Rod Blagojevich

I wonder how long it will be before Rep. Naomi Jakobsson starts talking about impeachment?  Speaker Madigan has already issued the talking points, so that should be all the direction she needs.

Notice as well that Senate President Emil Jones is opposed to impeachment:

I think it’s wrong for the Democratic Speaker and Democratic Party Chairman to promote the impeachment of a Democratic Governor. Impeachment is unwarranted in my opinion, and should not be used as a political tool. It is a serious state action that should not be used to divert attention from the issues at hand which are the operating budget and passing a capital bill.

And it's worth remembering that Jones' statement and position nullify the positions and opinions of every other Senate Democrat, including "tough and independent" Sen. Mike Frerichs.

OMG!!

check out:  "3.  gathered a protective ring of schoolchildren from a passing field trip"

and

"6.  accused is not indicted

7.  indicted is not convicted

8.  convicted means nothing until after an appeal"

http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2008/05/08/automatic-rod-blagojevich-story-generator/#comments

Former State Sen. Steve Rauschenberger, a lobbyist working for Rod Blagojevich's largest campaign fundraiser, wants to be Illinois next Republican National Committeeman. 

From an email he sent to County Republican Chairmen:

On June 6-7, we Illinois Republicans will gather at the state convention in Decatur and choose our next Republican National Committeeman. I'm emailing you because I've been approached by some Party leaders and queried about submitting my name as a candidate for the post.

However, before I did that, I wanted to seek your counsel and input.

It's my understanding that there are several fine individuals who are potential nominees; and I hope to support whoever our new National Committeeman may be. Like the others, I would be willing and honored to serve. But only if you and my fellow Republicans determine that I'm the best choice.

After fifteen years in the State Senate, I believe my record has probably been pretty well vetted and is certainly well known. My approach to public and Party service has always been to solve problems, and to work with (and unite) Republicans, while advancing the principles of smaller government, lower taxes, individual freedom, and traditional values.

Since leaving the State Senate last year, I've become an Illinois small businessman, and am working hard to lower our unemployment rate and increase our tax base. But, I've not retired from our Party or its activities! I've continued to work hard and invest in building and strengthening the Illinois GOP. Among other things, I'm currently serving as President of the United Republican Fund, which has been actively working with party organizations in recruiting, training and funding state-level GOP candidates in preparation for this November.

As you and I are painfully well aware, our Party is facing some challenging times. We Republicans must work together and find solutions. Our state, our Party, our communities and our kids deserve no less. On that we can all agree.

Fact is Illinois' next Republican National Committeeman will have a tall job ahead of him. If chosen, I cannot promise success. But I can promise that I would represent the Illinois Republican Party with the dedication, integrity, hard work and professionalism that it deserves.

Therefore, I'd very much appreciate your thoughtful consideration of my possible candidacy; and your candid advice and feedback as to whether I should run.

Please feel free to contact me at any time. Thank you for your service and potential support.

Steven J. Rauschenberger
Rauschenberger Partners, LLC
551 Tollgate Road, Ste B
Elgin, IL 60123

E-Mail: senator@srauschenberger.com

(I've removed his phone numbers, as he included his home number and I didn't want to publish it without permission.)

For some reason, even though some Illinois conservatives think Rauschenberger is some sort of Republican ideal, I think replacing Bob Kjellander with Steve Rauschenberger as Committeeman would be like making no change at all.

http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2008/04/28/question-of-the-day-512/#comments

Billy Joe Mills at Urbanagora reports that Governor Rod Blagojevich is a closet Dallas Cowboys fan.  The reasons for a recall keep rolling in. 

http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2008/04/16/question-of-the-day-504/#comments

95 hilarious comments to go with it!  (the one about negative space is pretty good...)

http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2008/04/01/question-of-the-day-494/#comments

Annual fundraising totals for Governor Blagojevich (from Tom Kacich):

2007 -- $2.43 million raised
2006 -- $11.4 million
2005 -- $6.56 million
2004 -- $5.91 million
2003 -- $5.29 million
2002 -- $19.1 million
2001 -- 3.3 million

Please note - in 2007, Blagojevich also paid about $1 million in legal bills out of that $2.4 million raised, he has less than $1 million left in the bank, and he's stated publicly that he plans to run for re-election in 2010.

Good times.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch released this yesterday:

Democrats:

• Obama: 51%
• Clinton: 22%

Republicans:

• McCain: 31%
• Romney: 20%
• Giuliani: 13%
• Huckabee: 11%
• Paul: 7%

There's a also a poll of state issues which was released today, including new approval and job performance numbers for Gov. Blagojevich.

As you may have heard by now, Governor Blagojevich has called the legislature back today for another in a long line of special sessions. The problem is, his call to special session only included a bailout for Chicago Area Mass Transit systems. I say that because numerous downstate lawmakers have said they won't support an RTA bailout without a capital plan. Without a capital plan mentioned in the Governor's proclaimation. So what's going to happen? Nothing probably. State government at its finest.

