I think saw someplace that Carl Rove told prospective GOP House and Senate candidates the biggest challenge they will face is getting past the perception of corruption among Republicans and how they should try and distance themselves from the culture of Washington.

Suffice to say the feds searching Ted Stevens' home doesn't help

This blog post about Sen. Lauzen's vote on a breastfeeding bill points out what might be the bigger issue he faces... The fact he has a record and anyone's record can be examined and used against them. ( I have a binder of that same sort of thing on Sen. Obama from when he was in the state senate).

So I look forward to seeing what they pick out and use on Sen. Lauzen.

OneMan

There has been some local media coverage on the new clinic coming to Aurora. Not too far away from OneMan central, but far enough it will not have an impact on me. Besides the fact I will likely not be going to Dominics on New York for a while to say the least.

Why.....

To be frank I don't know if I want to deal with the protesters. I know I will not be going over there with the kids (don't want to have to have that converstion with them)....

I live near some land that is zoned medical office and am glad it didn't go on that property.

If I were a donor to planned parenthood (I am not), I guess my question would be if it was a good use of money to put the clinic on a fairly valuable piece of DuPage county land. When you could have put it some other places in Aurora for what I suspect was a lower land acquisition cost. Also you would not have ended up across the street from an apartment complex and less than 100 yards away from town homes.

Yes I understand it's legal and that is a discussion for another day and for other blogs that deal with that sort of thing. My question is more about why there?

You could have built someplace else in Aurora with lower land costs and less residential to tick off. It would be different if the site was really close to the mall or really close to the Metra station, you could make a case for extra land costs for either of those. The site they picked really isn't within walking distance of either of those two locations.

I guess it is safe to say it is going to be interesting.

OneMan

Perhaps those guys in the Cialis wouldn't have those issues if they didn't have to move those cast iron his and her tubs around?

Way back in 2004 when Jim Oberweis ran for senate the second time a complaint was filed about some Oberweis dairy ads. Well it appears that a $21,000 fine is going to be paid to deal with complaint.

With the speculation about the 14th congressional race and everything I guess now is as good of a time as any to ask a simple question.

Are Republicans going to start suffering from Oberweis fatigue. Between two senate runs and a run for governor, all in the last 5 or 6 years are Republicans just going to think they have had enough of the guy?

Not only that but did is run for Kane County Republican Party chair hurt him with Republicans in Kane County?

OneMan

Finally a Blackberry accessory I can use



Warning contains pixilated naughts bits.

One last one, I don't think any paper in Chicago carries it anymore but man has Funky Winkerbean gotten depressing.

OneMan

Well the gang over at Illinois Review have a help wanted post looking for suggestions for candidates a Republican Senate and House seat that are both going to be open.

It begs an interesting question, what would an ideal candidate look like? I have my own thoughts on good candidates for each, but I am going to keep them to myself for right now. (No one of them is not OneMan) .

So instead of asking the name question (like the gang at Illinois Review is doing) I am going to ask a different question.

Is a candidate having strong local relationships (even with a weak 'Republican' background) more likely to be successful in the general than a candidate with strong Republican ties but less strong ties outside the party?

OneMan

If nothing else will demonstrate that the Internet is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy, this should



Yes they are prison inmates....

From OpenLine in the Beacon News...

Dissension refreshing
I kind of like what's going on down in Springfield. I like the dissension in the ranks amongst the Democratic Party because it shows that they're each individual thinkers and they have their disagreements, unlike the Republican Party that is run like a communist dictatorship in that no one is allowed to disagree with the party. If anyone disagrees with the party, their campaign funds are cut off and they are summarily thrown out of the party. That's the way it works nationally, anyway. Is that what you want? You want a communist dictatorship running the country?

Dude, if the Communists worked like Illinois Republicans Communism would have died out in 1918 with some saying they are more communist than others, others calling others still CINOs.

OneMan

Rich has this info about how much our governor has spent on legal fees.

Wow....

OneMan

Well it's nice to be back, in catching up on things I did a Sneed scan, how often she references herself never seases to amaze me.

Friday the 20th

The landmark Family Secrets trial, which just unloaded new details of the grisly murders of Tony and Michael Spilotro, reminded me of my first encounter with a young Tony Spilotro.
Consider.
It is a journalistic baptism of sorts to cover your first murder trial.

Thursday the 19th

A testament: I learned about Oprah's loss at Sho Studio on Wednesday from my hairdresser, Esther Ling -- a testament of sorts to how many people feel like they are a part of Oprah's life. When I got to the office, I learned Oprah had written about Gracie in the August issue of her magazine O.

Yes, an entire generation will remember where they were when they heard Oprah's dog died.

The 15th

I have been a journalist for more than four decades in a city known for its gritty, no-nonsense reporting.

