Democratic Party

I've mocked claims that Illinois' House and Senate Republicans are somehow responsible for our current budget disaster, in language very similar to this:

What Madigan just flatly refuses to acknowledge is that Democrats could take the first major step toward fixing the state's finances all on their own. More specifically, they could bring to the floor some version of HB 174, which passed out of both the Illinois Senate and a House committee last May. In its basic form, this legislation brings in new revenue via an income tax hike while offsetting the burden on low-income taxpayers by boosting the state property tax credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Nine Democrats could vote against the bill and the caucus would still have enough votes to approve the measure by simple majority.

In short, Speaker Madigan and his allies in Springfield need to stop whining about the Republicans when they have the votes to pass a sustainable budget on their own. No one is going to buy the idea that the GOP is responsible for the inaction in Springfield. Such an argument makes the speaker -- and the party as a whole -- look dysfunctional and cowardly. Come November, that perception could hurt Madigan's precious majority more than an income tax increase.

(Emphasis added.)  The difference, this time, is that this is coming from Progress Illinois, an excellent liberal blog sponsored by SEIU.

They're right, of course.  If Democrats in Illinois think that the best solution to our budget problems is a tax increase, they can pass one all by themselves, with votes to spare.  They don't need Republicans any more than they need them for anything else.

I can argue all sorts of reasons why Dan Hynes is a better candidate than our current governor, but I imagine any readers here can check out the candidates' policies on their pages and history themselves for such a determination pretty quick. I'd just like to add to that consideration, especially those leaning towards or on the fence about Quinn, something that honestly should not be forgotten.

Our last election led to Illinois being center stage of a national embarrassment. This was not some unexpected shocker given that the guy who won the last Democratic Party primary was already under state and federal investigation with several corrupt acts in the public domain. And while Quinn personally vouched for the integrity and honesty of that man, and would love to get away with playing dumb now... don't let him.

I'll let the guy who ran the anti-corruption campaign against Blagojevich in that primary explain why people like Quinn simply do not deserve re-election in the State of Illinois let alone any position of trust over Illinois citizens (in its entirety here):

In 2006 I challenged Rod Blagojevich in the Democratic primary for governor. I ran because Blagojevich sold out the public for piles of campaign cash.

 

I said “no” to Blagojevich when it mattered.

 

A very savvy pol recently said to me, “Ed, if we only knew then what we know now.” I replied that we did know it then. He laughed and admitted it was so. That’s a far more grown up response than the “I-knew-it-was-bad-but not-this-bad” dodge that’s in vogue.

 

They all knew. The majority of the House impeachment report cited documents that were public before the election — the same documents I cited when arguing the governor should not be re-elected. Instead of standing with me at the time, the party leaders poured over my petitions to see if they could keep me off the ballot.

 

The governor had spent his first term raking in campaign cash at the astonishing rate of $2,667 per hour, giving him millions to spend on re-election. (I won’t here revisit how he raised this cash, who is already jailed because of it, or what services the people of Illinois were cheated out of to secure these gifts.)

 

Nearly all of the state’s Democratic politicians calculated, correctly but shortsightedly, that rallying around the governor would ensure their re-election. Voters count on their leaders to stand up when it matters. Voters also deserve choices. With the 2006 election looming, Democrats could look forward to neither.

 

...

 

I ran a tough but underfunded campaign and came up short. Still, by the time the election came I had a lot more company than I did at the beginning. A handful of Democratic politicians began to distance themselves from the governor. A few were quite helpful. Many others publicly worked for the governor’s re-election but privately wished me well. Several editorial boards endorsed my campaign. More than a quarter of a million ordinary Democrats voted for me and I carried a handful of counties.

 

On election night 2006 I talked about our values and the better angels of the Democratic Party. I said we would ultimately prevail and clean up our state. A reporter followed up asking me if that was a concession. I certainly was conceding the night. But I never would, and never will, concede the fight to change the poisonous culture of corruption in Illinois.

 

Edwin Eisendrath challenged Rod Blagojevich in the 2006 Democratic Primary. Eisendrath served as HUD regional administrator in the Clinton administration and two terms as a Chicago alderman.

Quinn played a central role in ensuring Blagojevich's re-election. He threw away his reputation and dignity. The choice is simple: hold Blagojevich's enablers responsible this election season, or send them a clear message that voters no longer care about accountability.

I'm voting for accountability. I'm voting for Dan Hynes on February 2nd.

There is water at the bottom of the ocean:

A rural Paris woman who has been an assistant to Gov. Pat Quinn for six years has suddenly resigned from her position as Quinn's deputy chief of staff.

Carolyn Brown Hodge, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, resigned from the governor's staff Friday night upon reports that the state's Office of the Executive Inspector General had confiscated her computer to determine whether she was doing political work on state time.

Remember, Brown Hodge isn't some Blagojevich holdover - she has been with Quinn for years, and was handpicked by Gov. Quinn for this job after he became Governor.  Remember this, and Gov. Quinn's loyal defense of Rod Blagojevich for six years as running mate and Lt. Governor, when Quinn is portrayed as some sort of anti-corruption reformer whose ethics cannot be questioned.

