CapitolFax.com - Latest Comments in Question of the day

Re: Question of the day

From the Sidelines — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:06:45 -0000

ZC while statistics do provide a partial picture, you need to also look at governmental structure in these states. Illinois has a more centralized government while states like Florida have a more decentralized government. There is hardly a way to compare these two structures.

Re: Question of the day

ZC — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:46:13 -0000

Bookworm,

You are right, that would be a logical conclusion. It would be something like what the Brits do, having their capital in London.

I should emphasize again that I don't have any confidence in this theory. My point is only, Daley's assertion isn't ludicrous on its face. The idea of having a diversified capital has been made before; see for instance Kevin Phillips' _Arrogant Capital: Washington, Wall Street and the Frustration of American Politics_ (1995).

Re: Question of the day

Bookworm — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:11:30 -0000

Is ZC also suggesting that the nation's capital would be less of a political "cesspool" if it were moved to New York or L.A. ?

Re: Question of the day

Smitty Irving — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:06:49 -0000

Another indicator of Springfield's all encompassing corrupt culture? Chicago gets US Attorneys like Patrick Fitzgerald. What does Springfield get? Former US Attorneys who offer the new US Attorney (a Ken Starr alum) to the movers and shakers in Springfield - and the first one they introduce him to is ... Bill Cellini.

Re: Question of the day

Bookworm — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:03:22 -0000

If what ZC suggests is true, then the best way to "clean up" Springfield -- and, by extension, state government -- would be to diversify its economy so that not everyone who lives there is dependent upon the government for their livelihood.

A lot of potential exists for that already. We have two (soon to be three) well-known hospitals, two college campuses (UIS and SCI/Benedictine), and of course, the Lincoln sites. UIS is growing fast and has the potential to be a really good (and affordable) school. And we have location, along major transportation arteries that provide relatively quick access to both Chicago AND St. Louis.

I think it would be great if someday, Springfield had a diverse enough economic and cultural life (think Boston, Nashville, or Austin) that being the state capital was secondary. It would benefit the entire state if that were the case.

Re: Question of the day

PeoriaOutraged — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 07:05:19 -0000

How many Chicago alderman/other pols have been convicted of corruption?

I know that I have seen it mentioned lately. (triple digits?)

Re: Question of the day

Lisa — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:15:46 -0000

The sooner the local, regional and national media realize all paths of corruption are related to, controlled by, influenced with or started by the Daley's and their agents, the sooner we can get to the root cause of the problem and CHANGE the culture of corruption.

Blago is a just a small fry. Richard Daley is king of corruption and we all need to scream that loud and clear.

Re: Question of the day

Frank Booth — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:16:30 -0000

It's nice to see another Chicago Democrat putting the Rod Blagojevich playbook to use. I wonder how much Daley paid Rod for it.
Gee, who campaigned about six years ago on a culture of corruption and a cess pool in Springfield.
Hmmmm. I wonder who was then arrested in his Chicago home for a conspiracy to sell of Barack Obama's Senate seat, without ever spending a full week in the capitol city.
Keep it up Bill Daley. Perhaps you might want to skip to the final chapter of that playbook you purchased at Rod's fire sale.
Here's a tease, it doesn't turn out well, kinda like all your other alleged statewide runs that ended about the time you realized one trip to Dem day at the State Fair wasn't going to cut it in the primary.

Re: Question of the day

ZC — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:54:44 -0000

Daley might just possibly have a point!

To compare states, I just crunched the recent stats released by Corporate Crime Reporter. It just ranked the 35 most populous states by corruption rate, defined as the total number of public corruption convictions from 1997 to 2006 per 100,000 residents. So the higher the number you get, the more corrupt your state is ranked.
(IL came in #6, behind LA, MS, KY, AL and OH).

Next I looked at these 35 states, and I compared whether or not the state capitol was located in one of the top-five population cities in the state (Springfield falls in at #6, just behind Joliet). I looked to see if your state capitol was in the top three most populous cities. Last, for some states, their capitol is in their biggest city, their equivalent of Chicago.

It's only suggestive, but yes, the smaller (relatively) your capitol town is compared to the rest of the state's population center, the higher on average is the per capita convictions of your public officials.

