Category: Democratic News

It’s not the PR, Todd

Posted on by TL

Sometimes I think I could turn this entire blog over to a critique of the Cook County Board and nothing else.

Most of the commissioners are fine people who I respect — Democrat and Republican. While I disagree strongly with Tony Peraica’s conservative social agenda, for example, I have a great deal of respect for his verbal calls for honesty in government. While I don’t quite understand their commitment to Board President Todd Stroger, Commissioners Joan Patricia Murphy and Deborah Sims work hard for those of us in the south suburbs of Chicagoland.

And Forrest Claypool? Well, here’s to what might have been.

President Stroger, your problem is not PR.

When I read earlier this week in the Sun-Times that Todd Stroger was “set to bring on a p.r. consultant, records show, to help improve his image and that of the hospital system he runs,” I just about choked. Of course, I’m not the only one who took notice. From the article:

“Of the multitude of problems facing the health bureau, p.r. is the least of them,” said Jay Stewart of the Better Government Association. “President Stroger should save the money, no matter how difficult that may be for the administration, and let the independent board decide how to use the money on things like actual health care services.”

Stroger already has people who are working the public relations angle:

Stroger’s p.r. staff is larger than that of many other county governments across the country, records show, but it’s hardly the most expensive.

Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan’s communications chief, Lucio Guerrero, makes more than $120,000, though he said he’s also in charge of about a dozen people, heading up outreach and research.

Stroger’s top p.r. staffer, Mullins, is budgeted to be paid $105,059 — and Stroger still employs all of his former spokesmen in other, comparably salaried positions.

“The need for yet another p.r. consultant or staffer for President Stroger is ridiculous,” Stewart said.

Honestly, now, Todd, do you really think your problem is a decided lack of public relations? You do remember shortly after you swore your oath to “support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Cook County Board President to the best of my ability,” you roped off an elevator for your own private use.

Sir, with all due respect, the problem is not a lack of p.r. It’s you.

I’m going to remind you of the 10 tips the Sun-Times offered you at the beginning of the month:

1. Please, don’t hire anybody in your family to fill the job.

2. Nope, not even a cousin.

3. A childhood friend? See above.

4. A national search for the new inspector general does mean looking outside your political home base of the 8th Ward.

5. Ask yourself: “What would my political mentor, Bill ‘The Hog with the Big Nuts’ Beavers, do?” Then do the opposite.

6. Let the inspector hire his or her own staff. Don’t view the 12 new jobs as a political dumping ground.

7. Hire someone familiar with corruption. Familiar, that is, with investigating and prosecuting it, not committing it.

8. The new inspector general will not require the services of a private chauffeur, as do some political big shots. Or a private elevator.

9. Do not brag to taxpayers that the new inspector general is coming in at a bargain salary, then give the new hire a double-digit raise within a year. For reference, see the Chicago Sun-Times, March 24, “Todd’s Cousin Cashes In.”

10. Follow the lead of Mayor Daley. He hired a first-rate inspector general for the city, David Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor. Hoffman’s smart, independent, experienced and beholden to no one. He drives Daley nuts. But he’s a friend to taxpayers.

For too long, county government has been a cesspool of patronage. You see, Todd, that’s what we’re looking at: individuals who take advantage of the tax payers by setting aside privileges for themselves and people they favor. That’s what it’s really all about. Just stop doing that.

Forget the p.r. binge. Just stop all of that and govern. Good p.r. will follow good actions.

Blago The Destroyer

Posted on by TL

Gov. Rod BlagojevichHis intransigence knows no limits. The people of the State of Illinois are hurting. These things are understatements.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do.

Until the next election.

We’re stuck with Blago the Destroyer, the Governor-Who-Won’t.

This is a sad time to be from the State of Illinois. I have had a number of conversations with State Representatives and State Senators about the governor. All bewail and bemoan the fact that Governor Rod Blagojevich simply doesn’t care. He wouldn’t even consider such a silly thing as compromise. His “no-new-taxes” pledge is running Illinois into the ground. The Pledge means no school funding reform.

Blago doesn’t get it that you don’t understand.

After all, he pledged to not raise taxes when he first ran for governor. He won’t raise taxes. He won’t consider creative alternatives for relieving the property tax burden on Illinois residents. He won’t work to ensure that Illinois is no longer 48th in the nation on school funding. He won’t work for equity in school funding, so students at Bloom Trail High School can some day read history books in their library that post-date the Cold War.

