As Rich over at CapFax and the Trib and others are reporting, it appears that AG Lisa Madigan is letting the feds take the lead on the investigation of state hiring.
An investigation into “very serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud." according to the letter from the US Attorney that mentions several credable witnesses. Note the use of the word fraud from the feds.
Lessons to learn from all of this
A) Don't F--- with your in-laws
B) Seriously, don't F--- with your in-laws
C) If you are going to claim to be capt. clean try to actually do it
D) Those who got you to the dance and make it so you have to go home.
Also Rich makes a good point that it appears the governor does not have a 'thanks for your help' letter like Lisa does.
Finally it really helps Lisa if G-Nad gets busted in part on information her office developed.
OneMan
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
The Rev. Meeks speaks
Come on Chicagoland Democratic party voters are huge fans of keeping it in the family.
OneMan
(AP) CHICAGO State Sen. James Meeks said Thursday he is not "100 percent sure" that Todd Stroger is the best qualified, most electable candidate to replace his father on the November ballot for Cook County board president.
Come on Chicagoland Democratic party voters are huge fans of keeping it in the family.
OneMan
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Lynn Sweet over at the Sun Times has some Blago fun today including pointing out how the G-Nad blew off a press conference (there is a shock). He did have time for a couple of fund raisers however.
FYI it looks like the Honda plant is going to be going to Indidana.
And what was Blagojevich's hurry? He said he had to get back to Illinois in order to meet with executives from Honda, the automaker. He was trying to woo them to build a major plant in Illinois. He also said, when I asked, that he had a fund-raiser in Chicago on Tuesday night.
FYI it looks like the Honda plant is going to be going to Indidana.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Sorry for the light posting lately, not much interesting to say.
Have to say however Mr. Limbaugh's latest little issue, talent on loan from God and performance on demand from Pfizer....
Have to admit this had a better headline...
OneMan
Have to say however Mr. Limbaugh's latest little issue, talent on loan from God and performance on demand from Pfizer....
Have to admit this had a better headline...
OneMan
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Now here is a question, should I be concerend that my local democratic state rep Linda Chapa-LaVia did not seem to get much of anything out of the budget that required an MOU.
All sorts of stuff for Chicago Public Schools, but not a single MOU that I could find for a school in the East Aurora School District. Did she get stuff for the area without an MOU? Perhaps feeling that she could trust the governor?
It was 'Lets Make A Deal' time this year during the budget session, so is it bad she didn't seem to Cash in like some others?
Two private colleges in Chicago got money, but nothing for Aurora U. I couldn't find a single item with the word Aurora in it. Second biggest city in the state.
I don't want to be negative about Rep. Chapa LaVia, I have met and spoke with her a few times and she seems like a nice person. But wasn't this the time to shake the piggy bank as hard as she could?
A democrat mayor, a democrat state rep and what did it get us. Jack. Oh yeah some riverside development money hyped by the governor that hasn't been aproved. But overall, jack. We are the second largest city in the state and it appears single wards in the city of Chicago did better than we did.
Yes I know, screaming about where the pork is when you are a Repbulican is a bit hypocritical. I know that, I understand and accept that, but still at least a little something would have been nice.
Update: For the poster who mentioned the river development funds as I understand it are out of the capital program which has not been approved.
OneMan
All sorts of stuff for Chicago Public Schools, but not a single MOU that I could find for a school in the East Aurora School District. Did she get stuff for the area without an MOU? Perhaps feeling that she could trust the governor?
It was 'Lets Make A Deal' time this year during the budget session, so is it bad she didn't seem to Cash in like some others?
Two private colleges in Chicago got money, but nothing for Aurora U. I couldn't find a single item with the word Aurora in it. Second biggest city in the state.
I don't want to be negative about Rep. Chapa LaVia, I have met and spoke with her a few times and she seems like a nice person. But wasn't this the time to shake the piggy bank as hard as she could?
A democrat mayor, a democrat state rep and what did it get us. Jack. Oh yeah some riverside development money hyped by the governor that hasn't been aproved. But overall, jack. We are the second largest city in the state and it appears single wards in the city of Chicago did better than we did.
Yes I know, screaming about where the pork is when you are a Repbulican is a bit hypocritical. I know that, I understand and accept that, but still at least a little something would have been nice.
