All posts by C. J. Summers

I am a fourth-generation Peorian, married with three children.
2008 Campaign, Aaron Schock

Schock splitting hairs in notary flap

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But as a notary public, Schock was required to provide accurate information about witnessing documents being signed. Schock declared that he witnessed the documents being signed on Jan. 1, 2000, but they weren’t actually signed until more than a year later.

“I can honestly tell you I don’t remember signing anything. I’m sure I did,” he said. “But to ask me what day I signed a document eight years ago, I’m sorry to tell you I don’t remember.”

Schock […] commented on the subject while meeting with the (Springfield) State Journal-Register editorial board. He said he had notarized the document when he was 19, before he held elective office. “So I mean, the question of what I would be like if I was elected to office can be answered, has been answered,” he said, reciting his experience of being elected to the District 150 School Board and later to the Illinois House of Representatives. “I stand by my record in public office.”

These quotes prompted me to try to construct a timeline. I went back in the archives and determined that Schock decided to run for school board in December of 2000. In February of 2001, his petitions were challenged and he was ultimately removed from the ballot. He then mounted a write-in campaign and won on April 3, 2001. He started his term on July 2, 2001.

Based on published statements that the document that was dated Jan. 1, 2000 was actually signed “more than a year later,” that means it was signed after Jan.1, 2001. If it was signed before Schock “held elective office,” then that would mean it was signed before July 2, 2001.

So, I guess what we’re being asked to believe is that, in the less than six months between when Schock notarized a back-dated document and when he was elected and installed on the school board, he… changed. That stuff in early 2001 was a youthful indiscretion. But once he took office, he proved himself more mature, and not like that guy mere weeks before who engaged in professional misconduct.

Well, first of all, I think he’s splitting hairs. But secondly, Schock’s “record in public office” shows that he never really lost his inclination to playing fast and loose with the facts.

In 2006, when Senate Bill 2477 was being debated in the House, Schock told the lawmakers in Springfield a whopper. SB2477 was the bill that authorized District 150 to access funding through the Public Building Commission for their new school buildings. He told his colleagues, “This is a piece of legislation that is not only supported by our school board, but also our entire city council.” But the city council never took a position on the bill, nor were all the council members in favor of its passage. But the legislators in Springfield didn’t know that. They only know what our representative tells them.

Don’t forget what his support of that measure meant to Peoria: keeping our property taxes high without a binding referendum. If that bill hadn’t passed, the school board still could have gotten funding — they just would have had to ask the citizens of Peoria to approve the funding via referendum. Instead, the school board was able to go forward with their plans without any accountability to the voters at all.

I guess the common thread among all of Schock’s controversies of late is this: Can we trust him? Can we trust him to make the right decisions? To accurately represent our interests? To support the best policies? To do the right thing when he thinks no one is looking?

That will be up to the voters to decide next month.

City Council, City of Peoria, Illinois American Water

Water buyout mania starts again

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I got a letter from Illinois American Water today (as I’m sure many of you did, too). I thought it was going to be a report on water quality, but to my surprise, it’s the first volley in the quinquennial fight over the City’s attempt to take over the water company! The pertinent portion of the letter reads (underlining in original):

One other matter I would like to inform you of is that the Peoria City Council is expected this month to consider whether to pursue a buyout of Illinois American Water’s Peoria District water system. An 1889 franchise agreement gives the City the right every five years to pursue a buyout of the water system. As you may recall, in 2005 residents of Peoria voted against a buyout by a margin of 82-18. At that time, an independent panel determined the purchase price would be $220 million in addition to new capital investments made by the company.

If the City Council decides to again pursue the takeover of the water system, the study alone may cost taxpayers $1 million or more. In addition, the company has made significant capital improvements since 2005, which have increased the value of the water system. Some buyout proponents suggest that the takeover of Illinois American Water’s business in Peoria will provide new revenue for City projects not related to the water system. That would be a mistake. Revenue from water bills should be used to operate and invest in the water system, as we do, rather than to fund other City projects. We have encouraged members of Council not to pursue a buyout because there is no reason to do so. A buyout process will be very long, costly and divisive while distracting the City and the company from more important priorities.

I could be wrong, but if I were a betting man, I’d bet that this time we’re going to hear the biggest push ever to buy the water company. Why? Three letters: CSO. The city really, really wants to find a way to pay for the Combined Sewer Overflow project without raising taxes. Being able to take water company revenues and put them toward that effort may prove too hard for the council to resist.

