I’m a Black Sarah Palin
ArchPundit
NO one would believe this as fiction:
“I’m like the black Sarah Palin,” Hendon said, meaning he intends to use a grassroots effort to get elected. He said it’s about the people of the city, not who has the most money.
September 2010
He’s In
Hendon declares he’s all in the Mayoral Race. The best part is the guy runs the funniest commercials in politics.
Oh, and the crazy is in full swing with Carol Moseley Braun getting in the race as well. The clown show is going to be entertaining.
CHICAGO — State Sen. Rickey Hendon says he’s running for mayor of Chicago, and he promises to reopen Meigs Field on his first day in office if he’s elected.
Apparently Ricky doesn’t realize he won’t need to fly on the state plane as much anymore. But it will get him tons of votes from suburban hobby pilots. If they could vote in the City that is….
(Second part via Rich)
OWP–Overprivileged White People Want Their Airport Back
Seven years later, the wealthy and privileged want their little airport back
With Mayor Richard Daley set to leave office, it’s time to bring back Meigs Field, according to private pilots who still bemoan the shutdown of the lakefront airport seven years ago.
General aviation pilots from across the country suggest that the changing political climate in the Chicago will not only lead to a new mayor, but also possibly a new Meigs.
“From what we’re hearing and seeing, the aviation blogs and Twitter are alive with conversations about whether Mayor Daley’s departure may create an opportunity to rebuild Meigs Field,” said Chris Dancy, spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
===The airport was a favorite among private pilots and business people who could land their planes near downtown and be at meetings in the Loop within minutes.
“More than seven years have passed since Chicago‘s Meigs Field was bulldozed under cover of darkness, but the airport has not been forgotten,” said Craig Fuller, president and CEO of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
“Grassroots support for Meigs is still alive, and many in the aviation community view Mayor Daley’s decision not to run for re-election as a hopeful sign that the field could be restored,” Fuller said.
The local group Friends of Meigs is still active campaigning for the airport’s reconstruction.
The stunning thing about the Meigs debacle is that Daley isn’t even the most arrogant party in it. A bunch of private pilots want an airport instead of a park in a place that was routinely limited in its service due to weather to be rebuilt instead of having a park that benefits the entire city. Why? So they can get to downtown really easy. Did you know there is mass transit from several other air facilities in the region? Or a cab? Or a Limo? All sorts of choices–that everyone else has….
C’Mon What About Ricky Hendon?
No crazier than some of the names being bandied about. And, of course, he increases the blogger entertainment value greatly. Maybe if Art Turner announced he’d get in.
What a Day To Go Down Sick
Let the scrum begin.
Trib Senate Poll: Tossup 34-34
Giannoulias, the first-term state treasurer, and Kirk, a five-term North Shore congressman, both had 34 percent in the statewide poll of 600 registered likely voters conducted Aug. 28 through Wednesday. Another 22 percent of voters were undecided.
For Profit Mess
James Warren (once I start going through one of his columns, I end up reading a bunch) addresses the recent hearings on for profit universities.
As a former Big Ten president said to me, “The for-profits have kicked our butts,” meaning those of the nonprofit higher-education sector are slow to change and are rarely analyzed for efficiency, productivity or quality. The likes of the University of Phoenix, with 450,000 students, have adapted better to change via online offerings and scheduling flexibility.
The Career Education Corporation and DeVry Inc., both based in the Chicago area, are among those that flourish, generating 90 percent of their revenue from their students’ Pell grants and federal loans. In 10 years, federal aid to for-profits has soared to $26.5 billion from just under $5 billion.
Scrutiny by the Department of Education and Congress is inspired by the for-profits’ huge sums, a seemingly ideologically based suspicion of tidy profits, and obvious misdeeds. The latter include deceptive recruiting, low graduation rates and some attendees’ winding up with mountainous debt in a sector accounting for just 10 percent of post-secondary students, but 25 percent of all Pell grants and 44 percent of student loan defaults.
I usually avoid these issues given I try and keep my professional day life separate from my political writing/activism hobby . The interesting thing is that DeVry is probably one of the better actors in the private market and there are some fine schools that are for profit, but many of the new entrants are rather troublesome. On top of it there is a new category of non-profits that act like for profits establishing strange online offerings and tons of remote campuses. If we want to get ahead of the curve, that’s probably the next place problems will emerge.
Warren’s indictment of Chicago State is completely fair, but when someone fails out of Chicago State their debt load is likely lower. That doesn’t excuse the place, but it does put the context of the for profit problems in a different light. The bad actor for profits tend to rack up debt for students at very high rates, but also not teach them much. It’s a double disaster instead of just a single one. That doesn’t let Chicago State off the hook and I would hope we can develop some accreditation standards that do force non-profit failures to improve or lose accreditation.