Update: For the poster who mentioned the river development funds as I understand it are out of the capital program which has not been approved.
OneMan
Monday, June 19, 2006
The Trib has an on-line poll asking if the big blue "Open Road Tolling. Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor." signs worth $15,000 each?
As if 10:11 PM 92.6% of the 9,161 reponses say......
Nope.
Enjoy the picture of the Governor talking on walkie-talkie in front of one of the signs...
As if 10:11 PM 92.6% of the 9,161 reponses say......
Nope.
Enjoy the picture of the Governor talking on walkie-talkie in front of one of the signs...
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Well it was time for another parade today... This time in Oswego, it's the first time I have walked in this parade, I understand they were using a different route than usual which may have explained to big gaps in the parade near the end at times.
Overall everyone was real friendly and the heat and a bit of rain were not too much of a problem. I was walking with Sen. Rutherford's group (handing out emery boards) to folks along the route. He generally seemed well received best I could tell.
Some Democrats were marching as well with some signs out job outsourcing and the like. This is going to seem really partisan of me (I think I have earned the right to a partisan moment) but the place to bring up negative stuff is not a parade. Talk about what you are going to do or just walk and smile and shake some hands, no one is looking for a buzz kill during a parade about outsourcing. Also when the Republicans who came before you with a big elephant float and looking handy you marching with signs about outsourcing and the rich getting richer just seems dour.
Overall everyone was real friendly and the heat and a bit of rain were not too much of a problem. I was walking with Sen. Rutherford's group (handing out emery boards) to folks along the route. He generally seemed well received best I could tell.
Some Democrats were marching as well with some signs out job outsourcing and the like. This is going to seem really partisan of me (I think I have earned the right to a partisan moment) but the place to bring up negative stuff is not a parade. Talk about what you are going to do or just walk and smile and shake some hands, no one is looking for a buzz kill during a parade about outsourcing. Also when the Republicans who came before you with a big elephant float and looking handy you marching with signs about outsourcing and the rich getting richer just seems dour.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Seriously funny...
Kris and Betsy over at Croncast (they live in Naperville and have two kids) have been podcasting for a while and have been doing some stuff lately about their vacation from hell. Check out part 1 and part 2, part 3 coming soon.
I had to call Kris, (we are tight like that) after I listened to part 2 demanding to know what happens in part 3 and like any good pusher he teased me a bit and then left me hanging.
From the Iowa-80 truckstop, that OneMan has visited about 40~50 times over the last 18 years or so (it was our halfway stop when we would go see grandma in Iowa). To the story of slowsky (which may end up being the most famous conversion van ever) it is hysterical.
The part about Iowa-80 even had Mrs. OneMan laughing her head off (actaully all of part 1 did).
Rick suggested that it should be a movie, I think you change the focus a bit and make it Betsy centric, the truckstop stuff alone could be a Lifetime movie.
A Slowsky trip to hell and back...
One Woman's struggle with a conversion van her children and the children of the corn and a husband who just was to busy with the internet....
Kris and Betsy over at Croncast (they live in Naperville and have two kids) have been podcasting for a while and have been doing some stuff lately about their vacation from hell. Check out part 1 and part 2, part 3 coming soon.
I had to call Kris, (we are tight like that) after I listened to part 2 demanding to know what happens in part 3 and like any good pusher he teased me a bit and then left me hanging.
From the Iowa-80 truckstop, that OneMan has visited about 40~50 times over the last 18 years or so (it was our halfway stop when we would go see grandma in Iowa). To the story of slowsky (which may end up being the most famous conversion van ever) it is hysterical.
The part about Iowa-80 even had Mrs. OneMan laughing her head off (actaully all of part 1 did).
Rick suggested that it should be a movie, I think you change the focus a bit and make it Betsy centric, the truckstop stuff alone could be a Lifetime movie.
A Slowsky trip to hell and back...
One Woman's struggle with a conversion van her children and the children of the corn and a husband who just was to busy with the internet....
Well it looks like the drive-in is a gonner, I have to admit I am not really surprised things played out the way they did.
The Beacon had this summary of Bob O'Connor's thoughts
In my opinion 25 years from now no one is going to think, wow great we tore down a drive-in so we could have high desity housing. Because what Aurora needed was more high density housing.
