Thursday, July 2, 2009.

From the City of Champaign:

Following the event:
Vehicles exiting the parking lots will be routed through the same entrances in which they entered. (See above.) Upon exiting, the traffic pattern will be as follows:

• Parkland Way / Mattis Ave exit. All vehicles will be directed to the north. Both lanes open to east bound traffic.
• Illinois workNet Center lot. All vehicles will be directed to the south.
• Vehicles exiting the Parkland College Main entrance on Bradley Avenue will be directed to the east. Bradley Avenue will be one way (east bound) between Clayton Blvd and Mattis Avenue. Initially, Country Fair Drive south of Bradley Avenue will be closed to allow for business parking lots in the area to clear.
• Traffic at Bradley Avenue and Mattis Avenue will be directed to the east and south only.
• Duncan Road entrance. All traffic will be directed to the south and west. Both lanes will be open to south bound traffic north of Bradley and traffic in the right lane will be required to turn right.
• Mattis Avenue will be closed to north bound traffic between Bradley Avenue and Parkland Way (Mattis Avenue entrance). This will allow for pedestrian crossing.
• All vehicles exiting from Clayton Blvd and Edward Hoffman Dr at their intersections with Duncan Road will be directed south.
• Officers will be directing traffic at each of these intersections immediately following the event and until the majority of the traffic has cleared the area. Additional officers will be assigned to outlining intersections.
• Pedestrians exiting at the main entrance to the college will cross on the west and south sides of the intersection.

An event map that outlines the traffic pattern and plan for this event is attached to this press release and is also available at our website www.july4th.net.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009.

Today's (actually, tomorrow's) News-Gazette:

The Midwest High Speed Rail Association believes that a possible future high-speed rail line linking Chicago and St. Louis should pass through Champaign.

Such a line would see trains traveling at 220 mph, would cost about $12 billion to construct and would cut travel time between Chicago and St. Louis to less than two hours, said Rick Harnish, executive director of the association, at a news conference at the Illinois Terminal this morning.

More information here.

Discuss.

The candidates are still sorting themselves out a bit, but let's take an early look at the Republican candidates for Governor of Illinois.

• Adam Andrzejewski:  unknown, no electoral history, but is taking advantage of his early start.  In person, his earnestness and speaking cadence remind me a lot of Peter Fitzgerald when he first ran statewide.  AA seems to have lots of Ron Paul's supporters, and he has a ton of personal money to spend.
• Joe Birkett:  I think the DuPage County State's Attorney is as yet unannounced, and I think he'll end up running for Attorney General once Lisa Madigan announces whether she's running for Governor or Senate.  Either way, he's back in the news now for the Brian Dugan / Nicarico case, which can't help.  He and Bob Schillerstrom (below) also have a pretty fierce, intra-DuPage County rivalry.
• Bill Brady:  re-run of 2006, when Brady's campaign was so lackluster that the Milk Duds accused him of being a stalking horse for Judy Baar Topinka.  He has no organization, and is still carrying a $650,000 campaign debt from his 2006 run.  Currently, as Rich Miller puts it, "Bill Brady reiterated his stance yesterday that the governor should sign the budget that Brady voted against."
• Kirk Dillard:  No announcement yet, but supposed to be one next week.  Dillard has great credentials (Gov. Edgar's Chief of Staff, well respected state legislator, etc.) but still catches heat for doing an early TV commercial for Barack Obama in Iowa, though he later was a McCain delegate.  Lots of my friends are supporting Dillard, and he seems to be putting together a terrific organization.
• Matt Murphy (website is blank):  Yet another state senator, but one with a much lower statewide profile than Dillard or Brady.  Murphy seems to be the choice of Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, which is odd given that two of her other members are also running for Governor, with a number of others considering other offices.
• Bob Schillerstrom:  DuPage County Board Chair who has never run statewide.  He has about $650,000 in the bank from his DuPage County campaigns.  His message is that he's not connected to the mess in Springfield, and has executive experience, but given his public feud with Birkett and his lack of statewide organization, I wonder what his base will be.

Lots will change between now and petition circulation, not the least of which is Lisa Madigan's announcement.  How do you see the GOP field at this point?

Tuesday, June 30, 2009.

Rep. Mark Kirk is getting hammered by Republicans and conservatives for his vote in favor of Friday's "Cap and Trade" global warming legislation. 