I’ve always been against the water buyout in the past, chiefly because I fear the city will use water rates to raise revenue for other things — essentially a hidden tax that could be used for questionable things like Gateway Buildings and subsidized parking decks. And that’s the argument the water company is making as well in this letter.

But on the other hand, it’s not like Illinois American Water is a non-profit cooperative, putting all their revenue back into the company. They make over $6 million a year in profit for their shareholders. Why shouldn’t the City make that profit and be able to use it toward, say, the CSO project? Or to get rid of the so-called garbage fee?

I’m starting to change my mind. It’s not that I don’t still have the same concerns about a potential water company buyout. It’s just that desperate times call for desperate measures. Buying the water company might be a way for the City to mitigate potential tax increases and still have the money to take care of the CSO project and other basic services.

2008 Campaign, The Peoria Chronicle

Welcome, Rotarians!

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Today, I had the privilege of speaking to the Peoria North Rotary. Matt Jones invited me to speak about the role of blogging in politics and public advocacy. This was the first time I had ever been to a Rotary meeting. I’ve always wondered what Rotary was all about; I’ve heard of it ever since I was a little kid and my grandfather would talk about being part of it.

So, to Matt and all the other Rotarians, thank you for having me; I had a very nice time and enjoyed meeting you.

And to the gentleman who asked me where Obama got his data for the assertion that “98% of small businesses make less than $250,000 a year,” it appears no one knows. But the New York Times thinks he may be correct:

According to figures compiled by the Small Business Administration, there are fewer than six million small businesses that actually have payrolls. The rest are so-called nonemployer firms that report income from hobbies or freelance work done by their registered owners, earning as little as $1,000 a year.

Of these, according to a calculation by the independent, non-partisan Tax Policy Center, fewer than 700,000 taxpayers would have to pay higher taxes under Mr. Obama’s plan. But even some of these are not small-business owners in the traditional sense; they include lawyers, accountants and investors in real estate, all of them with incomes that put them in the top tax brackets.

So are there “millions more like Joe the Plumber,” as Mr. McCain contended? Probably not. Mr. Obama may well have been correct when he stated that “98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000.”

Meanwhile, those who use the Small Business Administration’s guidelines come to a different conclusion:

The US Small Business Administration (SBA) defines a “small business” according to its average annual receipts or the number of its employees. Here are examples from the SBA’s Table of Small Business Size Standards setting forth the maximum average annual receipts by industry that a business can have and still be classified as a small business:

Crop production of all types — $750,000
Animal production except for cattle & chicken/eggs — $750,000
Cattle feedlots — $2.5M
Chicken/egg production — $12.5M
Forestry & logging — $7M
Fishing — $4M
Irrigation, sewage, water supplies — $7M
Housing construction — $33.5M
Heavy and civil engineering construction — $33.5M
Dredging and cleanup — $20M
Concrete, framing, and other housing contractors — $14M
Car dealers — $23-29M
RV, motorcycle, & boat dealers — $7M
Furniture, hardware, clothing & sporting good stores — $7M
Electronic stores — $9M
Supermarkets, gas stations & department stores — $27M
Pharmacies — $7M

There are many more examples at the link. In addition, most of the industries in the Table […] are considered small businesses based on their total number of employees instead of average annual receipts. In those industries, the cut-off between small and large businesses ranges from 500-1,000 employees per business/industry.

It’s difficult for me to imagine a business that has 50 or more employees (let alone 500-1,000) that has receipts of less than $250,000 per year. And, given the SBA definitions of “small business,” it seems likely that many small businesses in a wide range of industries have receipts of more than $250,000 per year.

So, like I said, nobody knows, and Obama isn’t telling where he got his figures.

Museum Block

Museum unveils planned river displays

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From a press releases:

Peoria Riverfront Museum’s Illinois River Encounter to Share Living and Working River

Peoria – Some 15,500 years ago, a huge surge of glacial meltwater swept across Illinois. The result: the Illinois River and its broad floodplain—and a complex eco-system of which humans have long been a part. And that’s just the beginning of the fascinating story visitors to the Peoria Riverfront Museum will experience at The Illinois River Encounter.

At a media event on Oct. 15, Lakeview Museum President and CEO Jim Richerson shared the components of the museum’s Liberty Street Wing and specific plans for The Illinois River Encounter, a major gallery in that wing. “Without the Illinois River, Peoria would not be Peoria,” he said. “It was the river that first drew native people to this area 12,000 years ago. And it is the river that continues to offer commercial and recreational opportunities today.”