It would have been nice if they could have found a way to save the drive-in, yes. It is something we have that we don't have to worry about Naperville or Oswego getting a cleaner, newer version. It was a unique asset that could have been saved.
Do I think the whole process including the original annexation deal was not managed very well, you bet. But that is water under the bridge at this point
Was I comfortable with the city operating a drive in. Nope.
It turns out the news media was at the meeting and OneMan spoke at the meeting so I ended up having some traditional media interactions....
If you happened to catch NBC5 coverage of the Aurora City Council meeting you might have caught a glimpse of OneMan.
I also spoke to reporters for a couple of newspapers which led tot his brilliant quote from OneMan to appear in the Daily Herald.
"Aurora lost something unique to town, We don't have a whole lot other towns next to us don't have. It's depressing."
Yes, it would appear I have President Bush's gift for the English language.
Some lessons learned from all this.
Keep in mind I really don't deal with the media in my life at all.
First. I didn't think I would be on TV, if I did I would have shaved before the meeting. They were shooting video from a range of about 2 feet, many co-workers were truly shocked to see my head take up their entire TV screen and I was also reminded how much weight I need to lose.
Second. When speaking to a reporter. Think about how what you are going to say will read. This
Aurora lost something unique to town, We don't have a whole lot other towns next to us don't have. It's depressing it should have come out of my mouth as
"Aurora lost something unique. We don't have a lot of features that are unique to Aurora and we lost one of those features and that's sad"
Lessons learned hopefuly.
OneMan
The Beacon had this summary of Bob O'Connor's thoughts
"We try to make judgments based on what this will mean 25 or 50 years from now," he said. "And we hold to a small, silent hope that people won't say, 'What did those idiots do in 2006?'"
In my opinion 25 years from now no one is going to think, wow great we tore down a drive-in so we could have high desity housing. Because what Aurora needed was more high density housing.
It would have been nice if they could have found a way to save the drive-in, yes. It is something we have that we don't have to worry about Naperville or Oswego getting a cleaner, newer version. It was a unique asset that could have been saved.
Do I think the whole process including the original annexation deal was not managed very well, you bet. But that is water under the bridge at this point
Was I comfortable with the city operating a drive in. Nope.
It turns out the news media was at the meeting and OneMan spoke at the meeting so I ended up having some traditional media interactions....
If you happened to catch NBC5 coverage of the Aurora City Council meeting you might have caught a glimpse of OneMan.
I also spoke to reporters for a couple of newspapers which led tot his brilliant quote from OneMan to appear in the Daily Herald.
"Aurora lost something unique to town, We don't have a whole lot other towns next to us don't have. It's depressing."
Yes, it would appear I have President Bush's gift for the English language.
Some lessons learned from all this.
Keep in mind I really don't deal with the media in my life at all.
First. I didn't think I would be on TV, if I did I would have shaved before the meeting. They were shooting video from a range of about 2 feet, many co-workers were truly shocked to see my head take up their entire TV screen and I was also reminded how much weight I need to lose.
Second. When speaking to a reporter. Think about how what you are going to say will read. This
Aurora lost something unique to town, We don't have a whole lot other towns next to us don't have. It's depressing it should have come out of my mouth as
"Aurora lost something unique. We don't have a lot of features that are unique to Aurora and we lost one of those features and that's sad"
Lessons learned hopefuly.
OneMan
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Yet another Ad
TV
Fund Sweep
Video of Nurses walking the halls of a hospital.
VO:In Illinois we charge nurse's a licensing fee, this fee was suposed to be used to pay for the costs of licensing nurses in Illinois and investigating complaints, but Governor Blagojevich decided it would be better spent if it were treated as general revenue funds so it could be spent on things like this
Video of improved landscaping on a expressway exchange somplace.
VO: It looks really nice alright but should we using Nurses' licening fees to pay for it?
Video of Babies in a hospital nursery
VO: We also charge a fee for an important medical tests given to every newborn in the state to detect developmental issues early, for better and quicker treatment. We ended up with some extra money in that pot, did we refund it or use the extra money to reduce the price we charge for the test.
Video of a wall of pictures
VO: No of course not, not when we can put the money use the money to pay for a display about state legislators at Chicago State University.
