Author: Newsdesk

Posted by Monique Garcia at 6:59 p.m.

Gov. Pat Quinn declared again today he will fight for an income tax increase before lawmakers leave Springfield in coming weeks, despite criticism from a budget watchdog group and lack of support from fellow Democrats.

Quinn responded to a report from the Civic Federation that criticized his budget proposal for failing to make tough cuts before seeking a tax hike. He disagreed with their conclusion and said the tax increase is crucial to maintaining state funding for public schools.

"We’ve got to have good schools, good education, and this governor is going to fight until the last dog dies for schools and for education and for children," Quinn said.



But when asked how he will persuade reluctant legislative leaders to call a vote on his tax proposal before adjourning in a matter of weeks, Quinn offered only generalities about his relationship with House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton. Like Quinn, they are Chicago Democrats.



"I talk to them all the time, we have a good relationship, we’ll be talking tomorrow," Quinn said. "My expectation is as we go through this remainder (of) April and into May, that we will get proper resources for education (come) hell or high water."

Update by Hal Dardick at 3:26 p.m. with Quinn comment, homicide rate; originally posted by Hal Dardick at 1:56 p.m.

Mayor Richard Daley today reacted coolly to the idea that the National Guard be called out to help slow the violence on Chicago’s streets, as two state representatives had suggested a day earlier.

“Everybody knows their frustration, when one crime is one too many in any community — any death or any injury,” Daley said, taking a quick break from an international municipal conference to address the issue. “But like anything else, you have to look at long-term solutions. You can’t just put something temporary in there.”

“People have to get involved in their community, family by family and block by block,” he added. “Like anything else, that is the  key. The community must be as upset as anybody else.

"And so you have to look for long-term solutions. There’s no quick band aid. You just can’t think you’re going to fix it in one weekend and walk away," Daley said. "And that’s what the problem would be.”

Daley’s remarks came a day after state Reps. John Fritchey and LaShawn Ford, both Chicago Democrats, held a news conference to suggest the National Guard be deployed in Chicago to quell the violence, at a time when the city’s murder rate is on the rise. They said as many people have been slain in the city this year as U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

While the city’s homicide rate is on an uptick in the early part of this year, it is generally down from years past, when more than 500 people a year were killed.

Gov. Pat Quinn said today that he will not deploy members of the National Guard to help patrol city streets unless requested to do so by Daley. Quinn said it could be counter productive to police efforts, as law enforcement officers and military personnel are trained differently.

The governor suggested the National Guard could be most helpful by providing intelligence assistance and the use of helicopters for aerial surveillance. But even that step would be extraordinary, and Quinn said it would not happen without a request from Daley — a possibility that seems remote.

Quinn was asked if the crime situation rose to the level of needing the National Guard, since the homicide rate is not higher than in years past.

"One homicide is too many in my book, and I think we should always look for every way to coordinate our public safety resource in Illinois at every level to make sure we have safe streets and safe communities and safe people," Quinn said.

Ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich was summarily dismissed by the mayor when he suggested sending in the National Guard two years ago, so Quinn took pains to try to stay on the mayor’s good side.

"It is, I think, imperative that any governor work always with local law
enforcement," Quinn said. "The notion of trying to step in, in any way step on the
toes of people who are on the front line every day fighting crime in
tough neighborhoods, I think is really not the way to go."




Mark Donahue, president of the city police union, said more police officers are needed, at a time when hundreds are retiring while hiring is slowed.

“Members of the Chicago Police Department can handle the situation with the proper resources,”Donahue said. “Right now, the proper resources needed are more police officers.”



Donahue also noted police officers are schooled in the federal and state constitutions.



“With the guard coming in, it’s making a statement that your constitutional rights will be diminished,” he said. “They don’t have the training that Chicago police officers do.”



The mayor also sounded his familiar theme of needing more gun control laws and suggested Fritchey and Ford back him in those efforts.



“This is all about guns, and that’s why the crusade is on,” Daley said. “We hope to get their cooperation in Springfield.”



