Hiram and Archpundit
Both offer their thoughts on the debate half of my Foster post.

Still looking for someone to defend the economic premise of his ads...

OneMan

I have basically kept my mouth shut on the blog about the congressional race in the 14th for a host of reasons, I didn't want my comments to be considered as coming from a campaign and since I was supporting and working for a candidate in the primary I was worried everything I would write would be considered biased.

That being said there are two things in this race I am going to comment on and if you want to consider me biased please feel free

First:

This whole since Oberweis Capital has an Asia fund he is some sort of profiteer on American job losses... So using that logic I sincerely hope that everyone who calls into Openline or writes a letter to the editor has checked to make sure that nothing in their IRAs, 401Ks, Mutual Funds has any investments in any non-US company because they must also be profiting from US job losses. I am sure Bill Foster has done this otherwise it would be hypocritical for him to bring it up, wouldn't it? That would be a question someone could ask him at a forum (oh wait see my second point).

The whole idea that an Asian company doing business means that US jobs are reduced is wrong at it's face. World employment isn't a zero sum game. Every job created outside the US is not one less US job.

Wait, wait you may say. It's Asian companies that are the problem.... Why is it just Asian companies that are the problem, don't European companies have people working outside the US selling products in the US that could be made in the US. If so then what is the difference? It isn't because they are Asian are they?

So using this logic if I were to invest in my employer who is British company (the majority of their employees are in the US) I would be profiting on US job losses?

Seriously, it strikes me as having the same tone as the criticism of Japan 20 years ago.

Secondly:

We are not going to be having any public forums before the special election. Foster pulled out of the Elgin League of Women Voters forum that was set for this Wed.

He also didn't attend a bunch of forums before the primary (TLN, Aurora African American Chamber of Commerce, etc), heck Stein used to hand out a flyer with a list of all the forums that Foster didn't attend.

You know, if you are not comfortable discussing issues in front of people in a give and take process, perhaps congress isn't the best place for you to be. They expect you to attend committee meetings.

Yes, I understand there is likely a tactical reason for doing this, but still don't you think the voters deserve at least one public forum. Last time I checked the Elgin League of Women Voters isn't a Republican front group.

If you feel your views are correct you should feel comfortable defending and explaining them in public and be asked questions about them.

If Jim was the one backing out of forums I know Archpundit and Hiram wouldn't let it go without a comment (and rightfully so).

OneMan

Go Ralph Nader go...

If you want to learn about the fun new idea of the "amnesty tax" follow the link.

It does not seem as if OneMan is on Tony's alleged clout list.

"I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience." -- President Ronald Reagan

"There you go again" -- President Ronald Reagan

"Change you can Xerox" -- Senator Hillary Clinton

This Senator Clinton is why you fail, the booing that can be heard on the clip doesn't help also your spending isn't helping either.

So we had the budget presentation today, according to the AP he wants to cut 40% from the DNR (including about 200 staff).

So I guess the fact that there isn't a state park in Chicago has nothing to do with this. Say hello to Chronic Wasting Disease, coming soon to more of Illinois. Because to fight this sort of thing you need the DNR.

Why did we even build the shooting facility in Sparta if we figured the DNR was a department that we didn't really need?

Could someone at least take him fishing....

OneMan

Rich is pointing out that there was not an off the record budget briefing from the governors office this year.

However here at OneMan central we have gotten a preview copy...

Dear Citizens of Illinois, in the past I have tried to do big things for you, health care, better school funding all without raising income taxes. I have failed you, due to the lack of vision of the people in front of me, they have didn't have the vision to approve the GRT, they didn't have the vision to lease the lottery or toll road. They didn't embrace Kino, they have asked questions about what I have wanted to do for you and all around meddled in my plans.

No more....

we are going to buy the Chicago Cubs and I will serve as GM along with being the coolest governor.

How we are going to pay for this.

Simple, A Fund Sweep of The endowment of U of I.


That's it, if you don't approve it I will have more special sessions than you can shake a bat at. I will end up seeing you in court anyway.

Go Cubs, I have to catch a Hannah Montana episode,.

NBC just announced that Obama won the Wisconsin primary, CNN is showing the same. Texas and Ohio are going to have to be one heck of a firewall.

OneMan

So we have an announced candidate for Mayor, Alderman Stephanie Kifowit, Alderman Chris Beykirch announced his resignation to join the Aurora Economic Development Commission.

Also there is a web site dedicated to encouraging Rick Lawrence to run for mayor.

No word on what Tom is going to do.

So it has been an eventful day in Aurora politics.

I ask that you keep my Alma mater, Northern Illinois University, it's students, faculty, staff and community in your thoughts and prayers today.

A friend of mine when I was there is now the pastor of the Lutheran Student Ministry and the LCMS church right off of campus. I know he is having a challenging day as well. Please keep Pastor Marty Marks in your prayers..

Thanks

OneMan NIU '91

Please nominate her, please......

It looks like something accounts payable came up for a company meeting... Lets go Interstate Office Supply!

I also love the dance moves as well and the T-Shirts as Winston Churchill once said

"I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns."

Seriously thanks for the laugh.

It might just be me but I suspect that if you are a Clinton campaign staffer you do not want to be within 100 yards of her today.

Well primary season is over and it's time for the special. There were a few interesting things that happened in the local committeemen races. First on the Republican side in Kendall county. It looks like they have picked up a bunch of new committeemen from the KRCC group. I suspect their convention might be fun.

Also on the Aurora Township Democratic side some officeholders were defeated by other candidates for committeemen positions. Have fun with your first meeting as well Alex.

