Posted on Thursday, September 2, 2010 by J. Robert Gough

Having some previous experience in helping put these things together, I am offering advice to the Phil Hare and Bobby Schilling campaigns on how to get this debating about the debate to come to an end. And Roger Davis too.

I will send this blog post to the campaigns. If I get responses, I will post them.

NUMBER OF DEBATES: Hare wants 2, Schilling wants 4 and Davis wants 8. How about 3?

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: One in the Quad Cities, one in Quincy and one in Springfield.

LOGISTICS: 

Debate #1 On public television at Network Knowledge in Chatham. Moderator: Melissa Hahn of Illinois Radio Networks. I know Schilling has issues with the WSEC boss Jerold Grubel attending a Phil Hare fundraiser, but this event would only use the facility and Hahn doesn't work for them. In the studio, no audience. It will take care of the Springfield/Decatur segment of the district and satisfies the TV requirement because it would also get back to Quincy. Plus, I'm sure Network Knowledge would allow KHQA and WGEM to do replays.

Debate #2 WTAD Radio in Quincy. Moderators: Bryan Nichols and Mary Griffith. Yeah, WTAD carries Rush, Beck and Levin and the Hare folks might not like that, but having these two people moderate the event should balance it. It would run from 9:30 in the morning to 10:30, bridging both hosts programs. WTAD has the strongest signal in the market and QuincyNews.org would be glad to link to the debate so people could listen as much as they want. In studio, no audience. And c'mon, Adams County has the second most votes in the 17th District...and one of the three candidates is from Quincy.

Debate #3 Quad Cities. Don Morris Gym. Two of the three candidates are graduates of Rock Island Alleman and live in the Quad Cities. The Hare camp gets 900 tickets, the Schilling camp gets 900 tickets and the Davis camp gets 300 tickets (Sorry, Roger). Get some talking head TV anchor from a Quad Cities station to host with one writer from each of the Quad Cities papers and one from the Quincy Herald Whig (I don't need to be on the panel. This is my freakin' idea). No signs. A QC TV station should broadcast as well and ship to KHQA and WGEM.

If the candidates can agree to this, we can discuss the formats of each event at that point. But I've got the ball rolling here.

Everybody has to give up a little something and everybody gets a little something.

We've got two months. Let's get it on.

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Posted on Monday, August 30, 2010 by J. Robert Gough

The way the $6 million (plus) bus/train/taxi/food court story has evolved has stunk from the get-go.

Let's turn the clock back to February, when this was announced.

First, Mayor Spring is telling the Whig that he envisioned this concept years ago. Funny that it was not a campaign issue in 2009. Yes, he has talked about a train to St. Louis (Which I'm sure makes businesses such as the Bee Line Express real happy. More government subsidized competition. Yay), but this was never broached until recently.

Remember the city's wish list for federal stimulus dollars? Think this project was on that list? Nope.

In February, the city's Finance Committee (NOT the entire City Council) gave the administration permission to pursue the grant. City officials intimated that this was a long-range project.

I've had multiple aldermen from both sides of the aisle say they have been provided with no details of the project. Some went public, some didn't want to. If there was a legit reason to provide details to the Chamber of Commerce, I've yet to hear it. The real reason to go to the Chamber was to use a third-party to go before the Council and say what a good idea this is, even though it is the administration orchestrating the plan. The go-along-to-get-along crowd knows no other way.

I find it amazing that the city chose to use this chit for the latest pork-barrel capital plan from the broke-ass state of Illinois. Getting public capital funds for hydro makes more sense than this (of course, we're sure not seeing any private investment in hydro stepping up to the plate).

How much money is AMTRAK willing to pony up? How about BNSF? ADM or Prince, who would also benefit by moving the spur? I understand it's going to cost about $1 million per mile of new track that needs to be laid for this. That's not in this $6 million, boys and girls.

If these people aren't willing to find this important enough to commit dollars to why should the taxpayers have to hold whole damn bag?

And I know many people say this is apples and oranges, but this state owes millions to the schools, medical providers, Transitions, Chaddock and it just doesn't seem right to take money that is being borrowed for this when other services are being ignored.

And to stay the state might never, ever give us money again if we turn it down is ridiculous. Maybe the city should have made sure more than a handful of people wanted this before they asked for it.

