IlliniPundit's blog

Peggy Noonan: 

Most party leaders in Washington are stupid – detached, played out, stuck in the wisdom they learned when they were coming up, in '78 or '82 or '94. Whatever they learned then, they think pertains now. In politics especially, the first lesson sticks. For Richard Nixon, everything came back to Alger Hiss.

They are also – Hill leaders, lobbyists, party speakers – successful, well-connected, busy and rich. They never guessed, back in '86, how government would pay off! They didn't know they'd stay! They came to make a difference and wound up with their butts in the butter.

And:

"This was a real wakeup call for us," someone named Robert M. Duncan, who is chairman of the Republican National Committee, told the New York Times. This was after Mississippi. "We can't let the Democrats take our issues." And those issues would be? "We can't let them pretend to be conservatives," he continued. Why not? Republicans pretend to be conservative every day.

Yep.

Friday, May 16, 2008.

Another school board goes on the record supporting a massive tax increase, hoping to distract voters by talking about miniscule property tax relief.

Board members voted 5-0 at a special Wednesday meeting to support the tax. Members Val Woodruff and Tom Harpst were absent.

The 1 percent tax has enough support for the Champaign County Board to put it on the November ballot.

Board member Max McComb wanted to know when the district would reveal a plan for what it would do with the tax money if it passes, especially related to property tax relief.

If this were really about property tax relief, then the districts should ask for a smaller sales tax increase which is more nearly the equivalent of the property tax reductions being promised.

But it's not about property tax relief.  It's about getting the maximum possible tax increase, much larger than necessary to provide the maximum allowable property tax relief.

From today's News-Gazette:

The Illinois House on Tuesday passed legislation appropriating $25 million for the design and construction of the school, which would be the first of its kind in the state. The bill now goes to the state Senate.

"We're excited to get to this step," said Greg Wolfe, Oakwood School Board president. "It's what we've been hopeful for and working towards. ... We can't foot this on our own. It's critical that we have state assistance."

State Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, introduced House Bill 628 in February 2007. It originally appropriated $15 million for the project, but the amount was increased to $25 million.

In 2006, Black laid the groundwork by spearheading the passage of a law that makes cooperative high schools eligible for some of the same incentive funding offered to districts that consolidate.

Didn't I just see a letter to the editor from the Vermilion County Democratic Chairman stating that Bill Black was too old to effectively serve in the legislature?

Thursday, May 15, 2008.

Patrick Thompson's third trial has begun:

Thompson, a member of the Visionaries Educating Youth and Adults group, which tried to shed light on local police interaction with young black men in the summer of 2004, is charged in connection with an Aug. 24, 2004, incident in which he is alleged to have entered his neighbor's apartment at 1702 E. Colorado Ave., U, without her permission and fondled her.

His first trial in July 2005, in which he represented himself, ended in a mistrial when a jury couldn't come to a unanimous verdict. Represented by Urbana attorney Harvey Welch, Thompson was retried in July 2006 and convicted of the Class X felony of home invasion and the less serious criminal sexual abuse charge.

Thompson then hired Kirchner and Wyman in August 2006 to represent him. They filed a post-trial motion asking for a new trial, alleging ineffective assistance by Welch. In April 2007, Clem granted the new trial.

Discuss.

UPDATE:  One charge dismissed:

Judge Harry Clem said the prosecutor had not presented enough evidence on the count of home invasion lodged against the 39-year-old Champaign man to even send it to the jury.

Conviction on that charge would have meant a mandatory prison sentence of six to 30 years for Thompson. The trial on the remaining charge of criminal sexual abuse, alleging Thompson fondled the woman in her Urbana apartment on Aug. 24, 2004, will go forward Thursday. That is a Class 4 felony with penalties ranging from probation to one to three years in prison if convicted.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008.

Anyone want to guess when the national Republicans are going to learn their lesson?

Democrats picked up a northern Mississippi House seat in one of the most conservative-minded districts in the country Tuesday night -- an upset  that will reverberate darkly through a House Republican caucus already reeling from losses in special elections in Illinois and Louisiana.

With 411 of 462 precincts reporting, the Democratic nominee, Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers, leads Republican Greg Davis, 52 to 48 percent.  The Associated Press has called the race for Childers.

