Illinois School Fund ‘Money Laundering’ Bill Passed by Both Houses

-By Warner Todd Huston

Unfortunately a bill that will allow schools to pull a bait-and-switch and pilfer funds that are supposed to go for other things and apply those funds to unapproved building projects has now passed both houses in Springfield. This means that schools might now be able to take funds that are supposed to be used for specific things and pour them into building projects (or any other use) for which the schools did not get voter’s approval. I wrote about this bill on April 28.

The way our system is supposed to work is that schools that want major new building projects or other such high ticket needs must go before the voters for a bond issue, for taxes to be raised. The voters say yes and taxes are raised or bonds issued to satisfy the school’s needs. But if voters say no, then the schools are supposed to do without. That is they way democracy is supposed to work.

But lo and behold special interests and consultants that make their living off our schools by consulting them on bond issues and spending plans wrote HB6041 that convinced lawmakers to allow schools to raid specified funds any time they feel like doing so and use those funds for whatever they want to use them for. This is now misappropriation of funds made legal.
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Illinois School Fund ‘Money Laundering’ Bill Passed by Both Houses”


Illinois, The Time to Act is Now!

From Americans for Prosperity, Illinois…

We’re at the time in the legislative cycle when the Illinois General Assembly will engage in a flurry of activities that may produce bills the public and for that matter lawmakers have never seen, bills that may request spending of billions of our tax dollars, bills that can become laws in a blink of an eye. Next week brings along certain legislative deadlines for the reading and passage of “Substantive” bills.

Please contact your lawmakers today.
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Illinois, The Time to Act is Now!”


Call the neighbors and wake the kids, it’s SB600 time!

-By Doug Ibendahl, Republican News Watch

The Illinois General Assembly is tentatively scheduled to adjourn by May 7th (a week from this Friday). That’s an early date, and it may not happen, but that’s the goal.

It’s a good time to make another push for final passage of SB600. Recall the bill passed overwhelmingly in the State Senate last year. We still need House passage.
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Call the neighbors and wake the kids, it’s SB600 time!”


Melissa Bean’s Healthcare101 – Part 2 of 13

From the Palatine Tea Party…

(Palatine, Illinois) – In response to the letter Melissa Bean wrote to the constituents in district 8 dated April 16, 2010. We will respond to each of her statements Melissa Bean made based on emotion with factual responses where she stated the following:

“After deliberate review of the final legislation in relation to (the concerns of the people of the 8th district) I supported it (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) because it will provide the health care security, affordability and choice families and businesses seek, while utilizing the private market-not a government takeover-and yielding a significant federal deficit reduction of $1.3 trillion…”
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Melissa Bean’s Healthcare101 – Part 2 of 13″


Melissa Bean’s Healthcare101 – Part 1 of 13

From the Palatine Tea Party…

In response to the letter Melissa Bean wrote to the constituents in district 8 dated April 16, 2010. We will respond to each of her statements Melissa Bean made based on emotion with factual responses where she stated the following:

“After deliberate review of the final legislation in relation to (the concerns of the people of the 8th district) I supported it (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) because it will provide the health care security, affordability and choice families and businesses seek, while utilizing the private market-not a government takeover-and yielding a significant federal deficit reduction of $1.3 trillion…”
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Melissa Bean’s Healthcare101 – Part 1 of 13″


Adam Andrzejewski: Illinois Can’t Afford Quinn‏

From Adam Andrzejewski and For the Good of Illinois

Thanks to you, we’re winning the fight to Open the Books!

Over the past couple weeks, advocates of transparent and accountable government in Illinois have been winning more and more small victories.

Quinn’s canoe czar, $85,000 per year, STOPPED!
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Adam Andrzejewski: Illinois Can’t Afford Quinn‏”


Schools Fund Building Projects With Pilfered Tax Money

-By Warner Todd Huston

Schools that want tax dollars to fund major new building or refurbishing projects are supposed to go before the voters, hat in hand, to ask for a tax increase. A referendum then goes on a ballot for tax payers to approve or deny. This prevents abuse of tax money and is how the system is supposed to work. But an investigation finds that millions of dollars in building funds have been raised through questionable bonds issued by schools without getting legal approval from the taxpayers.

Schools have been caught floating bonds to fund their unapproved building projects despite that the courts have ordered them to stop this shady practice. And now, instead of punishing these lawbreakers, state legislators plan to just change the rules to make this questionable wild spending legal in a grandfathered law to be considered in the state senate perhaps as early as this week.