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Posted on Thursday, August 26, 2010 by J. Robert Gough

Just when you think you’ve seen everything when it comes to goofy government in the great state of Illinois, we now have a group of citizens being denied the right to assemble at the building where Abraham Lincoln spoke and Barack Obama launched his presidency.

The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency is denying a request by a Decatur, Illinois group to hold a rally on the steps of the Old State Capitol, the same place where Obama held two large rallies during his campaign for the presidency.

Of course, it is also worth noting that Abraham Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech there in 1858. Seven years later, Lincoln’s body would lie in state inside that building.

Jerry Johnson of Restore Our Constitution said his group is being discriminated against.

“They are overstepping their bounds,” Johnson said. “We are the taxpayers. We pay for their salaries and for us to not be able to use it is a travesty. We are being discriminated against. Obama used it not once, but twice. We want to have a peaceful protest to restore our Constitution because they are taking away our rights one by one.”

Quincy native Rhys Saunders of The State Journal- Register wrote the first story I saw on this issue before it went viral. Saunders spoke to a flack from the IHPA who said that the Old Capitol’s space-use policy does not allow political rallies. Obama announced his run for the presidency from the steps of the building in February 2007 and introduced Joe Biden as his choice for vice president in August 2008.

“An exception was made for the Obama event because we felt it would gather international publicity, and we were proven correct when more than 500 members of the media covered the event and gave us visibility to millions of people around the earth,” IHPA spokesman Dave Blanchette said to sj-r.com. “I doubt the event in question could compare to the Obama event in terms of publicity.”

What a freaking load of crap that is.  A tourist: “Let’s see, I wasn’t going to tour the Old State Capitol where Lincoln gave one of the most famous speeches in history, but I’m going to go there now that President Obama was there.” Really? C’mon.

Blanchette also told sj-r.com that state budget constraints have impacted the historic preservation agency and multiple special event requests have recently been denied, including a request by the Central Illinois 9-12 Project in April.

What staff? Open the damn gates and let the people gather on the steps. I’ll bet they will pick up their own trash if you ask them to do so.

“This is a microcosm of what is wrong with this state…and this national government,” Johnson said.

Now the group is planning a protest for this Sunday outside the gates of the Old State Capitol about being denied the right to protest in October.

So you get two protests instead of one. Why is it so many people who are hired for public relations are so freaking bad at it?

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Posted on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 by J. Robert Gough

U.S.Rep. Russ Carnahan's (D-St. Louis) office was set on fire last week and the suspect was mysteriously released after being questioned.

Jim Hoft is reporting this today:

The suspect was reportedly a disgruntled progressive activist employed by Russ Carnahan. An unnamed source familiar with the case released the information. Suspect Chris Powers reportedly was upset because he did not get paid so he firebombed the Carnahan finance offices at 2 in the morning.

Read the whole thing here.

Now I would never confuse St. Louis' Riverfront Times with The Wall Street Journal, but read how this news story appeared in that publication last week:

Police aren't releasing the man's name until charges are officially filed. No motive was given for the attack, though one could suspect that the perpetrator is not a fan of the congressman. Given what we know of him -- 50, white, angry -- he certainly fits the demographics of a Tea Party member. (This is a supposed news piece, not a column or an op-ed.)

Perhaps, he joined his fellow "patriots" earlier this year when they burned Carnahan's photo in effigy or placed a coffin on the sidewalk outside his home. On second thought, maybe he's not a Tea Party member. Firebombing your opponent's office seems a little too, um, sane for that group.

Read the rest here.

Incidentially, notice the fresh thread of comments that are grilling this guy today.

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Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 by J. Robert Gough

So Chad Ochocinco gets fined $25,000 while using Twitter on the sidelines, but it's okay for Brett Favre to do sideline interviews with Andrea Kramer? Yeah, that makes sense.

The Cards are 3-0 when I'm at Busch and am scheduled for only one more game this year. What true fan wants to send me down (all expenses paid) to all of the remaining home games? I still think they will make the playoffs, so you'll need to send me to those too.

The house at 2002 Maine was a dentist's office for more than 30 years and people parked in that lot for more than 30 years and it was suddenly a problem? We all know better. Not every old building needs to be saved, especially when you don't own it.

How's your fantasy football draft or auction? Our league's auction is ridiculously late, the night before the season starts. Regardless, thank God football season is here.

Will any of the aldermen up for re-election face a February primary challenge?

SPONSOR PLUG ALERT: Summer is nearly over and I'll be switching back to Fat Tire from Summer Shandy (both distributed by Mississippi Belle, a fine QNO advertister).

