This, Sen. Mike Frerichs and Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, is why it's irresponsible to pass a budget that is so badly out of balance that you must rely on Gov. Blagojevich to cut things in order to balance it. Does anyone really expect, when the Governor is considering where to cut, that the University or local legislative districts will be treated well?
But at least our local legislators can sleep easy knowing they have done their masters' legislative leaders' bidding.
According to Naomi, she was not consulted before Madigan tried to get Calabrese kicked off the ballot for a problem he in no way caused. I assumed that Madigan had consulted her, furnished her a copy of the information she requested, and asked her to withdraw the objection. Sadly, she did not have enough influence to even stop Madigan's objection to her student opponent. Talk about the "Mancherian Candidate". The only bill that she has sponsored or co-sponsored (as opposed to birthday and congradulatory resolutions) was a technical, non-substantive bill having to do with the look of the University's stationery. When Blago starts diverting pension monies, soneone better start screaming bloody murder. I don't think that Frank Calabrese will have any more influence than Naomi, but apparently Madigan thinks so.
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The voters deserve better canidates, not chosen by power hungry party leaders. If the GOP and the DEM do not deliver better quality canidates to chose from we will continue to get these government ladder climbers who know only how to represent their personal goals to elevate their status and salaries on our tax dollars. It is no wonder voter turnout is so poor.
According to Naomi, she was not consulted before Madigan tried to get Calabrese kicked off the ballot for a problem he in no way caused. I assumed that Madigan had consulted her, furnished her a copy of the information she requested, and asked her to withdraw the objection. Sadly, she did not have enough influence to even stop Madigan's objection to her student opponent. Talk about the "Mancherian Candidate". The only bill that she has sponsored or co-sponsored (as opposed to birthday and congradulatory resolutions) was a technical, non-substantive bill having to do with the look of the University's stationery. When Blago starts diverting pension monies, soneone better start screaming bloody murder. I don't think that Frank Calabrese will have any more influence than Naomi, but apparently Madigan thinks so.
Errr... I really doubt that Mike Madigan has any idea who Frank Calabrese is. Pat Devaney was the one who filed the objection. BTW, you can look up which bills have been sponsored by state reps. Here are the results for Naomi Jakobsson: http://www.ilga.gov/house/RepBills.asp?MemberID=1250
Errr... I really doubt that Mike Madigan has any idea who Frank Calabrese is. Pat Devaney was the one who filed the objection.
So Wayward, who is paying the legal bills for this charade? Do you think someone in the state party is sponsoring this effort, or is this local fireman so thoroughly impressed with Naomi's tenure that he is bankrolling this?
"Errr... I really doubt that Mike Madigan has any idea who Frank Calabrese is. Pat Devaney was the one who filed the objection."
Respectfully disagree. I'm sure, from experience, that Madigan's staff is directing the challenge. And I'm sure Pat Devaney, a lobbyist for the state Firefighter's Association who works in Springfield but lives here, was approached about filing the challenge by Madigan's staff, who routinely look for local, in-district people to sign such objections to maintain the charade that the objection originated locally. Which attorney is representing Devaney during the objection court cases? I'm sure they have some connection to Madigan and/or the State Democratic Party, and no connection locally.
So Wayward, who is paying the legal bills for this charade? Do you think someone in the state party is sponsoring this effort, or is this local fireman i so thoroughly impressed with Naomi's tenure that he is bankrolling this?
Does it cost a lot of money to file an objection? I will concede that I did some checking in response to your post and noticed that Devaney's attorney was named Robert Uhe, and there's also a Robert Uhe who formerly worked as chief counsel to Mike Madigan. Devaney himself is politically active, so I don't know who started the ball rolling. However, it looks like Madigan's people at least helped. The best rationale I can think of is that the party is trying to conserve resources since this is a big year, and it's cheaper to knock someone off the ballot than it is to campaign against them.
"The best rationale I can think of is that the party is trying to conserve resources since this is a big year, and it's cheaper to knock someone off the ballot than it is to campaign against them."
Absolutely. If they knock Calabrese off the ballot, the election is over. But it's absolutely an effort being led by Madigan's staff.
Respectfully disagree. I'm sure, from experience, that Madigan's staff is directing the challenge. And I'm sure Pat Devaney, a lobbyist for the state Firefighter's Association who works in Springfield but lives here, was approached about filing the challenge by Madigan's staff, who routinely look for local, in-district people to sign such objections to maintain the charade that the objection originated locally. Which attorney is representing Devaney during the objection court cases? I'm sure they have some connection to Madigan and/or the State Democratic Party, and no connection locally.
You may be right. Robert Uhe, chief counsel to Mike Madigan from 1998 to 2006, was Devaney's attorney. Nope, he doesn't seem to have any local connections.
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/news/article_full.cfm?eventid=2810
Why wouldn't Madigan try to knock Frank off, he probably thought Frank had little support and was a political neophyte, Frank proved him wrong. I agree with IP it would be one less race to run this cycle.