Police Supt. Jody Weis, who was at the mayor’s side today, a day earlier said bringing in the National Guard was not necessary.



“Less than nine percent of the city blocks are really our problem areas,” Weiss said today, reiterating a point he had made earlier. “We can focus on that less than nine percent. That’s what we are going to do this summer.”



Daley also asked some rhetorical questions about how the National Guard would operate on the city’s streets.



“You put them on for a weekend, without ammunition?” he asked. “Think of the repercussions you have to look at. . . . A fully automatic weapon? It’s just the idea. You have to be very careful when you look at that. But everybody is open to suggestions. You need more resources, of course. . . . It’s something to think about, you can always think about it.”



Daley made his comments minutes after delivering opening remarks at the Richard J. Daley Global Cities Forum, attended by dozens of mayors stretching from suburban Channahon to Johannesburg, South Africa.



This year the conference is focused on public-private partnerships.



“Not long ago, it was very rare for mayors and other local government officials to truly travel outside their cities,” Daley said. “Nowadays, creating worldwide partnerships to help us share experiences and best practices with each other is a critical part of the hard work of any mayor in the world.

Posted by Hal Dardick at 1:15 p.m.

With hundreds of workers standing behind them in a City Hall corridor, a coalition that would benefit from video gambling today urged the City Council to reverse Chicago’s prohibition on the machines.

Video gambling was approved last year by the state legislature as a way to pay for about 30 percent of a $31 billion state construction program. Without Chicago “opting in” to video gambling, the program would lose about $2 billion in total funding, said Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

“Today, business and labor organizations, construction and trade groups, the hospitality industry, neighborhood community groups have come together to demonstrate our support for the state capital plan, creating jobs and support the funding system needed to get our companies and our individuals back to work,” said Jerry Roper, president and chief executive officer of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.



The rally was organized by Back to Work Illinois, a coalition led by Mayor Richard Daley’s onetime campaign chairman, Greg Goldner. In addition to business groups, it includes several unions, the United Neighborhood Organization that has become influential in Daley’s administration and the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association.



Daley last Friday suggested that the issue go to referendum. "It’s not me, it will be the people who decide this,” Daley said. “If you put it on the ballot, you’ll find out what the people want."



Back to Work has been lobbying aldermen on the issue, but the License Committee led by Ald. Eugene Schulter, 47th, has not scheduled a public hearing on the issue.



Opponents say organized crime has been involved in illegal video gambling and legalizing it could create more gambling addicts. The opponents have convinced a number of cities, villages and counties to ban the machines.



But the numbers of communities joining that bandwagon has slowed in recent months.



Walt Stowe, a former FBI agent who is working as a consultant to Back to Work Illinois, said legalizing video gaming would make it easier for law enforcement to control, because having an unlicensed machine would be a felony.



“Either a machine will be licensed by the Illinois Gaming Board or it will be illegal,” Stowe said. “It’s as simple as that.”

Update by John Chase at 3:47 p.m., Giannoulias to go to Obama event; originally posted by John Chase at 12:25 p.m.

Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias today starts his first TV commercial of the general election campaign, turning the bad news of his family bank’s failure into an attack on Republican opponent Mark Kirk.

The commercial, which aides say will air across Illinois, comes just three days after federal banking regulators seized control of Broadway Bank.



In the ad, black and white photos of Broadway Bank and Giannoulias’ father are shown as the 34-year-old Democratic state treasurer says Broadway helped “thousands of people achieve the American dream.”



Arguing that the bank was another example of a “family business” that has gone under with the recession, Giannoulias then slams Kirk, a North Shore congressman, for voting for policies backed by President George Bush that “got us into this mess.”



Unlike other major political obstacles, the Broadway Bank seizure had been known for weeks, giving the Giannoulias camp plenty of time to put together a counter strategy.

In addition to the commercial, Giannoulias was seeking to change the subject by conducting a campaign swing today near Carbondale and Champaign where he was scheduled to discuss mine safety and education. And on Wednesday he’s scheduled to attend a rally in Chicago to lend his support for President Obama’s Wall Street reform legislation.