I suspect some of these Adams County officials races will start heating up around Labor Day.

Bill Brady, the dog does have to decide what he's going to do with the car once he catches it. Pat Quinn has blown off both feet and it working on shooting up the rest of his body. You'd better get that budget plan in place.

Kirk-Giannoulias might turn into the dirtiest race in the country...and that's saying something.

So if an aldermen goes to the wall for his constituents, the people whom he or she represents, and his/her fellow aldermen don't back him/her, what happens when a colleague needs a key vote in a similar situation? I think the rules of decorum on the Quincy City Council may have just changed...or has that been the case since April 2009?

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Posted on Friday, August 20, 2010 by J. Robert Gough

Nick Nolte's mugshot was far worse, IMHO.

Anyway, Cardinals broadcaster Dan McLaughlin got a DWI in Chesterfield on Monday and it was reported throughout the St. Louis media on Friday (must not check their blotter on a regular basis).

When you are a public figure, something like this really magnifies.

He's taking a couple of nights off for "personal reasons" and will be back on the air next week.

And apparently, Danny Boy has a long way to go before he will become as beloved as Jack Buck.

Here's a few of the roughly 200 comments on the story on stltoday.com:

He looks like a sausage.

I've got a crisp hundo that says Dan WAS at St. Albans, just a matter of time until someone who was there confirms it. The spin machine is working overtime on this one. How in the world was he NOT in the Pujols tourney? His sunburned drunken mug speaks volumes. This guy was tanked.

Give me the names of two more boring asleep putting anouncers
than these clowns. He and Al are real YAWNERS. But, NOW Dan
fits right into the Cards community, more substance use.

And stop these stupid comments about weight gain from drinking. How many of you idiots that don't drink are over weight? Sure drinking can add weight but many things contribute to weight gain.

If true, this is surprising from someone who has always seemed sort of holier than thou on air. Maybe all the years around Hrabosky and Shannon have rubbed off. Just saw him on an ad and he has gained a lot of weight. If he was drunk while driving, that's horrendous. What also makes me angry, though, is that he had a night off from broadcasting. He has several young children at home -- seems like he should have been home with his family when he had the chance.

Is this a newspaper or gossip rag? Stop the press, McLaughlin is NOT infallible. It's a good thing the press keeps us so informed on everything. What a rag. If there was ANY other paper that covered St.L Sports I would never check this sight

Is that his mug shot? Cuz dude looks tanked.

He's so drunk in that mug shot he's nearly cross eyed!

Watch as many Cardinal games as he does maybe you go out and get trashed too.

Click here to read the whole story and the comments.

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Posted on Thursday, August 19, 2010 by J. Robert Gough

Where's the love?

From a Giannoulias media advisory:

Giannoulias, Durbin To Criss-Cross Illinois on Jobs Tour

CHICAGO - U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias and Senator Richard Durbin will kick off the first of two statewide tours on Wednesday at the Illinois State Fair. The tours will highlight Alexi's comprehensive plan to get our economy moving again and shine a light on the stark choice in the U.S. Senate race this year -- a choice between incumbent Washington Congressman Mark Kirk, who takes record amounts of corporate money and continually votes to protect their interests, and Alexi, a true independent voice who banned pay-to-play on his first day in office, refuses to take corporate special interest money, and has presented comprehensive plans to end the economic mess caused by a decade of Bush-Kirk economics. Alexi will travel to 16 towns in central and southern Illinois in four days...

During the tour, Giannoulias will share his plans for creating the next generation of good-paying jobs, helping small businesses access capital so that they can grow, and rooting out the corporate special interests that plague Washington. Senator Durbin will join the tour for select stops on 8/19 and 8/20. Giannoulias will visit the following cities and towns in Illinois: Bloomington/Normal, Cairo, Carbondale, Chester, Decatur, Du Quoin, Alton, East St. Louis, Effingham, Harrisburg, Mascoutah, Metropolis, Mt. Vernon, Pana, Springfield, and Waterloo.

Of course, we know Durbin doesn't give advance notice to the public when he comes to Quincy. Looks like perhaps he's having the man who he hopes will be his junior senator subscribe to his same philosophy.

Or maybe they will just ignore Quincy for fear they might not get the friendly reception they used to when people thought Durbin was representing them the way in they way they wanted.