Worse than that, the legislation was written by private companies that specialize in assisting schools to rape the taxpayers by helping them figure ways around the law. This bill wasn’t even written by our elected officials but by special interests that make their living skimming tax money from schools.
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Schools Fund Building Projects With Pilfered Tax Money”


The Left’s Lies About ‘Peaceful’ Immigration Protesters

-By Warner Todd Huston

HotAir.com posted an excellent side-by-side video from Fox News that shows the lengths that the left goes to in order to excuse the common every day violence, hate and criminal actions of folks from their own side.

Take a look at this excellent report…

This ignoramus, hypocrite that Fox News dredged up to represent the left is typical of the back bending gymnastics indulged by the Old Media and the left — one in the same, I know. This is typical in the way they denigrate the perfectly peaceful Tea Party protests while excusing the lawless, criminal actions of the left’s protesters — in this case the recent pro-illegal immigrant criminal protesters in Arizona.
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The Left’s Lies About ‘Peaceful’ Immigration Protesters”


Mayor Daley Wants Foreign Kangaroo Court to Rule in Chicago

-By Warner Todd Huston

Mayor Richard “King” Daley has just earned his monarchical (or is that maniacal) nickname by announcing his desire to have a European “court” invade the U.S. and begin prosecuting American citizens for doing a legal, Constitutionally protected business in America.

The despicable, mob-infested mayor of Chicago’s newest harebrained scheme in his fight against the U.S. Constitution is to have the so-called World Criminal Court at the Hague to begin prosecuting gun manufacturers and gun dealers here in America.

It’s bad enough that this Eurocrat wannabe thinks that this kangaroo court in Europe has legal jurisdiction in the USA, but he’s teaming up with a foreign plutocrat in Mexico to try and pursue this idiot’s scheme.

Mayor Daley again proves his essential hate for his own country. First by wallowing in his mob connected lifestyle, next by his surrounding himself with criminal Democrats that rob the city blind, then by siding with foreigners against his own country.

Maybe we would be better off with Rahm Emanuel in the big chair at City Hall? At least Rahm is just an average crook!
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Mayor Daley Wants Foreign Kangaroo Court to Rule in Chicago”


Chicago Fox Attacks 8th District Candidate Joe Walsh

-By Warner Todd Huston

Fox News Chicago ran a piece on 8th Congressional District Republican candidate Joe Walsh who topped a field of five candidates in the primary. They found that Walsh’s campaign never filed his financial disclosure forms as required by federal election law. The Fox correspondent pointedly asked Walsh, “how come you didn’t file your personal financial disclosure forms as obligated by federal election laws?”

Fox News also found a couple of local pols that said they would ask Walsh to resign his primary win if these things were not figured out. Of course, neither of the guys they found supported Walsh during the primary, so it shouldn’t be surprising that they’d immediately jump to calling for Walsh to quit the race.

But my biggest problem with these stories about Walsh’s financial troubles is that they never came before the primary. They’ve all come after the primary. Even I wrote about Walsh’s financial troubles before the primary and I don’t have the investigative tools that TV and newspapers do! Yet all these high falutin’ Old Media outlets in Chicago ignored the issue until Walsh won the primary.

It is hard not to imagine that the Chicago media waited to “report” these matters until after the primary specifically so that they could hurt the Republican pickup of this seat.

Walsh’s campaign did file the disclosure forms and paid a $200 fine after Fox News brought it to their attention. Walsh says it was but an oversight. Here I’ll make no judgment, you decide.
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Chicago Fox Attacks 8th District Candidate Joe Walsh”


Ill. Lawmakers: Bring in the Army to Kill Chicagoans

-By Warner Todd Huston

The second I hear the facile ideas of our elected officials to bring in the Army to start cracking down on “crime” I get visions of jack-booted legions of the Wehrmacht goosestepping through the city, machine guns at hand, knocking over old people and making little kids cry.

But, I guess Representative John “Twitchy” Fritchey is wholly unaware about the rules and philosophies of the American system. You see comrade Fritchey, there is a reason why the Commissars aren’t allowed to bring the Army down upon a city. It’s because our U.S. armed forces are supposed to protect us against foreign enemies. Our laws and police agencies are supposed to protect us from internal crooks, criminals and thugs. And if our police are failing, “Twitchey” Fritchey, it is your fault (yours and your fellow “lawmakers”) Not the police’s.

