Coming Soon to Illinois, the "Incumbent Protection Act"

Our reps in Springfield represent a single constituency: the constituency of getting themselves re-elected. If there was any doubt of this, they are poised to pass an incumbent protection act -- HB0723 -- which will make it harder than it already is for you or me to get our names on a ballot.

Normally a candidate gets on the ballot by running in a primary. When there is no candidate, an established party can use their caucus power to place someone on the ballot after the primary. But under the proposed legislation, a candidate in these circumstances will also be required to gather petition signatures. And not the normal number of signatures, but a prohibitive 5% to 8% of registered voters. Combine this with a shortened primary season, and the effect will be to effectively bar opposition candidates from seeing their names on the ballots, unless they run in the primary.

The true goal of the bill is to keep so-called 3rd Party candidates -- specifically the Greens and Libertarians -- off the ballot. This is shown by the fact that HB0723 has the support of both the Republican and Democratic Parties. All of our Lake County and other local Representatives voted for the bill -- with the exception of Beth Coulson and Paul Froehlich. The Bill already passed in the House.

A vote in the IL Senate is coming up. If you believe that democracy means having a choice in the voting booth, then your LakeCountyEye encourages you to contact your Senator and urge him or her to vote against HB0723. The Illinois Green Party has contact information on their website. And even if he is not your Senator, your LakeCountyEye urges you to contact Senator Terry Link and express your opposition. Link is a primary sponsor of the bill.

UPDATE 05/11/2009 5:00 pm

Kudos to State Senator Terry Link for amending the bill. Link's amendment lowers the requirement to the normal number of signatures required of a party candidate -- 0.5% of registered voters. But according to the Ballot Access News

The petitions would need to be circulated between mid-February and mid-April, not good months for petitioning in states with severe winters.

And provides an abbreviated two month window to meet the requirements. Still, the amendment delays passage of the bill. Your LakeCountyEye hopes a delay that proves be indefinite.

Pwned by Bond

Well it happened -- State Senator Michael Bond pulled the trigger. According to the Daily Herald's political blog, Animal Farm, Bond has announced that he is running for the 10th Congressional District.

Your LakeCountyEye only wishes Bond would have announced a day sooner. And spared your LakeCountyEye the time and embarrassment of having written our tightly reasoned disquisition on why it was doubtful Bond will run for the 10th CD. Oh well, as President Obama says: we need to look forward, not backward.

Bond's press release is the sort of standard boilerplate one expects. More noteworthy is it marks a techtonic shift in Lake County politics. Bond's Senate seat is now up for grabs. Which means there are now some A-list players jockeying for position. Expect a crowded primary, on both sides. There are plenty of State Reps, County Board Members, Township Bosses with Senate-31 addresses who are unconcerned about re-election in 2010.

As to Congressional District 10, Bond's sudden & unexpected announcement is designed to scare off the competition. And he may scare away some Democrats. Your LakeCountyEye doesn't think he scares away Dan Seals. Seals has the name recognition & at-the-ready political infrastructure to take the primary.

Bond may also be hoping to scare Mark Kirk into running for US Senate or Governor. Your LakeCountyEye doesn't see that happening either. Kirk's state-wide polling & down-state support is tepid at best -- he is all but certain to run for re-election in the 10th CD.

Which is actually good news for Bond. Because with Kirk in, Seals is almost assuredly out. Which all but guarantees we will see Bond's name printed on the November, 2010 election ballot.

Your LakeCountyEye's crystal ball may have been the LakeCountyEye eightball as of late. But regarding Kirk v Bond in 2010, you can take that to the -- um -- bank.

To Believe Or Not To Believe?

On Wall Street the rule of thumb is Buy on Rumor, Sell on News. OK this is the blogosphere, not Wall Street, so your LakeCountyEye is prepared to pass along a rumor burning up the 10th Congressional District. In what is looking to be the hot Lake County election contest in 2010, RollCall reported last week that Michael Bond, State Senate District 31, will seek the Democratic nomination to the 10th Congressional District.

