All posts by C. J. Summers

I am a fourth-generation Peorian, married with three children.
Campaign Rhetoric, State of Illinois

My vote: “None of the above”

5 Comments

PollyPeoria is sick of Gidwitz. I don’t blame her. But then, I don’t like any of the candidates for governor.

There are plenty of good reasons not to like Topinka. Here’s mine: she was the one who decided to give Jack Ryan the boot two years ago and import nutty Alan Keyes from Maryland to run on the Republican ticket for U.S. Senate instead of runner-up Oberweis. That kind of decision doesn’t instill me with much confidence in her judgement.

I had been a big Rauschenberger fan, but then, inexplicably, he decided to run for Lieutenant Governor and ally himself with Gidwitz. Most unfortunate.

I met Oberweis at an ice cream social (what else?) the last time he ran for Senate and wasn’t very impressed.

This is one of those elections where I wish they would institute my idea: have one of the options be “none of the above.” If “none of the above” gets the most votes, then those candidates who ran are all disqualified and a new slate of candidates has to be found. This would allow voters an “out” from having to vote for the “lesser of two evils.” They could use this process in both primary and general elections.

Illinois American Water

Reuters: RWE says IPO likely for American Water Co.

Just saw this news on Reuters:

German utility RWE AG . . . is more likely to have an initial public offering (IPO) for its American Water unit than sell it to financial investors, its chief financial officer said on Thursday.

Klaus Sturany said at an analysts’ conference that an IPO was “still the more likely case.”

RWE plans to make a decision in the first quarter of this year on how to proceed with American Water Works Company Inc. . . . .

American Water Co. is a subsidiary of RWE-AG of Germany and owns Illinois American Water Co. here in Peoria. Expect Grayeb to have something to say about this at next Tuesday’s council meeting.

City of Peoria, Insight Communications, Television

Question for council: How are cable negotiations going?

2 Comments

I wonder what the status is of the city’s negotiations with Insight Communications for a new cable franchise agreement. Last June, the City hired the Varnum Riddering firm from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to help them negotiate a new agreement. The current agreement expires on April 15. It looks like these negotiations are not exactly a walk in the park, at least if Decatur is any indication.

According to the Decatur Herald & Review, the Decatur city council is still negotiating their cable franchise agreement, also with Insight, even though their previous agreement expired in 2003. The sticking point appears to be over how much money Insight should be forced to spend for public, educational, and governmental programming:

Brian Gregory, regional director for government relations for Insight . . . said a proposal calls for about $76,000 for new cameras and equipment for the council chambers. The city hopes to expand programming for other governmental and community groups, which could cost up to $300,000.

Money provided for additional cameras or equipment would raise rates, and Insight cable customers in Decatur would “bear the burden” of those costs, Gregory said . . . . City Manager Steve Garman said there is “nothing that we have asked for that is not ordinary and common for cities of our size.”

Peoria is expanding its own programming slightly — adding a new show called “Inside the City” which starts March 2 on channel 22. But, according to the Request for Council Action last June, they were only looking to save $32,000 when they hired Varnum Riddering. So maybe things will go better for Peoria. Still, it would be nice to hear an update.

City of Peoria

Pittsburgh paper pokes at Peoria

1 Comment

Peoria made the Pittsburgh paper today.  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s “Morning File with Peter Leo” listed the winners in a Great Britain contest for the craziest parking tickets issued.  After giving the five winners, including “Four cars in a funeral cortege [who] were ticketed for stopping while mourners paid their respects,” Mr. Leo turned to America.  In a section titled “Dead man parking,” he had this to say:

Meter maids in Peoria, Ill., recently did the Brits one better: ticketing not a funeral but a dead man. They issued three parking tickets and a tow-away sticker to a black Mercedes SUV parked outside a hospital emergency room. Apparently, they were all business and didn’t take a close look. On Feb. 9, a passing pedestrian noticed the body of a 46-year-old man inside and notified the hospital, the Peoria Journal Star reported. He had been missing for three days. Cause of death is still a mystery.

