2008 Campaign, State of Illinois

Perhaps the biggest vote this November

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The campaign is heating up now. No, not the presidential race. I’m talking about the battle over whether Illinois should have a constitutional convention, or “con-con.” Organizations and coalitions are forming, and we can expect to see political ads from both sides.

Yes

On the “yes” side, there’s a couple of groups I’ve found. One is called United Power for Action and Justice, which has a site advocating a con-con. Then there’s Yes for Illinois, an effort of the nonpartisan Illinois Citizens Coalition (ICC). Here is an episode of the Illinois Issues Forum where ICC founder Bruno Behrend explains why he’s a proponent of having a con-con, and refutes the arguments of opponents:

No

On the other side, we have the Alliance to Protect the Illinois Constitution. They apparently don’t have a website yet, but I expect they will soon. According to the State Journal-Register (Springfield), “the alliance expects to spend about $3 million getting its message out to voters.” Their message?

Members of the new Alliance to Protect the Illinois Constitution say that convening a constitutional convention in 2010 would cost an estimated $100 million or more and would do little to solve state government’s problems. The real solution, they said, is to elect better leaders.

And just who is part of this alliance?

Members of the alliance include the Illinois Business Roundtable, Illinois AFL-CIO, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and League of Women Voters of Illinois.

My Take

I’m for a con-con. I think it would be worth the money and the risk. The biggest surprise to me in that list of alliance members is the League of Women Voters. They have long decried the gerrymandering of Illinois’ voting districts. How are the people of Illinois supposed to “elect better leaders” when lawmakers choose their voters through gerrymandering? Or when Illinois limits ballot access to third party candidates? It’s naive to think that these problems can be rectified by anything less than a constitutional convention.

Interestingly, Presidential candidate Barack Obama is getting some heat over this issue. The Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Martin reports that Obama’s chief strategist David Axelrod is lending the aid of his public relations firm to opponents of a con-con. Martin quotes this letter from United Power for Action and Justice to Obama:

“Our nonpartisan organization . . . was surprised to learn that David Axelrod’s public relations firm has negotiated a contract of at least $2 million to lead a campaign against the state’s best chance for change in 20 years — the upcoming referendum on whether or not the citizens of Illinois should call a constitutional convention to deal with the mess in Springfield. While your campaign manager is heading a presidential effort whose slogan is “Change you can believe in,” his firm is running a local campaign whose slogan should read, “Change we must fear and undermine.”

But then, cognitive dissonance doesn’t appear to be a problem for Obama, as his multiple flip-flops on issues show.

There appears to be a big disparity in money. Opponents have $3 million to spend convincing Illinoisans to vote against a con-con. I can’t find any figures on the two proponent organizations, but they don’t appear to have a lot of money. But they do have the Illinois legislature and governor on their side. Oh, not explicitly, of course. I just mean that as long as they keep displaying their dysfunctional and embarrassing antics down in Springfield, it only serves to stoke the fires of voter discontent. Maybe legislators can choose their voters, but the con-con vote crosses district lines.

Peoria Police

Dunnigan back on the force

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Last August, when Troy Parker was reinstated to the police force, I wondered aloud how that could happen to him and not Marshall Dunnigan, especially considering how much more serious Parker’s alleged crime was. After reading the public accounts of Dunnigan’s alleged crime, the whole case against him sounded pretty tenuous to the casual observer. I figured there must have been more to the story that wasn’t released to the public.

But today, we learn from the Journal Star that an arbitrator has concluded that “the city failed to establish that Dunnigan intended to commit theft or fraud when he cashed a $639 ticket from the machine at the [Paradice] casino, which actually belonged to another gambler, a retired Peoria police officer.” Now Dunnigan has been reinstated to the force and will receive back pay for all the time he was off for wrongful termination. All except a ten-day suspension for “fail[ing] to report that he was under investigation for a crime.”

Dunnigan was fired in March of 2007, so that’s going to be one mammoth check for back pay he’ll be getting from the city. Hope he doesn’t spend it all in one place, if you know what I mean.

Peoria Journal Star

Mike Miller leaving Journal Star

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Since I work at a church, I’ve had the opportunity to meet religion editor Mike Miller a couple of times when he’s covered the use of media in churches. I’ve always enjoyed talking to him, and I thought his religion coverage at the paper was interesting and thoughtful.

I was surprised to get an e-mail from him today saying that he’s leaving the Journal Star to go work for Samaritan Ministries International. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised anymore by people fleeing leaving the GateHouse Media-owned Journal Star, but it’s always sad to see good reporters go. On the bright side, at least he’ll still be in the area, since his new company is located on Altorfer Drive here in Peoria.

Godspeed in your new job, Mr. Miller.

General News

Get inspiration from local entrepreneur

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From a press release:

Hear in iRepairSquad President James Skaggs’ own words how iRepair Squad was conceptualized and launched.

Thursday, July 17, 2008
5:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Novus is held in the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center
801 W. Main Street, Peoria
($10 admission includes hors d‘oeuvres and drinks.)

You’ve probably heard ABOUT iRepairSquad. Now hear FROM THEM. These winners of the May 2007 Project Springboard business plan competition — the team of James Scaggs, Patrick Whitt, Lynn Wiewell, Jamie Buggs and Brad Watson — beat out five other teams to capture the first prize of $10,000 and a year’s worth of “knowledge capital” provided by several local companies. But their award-winning business was already up and running out of a home office. Now you can hear the electrifying story of how these Bradley students went from student to entrepreneur overnight.