Further it is not the job of the Army to harass citizens into cowering inside their homes for fear of being cut down in the streets by or own soldiers.
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Ill. Lawmakers: Bring in the Army to Kill Chicagoans”


8th District: Meet GOP Candidate Joe Walsh

Some Lake County Republicans are sponsoring a meet the candidate event on Wednesday 28 from 7PM to 9PM. There you can meet candidate for the 8th District Joe Walsh.

Illinois 8th Congressional District Republican Challenger Joe Walsh Talks Back

JOE WALSH “Talks Back”

No Holds Barred on the issues .. Have Questions? Ask Joe!

Is Congress Really Representing “We The People”?

Date: Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: The South Barrington Club
Street: 3 Tennis Club Lane
City/Town: South Barrington, IL

For Information Call Carol Ann Parisi 847-496-5400 or email Hangnloose@comcast.net

Directions: http://www.mapquest.com/mq/2-Xz1b


Dan Proft: It’s Curtains for Ali G

From Dan Proft, Urquhart Media…

Who would have thought that pawn broker Scott Lee Cohen, the deposed Democrat Lt. Governor candidate, would have turned out to be a more competent lender than former Democrat golden boy Ali G?

I guess Cohen should have played basketball with the President.

The “Ali G” I refer to is Alexi Giannoulias. The nickname is ripped from the fictional interviewer created by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Giannoulias’ comedic campaign for the U.S. Senate would normally be the stuff of fiction but this is Illinois.
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Dan Proft: It’s Curtains for Ali G”


Walsh Proposes Indexing Congressional Salaries to Median Household Income in the US

From the Walsh for Congress campaign (8th District)…

(Grayslake, Illinois) – 8th District Republican Congressional Nominee Joe Walsh today promised that, if elected, he would introduce legislation to tie the salaries of members of Congress to the median household income level in the United States.

Rank-and-file members of Congress make $174,000 annually. According to the Census Bureau, the median household income in the U.S. is $50,233 (2007).
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Walsh Proposes Indexing Congressional Salaries to Median Household Income in the US”


Andy Stern: Union Chief Fleeing Ahead of Illinois Indictment?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Until recently, Andy Stern was the President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a union that has served as one of President Obama’s biggest donors as well as filling the ranks of his ground troops. In a surprise move, Stern resigned his post this month and no one is really sure why at this point.

Andy Stern has been one of the closest union chiefs to a president in history. Along with SEIU treasurer Anna Burger, he was one of the most frequent visitors to the White House. He was even chosen by President Obama to serve on his Deficit Reduction Commission — a sort of contradiction in terms that.

Upon his resignation, it has been learned that Andy Stern’s leadership of the SEIU has not brought financial solvency. As F. Vincent Vernuccio reports in the Washington Times, Stern has left the SEIU in pretty shabby shape.
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Andy Stern: Union Chief Fleeing Ahead of Illinois Indictment?”


Is He or Isn’t He: Scott Lee Cohen for Governor?

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few days ago, we pondered the amusing possibility of Scott Lee Cohen running for Illinois Governor as an independent. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if this fellow ran for governor after being kicked off the Democrat ticket?

Well it is beginning to look like Cohen really is looking to run for governor as an independent. Now a spokesman for Michael Madigan is saying that Cohen told the party bigwigs that he does, indeed, want to run for governor as a lt.

This would be awful fun if it came to pass. But I warn everyone about Cohen. He seems awfully flakey. Don’t be surprised if Cohen flakes out and decides he “never said he’d run.”

I don’t think we can trust this guy to really commit.
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Is He or Isn’t He: Scott Lee Cohen for Governor?”


Feds Shut Down Dem. Sen. Candidate Giannoulias’ Family Owned Bank

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Democrat’s Illinois Senate candidate, Alexi Giannoulias, has seen his family business stripped away from them and placed in the hands of a new owner (MB Financial) because he and his family could not come up with the $85 million needed to shore up falling liquidity.

Banking regulators seized the Giannoulias’ Broadway Bank this evening and placed it in the hands of MB Bank, a bank with branches throughout the Chicagoland area.