Ah yes another Michael Sneed reporter story....

July 4th

have no special Fourth of July to remember.

Heck of a way to start a story.

Been out of town for a few days, should be back in full blogging mode tomorrow.

Still hope the ministers visit the capitol next week.

I have a lot of respect for Cong. Hastert but he knind of needs to make up his mind with Democrats looking to enter the race and sepnd a large amount of their own money.

Reguardless of when he decides not to run again, it is going to lead to an ugly primary.

OneMan

The Beacon has the details on the Hometown 2 land deal.

Suffice to say at least one Alderman was at leat implying that the land offering was going to include the pond back when this all first went down. At the time everyone acted like he was wrong.

At the least someone owes him an appology.

Also here is a question kids, has the city approved all of the phases of the development?

OneMan

I think the whole 'Amy Jacobson' issue can be summed up in one quote from Zorn's blog today..

She added, "The whole thing is to find Lisa (Stebic). That's the bottom line. That's what it's always been about."

No Amy for you the bottom line was the report the story, not find Lisa Stebic. Your a reporter, not a detective.

OneMan

The Beacon has a Waiting for Denny story today. OneMan will not be at the Ag event since he has other plans (corporate Cubs outing) but I will be wearing my Overtime in Hell Shirt.

My guess, he doesn't say anything about his plans (but that is a pure guess). If he does make a not running announcement I suspect my phone will start ringing tomorrow :-)

OneMan

The Beacon blog, blogged and Lynn Sweet wrote about a poll done for Bill Foster who is running as a democrat in the 14th congressional district.

Some questions, issues and thoughts on the whole thing.

First, the 'generic Republican vs. generic Democrat' questions seem to vague to provide any real insight into anything. So that is part of the reason why some folks are looking at the poll numbers with some skepticism. Also, it isn't fair but any time a guy who talks about putting in a lot of money into a race start referencing poll numbers early a small part of you begins to wonder about the poll and it it's goal is to keep people out of the race.

Secondly, he will have an uphill fight for the nomination if he does get in regardless of if Linda Chapa-LaVia gets in or not.

Why, because he is not currently and elected official and it does not look like he has ever run for anything locally, so he is really starting from scratch. He is going be dealing with Democratic party members who on one hand will see him as a possible winner but on the other hand will see him also as somewhat of a Johnny-Come-Lately.

Also anyone who talks about spending a large sum of their own money on a race is going to be besieged by people who are more than happy to help them spend it. That may end up being his biggest challenge.

OneMan

WBEZ had a item about the Governor avoiding the media today.. (Audio here)

After that, Blagojevich refused to take questions about the gun bill—-or about anything for that matter.

Instead the governor bolted from the podium as his staff fended off reporters eager to ask Blagojevich about a number of issues.

CHASE: He is the governor. He is the governor. And he is not answering any questions... on topic!

Don't know if I agree with it, but I am going to link to it all the same....

Impeach Blagojevich

I have an idea on how to pay for the healthcare of some of the 1.4 million people in this state...

Stop flying the state plane back and forth from Springfield Governor.

From Lou Lang's comments on the floor of the state house today (Swiped from Cap Fax)