TO REGISTER: Go to www.novusnetworking.com

Museum Block

Top Ten Rejected Slogans for Museum Square Fence

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The Journal Star reports the latest plan to generate excitement about the proposed downtown museum that’s been languishing for about four years now:

Panels of the construction fence around the property, recently rebuilt and painted solid black, are being painted anew with slogans that are intended to educate the public about what’s going to be inside the museum and Cat visitor’s center…. Officials hope the signs will attract riverfront and Downtown visitors to the site and increase awareness of the project.

Slogans will include, “Play it again, Peoria” to promote the history portion of the museum, “They Had a Dream” to promote the African American Hall of Fame, and “Hang With the Stars” to promote Lakeview’s planetarium.

Here now are the top ten rejected slogans for the museum square fence:

10. “Shhhh — We’re still in the ‘quiet phase’ of fundraising”
9. “The only ‘Lake View’ here is one block east”
8. “Welcome to the ExploraFence!”
7. “Either you cough up the $40 million or this becomes a permanent surface lot. What’ll it be, people?”
6. “Used Cars For Sale”
5. “Due to escalating construction costs, patrons for the planetarium show now have to sit outside at night and look at actual stars”
4. “Look at the bright side — this block already looks better than Riverfront Village”
3. Number 3 eliminated last year when museum was reduced from 110,000 to 81,000 square feet.
2. “So far, we only have enough money to put up this fence”
1. “Coming soon: Higher Taxes!”

Uncategorized

Worried about the bomb? Paint your house!

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While the worry over nuclear war isn’t as great nowadays as it was in the ’50s, there are still real fears out there. Iran is testing medium- and long-range missiles. There’s always the threat of a terrorist getting his hands on a “dirty bomb.”

So, in order to help you prepare for such a disaster, I present to you, “The House in the Middle.” As this civil defense film from 1954 shows, keeping your house well-painted on the outside — and tidy and clutter-free on the inside — is the key to surviving a nuclear blast:

I’m not convinced, even if the house doesn’t burst into flames, that you would survive the nuclear blasts depicted. And paint protecting the house from a nuclear bomb makes about as much sense as ducking and putting a book over your head like they taught us to do in school.

And if there’s still anyone wondering why the next generation following the 50’s grew up cynical and jaded, consider the fact that the credits in this film say it was produced by “The National Clean Up – Paint Up – Fix Up Bureau,” but the film was actually produced by the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association. I bet business really picked up for paint manufacturers in 1954.

City Council, City of Peoria

Time for City to start thinking about budgets

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There’s a special City Council meeting this coming Tuesday. There’s only one item on the agenda, and no final action will be taken. It appears to be the beginning of birth pangs for next year’s City budget process:

DISCUSSION Regarding the City of Peoria Financial Overview of 2008 Year-to-Date Projections and 2009 Preliminary Revenue Projections; Including 5-Year Projections, and Operating Budget Guidelines. No Final Action will be Taken.

We’re entering the season where priorities will be set, new projects will get funded, old projects will get defunded, compromises will be made, the garbage tax will be defended (again), and more revenue will be raised in some creative way they will define as anything other than a “tax increase.” Budget hearings from departments won’t roll around until October, if last year’s schedule is any indication. But that’s just around the corner, believe it or not — only six regular council meetings away.

General News

Miscellaneous news items

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Here’s some new and old stuff (mostly old) that I haven’t commented on, but is worth mentioning:

  • Adams Street Market bites the dust. It’s too bad this development didn’t live up to its hype. The owner of this store gave me a tour of it before it opened, and I thought it sounded like a good thing for the South Side which is grossly underserved for basic services like supermarkets. Regrettably, the service and food quality evidently went downhill fast, and now it’s closed. Bummer.
  • The President is coming back to town, but apparently he isn’t going back to the Sterling Family Restaurant. Nope, it’s a private residence (which won’t be disclosed ahead of time for security reasons, natch), and it’s to help raise funds for Aaron Schock, Republican candidate for the 18th Congressional District seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Ray LaHood. Thank goodness Schock is getting some help — he only has $1.1 million in his war chest, poor guy. How will he ever compete with his challenger’s $280,000? If you’d like to go, tickets are $500. If you want your picture taken with the President, you’ll have to cough up a cool five grand. Hey, for $100, I’ll Photoshop you into a picture with the President and it will look just like you were there! Drop me an e-mail.
  • The Heart of Illinois Fair opens Friday. I remember this being a much bigger deal when I was a kid. Have I lost interest because I’ve gotten older, or has it really just gotten less exciting overall?
  • Diane Vespa reminds us that we could have had Paul Vallas giving us free consulting advice, but District 150 turned him away. So, while he’s improving test scores and lengthening days down in New Orleans, District 150 is shortening days and misusing Title I funds. Who needs him!
  • Gatehouse Media, owner of the Journal Star and the Times-Observer, is losing money hand over fist, Billy Dennis informs us. This is bad news for Peoria. I hope they get the ship righted, or else sell off our newspapers to a company that will manage them better.
  • The Chillicothe Police are endorsing Darin LaHood for State’s Attorney. LaHood also has the endorsements of the Peoria Police Union and the Peoria County Sheriff’s Union.