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Gambling on Don

ArchPundit March 23, 2004 No Comments

Blagojevich has called for an inquiry into the choice of the Isle of Capri Casino proposal for Rosemont by the Illinois Gaming Commission.

The Gaming Commission has blamed the Governor for not giving them the resources to make complete decisions. Of course, he hasn’t.

If they don’t watch it, the Gaming Commission will be Schillerstered (current Blagojevich target and State Superintendent of Schools).

Regardless of whether the Board has adequate resources, the decision was bound to be controversial and they knew it. Rosemont is a run by Don Stephens, a crony of former Governor George Ryan, and also a man with ties to several figures that have relations with organized crime. In one of the most hilarious pieces on the Outfit since Royko ate at the same restaurant as his favorite target, John Kass details Don’s life as a pool boy to the Giancanas.

Any casino that does business in Rosemont is going to go through Stephens and as such, will be tainted with fears over Outfit connections. To make matters worse, Bernie Goldstein, the head of Isle of Capri, was given a one-way ticket out of Illinois Gaming several years ago.

The other choices in this case were Des Plaines and Waukegan. Waukegan is the case best fitting the need for economic revitalization. Remember originally, the casinos were designed to be tools of economic revitalization in river towns hit hard by economic changes. So towns like East Saint Louis, Peoria, Joliet, and Elgin were naturals. And in several places the strategy has helped.

Des Plaines was the choice of staff. Waukegan was also the favorite of other casino towns because it was farther away from existing casinos. One complaint out of Elgin is that a Rosemont casino will draw a lot of business away from Aurora and Elgin negating some of the impact of the 10th license. I’m not sure this is as serious as some think simply because Rosement would probably be full from travellers and city dwellers who now go to Indiana.

Instead of following the staff recommendation or the community in most need, the board chose the casino spot most likely to raise a lot of money. The question that Illinois Attorney General needs to answer is who is it going to raise that money for: Illinois taxpayers or the Outfit?

The Administration’s Commitment to Democracy Shines Through Again

ArchPundit March 19, 2004 1 Comment

Largely because everyone is ignoring Latin America, I haven’t had much to say, but it is a place that has a special place in my heart. I don’t have much to say about Haiti because while I am not comfortable with how Aristide was overthrown, I have little faith in Aristide himself.

However, the retrograde jackasses from the Reagan administration are inserting themselves into the El Salvadoran elections.

During past Salvadoran elections the U.S. has maintained a hands-off policy. The American ambassador has said the U.S. will respect the electoral process again this time and work with whoever is elected. That’s a wise policy. It is not, apparently, a policy shared by everyone in the Bush administration.

Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega was quoted by Salvadoran media as warning voters to think twice about their choices and the possible impact of an FMLN victory on relations with the U.S. During a recent visit, Noriega met with almost all of the candidates, but snubbed the FMLN’s.

More troubling were White House Special Assistant Otto Reich’s remarks last week that the “U.S. could not have the same confidence in an El Salvador led by a person who is an obvious admirer of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.” He also mused about the impact on commerce and migration policy if the FMLN were to win.

Reich’s analysis may be correct, but the decision to voice those thoughts just a few days before the election undercuts the U.S. ambassador’s pledge of neutrality. It sounded more like a warning to vote “the right way.”

Reich is uncommitted to democracy and for those that wonder why I don’t take the administration’s word for it when the neo-cons start spouting claims about democracy, you can look to him and Noriega.

I have little use for the FMLN either, but they aren’t the ones trying to subvert Democracy in this case.

Chief Illiniwek Wins 2-1

ArchPundit March 19, 2004 1 Comment

As reported in comments, by the Squire, University of Illinois Champaign Urbana students voted to keep Chief Illiniwek by a 2-1 margin.

As someone who supports students making choices for themselves, this presents a quandary that I hope can be solved through further education.

More Info On Jeff Smith Chicago Event

ArchPundit March 18, 2004 2 Comments

I promise this will not become a site on Missouri politics or Jeff’s campaign blog, but I did want to pass along this invite to his Chicago event. If you want more details on Jeff, visit this earlier post.

Jeff Riley and Pete D’Alessandro for a

Spring Wine Tasting & Meet the Candidate Night

Featuring:
Jeff Smith
Candidate for Congress in Missouri

Jeff Smith is running for the vacant congressional seat formerly held by Dick Gephardt. He has raised over $100,000 and has changed the dynamics of the race with his fresh ideas and perspective. He’s also a good friend and we hope you can support him and attend this exciting event.

Saturday, March 27th, 2004
6:00 to 8:00pm
The House of Glunz
1206 N. Wells St., Chicago

$45 Taster
$100 Connoisseur
$250 Wine Master

Please pay in advance or at the door.