Giannoulias also plans to appear that same day with Obama, whom he considers a political mentor, in Quincy as part of the president’s Midwest tour to promote jobs. Giannoulias earlier said he didn’t plan to attend the president’s event, to which other statewide officials have also been invited. The White House has not embraced the Giannoulias candidacy, a potential problem for Democrats trying to keep a Senate seat that Obama once held.

Broadway Bank went under after numerous problems, most notably suffering major losses on scores of commercial real estate loans. Federal regulators earlier this year cited the bank for unsound banking practices. Now run by Giannoulias’ brothers after their father died, Broadway Bank was unable to meet last week’s deadline to raise $85 million.



Running for treasurer in 2006, Giannoulias used his bank experience as a major qualification for the job. After graduating from law school, he worked at Broadway from 2002 to 2006, serving as a senior loan officer from 2004 until he left.



Four years ago, the bank was doing well financially. But in recent years it has become a political problem for the candidate as critics have questioned Giannoulias’ role in the bank’s failures and what role he played in making specific loans at Broadway, including to a pair of men with criminal records during his time as a senior loan officer.



As part of Friday’s seizure, Broadway Bank was acquired by MB Financial Bank last week. In the hours after the announcement, Giannoulias held a press conference in which he said Broadway’s failures shows he and his family are also victims of the economy, just like many voters. It’s a theme he repeats in the new commercial.



“People want someone…who’s been through tough times…someone who’s seen, looked at those problems in the face and continues to move on…and continues to fight and to struggle for people,” he says in the ad.

Posted by John Byrne at 3:57 p.m.

Mayor Richard Daley today called for a vote by the full City Council on a contentious plan for a Wal-Mart on the Far South Side, regardless of whether the council’s Zoning Committee first approves the proposal.

"Vote it up or down, and then go back and tell the people ‘Hey, I got a job as alderman, but you don’t have one, ha ha ha,’" said Daley who supports the Wal-Mart as a rare opportunity to put hundreds of people to work in a down economy. "Laugh at the people: ‘I got a job, OK, you don’t have a job.’ "
 

Ald. Daniel Solis, 25th, the zoning committee chairman, said in the event the proposal for the residential and shopping development anchored by the giant retailer in the Pullman neighborhood does not get a majority of votes in his committee, he would consider sending it to the full council anyway.

 

"I would consult with Alderman Beale, depending on what the vote is," said Solis, who is trying to determine if the committee hearing will be held May 5 or May 7.

Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, has been pushing hard to get the Pullman project going in his ward, arguing his constituents need the jobs as well as the grocery store Wal-Mart would provide as an oasis in the Far South Side "food desert."

Labor unions and aldermanic allies oppose allowing big retailers such as Wal-Mart into the city without approval of a so-called living wage ordinance. The latest version introduced would require retailers who get city subsidies for their project to pay workers at least $11.03 an hour.

The years-long stalemate on the issue has left Chicago with only one Wal-Mart within the city limits.

Posted by John Byrne and Hal Dardick at 4:05 p.m.



As backers of video gambling gear up a push to allow the machines in Chicago, Mayor Richard Daley today said the issue should be decided by the voters.



Legalized video gambling is a primary funding mechanism for a $31 billion statewide construction program approved last year. But many towns and counties, responding to groups who stress the risks of gambling addiction, have voted to ban it. Chicago, which has long had a ban on video gambling, would have to opt-in for the machines to be allowed.



"It’s not me, it will be the people who decide this,” Daley told reporters. “If you put it on the ballot, you’ll find out what the people want."
"You do your surveys and find out," Daley added when asked if he thinks Chicagoans would support the measure. "One thing they don’t want, they don’t want their taxes increased, you know that."



In Chicago, it’s estimated that allowing video gambling could generate $30 million a year for the city budget, based on the local 5 percent take.



