From the Office of Representative Peter Roskam…
Starting Today Every Dollar U.S. Spends in 2010 Must Be Borrowed
Rep. Roskam: “Though most families won’t celebrate Debt Dependence Day with fireworks and parades, this August 4th, every American should take note of the huge and growing share of our national debt with their name on it.”
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Roskam Declares August 4th Debt Dependence Day”
-By Warner Todd Huston
An interesting article appeared in the Chicago Tribune lamenting the fact that teachers unions are standing in the way of good education for our kids by constantly and in knee-jerk fashion opposing school reform efforts all across the country.
Penned by the Tribune’s Leonard Pitts, no arch righty he, the piece scolds teachers unions and postulates that we may be at the edge of a new day in education where the whining of backwards and uncaring teachers unions may be properly ignored as school districts, backed by parents and voters, launch into a new wave of reforms that will finally have a positive affect on America’s schools that have been failing for decades.
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Even The Left Getting Tired of Teachers Unions?”
-By Warner Todd Huston
According to the AP, there are more citizens in Illinois on food stamps than ever before.
More than 780,000 Illinois families got food stamps in June. The Illinois Department of Human Services said Monday that the figure is up 11.9 percent from a year earlier.
Is this any surprise when Illinois clocks in as having one of the worst business climates of any state in the Union?
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Thanks Obama: More Illinoisans on Food Stamps Than Ever”
From the Hayes for Congress campaign (2nd District)…
CHICAGO, IL- For the black community it is all a one party rule. A regime consisting of all Democrats has led to a culture of corruption that leaves citizens in gang infested, poverty stricken areas, while the Representatives cheat on their taxes, bailout their husbands’ banks and try to bribe their way to higher office.
Hayes remarked, “The black community has been used by its elected officials as a playground for pay-to-play politics. Rangel, Waters, and Jackson all need to be shown the door in November.”
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Hayes Steps Out to Demand Better Leadership for the Black Community”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Tony Rezko has been at the root of many of Illinois’ worst cases of government corruption and influence peddling with ties that go back decades. He’s been tied to President Obama, indicted Governor Rod Blagojevich, and now Senate Democrat candidate Alexi Giannoulias whose family bank loaned the crook almost $23 million.
Worse, the Giannoulias family bank made the loan to Tony Rezko’s development group long after he’d become “politically radioactive,” as the Chicago Sun-Times puts it.
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Democrat ‘Mob Banker’s’ Bank Loaned $23 Mil to Tony Rezko”
-By Warner Todd Huston
With recent revelations that the city manager of the small, mostly low-income Hispanic community of Bell, California makes nearly $800,000 a year and that its police chief makes almost $500,000 yearly, the spotlight might be leveled at city employees all across the country. Illinois, as it happens, is no better for the squandering of such cash, it appears.
On July 31, the Chicago Tribune reported that the an executive of the Highland Park, Illinois park district makes $435,203 a year. And then there were the big bonuses.
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Good News: Big Money to be Made in Illinois. Bad news: it’s in Government”
-By Warner Todd Huston
One of my early blogging assignments was the media bias beat over at Newsbusters, so I became particularly attuned to picking up on how the Old Media toes that “unbiased” journalistic line. Unfortunately, in sometimes subtle ways their rhetoric is geared to smear Republicans in any way possible.
Here is a perfect example. Last week in a a Chicago-based report on Illinois Republican Gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady, NBC Chicago’s Edward McClelland described suburban tea party events as “right-wing bloodfeasts.”
Catch this unbiased reporting:
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No Bias Zone: ‘Journalist’ Calls Tea Parties ‘Right-Wing Bloodfeasts’”
From the office of Tony Peraica, Cook County Commissioner…
You are invited to join me tomorrow for a town hall meeting tomorrow at 10 a.m. at LaGrange Village Hall to discuss local village flooding and local governmental efforts to provide relief to local residents and families.
WHEN: Tomorrow, Saturday, July 31, 2010 — 10 a.m.