Speaker Madigan: Mr. Lang.
Representative Lang: Thank you Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen, um, I applaud the comments of Mr. Black. I hardly know where to begin, but I’ll find a spot to do so.
The… the letter, the letter that was sent to the Speaker, uh, creating or attempting to create a constitutional crisis is an insult to all of us. It’s an insult to the process of the General Assembly, more important, an insult to the process of the House of Representatives.
The Senate apparently does not have these problems with the Governor even though we’ve sat in Committee of the Whole, after Committee of the Whole, after Committee of the Whole working while the Senate does whatever they do over there.
We’re doing some work over here. We’ve gotten some good work done over the last several days. The Governor can call it what it wishes. I think we had an engaged body. It’s too bad all of our members weren’t here, I think we should have some comments for them when they return. But, we’ve gotten some good work done, we’ve been engaged, we’ve talked about these issues, we’ve asked our questions. The same Governor who would force a Constitutional crisis has yet to answer my several pages of questions that I told Mr. Filan the other day that would be asked, questions that were supposed to have been answered yesterday before we voted… on that bill. It’s now 24 hours later, we still don’t have the answers to the questions. I would still like them, by the way, Mr. Governor, Mr. Filan. I think I’m entitled to ‘em. And so, also are the members of this House entitled to the answers to those questions.
This Constitutional crisis that the Governor wants to create is of his own making. He’s done it for his own purposes. They certainly aren’t done for any purposes of advancing the public policy of the State of Illinois. They certainly aren’t done for the purpose of advancing the work we’re doing in this House to try to create a budget, and the work we have done to try to create a budget. In fact, it was cowardly.
This… the governor received this letter from the Speaker yesterday saying we were going to be here at ten o’clock today. And yet, rather than going into a court room and asking a judge to rule, asking the judge to create some sort of an injunction forcing us to stay here, instead in a very cowardly way sends this letter and asks his floor leader, my friend, to stand up on the floor and threaten us all. To threaten us all, to say, “…better not leave town. Don’t get in your cars.”
Well, Governor, I for one, will be where you can find me. I’ll give you all my phone numbers. Send the State Police for me any time you want. But, I for one, plan to follow the lead of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, not because he’s the leader of my party, not because he’s the leader of the Majority Caucus but because he’s the leader of this Chamber. And, on this, all one hundred and eighteen members of this House stand together.
We have a responsibility to protect the integrity of this Chamber and we should not, and must not let anyone, the Governor, the President of the Senate, or anyone outside of this Chamber to instruct this Chamber as to what we ought to do to conduct the business of this Chamber. And I hope you will all stand with me and together on this issue now and every day for as long as we are here. (cheers, applause)
Let’s go back to why we’re here in the first place. We’re here because we didn’t get a budget done. Now during the process of political name calling that we did, and that we continue to do once in a while, where Republicans will blame the majority party for not getting their act together. That’s fine. Make your comments. They’ve been made.
But we’re here today because there is no budget. This House passed the budget whether you voted for it or not. Whether you signed some goofy letter afterwards, or not, disavowing your vote. We passed a budget in this House. One Chamber hasn’t even addressed the budget, that’s the other Chamber.
We got a Governor who wants to spend three billion dollars more than we have to spend. And the guy who cites the Constitution in this letter thinks nothing of trying to force us to pass a budget that’s three billion dollars out of balance - three billion dollars out of balance. He tried the Gross Receipts Tax. Last I saw it failed one hundred and seven to nothing. Anybody here gonna change their vote on that? I didn’t think so.
One hundred and seven to nothing, Governor. Your plan failed. If you have a plan to provide new revenue to this state, let’s have the meeting. We’ll be here. We’ll sit here in the Committee of the Whole and listen to you talk about new ideas that have not been rejected. You have a plan to raise three billion dollars? Come to the floor. We’ll convene the meeting – I’m sure you will, Mr. Speaker – and we’ll listen. And we’ll debate it. And we’ll talk to the witnesses. And we’ll ask our questions. And maybe we’ll get the answers next time when we ask them. And we’ll vote it up or down.
But at some point, at some point Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Governor, citizens of Illinois - we need to have a budget that’s something like a balanced budget, the Constitution requires that. And say what you will about the needs of Illinois, and we all have our different views about our needs. I would like to spend more money for schools. I would like to find a health care plan. I would do a lot of things. More money for social service agencies and so would many of you. Today the money is not there.
So to continue to talk about a three billion dollar expenditure that we don’t have, with no way to pay for it is folly. It’s a waste of time, a waste of effort. And I know what the Governor will say, he’ll say, “Oh, Representative Lang, is it a waste of effort to try to help the people of the State of Illinois?” Well bully for you, Governor. We’ve heard you say that. We’ve heard you say that over and over again. But you are the leader of this State. Talk about the Constitution, you are the leader. You’ve got something to propose? We will be here to listen to your proposal. You want to tell us how we’re gonna raise that three billion dollars? We can’t even engage in the process of how to spend it because we don’t have it.
You’ve got a big, bold, creative health care plan which I’m not sure I’m for. But it doesn’t make any difference if I’m for it or all of us are for it if we can’t pay for it. So first comes the revenue then comes the expenditures. You have a tax plan, Governor? Bring it forward. You want to do some gaming? I might help you with that. Bring it forward. Let’s find out what we’re willing to do. And, Governor, this is the Illinois General Assembly, you served here briefly. If we won’t provide you the money you can’t spend it. It’s just that simple.
During the Committee of the Whole on the Gross Receipts Tax I asked the Governor a pointed question. Many of you liked the question, I recall. The question was, “Governor, you talk about compromise. You talk about negotiation. But whenever you’re asked, the only thing you will talk about is your plan, everything else off the table.” And I asked him the question, “Governor, if everything is off the table how can we compromise?” I don’t know what he said. Does anybody recall an answer?
And I’m going to tell you folks on the Minority Party something I’m not supposed to tell you. When the Governor was in our Democratic Caucus I asked him the same question. And I got the same garbage for an answer. No answer. I asked him about the health care plan. And I said, “Governor we’re all for a health care plan to do something for the people of the State of Illinois but we can’t afford your plan. So can you scale it back? Can you tell us what you’ll agree to, so we can to try help you find the money to make sure that Illinoisans that don’t have health care can get it. And I said to him, “What about that?” And he said, “Representative Lang, do you know that there are one point four million Illinoisans without health care?” And I said to him, “Yes, Governor, I know that, but where will you compromise?” And he said, “Representative Lang, do you know there are one point four million Illinoisans without health care?” And I said, “Governor, where are you going to find the money for this?” He said, “The Gross Receipts Tax, Representative.” And I said, “Governor, the Gross Receipts Tax lost one hundred and seven to nothing.” And I said, “Governor, how are you gonna pay for this?” He said, “Do you know there are one point four million Illinoisans without health care?”
Ladies and Gentlemen, we cannot put up with this as a Chamber. We are going to work together in this Chamber, maybe the best we ever have because of what’s going on around us.
Governor, you’ve made the worst mistake you could make. You united one hundred and eighteen people together. (cheers)
I am prepared, as all of us are, all one hundred and eighteen, all the staff in this Chamber, prepared to work together as long as it takes to get the best budget for the State of Illinois we can get. And Governor, if you need to call out the State Police, the dogs, your staff, or anybody else to bring us here, go ahead. Do it. We’ll be here.
I noted, Mr. Speaker, that the Governor in another cowardly act has refused, he’s not going to call the State Police is he? He’s now issued another Proclamation, hasn’t he? So, rather than doing what someone with guts would do after he threatened us, he’s just gonna say, “Tell you what, I’ll just call you back in at two-thirty today.” This is the man that leads the State of Illinois. I, for one, am fed up with it. I don’t care what party he’s in. I am fed up with it. This man must lead. And if he’s not gonna lead, let’s just trample him, pass a budget and go home for the summer. (cheers, applause)

