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.
-By Warner Todd Huston
On the heels of news that the Obama administration is suing the state of Arizona over its new anti-illegal immigration law come news that the same treatment is being leveled at DuPage County, Illinois whose policies almost mirror the Arizona law…
Well, that is the headline that should be in the papers today if, that is, the Obama administration actually cared about law instead of only looking for a convenient political target which is all the administration’s focus on Arizona really is. It isn’t about immigration, illegals, the law, or any legitimate thing other than pure partisan politics. Obama thinks he has a great angle with which to pander to the Hispanic vote. That is all he cares about.
As the Chicago Tribune’s David Byrne notes, Obama is being wholly inconsistent with his attack on Arizona.
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Obama Suing DuPage County, Illinois For Enforcing Immigration Laws…”
-By Warner Todd Huston
If this isn’t the most perverse example of “reasoning” you’ve ever seen, then you haven’t seen any, yet. It seems the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is worried that the failure to pass an extension for unemployment insurance will deprive Illinois of “stimulus” money.
So, here is the perverse part… unemployment is for the unemployed, right? “Stimulus” is for economic growth (or at the very least economic water treading), right? So if we throw “stimulus” into the coffers of unemployment insurance, aren’t we “stimulating” unemployment and NOT stimulating economic activity?
Does this even make sense?
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Union Worries that Failure to Pass Unemployment Extension Means Lost ‘Stimulus’ $”
The National Republican Committee wants to know the answer to a few questions…
Once again the exculpatory memo issued by the President-elect’s lawyer, Greg Craig, in December of 2008 is finding itself in conflict with testimony coming out of the Blagojevich Trial in Chicago. First we learned through the testimony of SEIU boss Tom Balanoff that President Obama actually played an active role in promoting Valerie Jarrett as a candidate for his old seat, despite no mention of that in the memo. Now we are learning of another call, this time by Rahm Emanuel that violated Obama’s supposed neutrality policy and again failed to be reported by Craig. Here are a couple of questions for a White House that clearly wants to avoid this topic:
1) How do explain the inconsistencies between Craig’s memo, which said “the President-Elect had ruled out communicating a preference” and John Wyma’s testimony that he received a call from Rahm Emanuel with a message from the President-Elect?
2) How do you explain the reoccurring pattern of omitted or inaccurate information included in the memo, in this case the call from Emanuel to Wyma, and how does that reflect on the veracity of the document as a whole?
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What Did Obama Know of Blago’s Selling of Senate Seat And When Did He Know It?”
From the Isaac Hayes for Congress campaign (2nd District)…
Republican nominee for Illinois 2nd Congressional District Isaac Hayes released the following statement regarding the NAACP’s vote to condemn the Tea Party movement.
“Today’s vote by the NAACP to condemn the Tea Party movement highlights its ignorance of the history of the Tea Party movement and reminds us it has not changed its tactics in 100 years. A quick survey of American history will reveal the first American to shed blood in the American Revolution was both a Tea Partier and Black by the name of Crispus Attucks.
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(2nd District) Hayes Condemns NAACP”
The Sauk Valley News has a reader poll for folks to vote on for whom they’ll vote in the 14th District in the upcoming elections.
At the time I posted this Hultgren was in the lead over Democrat incumbent Bill Foster, the Green Party candidate Daniel Kairis, Libertarian Doug Marks and the ever popular “no opinion.”
I say we go hit up the poll and run up a good Hultgren total! Come on, folks. Go Randy Hultgren!
http://hultgrenforcongress.com/
-By Warner Todd Huston
The Illinois Democrat candidate for Senate, Alexi Giannoulias, wasn’t too keen of admitting it but he was in Vancouver, Canada over the weekend at a fund-raiser at a trial lawyer’s convention. Along with a dozen other Democrats, the candidate was in Canada to rake in thousands in donations from trial lawyers who know what side of their bread is buttered, for sure.
Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet has all the details at her Scoop blog. But suffice to say that the Giannoulias campaign did not report the whereabouts of their candidate until the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent out a press release urging reporters to grill the Giannoulias campaign.
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Ill. Dem. Senate Candidate Raising $$ From Trial Lawyers in Canada”
-By Warner Todd Huston
The Sun-Times is Chicago’s left-wing, left-wing paper while the Chicago Tribune is but the city’s left-wing paper and pursuant to its agenda, the Sun-Times recently made to shore up support for Mayor “King” Daley’s attempt to eliminate the Second Amendment for his Chicago subjects with its headlined “More guns in city not a good thing.” Naturally most of what is contained in the piece is incorrect and deserves a good fisking.
So, here goes…
This won’t make the NRA happy. Twelve guns a year? How dare Chicago restrict a citizen’s right to buy 12 million guns a year.
My response here won’t make the Sun-Times happy: Newspapers? They have a constitutional right to be free of government interference, too. We call it the First Amendment. But here’s an idea for you, Sun-Times… how about we limit the public to one newspaper a month? After all, ideas are very, very dangerous, aren’t they? If, Sun-Times, you have no problem with our Second Amendment rights being restricted by the federal, the state or local governments, why should you be all upset that your First Amendment rights are restricted? Where is the intellectual honesty in agreeing to restrict the Second Amendment but not the First?
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Fisking the Chgo Sun-Times Anti-2nd Amendment Article”
From the Hayes for congress campaign (2nd District)…
The campaign committee for Republican nominee in Illinois 2ndCongressional District Isaac Hayes released the following video today challenging Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. to tell the truth.
In the video, Jackson is heard saying he is not “aware” that he is Senate Candidate 5 in the Rod Blagojevich indictment. The very next day the Chicago Sun-Times confirms he is.
The second half of the video shows Jackson at a press conference where he said, “I did not initiate or authorize anyone at anytime to promise anything to Governor Blagojevich on my behalf.” But on July 7, 2010 the Chicago Tribune reported testimony from the Blagojevich corruption trial that placed Jackson at a meeting where Indian businessman Raghuveer Nayak told Jackson, “I will raise a million if he appoints you to the Senate seat.”
.
This statement appears on the Citizens for Isaac Hayes website at:
www.isaac4honesty.com.
From Bill Brady for Governor and the Illinois GOP…
Pay hikes for state government executives during a fiscal crisis is outrageous, but Governor Quinn? He defends his executive pay hikes, telling viewers on Chicago Tonight, “… that’s how it works.”
If Pat Quinn is serious about controlling state spending, he should immediately enact a wage freeze on state government payroll, and reverse his pay hikes for his executive staff today.
-By Warner Todd Huston
A University of Illinois instructor of the school’s Introduction to Catholicism and Modern Catholic Thought course was fired at the end of last semester because he had the temerity to send a student an email that explained the Catholic doctrine against homosexuality.
In the email, professor Ken Howell of Champaign wrote, “Natural Moral Law says that Morality must be a response to REALITY. In other words, sexual acts are only appropriate for people who are complementary, not the same.”
The thought police at U of I decided that no teacher that taught Catholic theory had better EVER be a real Catholic that actually holds Catholic beliefs. Why, it would be unseemly, don’t you know?
The anti-intellectual student went whining to school authorities after he was made to see an opinion with which he does not agree from a class about religion. One wonders why this mentally retarded student was even taking the class?
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U of Ill. Instructor Fired Over His Catholic Beliefs”
From the Hayes for Congress campaign (2nd District)…
CHICAGO: Republican nominee for Illinois 2ndCongressional District Isaac Hayes released the following statement calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign after failure to prosecute the New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation during the 2008 election.