As of this posting, we've heard nothing official from Bond's organization. Now, RollCall is a venerable outfit, and a rumor they choose to report is not to be taken lightly. But your LakeCountyEye has to regard it with, at minimum, a grain of salt -- frankly, nothing about the story quite makes it past the LakeCountyEye salt detector.

For example, how does Bond expect to score any better than Jay Footlik did against the de-facto incumbent on the Democratic side, Dan Seals? And if Seals decides to take a bye, what is Bond's reasonable expectation against a formidable Mark Kirk? Kirk has never lost an election and presumably is not planning to lose any future match-up.

Also, Bond is up for re-election in 2010. Would he abandon a safe Senate seat for a risky chance at representing the 10th Congressional District? Wouldn't Bond seem better advised to get himself re-elected to the IL Senate in 2010, and then take his shot at the 10th CD in 2012 -- when he would be risking, electorally, next to nothing?

Also noteworthy are the details of the RollCall rumor:

Bond has tapped John Lapp to do his media campaign, Bennett, Petts & Normington to his polling and Ed Peavy to do direct mail for the race, according to one source familiar with the arrangement. The source also said a former aide to Rep. Melissa Bean (D), Brian Herman, will manage his campaign.

If any of this holds then Bond is buying himself some big-league firepower. John Lapp is the hired gun Rahm Emanuel brought in to help flip Congress in 2006. Bennett, Petts & Normington is the DCCC's in-house pollster. Ed Peavy is Melissa Bean's direct mailer. Brian Herman (who we know to be a Lake County native) co-managed Bean's 2004 upset.

Your LakeCountyEye doesn't know the circumstances behind who leaked what to RollCall. Someone may be peeing down someone's back and calling it rain. Stay tuned!

10th Congressional District News Flash

Well.

While your LakeCountyEye has been all about predicting that Mark Kirk will run for re-election in the 10th Congressional District, it appears the big 10th CD news was breaking on the Democratic side of the equation. It's not a total surprise but a Democrat has thrown his hat in the ring for the 10th Congresional District.

That Democrat would be Elliot Richardson. Your LakeCountyEye confesses we don't know too much about Mr Richardson outside of what we found on his website. We can say this is not the same Elliot Richardson who defied Richard Nixon during Watergate. In fact we can state this without hesitation and categorically, since this Elliot Richardson died in 1999. We don't know if the two Richardsons are related.

Richardson's entry into the 10th CD contest certainly shakes things up. Were Democrat Dan Seals to take another shot at capturing the 10th, Richardson, by any estimation, would be facing an all but insurmountable Primary opponent. However if your LakeCountyEye's crystal ball is correct, then Kirk is likely to run for re-election in the 10th and Seals is likely a no-show. Which means Richardson has adroitly positioned himself as the Democratic front-runner for the 10th Congressional District.

OK, will Richardson be able to beat Kirk in November 2010? Hard to say. Richardson no doubt has a steep, uphill climb ahead of him. Much will depend on whether or not Richardson raises the multi-millions of dollars necessary to run a credible Congressional election campaign. If not then Richardson would likely be front-man for a token vanity campaign in the style of Hank Perritt and Lee Goodman.

To Stump or Not to Stump?

The 10th Congressional District overlaps much of the lower right hand corner of Lake County, and is currently represented by Mark Kirk. Kirk has been agonizing lately -- and very publicly -- over whether to run in 2010 for the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. Or to sit tight and hold on to what is by any estimation a safe congressional seat.

Your LakeCountyEye regards this open display of vacillation not so much as Mark Kirk being in touch with his inner Hamlet, but instead as Mark Kirk playing a game of political chicken with the Republican party state leadership.

To be the Republican Senate nominee, Kirk needs to first win the Republican primary. It's no secret that many Republican primary voters take their guns, gays and abortion with them into the voting booth. And Kirk knows they're not likely to vote for a socially-left-of-center and gun-hating, gay-loving, abortion-tolerating candidate like himself.