He won’t listen no matter what you say. Remember, Blago doesn’t get it that you don’t understand.

Wow. Remember how we all had hope back then? Remember how we actually believed that a Democratic governor would make a difference to the people of Illinois? What were we thinking?

Blago doesn’t care. He’s concerned about what might come next, what office he might run for next, his next fund raiser. School funding reform is not a real concern. Why should he care that Illinois still ranks near last in school funding? Why should he care that school districts like Bloom and Ford Heights have next to nothing while Naperville thrives?

Blago cares about his image. Haircuts are important as well. Must look good for the cameras, after all. But he is absolutely incompetent when it comes to critical thought, struggling to find real solutions to real-world problems and issues.

Lt. Governor Pat Quinn supports recall legislation, saying that Gov. Blago would certainly be a target if this legislation was passed. Blago says he supports the legislation, but his House floor leader, oddly, does not. From the Chicago Tribune:

Though Blagojevich publicly has embraced the concept of recall, his House floor leader, Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Collinsville), angrily denounced the bill. Also opposed are Comptroller Dan Hynes and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

Quinn, a Democrat who said he has backed such an amendment for three decades, called the measure an important way to give power to citizens and to keep elected officials accountable.

According to Quinn, based on the number of votes cast for governor in 2006, it would take 418,401 signatures to put a gubernatorial recall on the ballot.

It may be an exercise in futility, but I’m certain signatures could be found in downstate Illinois.

And in the south suburbs of Chicago, where property taxes are choking businesses and home owners.

Blago really doesn’t get it.

During the last election, I attended a rally for the governor. As he passed by, I shook his hand and told him, “Governor, you have to do something about property taxes and school funding reform. Our residents are desperate.”

He gave me the same smirk in the photo above.

“Sure,” he said.

Then he walked away.

(Photo: Gov. Rod Blagojevich at the 2005 Martin Luther King Celebration in Matteson, IL, courtesy eNewsPF.com)

Come on, Todd, Get Serious

Posted on by TL

I freely admit I was wrong in supporting Todd Stroger for President of Cook County Board. I believed friends locally who told me that Todd would do a great job. I believed them when they told me Todd was good for Cook County, and cared about Cook County residents.

I was suspicious when they insisted that Todd meant well, even after he insisted on a personal elevator in the County Building downtown. I’m not going to throw in, “What was he thinking???”, to paraphrase Blago-the-Destroyer’s campaign line.

Well, here’s the rub: Cousin: Stroger ready to tax again. Thank you to our friends at the Chicago Sun-Times for that wonderful headline. What does that mean? It means that Todd’s cousin, Donna Dunnings, who “took one for the team” and accepted the powerful CFO job with Cook County at a respectable salary, then accepted a 12% pay hike, proclaimed in a speech to the City Club of Chicago, “the county has bigger problems that need even more taxes to tackle.”

Well, that’s just sweet.

“The structural deficit is real and the sales tax is by no means an answer to that,” she said.

So, the county is going to turn to “cost containment,” according to Dunnings, and turn to “other revenues” to make ends meet.

“Other revenues”??? Translation: The Cook County Board will find a new and creative way to tax all of us.

Here is one important fact to remember: Our businesses are already being choked out of the suburbs, running to Will County in the south suburbs. Do Todd Stroger or Donna Dunnings really care about that?

I know some of the logic behind Cook County’s absurd tax structure that makes it so desirable for businesses to run to other counties. Something about business owners who commute from other suburbs to help pay for the infrastructure of Cook County, or something strange like that. Thus, the equalizer.

Look, Todd, and, for that matter, the rest of the Cook County Board: Sit down and act in concert. It’s that simple. We need the Cook County Board to stop blaming each other and act, yes, as a Board. Act in the best interest of the people of Cook County. Help those of us in the suburbs retain our businesses. Stop acting as if the borders of Cook County stop at the borders of the City of Chicago. Stop the patronage politics. We can’t afford it any more. You can’t honestly expect us to believe that the best person for the position of CFO of Cook County happened to be Todd Stroger’s cousin, Donna Dunnings.

Hold each other accountable on the board. Accountability in government is good.

And the rest of us will be incredibly more circumspect in future elections. In fact, those of us who stayed home last election day might show up next time and cast our votes.

Because, yes, we were wrong.

Has the Well Run Dry for Clinton?

Posted on by TL

The Chicago Sun-Times’ Michael Sneed reports on rumors circulating among Democrats that Hillary Clinton’s campaign is running out of money:

Scoop du jour? Sneed hears major money problems in the Clinton camp may soon become a coroner knocking on her campaign door.