A coalition of businesses and unions that would benefit from the public works projects video gambling would fund said the decision should be left to the City Council, as envisioned under state law.



Greg Goldner, a mayoral ally working for Back to Work Illinois, the pro-video gambling group, said the public can express its views through elected representatives, as envisioned by the General Assembly.



Back to Work has been lobbying aldermen, who have yet to schedule hearings on the issue.

 

"A lot of cities are banning it,” Daley noted. “They say, ‘We don’t want the video poker,’ and they still get state funding, regardless if you have it or not."

 

Gov. Pat Quinn said the construction program is not reliant on Chicago making the machines legal, as some have suggested.

 

"The video gaming is maybe 20 or 25 percent of the overall financing," Quinn said, referring to the construction bill. "We have ample financing for this year, next year and several years to come."

Posted by Tribune staff at 1:40 p.m.; updated at 4:28 p.m.

Republican governor candidate Bill Brady’s income fell from more than half a million dollars a year in 2004 to less than $120,000 last year as his family home building business struggles along with the housing market, his campaign said today.

Brady’s adjusted gross income was $558,798 in 2004, but fell to $119,910 in 2009, his campaign said in a news release. Brady reported a loss in 2008 of $116,679.

Brady also paid no federal income tax in 2008 and 2009, according to a campaign news release. He paid nearly $41,700 in federal taxes in 2007, $1,228 in 2006 and $124,255 in 2005, according to the campaign.

The downstate senator from Bloomington said on Thursday that his returns would reflect the recession’s impact.

"They will show that my family business is struggling in an economy that
has been a burden on all businesses in Illinois. It has not been good,"
said Brady, whose construction business made him wealthy during the boom years of the
1990s.

Responding to pressure from Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn to release his tax
returns, Brady is making them available to reporters at his Springfield
campaign headquarters for three hours this afternoon.

Quinn released his tax returns earlier this week. Quinn reported an adjusted gross income of $157,122 in 2009, including
his salary as governor, interest income and withdrawal from his pension
account. He paid $27,547 in federal income tax and $4,468 in state
income tax. Quinn became governor in late January after his two time running mate, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was
impeached and removed by the General Assembly.

Posted by John Byrne at 1:14 p.m.



Rahm Emanuel’s recent remark that he wants to be mayor of Chicago isn’t an affront, Mayor Richard Daley said today.

 

"Sure, everybody would like to be mayor. This is a great city," Daley said when asked to respond to Emanuel’s recent attention-grabbing comment that he’s interested in the job.

 

"It’s not stepping on my toes. Rahm’s a good friend of mine," Daley said at a news conference to welcome an international biotechnology conference to the city. "I thought it was something he should be proud of, that someday he would like to be mayor of the city of Chicago. There’s nothing wrong with that."
 


Daley said he and Emanuel, a former North Side congressman who’s serving as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, have discussed Emanuel’s future plans.

 

"Sure I talked to him, I talk to him. Sure, I know about it," Daley said.

 

But Daley said he hasn’t offered Emanuel any advice about a mayoral run. "I don’t give any advice, I don’t give people advice. I don’t advise people, I’m not an adviser."

 

Emanuel said during an interview on the "Charlie Rose Show" Monday that he would like to run for mayor once Daley steps down. Today, Daley declined to say today whether he plans to run in next year’s city election.

 

"Why, what happened?" Daley said when questioned about his future plans. "Next question."

 

"I’m at a press conference, I’m not here to tell you what’s going to happen in the future," Daley added, saying he does not know when he will decide if he will campaign for another term.

Posted by Michelle Manchir at 12:38 p.m.



SPRINGFIELD — Red-light camera tickets would be slightly harder to get and cheaper to appeal under legislation the Illinois House sent to Gov. Pat Quinn today.



Critics say the red-light reform plan falls short of the sweeping overhaul needed, but that didn’t prevent the House from voting 80-27-1 to approve it.



The legislation would ban the city and suburbs from tacking on an extra fee to the standard $100 fine if a ticket is appealed, a common practice which deters many motorists from fighting the charges.