Our state has clear priorities:

The president of Chicago State University was scanning the newspaper before an executive staff meeting when he did a double-take. Frank Pogue learned his South Side school would be building an extension campus on the West Side, and state lawmakers were allocating $40 million for it.

"Quite frankly, I was not informed," said Pogue, who served as interim president for the 2008-09 academic year. "I don't recall seeing a plan for the project in the year that I was president."

Discuss.

Unsurprising:

But he appeared to be the only sure vote for the referendum among the 10 Democrats at the party caucus Tuesday. Five other Democrats missed the meeting, and at least one of them, Brendan McGinty, who also supports the referendum, will miss Thursday's vote.

A board committee voted 5-4 earlier this month in favor of calling for the referendum.

It's unclear how the board's 12 Republicans will vote. They aren't scheduled to caucus until shortly before the meeting Thursday.

Meanwhile, most of the Democrats at their caucus indicated they will resurrect the idea of combining the offices of county recorder and county clerk as well as county sheriff and county coroner.

"If it results in two less offices, I think it's worth discussing; I really do," said board member Barbara Wysocki of Urbana.

"The original idea," said board member Alan Kurtz of Champaign, "was to bring in all the elected officials and have them defend themselves, and let's see if we can find some efficiencies and money-saving. That was what the objective was in the beginning. The true story, though, was (County Auditor Tony) Fabri and his party, the Democratic Party.

"When we could have done more investigating about the recorder and clerk, and the coroner into the sheriff's office, those questions never arose."

Kurtz called the plan "political."

That may be true, but the opposition to a referendum on the Auditor is clearly political, too.

Tonight was the Champaign County Dems Central Committee meeting.  Last week, I got one call from HQ saying that there was going to be a vote for party chair.  Then there was another call saying that there wouldn't be, and we'd only be voting on the first vice chair.  After that, there were some less formal messages indicating that there might be a vote after all.  This didn't exactly seem auspicious.

So it shouldn't have been surprising that the meeting was packed so tightly that even standing room space was at a premium.  There was some debates about points of order, and one person moved that Al Klein be voted chair until Tony Fabri's term would have expired (some time in 2010, IIRC).  After a couple of votes, this passed.  I'd actually voted to open it up to an election but was a little relieved we didn't have to sit there for hours packed in like sardines listening to candidates talk.  Other people's reactions varied, and some were pretty upset.

A few people left after that, including this strange guy carrying a sign that might have been an attack on Tony Fabri (but it was hard to tell).  Most stuck around for the next order of business, which was electing the first vice chair.  Originally, Laurel Prussing was apparently going to be the only candidate, but then a couple of other people decided to run too.  Eric Thorsland had a great speech - it was very brief, and he concluded by saying that if voted for him, that'd be great, and if they didn't, he wouldn't get too upset.  Prussing won, and her victory speech was a motion to adjourn.  This made me like her more.

Tom Kacich has an interesting article on the power struggle developing inside he Democratic Party.

http://www.news-gazette.com/blogs/central_illinois_gazette/2009/04/17/this_will_be_interesting

I'm not sure of their by-laws, but Klein's plan seems to be logical to me.

There is lots of speculation that the Federal indictment of former Governor Rod Blagojevich will happen today or tomorrow.

I have also heard but have been unable to confirm that the Obama Justice Department has asked that the indictment be sealed to protect other political figures from Illinois. As I said, I have been unable to confirm it, but I would like to preemptively state that I think a sealed indictment would be both outrageous and does not assist the long-term efforts to fight corruption in Illinois. Stay tuned.

UPDATE:  I've been told "not to worry" about a sealed indictment.  I hope so.

WDWS is reporting that Tom Kacich is reporting in today's News-Gazette (got that?) that Champaign County Auditor Tony Fabri will resign as Chairman of the Champaign County Democratic Party, perhaps as soon as tonight.  Fabri is saying that he needs to focus his energies on the Auditor's office at which he is rarely present.

Discuss.

Another hard-hitting editorial:

With the Champaign County auditor being exposed as a political slacker, fellow Democrats are forced to distance themselves from Fabri and to reassess the usefulness of the office itself.

"... in six months, you're going to say, 'Wow, I wish I'd voted for him because he's doing a good job." – Champaign County Board member Tom Betz, praising in 2007 the nomination of Tony Fabri to fill the vacant position as county auditor.

That was then.

"His fan club is shrinking." – Champaign County Board member Brendan McGinty, referring to declining support for Fabri following revelations that he rarely shows up for work at the Brookens county building while receiving an annual salary of $83,000.

This is now.

Apparently hell hath no fury like a local Democrat who's discovered that the secret of Fabri's no-show work habits is no longer a secret. Fabri, the auditor and chairman of the county Democratic Party, is discovering that his party loyalists aren't being as loyal now that he's been revealed as a shirker, even though everyone who knew him has known for a long time that he's a shirker.

Will Fabri do anything to start stemming the criticism?

Today's News-Gazette:

Champaign County Board members will look at options for changing the county auditor's job.

Al Nudo, a Champaign Republican, introduced a resolution at the board meeting Thursday in Urbana to let voters decide whether to eliminate the office of auditor.

