North Side state Sen. John Cullerton won the sweepstakes to replace Emil Jones in what is a victory for Richard M. Daley and state House Speaker Michael Madigan and a loss for Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is not a happy camper today.
So who is John Cullerton? A lawyer and lobbyist, natch!
Cullerton is a partner at Thompson Coburn, where, according to a resume available on the firm’s website, he specializes in:
* Government relations work with respect to real estate tax assessment and real estate tax appeals
* Zoning, land use and annexation
* Licensing and permit applications before local governments
* Procedures and advocacy strategies for clients with matters being considered by legislators, regulators and policy makers.
“State residents will be more vulnerable to offenses like identity theft and mortgage fraud if significant cuts to her office budget are allowed to stand, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is warning, Crain’sreports.
“In a phone interview, the state’s chief legal officer said 25% cuts ordered by Gov. Rod Blagojevich ‘at best are irresponsible. At worst, it’s politically motivated’.”
Yes, but it’s hard to separate out Mike Madigan’s irresponsible and politically motivated actions, illustrating that her father is still as much a hindrance as a help to whatever ambitions she has. Can you imagine a Governor Madigan working with her father (presumably) to hammer out a budget that steamrolls over everyone else? Or would Mike Madigan step down if he can elect his daughter governor? Otherwise, the spectacle might be too much for even Illinoisans to stomach.
Then again, the specter of a Governor Bill Daley poses its own questions.
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Paul Vallas campaign slogans:
- Nobody Sent Me!
- Not Related To Any Of ‘Em!
- Not My Family Business!
- End Family Reign!
- Change No One Is Related To!
Barack Obama is moving the Democratic National Committee to Chicago and essentially absorbing it into his campaign, Politico reports.
Could that give the GOP more ammunition to attack Obama for his Machine ties?
Well, consider:
“The move to Obama’s headquarters puts the Windy City squarely at the center of American politics for the first time since it was the scene of a Democratic Party meltdown at the 1968 convention,” Politico says. “Then and now, it’s a city whose central political feature– top-down machine control – is one legacy Obama has taken from his allies in the reigning Daley family.”
In a strategic sense, it seems like a smart move, though not everyone is happy about it.
“Barack Obama’s move to merge key elements of the Democratic National Committee into his own campaign’s Chicago headquarters appears aimed at the goal of a centralized and united Democratic Party.
“The shift of the DNC’s political and field organizing operations to Chicago will consolidate the Democratic presidential campaign apparatus more than in either of the last two cycles, when staffers at DNC headquarters overlapped – and occasionally competed – with aides to Al Gore and John Kerry . . . it also left no doubt about where the new center of power lies: On the 11th floor of an undistinguished office tower on Michigan Avenue.”
The move also gives the Obama campaign a chance to merge its organizing efforts into Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy – a strategy once mocked by Rahm Emanuel, who nonetheless was credited in some corners of the media with using it to recapture Congress in 2006.
A bigger irony, though, is that there apparently is one state not cooperating in the strategy: Illinois.
Why?
Because the chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party is Michael Madigan, and as we all know, his agenda is his own.
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On the other hand, with Obama taking closer control of the DNC than John Kerry did, his campaign – despite its rhetoric – may reel in Dean’s 50-state strategy and make sure resources go where they want them to go. After all, Obama is Dean on the outside and Emanuel on the inside.
* And here’s actual memo, edited ever so slightly for spelling and an occasional formatting glitch:
Talking Points on Beginning Impeachment Proceedings Against Governor Blagojevich
* Today, I call on the Illinois House to begin impeachment proceedings against Governor Rod Blagojevich. Let me be clear that I am not calling for the governor’s immediate impeachment. I am instead asking that the House fulfill its constitutional responsibility to investigate possible wrongdoing by the governor to determine if there are grounds for impeachment.
* There are three bases for which the House should consider impeaching Blagojevich:
1. The ongoing federal criminal investigations of his administration, including his role as Public Official A, have significantly impaired his ability to do his job as governor. With Ali Ata’s guilty plea, the governor has been directly implicated in a bribes-for-jobs scheme -the latest revelation of malfeasance in the governor’s office. The conviction of Tony Rezko on 16 or 24 federal corruption counts related to Blagojevich administration activities also suggests something is seriously amiss. Using common sense, and the totality of what has been learned so far about these investigations, prudence demands that lawmakers act. Already, six
individuals associated with his administration have pled or been found guilty of federal criminal charges in connection with their roles in corrupt activities. Criminal activity in the Blagoievich administration is no longer theoretical -it is proven.
Blagojevich is clearly not an innocent victim of circumstances. Legislators have a responsibility to do what is in the best interests of the state and not depend on the federal government to save us. One thing we learned from the George Ryan case is that we should excise a tumor when it is first discovered; not leave it in the body to continue to spread and do further harm.
“Severe weather abruptly shut down the state Legislature on Friday, forcing lawmakers, lobbyists and others into the Statehouse basement as storm sirens wailed and funnel clouds, hail and heavy rain buffeted the capital city,” the Sun-Times reports.
“House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville) and Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn were among those in the basement, where the mood was mostly ebullient. At one point, a handful of lawmakers could be heard singing ‘99 Bottles of Beer’.”
A) The singing came to a standstill after Jones insisted there were only 98 bottles of beer.
B) Quinn proposed ethics legislation banning lawmakers from taking bottles of beer down from the wall.
C) Madigan pissed off everybody by refusing to pass the bottles around.
D) Gov. Rod Blagojevich rode out the storm from a Wrigley Field suite.
Division Street is NBC Chicago’s blog about Chicago news and politics from the perspective of Steve Rhodes, a 20-year veteran of the newspaper and magazine world and more recently, the proprietor of the Chicago news and culture review, The Beachwood Reporter.
“State residents will be more vulnerable to offenses like identity theft and mortgage fraud if significant cuts to her office budget are allowed to stand, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is warning, Crain’s 
Barack Obama is moving the Democratic National Committee to Chicago and essentially absorbing it into his campaign, 
Mike Madigan kickstarts the Impeach Blago movement with an extraordinary memo. 
“Severe weather abruptly shut down the state Legislature on Friday, forcing lawmakers, lobbyists and others into the Statehouse basement as storm sirens wailed and funnel clouds, hail and heavy rain buffeted the capital city,” 