Doug Blodgett, director of the Illinois River portion of the Nature Conservancy, has been working extensively with museum designers and shared details of what The Illinois River Encounter will offer. “The gallery will feature parallel, interactive exhibits,” he explained. One side, known as The Living River, will focus on the river’s natural history and habitats. The other side, The Working River, will highlight the changing human relationship to the river over the years.

“Moving through the gallery will evoke the feeling of a trip along the river—through both time and space,” he added, noting:

  • The first section in The Working River will place visitors in the northern reaches of the river, with exhibits on the Illinois & Michigan Canal and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal—the beginning of human attempts to control the river.
  • In the middle of the experience, both The Living River and The Working River will focus on Peoria, including its early history as a fishing town, the role of the river in its industrial development and the ongoing work to address the sedimentation problem in the Peoria Lakes.
  • The final exhibits will focus on the river today, with emphasis on the shipping industry and the work being done to restore the river’s health.

The Living River

In The Living River, visitors will experience a simulation of the rushing meltwaters that formed the Illinois and view photos and samples of geological features caused by the torrent. A recreation of an archaeological dig in the river’s floodplain will include artifacts from various periods, including the Peoria Falcon, a 500-year-old embossed copper plate portraying a bird of prey. “This artifact, likely part of a Native American warrior’s ceremonial headdress, was found in Peoria in 1859, not far from the site of The Block today,” Blodgett said.

A timeline of fishing on the river will offer interactive experiences and artifacts, including footage of jumping carp, mounted specimens of native and invasive fish species and tools from the river’s once-thriving fish and mussel industries. “Beginning in 1891, mussels were harvested to manufacture shell buttons,” Blodgett explained. “When the Illinois River reached its maximum shell production in 1909, there were more than 2,600 boats and 15 button factories along the river.”

The Working River

“The Working River will focus on how we have changed the Illinois River over the centuries, connecting it to Lake Michigan and developing it as a channel for transportation and commerce,” said Steve Jaeger, executive director of the Heart of Illinois Regional Port District. Interactive opportunities will allow visitors to experience what it’s like to pilot a barge, control the flooding of the river in a simulation of downtown Peoria, affect the flow of the river through locks and dams and observe the impact of levees on the river channel and floodplain use.

A look at the future will include information on the efforts of conservation groups to restore the river’s natural ecology, including a display showing the progress and goals of the Nature Conservancy’s Emiquon floodplain restoration project, one of the largest restoration projects in the country.
In addition, The Illinois River Encounter will feature an adjacent River Science Lab. The lab will feature hands-on activities, including a boat interactive where kids can float different types of boats to see which create less turbulence and therefore contribute less to erosion and sedimentation problems.

The multifaceted Peoria Riverfront Museum will join the Caterpillar Experience as key components of a planned downtown center for the arts, education and entertainment known as The Block.

And here are pictures of what these displays look like (click on thumbnails for larger images):

Nation/World, Ray LaHood

Ray LaHood on the bailout bill

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You may recall that I called Ray LaHood’s office to ask him not to vote for the pork-laden $700 billion bailout bill. He voted for it anyway, which shows just how much pull I have. Ha ha. Yesterday, I got a letter from him thanking me for the call and explaining his position. I thought you might be interested in hearing what he had to say (any typos are my fault):

Continue reading Ray LaHood on the bailout bill →

2008 Campaign, Aaron Schock

Official misconduct? Who cares?

52 Comments

The big story now is that Aaron Schock notarized back-dated documents for his father seven years ago. The story states that neither “Schock or his parents benefited financially from using the incorrect date,” but that nevertheless, “using an incorrect date would be misconduct. Under the Illinois Notary Public Act, knowingly committing official misconduct is a Class A misdemeanor. Doing it through recklessness is a Class B misdemeanor.”

Schock’s response to the Journal Star when asked about it:

Schock told the Journal Star the information, released just weeks before the Nov. 4 primary, likely is the work of his “political opposition trying to paint me in a bad light.”

“Obviously, perception is everything and as a public official I have always worked hard and done my best both in public office and in private business. When you enter the public arena everything you do and say regardless of whether it pertains to public office is scrutinized. This is a case in point example of that,” Schock said.

I thought about exploring whether this issue is just political mudslinging or if it really does expose Schock’s character. But then I remembered that nobody cares.

We have a candidate for the 92nd district, Jehan Gordon, who shoplifted, was fined, but then didn’t pay the fine for several years — not until she was running for office. And yet she was nominated by the voters over Allen Mayer.