The measure also would give drivers more wiggle room to creep up to the edge of an intersection before stopping. A complete stop would still be required before making a right turn on red, but drivers could come to a halt after the painted stop line without getting a ticket as long as pedestrians were not nearby. Drivers awaiting a green light to head straight into an intersection also could make stops past the stop line without being nabbed by a camera.

Statistics show that the most dangerous red-light-running infractions involve drivers who barrel straight into an intersection and become involved in broadside collisions. But most tickets issued through cameras involve drivers who fail to come to a complete stop while making a right turn on red — a violation that experts say rarely is dangerous.



Rolling right turns would still be outlawed under the measure, but drivers would no longer be required to make their stop at a white line several feet shy of the intersection.



Other changes to the state red-light camera law that are included in the plan codified what is already common practice. One provision mandates that yellow lights on traffic signals be timed to comply with broad guidelines set by state transportation officials, a standard that every community with cameras already claims to meet.



Another provision requires that any ticketed vehicle owner be able to access video of the alleged misdeed on the Internet. That is a courtesy already widely offered by camera vendors.



In the Senate, the measure was sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and hammered out in a closed-door meeting last month with other lawmakers and lobbyists for Redflex and Redspeed, vendors hired to operate camera systems for Chicago and many suburbs.

Posted by Michelle Manchir at 12:25 p.m.



SPRINGFIELD — Drivers convicted of speeding at least 40 mph over the limit would no longer be able keep the violation off of their driving record under legislation the House sent Gov. Pat Quinn today.



The measure, inspired by a Tribune report, would prohibit a driver from getting court supervision if he is found guilty of such excessive speeding. Court supervision is a form of probation that allows a person to wipe a violation off of his driving record if he doesn’t get another ticket for a specified time, usually a period of months.

The Tribune reported a high number of motorists driving more than 100 mph ended up getting the court supervision, something viewed by critics as a slap on the wrist for driving way too fast.



The issue of eliminating the break for these types of violations was championed by Secretary of State Jesse White and pressed in the Senate by President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and the House by Rep. John D’Amico, D-Chicago.



The measure went to the governor 105-3.

Posted by Michelle Manchir and Megan Twohey at 7:30 p.m.



SPRINGFIELD — Illinois law enforcement would begin a sweeping overhaul of the way it handles sex crime DNA evidence under legislation approved by the General Assembly, but questions remain about the funding and timeframe for analyzing the evidence.



Lawmakers said the measure is in response to a Tribune review that found police departments have not sent many rape kits to the state crime lab for testing and the lab has refused to test many kits, robbing the state of opportunities to solve crimes and exonerate the wrongfully convicted.



Under the legislation, which passed the House Thursday and now awaits Gov. Pat Quinn’s signature:

*Starting Oct. 1, police departments would be required to submit all DNA evidence from sex crimes to the state crime lab within 10 days of collecting it. The lab would analyze the evidence within six months, but only “if sufficient staffing and resources are available.”



*By Oct. 15, law enforcement agencies would be required to provide the crime lab with an inventory of all untested rape kits in their storage facilities. Within four months, the Illinois State Police would submit to the Illinois attorney general and General Assembly a timeline and budget for analyzing the untested kits—a number estimated at more than 4,000.



*State police would craft guidelines for expunging from the DNA database samples from people who are innocent of a crime.



Officials from the attorney general’s office and Illinois State Police, who helped craft the legislation, said that almost every single new and old rape kit is guaranteed to be tested. The only exception, they said, would be in cases in which the victim recanted or the police determine the case was unfounded.



Much of the language in the legislation came from officials from the Illinois Attorney General’s office and Illinois State Police, who said that almost every single new and old rape kit was guaranteed to be tested. The only exception, they said, would be in cases in which the victim recanted or the police determine the case was unfounded before the rape kit was submitted.



“Pretty much everything will be submitted and analyzed,” said Arlene Hall, commander of the state crime lab. “It will be a much more straightforward approach.”