Greg Hinz seems to think that his vote makes Kirk more likely to run statewide, for the US Senate. 

But President Obama's home state now is bright blue and Mr. Kirk's "yes" vote would be helpful, maybe very helpful in rebutting Democratic charges in a statewide race that Mr. Kirk is just another out-of-touch Republican.

 Mr. Kirk wasn't available to discuss his vote, and his office hasn't even released a statement. But his voting record has drawn consistent applause from environmentalists, who compose a big chunk of the base vote in Mr. Kirk's north suburban district.

I disagree, and think that it's more likely he now runs for re-election to the House in Illinois' Democratic-leaning 10th District.  Thoughts?

For the last ten years or so I have frequently turned to the obituaries.  They can be touching, informative, verbose, or a better alternative than the comics which I can no longer read.  Or they can be all those things.

This has been expurgated by about 50%; names and verbosity removed.  Be sure to read to the end.

SAVOY –Susan was mercifully escorted into eternity by her friend, Jesus, in the early morning.

Susan was born on in Chicago. Her parents raised Susan and her two sisters and a brother on a humble electrician's wage. From her mother, Susan learned to cook, sew, manage a household and take care of her little brother. From her father, she learned the value of an honest day's labor and to live within her means.

Though she graduated high school near the top of her class, she was unable to afford college; and instead, moved to Los Angeles, Calif., with her sister. While there, Susan worked a clerical job by day; and by night she enjoyed the music of some of the all-time greats of jazz in the clubs of L.A. People were often struck by Susan's radiant beauty, and for a time, she was a dancer in Las Vegas. Shortly thereafter, she was selected to appear on the cover of Playboy magazine and was hired by Playboy Enterprises in Chicago where she befriended Lenny Bruce, Dick Gregory, Paul Desmond and many other artistic celebrities of the era.

 Also in 1990, Susan acquired her daily companion, Fritz: and for the next 19 years, she spoke to her little dog every day, reminding everyone. "It's OK, he understands English."

Susan loved her family, parties, humor, art, music, good books, flowers, and most of all, talking to people. She was always enthusiastic about the achievements of others and took great interest in the lives of everyone she met. Christmas was her favorite holiday and her decorations, food, and generosity were always stunning. Susan read the newspaper and listened to talk-radio every day. She cared about justice and voted in every election. Serving jury duty, she once caused a mistrial by being the lone juror to hold fast to an alternative opinion. Susan was refreshingly honest, hardworking, humble, helpful whenever asked, and thought of others more than herself. Despite suffering great hardships at times, she learned to forgive everyone who ever hurt her, and spoke about others in only positive terms - except conservative Republicans - whose policies she found despicable. Susan accepted responsibility for her mistakes and was remarkably free from prejudice of any kind. To her dying day, she embraced life with a positive attitude, was always optimistic, persevered during trouble, and was often able to see life through a comical lens.

A lifelong cigarette smoker, Susan died of lung cancer.

Monday, June 29, 2009.

Rush just reported that Tim Johnson is "on the fence" on the Cap and Trade bill before the House today.

This bill would have terrible effects on the US economy, including moving plenty of manufacturing to countries with much looser pollution standards than ours.

I was able to send his office an email, but currently his website won't load.

This is getting even worse than I had imagined it would:

In one e-mail exchange, University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman forced the law school to admit an unqualified applicant backed by then- Gov. Rod Blagojevich while seeking a promise from the governor's go-between that five law school graduates would get jobs. The applicant, a relative of deep-pocketed Blagojevich campaign donor Kerry Peck, appears to have been pushed by Trustee Lawrence Eppley, who often carried the governor's admissions requests.

When Law School Dean Heidi Hurd balked on accepting the applicant in April 2006, Herman replied that the request came "Straight from the G. My apologies. Larry has promised to work on jobs (5). What counts?"

Hurd replied: "Only very high-paying jobs in law firms that are absolutely indifferent to whether the five have passed their law school classes or the Bar."

I don't see how Herman can keep his job. 

Today's NG:

The University of Illinois board of trustees has begun an emergency meeting, believed to involve the scandal over political influence on admissions to the UI. It was scheduled to start at 11 a.m. in Chicago but began at 11:20. As soon as the meeting was called to order, trustees voted to go into secret session.

The meeting may involve disclosure of previously unreleased documents regarding influence over admissions of unqualified students to the UI’s law school.

There are lots of rumors flying around.