Abortion, Capital Punishment

Morales morass highlights mixed messages

4 Comments

I was morbidly amused while listening to NPR this morning. They have been following the story of Michael Morales, a man in California who was convicted of raping and murdering a 17-year-old girl, Terri Winchell, in 1981. He is on death row and was supposed to be executed a couple of nights ago.

But there have been complications. California first couldn’t find any anesthesiologists who would make Morales unconscious so he could receive his lethal injection. Then, when given the okay by the court to kill him using sodium pentothol only, they couldn’t find a licensed medical professional willing to do it. They complained it violated the Hippocratic Oath, “first, do no harm.”

This amuses me because there’s another story in the news right now that has to do with so-called “partial-birth abortion.” Pro-choice advocates prefer to call the procedure by its medical name, “D&X,” or “dialation and extraction.” It was a procedure thought up by two doctors — one from Ohio, and the other from (you guessed it) California.

So, it seems that a perfect solution to the Michael Morales problem would be to get an abortionist — perhaps the co-inventer of D&X himself — to perform the execution. After all, if they can end human life at its most innocent and vulnerable state, what should stop them from ending the life of a murderer/rapist who has been tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by a jury of his peers?

But if that doesn’t work, I have a backup plan. They can always starve him to death.

You may remember that when Terri Schiavo was still alive and they wanted to remove her feeding tube, there were several experts who said that, not only is starvation not painful, there’s instead a feeling of euphoria one experiences as the bodily systems shut down. I remember reading with disbelief this description in the Journal Star, wondering if all those starving people in Africa were feeling this “euphoria,” too.

But hey, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from the evolution/intelligent-design debate, it’s that you don’t ever question state-endorsed science. Such science is the only true truth in the western world. So if science says you feel euphoric while starving, then by golly you feel euphoric while starving, and don’t give me any lip. And in a country where we’re more concerned about rapists and murderers having as painless an execution as possible (too bad Morales didn’t extend the same courtesy to his victim), what could be more painless than the euphoria one feels while one’s body wastes away?

One of the anti-death-penalty advocates interviewed by NPR called capital punishment “immoral.” Yet isn’t there something morally askew about a country that so easily assuages its conscience when it comes to killing the unborn and the infirm, yet has a moral crisis about executing murderers?

City Council, City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan

Council Roundup: Boring

1 Comment

Hey, not every meeting can be filled with exciting and/or controversial issues worthy of blogging. Tonight’s meeting was a pretty big yawn. They are looking at the city’s health insurance benefits, trying to determine if they’re comparable with other municipalities. Riveting.

The Heart of Peoria Commission received council support to ask for $500,000 in federal funds from the Economic Development Initiatives Program. These funds would be used for infrastructure improvements in the Warehouse District, marketing for the Heart of Peoria Plan area, and possibly the establishment of a design studio. Basically, passage of this tonight means that they’ll send a letter to Sen. Dick Durbin asking for the money. It passed unanimously.

The last thing on the agenda was approving an ordinance that prohibits people under 21 years old from serving alcoholic beverages. Gary Sandberg clarified that this would still allow under-age wait staff at restaurants to deliver alcoholic beverages to tables. It passed unanimously.

Barbara Van Auken mentioned that some Bradley students are going to be doing their senior project on improving the Sheridan-Loucks business corridor. That will actually be pretty cool. I’d like to see some updating along that stretch — and attracting some new businesses. It’s a nice area.

And finally, the only mildly-exciting moment was when Michael Langley addressed the council and got into a little sparring match with Patrick Nichting that Mayor Ardis had to break up. That was entertaining.

I don’t want to depress you, but it will be another whole week before we get to have another fun-filled evening in council chambers.

Blogosphere, Ray LaHood

Newt for Bloggers

I’m back from my trip.  While I was gone, I picked up a copy of the Wall Street Journal.  I used to get the WSJ home-delivered about ten years ago or so, but then my paperboy (paperman?) went psycho so I cancelled my subscription and started taking the Journal Star instead.  But that’s another story.