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Posted on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 by J. Robert Gough

People are questioning if Illinois' public pensions are really guaranteed.

Dennis Byrne wrote the following in chicagotribune.com on August 10:

Illinois public employees who think the state constitution guarantees that they'll get all their pension benefits may have another think coming.

Politicians' and public labor unions' assurances aside, there's another, not-well-publicized school of thought that says if the pension funds go bust, the state has no obligation to step in to pay the benefits. This runs contrary to the popular view that the Illinois Constitution, on its face, guarantees that all public employee pension benefits will be fully paid.

This belief is based on Article 13, Section 5 of the Illinois Constitution: "Membership in any pension or retirement system of the state, any unit of local government or school district … shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired."

Sounds solid, doesn't it? It's not, according to a legal opinion from the Chicago law firm Sidley Austin, provided to me by R. Eden Martin, president of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

The opinion acknowledges that the constitution creates a contractual agreement between the workers and the state's employee pension funds. But it concludes that neither the constitution nor the law say the state is a guarantor of that obligation.

The Sidley opinion argued that the state can become a guarantor only under section 2l2-403 of the Illinois Pension Code. That provision states that if a state pension fund runs out of assets "(a)ny pension payable under any law . . . shall not be construed to be a legal obligation or debt of the State . . . but shall be held to be solely an obligation of such pension fund, unless otherwise specifically provided in the law creating such fund."

So, does any law creating the pension funds "specifically provide" that the state would become the guarantor? Sidley examined the laws creating the five state pension funds and concluded that while each contains an "obligation of state" provision, none guarantees that the state will step in and pay the funds if they run out of money.

In simple language, that means if the pension funds run short of cash, public workers face the same sort of uncertainties that most workers in the private sector do.

Read the rest here.

And now the rebuttal from the Illinois Federation of Teachers/Illinois Education Association:

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Posted on Monday, August 16, 2010 by J. Robert Gough

This went viral this morning and if you haven't seen it, it's pretty amazing as Congresswoman Melissa Bean (D-8, Illinois) of Barrington holds a Town Hall meeting and goes to every extreme to make sure she doesn't end up "getting Hare-d".

It's obvious our members of Congress now only want to be on camera in a controlled environment, but why would any Congressperson tell someone to shut off a video camera at a town hall meeting being held in a public building? Then, she sends some big goon over to stand menacingly near the camera? Are they trying to live up to the stereotype?

And that bull about protecting "people's personal stories". Guess what? If they've shown up to tell their story at an event like this do they think they are going to confession?

They don't want the cameras there. They really don't want to have these meetings anymore, especially as November draws near.

Gateway Pundit had it first and it blew up from there.

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Posted on Monday, August 16, 2010 by Administrator

Robert Novy-Marx is an assistant professor of finance at the University of Rochester. Joshua Rauh is an associate professor of finance at the Kellogg School of Management.

Public pension systems in Illinois have long served as vehicles for the government to borrow money out of the view of taxpayers. In place of even higher public employee salaries, politicians have made unfunded pension promises extending far beyond their own terms in office. These debts are coming due, placing a massive burden on state and local budgets.

Government accounting standards have facilitated this surreptitious borrowing by grossly undervaluing the state's pension liabilities. A true financial valuation of unfunded pension liabilities reveals a debt of more than $200 billion for the state and local governments. That is around $42,000 per Illinois household and only counts benefits that public employees can claim based on today's pay and work history.

The April legislation that trims benefits for new hires doesn't reduce your $42,000 debt by one penny. It may gradually slow the growth of your debt to public employees, but only if the state fully funds the benefits earned under the new tier. In fact, it is quite possible that the giveaways of the past will be repeated in the future. As soon as there is the smallest economic recovery, benefits could again be raised or contributions reduced.

Click here for the entire piece.

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Posted on Friday, August 13, 2010 by J. Robert Gough

This submitted photo and this website, www.illinoisisbroke.com, show why Quincy really shouldn't be all giddy to accept $6 million for a bus/cab/train/bingo parlor.

When you go to that site and look up what the state owes entities such as Quincy Public Schools, Blessing Hospital, Transitions, Adams County, etc. you'll know what I mean.

The state owes the Chicago Public Schools $357 million. That is more than the combined budgets of all of the taxing bodies in Adams County.