WHERE: La Grange Village Hall (53 S. La Grange Avenue)
We will have data forms available for you to fill out to detail any property damage. These forms will help our efforts to garner federal aid for local flood damage. You can also find those forms online at our Web site (please note: they are to be returned to your local town, village or township office.)
We hope to see you tomorrow
Sincerely,
Tony Peraica
Cook County Commissioner
-By Warner Todd Huston
I just returned from a nice little luncheon given by the Heartland Institute (www.heartland.org) in beautiful downtown Chicago, Illinois. The purpose of the gathering of free-market supporters and like-minded individuals was to celebrate the life’s work of famed economist and Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman.
The principal speaker was Richard H. Timberlake*, student and friend of the celebrated economist and an accomplished free-market economist in his own right.
I’ve done several such events for some of the conservative think tanks and state policy groups in the Windy City and I enjoy these events in Chicago because I always get the uneasy feeling that our little conclave of right-thinking fellows well met is the last vestige of civilization and that we are putting on the timbers to secure the gates as the barbarians mount their attack. The barbarians of which I speak are, of course, the city full of Democrats and socialists that looms on all sides surrounding our little events.
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Heartland Institute Luncheon: This Recession Caused By Over-Regulation Not Market Failure”
-By Warner Todd Huston
So far, the biggest negative that has stuck against Illinois Democrat Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias is that he is a poor money manager. The worst is that he was an officer in a family bank that has since gone under due to shady loans to mobsters — to the tune of $20 million in unpaid debt — and other bad banking practices . And now we can add another poor financial situation to Alexi’s already groaning deficit accounts: he’s still $200,000 in debt for his recently completed primary campaign.
As reported two weeks ago, Giannoulias has under performed in campaign fundraising so far in comparison to his GOP opponent, Mark Kirk.
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Ill. Dem Senate Candidate Still $200,000 in Debt From Primary”
-By Warner Todd Huston
This story has been building for weeks on HillBuzz.org, but the reporting there was often iffy, hazy, and speculative, so I didn’t write about it myself. But this week things have come to a head proving the allegations had some merit because now Cook County GOP Executive Director Jeremy Rose has resigned over the allegations of sexual harassment leveled against him.
The story goes that on June 17, 2009, a woman was attending a Chicago Young Republicans meeting in Chicago and when she made to leave for the night was prevented from doing so by Rose. Rose began touching the woman in an unwelcome manner, allegedly took away her cell phone to prevent her from calling a cab, and then sat on her lap to prevent her from leaving. Rose proceeded to suggestively converse with her until she was finally able to extricate herself from the situation. The woman felt threatened and harassed and filed a complaint.
This is all bad enough, but Cook County GOP Chairman Lee Roupas did nothing after being made aware of the allegations. In fact, just the opposite. Roupas promoted the offender to higher positions in the Cook County Party establishment until he was at last appointed Political Director.
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Sex Harassment Scandal in Cook County GOP Sees Resignation of Political Director Rose”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s last year in office is marked by one incident of bilking the taxpayers after another. Each week seems to bring a new example of Stroger and his buddies and family members sticking their hands in our pockets and this week has been no different.
In fact, this week we’ve gotten a twofer as two incidents of Stroger’s nest feathering have come to light. The first came on the 27th when Big Boss Todd awarded a $15,000 consulting job to Raymond L. Harris Sr., of Bolingbrook, who worked on Stroger’s losing primary campaign to retain his seat.
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Now Cook County Board Prez Stroger Sticks Taxpayers With $175,000 Contract Bill”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Everyone is aware of the BP oil spill in the Gulf affecting all our coastal states, most especially Louisiana. But in Michigan there is an oil spill closer to home to worry residents. And surrounding states are eyeing the situation warily hoping they aren’t also affected.
Just north of the Indiana border in Battle Creek and Emmett Township, Michigan a 30-inch pipeline that carries 8 million gallons of oil per day from Griffith, Indiana to Canada ruptured spilling more than 800,000 gallons of oil into Talmadge Creek.