On the opinion page of the weekend edition, Brian Carney interviewed Newt Gingrich (remember him?).  Gingrich, of course, was Speaker of the House for a while, starting in 1994 when the Republicans regained a majority.  The whole interview was good, but I was particularly interested in the former Speaker’s comments on blogging:

“…either the House and Senate Republicans are going to move substantially in the next few months or they’re going to run a very real risk of losing the fall election.”

So what does “Substantial movement” look like? …First, the things they can do, such as cutting down on earmarks and pork-barrel spending. “They should change the House rules so that any conference report that comes back is automatically filed on the Thomas system [the Web site where congressional actions are logged and made pulicly available] and is not voted on for 72 hours so that every blogger in the country can go in and read it. That would immediately cut down on the most outrageous stuff because you wouldn’t be able to pass it.”

I like that idea.  Notice, he doesn’t say so the media can go in and read it.  It’s so bloggers can read it.  He sees bloggers as a potential source for reform in this country if only they were given access to these conference reports.  I think he’s absolutely right.

Let’s all write to Ray LaHood and ask him to request this change to the House rules.  He’s a big supporter of earmarks as long as the process is “transparent,” right?  So he should be a big proponent of this idea.

I’m not holding my breath.  Methinks the lobbyists prefer opacity.

Campaign Rhetoric

How to write a political ad

1 Comment

I’ve been watching the ads on TV being run by Illinois gubernatorial candidates, and I think I’ve figured out what it takes to write good copy for these things:

  1. Be as vague as possible. Problems are complex, and people have short attention spans, so steer clear of anything resembling a specific suggestion. In fact, if you can get away with saying only, “Me good, them bad,” just leave it at that.
  2. Passionately embrace outcomes only a comic-book villain would oppose. For instance, say you’re for “better schools,” “balancing the budget,” and “clean water.” This will set you apart from the other candidates who, I assume, are the Joker and the Riddler.
  3. Remember, a picture says a thousand lies. Show lots of pictures of yourself spending quality time with your family; that will give your family something to watch while you’re out on the road the next several months shilling for campaign contributions and brokering endorsement deals. And be sure to include the election-winning illusion that you’re spending your mornings in public schools reading to children because you’ve devoted your life to volunteerism.
  4. Attack your opponent’s record — but more importantly, attack his motives. It’s much easier to win against a corrupt political insider with lust for power than someone who’s simply pursuing a different path to the same goals as you. When talking about your opponent(s), always be sure to show unflattering pictures of them in black and white with an ominous musical underscore. Cynicism and ad hominem attacks are the road to victory.
  5. Finally, point people to your website, which has the same empty rhetoric as your political ad. This is where you can really put your doublespeak skills to work. An actual, complete quote from one candidate’s website explaining her commitment to leadership: “In every area of State government and especially in the Governor’s office, this State’s high standing for competence and leadership has suffered during the last three years.” The funny thing? This candidate works in state government.

And everyone wonders why voter turnout is so low.

Heart of Peoria Plan, Museum Block, Peoria Civic Center

Hotel misplaced?

5 Comments

The Journal Star reports that the Civic Center Authority will be deciding today whether to “enter into land negotiations with an unidentified developer” to build a hotel adjacent to the Civic Center.

Isn’t there already a hotel near the Civic Center called the Hotel Pere Marquette?  Granted, it’s not immediately adjoining, but do they really think that the extra block is driving convention-goers away?  I mean, everyone went apoplectic at the threat of an Embassy Suites going up right across the river.  If convention guests are willing to commute from across the river, it doesn’t look like proximity is the main problem.

I’m guessing the Pere was looking forward to the Civic Center expansion.  More events at the Civic Center means more guests at the hotel.  Only now, if the Civic Center Authority approves this development, all those extra guests will be going to the new Civic Center hotel.

Of course, that’s capitalism, so more power to them.  Still, I can’t help but think this hotel is misplaced.  Wouldn’t it be better, say, down on Museum Square?  You know, like the Heart of Peoria Plan suggested?

Huh (*shakes head*). The Heart of Peoria Plan . . . how passé.