“The Justice Department’s refusal to prosecute the terrorist actions of the New Black Panther Party for its 2008 intimidation and threatening vitriol outside a Philadelphia polling place is criminal affirmative action. This selective justice paradigm was exposed during the testimony of J. Christian Adams – a former U.S. Prosecutor assigned to the Civil Rights Division, Voting Section, before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission – who testified he was told ‘cases are not going to be brought against Black defendants for the benefit of White victims.’
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Hayes Calls for A.G. Holder to Step Down”
From the Illinois Policy Institute…
Ooh, That’s Awkward
America is a great country, full of wonderful people…but we should probably beef up on history classes. Last weekend, Jay Leno took a quick walk to find out how much his fellow Americans really know about Independence Day. The results?
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Ill. Policy Institute: With Friends Like These…”
From the Hayes for Congress campaign (2nd District)…
CHICAGO: Republican nominee for Illinois 2ndCongressional District Isaac Hayes released the following statement following testimony from the Rod Blagojevich trial placing Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. at a meeting where cash in exchange for the U.S. Senate Seat was discussed,
“Today, we again heard damaging testimony belying Congressman Jackson’s claims of innocence in the Blagojevich Senate Seat scandal. We can now place Mr. Jackson at the head of the table when this conspiracy was first discussed. According to testimony by Rajinder Bedi, on October 27, 2008 he met with Congressman Jackson and his supporter Raghu Nayek at the 312 Restaurant in the loop. During this meeting at which Jackson was present, Nayek asked Bedi to send word to Blagojevich that he would raise a million dollars for Blagojevich if he would appoint Jackson to the Senate seat.
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(2nd District) GOPs Hayes: ‘Jackson at Head of Table When Blago Bribe Conspired”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Many businesses across Illinois are trying to stave off closing their doors by cutting salaries and hours for employees. Some aren’t so luck and are laying off thousands of workers. Add to that dismal outlook that the state’s budget is billions in the red and politicians are so at loggerheads on how to solve the crisis that no budget can be agreed upon.
Cue accidental Governor Pat Quinn whose job, as he sees it, has been to warn Illinois that we are broke, that we can’t afford the many programs we have, that the poorest of us are at risk and that taxes will have to be raised to “fix” it all.
It’s a very bleak picture, indeed. Bleak, that is, unless you are one of Quinn’s staffers. In that case you are living high off the hog and getting an up to 20 percent raise in salary thanks to the Governor’s generosity… oh, and at the taxpayers expense, of course.
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Gov. Says Ill. is Broke, but His Staffers/State Workers Get Big Raises”
-By Warner Todd Huston
The sniping between Republican Mark Kirk and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias is beginning to get to full steam these days and Democrat Giannoulias isn’t handling it all very well. As a bank executive, he’s gone from dissembling about his efforts to loan mobsters $20 million that his bank then lost, to now as a candidate lying about his desires to raise taxes.
The latest Giannoulias gaffe comes as a result of his announcement of his tax returns. It seems that he declared a personal business loss that negated his entire tax bill and so Giannoulias paid no federal tax in 2009. Yet, as Mark Kirk says, even as Giannoulias wants to raise all our taxes, he skates by himself without paying any at all!
For his part, the Ginnoulias campaign says that the candidate never said he wants to raise our taxes. They say that Kirk is lying about it. This newest claim makes Giannoulias himself to be a “flat out” liar as far as Illinois political watchdog Rich Miller is concerned. After all, Miller has the video to prove that Giannoulias has said that he wants to raise taxes.
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Ill. Dem Senate Candidate Giannoulias a ‘Mob Banker,’ Now ‘Flat Out’ Liar”
-By Warner Todd Huston
One of the main reasons that little Todd Stroger lost his comfy job as president of the Cook County Board — the office left him by his deceased father — is because of the graft and payoffs to his friends and family members that he constantly perpetrated. It was so bad even Democrats were ashamed of him and voted him out of office in the last primary.
