’08 election up next, but 2010 talk already in the air

Bernard Schoenburg
STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Jun 29, 2008 @ 12:04 AM

In the midst of a presidential campaign and a budget crisis in Illinois, the never-ending political cycle means there’s already talk of who might run for what state offices in 2010.

Comptroller DAN HYNES, who in 2004 lost a primary race to U.S. Sen. BARACK OBAMA, D-Ill., is among those whose names have been bandied about as possible candidates for governor in a couple years.

Hynes was in Springfield this week to endorse COLLEEN CALLAHAN for the U.S. House in the 18th Congressional District, which is the kind of thing possible future candidates do. But, like most people mentioned for future offices, he didn’t stoke the flames.

“I’m focused on the 2008 election — helping elect Barack Obama, helping elect Colleen Callahan and other congressional candidates and state representative and senator candidates,” Hynes said. “I think we have enough in terms of politics for the year.”

Another name in the mix is that of former U.S. Commerce Secretary WILLIAM DALEY, brother of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

Now Midwest chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Daley did return a phone call.

“I have no comment on any of this,” he said with a laugh in a message. “It’s a little ridiculous.”

Capitol Fax and the Chicago Sun-Times have reported recently that Daley is interested.

State Sen. BILL BRADY, R-Bloomington, who ran in the GOP primary for governor in 2006, has strongly hinted he’s laying groundwork for another run. And DuPage County State’s Attorney JOE BIRKETT, who was running mate to GOP gubernatorial candidate JUDY BAAR TOPINKA in 2006, has posted articles on his campaign Web site, www.joebirkett.com, including one from the Naperville Sun headlined “Birkett considers run for governor in 2010.”

LYNN SWEET of the Sun-Times recently blogged that others assessing a run include state Treasurer ALEXI GIANNOULIAS, Lt. Gov. PAT QUINN, Attorney General LISA MADIGAN, and PAUL VALLAS, former head of the Chicago Public Schools, who nearly defeated Gov. ROD BLAGOJEVICH in the 2002 Democratic primary.

State Sen. DAN RUTHERFORD, R-Chenoa, who ran for secretary of state in 2006, has also let it be known that he is a likely statewide candidate in 2010.

Oh, and Blagojevich is raising campaign money too. If the past is prologue, much of what he’s raising could go to lawyers. Still, if he has any left, he just might run again as well.

Brady visiting Turkey

Sen. Brady is among a bipartisan group of about a dozen Illinois lawmakers visiting Turkey.

“They have meetings with members of Parliament,” said PATTY SCHUH, spokeswoman for Senate Republicans. “They’re an official delegation meeting with government officials of Turkey.”

She said the trip was sponsored by the Turkish American Society of Chicago, a nonprofit group, and the Chicago Turkish American Chamber of Commerce.

“I think they’ve been trying to reach out in a number of ways to build some relationships,” she said.

Schuh said she believes lawmakers who went on the trip are from all four legislative caucuses and are paying their own airfare.

The trip was from June 20 through Monday.

Brady’s district includes part of eastern Sangamon County.

Corvettes get a day

U.S. Rep. JOHN SHIMKUS, R-Collinsville, recently sponsored a House resolution to name June 30 “National Corvette Day.”

No, Shimkus doesn’t drive one, and he has never owned a Corvette, said spokesman STEVE TOMASZEWSKI. But there’s an annual Corvette Funfest put on by a company called Mid America Motorworks in Effingham, which is in Shimkus’ 19th Congressional District. The event, Sept. 19-21 this year, is expected to showcase 12,000 Corvettes.

MIKE YAGER of Mid America, as well as the National Corvette Association, came to Shimkus with the idea for the resolution, Tomaszewski said.

Sievers joins Realtors

A member of the Statehouse press corps for nearly seven years has moved into the private sector.

STEPHANIE SIEVERS, 39, of Springfield, recently began working in the communications department of the Illinois Association of Realtors.

Sievers has been a Statehouse reporter with Small Newspapers, which includes dailies in Kankakee, Rock Island, Moline and Ottawa.