Hey Governor, please keep pushing the idea of 'Democratic Values' that require huge tax increases...

Thanks

OneMan

Governor,

I am a Republican

Mike Madigan is no Republican

Thank You...

Here is a question kids...

Can an Illinois casino operate if the state is in a budget shutdown?

First let me say that OneMan does not have an iPhone (much to the surprise of my father and father-in-law).

Imagine however a cadre of campaign volunteers using iPhones while going door to door. Yes, I know people have used phones and Palms in the past but the iPhone is much easier to use.

The ability to have the campaign worker/volunteer enter voter info in real time that can be reviewed and/or worked. Also the ability to build a more robust application that could change survey and other questions in real time that is usable via the web and via a phone could be a show changer...

Why I am typing this, I need to get coding!

OneMan

Hello Beacon News....

When you headline a story with

Paramount packs season with stars

Don't start the list of Stars with
Roseanne Barr -- No longer a star
Clint Black -- Not really a country music fan so I will give yo this one
Brad Garrett -- Ummm, no.
Riverdance -- Perhaps during the first 10 years it was around
Annie -- Ummm, no.
Also just for reference
Gordon Lightfoot -- Not a Star
Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme -- Ummm, not for the last 30 or 40 years.

OneMan

I think this is the best summary of what overtime has become in Springfield at this point...

So we are going to have a committee of the whole meeting to talk about selling the lottery or perhaps we will not.

I have to admit, the letters between Madigan and the Governor have been entertaining. However there is one thing I think Speaker Madigan needs to point out.

We can't really get an idea of what the lottery is worth (part of the governors solution to the pension issue) without knowing what the bill authorizing the lease looks like.

Why...
I have blogged a bit on this in the past. In May of 2006 (no we haven't been talking this concept to death at all) I calculated the NPV (what you would pay today to get the next 30 years of cash flow of the lottery) of the lottery at about $24 billion today. The big problem is the number of unknowns in the calc when taking a non-guaranteed cash flow and trying to figure out how much it is worth. If you lease the lottery you don't know if folks are still going to want to play the lottery in 30 years.

I have blogged about some of the issues with valuing the lottery in a post here.


The big advantage is having some sort of 'lease bill' out there is you can then start figuring out what (if any) discount you need to calculate to cover risks such as local taxation of lottery sales (IE the City of Chicago starts taxing lottery sales), changes in the multi-state compact (the Big Game), risks of the lottery being ruled illegal, if a government entity within the state could start it's own lottery (The city of Aurora presents 'City of Lights Ball'), regulatory issues about marketing the games, etc. A bill starts answering these questions, because I don't see how you value a lottery lease until you get some answers to these questions.

Leasing a lottery isn't like leasing a a tollway. You know the lead times to new road creation and know the odds (or can calculate them) of some event or events that can impact your revenues. Gas costing $10 a gallon, people using personal jet packs, etc. The problem with the lottery is there is lots of stuff that can hurt you financially that can occur without any real warning or any regress is it happens.

Heck worse case with a tollway lease where people stop driving you can rent the space out...

The big advantage of a lottery lease bill is you can start eliminating some of the variables that reduce the value and can start evaluating the others.

OneMan