But thanks to the fact that Illinois Democrats moved the primary to February President Stroger has eight months to continue giving his friends and family members cushy jobs paid for by the County taxpayers. And this week he’s done it again.
This time Stroger has given a plum job to his former campaign manager, Vincent Williams. Williams now has a $38,000-a-year job on the Cook Zoning Board of Appeals thanks to his pal President Stroger.
Let us recall that Williams was the campaign manager of a losing campaign, shall we?
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County President Stroger: Lame Duck Still Rolling Out Gravy Train for Pals”
-By Warner Todd Huston
The GOPs Robert Dold just picked up a strong endorsement. Former Congressman John Edward Porter has announced his backing of Dold who is running for Porter’s old 10th District Congressional seat.
Porter initially backed Party favorite Beth Coulson in the primary and could have just taken a pass on this election, but he did chose to endorse Dold giving the first time candidate the seal of party approval.
Porter said of Dold: “Robert Dold is an independent Republican who mirrors the values of the 10th District. He will be a voice for common-sense, small-business thinking with a moderate stance on social issues such as choice and the environment.”
For more information on the Dold campaign, visit his website at: www.doldforcongress.com.
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Fmr Congressman Porter Endorses Dold for 10th District”
-By Warner Todd Huston
In shockingly quick order last month, Yorkville resident Robert Lea raised 5,000 signatures in only two weeks to challenge incumbent Kendall County Sheriff Richard Randall in the November general elections.
Randall did not dispute the petition, so it appears that Lea will be on the ballot in November.
Randall had no opposition in the GOP primary earlier this year but has faced increasing opposition among citizens of the county over a sexual harassment lawsuit between Deputy Sheriff Terry Tichava and his onetime assistant Lisa Easi which was recent settled for an undisclosed sum.
Sheriff Randall has come under increasing pressure for his decision to stand by Deputy Sheriff Tichava instead of firing him and/or disciplining him. This opposition obviously aided Lea in his whirlwind gathering of signatures.
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Robert Lea is IN: GOP Challenger to Kendall County Sheriff Randall Makes Ballot”
Last year (well, not even a whole year ago, it was Nov. of 2009) Publius Forum was the 13th most visited Illinois blog according to Alexa rankings. And now, not even a year later, Publius Forum stands at the 11th most visited blog in Illinois. We moved up a few slots, folks.
Cao’s Blog has all the details in her Top Illinois Blogs Survey Updated post.
Thanks to all you readers for helping Publius Forum expand.
Another interesting thing about the rankings is how many dropped out of the top twenty to be replaced by new entrants in only so few short months. The world wide web is volatile, apparently!
-By Warner Todd Huston
Illinois is broke. So broke it can’t pay its bills. Yet on it goes stiffing its creditors and it’s making me wonder why I bother to pay my bills at all. If the state can get away with thumbing its nose at its bill collectors, why can’t I? Oh, yeah. I’m not a Democrat. Unlike them, I’m expected to pay my bills. I forgot for a moment there. Oh, and I’m not a union member, either.
According to the Times story Illinois owes its schools, rehab centers, and childcare obligations $5.01 billion. And there’s no payment in sight.
Then there is the state employees pension plan that is underfunded by 50 percent.
Also, as the state legislature left the Capitol last month for its summer break there was no budget settled upon.
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Illinois Has Stopped Paying Its Bills”
From the Illinois Policy Institute
Santelli Rant, Part Deux
“Stop spending! Stop spending! Stop spending!” Earlier this week, CNBC reporter Rick Santelli (of “Tea Party” fame) offered some sound advice to the government—and some entertaining television.
Speaking of Spending…
Yesterday, Governor Pat Quinn addressed the state on a painful topic: Illinois’s disastrous budget. (We forgive you if your eyes just glazed over.) The bad news: The state budget is, yes, still a disaster. The good news: The Institute went through the governor’s speech, highlighting what you really need to know. Check out Kristina Rasmussen’s budget cheat sheet, along with our proactive budget solutions, here.