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Posted on Sunday, August 8, 2010 by Administrator

From Illinois Review: The gutsy, no-holds-barred Take Back Illinois 9-12 group that was beaten up by political columnist Bernie Schoenberg in the Springfield Journal Register today are serious about dumping the Democratic cronies who, they say, have sunk Illinois.  The ad below ran today in the Alton Telegraph's print edition.  These taxpayers are fed up with playground bullies and corrupt tyrants.  Let's hope Downstate voters are paying attention in November like the folks across the river last Tuesday.  Missourians rejected Obamacare and the liberal's big government agenda by a 2 to 1 margin.

Click here for the piece.

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Posted on Thursday, August 5, 2010 by J. Robert Gough

It appears that commenters on other Websites that have picked up the "Courtesy Rides" saga pretty much see it as ridiculous that the city has put the kibosh on Jonathan Schoenakase's operation.

From reason.com: Some guy's friend gets killed by a drunk driver and he decides to do something about it. He starts a service to keep drunks off the road by offering free rides home. It turns out that Quincy, Illinois, is well stocked with semi-responsible drunks, so "business" booms. He adds another car to the service, and eventually a bus. Local taxi companies are not amused.

Click here for the rest of that.

From jalopnik.com: We understand the police are just following the law, but this entire situation stinks like a three-days-worn t-shirt off a drunk's back. A guy goes out of his way to reduce drunk driving in his town, an effort he's doing to honor his dead friend, and the city shuts him down at the behest of a taxi company. Real nice work there. If nothing else how about just give the guy his $10 license and be done with all this pointless nonsense.

Click here for the whole shebang.

I'm torn on the issue. I thought the city overreached in the way it decided to try to keep Schoenakase off the streets (turning a blind eye to all of the other couriers out there who are not properly credentialed either), but once the city passed this law, I thought he should have gone through proper channels to get licensed. This could have happened, but didn't. I'm amazed someone else hasn't tried to fill the void.

I also don't think he is helping his case as he continues to operate and flaunt the law. The courts will decide if the law holds up.

But people on the outside looking in, and about half of those who have commented on QNO, believe the end justifies the means.

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Posted on Thursday, August 5, 2010 by J. Robert Gough

From Bernie Schoenburg @sj-r.com: 

Republican candidate BOBBY SCHILLING, who is taking on Rep. PHIL HARE, D-Rock Island, issued a news release calling on Hare to give up $7,000 in campaign contributions he got from Rangel and a political committee controlled by Rangel.

“These donations are tainted contributions from a corrupt politician,” Schilling said in that release. “There are plenty of fine charities in the 17th District that could use the $7,000.”

Hare’s campaign responded that not only has Hare donated some of the money to charity and will do likewise with the rest, but Hare is calling for the ouster of Rangel.

“I am deeply concerned by the charges brought against Representative Rangel and believe that due to their serious nature he should resign from the U.S. House of Representatives,” Hare said.

Click here to read the whole thing.

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Posted on Monday, August 2, 2010 by J. Robert Gough

From pjstar.com: As the city of East Peoria was throwing millions more last week at another company that shouldn't need the helping hand, one question kept circling before swooping in for the kill: Where have central Illinois' tea partiers been?

After a year in which the word "socialism" hardly left their lips, here was a prime example of government nosing its way into the free market right in their own back yard - repeatedly, unrepentantly - yet with little more than a peep of protest. What gives?...

We've become accustomed to being in the minority on this issue, but we're still mystified by the relative silence of the tea partiers and other conservatives. Want to change the world? Start at home.

Click here to read it all.

 Believe it or not, this is a newspaper editorial, one you would never see in the local version.

Someone should let the folks in Peoria know what is happening in Quincy tonight.

More editorials you won't see here, this one about Mark Kirk, also from pjstar.com: Unfortunately, after looking through his "Peoria Agenda," our first-blush reaction is that it's rather generic. Of Kirk's nine priorities, only three involve specific policy proposals. The remainder are vague pledges of support for things no sane candidate would oppose...

Indeed, we'd point out that for supposedly city-specific proposals, there's a lot of overlap in Kirk's ideas for Springfield, Quincy, Rockford and Peoria. The current congressman supports the hospitals here, for example, but also the Mid-Illinois Medical District in Springfield and Blessing Hospital in Quincy. He'll fight for the 182nd Air Guard here, and the 183rd in Springfield.

Click here for more.

That's probably because the same folks who are involved with writing the editorials here helped Kirk with his multi-purpose "Pick a city Agenda."

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