Alexi Giannoulias was the bank’s chief lender and vice-president from 2002 to 2006. He has been criticized for working for the bank when it loaned $20 million to Michael “Jaws” Giorongo and reputed mobster Boris Stratievsky. Giannoulias’ family has also been attacked for taking $70 million in dividends in both 2007 and 2008 as the bank’s loans were going bad.
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Feds Shut Down Dem. Sen. Candidate Giannoulias’ Family Owned Bank”


Gov’t Waste: $300,000 for Coffee in Cook County Government?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Tony Peraica has chimed in on the “Coffee Czar” controversy as reported here earlier this week.

“Yes, despite the political insiders’ claims that government is bankrupt and their calls for tax increases — we’ve learned that the county taxpayers spent more than $75,000 on a local coffee company in the first three months of the current fiscal year alone. That adds up to some $300,000 a year for coffee and snacks!

As I told the reporter for that story, I’ve long said that we have “corruption on steroids” here in Cook County — but now we learn it might also be fueled by coffee!

Are these really the types of wasteful “projects” on which our hard-earned tax dollars should be spent?

As your commissioner, I will continue to fight to expose these instances of abuse, and to fight for sensible spending reform and tax relief.”


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Gov’t Waste: $300,000 for Coffee in Cook County Government?”


Did Obama LIE?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Did the President lie? Blago thinks so. Rod Blagojevich’s team asked the court to issue a rial subpoena to President Obama to get him to answer some key questions in Blagojevich’s trial. The ex-guv is accused of attempting to sell Obama’s vacant Senate seat.

The motion was made public but was supposed to have been heavily redacted. Unfortunately for the prosecution, the computer file released to the press was easily restored to an un-redacted state through simple computer features. So, here is the un-redacted subpoena:
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Did Obama LIE?”


Ill. Policy Institute: Is Capitalism Doomed?

Institute Featured on “The Daily Show”
In case you missed it, John O’Hara, our vice president of external relations, appeared on Jon Stewart’s show to discuss the meaning of the nationwide tea parties and more. You can watch the full interview, which aired on Comedy Central, here.
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Ill. Policy Institute: Is Capitalism Doomed?”


More of Melissa Bean’s Hypocritical Ways

From the Palatine Tea Party…

(Palatine, Illinois) – Since Melissa Bean voted yes on January 28, 2009 for the $787B stimulus bill the unemployment rate in Lake County continues to rise. While Bean spent the last year ignoring her constituents and the American people she continued down a path of the takeover of our healthcare industry while ignoring the jobs which are disappearing at an alarming rate in Lake County. Bean’s stance to support the Obama Administration’s failed policies is hurting businesses and individuals which live and work in Lake County.
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More of Melissa Bean’s Hypocritical Ways”


Governor Quinn Says There’s a Tax for That‏

From Adam Andrzejewski and For the Good of Illinois…

One week ago today, I had the honor of speaking at five tea parties throughout Illinois. Their message – government is out of control, spending has reached unsustainable levels and we’re Taxed Enough Already.
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Governor Quinn Says There’s a Tax for That‏”


Call for Sen. Prez Cullerton to Step Down

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last weekend, Senate President John Cullerton (D) got himself in a bit of hot water… or rather his son got him in hot water. As we reported earlier, sonny boy got himself pulled over for drunk driving. That wasn’t the big problem, though. The big problem is that the junior sir drinksalot was driving a state owned SUV that is supposed to be used only for official state business. Yet here was the youngster flying around town, drunk twice past the legal limit, and driving a state owned vehicle.

So, have you had enough of a state government that allows drunken frat boys to use state owned vehicles to do their carousing in when the state is $12 billion in debt and climbing.
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Call for Sen. Prez Cullerton to Step Down”


Chicago Radio: the Laughing Stock of the Midwest

-By Warner Todd Huston

Welcome to Chicago Con the Air!

What the heck is going on with Chicago’s AM radio stations? For some ungodly reason… and I DO mean ungodly… convicts are turning up all over the place as radio hosts. No, I mean real convicts. Not just your average car-jacker or B&E guy, I mean political convicts. It’s no wonder Chicago is the laughing stock of the country. The city is so crooked that crooked politicians even infest the radio, fer cripes sakes!

Just announced by WVON a Monday morning radio show will be hosted by convicted Cicero Mayor Betty Loren-Maltese. Maltese just got out of jail for misappropriation of city funds.