Video of Firefighters
VO: Turns out we also had some extra funds in a fire safety fund, a fund that is used to help train fire fighters, so did we use the extra money to provide additional training to fire fighters in today's dangerous world where they face the very real posibility of facing hazards that were unimaginable 10 years ago
Video of people walking into a movie house to see a movie with a strange title..
VO: Of course not, not when we could put that money in the general fund and use to help fund the Chicago Film Festival.
TV
Fund Sweep
Video of Nurses walking the halls of a hospital.
VO:In Illinois we charge nurse's a licensing fee, this fee was suposed to be used to pay for the costs of licensing nurses in Illinois and investigating complaints, but Governor Blagojevich decided it would be better spent if it were treated as general revenue funds so it could be spent on things like this
Video of improved landscaping on a expressway exchange somplace.
VO: It looks really nice alright but should we using Nurses' licening fees to pay for it?
Video of Babies in a hospital nursery
VO: We also charge a fee for an important medical tests given to every newborn in the state to detect developmental issues early, for better and quicker treatment. We ended up with some extra money in that pot, did we refund it or use the extra money to reduce the price we charge for the test.
Video of a wall of pictures
VO: No of course not, not when we can put the money use the money to pay for a display about state legislators at Chicago State University.
Video of Firefighters
VO: Turns out we also had some extra funds in a fire safety fund, a fund that is used to help train fire fighters, so did we use the extra money to provide additional training to fire fighters in today's dangerous world where they face the very real posibility of facing hazards that were unimaginable 10 years ago
Video of people walking into a movie house to see a movie with a strange title..
VO: Of course not, not when we could put that money in the general fund and use to help fund the Chicago Film Festival.
I had someone make the point today that one of the good things about the 'sell the lottery' plan is that it will force some decisions to be made when the money runs out and pointed out that is in some ways how government works.
It might be the way government works but it still strikes me a stupid. Also I would trust the leg to manage the 10 billion in an intelligent way about as much as I would trust my 5 year old.
Dad, I bought 10 billion Hot Wheels....
OneMan
It might be the way government works but it still strikes me a stupid. Also I would trust the leg to manage the 10 billion in an intelligent way about as much as I would trust my 5 year old.
Dad, I bought 10 billion Hot Wheels....
OneMan
Just when you thought the Hi-Lite 30 thing could not get any stranger.... There is a new proposal on the table, claims about the employer of some of the get rid of the Hi-Lite 30 protesters and more.
Go read about it OpenLine.
OneMan
Go read about it OpenLine.
OneMan
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
There is a company in Massachusetts that is looking to beam music and ads to school buses as well as pay school districts to do it.
Perhaps that is an education funding solution....
Perhaps that is an education funding solution....
Monday, June 05, 2006
Since I get to see the Rod "What is she thinking" commercials on almost daily now I have decided to start writing radio ads for Judy while I wait for her to run some ads.
I figured we start with radio....
Hiring
Announcer: Lately they news has been filled with allegations about hiring within the Blagovich Administration
Radio News sounding voice female: Questions surround the hiring of the son of the director of the Department of Natural Resources as director of the Horseshoe Lake recreation area and then promoting him to Director of Natural Resources for the Southern part of Illinois. Now lets hear Governor Rod Blagojevich's statement on the issue...
Sound of Crickets...
Radio News sounding male voice: Sources report the patronage chief for Governor Rod Blagojevich's routinely met with hiring official's to discus job applicants for positions that are supposed to be free from politics. Now lets hear the governor's response to questions about this from the media
Sound of Crickets....
Radio News female voice: Also a spokesperson governor's office explained that the change in hiring processes that just happened to occur right after the federal probe had nothing to do with the federal probe. Now for the Governor's response.
Sound of Crickets......
Announcer: Sometimes, silence says volumes.
Interesting Plan
Male Voice older: Honey I have an idea
Female Voice older: Yes
Male Voice: I can trade in my pension and get more money today.
Female Voice: Then what are we going to live on.
Male voice: Thats the beauty of this plan, I can get enough money to get a new car and a new boat and we can put enough money away so we can get the same amount of money that we get from the pension for 5 years.
Female voice: That is an interesting plan but what happens after 5 years
Male voice: We move in with the kids.
Announcer: You wouldn't do it with your pension and we shouldn't do it with education.
Appraisal
Somewhat slick sounding saleman type:Really I can get 100,000 for your house easy..
