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"The judge had been presiding over negotiations, but the governor’s lawyers had demanded a hearing"
uh, so what then exactly was the intentions? Why, to stop Madigan of course. Spin is getting thin.
Whatever happened to the case Blago has against Madigan for Special Sessions?
You rascal, you're smelling blood in the water aren't you? Predicting the judiciary can be hazardous. I would hope they rule in the Speaker's favor but . . . ?
blago loses the defraites case (he didn't win).
now the case against the house clerk gets dropped.
next will be the special session case.
blago's going to be 0-3 in unnecessary court cases that his office brought on. all within about a two-week period.
gee i hope he runs for a third term.
And this afternoon's failures include teaming with outbound Cook County Assessor Jumping Jimmy Houlihan to throw a wrench into local tax bills.
Local schools have been waiting weeks for their cash, now they have to wait for a new bill, because BlunderBoy has gone too far.
What was he thinking?????
Bad politics and corruption will stop only when people go to prison and when the voters finally demand real leadership and reform. That means both parties have to start supporting real candidates (as opposed to the lack of choice we had last election).
Second, the case against the clerk wasnt a loss. The governor's office was simply trying to force the speaker to abide by his CONSTITUTIONAL responsibilities and record the vetoes (which he quietly did on Monday). Madigan probably knew that he would lose this battle -- thats why he set veto for the first two weeks of October. Now, the ruling comes in and, it turns out, the veto session is timed perfectly with the 15 day action requirement. Almost seems a bit fishy to me.
Third, and even Rich has weighed in on this one, the Speaker is stretching it on the special session case. The governor has the constitutional authority to call the GA back at given date and time. The Speaker cant simply ignore the governor's authority to do this (hopefully, it wont be necessary to call so many in the future, but that remains to be seen).
It amazes me how pro-Madigan/anti-Blagojecich this blog is. I think the governor's legal team is top notch and, if he considered the counsel of many of these commenters, he would just quit when faced with chellenges. Thats not what this governor does and its not what his legal team does.
Blagojevich 2010!!
---if they werent terminated, Blago would have been ripped for allowing illegal hiring practices---
No. He should have fired the people who ORDERED the alleged illegal activity, not the patsies.
===but it was also a win for the administration (by declaring that DeFraties/Casey didnt break the law, where is the case for illegal hiring practices in the administration)===
The case for illegal hiring is right where the feds are looking. At the top.
Please advise - who is your pharmacist and what is the prescription for? I want some.
The reality is the gov is a loser and becoming more so as the days and court cases go by. Wake up, buddy!
Lake county taxpayers get a 5000 homestead exemption? 'Ya think property values did not climb outside Cook county?
Per the latest figures I could find (2000) from the state of Illinois Property tax Statistics, Chicago's effective tax rate was 1.1% ranked 521 out of 533 communities.
Without cherry picking, I see Libertyville at 1.84%, Joliet at 2.01%, Elmhurst at 1.52% and Orland Park at 1.74%. I can easily catalog quite a number of communities that are over 2%.
Perhaps it is time to realize that Chicago real estate is undertaxed in comparison to the vast majority of the state and the reason there is not enough money for the schools and rapid transit is that the taxes are too low.
Our dear Governor is pandering to anyone he can these days and it appears that he now wants to play hero to the residents of Chicago, while telling the rest of the state to %^& themselves.
Seems to me that all residential properties in the state should be treated alike. Everything from using 1/3 of the assessed value for their calculations to size of homeowner's exemptions to protection from unwarranted property tax increases. (My dollar amount went up 14% last year.. any bets on whether my property could sell for 14% more than last year?
But back to another failure.
This morning the Spin Sisters' favorite boy toy DeJong said the "General Assembly did not address health care and people who lack health insurance, and the vetoes "helped to reshift the budget's priorities to reflect that crisis."
"If legislators feel strongly" about funding certain projects important to them, DeJong said, "they should start working together with the governor's office to identify new revenue sources."
This is at least position number three from JD.
Perhaps he should leave the phone ring for awhile.
Rod's not a governor, he plays o e on TV. He should be nationally excoriated for these courtroom shennanigans.
On case 2 - the Governor loses because he didn't win. Madigan got his dog and pony shows and he didn't file the vetoes when the Governor wanted and the House meets whe Madigan wanted. Frankly, I agreed with the legal point on this one, but his efforts to continue the circus sideshow in the courts was firmly rejected by the judge.
His outrageous behavior will also result in a loss on the special session case as well. I can't see a judge ruling that meeting earlier in the day is detrimental to the best interest of the citizens of the state. It's ludicrous to argue that its ok to meet later than the proclaimed time, but not earlier.
The Governor could be ANON 4:57 but:
1. He really does not care that much
2. The only electric appliance he knows how to operate is a blow dryer.
That's because we've been paying attention.
Since your so much in the know, tell us more about all those federal subpoenas that are such big secrets. And be specific!
You continue to underestimate the governor. That's great for him. He is best when he's the underdog. He will go the distance and the state will be better for it.
Please tell us about those federal subpoenas.
Has anybody noticed the vacant store fronts in the small strip center, the vacant offices in the small office parks? Why do you think that is happening? Taxes are above $6 per square foot and going up. Tenants can not afford it, because the customers are cutting back too.
Houlihan has been too clever by half. His predecessor violated the State statute and the Cook County Ordinance by de facto assessments of 10% of estimated market value instead of the Ordinance requirement of 16%. The Statute permitted a differential of 250% between the lowest and highest assessment ratios. Cook's Ordinance had 16% for residential and 38% for Commercial. Going down to 10% meant that the Commercial would have to fall to 25%
The big guys figured it out and took it to the State property Tax Appeal Board which lowered the valuations to 25% and ordered tax rebates. Ma and Pa didn't and got the Houlihan screwdriver.
Rebates shorted the taxing bodies. 7% meant that Houlihan could go back to 16% for residential (and the Commerial stayed at 38%), stopping the rebates, but the residential did not have to pay on the full 16% if the valuation rose more than 7% per Year. In Byzantine ways the tax burden was shifted to the Commercial property which passed it on to the enants who passed it on to the customers by embedding it in prices, increasing where it could, swallowing it otherwise.
Cook County broke the old system and now has tried to put in a fix.
The only fair answer is to freeze all valuations until the property is sold or improved. That would mean that citizens would pay more attention to budgets, spending and burden and might even rise up against their political masters. We can't have that, can we?