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Michigan: An Oil Spill Closer to Home”
From the office of Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica…
Let’s not forget that even though the county board approved to cut back the sales tax by a .5 percent reduction , there is still more work to be done.
This was an important step forward for Cook County taxpayers, who are struggling to make ends meet amidst rising unemployment and a growing tax burden.
But it is only a first step.
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The Jobs’ Not Done Yet — Sales Tax Still Highest in Nation”
From the office of Cook County Commissinoer Tony Peraica…
I would like to offer my gratitude to Cook County and local municipal officials in the 16th District for their efforts in addressing the massive flooding which occurred over the past weekend.
I am pleased that everyone came together and worked to help county residents, especially the elderly. County employees from the Sheriff’s Department, Office of Homeland Security, and my own staff were on hand to survey damage and provide needed assistance. While this was certainly an unfortunate event, it was heartening to see local officials, neighbors and friends helping one another in this time of need.
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Tony Peraica: Local Flood Relief Assistance”
Gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady takes on Accidental Governor Pat Quinn and his new role as Santa Claus giving his staffers raises as we “get the bill.”
From Adam Andrzejewski of For the Good of Illinois
One month ago, For the Good of Illinois returned to promote self-governance in Illinois by engaging, educating, and empowering citizens to demand limited, accountable, and transparent government of, by, and for the people.
As part of this mission, we launched For the Good of Illinois PAC to allow our members to support viable candidates at the state level who believe in the principles of limited, accountable, and transparent government.
One of our first candidates, Cedra Crenshaw, quickly became the target of the Chicago Machine. Cedra’s opponent, Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi (IL-43rd), unleashed top election lawyer, Michael Kasper, to unjustly knock Cedra off the ballot on a 2-1 party line vote by the Will County Board of Elections.
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Suburban Mom Beats Chicago Machine”
-By Frank Salvato
As I was reading about the proceedings in the trial of impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, it struck me as odd that the prosecution was relying so much on the profanity-laced wiretap audio and not going, instead, straight to the source of incriminating information in the many witnesses they could call. Why aren’t they calling Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett, David Plouffe, David Axelrod, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Tony Rezko, their staff, relations, acquaintances and business partners to testify instead of relying on sensationalism? The answer could be that they don’t want a conviction and/or a thorough investigation.
The notion that the US Justice Department might opt not to prosecute crimes committed by powerful elected officials isn’t new. Favoritism, in one form or another – and at varying intensities – has existed throughout the history of the United States. The foible of misplaced political loyalty facilitates this weakness in human nature. Just ask anyone who went to prison for actions or inactions taken during Watergate.
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When Justice Serves an Ideology Instead of a Nation”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Oh, the games Cook County Board President little Todd Stroger plays. And they are always about sticking it to the taxpayers, aren’t they? Stroger and his Democrat co-conspirators have really proven that county Democrats are more like a criminal syndicate as opposed to proper representatives of the people with a recent move to stick it to suburban drivers in violation of what the suburban cities even want to have happen in their jurisdictions.
Little Toddie wanted to have county sponsored red-light cameras positioned throughout the Cook County suburbs so that the county could get more money in the form of mailed fines from drivers. But the suburban towns and cities didn’t want the county to intrude upon their roads with these onerous cameras and at least in the case of one city, Schaumburg, we have a town that already removed their own red-light cameras due to pressure from the voters. So the county board offered a compromise.
To mollify the suburban cities the board included an opt out clause in its red-light camera rules. If the cities didn’t want them, they could opt out and keep them out of their areas. Stroger and his extortionist buddies were shocked, though, when “nearly every Northwest Cook County town proceeded to opt out” of his grab for suburban driver’s wallets.
What to do, what to do? Stroger was losing his new revenue stream. How could they stop it?
Eureka! Toddie had an idea…
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Cook County Board to Extort Suburban Drivers”
-By Warner Todd Huston
The Sun-Times reports that the next Cook County Board President might be yet another bought and paid for union stooge.