Cara Smith, deputy chief of staff to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, said it is necessary to stagger the timeframe for testing the kits in police storage. They want to see how many kits surface and how many additional resources are needed before determining deadlines for analyzing them. The crime lab already suffers from a backlog in DNA evidence.



Sen. Toi Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields, the Senate sponsor, said the legislation would ensure that victims get a chance to bring their attackers to justice.



House sponsor Rep. Emily McAsey, D-Lockport, a former criminal prosecutor in Will County, said the most important part of the bill is that all rape kits will be analyzed.



“We are protecting victims. We know once that evidence has been collected it’s not sitting on a shelf collecting dust,” McAsey said.



With rape kits, those alleging sexual assault or abuse allow a nurse to secure semen, saliva and other potential DNA samples from their bodies. The exam is invasive, and the process can take up to eight hours, but the results have proved to be a powerful investigative tool. DNA has provided links between crimes and revealed the identity of attackers.

Posted by David Heinzmann at 6:35 p.m.



Without disclosing specific details, Republican governor candidate Bill Brady said today that his income tax returns will reflect that it has been a tough couple years in the home building business.

"They will show that my family business is struggling in an economy that has been a burden on all businesses in Illinois. It has not been good," said Brady, a state senator from Bloomington whose downstate construction business made him wealthy during the boom years of the 1990s.

Brady is releasing his tax returns after Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, his rival in November for the governor’s mansion, pressured him to do so. Quinn released his tax returns earlier this week.

Reporters will get a chance to look at Brady’s tax records for three hours Friday afternoon at his Springfield campaign office. That led to complaints from some reporters in Chicago who don’t want to drive to the capital.

"I am making available my tax returns. You can scrutinize them all you want," said Brady at a news conference at a Chicago hotel where a closed-door fundraiser is being held to benefit the Illinois Republican Party.

Posted by David Heinzmann at 6:03 p.m.

GOP leaders today picked a former state party chairman and U.S. Senate candidate to be Illinois’ new representative on the Republican National Committee.

Rich Williamson, an attorney who lost the 1992 U.S. Senate contest to Democrat Carol Moseley Braun, was selected by the GOP state central committee from a field of candidates during a meeting at a Chicago hotel.

Williamson succeeds Pat Brady, who vacated the position when he became chairman of the Illinois Republican Party last year.

Also interested in the national post were conservative Carpentersville businessman Jack Roeser and former governor candidate Jim Oberweis. The selection was made before a Republican fundraiser in honor of the statewide ticket and featuring controversial RNC Chairman Michael Steele. It was supposed to be open to the media, but Brady decided to close it today.

Posted by Hal Dardick and John Byrne at 5:30 p.m.

Fifteen-story cellular towers would sprout up next to police stations and firehouses around Chicago under a plan the City Council Zoning Committee endorsed today to allow for clearer communication among police officers and firefighters.

If approved by the full council, the towers would reach 150 feet. That’s 30 feet higher than the 120 feet city law currently allows in most places. The exceptions are areas zoned for manufacturing and transportation,
where 150-foot towers are already allowed.

The proposed change would allow the taller towers outside manufacturing and transportation zones only for public safety uses. Officials said the extra height would improve radio communications in neighborhoods with dense tree cover or other obstructions.

Police officials testified the taller towers are necessary to ensure
strong wireless signals between officers on patrol and their area
dispatchers.

The taller structures would go up next to the Town Hall District and Monroe District police headquarters buildings, as well as the new Engine Co. 109 firehouse at 2343 S. Kedzie Ave., according to Kevin Smith, spokesman for the city Public Building Commission.

 

"Similar such towers will likely be a part of future public safety projects," Smith said in an e-mail.

 

Zoning Committee Chairman Ald. Daniel Solis, 25th, said he supports the taller towers because he’s in favor of anything that helps advance public safety.

 

“They will be able to get clearer and better picture and sound because they are higher,” Solis said.

Posted by Rick Pearson at 2:21 p.m.