As Chicago Radio maven Larz notes, “It should be noted that the man Betty Loren-Maltese is filling in for, Cliff Kelley, is himself a disgraced former politician.”
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Chicago Radio: the Laughing Stock of the Midwest”


Scott Lee Cohen, Independent Run for Ill. Guv?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Could it be? Could Scott Lee Cohen be roaring back to politics so soon after being thrown off the Democrat ticket in disgrace?

I don’t know about you, but this blogger is crossing his fingers and toes in hopes that it could be true. Oh, LORDY make it true. I mean, why not, eh? What fun it would be.

For those that don’t quite remember the dim days so long ago last February, Scott Lee Cohen won the Democrat primary to take the Lt. Gov. spot on the Dem. Ticket. But no sooner was he celebrating his big win when the Chicago Old Media finally started to research candidate Cohen only to discover that he had all sorts of unsavory legal and criminal allegations in his past. There was the beating he gave his prostitute girlfriend, the assault with a knife… well, let’s just say that things were a bit messy in his recent past. Once the Dems found out about his past the whole Democrat establishment rose up to demand that Cohen quit his campaign for Lt. Gov.

Well, as he headed for the door Cohen promised that he’d try for office again someday. Apparently, he’s considering that someday should be today. Several sources are reporting that Cohen would like to run for Governor as an independent this year.
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Scott Lee Cohen, Independent Run for Ill. Guv?”


Blago-a-go-go: Suckin’ Up to Da Man

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the ongoing Blago-a-go-go, the sage of the Governor whose aborted attempts to sell a U.S. Senate seat for money, profit and high falutin’ job opportunities for himself and his family, we see ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich taking a little time out from his busy radio and TV star schedule to visit the court rooms of the Richard J. Daley building in beautiful downtown Chicago.

Blago has been yelling from the rooftops that the prosecution should “play all the tapes” to prove that he, Blago, is innocent as the driven snow. Today Judge James B. Zagel (Reagan appointee, 1987) shot down Blago’s demands and said that he is the one that will determine what tapes will be played and what won’t.

“I will not allow the time of these jurors to be needlessly consumed,” Zagel said. Zagel also scolded Blago saying he would not allow any “legal head butts” to take place in his courtroom.
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Blago-a-go-go: Suckin’ Up to Da Man”


Congressman Eric Cantor Visits Chicago and Praises Bob’s Campaign

From the Dold for Congress campaign (10th District)…

Virginia Congressman and House Minority Whip, Eric Cantor, came to Chicago on Sunday 4/18 to meet with friends of the Pro-Israel Community. Congressman Cantor is the highest-ranking Jewish member of Congress. Bob first had a chance to talk with Congressman Cantor on Sunday night, at a Republican Jewish Coalition program in Skokie. Prior to the event, Bob, Congressman Cantor, and two of the area’s other Republican congressional candidates met privately to discuss the various issues impacting Israel’s security. The program that followed included remarks from Congressman Cantor, to an audience of 250 people. During his speech, the Congressman spoke glowingly about Bob and his campaign, and urged those in attendance to work hard to get Bob elected.
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Congressman Eric Cantor Visits Chicago and Praises Bob’s Campaign”


Bill Brady ‘Blogger Coffee’ Epic Fail!

-By Warner Todd Huston

As the kids on them Internet tubes say, it was an epic fail. GOP Gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady held what was claimed to be a “blogger coffee” in a restaurant in Rosemont on April 17. Three whole bloggers showed, one of which is closely connected behind the scenes to GOP movers and shakers. In other words this was not a “bloggers” anything, but just another closely controlled Brady campaign event facade that amounted to nothing.

In attendance to “meet” Brady was Bill Baar of Bill Baar’s West Side, Fran Eaton of the heavily connected Illinois Review, and a writer for NBC Chicago’s The Ward Room Blog.

As the Ward Room notes,”there wasn’t any coffee, and there were only three bloggers.”
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Bill Brady ‘Blogger Coffee’ Epic Fail!”


Rep. Roskam: GOP Not the Party of No, the Party of ‘No, How About This?’

-By Warner Todd Huston

On April 19, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor and Illinois Congressman Peter Roskam joined Fox News Chicago to talk jobs and the economy. The anchor brought up the claim made by many in the chattering classes that the GOP is just the “party of no.” Roskam had a great come back for this dismissal of the GOP’s principled stance against Obama’s socialist-like attack on our political system.