The problems though, are fairly significant with the column. First, the former Big Ten President’s statement is fine and somewhat true, but misses that those institutions aren’t simply schools to turn out graduates. They are institutions designed to develop and create knowledge. I know that sounds silly and all academic and I admit to rolling my eyes when it’s used in committee meetings to explain why I can’t get the IT people function in a manner that resembles competence. It is true though. The University of Illinois produce the technology that you are reading this on right now–the web browser. University of Phoenix has produced how many patents from research?
Most of our pharmaceuticals are designed in university laboratories unless they are for widely held diseases that can be marketed successfully. All that nonsense about the market creating pharmaceuticals–forget it. It’s mostly done through NIH and NSF funding with some private funding as well (including funding from foundations not just drug companies).
That’s not an excuse for not improving teaching and for too long that has been ignored at many great universities. That said, some of the best universities teach very well because they are so expensive they have to cater to parents who pay full tuition.. However, those institutions are limited in the number of students they can serve.
Additionally, a big part of community colleges look for in new faculty hires is the ability to do quality assessment. There’s a long way to go, but the culture of assessment and evaluation of teaching has advanced greatly in the last ten years. At four year universities and colleges it’s a bit of a mixed bag, but improving.
Continued below the fold
The Story of Bob Dold
I’m mainly amused by Bob Dold running in Illinois 10. He’s running as a moderate who gets endorsed by really conservative groups and he doesn’t quite know how to answer questions to resolve the issue. Let’s take for example, abortion.
Dold says he’s pro-choice, but he was endorsed by Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum and Illinois Right to Life. James Warren nails the problem here:
So he calls himself “pro-choice” but gets support from anti-abortion groups, although not Planned Parenthood, which says his Democratic rival, Dan Seals, is the only pro-choice candidate. When Mr. Dold is asked if he thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned, he doesn’t say no, merely, “I just don’t think that’s realistic at this time.”
It’s a predictable candidacy of winks, nods and deflections, or what passes for pragmatism. A self-proclaimed “conservative choice” in the Republican primary in February, he now morphs into a middle-of-the-road guy whom a Tea Party zealot can still support.
Bob Dold [Kenilworth, 10th Cong. Dist. Republican Primary Candidate]: I would consider myself to be somewhat in the middle, which I know is not the answer that you’re looking for there, but I’m against partial birth abortion; I am against federal funding [for abortions] and I am for parental notification.
Telling. But it gets better:
Jeff Berkowitz: Okay, but you would not like to see Roe v. Wade overturned?
Bob Dold: I think, right now, the way it works with the Supreme Court is that Roe v. Wade is precedent at this stage of the game and it would be tough to do so. So, I just don’t think that is realistic at this stage.
Jeff Berkowitz: Philosophically, I know you can’t control it as a House member, but to the extent you could, would you like to see Roe v. Wade overturned, just … in terms of your philosophy.
Bob Dold: Philosophically, I think it’s kind of a moot point. I go back to what I am saying in terms of—I’m against partial birth abortion; I am against federal funding; I am for parental notification. Those are the issues that I have an effect on or will be able to vote on with regard to Congress.
Now, if he were making an argument like Michael Kinsley that abortion rights should be protected by legislation and not the Courts, we could be having an interesting discussion. Bob Dold is not doing that however. It’s quite unclear what the hell he believes, but it is clear he’s worried about giving a clear answer.
The Tribune gave Dold a big fat wet kiss with one of the most sexist ledes I’ve read in years:
Democrat Dan Seals and Republican Robert Dold are selling themselves to suburban voters as candidates who will provide “independent leadership” in Congress.
But a look at their tax returns and economic disclosures shows neither can claim financial independence.
Seals made only about $18,000 last year, and wife Mia provides much of the family income as her husband enters year six of a thus-far unsuccessful, mostly full-time campaign to represent the North Shore and northwest suburbs in Washington.
Dold doesn’t own his home. His parents bought the Kenilworth house that Dold said he rents from them for $10,000 a year, plus property taxes. And Dold’s finances are tied to the fortunes of his parents’ pest control company.
In my marriage I don’t consider my wife to be dependent upon me since it’s a partnership. She’d kick my butt if I didn’t think so. I make more money than my wife, but it isn’t being dependent on me, it’s how we deal with our collective finances. The editor who let Ryan’s lede through should be publicly apologizing. Being dependent on your parents and being in a partnership with your spouse are very different things.
I don’t begrudge Dold living in his parents’ house. That’s not an uncommon thing in many immigrant families and I just don’t see it as a problem when a business is involved especially. However, comparing the two and equating them is absolutely ridiculous. If a Dan Seals was a woman and his wife were a man, no one would ever write that lede.
The Utter Incoherence of Mark Kirk
From the inbox:
Springfield, Ill. – Congressman Mark Kirk announced his five top priorities to control federal spending amid reports of troubling news for the national and Illinois economies.
