do just that.
The governor’s move caused quite an uproar. His tendency to ignore the Constitution, his stubborn refusal to take “no” for an answer from large bipartisan majorities in the General Assembly, his blatant abuse of his powers to call special legislative sessions (he’s called more than all modern governors combined), and his hypocritical lawsuits against the House speaker over, of all things, constitutional issues, had already rankled legislators to no end.
Blagojevich is Illinois’s Bush. Impeach him, impeach him now.
Just Giving Candidates Some Thoughts…
Via Rich
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has produced “talking points” for legislative candidates on the reasons to impeach Governor Rod Blagojevich.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the memo Tuesday.
It refers to corruption under Blagojevich as “a tumor” that must be surgically removed. It also claims the governor has violated the state constitution by abusing his authority.
Spokesman Steve Brown says the talking points do not represent Madigan’s views. Instead, he says they simply provide information for any House candidates who want to discuss impeachment.
But the talking points are likely to deepen the feud between Madigan and Blagojevich, who are both Democrats.
The way I see it, this would appear to be a process by which the feud ends.
The other thing not revealed was how hard Steve Brown was laughing when he made his comment.
On a more serious note, the best thing is it isn’t just about Rezko, but the systemic undermining of the State Constitution.
Daniel Biss Dinner for Four
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