“It was just time,” Sievers said. “The newspaper industry’s kind of rough right now, and I’d been looking to switch to communications for a while. And the Illinois Association of Realtors will be a great place to do that.”

Sievers said the Statehouse scene was “always eye-opening.” Her bureau chief, SCOTT REEDER, called her a “terrific journalist.”

She and her husband, SCOTT SIEVERS, an assistant attorney general in Springfield, have two daughters.

ANDREA ZELINSKI, this year’s Public Affairs Reporting intern with the Small bureau, is taking Sievers’ place for now. The PAR program operates through the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Condolences

Condolences to state Rep. PAUL FROEHLICH, D-Schaumburg, on the June 8 death of his mother, EDWINA FROEHLICH, of Inverness, after suffering a stroke May 25. She was 93.

Mrs. Froehlich was among seven founders of La Leche League International. She also was one of the authors of “The Womanly Art of Breast-feeding,” of which there are more than two million copies in print.

In 1956, she and six other women met in Franklin Park to share information on how to breastfeed their babies, according to an obituary on the La Leche League Web site, www.llli.org. The name of the group, including the Spanish word for milk, came about, she is quoted as saying, because “In those days you didn’t mention ‘breast’ in print.”

In the 1940s and ’50s, breastfeeding was considered something more for the “Third World, said Rep. Froehlich, 57.

“Medicine was saying, you know what, it is kind of old-fashioned,” he said. “Formula is just as good as human milk for babies. And so doctors were pretty non-supportive. They discouraged mothers from nursing.

“That’s why La Leche League came into being — to provide some support,” he said. “With a little help from somebody who knows what they’re doing, almost all women actually can breast-feed their children, should they choose to do so.”

He said there’s no longer a medical question that breast milk is best for babies.

Froehlich said his mother also advocated natural childbirth, after being “taken aback” by how an older sister went through the births of four children in hospitals where the husband wasn’t allowed to witness the births.

“She thought there was a better way than women not knowing what was going on and just being drugged and the baby pulled out with forceps,” Froehlich said.

His mother, he said, found a young doctor willing to oversee natural childbirth at the family home. Froehlich and his two younger brothers were all born at their parents’ home in Franklin Park. The same doctor, he said, came to his home to deliver Froehlich’s three daughters.

“My father was there,” he said of his birth. “And you know, there’s very few people in my age range who can say that.”

Froehlich supports legislation to allow licensing of midwives in Illinois. Five of the seven children of state Sen. WILLIAM HAINE, D-Alton, were born at home, and he got a midwifery bill through the Senate in 2007. It didn’t pass the House.

But Froehlich said he has backed successful legislation to ban discrimination against nursing mothers in public places and to allow nursing mothers to opt out of jury duty.
Froehlich said he and family members received hundreds of cards and letters from across the world when his mother fell ill and later died.

“It’s comforting to know she made such a lasting impact and helped change society for the better,” he said.

Bernard Schoenburg is political columnist for The State Journal-Register. He can be reached at 788-1540 or
bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.

Pension reform needed — starting with legislators

The Pantagraph
Thursday, June 19, 2008 12:09 AM CD

For another example of politicians being out of touch with taxpayers, we give you former state Sen. Carol Ronen.

Ronen served in the Legislature from 1992 until January of this year — roughly half in the House and half in the Senate.

The staunch ally of Gov. Rod Blagojevich took a job as a senior adviser to the governor, but only worked a couple of months before leaving the job.

However, the Chicago Sun-Times reports that through that brief stint, the Chicago Democrat was able to bolster her state pension by almost an additional $38,000 per year.

Her total pension will be $102,000 annually — more as annual “cost of living” increases kick in.

She is not the first former lawmaker to take advantage of the pension “bump” that occurs when a former lawmaker takes a job in another part of state government that has a reciprocal arrangement with the General Assembly Retirement System.

And, unfortunately, she probably won’t be the last.