There are 11 states where the capitol isn't in a top five population city (they are CA, FL, IL, KY, MD, MO, NV, NJ, PA, NY and WA). Their average per capita corruption: 3.414. The other 24 states: 2.73.

There are 12 states where the capitol is in that state's biggest city (those states would be AZ, AR, CO, GA, IN, IA, MA, MS, OH, OK, SC, UT). They average out to a 2.599, versus everyone else's 3.13.

OK, so it's just fun with numbers. But, Daley might be partially onto something. It's a common complaint, after all, that D.C. is a political cesspool because it has _nothing else_ besides politics. The whole city is structured around government. Not hard to see why that could be a corrupting culture on the people who work there.

Maybe we should move the capitol to Chicago, so everyone who works there has more on their minds than just the political merry-go-round...

Re: Question of the day

Frank Booth — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:25:35 -0000

CharlesR so rarely have I read something so completely ignorant that did not come from the Blagojevich administration.
yeah, because all the stories being used as the basis for impeachment came from where???
I'd like to see Mr. Daley actually follow through with one of his acclaimed statewide bids. Outside friendly confines of Chicago he doesn't seem so great and his business affiliations might dare come into view.
NAFTA ... gee, never heard of it. Oh, but in Chicago he's a great business/political leader. Try selling that line in Galesburg you friggin moron.
As for you personally Charles, I assume you couldn't get into the program. You have some Dana Perino hang up or stalker complex.
PAR interns have pointed out Alexi's bizarre Florida gambling contribution connections, how the governor flip flopped on violent video games from Congress to governor, how the state police tried to hide the NIU shooters gun card info, and so on.
The full-time press corps has been the only group focused on illegal hiring, skirting of constitutional requirements in state spending and the impending budget crash that will doom us all.
I assume your post must have been some kind of audition for the Blago press office, why else would someone be so blatantly and completely stupid?
You are, without a doubt, the dumbest poster of 2009 for thecapitolfaxbog. And rest assured, I'll be looking for someone to top your stupidity. But really, it's gonna take a lot to beat that, something along the lines of blaming the media for Blago's re-election.
Enjoy the rest of the year you tool.

Re: Question of the day

Downstate Cook County (Macoupi — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:44:00 -0000

Won't you go home Bill Daley, won't you go home. You've lied the whole day long. This is a play out of the Blago playbook: Oh look, there's a kitty!

Re: Question of the day

Smitty Irving — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:21:54 -0000

As an immigrant from a state that embraced the Progressive Era (non partisan local government, enforced civil service rules, veteran's preference that could not be evaded), while Chicago / Cook County may have more crooks, per capita, Springfield is the corruption capital of Illinois.

Things that Jim Thompson put Daley's people into jail for were commonplace in Springfield during Thompson's 14 years as governor. In part, because Reagan and Bush let him pick the US Attorneys. Cellini - enough has been said. How about George Mason and the Lottery Building? Thompson's 1976 downstate campaign coordinator being a Xerox employee - and then Thompson exempted copiers from competitive bidding? The selling of State jobs? (For those of you who doubt that, in 1992 AG Roland Burris, using ISP led by Terry Gainer, successfully prosecuted Republicans, winning convictions, in Southern Illinois - Centralia? - for selling State jobs. And the feds, under Bush 41, let the State handle the prosecutions.)

Jim Edgar? With all due respect to the honest people who worked for him, Janis Cellini and Michael Belletire were named unindicted co-conspirators by the federal MSI jury. (And for those of you who doubt that, consult the September 2000 issue of Illinois Issues - http://www.lib.niu.edu/2000... - page 20 of the pdf, page 38 of the magazine).

George Ryan? Little can be added.

Sangamon County Republican Party? We'll never know, as the State Journal Register, with Jack Clarke as the Publisher, had a policy that the name "Bill Cellini" could not appear in the paper - unless it was a travel story written by Julie Cellini.

Chicago / Cook County has their crooks - but, per capita, Springfield / Sangamon County has them beat. By a mile.

Re: Question of the day

CharlesR — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:03:58 -0000

Daley is absolutely right. The statehouse press corps here is terribly weak, especially for a large-population state, and the capital city's local newspaper, which should be covering state government like it owned it is an awful paper. My theory is it has something to do with UIS and its public-affairs reporting program, which produces, for the most part, weak reporters and bad writers.