So he's been waiting for concessions and guarantees from party leaders including Andy McKenna. Essentially he's waiting for his get-out-of-the-primary-free card. The only response he's gotten from Springfield so far has been the sound of crickets. Kirk arguably would be the GOP's strongest Senate candidate. The fact that the Illinois Republican party is unwilling or unable to guarantee him a primary win points to their continuing state of disarray.

Your LakeCountyEye can now go out on a limb and predict that Mark Kirk intends to stand firm and run for re-election to the 10th Congressional District. Kirk is already preparing the field by vetting his forthcoming decision in his unofficial blog, TeamAmerica10th.

In a post called Join TA's Kirk Campaign Advisory Committee, you're invited to advise Kirk on what to do. There are already a half dozen similarly-worded anonymous comments that urge Kirk to forego the Senate and stay put.

This may all be a clever head-fake on Team-Kirk's part. But your LakeCountyEye thinks that not to be.

Believe it or Not: Standing Room Only at Township

I could hardly believe my eyes. People were lined up out the door at the Ela Township Annual Meeting on Tuesday. By the time the meeting got down to business, there were 75 people sitting and standing around the room, watching democracy in action.

Why the interest? A group of citizens, calling themselves the Ela Township Progressives, had managed to follow new, stricter state rules and get a citizens’ resolution on the meeting agenda. In addition, attendees had been made aware (through phone calls) that at township Annual Meetings, unlike every other meeting of the year, regular citizens can vote on the agenda and force officials to do things they may not want to do.

In this case, the citizens' group simply wanted to force the township board to be more transparent. Their resolution asked the township to do a few common sense things to make their workings more accessible to citizens: 1) televise meetings and stream them online 2) post approved budgets online and 3) post approved expenditures online, including amount and payee.

Supporters of the resolution and detractors turned out in almost even numbers. A vote to control the moderator position at the meeting, in fact, was a dead-even tie. It had to be decided by a coin toss.

As it turned out, before the resolution was considered, there was considerable discussion among the citizens about the township’s budget and expenditures. A 100% increase in the budget for the road commissioner, in particular, drew much criticism. So it was not very surprising that, in the end, the vote for the transparency resolution was supported by a unanimous voice vote, even among the board members in the audience. Even they couldn’t bring themselves to vote against good government, I guess.

It remains to be seen whether the Ela Township board will actually implement the resolution. The Ela Township Progressives tell me they will be watching.

State Rep. Ed Sullivan Votes "Yes" to Require Kids to Wash Their Hands!

When we read about it in the Tribune, this sounded like the ultimate nanny state bill. A bill to force kids to wash their hands! But 4 Republicans -- including our own Ed Sullivan of Mundelein -- joined the Democrats in voting for it. Here's the sad story....

Reporter Eric Zorn wrote on April 2, 2009:

"It doesn't surprise me when a member of the General Assembly introduces a patently, aggressively stupid piece of legislation. And so I reacted with equanimity to House Bill 19 from Chicago Democrat Mary Flowers. It amends the school code to require all Chicago Public Schools students -- and only Chicago Public Schools students -- to wash their hands before eating lunch. Sure, it's a fine idea to wash one's hands before eating. Every student in every school ought to have access to hot water and soap conveniently close to the cafeteria.

But not every good idea needs to be a law. Particularly this one, which unreasonably singles out Chicago kids, would be a time-consuming nightmare to enforce and would likely provide minimal health or education benefits."

Why in the world did Ed Sullivan vote for this bill? (I almost typed "bull"!) Last time I checked, Sullivan claimed to be a Republican. He always says he wants to cut wasteful government programs. But he never said he was against silly unfunded mandates for our already-strapped schools.

There have been whispers for years that Mr. Sullivan is a RINO (Republican in Name Only), who runs as a Republican just to get elected. This vote would seem to prove the whisperers right.

A Tale of Two Assessors

What I have come to learn in this wonderful county is that far too often, the color of your convictions (red for republican and blue for democrat) is how you get or avoid the press. While we do live within a reasonable commute to a major metropolis, we do fall short with having competent local print media.