Democrat Party candidate Toni Preckwinkle raised $1.3 million for her campaign for county board president thus far and $220,000 of that came from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
So, what we are seeing is yet another Democrat candidate owned lock, stock and barrel by a public employees union. Gee, I wonder if she’ll be amenable to union demands once in office?
Her opponent, GOP candidate Roger Keats, has raised only $19,000 so far. Not that there IS a Republican Party in the county of Crook.
If you would like to help out the Keats campaign, here is his website: http://keatsforcook.org/. You can donate directly here: Keats For Cook, PayPal.
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Dem. Cook County Board Prez Candidate’s Big Union Haul”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Despite claims made earlier in his campaign, Democrat candidate for Senate Alexi Giannoulias has said that he’ll be quite happy to take campaign donations from lobbyists as he vies to take Barack Obama’s old Senate seat this year.
WGIL News reports that Giannoulias claimed earlier in the campaign that he wouldn’t take donations from lobbyists. However, Giannoulias limited the scope of that claim to encompass only federal lobbyists and political PACs. He has taken donations from state lobbyists.
The difference between a state lobbyist and a federal lobbyist seems vague with Giannoulias, but he claims there is a difference.
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WGIL: Giannoulias Says He’ll Take Lobbyist $$ for Campaign”
-By Warner Todd Huston
The Daily Herald has an interesting story detailing the fundraising of the two candidates vying for the 22nd District State Senator seat in the Elgin, Illinois area. The story shows the anti-voter ideas in which Democrats wallow.
The piece reports that incumbent Democrat Mike Noland has raised $107,000 for his race for State Senate while his GOP challenger, Steve Rauscnehberger, has raised $71,000.
That seems like a horrible gap between incumbent Democrat and the resurgent Republican, doesn’t it? Dem. Noland sure sees it that way. “I just got more support, period, throughout,” Noland told reporters.
But does he have “more support”? Not from his actual voters he doesn’t. Tucked into the Herald story is this line…
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Mike Noland Thinks Outside Money Means ‘More Support’? Not From Voters it Isn’t!”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Ed McClelland over at NBC Chicago’s Ward Room blog makes a good point about reports of the two gubernatorial candidate’s fundraising. Both seem to be claiming to have $2.3 million on hand going into this leg of the campaign. But, McClelland makes the point that so far Brady’s $2.3 million is “bigger” than Quinn’s.
How is that?
Well, Brady has gotten the benefit of money from the Republican Governors Association for ads and whatnot while Quinn has not benefitted much from the Democrat Governors Association. That means that Brady doesn’t have to spend as much of his $2.3 million to reach voters as Quinn does.
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Ill Gov Race: GOPs Brady Has Bigger Bang for Fundraising Bucks”
-By Warner Todd Huston
As the Obama economy tumbles farther and farther down into depression, as states begin to face the reality of a budget crunch that can only be solved by layoffs of public employees, and as teachers find they are open to those layoffs, we commonly hear teachers claim that they are perennially underpaid and don’t deserve layoffs. Yet the Chicago Tribune has found that nearly half the teachers in many of Chicago’s ritziest suburbs are making over $100,000 a year in salary.
The Tribune reviewed the salary information of 132,000 Illinois teachers and in Highland Park, Deerfield, Park Ridge, Hinsdale, and other Chicago area suburbs it found that in some cases half the teachers — and in other cases over 40% — make $100K yearly (not including benefits) even as the educational system in Illinois crying poor and cutting staff.
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For All Teachers’ Whining, Almost Half of Chicago Area Teachers Make $100K a Year”
At the end of June while walking a Chicago street, a Chicago musician heard the cries of a woman being assaulted and went to help. Matthew Leone, a bass player for a Chicago-based band named Madina Lake, found the woman being beaten by what turned out to be her abusive husband.
Like a good neighbor, Leone got between the two and stopped the beating. Unfortunately, when his back was turned, Leone was then assaulted by the much larger husband of the beaten woman. Leone was beaten pretty badly and ended up in the hospital with a swelling brain, a broken jaw, and many other injuries.