John Farney, a deputy county clerk and vice president of the county workers union, delivered a letter to county board members calling for the resignation of Tony Fabri as auditor. If Fabri did not resign, the county board should work to eliminate the post, he said.

Discuss.

Ouch:

Elections mean different things to different people. For Champaign County Auditor Tony Fabri, last November's election, in which he eked out a victory over a better-qualified opponent, apparently meant the start of a four-year vacation paid at $83,245 a year.

And:

As an elected official, Fabri sets his own hours. If he chooses to steal a living from the taxpayers, they can only blame themselves for electing him.

As a matter of simple right and wrong, however, Fabri owes it to the public to show up and carry out his statutory duties. Conversely, if it makes no difference whether he's there or not, and it certainly appears that it makes no difference, the Champaign County Board should abolish the position.

I'm thankful they include this point:

Sadly, it's not just Fabri who is responsible for this outrage. He never would have been in the position to take advantage of the public if he hadn't had an influential political patron (former auditor and current state Sen. Michael Frerichs) and supportive friends among the Democrats on the county board.

Fabri couldn't have been elected by himself.  Influential people supported him, and vouched for him, and convinced people to vote for him.

Today's News-Gazette:

Alan Kurtz of Champaign said of Fabri, "He doesn't answer phone calls," even to county precinct officials. "He is, literally, discourteous to people," Kurtz said.

Ralph Langenheim of Urbana added, "We have known about Tony for a long time. We know he shows up late and he's a remarkably relaxed person."

As for Fabri's leadership of the Democratic Party, Langenheim said the problem is finding someone willing to take on the job and all the work it entails.

"If we could find somebody to do the job, it would be to our advantage, because he's inefficient," Langenheim said.

Tom Betz of Urbana acknowledged the auditor's office is not a constitutional office in Illinois, but a statutory one. That means the county board has the power to abolish the post or combine it with other county offices, he said.

I haven't commented much upon this, partly out of chagrin that I didn't think to FOIA the phone records prior to November's election.  If the County Board has the power to consolidate the office, they should do it.  Clearly, Fabri's not providing any value to the County taxpayers in exchange for his $80,000-plus salary.

Tribune:

Over Republican objections, Democrats who run the Illinois Senate defeated legislation today that would have allowed for a special election to replace appointed Democratic U.S. Sen. Roland Burris before his term ends in January 2011.

The 3-2 party-line vote at a Senate committee represented another setback for Republicans who have been pushing for a special election since then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich made the appointment weeks after his Dec. 9 arrest on political corruption charges. Among the federal accusations is that Blagojevich tried to sell the very Senate seat he later gave to Burris.

Things must really be hopeless for appointed Sen. Roland Burris when even "tough and independent" Sen. Mike Frerichs is calling for resignation.

That said, at least he's doing the right thing, even if it's late.

Our Champaign County Auditor:

Fabri, Wright and Hooper all had filed pre-election reports in mid-October indicating that they had relatively healthy campaign funds.

Fabri's pre-election report, filed Oct. 19, showed that both he and his parents had given his campaign $5,000. In addition, he had received $500 each from the East Central Illinois Building and Construction Trades, Electricians' Local 601 in Champaign and the Plumbers and Steamfitters Union in Savoy. At that time, there was $6,229 in his campaign fund.

Fabri won his general election race over Republican Brad Jones, 38,716 to 36,845. Jones reported spending $14,057 in his campaign and collecting the same amount. His biggest donation was $2,500 from the Illinois Republican Party.

"I had faxed it in," Fabri said Tuesday, "but apparently they're not accepting faxes anymore. I guess maybe they're enforcing that rule now."

But a prominently displayed rule on the State Board of Elections Web site (http://tinyurl.com/b3xces) makes it clear that Fabri would have to file electronically and not by fax.

Discuss.

Rod Blagojevich has now been convicted and impeached, and is no longer Governor of the State of Illinois.  Pat Quinn is now Governor, regardless of a swearing-in ceremony. 

The final vote tally hasn't been posted due to a technical glitch, but it'll be 59 to zero in favor of conviction.

UPDATE:  Heh.  The Senate Dems just had Sen. Mike Frerichs make the motion for the second vote, to bar Blagojevich from holding office in the future.  Gee, I wonder why?

There will be a vote as soon as today in the State Senate on whether to convict Gov. Rod Blagojevich on impeachment charges and remove him from office.  WDWS will carry the Governor's closing argument scheduled for 11 AM. 

I think the vote to convict will be unanimous, or very close to it.

Tomorrow.  Oh, boy.

The Senate will have to vote to allow him to do so.  I'm sure they will vote to allow it.  If so, it will happen sometime tomorrow.  Stay tuned to Capital Fax Blog for the latest on the circus.

(EDIT:  Removed references to "testify," since that's not really what he'll be doing.  Sorry.)

Finally, the Illinois State Senate will begin its impeachment trial of Governor Rod Blagojevich today.

The best place for coverage, online or otherwise, is still Capital Fax Blog.

UPDATE:  Here's video of the Governor on Good Morning America.