The state’s long out-of-power Republican Party holds its annual big fundraising soiree tonight at the Drake Hotel in Chicago and is labeling the event “Illinois is Next” after recent GOP wins in Massachusetts, Virginia and New Jersey.

The question is, will anybody know it?

The event, featuring embattled national Republican Chairman Michael Steele, is now closed to the media. Pat Brady, the Illinois Republican chairman, announced the fundraiser would be private today. Brady, no relation to the Republican governor nominee, state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington, said the decision was his, but offered no rationale.

There is little doubt, however, that Steele’s attendance at the big-bucks event is a major factor and Brady, the state GOP chairman, has been a Steele ally even before the national chairman was picked for the job. In recent weeks, Steele has been embroiled in several controversies, ranging from the use of a party credit card by aides to pay for young GOP donors to go to a West Hollywood strip club to Steele’s comment comparing himself to President Barack Obama and contending African-American political leaders have a “slimmer margin” for error.



The closed-door fundraiser stands in contrast to the post-February primary election unity day. Back then, Republicans sought media coverage to tout their chances against Democrats who have problems due to the scandal of disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and one-party rule of state government. The state GOP’s decision to close the event to the press may raise more questions about the ideological and social direction of the Illinois GOP when the votes of independent, non-partisan aligned voters are the key to winning in November.



Among the financial co-chairmen of the event is wealthy ultra-conservative Republican activist Jack Roeser, a businessman from Barrington who has long been at odds with the structure of the traditionally moderate-controlled state Republican Party. Roeser, bitingly critical in the past of U.S. Senate nominee Mark Kirk and others on the statewide ticket, last month gave the state GOP $50,000 and asked to be welcomed into the tent.

From the Breaking News Center:

Blagojevich’s lawyers have
previously suggested they might try to
question the president.

"President Obama has direct knowledge to
allegations made in the indictment," the defense said in its filing. "In
addition, President Obama’s public statements contradict other witness
statements."

For more, please click here.

Posted by Monique Garcia at 12:25 p.m.

Gov. Pat Quinn is backing off a proposal to tax music and video downloads in an effort to plug the state’s massive budget hole, saying he still believes raising the income tax is the best way to generate money for the state.



Quinn floated the idea of taxing downloads from online services such as iTunes in a meeting with legislative leaders earlier this week, but the proposal received a cold reception in Springfield. Today, Quinn said that he was simply offering suggestions on ways to solve the state’s budget crisis and does not support the plan, which would have generated $5 million to $10 million a year.



“We had a meeting with the legislative leaders the other day, we made a list of all the possible things that could happen,” Quinn said. “I didn’t advocate that. I’m not interested in doing that, frankly.”



Instead, Quinn is pushing to raise the state income tax from 3 percent to 4 percent — a 33 percent increase in the tax rate — though lawmakers have been skeptical of that idea as they prepare to face voters in the November election. Quinn has attempted to paint the tax increase as necessary to prevent massive cuts to education, and thousands rallied for his cause at the state Capitol on Wednesday.



“I’ve proposed a 1 percent surcharge for education off the income tax,” Quinn said. “That’s what I’m for. I think it should be very clear that we should focus on that because that’s where you can get significant resources to save our schools from radical cuts.”

Posted by Todd Lighty at 5 a.m.

The city’s watchdog agency in charge of uncovering City Hall corruption lost a court fight to force Mayor Richard Daley’s administration to turn over documents relating to the awarding of a no-bid contract.

The Inspector General’s Office last fall sued Daley’s top lawyer, Mara Georges, and accused her of stymieing an internal investigation into possible wrongdoing by current and former employees.



After listening to oral arguments Wednesday, a Cook County Circuit Court judge dismissed the lawsuit. The judge found that the inspector general does not have the authority to sue the city’s corporation counsel and that Georges had a valid attorney-client claim for not turning over some records, said Melissa Stratton, a law department spokeswoman.

Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, who took over the office after the lawsuit was filed last November, said he would not decide whether to appeal until reading the transcript of the judge’s ruling. But he said the decision appears to put the mayor’s office in control of how far an internal investigation can go into the administration.