I wrote last month about the new absentee voter bill.  Two professors from the Institute for Government and Public Affairs also wrote about this in the News-Gazette also.  Their article is now available on line as well.

Additionally, while the bill will increase costs for local governments, it appears likely that our offices will receive reduced amounts for election judge reimbursements in the upcoming budget.

Thursday, June 25, 2009.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009.

Channel 3 also had a story on the controversy related to the tent city outside the Catholic Worker House in Champaign.  You can see the video at http://illinoishomepage.net/content/fulltext/?cid=92711 .  They interviewed a homeless guy named Joe Stockett, who coincidentally happens to be a suspect in a fire that destroyed a Holocaust museum in Terre Haute and also has a history of hate and arson.  http://www.judaica.org/CANDLES/indystar2.pdf .  It's not hard to find some of his rants if you look for them - he's posted as "burnisraeliflag@yahoo.com" and "hippiejoelives@yahoo.com."  He's sprayed some Indymedia sites and also posted to groups like "Jew Watch."  He did get taken offline for a while a couple of years ago when he got incarcerated for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

OK, any guesses WHY the neighbors might be uneasy about someone like this camping near their house?  Sheesh.

As usual, CapFax is all over it.

* Governor Quinn, speaking after a lengthy meeting with the four caucus leaders, announced a ‘meeting of the minds’ had coalesced around the concept of a pension obligation note.

A pension obligation note -basically a short term bond- would most likely have a 5 year term. The pension note will allow the IL to make all constitutionally required pension payments for the coming fiscal year.

The perk, according to Quinn, is that note will free up between $2.2 and $2.3 billion to help balance the budget.

Quinn expects the GA to pass the pension obligation note bill tomorrow.

* Leadership also agreed upon the need for further cuts in the state’s operating budget.

The size and scope of these additional cuts are still to be determined. There has been some talk in the Senate of an additional $1 billion in cuts from the operational budget, but the Governor did not commit to that figure. No specific departments or programs were identified as possible areas of saving.

Once a figure for the cuts is agreed upon, Governor Quinn will determine where the cuts will fall.

The well-read Washington insider’s website, Politico, wrote an interesting piece on Tim Johnson today. Although it seems to be great sport on IlliniPundit to tease Congressman Johnson about his exercise regimen, I’ll wager that constituents of most other Congressmen and women wish their representative was as disciplined, prepared and in-touch.

Here’s a sampling:

It was the middle of the afternoon, during the start of the workweek, and the representative from Illinois’ 15th congressional district, Tim Johnson, was walking in circles. Yes, there he was, going round and round and round and round.

 “You can sit in your office with your feet up like a big shot, or you can get fit,” says the 62-year-old congressman. “And I think all of our brains operate better; really, I think human beings work better [with exercise].”

One would have observed as much last Monday, as Johnson paced along the perimeter of a courtyard just south of Longworth, flanked by two staffers, who were staring at their BlackBerrys while making sure all the bases were covered on the about-to-be-voted-on war funding bill.

Between chatting about legislation with his staff and chatting with the folks back home, it’s not unusual for the work walking (or working walk) to go on for several hours each day, which keeps Johnson from being one of the more social members of the caucus. Zach Wamp, whose office is on that floor, regularly sees Johnson rounding the corners. He compliments his Republican colleague on being “very efficient” in using “all of his free time to move.”

“The most effective antidepressant in the history of the world is sweat,” says Wamp. “We all need to sweat more, and Tim Johnson is a great example of how you can integrate physical activity into your work.”

Johnson estimates he spends two to three hours a day reading, and every week, his staff stuffs his House gym locker with a voluminous stack of materials to prepare for floor activity. He wakes each morning at 6 o’clock and walks around the park while reading the newspapers his staff delivers to his apartment the night before.

Today's News-Gazette:

"Quinn is a decent guy," Cultra said, "but he hasn't done much better than Blagojevich in managing the budget. All they've talked about is tax increases and not much more.

"I don't believe anybody in good conscience, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, is going to cut the most vulnerable people in the state. They should be cutting other areas, too. If you're short, cut the whole gamut of state spending by the same percentage. At least make the cuts uniformly."

Cultra acknowledges that there is a multibillion-dollar Illinois budget hole. But he said it's the result of overspending.

"I think the revenues have increased over the last six years by about 5.5 percent a year," he said. "But we've spent 7.8 percent more. We keep spending more than the increase is."

Discuss.