If you have been following the print media or lack thereof, several weeks ago a democrat and candidate for Antioch Township Assessor filed his petitions to run for office, was challenged, had several county newspapers cover his story, ended up being arrested for fraud, arraigned and is now out on bail. Every county newspaper covered this ad nauseum to point they had convicted this individual in the press without due process. He has been the brunt of numerous Republican Blogs.

Now this week the story breaks that the current Avon Township Assessor has been served with a civil suit that alleges fraudulent reimbursement for travel expenses in excess of 3,000 dollars by information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, and one county news paper writes one (1) detailed article and the largest subscribers service newspaper in the county writes a two paragraph article that does not specify the suit, but quickly points out a comment from the Lake County State's Attorney office that is the individual who filed the suit thought there was fraud, they should have gone to the police. That is it!!!!!! What kind of reporting is this? Bottom line is that both assessors have committed wrong-doing. One gets a mug shot and one continues to try and get re-elected with no press traction.

Yes I know, the story of the Avon Township Assessor did break during silly season, and many will say, including the assessor, this is nothing more than a political stunt. Perhaps the only stunt is the timing. The allegations of this suit are based on factual township records. Anyone can get these records through the Freedom of Information Act. In the view of this author, a criminal investigation is warranted.

EARLY VOTING

Early Voting begins today, March 16th and continues until April 2, 2009. The only place to vote during the early voting period is your respective township building. The hours of operation are standard throughout the county; Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m until 4:30 p.m an Saturdays 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.


Please remember that for early voting, voters are required to present a valid Illinois driver's license, an Illinois identification card issued by the Secretary of State, or any other valid government-issued identification document containing their photograph, name, and address.

Monday Night Football in March????

Looks as if we might just see a good game on Monday evening as two lines (for the Defense....the incumbent Assessors and for the Offense....the Assessor Candidates) will be officiated by the Citizens Action Project.

Lake County township assessor candidates will participate in a moderated forum hosted by Citizens Action Project (CAP) on Monday at 7 p.m. at Byron Colby Barn in Grayslake.

The forum will allow assessor candidates to express their views and for residents to ask questions, in advance of the April 7 election.

"Since we formed CAP, we have said that township assessors have the most power and influence in making the assessment process fair and transparent," said CAP president John Wasik. "We find it of the utmost importance to give the public a forum in which to decide where to cast their vote."

Candidates from Avon, Ela, Fremont, Moraine and West Deerfield townships have been invited.

The event is open to the public. A $5 donation is suggested.

For more information, e-mail info@citizensactionproject.org or visit www.citizensactionproject.org .

The Credit Crisis

I found a simplistic explanation of how the credit crisis came to be. One need not have a degree in economics to understand the video.
You can bookmark this link if you do not have the time to view this video. The run-time is approximately 11 minutes.

This is a non-partisan view on how we got here.

http://crisisofcredit.com/

OPEN BLOGGING

As Eye on Lake County moves into its fourth month, let's get a feel for who has been reading our initial blogging efforts. For the next few days, why not have your voice heard, at least here. Post a comment, debate an issue, talk about the upcoming Lake County elections in April.

Let's see where this goes.

Please refrain from personal attacks, but rather talk about issues and facts.

Primary Results in Lake County

I thought I would just I would post some links to the results of the February 24th primaries held around Lake County.
But first a comment about the picture. Just a thought from today's blogger...a true democracy should always have a paper ballot.

Sweet sweep for Hyde -- 'a win is a win'

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/1448157,5_1_WA25_WAUKEGAN_S1.article

Jones defeats Kilkelly

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/1448272,5_1_WA25_TWSPELEC_S1.article

Rockingham wins mayoral primary

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/1448155,5_1_WA25_NCHICAGO_S1.article

Now for the other political news items for the day:

Slate thinned in Round Lake Park

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=274654&src=3

Stimulus

The President has stated time and time again that The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (TARP) will be carried out with full transparency and accountability. With that the White House has established www.recovery.org as a tool that we can use to follow how our tax dollars will help put America back to work and begin our climb out of the economic challenges we face today.