Although a law was enacted to limit the ability of retired lawmakers to increase their pensions by working at another, higher-paying state job for a short period, it doesn’t apply to those elected before Aug. 22, 1994. And there are still plenty of lawmakers in Springfield who fall into that category.

Ronen defended her lucrative pension, telling the Sun-Times that “My entire career has been devoted to public service” and insisting, “It’s not a scam.”

But, while it might not meet the legal definition of a “scam,” it certainly reflects poor public policy. Taxpayers are entitled to believe the whole system that allows such a practice is a “scam.”

The current pension mess facing the state, with a system that is woefully underfunded, can’t be blamed on former lawmakers such as Ronen who manage to boost their retirement pay to well beyond what they made while actually serving in the Legislature.

Lawmakers are too small a piece of the pie to shoulder that blame.

But they will never be able to bring meaningful reform to the pension program overall without setting a good example themselves.

There have been attempts to have lawmakers be part of the same retirement plan as other state workers.

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, proposed such a change more than five years ago, but it never made it out of committee.

But the more the public sees examples of legislative largesse, such as Ronen’s super-sized pension, the more voters will be motivated to send lawmakers into “early retirement.”

GOP’ers: Blagojevich has to go

Saturday, June 7, 2008 11:36 PM CDT
By Kenneth Lowe
kenneth.lowe@lee.net

DECATUR — The campaign message of party leaders at the Illinois Republican Party Convention on Saturday in Decatur mirrored that of the national Democratic Party: The chief executive has got to go.

But in this case, state GOP leaders were talking about Gov. Rod Blagojevich, not President Bush.

Senate Minority leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville, said Republicans have Blagojevich, a Chicago Democrat, to thank for uniting their party.

“We thank you, Governor Blagojevich, for everything you’ve done to organize us!” Watson said before the assembled delegates.

But even though the governor’s term won’t expire until 2010, some members of the Republican Party have already stated their aspirations for taking the spot.

Among those who have hinted at a run are state Sen. Dan Rutherford of Chenoa, who has expressed interest in a statewide office, and state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington, who ran an unsuccessful primary bid against Judy Baar Topinka in 2006.

Brady said he has been asked to speak at many events and sees himself as being in a leadership role going into 2010, though he said it is too soon to make any announcements.

“I’m honored to have been asked to step up and be that leader for our party,” Brady said.

House Minority Leader Tom Cross said it is important not only to fight for the governor’s office, but also for control of the General Assembly.

“We need to have a different person (as governor), and I don’t know who it’s going to be, but it has to be a Republican,” Cross said.

Watson said no matter who captures the Republican nomination for governor, he hopes for unity within the party.

“I don’t want to see a divided or divisive primary where we just spend money, split the party, and nothing gets accomplished,” Watson said.

While some were looking toward 2010, Republicans have a more immediate fight on their hands in November now that Barack Obama has secured the Democratic nomination for president. His emergence last week was expected to draw more Democrats to the polls to vote for the junior senator from Illinois.

Despite the likelihood of what he called a “favorite son effect” for Obama, Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna said Democrats have a tough record to defend.

“People come to me — particularly reporters — saying, ‘Jeez, isn’t it hard? Senator Obama’s going to be on the top of the ticket here in Illinois,’” McKenna said. “I say to them it gives us both the opportunity and the responsibility to say to people, ‘What does Democratic leadership mean?”’

Brady said Obama’s liberal political stance also could be a weak point.

“There’s a great number of people in this state who do not agree with what Barack Obama believes in,” Brady said.

Obama’s prominence comes at the same time that President Bush is suffering from a very low approval rating that former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said has rubbed off on the Republican Party as a whole.

Watson said Republican presidential nominee John McCain could turn that perception around.

“I’m thankful we have John McCain,” Watson said. “I think we will offset the anti-Bush attitude we’re seeing out there.”

In addition to looking forward to the November election and beyond, attendees at the state convention Saturday elected former Bloomington attorney Pat Brady of St. Charles as national committeeman and Demetra Demonte of Pekin as national committeewoman.

