The Capitol Fax Blog

*** UPDATED x3 *** Late Friday roundup

Friday, May 14, 2010

* Pat Quinn’s campaign has issued a pretty darned harsh response to Bill Brady’s new TV ad…

The best way to judge a politician’s character is not just by what he says, but more importantly, by what he has done. In Bill Brady’s first campaign commercial, nearly all of his statements are contradicted by the facts, by his record and even by his own statements. Here are the commercial’s claims and the facts that contradict them:

“As a family man and a home builder, we’ve had to tighten our belts to survive”—During the economic recession, Brady’s business was bailed out by taxpayer-funded federal assistance, and his main source of income for the past two years was his senate salary, paid by Illinois taxpayers. All while paying no income taxes on over $100,000 of income in more than one tax year.

“I know we’ll succeed as long as we have a blueprint”— Bill Brady has no blueprint for Illinois. Former Republican Governor Jim Edgar has pointed out several times that Brady’s plan for solving the budget crisis is short on specifics and doesn’t add up. And Brady himself called for a 10 percent across-the-board cut only to deny he ever advocated such a plan.

“Pat Quinn’s idea is to feed big government by raising your taxes by 33 percent.” Governor Quinn is committed to closing the budget deficit while retaining vital services. Pat Quinn has proposed budget cuts, tax breaks for small businesses, property tax relief and a sales tax holiday. But providing funding for education, public safety and infrastructure isn’t big government, it’s giving Illinois residents the basic services they need to live safe, productive lives.

“[Quinn] thinks government growth is more important than ours.” Governor Quinn has provided strong leadership and made tough decisions to make government smaller and more effective, including reforming the state pension system to save billions in the coming decades. He’s also successfully implemented jobs programs to save companies from leaving
Illinois, grow our economy and put Illinois residents back to work.

“I’ll make a clean break from the politics of the past, with real contribution and term limits for politicians.” Senator Brady is the politics of the past. He has been in office for the past 17 years and has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from special interests and lobbyists during that time. In 1994, Pat Quinn led a petition drive called “Eight is Enough” for term limits. The petition received nearly a half a million signatures - Senator Brady was not one of them.

The commercial concludes with the statement, “I’m Bill Brady, and as governor I’ll put you first.” Based on all his empty claims, Illinois residents shouldn’t believe it.

* I can’t confirm this story, but I can say that if some leaders did ask Exelon to present this proposal then they’re probably freaking upset that Exelon just outed them…

A senior executive for Commonwealth Edison Co. parent Exelon Corp. said Illinois legislative leaders asked ComEd to submit its recent offer of $500 million to help the state with its massive budget shortfall in return for freezing electric rates at above-market levels for four years.

“This was done by us — by invitation — from the highest leadership in the Illinois Legislature,” Exelon Executive Vice-president William Von Hoene Jr. said Wednesday at an investor presentation in New York. “Over a month ago, we met with legislative leaders, who told us that they would like us to put together a proposal that would provide cash for the state of Illinois to address parts of its budget shortfall and also provide some innovative features that would be attractive to us.”

But legislators deny they provoked the short-lived and highly controversial plan that some critics likened to bribery.

* Lou has been saying he’s two votes shy for weeks. I just don’t see it passing…

According to chief sponsor Lou Lang (D-Chicago), momentum is slowly building in the Illinois House for a bill (SB 1381) to legalize medical marijuana. In April, the Deputy Majority Leader told the Reader that while 92 lawmakers “have looked me in the eye and said, ‘This is a great bill,’” only 52 explicitly stated that they would vote for it. Last Thursday, he bumped the whip-count up to 56. And in an interview on Fox Chicago last night, the Democrat said 58 are currently on board, two shy of the 60 needed to pass it. It’s definitely worth keeping an eye out for a vote on this bill before the end of the month.

* Interesting…

The Committee for Truth in Politics, a conservative group with a tongue-in-cheek name, an aversion to disclosure, and no public presence beyond its large ad buys targeting Democrats, appears to have lost a tussle with Alexi Giannoulias over an ad it sought to air in Chicago. […]

The Committee attempts to take refuge under the First Amendment, but the First Amendment does not shelter lies, and, as I stated in my earlier letter, you have a duty ‘to protect the public from false, misleading, or deceptive advertising,’” a lawyer for Giannoulias’ campaign wrote Comcast Spotlight, objecting to the description of the takeover as a “bailout.”

After an exchange of letters, the ad did not air, though the political sales manager for Comcast Spotlight, Richard Brehm, declined to explain in detail why.

“”We did not pull the spot in question – the agency asked that we suspend the order and we complied with the request,” he said, noting the ad never aired on Comcast Spotlight, the Chicago cable provider.

* And unless he says exactly who threatened him, I wouldn’t believe a word Scott Lee Cohen says…

Candidate for Governor Scott Lee Cohen is telling Bill Cameron he quit the Democratic party’s nomination for Lieutenant Governor after being threatened with prison by a high-level party official.

Scott Lee Cohen says he regrets getting off the ballot for Lieutenant Governor.
He says the allegations about his personal life were false, but he was intimidated by this threat.

“It was, if you don’t drop out today, then all your tax records better be in impeccable order, because someone’s going to jail. And then I was told, if they couldn’t find anything to put me in jail over, they’d still put me in jail. They would make something up to put me in jail. They did not want me on that ticket.”

*** UPDATE 1 *** Bill Brady talks about the Highland Park school district decision to not allow the girls basketball team to travel to Arizona…

*** UPDATE 2 *** Too funny…

Two former Democratic candidates for governor will try again to make it onto the Illinois ballot — this time as independents.

Chicago businessman William “Dock” Walls will run for governor, with Oak Park attorney Ed Scanlan as his running mate.

*** UPDATE 3 *** The real question here is who will challenge them? Brady? Stay tuned…

Seven Libertarian candidates for statewide office will likely appear on the ballot for November’s general election, as they have topped the minimum 25,000 signatures needed to join the contest.

But Lex Green of Bloomington, who’s leading the charge as a candidate for governor, said the party will continue to collect signatures in an attempt to prevent any challenges from contenders of other parties. Green, an electrician at a Mitsubishi plant in Normal, made his first campaign visit to Southern Illinois Friday.

- posted by Rich Miller 24 Comments

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