In recent days, our local papers have articles relating to "shovel-ready" projects for the Lake County and articles that talk about projects we need completed in Lake County.

The EYE has found a very useful resource to monitor and have a voice in what our elected officials are requesting be funded by the TARP.

www.stimuluswatch.org

You can drill down to Lake County Illinois to see who already has "shovel-ready" projects requested. As of now, only North Chicago and Highland Park are noted.

Stay tuned and get involved!

Avon Township Race goes Point counter-Point

Taken verbatim from the websites of each Avon Township Slate....

YOU DECIDE

Avon Forward Promises Change, But Can They Deliver?

Our opponents (Avon Forward) have been quoted saying some rather interesting things in the media since the start of the campaign. As we all know, words are meaningless unless they are backed up by actions. We looked at their claims and promises, and we have found a couple that no matter what they might say, they just cannot deliver on.

How can we make such a claim? By standing on the facts and demonstrating our experience with township government. For example, the Avon Forward party has claimed that their policy is the "Reversing the over $40,000 pay raises for elected officials as well as reducing overall salaries for elected official" (source - Avon Forward Website). As much as they might want to do this, they simply cannot. Why?

According to Illinois statutes, the salary increases are set in advance of the election and cannot be changed once the resolution is passed. This is done to prevent elected officials from voting themselves a pay increase after they take office. We verified this information with the Townships Officials of Illinois organization.

Avon Forward's Response on their website

”Avon Forward Promises Change, But Can They Deliver?”
Our Stance: Our answer is plain and simple ... Absolutely! Avon One appears to be concerned with ending business as usual at the township hall, but Avon Forward embraces the opportunity to better serve the residents and end the archaic policies of the past. Based on their statements, Avon One is the party committed to the "cannot" approach while Avon Forward is the party committed to the "can do" approach. Avon Forward is the party of ideas and "can do" attitude.

Avon One states, Avon Forward Party's commitment to reversing the over $40,000 in pay raises for elected township officials, which was unanimously approved by the Avon One Party, “simply cannot” be done.
Our Stance: Avon One's claims that pay raises for elected township officials cannot be reversed in no way justifies them passing these pay raises, especially in these economic times. Avon Forward is committed to reversing these pay raises and cutting salaries to elected township officials even if that means having to wait until the question is voted on again. Even if the pay raises cannot immediately be reversed, that does not prevent the Avon Forward candidates from donating those pay raises back to the township to offset operating expenses and reduce the increased tax burden on residents, which these pay raises have created.

Town Hall Forums on the Economy

State Sen. Susan Garrett of Lake Forest and state Rep. Karen May of Highland Park) will host town hall meetings Saturday, Feb. 28 in Lake Forest, Deerfield and Northbrook to discuss the economy, budget proposals and the General Assembly's spring agenda and initiatives. The Democrats will meet the public 10-11 a.m. at the Lake Forest Health and Fitness Center, 1200 N. Westmoreland Drive, Lake Forest; 12:30-1:30 p.m. at the Patty Turner Senior Center, 375 Elm St., Deerfield and 2:30-3:30 p.m. at the Glencoe Public Library, 320 Park Ave. (847) 433-2002 or (847) 433-9100.

Breaking the Silence

Illinois's Moment of Silence Law was struck down last week. The law mandated Illinois public schools to require a moment of silence from their students.

If you've ever actually taken a moment of silence with other people, you know how creepy one can be. Naturally no one wants a moment of silence -- and certainly not on a daily basis. Not the students. Not the teachers. Not the administrators. The only people who want a moment of silence seem to be our grandstanding Springfield legislators -- perhaps to score some easy points with their religious-values constituents.

So it should be little surprise that when professional athiest and perennial Green Party candidate Rob Sherman complained that the law is unconstitutional, a federal judge agreed.

But the judge ruled on a technicality, suggesting the law can be rewritten. Now the LakeCountyEye has nothing but admiration for its grandstanding Springfield legislators -- and knows, given the opportunity, they will always jump at a chance to rewrite a bill, no matter how poorly conceived it may be.