Ferguson’s office is investigating whether city employees manipulated the process to award a 2006 no-bid contract to a former city worker.



Court records state that Georges handed over some documents and refused to release others, citing attorney-client privilege. Records state that Georges withheld some communications among city lawyers, others between lawyers and city workers, and lawyers’ notes and charts related to the investigation.

Posted by Ray Long at 3:35 p.m.

SPRINGFIELD — A push to eliminate free local bus and train rides to all but low-income senior citizens failed today in the Illinois Senate.

Under the bill, senior citizens 65 and older would have keep riding for
free only if they qualified for the state’s circuit breaker program. That means a single senior with a yearly income of less than $27,610 or a two-person household making less than $34,635 a year.

The legislation passed the House earlier this year but today failed in the influential Senate Executive Committee. Six senators voted for the restrictions on free rides while seven voted against the measure.

Sponsoring lawmakers had hoped to save mass transit agencies between $37 million and $50
million.

An estimated 15,000 people rallied outside the Capitol today demanding a tax increase.(Tribune photo/Abel Uribe)

Posted by Michelle Manchir and Ray Long at 11:50 a.m.; last updated at 3:12 p.m.

SPRINGFIELD — Thousands of protesters bused down by labor unions and social service advocates rallied at the Capitol today in an attempt to pressure state lawmakers into raising the income tax to avoid more budget cuts.

A spokesman for Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White estimated the rally crowd at 15,000, with more than 12,000 marching around the building. That would appear to make it the largest Capitol protest since the Equal Rights Amendment crowds a quarter-century ago.

Bus after bus pulled up on streets surrounding the Capitol complex and dumped sign-waving protesters clad in purple, green, red and blue shirts that represented a show of strength from a variety of public employee unions and dozens of groups that formed what they named the “Responsible Budget Coalition.” (You can see a photo gallery by clicking here.)

"Raise my taxes! Raise my taxes! Raise my taxes!" they chanted, lined up shoulder to shoulder for a few hundred yards stretching a street in front of the Capitol.

"These 177 people who have a job don’t want to do their job," said Henry Bayer, head of the Illinois chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, referring to the number of lawmakers in the House and Senate. "Yes people are hurting, that’s why we need a tax increase….If you try to leave town without doing your job we’re going to chase you."

Gov. Pat Quinn is pushing a 33 percent increase in the state income tax rate — taking it from 3 percent to 4 percent — to prevent cuts in state spending. Quinn has suggested that education will bear the brunt of the cuts, although that would have to be negotiated with the General Assembly.

Lawmakers, however, are leery about voting to raise taxes during a sluggish economy with an election less than seven months away. At the Capitol, it’s thought that the earliest a tax increase vote will come is after the November election.

So organized labor showed up in force at the Capitol today to pressure lawmakers to change their minds.

Among the protesters is Terrie Monaghan, who took a hit last year when her choice was to have no
fourth-grade teaching job in Grayslake or share the position with
another teacher. She chose the latter, and also works as a substitute
teacher and tutors students after school “to make ends meet.

“Half the salary, half the benefits … half of everything,” said Monaghan, 39.

A group of more than 60 teachers, staff and students from downstate Bloomington and Normal wore bright pink shirts and jackets to symbolize the thousands of pink slips circulating statewide. They carried bottled water and signs that read “SOS” that stood for “save our schools.”

Camille Taylor, a guidance counselor nearing retirement, said the district did away with field trips to state parks and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum this year. “We can’t afford to pay for buses,” she said.

She said she hopped on a charter bus this morning to Springfield “to raise hell, basically.”

Jennifer Ritchason, a middle school social students teacher in Bloomington, came armed with hundreds of letters from her students asking legislators for more money for schools. She said she hopes the children’s words will resonate with the governor and House Speaker Michael Madigan, among other legislators the letters are addressed to.

“If you don’t care about your future, I don’t know what you can truly care about,” she said.