To wit: Word is the cash feeding into Hillary Clinton’s campaign coffers has not only slowed down in a big way, undisclosed campaign debts that have yet to be made public could signal the end and have insiders biting their nails.Translation: “It won’t necessarily be politics which may force her out of the race,” said a top Dem source. “There is no hanky panky going on, but Hillary needs to raise money to stay alive . . . and word is she may not be able to climb out of the money hole.”

The buckshot: “I think it’s safe to say Hillary’s not going to dip into her pocket again,” the source added. “And if her employees start taking pay cuts while chasing the dream . . . it’s usually the beginning of the body becoming totally cold.”

That would be too bad, but yet another sign that Mrs. Clinton might want to consider another path for herself.

Look, I could be dead wrong, and Hillary could somehow wrap up the Democratic nomination for President.  Mathematically, it does not appear that either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton will have enough delegates to claim the prize before the convention.  However, Senator Obama has the energy right now, and I don’t see that lapsing. 

Sen. Bob Casey’s endorsement in Pittsburgh today was an extraordinary coup for Obama. Casey is a moderate, pro-life Democrat with wide appeal to the voters of Pennsylvania.  My father called me today from Pittsburgh, and he was beaming.  Dad is already a strong Obama supporter, but was especially heartened to hear about Casey’s “thumbs-up” for Barack.

I said earlier that Obama would close the gap.  I’m not foolish enough to make predictions.  Many in the media made that mistake many times in the past.  Forget Dewey Defeats Truman (Thank you Chicago Tribune for that).  I remember going to sleep late on election night in 2000 after Peter Jennings told me that Kerry had won Florida.

Oy.

I disagree with some of my friends on Facebook who say that White America will be scared off by a black face.

Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. has the worst conceivable name for a politician in the post 9-11 era.

But I know he can to do it.

Americans are ready for hope again.

And this time, the path to hope does not lie with a Clinton.

Rep. Bill Foster to Deliver Democratic Radio Address

Posted on by TL

Good news from Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL). Rep. Foster will be delivering the Democratic Radio Address Saturday, the official party response to the President’s Weekly Radio Address. This in today from Bill Foster for Congress:

Dear Friends,

We have some great news to report: Bill has the honor of delivering the Democratic Radio Address this weekend on strengthening America’s economy. The address will be broadcast nationwide reaching millions of Americans who face many of the same struggles we face here in the 14th District. Bill will advocate less bickering and more problem solving as ways we can overcome those challenges.

Please make sure you tune in to Bill’s address, which will air Saturday, March 29, 2008, at approximately 10:05 A.M. Central Standard Time. The major networks including including AP, ABC, NPR, CBS Radio, CNN Radio, Fox News Radio, and C-SPAN will air the address, but please check local listings for broadcast times.

In case you miss Bill’s response to President Bush’s radio address, the speech will be posted here in its entirety, along with a complete transcript.

We appreciate your support, and look forward to seeing all of you in the coming weeks and months ahead as we continue to move forward and work hard on behalf of the people of the 14th District.

Thanks again,

The Bill Foster for Congress Team

Good news for Rep. Bill Foster, businessman, scientist, DEMOCRAT!

Todd Stroger Likes His Friends, and His Family More

Posted on by TL

Less than one month ago, Cook County government was struggling, facing a February 29th shut-down. Now, they’re swimming in it, and Stroger has money to give away.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports Stroger’s cousin, Donna Dunnings, will get a 12 percent pay increase as part of the 2008 budget.

How nice.

When Cook County Board President Todd Stroger introduced his cousin Donna Dunnings as the county’s new chief financial officer last year, they each boasted of the savings taxpayers would realize. She would take a salary far less than the previous CFO.

That was then.

Records show Dunnings is set to get a bigger raise than any other county employee in Stroger’s budget — a 12 percent increase — as part of the 2008 budget.

The average county raise is about 5 percent for most employees, records show. Those working in Dunnings’ office will get, on average 3.5 percent raises.

Dunnings will make about $5,000 more than Tom Glaser did in that same job, earning almost $160,000. Why the giant leap?

Dunnings’ double-digit jump is because “she’s doing twice the work she was before and has more responsibilities,” said Stroger spokesman Gene Mullins.

“She only took [less pay] when we didn’t have any money,” he said, referring to the just-passed 1 percentage point sales tax increase that is so substantial, it will ultimately give county government more money than it needs to operate.