So some free advice: when you resubmit your Moment of Silence Bill, why not make it a Moment of Noise Law instead? Instead of requiring our kids endure a minute of awkward silence, why not require them to whoop it up and holler for that minute instead? This will surely release a lot of pent-up energy that would otherwise have been directed toward some illicit pursuit or other. And Rob Sherman will never be able to argue with a straight face that a Moment of Noise Law is a thinly disguised trojan horse to get prayer back in the public schools.

At least give it a moment of thought, grandstanding Springfield legislators. It's a win-win for everyone.

Republican Mark Kirk Votes Against Fair Pay for Women TWICE!!!

The 111th Congress has just gotten started, but the House and the Senate already have revisited two critically important pieces of legislation aimed at ending gender discrimination in the workplace: The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (LFPA) and the Paycheck Fairness Act (PCFA).

Both bills passed the House last year. But the LFPA was killed in a Senate filibuster led by Republicans seeking to protect corporations from a surge in discrimination lawsuits. The Paycheck Fairness Act didn’t even make it to the Senate floor in 2008, as the clock ran out on the 110th Congress.

Kirk once again proved himself a typical party-line Republican committed to protecting corporate interests above the basic needs and rights of the American people. As he did last year, Kirk sided with other House Republicans seeking to protect corporations from a surge in wage discrimination lawsuits and voted against both bills.

Surely Congressman Kirk is NOT listening to his constituency.

Waukegan Mayors Race heats up

From the land of petition snafu's comes the latest one. The race for Waukegan Mayor is going to be very lively. We will sit back and enjoy it.

From the NEWS SUN -- Signatures on state Rep. Eddie Washington's mayoral candidacy petitions are under fire.

Roughly 400 of Washington's signatures were challenged late Monday, said city Clerk Wayne Motley. The challenge filed by residents Roxanne Zwier-Swanson, Craig Heneghan, Margaret Shorts and Janalle Roth alleges that the signatures are invalid for number of reasons.

Among the objections: signers are not registered to addresses shown; signers' addresses are out of the district; signers' voter registration records were not found; and signers' registration signatures are "suspect."

Washington, the Democrat representing the 60th District, is running as an independent mayoral candidate.

With nearly 400 of his signatures being questioned, Washington would fall "well below" the number needed to remain on the ballot, Motley said.

When contacted Monday evening, Washington said he was unaware of the challenge. He told the News-Sun that his petitions bear about 730 signatures, well over the 427 required. If the contested signatures are eliminated, Washington would be about 100 short.

A hearing on Washington's candidacy is expected early next week, Motley said. Officers for the hearing will include Motley and aldermen Larry TenPas and Tony Figueroa.

If Washington's candidacy is upheld, he will remain on an April 7 mayoral ballot that would include Republican Greg Flesher, independent Robert Sabonjian and the winner of this month's Democratic primary. On the primary ballot are incumbent Richard Hyde, Ald. Sam Cunningham and Jose L. Guzman.

A ruling by the local board is not necessarily the final word on candidacy. In December, the board rejected the petitions of 2nd ward aldermanic candidate Jose A. Guzman, one of four candidates seeking to complete the term of the late John Balen, but Guzman was restored to the ballot in January after appealing in Lake County Circuit Court.

Antioch Township is always entertaining politically!

Lake county politics are strange sometimes, but this one is odd. It should be easy to deduce where a candidate lives, both address are inside the township so why should anyone say differently?

From the Daily Herald--
The race for Antioch Township assessor is already heating up, with incumbent Heather Kufalk-Marotta protesting her opponent's petitions, and challenger Gene Kryczka challenging Kufalk-Marotta's residency. Kufalk-Marotta says more than 185 names on Kryczka's nominating petitions are illegitimate, including two names of people who are dead and six names of people who have sworn affidavits saying they never signed the petition. She's lodged a complaint with the Lake County State's Attorney's office. Kryczka says that Kufalk-Marotta doesn't live at the Grass Lake Road address she claims, but really lives on West A Street in Antioch. He's filed a challenge with the electoral board.