The victory marks the Democrats’ third straight special election pickup in three months. It will be a serious blow to the Republican Party’s already-flagging morale and will surely prompt a new round of finger-pointing among the already fractured GOP caucus.

The special election was held to fill the seat of former Rep. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who was appointed to serve out the remainder of Sen. Trent Lott’s term last December. Wicker had never faced a competitive race since first elected in 1994, and the district gave President Bush 62 percent of the vote in 2004.

My guess is 2012.

UPDATE:  A remarkable statement from the Chair of the NRCC:

Think about this Cole statement - "Democrats are running as conservatives, and Republicans can't beat 'em." So take that club out the GOP arsenal heading into November.

That tells me two things.  The first is that conservative ideas are still popular, at least in some parts of the country.  And the second is that national Republicans have no credibility to claim that they're conservative and Democrats aren't.  And the reasons for that are clear:  earmarks, corruption, out-of-control spending, entitlement expansion, border security, energy policy.  And the list goes on and on.  National Republicans, especially in the House and Senate, don't stand for anything.  And when you don't stand for anything, you will be beaten in surprising places and in surprising ways by people who do stand for something, and you will have no standing to criticize them for doing so.

Both Champaign Unit 4 and Rantoul Township High School boards have voted to support a November ballot question asking voters for a one percent sales tax increase to support education.  Both Districts are using a miniscule amount of property tax relief to mask their request for the largest-possible tax increase, as have most other area school districts, and most media reports are emphasizing the property tax relief as if it somehow offsets the sales tax revenue which will be generated.

It will be interesting to see if the County Board puts the full one-percent increase on the ballot, or if they settle for a smaller amount.

And it will be interesting to see how long the "this is about property tax relief" storyline is allowed to play out before people realize that the sales tax revenues of a one percent increase are several times larger than the maximum amount of property tax relief allowable.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008.

The forces of reason and common sense have won a rare, if temporary, victory.

A proposed ordinance banning cell phone use while driving might be put off indefinitely by the city council.

Alderman Charlie Smyth, D-Ward 1, who proposed the ban, said the city might instead opt to take some interim steps while gathering information about how often traffic accidents occur due to cell phone use while driving.

In the meantime, the city council will consider enacting a distracted driving ordinance under which a person who gets into a traffic accident while talking on a cell phone or similar activity would be subject to a traffic ticket with a substantial fine of $500 or more, he said.

Yea!

Good article:

This coming fiscal year, Urbana expects to allocate $300,000 toward social service grants. That's an increase of $12,000 compared with the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

That level stands in contrast with Champaign, which this coming fiscal year plans to spend $113,000 on social service grants – but has announced that such grants will be ended, starting July 1, 2009.

Discuss.

From yesterday's News-Gazette:

The Champaign County Nursing Home, which will have to borrow money from the county to stay afloat, could save money by altering its mix of clients to reduce Medicaid patients – which would go against its tradition of serving the poor.

About 60 percent of its residents are on Medicaid, up from 48 percent in 2000, the first year for which Administrator Andrew Buffenbarger has census records.

About 28 percent are private paid and 10 percent Medicare, which has a higher level of reimbursement.

Taking care of the less-well-off has been part of the county's mission since it ran a poor farm on the same site as county offices.

But the rising proportion of Medicaid residents is hard on the nursing home's finances, Buffenbarger said, because "Medicaid reimbursement is considerably lower than the cost of services."

In other words, if Buffenbarger filled every bed in the new $24 million facility with Medicaid patients, the nursing home would lose even more than the up to $100,000 a month it has lost in the last two years. Instead, the home has run with about 80 of 243 beds empty recently.

Additionally, Medicaid reimbursement has not only been cut by $600,000, it's months behind.

Discuss.

UPDATE:  Big E has more thoughts here.

Some apparently expect the home to run on at least a break-even basis. But if that is the case, why is government involved at all? Is there a lack of private nursing home companies out there? Not likely. Why in the world would an impotent county government imagine that it is in a better position than a professional private company to run this operation? If the goal is to minimize expense to taxpayers, sell the damn thing to a professional operator and cut your losses.