In fighting for that tax, Stroger repeatedly asked taxpayers and commissioners to make sacrifices for the good of county government.

Stroger spokeswoman Ibis Antongiorgi later said Dunnings initially took the lower salary “because of her commitment to the county and public service.”

Since then, however, Dunnings’ performance “warranted” the large raise, Antongiorgi said, and brings her more in line with other county CFOs.

Well, good for her. I wouldn’t want to see Dunnings show up at county CFO parties with her head down.

Right.

March roared in like a lion with the Cook County board, and Todd Stroger is taking the lion’s share for those close to him. The 1 percent increase gave Chicago the distinction of having the highest overall sales tax of any major U.S. city: 10.25 percent. Meanwhile, the hundreds of county employees laid off last year “when we didn’t have any money” have yet to be called back.

Because Todd Stroger likes his friends, and his family more.

She’s Come Undone

Posted on by TL

With Bill Clinton’s tantrums in the not too distant past, Hillary’s woes magnified this week with reports that her campaign finished February in the red:

Despite a strong month of fund-raising in February in which she brought in $35 million, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton finished the month essentially in the red, once her campaign’s outstanding debts are factored in, as well as her personal loan, according to filings submitted late last night to the Federal Election Commission.

After spending about $31 million in her efforts to keep up with Senator Barack Obama, Mrs. Clinton finished February with more than $33 million in cash on hand, but $21.5 million of that is earmarked exclusively for the general election, leaving her with $11.7 million for the primary.

Sen. Clinton loaned her campaign $5 million. During the same month, Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign brought in $55 million, leaving him with $31.6 million in cash on hand for the primary and $7.3 million for the general election.

Hillary has not weathered second place well. While currently sitting comfortably ahead in polls in the Keystone State, look for Obama to close the gap and perhaps surpass her by the April 22 primary.

Pennsylvania Democrats are a unique lot, and they will closely scrutinize both candidates. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia both have strong background in labor, and both have been hit hard by the erstwhile decline in the steel industry. My grandfather worked for years in the J&L Steel Mill on the South Side of Pittsburgh. I remember the smokestacks blowing black smoke into the sweltering summer afternoon sky, and my grandfather waving to us from a window far above as we drove past on E. Carson St.

You always knew to avoid Carson St. during the shift changes at the mill. Men would cross the street in an almost endless stream as they went to or from work.

Those mills are gone, and the South Side has been reborn. The Hot Metal Bridge has been rebuilt for automobiles, cyclists and pedestrians. The mills have been replaced by a riverfront quasi-yuppie haven, but the old homes staring down from hillsides remain. The South Side is booming again. The spirit of the mill worker remains strong in Pittsburgh.

While the mills were crumbling in Pittsburgh, Hillary Clinton was on the board of Wall Mart. We cannot ignore this. That’s the history.

Earlier this week, in a speech at George Washington University on St. Patrick’s Day, Mrs. Clinton claimed she was actually sent to some trouble spots in the world because they were “too dangerous” for her husband. Of course, that sounds like perfectly credible United States police: when the danger is real, protect the POTUS and send the First Lady. We remember the numerous times the Secret Service has sent Laura Bush to the front lines in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Or not.

Here’s what she said:

“I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base. But it was a moment of great pride for me to visit our troops, not only in our main base as Tuzla, but also at two outposts where they were serving in so many capacities to deactivate and remove landmines, to hunt and seek out those who had not complied with the Dayton Accords and put down their arms, and to build relationships with the people that might lead to a peace for them and their children.“

–Hillary Clinton, speech at George Washington University, March 17, 2008.

Sounds like this was a harrowing experience. The First Lady landing in a war zone, visiting with troops, supporting those in the midst of danger while accepting the risk for herself and her daughter.

Her daughter? Yes, Chelsae was there too. Apparently it was the foreign policy of the United States under the Clinton Administration to protect the President of the United States — and put the rest of the First Family at risk in a war zone.

Here they are at the dangerous greeting ceremony at the Tuzla military airport, Bosnia, March 25, 2996:

Hillary and Chelsae Clinton in Bosnia

Perhaps Mrs. Clinton is “mis-remembering” the trip.

She’s come undone, and it’s sad. Mrs. Clinton is an incredible person. Don’t get me wrong. In no way is it my intention to treat Mrs. Clinton and the former President Clinton in the horribly ugly way the Weird Right does. As I’ve said before, the biggest problem Democrats face right now is that we have two incredible Americans running for President of the United States. The Republicans had to settle — many Republican friends have told me just that.