So I pose this question to you: What is more important, a capital bill or a mass transit bailout?

The floor is yours.

This one was conducted by ISU IWU, and the approval/disapproval question had slightly different wording than yesterday's Rasmussen poll:

2. Would you say that you generally approve or generally disapprove of the way that Rod Blagojevich is handling his job as governor of Illinois?

23% approve
60% disapprove
18% Other/undecided/NR

...

4. Would you say that you generally approve or generally disapprove of the way George Bush is handling his job as President?

21% approve
69% disapprove

If you remember yesterday's post, I cited a November 2002 article that had George Ryan's disapproval at 69 percent, which means Gov. Blagojevich is slightly better than that, and President Bush is right around it.

Once again, this was brought to us by CapFaxBlog.  Discuss.

From Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson's email newsletter, Capitol Connection - 8-28-07:

Governor Blagojevich, known for avoiding Springfield whenever possible, apparently decided to spend some time at the Du Quoin State Fair.

But, aside from venturing out to sign utility rate legislation on Tuesday, fairgoers might have had a hard time knowing the Governor was in town.

According to the Southern Illinoisan , Blagojevich was at the Fair on Sunday but “spent the day out of public view, poolside early in the afternoon and then indoors at the state-owned Hayes mansion, which is gated off from the public at the center of the fairground.

“The Governor's Day inside the mansion came a day after a party held at a neighboring mansion inside the same compound attended by about 200 local government leaders from across the state,” the newspaper reported.

“Access to the compound was blocked by State Police while members of the governor's security team from Chicago and Springfield occasionally circled the perimeter on golf carts.

“One woman who identified herself only as a state employee said on her way out of the compound that she was instructed not to talk to the press. Another person inside the gates wearing serving attire said she could not say what she was doing there and was also told not to speak to any media.”

Last week, a Springfield political insider who wishes to remain confidential commissioned a poll of Governor Rod Blagojevich's current approval rating, and to see how the overtime bickering and special sessions have been viewed.

The poll's details:

Date of calls: July 12, 2007
Sample size: 2,568
Margin of Error: ±1.93%
Sample makeup: Likely voters
Poll type: Automated

The poll was conducted by AskIllinois - they're an Illinois firm that's done some polling for Capitol Fax this year, among other clients.

I won't have the results and full details until this afternoon, but please check back here, and I'll have a new post to share them.

Mark Shelden wrote on here over a month ago that Governor Rod Blagojevich was playing games with appointments to the State Board Elections:

Instead of seeking bipartisanship on a bipartisan board, he instead in seeking to replace two current Republican members, Bryan Schneider and Jesse Smart, with his own people.  

Of local interest is Keith Fruehling, who is a well respected attorney in Urbana who is past president of the local bar.  Keith has not been particularly active in the Republican Party but has a solid record of voting in Republican primaries.  I think that anyone who knows him would say that he would be outstanding.

The other candidate is Nicholas Grapsas.  I’ve been told that he voted in the last Republican primary but in Democratic primaries before that.  More importantly, Grapsas is an attorney in Chicago with the law firm of Quinlan and Carroll. The head of that firm, William R. Quinlan is the father of William J. Quinlan, who is the general counsel for Rod Blagojevich.  With these various ties to the Governor and the Democratic Party, it is no wonder that Republicans would not feel that he was the right pick for this position.

According to the statutes, these individuals need a 2/3 majority in order to be confirmed by the Senate.  But the Governor doesn’t see it that way.  He is suggesting that the law, authorized by the State Constitution, which requires the 2/3 majority is unconstitutional. 

So in the midst of one of the most important legislative sessions in state history we have Rod Blagojevich picking another fight with legislative leaders.  One wonders whether Blagojevich actually has a reason for this battle.  Does he see a need to control the State Board of Elections?  Or is this just a case of a patronage position of some prestige that he sees an opportunity to bestow on a friend?  Whatever the reason, I think it is highly unlikely that he’ll get his way with Grapsas.  It sounds like it might take a court battle, but the law seems clear that at least in this particular area, Republicans can stop this.  Fruehling could get caught in the middle which would be unfortunate.

His scheme was actually even worse, as he was arguing these were "recess appointments" that didn't require Senate confirmation, even though they were made when the Senate was still in session (as it is to this day).  Thankfully, it appears that Blagojevich has backed down.

It looks like the Illinois Democratic Party General Assembly has come to some sort of agreement on a one-month emergency budget that will allow them the keep fighting over the really important stuff all the way through July.

Whatever needed to be worked out among the Republican and Democratic caucuses of each chamber appears to be worked out. At least, there’s enough of an agreement for the legislative leaders to publicly say that the House is expected to approve it Wednesday and the Senate to consider it Friday.