Leone is recovering, but his brain injuries have yet to heal. They even had to remove a large part of his skull so that the swelling would not damage his brain further.
You can see more of the details of Mr. Leone’s recovery and story at the Chicago Radio and Media website: Through the Pain — Coming to the Aid of a Chicago Hero.
And if you want to help, here’s how:
Helping a Chicago Hero”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Chicago’s Representative Luis Gutierrez has been finding few takers for his pro-illegal immigrant policies of late. But he and several Democrat lawmakers think they’ve found a way to increase support for their pro-illegal alien bill: add gay issues to it.
Once again it’s an Orwellian named bill, too. The pro-illegal alien supporters are calling this abomination the “Uniting American Families Act.”
The bill would allow gay couples from foreign countries to automatically bring in their gay partners and all their immediate family members into the United States when one of the pair has the fortune to make it across the border.
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New Dem Idea: Can’t Win on Immigration? Then Stick Gay Issues in The Bill, Too!”
-By Warner Todd Huston
The Hill is reporting that Democrat Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias is having trouble raising money, which is amusing because as a failed banker he gave away millions to a pair of mobsters that never paid back the “loan”
The Hill reports that Giannoulias “struggled to raise money in the aftermath of his family bank’s collapse in April.”
Giannoulias has raised only some $900,000 since March 31 — the bulk of it in June. His Republican opponent, Mark Kirk, collected close to $1 million that same month. And Kirk was dealing with his own scandal — the fallout from inaccuracies in reporting his Navy service record at the time.
Giannoulias raised less than half of Kirk’s total, and the Republican now has almost a four-to-one cash on hand advantage.
If you’ll recall — and the Hill notes — that VP Biden recently ambled into town to raise finds for the Democrats “mob banker” but apparently even “no body messes with” Joe Biden isn’t able to help Giannoulias.
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Illinois ‘Mob Banker’ Can’t Raise Money?”
-By Dan Scott
There comes a point in time when the cumulative actions of an individual or regime has become so outrageous that not only do they need to be called out but removed from a position of power. Over the past 19 months the country has endured a litany of embarrassment, missteps and outright criminality. The Obama regime has finally if not inevitably gone too far.
Among the many questionable actions of the Obama regime the country has been forced to endure is the continuing failure in regards to the oil spill clean up. Not only was the regime inept in its handling of the clean up by refusing help from foreign countries with the proper equipment, continually impeded clean up efforts via it’s numerous bureaucracies and then attempted to politicize one of the largest environment disasters in US history for Obama’s pet agenda item, namely Cap & Trade. To rub salt into the wound, Obama’s legal team has repeatedly attempted to put tens of thousands more people out of work via an oil-drilling moratorium. So far the Courts have struck down two attempts and Obama is trying again a third time. The effect of this latest behavior has just sent one oil-drilling rig off to Egypt with others sure to follow. To sum up Obama’s actions regarding the oil spill is incompetence. We are not talking about simple straightforward incompetence mind you, but stubbornly willful incompetence since Obama has yet to demonstrate he has actually “learned” anything from this experience. As you can see the use of the word “Administration” is a joke when recounting Obama’s actions and therefore the word regime is a far better descriptor.
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The Final Straw”
The folks at ChampionNews.net have a series of articles about the mess that Illinois public employees pensions is in that is must reading. The articles are penned by expert Bill Zetter.
Of course, the pension mess is the single biggest trouble that Illinois (and most other states) face today. It is a ticking time bomb…. heck its a bomb exploding already, albeit in slow motion.
Here is what they’ve posted thus far:
Back To the Pension Future: What Did We Actually Guarantee?
Illinois Pensions: Rob the Poor and Give It to the Rich
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Illinois Pension Problems and What to Do About Them, By Bill Zetter”
From the Office of Tony Peraica, Cook County Commissioner…
Earlier today, the County Board considered the newly proposed budget for the county health bureau.
Unfortunately, in terms of promoting transparency and truth in budgeting and taxation, the health bureau budget falls short.
You can read my statement on the budget here.