They have also told me they want Hillary Clinton to win. I have one friend who took a Democratic ballot in the February 5 Illinois Primary for the first time in his life so he could vote for Hillary Clinton — because he and many Republicans believe Clinton is not as electable. I find it difficult for me to believe my friend is the only Republican who did that.

The Republicans fear Obama for a reason. Barack Obama is electable. He can win.

Yes, he can.

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign is struggling. A victory in Pennsylvania will not secure the nomination, and with Senator McCain stands by waiting. Sir Elton John’ April concert and the thrill of the campaign notwithstanding, there are bigger issues to consider. She has a decision to make. The present moment is too serious.

Let’s take the White House and put America first. Let’s make history together.

Passportgate: Big Brother Watching The Dems

Posted on by TL

Yet another sleazy scandal from the Republican Regime. From WTEA TV’s The Pittsburgh Channel:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that the passport files of both Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama were accessed without authorization by employees of the State Department.

News organizations this morning were reporting that Sen. Barack Obama’s passport files had been accessed by the State Department. Now it’s Hillary as well. Now it’s Condi Rice making the Apology Circuit:

“We are very concerned about this,” Ms. Rice said. “I told him that I was sorry and I told him that I myself would be very disturbed if I learned that somebody had looked into my passport file.”

The breaches occurred in 2007. Two State Department employees have been fired over the incident.

So, what did they know, and when did they know it?

And who else did they take a peek at?

UPDATE: 11:37 a.m.

According to The Swamp at the Chicago Tribune, Sen. John McCain’s “passport files got an unauthorized viewing at the State Department.”

Will someone in the Bush Administration please speak up for the Bill of Rights?

Obama and the Complexity of Race

Posted on by TL

Barack Obama in PhiladelphiaNo doubt we will be studying this one for years.

In a 38 minute speech to supporters in Philadelphia, PA, this afternoon, Barack Obama delivered the quintessential statement on race relations in America.

He did not strike me as a giant. The cameras zoomed out slightly, Barack stood dwarfed by the two tall American flags behind him. He looked small — not the towering Obama who filled the screen at the 2004 Democratic Convention. Here, I saw man standing alone, lifting up a critical discussion on race that recently had become bogged down in careless rhetoric. I saw a man struggling with race issues so complex they have confounded this country at every turn.

It was perhaps the most intelligent and compelling discussion on race this generation has ever heard.

With one stroke, Obama embraced his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his white grandmother, two people separated by the chasm of race, yet very similar:

As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

They are a part of all of our families. We all have a Rev. Wright or a grandma, aunt, uncle, cousin or parent whose racist rhetoric makes us cringe. Sometimes they go too far. Sometimes they speak a truth in a way that wouldn’t sit well with many if we captured them on video and put them on You Tube.

Perhaps we’ve even been the Rev. Jeremiah Wright or that white grandma, caving in to our own fears and slamming those different from us in our exasperation.

Today, something happened that was different. Barack Obama presented to us in 38 minutes the complex problem of race in America. He took the silly discourse of the past few weeks and elevated it to a sublime oratory. In doing so, he elevated us all in the process.

No doubt some Republicans and extreme conservatives will pounce, mince the Senator’s words and serve them to their far-right audiences with cries of, “See! I told you he was black!” Obama summarized it well:

Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

No doubt they’ve continued the attacks on Democrats, just as they laughed at us as Geraldine weighed in, Hillary countered, Barack reacted, and Rev. Wright sang from You Tube. But their laughter sounds from a lonely island. We argue at times as Democrats because we are at the table. We are having that discussion on race that Obama so eloquently expressed today. With Democrats, race is not about “them”, it’s about “us”. We may not get it right all the time, and, yes, sometimes we sound foolish when we fall, but the Republicans as a party are absent from the table. They’re not even in the same room. Instead, they are observing our dialog from afar. Senator McCain, respected as he is by Republicans and many Democrats, is watching from the outside. McCain’s party is not having this discussion — although they would be wise to start.

We need them on board with us so we can all feel the complexities of these issues together. We will never advance alone.

I’ll close with Jon Stewart, who summarized Obama’s presentation as only he can:

“And so, at 11 o’clock on Tuesday, a prominent politician spoke to Americans about race — as if they were adults.”

And we must continue the discussion — as adults.