Male Voice: How did you come up with that number
Salesman: I had someone do a assesment on it.
Male Voice: Who exactly.
Salesman: He did it for free, in fact he might even be interested in buying the property.
Female Voice: Can we see the assesment?
Salesman: Oh no, then others might use it besides my buddy...
Female Voice: But we own the property..
Salesman: Don't worry I know whats best, I am sure I can get you the best deal.
Announcer: You wouldn't sell something as valuable your house without understanding how much it was worth. But as a taxpayer in Illinois you are an onwer of the lottery and that is exactly what the Governor is asking you to do, lease the lottery without seeing the assesment. We think it is a bad idea and if you agree call the governor at... and let him know as a taxpayer in Illinois you expect to see the assesment.
More to Come
Oneman
I figured we start with radio....
Hiring
Announcer: Lately they news has been filled with allegations about hiring within the Blagovich Administration
Radio News sounding voice female: Questions surround the hiring of the son of the director of the Department of Natural Resources as director of the Horseshoe Lake recreation area and then promoting him to Director of Natural Resources for the Southern part of Illinois. Now lets hear Governor Rod Blagojevich's statement on the issue...
Sound of Crickets...
Radio News sounding male voice: Sources report the patronage chief for Governor Rod Blagojevich's routinely met with hiring official's to discus job applicants for positions that are supposed to be free from politics. Now lets hear the governor's response to questions about this from the media
Sound of Crickets....
Radio News female voice: Also a spokesperson governor's office explained that the change in hiring processes that just happened to occur right after the federal probe had nothing to do with the federal probe. Now for the Governor's response.
Sound of Crickets......
Announcer: Sometimes, silence says volumes.
Interesting Plan
Male Voice older: Honey I have an idea
Female Voice older: Yes
Male Voice: I can trade in my pension and get more money today.
Female Voice: Then what are we going to live on.
Male voice: Thats the beauty of this plan, I can get enough money to get a new car and a new boat and we can put enough money away so we can get the same amount of money that we get from the pension for 5 years.
Female voice: That is an interesting plan but what happens after 5 years
Male voice: We move in with the kids.
Announcer: You wouldn't do it with your pension and we shouldn't do it with education.
Appraisal
Somewhat slick sounding saleman type:Really I can get 100,000 for your house easy..
Male Voice: How did you come up with that number
Salesman: I had someone do a assesment on it.
Male Voice: Who exactly.
Salesman: He did it for free, in fact he might even be interested in buying the property.
Female Voice: Can we see the assesment?
Salesman: Oh no, then others might use it besides my buddy...
Female Voice: But we own the property..
Salesman: Don't worry I know whats best, I am sure I can get you the best deal.
Announcer: You wouldn't sell something as valuable your house without understanding how much it was worth. But as a taxpayer in Illinois you are an onwer of the lottery and that is exactly what the Governor is asking you to do, lease the lottery without seeing the assesment. We think it is a bad idea and if you agree call the governor at... and let him know as a taxpayer in Illinois you expect to see the assesment.
More to Come
Oneman
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Why I Think The Gov Will Not Release The Goldman Sachs Estimate...
My guess is the 10 Billion number is the best case estimate and the Goldman work revealed some major risks involved for anyone who leases the lottery. Risks that the administration may not consider 'obvious'. Sort of like someone saying your house is worth $100,000 as long as the wind is blowing the smell from the yard waste facility away from your house. You hope whomever comes as looks at your house to buy it comes on a day when the wind is blowing right.
So the question now is, what is the non-obvious risk?
Another option is that the 10 Billion number is with Keno and the right to market games as the lease holder sees fit and/or requires other regulatory changes to make the lease more profitable/less risky to the lease holder.
My guess is the 10 Billion number is the best case estimate and the Goldman work revealed some major risks involved for anyone who leases the lottery. Risks that the administration may not consider 'obvious'. Sort of like someone saying your house is worth $100,000 as long as the wind is blowing the smell from the yard waste facility away from your house. You hope whomever comes as looks at your house to buy it comes on a day when the wind is blowing right.
So the question now is, what is the non-obvious risk?
Another option is that the 10 Billion number is with Keno and the right to market games as the lease holder sees fit and/or requires other regulatory changes to make the lease more profitable/less risky to the lease holder.
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