Schock earlier in his campaign had advocated selling obsolete nuclear weapons to Taiwan to try to intimidate China; he initially stood by his statement, then said it was a joke, then eventually said it was a mistake. And yet he was nominated by voters over Jim McConoughey and John Morris.

So official misconduct as a notary public seven years ago? Whoop-de-do. That won’t even be a blip on voters’ radar screens.

City Council, City of Peoria

Enterprise Zone now to include all of Glen Hollow

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On July 22, the council approved a huge addition to the city’s Enterprise Zone (EZ). Click on the thumbnail to the right for a map of the parcels added then. You’ll notice that those parcels include, among other things, Westlake Shopping Center, all of the “convenience loan” establishments along University, Wal-Mart, Auto Zone, Comcast Cable, and Best Buy.

But that apparently wasn’t enough. It’s back on the agenda this week with eight more parcels added. What poor, blighted businesses are getting the benefit of EZ status this time, you ask? The entire Glen Hollow shopping center. You know, blighted stores like Target, Petsmart, Cub Foods, Lowe’s, Wendy’s, Barnes & Noble, Hometown Buffet. Slums, all of them. And how were they added? According to the council communication, “At the request of one of the City’s Planning Commissioner’s [sic]….” Not all of them; not even a majority of them. One of them. I guess that’s all it takes.

Once again, the city communication makes this comical statement:

These areas are located within the core of our City and property owners have encountered challenges in attracting investment since many businesses are choosing to move to the northern parameters of the City.

And I’ll point out again that one of the reasons they’re choosing to move there is because the City is incentivizing it through annexation and, yes, even EZ status. So now they’re using the Enterprise Zone in the 2nd and 4th districts to compete against the Enterprise Zone in the 5th district. What other self-defeating strategies will the City dream up?

City of Peoria

City take your signs? Switch to handbills

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As I mentioned earlier, the city is cracking down on signs in the public right-of-way. (For those of you who are wondering, the citation in the municipal code is 17.10.a.(8), “Private signs are prohibited in the public right-of-way.”) I believe this is to cut down on visual clutter and, arguably, litter.

So it’s ironic that on Tuesday’s council agenda, there’s this little item:

ITEM NO. 3, H. Communication from the Interim City Manager and Corporation Counsel Requesting Adoption of an ORDINANCE Amending CHAPTER 13 of the Code of the City of Peoria Pertaining to HANDBILLS.

What is the amendment, you ask? It’s to repeal a law against distributing handbills under windshield wipers. Why? Because the laws on the books against distributing handbills have been found unconstitutional:

In August, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held ordinances exactly like Sections 13-50 and 13-51 to be unconstitutional because the City of Granite City, Illinois had not done a study to determine that the ordinances actually reduced litter.

Section 13-50 makes it illegal to put handbills on vehicles, primarily being directed at the placement of handbills on windshield wipers. Section 13-51 prohibits depositing handbills on unoccupied premises. Repeal of these ordinances places the City in compliance with the constitutional requirements. Should repeal of these ordinances lead to an increase in litter, then a study can be done and the ordinances can be re-enacted based upon findings by the City Council.

So now, instead of driving by signs for this or that cause or candidate, we’ll come back from a couple hours’ worth of shopping to find those same messages under our windshield wipers instead.

And do you know what we should do with those handbills when we receive them? If I’m reading this court ruling correctly, it appears the proper thing to do is throw them on the ground.* That way, the city will find that distribution of handbills increases litter, and thus make a prohibition against them constitutional.

Don’t worry about the littering.* City Crews can pick that up while they’re out gathering signs.

*Note: For those of you who are sarcasm-challenged, I’m not literally advocating littering. I’m just demonstrating the absurdity of the situation.

City of Peoria

More signs collected

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From a press release:

City Crews continue to collect signs that have been placed in the right of way.

Today, crews removed 80 signs from locations throughout the City. The locations included University, Knoxville, MacArthur Highway, McClure, Forrest Hill and Madison.

Crews will continue to collect signs. Citizens can assist the City by calling our PeoriaCares line at 494-2273, and letting us know about signs that may be in the public right of way.

Since we now know that “City Crews” (an interesting title given its capitalization yet lack of specificity) have the time for this effort to purge our right-of-ways of the scourge of illegal signage, might they also be available for other, perhaps more important, city-improvement initiatives? Like code enforcement, for instance?