As for here in Kane, I have no idea who besides Mike Kenyon is going to run for party chair (besides me not running).

OneMan

Got a automated call from Mayor Tom Weisner of Aurora pointing out the 'salt shortage' and how roads may be slick.

OneMan

If you have ever wanted to see classic movies with the voice talents of Sponge Bob and the gang. The Godfather clip is worth it alone.

You stay classy FTN...

Complaints about the Aurora Election Commission.

Well there were some complaints about the election and the commission again.

I want to offer up my thoughts because I have a bit of a unique perspective on the situation, for the last 10 or 12 elections I have been the party representative at the vote count and have worked with the commission when issues have come up during the count, both during the newer electronic age and during the old punch card days.

That being said. I will start with some issues I have with the commission.

• The fact we can't get the canvas (a breakdown of votes by ward and pct) electronically. We currently only get it on paper (about 300+ double sides pages). It is basically useless in that format. We have filled a formal request in the past with the commission for it and it seems that if you can print it you can produce it electronically. So far we have had no luck with this.

• A vendor the commission uses. To be frank this person has treated the party representatives in the past like we are annoying children. When we have made specific requests that are within our rights (for example the Democrats requested copies of the paper tapes out of the machines the first election with the new gear) this party has acted like we didn't know what we wanted and were stupid for making the request. I have a BS with a computer science major, a MS in Management Information Systems and 17 years of professional experience with technology, don't treat me like I am 5.
  

• The challenges of getting a hold of a carbon based life form on the phone at the commission on election day. I understand that it is busy but get some temps or pull some folks from other city departments for a week or something (yes I know this all costs money) I suspect most questions coming in can be answered by the professionals in the office, it's just a matter of getting a hold of one.

That being said, there are some things the commission has to deal with that would be the same as any election authority.

• Election judges: They are human, they will make mistakes because of the stakes involved in elections small mistakes become big issues.

• The number of ballots for a given election. With three parties having primaries, the park referendum and the special election the precincts had a lot of different ballots, increasing the odds of errors.

• Unrealistic expectations: The Beacon blogged about not getting vote totals on line very fast. Let me first start with they have a bit of legitimate complaint, I made the same point on election night and managed to annoy the vendor mentioned above. However, the goal of the commission is to get the count done right, not post it as fast as possible.

What I think happened is they were having an issue closing out a machine, this halted the tabulation process while they were dealing with this.

Getting the results to the media (or on-line for that matter) should not be a primary goal of the commission.




Here are some OneMan suggestions (warning some are going to cost money)...

• Create superjudges, who have more training and can cover several different precincts (but no more than lets say 10). Pay them more and make them the first point of contact for the election judges if an issue comes up. Perhaps the attorneys we have from time to time tally judge who think something funny is going on there is a glitch would be good for this role, perhaps even have them do it pro-bono. Perhaps create teams of one person from each party to do this. I have found generally when there was an issue during the count in the past, the Republicans and Democrats are able to agree fairly quickly on a solution.

• Move city staff over to the commission on election day to answer phone and answer some questions and get answers to people quicker.

• Improve the design of the ballots (the tops in particular) to make it easier to figure out who gets what ballot. (So the voter roll the precinct would have the voters information and something that would say...If the Voter is voting green they get ballot 12
  If the voter is voting Republican Normal they get ballot 149
  If the voter is voting Republican Federal Only they get ballot 333
  If the voter is voting Non-Partisan they get ballot 555)
  
  The voters signature card would have the ballot information as well so when you sign for the ballot you would see that you should get ballot 555 and confirm that is the ballot you were given.
  
  I would also suggest color coding the tops as well.
  

Not perfect but perhaps a start.

• Work with AU and to get students a day off to work the election as judges, provide transportation if needed. I suspect $125 is still decent scratch for a college kid who might get some time to study during the day as well.

• Offer to embed one or more reporters in the process. I think it would be good for the Beacon to see what is going on during election day at the commission. Perhaps even log every call (without personal information) and put it on the web in real time. then update with the resolution to the issue.

All in all the election commission does a good job with what they have to work with, not perfect but a good job. Having poll watched, tally judged and count supervised in Aurora I can say I am always surprised to some extent they don't have more problems. Is there room for improvement, yes. But I think the parties involved can work together to make it happen.


More on this to come perhaps.

OneMan

Laesch is having a press conference on Friday, it will be interesting to see if he wants the re-count. With the issues that existed in the election it seems to me that he will ask for the recount. But to find out yourself it will be on Friday February 8th, 10:00 a.m. at Campaign Headquarters, 46 W. Downer, Aurora.



OneMan

So far not to much interesting, we had a polling place that couldn't find their special election ballots and were handing out two ballots (so you may have been able to vote on a park thing twice). I have heard a few other issues but nothing too out of the ordinary..


OneMan

Well it's primary day, got up really early to put signs up. Suffice driving around trying to find polling places at 3:00 AM when there has been a shooting in town can be interesting. Funny stories to come.

Off to check on turn-out.

OneMan

Best Super Bowl Ad...
ETrade baby banking clown....

Jay Paul Deratany for Cook County Board of Review has an ad that has a Jib-Jab feel. Regardless it gets your attention, don't know if it will help.

One Huge mistake however. Not making the Brightcove video embeddable is a bad idea. If it was embeddable you would be able see it below....


OneMan

I just got 'polled' by the McCain campaign, not a push poll, just three questions. First and second choices for president and top issue.

OneMan

Seriously, will she just shut up. Ann supporting Hillary over McCain might be the greatest service she could provide to the Republican party.

OneMan