The summary from House Speaker Michael Madigan and House Minority Leader Tom Cross: It’s a maintenance budget that simply extends the fiscal year 2007 budget with some changes. But it has no new revenue and no “member initiatives,” or “pork barrel spending” that pays for special projects in legislators’ districts.

Next on the discussion table: new revenue to support a full, 12-month state budget. “We haven’t had a discussion on available revenue,” Cross said outside of the governor’s Capitol office Tuesday afternoon, “and we had no discussion about electricity.”

Electric rate freeze action is still possible in the next couple of days — Senate President Emil Jones Jr. said he’s just about fed up. “I resent all the stalling that’s been taking place as it relates to those negotiations,” he said after budget talks. “We may, even though I’m opposed to it, let them go ahead and have the freeze.”

I hope they just keep passing these one-month budgets until next year.  That's really the best-case scenario for the state at this point, I think.  No pork and no tax increases - I can live with that, especially given the alternatives the Democrats were considering a few months ago.

That said, it'll be interesting to see if Senate President Emil Jones allows a rate freeze for ComEd to move, or if this is just a negotiating tactic.

A friend pointed this out to me when I got home last night. 

It's a subscriber only post on Rich Miller's Capitol Fax Blog, which I usually don't quote, but I'll make an exception in this case, as it deals so prominently with our State Senator, Mike Frerichs.  In a nutshell, it's a letter signed by Frerichs and about a dozen other Democratic legislators emphasizing that a bare bones, zero-growth budget is unacceptable to them. 

A brief quote, out of respect for Rich Miller's subscriber access:

The time is short and a no-growth budget is off the table.

The letter is also effusive in its praise of Senate President Emil Jones.  (Evidently some people aren't bothered by over-the-top nepotism...)

One quick thought - there's no mention of health care anywhere in this letter.  This may end up as the basis for negotiations for a smaller tax increase that increases funding for education, perhaps provides some property tax relief, and doesn't include any of Gov. Blagojevich's Gross Receipts Taxes or health care boondoggles.

Keep your eye on CapFax Blog for all the latest budget gossip.  These last few weeks of May are going to be interesting to watch.

UPDATE:  There are 15 signatories in all, and they're all Senate Democrats.  When I first read it, I saw "Joint Legislative" and assumed some House members had signed as well, and I couldn't read all the signatures.  15 Senate Demcrats is enough to prevent the Senate Democrats from passing a budget without GOP votes.

• the past 33 months the size of America's entire economy has increased by 20%--or, as National Review Online's Larry Kudlow put it, "In less than three years, the U.S. economic pie has expanded by $2.2 trillion, an output add-on that is roughly the same size as the total Chinese economy."
• According to the government's establishment survey, in the 36 months since the tax cuts became law, 5.3 million new jobs have been added to the economy. According to its employment survey, 288,000 jobs were added in May and 387,000 in June. The unemployment rate dropped from 6.1% when the bills were signed to 5.4% at the end of 2004 and 4.6% today, and the rate has gone down for men, women, blacks and Hispanics.
• Federal tax receipts increased by 15%-- $274 billion--last year and 13%-- $206 billion--in the first nine months of this fiscal year, which, as the Journal points out, means the nine-month increases for the past two years represent the highest growth rates in 25 years. Looking ahead to the end of this fiscal year, total inflation-adjusted government receipts will likely be 23% above 2003 when the Bush tax cuts were signed into law.
• Reducing the capital gains tax rate from 20% to 15% increased capital gains tax receipts by 79% from 2000 to 2004. Cutting the dividend tax rate by more than half--from 39.6% to 15%--increased dividend tax receipts by 35% from 2002 to 2004. And corporate tax receipts have nearly tripled since 2003, reaching $250 billion for the past nine months, 26% higher than the same period last year.

I've just been reading up on Blago's Gross Reciepts Tax plan - http://www.illinois.gov/taxfairness/plan.htm

I'm confused.  The second bullet point states the tax is fairly spread across the businesses in Illinois, then the third bullet states there are two rates.  This is later explained as a way to avoid the pyramiding that happens with durable goods. Let's see the numbers that prove it will do so...  And how will the rates be adjusted as these two rates go out of sync due to increased/decreased economic activity?

Also, businesses that make less than a million dollars in sales are exempt.   What percentage of businesses in Illinois fit into this category?  How does this not create a loophole whereby I divide my business into several subsidiaries that work together to avoid the tax?  Why not buy my stuff from a bunch of small companies and avoid the tax?  Perhaps this is an advantage for small businesses, as long as they stay small?

The fifth bullet states that the CIT will be phased out, I'm guessing this is the current tax structure?  Then the ninth bullet states that the GRT will be phased out and local gov'ts will receive CIT taxes?  How does that work?

I'm all for a new tax structure that provides money for the budget problems and adds to education and healthcare.  But did anyone think this through?  Did anyone actually read this page before posting it?

This research took  me a total of .5 hours and I'm not an economist..  Somebody please tell me I've got this wrong, at first I thought the idea might have some merit, now I'm not so sure.