Lawmakers: Rezko’s conviction gives state another black eye

Wednesday, June 4, 2008 7:29 PM CDT
By Kurt Erickson
kurt.erickson@lee.net

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers said the conviction Wednesday of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s former top adviser Antoin “Tony” Rezko gives the corruption-challenged state another black eye.

And, they said the embattled Democrat from Chicago faces tough times ahead as he tries to govern.

State Rep. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion, said the trial exposed the underbelly of insider politics in Illinois.

“Throughout this trial, citizens have had an opportunity to see how slime balls have been allowed to enrich themselves at the expense of taxpayers and this has probably been going on in a variety of ways,” Flider said. “It’s great that these slime balls have been exposed. It’s unfortunate that they’ve been able to get away with what they have been able to get away with.”

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, said things may only get worse for Blagojevich because another former adviser, Christopher Kelly, is awaiting trial on federal charges.

Brady, an unofficial candidate for governor in 2010, said the conviction will further weaken Blagojevich, who has battled with fellow Democrats since taking office in 2003.

“The credibility of this administration was near zero anyway,” Brady said.

“Maybe this will be the root canal that Illinois politics needed,” said state Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa.

The verdict had state Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, renewing his call for Blagojevich to step down.

“The governor should resign. A lot of these counts were closely tied to the governor,” Jacobs said.

State Rep. David Miller, D-Lynwood, cautioned that the governor is not facing criminal charges.

“The governor still hasn’t been indicted of any wrongdoing, but it does tarnish his administration and it does start to raise questions about how much involvement he did or did not have with Tony Rezko,” Miller said.

The Rezko verdict could mean tricky times for Democrats running in the November election. Republicans already have begun trying to tie candidates to Blagojevich’s troubles.

But, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete, said the decision will have little or no effect on her bid for Congress in the 11th district.

“The voters want to see corruption ended, and they want to see honesty back in government,” Halvorson spokesman Brian Doory said.

State Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, said Blagojevich should completely explain what was going on in his office.

“Any kind of charges like this don’t help him. It’s just an issue that he’s going to have to face up to and tell the people what’s right, wrong or indifferent,” Forby said.

“The people of the state of Illinois deserve better,” said state Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion. “The allegations and evidence were very concerning to me not only as a steward of the state government but as an individual citizen and taxpayer.”

Lawmakers’ lack of trust of Blagojevich has been an issue all year, with many unwilling to turn over billions of dollars for special projects to the governor without hard promises. State Rep. David Reis, R-Willow Hill, said the verdict reinforces that issue.

“I think it underscores why we’ve had so many concerns,” Reis said.

State Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, said Blagojevich’s political future may hang in the balance.

“It depends on what Rezko knows and information that he might tell,” Bost said. “We’ve seen this before similar with the George Ryan case. They’ll pursue it, hopefully, if there’s violations. Justice will be done.”

State Rep. Mike Boland, D-East Moline, said Blagojevich should act quickly on legislation that seeks to ban some types of pay-to-play politics.

“If I was the governor, I’d sign that ethics bill right away and try to start getting myself on the side of righteousness before the whole thing collapses,” Boland said.

Republican state Reps. Roger Eddy of Hutsonville and Chapin Rose of Mahomet agreed.

“People are so jaded and sick of this in this state,” Eddy said. “It’s almost a laughingstock.”

“(Blagojevich) needs to make some pretty definitive statements very fast,” Rose said.

Added state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington: “It’s another dark cloud over the governor.”

Mike Riopell, Kenneth Lowe and Kartikay Mehrotra contributed to this story.
________________________________________

What they’re saying:

Here’s what some local lawmakers were saying about Wednesday’s verdict in the federal case against Antoin “Tony” Rezko:

“It gives the entire system a black eye. It’s a reminder that no one is above the law.”

State Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington.

“Illinois doesn’t need to be governed by someone who is corrupt or who surrounds themselves with corrupt people.”

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington.

“On the heels of the previous governor, anyone around government should have known they were going to get caught if they did this kind of stuff.”

State Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa.

Copyright © 2008, Pantagraph Publishing Co. All rights reserve.