It is not a little ironic that the idea of booting impoverished Medicaid recipients is being floated. If the goal of the facility is to provide refuge to those who would otherwise be out in the cold, this step would be absolutely contraindicated.

So what's it going to be, you dummies? A decision to provide heavily-subsidized care, or to make the facility a self-sufficient enterprise? The choices could not be more stark, but resolution will require courage and clear-thinking. I, for one, am not holding my breath.

I stayed away from IP.com this weekend, partly as a test to see how many trolls would show up in my absence to ruin otherwise constructive discussions.

Given what I've seen from over the weekend, and given my schedule over the next few weeks, I am now taking the draconian step of moderating all comments from unregistered users.  Unregistered users are still welcome to comment, but their comments will not appear in a thread until and unless approved by an administrator.  Registered users are free to comment without moderation.

Thank you, and I apologize for taking this step, which I hoped would never be necessary.

Monday, May 12, 2008.

Friday, May 9, 2008.

This is an interesting attempt at collaborative citizen journalism:

Now! Hampshire is unlike any newspaper you’ve ever read. To begin with it is published entirely online. What is more it is the only newspaper that consists entirely of citizen contributed news. That means you are not only a reader of Now! Hampshire, you are one of our reporters—if you decide to take up the challenge.

Founded by Seacoast entrepreneur Patrick Hynes, Now! Hampshire operates on the premise that there is a lot more interesting news out there than the people on the “news business” would lead us all to believe. And so we ask every citizen in the Granite State to take up their pens and note pads—along with the video and audio recorders—and start a news beat of their own.

Does your company, organization or school have something important to announce? Don’t settle with blasting off a press release—write a story about it and post it on Now! Hampshire.

Does your daughter or son have a game tonight? Record it on video and write up a blurb. We are thrilled to host local sports content.

Attending a county fair? Write a story about it.

Do you know a special, inspirational someone in your community? Show them you appreciate their contribution by interviewing them and posting it here at Now! Hampshire.

And remember: We’re looking for news. No opinion—just the facts.

I've often thought such an effort might be worthwhile in a smaller city like Champaign-Urbana, where local news is done well but very sparsely by legacy media outlets.

Thursday, May 8, 2008.

The Township Board (City Council) has granted Supervisor Linda Abernathy's request to put another tax increase for City of Champaign Township on the ballot.

Township Supervisor Linda Abernathy said the increased tax income would allow her to increase benefits to 50 disabled people receiving general assistance/transitional assistance from the current $150 per month to the state-recommended $223 per month. The additional funding would also allow her to create a $42,000 emergency assistance fund whereby extremely poor residents could receive a $225 grant once a year to deal with an economic crisis, effective July 1, 2009.

Abernathy asked voters in November 2006 to approve a 5-cent increase in the district's overall tax rate. But voters rejected that proposal by a 2-1 margin.

She said she proposed a smaller increase this time around because she recognizes that residents are feeling the economic pinch.

"People are feeling the burn, the pinch," she said. "I wanted to do something minimal enough to survive the shortfall, but not so extensive to turn the voters off."

At least she reduced the amount of increase she was requesting this time.

From today's News-Gazette:

The Champaign County Board will look at ways to rescue county finances from deficit-spending on its nursing home Thursday night – including the possibilities of raising taxes or even selling the facility.

The finance committee meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Brookens Administration Center, 1776 E. Washington St., U.

The nursing home lost $600,000 in Medicaid funding this spring, faces higher costs for agency nurses because it has had difficulty finding full-time nurses, has already borrowed from the county and expects to borrow more next month.

Finance committee Chairman Brendan McGinty said the committee's discussions would include a possible question on the November ballot to raise taxes to help fund nursing home operations, an idea raised by union members at the nursing home, which had layoffs this week.

On the other extreme, the committee will start the process of looking for a buyer of the $24 million facility, which opened last year.

That process is one "we don't have to execute, if we fix things in the interim," the Urbana Democrat said.

I'm amused, however, to notice media coverage of concern about the massive legal fees owed by the County related to the Nursing Home.  If I remember correctly, someone correctly predicted exactly this problem and was ignored. 

Of course, this isn't the only nursing home-related issue on which Mark has been both prescient and ignored, so we should probably be used to it...