Make checks payable to:
Friends of Jeff Smith

Or RSVP online at:
www.jeffsmith2004.com

Special thanks to: Christopher Donovan, Louis Glunz Wines , Heather Schoenfeld, Brad McCracken, Scott Neninger, Stephanie Valier, Matt Smith, John Lawrence, Janey Miller, Bradley Serot, Steve Sadin, and Grant Christman Design.

Printed in-house, Labor donated

Chief Referendum

ArchPundit March 17, 2004 2 Comments

I’ve been swamped with the Primary, but the Squire has been all over an on campus referendum over Chief Illiniwek.

I’ve argued before that I find the Chief to be a horrible anachronism that uses stereotypes to represente American Indians.

Certainly a mascot could be a proud figure representing everything noble about American Indian culture in general and the Illini Tribe specifically. Instead, the student playing him performs an atrocious and stereotypical dance that degrades the proud heritage of American Indians.

U of I students still have 2 hours to vote. Squire had this to say in comments:

The two-day campus voting period ends at midnight tonight, and with it the referendum on the Chief. As I stated earlier, the Pro-Chief option will likely win due to the heavy amounts of social ignorance in the student body. The pro-Chief faction will likely decide that might/numbers makes right and trumpet the results while still not getting what the issue is truely about. At least spring break is next week so hopefully no group on either side will do anything too terribly stupid.

With the (underhanded) cancellation of the April meeting the Chief resolution will be voted upon at the June meeting of the Board of Trustees. That meeting will be Allen’s last before his term as UIUC Student Trustee expires. The BoT really does not want to vote on the issue – it’s a lose-lose situation for them – but they really have to sometime soon. Tension on campus is getting a tad out of hand and we need a vote one way or another just to settle the student body down a bit.

He also points to this article on David Gill, Democratic Candidate for the 15th District.

Missouri Panhandling

ArchPundit March 17, 2004 6 Comments

A good friend of mine is running in the 3rd Congressional District to replace Dick Gephardt. His name is Jeff Smith and I’d appreciate if you could drop by and help him reach his March Madness Goal of $10,000. You can just donate, or you can enter a pool for the NCAA Tournament. If you win, you get to play Jeff in a game of basketball. Given his stature, that might not seem like much, but he is very fast.

Also, for those of you in Chicago, he will be having a fundraiser on March 27th. Donations start at $50 so consider attending. Details will follow.

Jeff is running in a fairly crowded field. Amongst them he is the most progressive candidate with a chance to win the primary. He has had good success raising money to date, but needs more help.

His opponents includ State Senator Steve Stoll, former State Rep. Joan Barry, and State Represenative Russ Carnahan. Stoll is conservative for a Democrat, but a decent guy. He is pro-life, anti-gun control an pro-death penalty. Barry is pro-life and also a very decent person. Russ Carnahan has the largest name recognition largely due to his parents, former Governor Mel Carnahan and former US Senator Jean Carnahan. Russ is more liberal than the others, but suffers from a bad case of being inept and horrible in public.

I’m sure Russ is a nice guy, but he is one of the most ill-prepared candidates for office I have ever observed. The reason this matters is that the Republican in the race is one Bill Federer. For those unfamiliar with the wing-nuttery of Federer, you will know that he has the strong endorsement of Phyllis Shafly and Grover Norquist. And he has money-he is already at $450,000 for the race.

While I don’t shun more conservative Democrats like some, I will say that I’d far prefer a progressive candidate in the 3rd to challenge Federer and replace Gephardt. A conservative Democrat isn’t necessary here. The District is 60% Democratic.

I’m asking you to donate to Jeff today to ensure that he remain competitive. For those concerned over whether he is viable, take a look at the articles on the front page–Jeff has already shown that he can raise money and Roll Call has even noticed.

I’ll be asking for lots of donations for candidates in Illinois throughout the year. For those that can do it–that money is essential to a winning campaign by Barack, Bean and others, but this is an option to help out another candidate who can make a difference in Washington.

Wrong On Murphy

ArchPundit March 17, 2004 No Comments

Okay, earlier I said Cook County Public Guardian Patrick Murphy lost. He won by nearly 10,000 votes. Errr.. I have no excuse.

East Saint Louis Voting

ArchPundit March 17, 2004 No Comments

I have a hard time getting upset at anyone in East Saint Louis because they are just playing the hand given to them by the St. Clair County machine. Ralph, through his sister, covers the East Saint Louis voting yesterday

In other news

ArchPundit March 16, 2004 2 Comments

District 150 in Peoria has renewed Edison Schools contract. I’ll have more on this later, but I figured a post would remind me.

Yo! Bill any take on this?

Other Races

ArchPundit March 16, 2004 1 Comment

The bad news is Cook County’s Tireless Public Guardian went down to defeat in his judicial race.

In the great news category, Bill Kunkle, the man who prosecuted the DuPage 7, has won with 52 percent of the vote against a candidate heavily supported by the man who can admit no mistakes and holder of the most bitter concession in 2002, Joe Birkett.