Re: Question of the day

Dan S, a Voter, Taxpayer & — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:47:55 -0000

I'm no shrink, but looks like Bill Daley is as dilusional as Gov. Goofy. All of Springfields problems seem to take place north of I-80, no one shows up here unless they have to. Where is Gov. Goofy get his phone tapped and where did he get arrested? Not in Springfield!

Re: Question of the day

wordslinger — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:45:26 -0000

--I do think that while Paul Powell was in office, Springfield became aware that there was not only Chicago but Southern Illinois. There are a lot of Southern Illinois transplants who owe their State careers to PP giving them their very first job.--

LE, can't have it both ways. Corrupt politicians from southern Illinois are good because they gave people jobs? One, they weren't his to "give," and two, given those bulging shoeboxes, I bet a lot of those folks had to kick back to him.

My original point is that geography doesn't determine corruption. And I forgot Kenny Gray earlier.

Re: Question of the day

DHee — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:19:07 -0000

Of course Springfield is a cesspool. Just like the Mississippi flows south, so does the *bleep* from Chicago.

Re: Question of the day

Sweet Polly Purebred — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:04:41 -0000

VMan - Your comments are whiz bang. What can I say, but thank you! Your spin on things, along with Little Egypt's... Just the bestest!

Re: Question of the day

Little Egypt — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:58:48 -0000

Wordslinger - OUCH. I have no connection to The Phelps Clan but I do think that while Paul Powell was in office, Springfield became aware that there was not only Chicago but Southern Illinois. There are a lot of Southern Illinois transplants who owe their State careers to PP giving them their very first job.

Re: Question of the day

cover — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:56:33 -0000

Statements like this just add fuel to the fire among those in Central Illinois who would like to give Chicago, Cook County, and some of the collars their own state. If you put an advisory referendum on the ballot asking if the state should split up, I would not be surprised if most counties south of I-80 voted overwhelmingly in favor of it. Would Chicago miss "Southern Illinois", other than the U of I, and having Sprinfield as a scapegoat for problems that affect everyone in the state?

Re: Question of the day

Nose For News — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:47:47 -0000

Very funny.....
A a big bucks banker with pockets full of TARP cash, running full page, five figure newspaper ads on their wonderful decision to buy IL short term debt for an extra $20 million profit.
That sure sounds like a good source for finding honesty
SillyBilly go back to filling the ATMs

Re: Question of the day

Bookworm — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:41:13 -0000

I agree with Boone and Steve that more Capitol coverage is needed. Unfortunately, not just in Illinois but nationwide, the trend is in precisely the opposite direction due to all the well-known woes and mismanagement of the newspaper/broadcast industry.

Re: Question of the day

Silverback — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:30:56 -0000

I think Bill Daley just said that it takes people like John Kass to keep Chicago honest!

Re: Question of the day

Dual Citizen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:02:40 -0000

Can anyone cite any hard hitting investigative reports in the SJ-R on government corruption before Blagojevich? For instance, any articles on the landlords of state office buildings? Or how about the story related to the percentage of asphalt in highways? Or back in the day, the abuse of patronage under Thompson and Edgar? Part of it is a lack of resources, but as I said before, I have heard second-hand that SJ-R had a hands-off policy on Mr. Cellini.

On the flipside, I can cite a lot of examples in the Tribune and SunTimes going after the Mayor and the City with serious investigative reporting. The Tribune has written a lot on patronage in the City, abuses by alderman, etc. I think it was the SunTimes that led the charge against Ryan's dealings at the Secretary of State.

Re: Question of the day

Macoupin County Kid — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:52:30 -0000

Whatever Daley's smoking.....pass it this way!!

Re: Question of the day

AwShucks — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:44:34 -0000

OMG!! NOW, the rest of the state is recognized by a Chicago resident? How quaint. Ah....did us "southerns" all of a sudden learn how to be crooks in just one afternoon? I suppose we if that were true, isn't behavior taught? So! Chicago sent legislators to central IL to teach?
Thank goodness not all lawmakers, north, south, east or west are "crooked" shysters. Mr Daily, me thinks your medication should be changed.