Twitter Updates for all4growth

• 1st Kirk to tour downstate this wkend, now capfax reports, no. http://bit.ly/sxZDI. Funny considering: http://bit.ly/1vzZOM. #

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How Mark Kirk Introduces Himself to Downstate IL Could be Key to His Sen. Campaign

In my latest attempt at political analysis I examine Sen. Republican candidate US Rep. Mark Kirk’s “moderate” voting record will play in downstate Illinois — defined as anywhere outside the Chicago media market.

The point of the article is that Kirk’s voting record while reflecting his liberal Chicago suburban district may help him in that region, it may prove a challenge in central and southern Illinois where traditionally general elections are won and lost.

According to a report from Washington I received yesterday, Cong. Kirk has been telling people that while in Congress he voted his district and as a senate candidate he will represent the entire state — even coal country.  If I read this right in the Capital Fax blog, we’ll soon know.

Twitter Updates for all4growth

• Illinois Review throws down on Cap Fax’s Rich Miller. This could be fun http://bit.ly/dIeKb #
• Mark Kirk is now against cap&trade but 4 energy independence. Yet, probably still against ANWR. All very confusing. http://bit.ly/3W3NUW #

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Springfield Falls for Monorail Scam, Again.

Unlike “Marge v. the Monorail,” this time it’s for real.

Gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft has the details.

Twitter Updates for all4growth

• Spending today writing about Sen. Candidate Mark Kirk’s downstate challenges. #
• Megan McArdle write of her opposition to H/C Reform. Pretty effective if you ask me. http://bit.ly/wCs2R #

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Twitter Updates for all4growth

• IL road const $ is going to kid’s camp in WI. Why only 1 paper in msm is covering this $31 b bipartisan scam? http://bit.ly/6S4lf #

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Illinois Road Fund Dollars Go To Wisconsin? Where’s the Rest of the Media?

The second installment of The State Journal-Register’s two part series on the state’s $31 billion “infrastructure” bill, today, focussed on the church organization’s feeding at the public trough:

“No one argues that Keshet doesn’t do a lot of good for a lot of folks.

The Chicago-based Jewish organization helps developmentally disabled kids prepare for lives of independence by providing job training and help in gaining social skills. The group also teaches about the Torah and prepares kids for Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.

Keshet is one of dozens of faith-based groups, churches and parochial schools that are slated to receive millions of dollars in taxpayer funds from the $31 billion state capital budget signed this month by Gov. Pat Quinn. Keshet is set to get $150,000 to build a cabin at Camp Chi in Wisconsin.“

You can read the whole thing here.

The more that the Build Illinois capital spending bill is examined the more scandalous it should become.  It turns out some of the earmarks are for groups that simply may not exist:

“Some facilities are tough to find. The Torah Technical Institute, for example, is scheduled to receive $50,000 for capital improvements, but no such organization appears in response to a Google search, nor is there any record of such a group in the Internal Revenue Service’s database of non-profit organizations in Illinois or in the Illinois Secretary of State’s database of corporations. The organization is also not listed on switchboard.com.”

In addition to that, there neighborhood groups who’ve received money from the bill that didn’t ask for it.  Legislators such as my local house members Raymond Poe (R-Springfield) and Rich Brauer (R-Petersburg) defends these mystery grants — at least their a mystery to the recipients — by stating representatives know what’s best for their district.  The problem as I see it is that what they think is best for their district tends to be ribbon cutting ceremonies and groups that deliver votes for them.  In sum, what’s good the representative is what’s good for the district.

So far, other than The Springfield State Journal-Register I haven’t heard much of anything from the rest of the press. Illinois Review has covered it but interestingly The Capital Fax hasn’t. Neither have the Chicago papers, The Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. Nor, have I heard of any television outlets covering what is a bi-partisan spending orgy at a time of record budget holes, lay-offs, furloughs and cuts to social service provider grants.

I mean gee… whatever happened to afflict the comfortable?

Dolphins in Chicago Get IL Road Construction Funding

Lawmakers and the governor, unable to balance the budget and make the necessary reforms to get Illinois’ fiscal house in order, were able to raise taxes and spend a hundred thousand dollars on dolphins at the Brookfield zoo and found $2 million for folk music in Chicago.

The Springfield State Journal-Register published its first installment on the $31 billion capital spending plan to repair the state’s crumbling infrastructure.  It turns out that what a legislator calls “critical” and “infrastructure” are different that what taxpayers commonly believe:

“When Gov. Pat Quinn signed a $31 billion capital spending measure this month, he and lawmakers who approved the bill said the plan is a good deal for the state.

It will put thousands of people to work, they said. Crumbling roads and bridges no longer will pose a threat to motorists. Substandard water and sewer systems will get fixed. Fire stations and other government buildings will get roofs and other needed improvements.

No one mentioned dolphins. But dolphins at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago will benefit from$100,000 in taxpayer money that will go toward fixing up their tank, which needs a new liner. The Chicago Zoological Society that runs the zoo is hardly destitute. According to its most recent tax return, the society had more than $135 million in the bank at the end of 2007.”

You really have to read the whole thing.

Back in May the Alliance opposed the tax increases to pay for the plan which was passed by huge bi-partisan majorities.  The only other groups that joined that opposition were Americans for Prosperity’s Illinois chapter, Americans for Tax Reform and Illinois Review.

Back then I said:

“We’ve heard a lot of talk from leaders in Springfield about accountability, reform and the need to not impose new taxes on a struggling economy yet we continue to have business as usual. I look forward to the coming months when we have the opportunity to match our leaders’ rhetoric with their actions and heap the taxpayer “esteem” on them that they so richly deserve.”

I guess that process of matching rhetoric with actions has begun.  Hopefully, our state government will get what they deserve. And oh, while were holding people accountable.  Let’s give the Tom Delay “We cut all the wasteful spending” Award to Speaker Madigan’s spokesman Steve Brown who said, “I’m not aware of any wasteful spending being done.”

Twitter Updates for all4growth

• @AmandaCarpenter You’re dead on. I’m actually living proof of your analysis. I get pretty disgusted over her treatment. in reply to AmandaCarpenter #
• @nmkurokawa I wouldn’t mind seeing a pic of that. in reply to nmkurokawa #

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Twitter Updates for all4growth

• RT @KarlRove: @RasmussenPoll: 49% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the BO performance. http://tinyurl.com/5tnd2b #TCOT #SGP #
• Potus “softens stance” against Cambridge police officers. Er… more like retreats from his stance. http://bit.ly/18fmoo #
• @AmandaCarpenter Only feds can arrest a friend of a chicago pol. It’s holy writ. DC people are so slow to catch on in reply to AmandaCarpenter #

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