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Ill. Policy Institute: Addicted”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Daley’s temper tantrum against guns continues, but at a much subdued pace. With its recent McDonald v the City of Chicago ruling the Supreme Court of the United States essentially made Daley’s outright gun ban unconstitutional so the mayor has had to retrench and come up with new onerous rules to try and limit guns in his kingdom.
As always, the Chicago City Council rubber stamped Richard “King” Daley’s whims — why do we have a city council anyway?
The new rules do show the mayor’s defeated position, however, as they are much less stringent than his previous mandates. Daley also shied from insisting that there be a one-gun limit and also dropped the idea of expensive and onerous insurance requirements for gun owners, the latter an idea popular with many gun banners.
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Daley’s Newest Stab at a Gun Ban”
From Americans For Prosperity, Illinois…
Chicago, Illinois – The Illinois chapter of the grassroots free-market group Americans for Prosperity (AFP-IL) and it’s over 30,000 statewide members express great disappointment in Governor Quinn’s failure to VETO the states unbalanced budget.
“Over the last several weeks Americans for Prosperity and its members have written several hundreds of letters requesting the governor to Veto the budget forcing lawmakers to do their job. “Today, Governor Quinn had a chance to do just that. Unfortunately, Governor Quinn failed to do his job” said state director Joe Calomino.
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Governor Quinn Pretends to Cut State Spending, Quinn Passes on a Real Balanced Budget”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Doug Ibendahl has a very sad discovery at RepublicanNewsWatch.com. He looked up the amount of Republican committeeman positions in the state of Illinois and then added up the number of GOPers filling those positions and came up with a startling fact. 51% of those seats remain vacant.
Despite all the excitement for GOP politics across the country, it seems that Illinois Republicans aren’t nearly as excited.
Ibendahl, though, urges more citizen involvement in the political process and posts about a way you can get involved. Take a quick click over to RepublicanNewsWatch.com and learn how you can become involved.
-By Warner Todd Huston
While the media has been all aflutter about Illinois Senate candidate Mark Kirk’s bio flap, even as the media has been sternly shaking a finger at the man he’s somehow raised $2.3 million in campaign cash.
According to the Kirk campaign he raised $1 million in June alone as the news over his bio inflation was at its height.
So far, Kirk has raised $9 million for the race and is starting some new TV ads.
Even With Troubles GOPs Kirk Raises $2.3 Mil”
From the office of Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica…
CHICAGO, IL — Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica (R-16) issued the following statement regarding the .5 percent reduction in the Cook County sales tax, which goes into effect today:
“This is 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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Peraica Statement on County Sales Tax Decrease Going into Effect”
Joel Pollak, GOP candidate for the 9th District, has his first web ad for your approval.
From the Dan Patlak for Cook County Board of Review campaign…
Wheeling—Cook County Board of Review candidate Dan Patlak has announced the grand opening of his new “Education Center” located on his web site at www.ElectPatlak.com. The Education Center possesses an array of pages for taxpayers to explore that include links to county and state property tax related departments, an “Ask Dan” section where taxpayers can pose their own questions, a listing of townships currently open for appeal to the County Assessor, a description of property tax exemptions available to homeowners and a variety of other information about the property tax system in Cook County.
“This campaign is about empowering individual taxpayers,” said Patlak. “Our Education Center provides information to property owners so they will have the ability to determine whether they are paying an appropriate share of the overall tax burden. It also encourages them to think about where their tax dollars are going and how they are being spent. An informed citizen is a good citizen and as a Commissioner at the Board of Review I plan to continue educating taxpayers about how the system works and how they can be sure they are paying no more than their fair share,” concluded Dan Patlak.
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Property Tax Education Center Now On-Line”
Chicago’s NBC affiliate has the full video of Mark Kirk’s press conference where he finally addressed his resume puffing over the last few years.
Are you satisfied with the apology?