“Billions in borrowing by the State of Illinois and trillions in borrowing by the federal government is unsustainable,” Congressman Kirk said. “We must enact spending reforms before taxpayers pay even more for fiscal mismanagement. Illinois deserves a Senator who has a proven record of fiscal restraint.”
Congressman Kirk outlined five top priorities to achieve fiscal discipline.
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Enact a line-item veto,
Below he blasts the Illinois budget which has a line item veto. How’s that working out? There’s no reason to believe a line item veto would reduce spending.
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End earmarks,
This simply isn’t that much money. The 2010 earmarks look to be coming in at around $11 Billion. Fine, but it isn’t much in the larger context.
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Require a supermajority to spend beyond our means,
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Enact Senator Simon’s balanced budget amendment, and
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Reestablish the Grace Commission with special procedures to implement approved spending cuts.
These three are my favorite example of not having a real plan, but spouting nonsense. It amounts to stop me before I spend again and majority rule sucks. Three and four are essentially the same thing. So it’s a four point plan, not a five point plan.
The Grace Commission was a joke and Reinventing Government during the Clinton administration was the actual initiative that implemented most common sense reforms like being able to buy computers on the market instead of by RFP. More to the point, it’s unconstitutional. The Grace Commission was a executive commission and to have it making budgetary decisions would require a rather drastic change to the Constitution.
What he doesn’t mention about the Grace Commission are some of the actual suggestions in the Grace Commission. Like the one where military retirement benefits need to be reduced and length of service lengthened. But Mark Kirk doesn’t want to vote on such an issue, he wants to give authority to a non-accountable commission to do the dirty work. But my favorite part of the report is where it suggests that Congressional Oversight is simply too burdensome. Essentially the Grace Commission wanted to gut Congressional power and oversight. Many of the suggestions reduce accountability for government agencies and certainly the executive as a whole. Given what we have just seen in the Gulf of Mexico, does anyone really want Congress not having a strong oversight role?
On Monday, the Civic Federation released a report estimating that the State of Illinois will pay an extra $551 million for its borrowing after the rapid fall of the State’s credit rating. Last week, the Institute for Truth in Accounting reported that Illinois now owed over $120 billion – totaling $29,000 for each Illinois taxpayer.
“Treasurer Giannoulias has been outspoken in favor of more stimulus spending, raising the state income tax and a host of new government programs,” Kirk spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski said. “He has been largely silent on the rapidly falling credit rating of Illinois and the new borrowing costs Illinois taxpayers must pay. It’s time for a change in leadership for the good of our state and our economy.”
Congressman Kirk became the first member of the House Appropriations Committee to stop earmarking for his district. Kirk amendments took on funding for the Bridge to Nowhere and stopped $200 million in stimulus spending to re-sod the National Mall. Kirk was a leading opponent of the stimulus, the FY09 Omnibus Appropriations bill (with 9,000 earmarks) and wasteful programs like the federal Sugar Program.
Alexi hasn’t been silent on the credit rating. He joined with Dan Hynes is specifically warning about this under the Blagojevich administration. What is fascinating is how dumb Mark Kirk must think everyone is. He cannot identify significant savings and instead of proposing specific cuts to federal spending he wants someone else to do his job as a Member of Congress–an unelected, unaccountable commission.
Further, he supports making the Bush administration tax cuts permanent. He complains about the State of Illinois being broke, but he wants to pursue a policy that will bankrupt the United States according to David Stockman:
RAZ: So in 1985, Stockman left. Now these days, he’s still a conservative and still a Republican, but he doesn’t think his party is taking a responsible position on taxes any longer. At the end of this year, the Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire. Republicans want them renewed; Democrats want to keep the tax cuts for the middle-class, but not for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.
Now, Stockman says they’re both wrong. And he says extending either of those cuts is tantamount to the government declaring bankruptcy.
Mr. STOCKMAN: We’ve had a rolling referendum on what we want in government and what we don’t, ever since the first Reagan spending cut program – which I was part of in 1981. And it seems pretty clear to me that by 2010, we’ve decided a lot of things that cost a lot of money, the American people want. I might not agree with that but apparently, they do.
So we’re spending $3.8 trillion in defense, non-defense, entitlements, everything else, and we’re taking in only 2.2 trillion. So we got a massive gap. You have to pay your bills; you can’t keep borrowing from the rest of the world at that magnitude, year after year after year. So in light of all of those facts, I say we can’t afford the Bush tax cuts.
Mark Kirk’s “plan” for reducing spending cannot identify any specific cut and his utter lack of a plan for revenues means he wants to pursue the exact policies at the national level that Blagojevich pursued at the state level, but thinks it’s okay to blast Alexi for the mess. I think that’s called projection.
8 Years
In late August ArchPundit had its 8th Anniversary. While work and kids keeps me from being as active as I used to be, I appreciate all of my regular readers and commenters.