Free Republic

No link yet. I'm just seeing it on CNN. Reuters said Fox called it as well.

Crain’s Chicago Business reports that Alvin Boutte, Jr., the adviser who encouraged the state to invest in Democrats’ beloved ShoreBank as it was failing, has agreed to pay a fine, to have his securities license suspended, and to work under “heightened supervision” in the securities industry for the next year. The ShoreBank scandal erupted in 2010 as Chicago Democrats, particularly Rep. Jan Schakowsky, tried to bail out the bank using any means necessary–whether federal, state, or private money. The bank’s closure was delayed several times–evidence, critics charged, of preferential treatment from the Obama administration. Eventually, under pressure from the Tea...

Former State Senator and Republican Cook County Board President candidate Roger Keats and his wife Tina left Illinois to live in Texas. They bid farewell to their Illinois friends in a Wilmette Beacon article, and with this letter, saying they’re “voting with their feet and their wallets.” GOOD BYE AND GOOD LUCK As we leave Illinois for good, I wanted to say goodbye to my friends and wish all of you well. I am a lifelong son of the heartland and proud of it. After 60 years, I leave Illinois with a heavy heart. BUT enough is enough! The leaders...

Property taxes are unfair. Taxpayers don’t understand their bills. And that’s not likely to change. It is amazing to me, in this era of Tea Party rebellions, that no organized campaign has been launched to abolish property taxes in Illinois. The idea would certainly be popular with voters. Last week, thousands could be found standing in lines at the assessor’s offices in Cook County as second installment tax bills arrived in the mail. Most were seniors wondering how they had lost their senior citizen exemption, a property tax break that can be worth hundreds of dollars. Others just couldn’t understand...

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle threw down a challenge to Sheriff Tom Dart Thursday, accusing him of abandoning budget negotiations and saying he can meet her 16 percent cutback by reining in medical leave cases. Preckwinkle derided Dart's previous comments that he would have to “patrol the county on his bicycle” to meet her budget goals and said he could start cutting by taking a close look at the 20 percent of sheriff's department employees who are on medical leave.

Money provided in the stimulus bill for making buildings more energy-efficient is finally starting to flow, the Department of Energy’s inspector general says. But in a report released Tuesday, his office says that in some cases it has been badly spent. An audit by the inspector general focused on some work done by the Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County, one of 35 agencies in Illinois that are expected to share $91 million over three years. The audit looked at 15 homes and found that 12 failed final inspection “because of substandard workmanship.” In some cases, technicians who...

<p>The 1890s Chicago City Council was notorious for corrupt political practices orchestrated by a faction of its aldermen known as the Gray Wolves. So named because they were viewed as preying upon the defenseless public, the Gray Wolves were led by First Ward aldermen “Bathhouse” John Coughlin and “Hinky Dink” Mike Kenna, and Johnny Powers of the Nineteenth Ward. These elected officials were not only skilled at trading votes for favors, but once in office they excelled in making municipal decisions to profit themselves financially.</p>

Vote of Confidence A huge black turnout in November 1992 altered Chicago's electoral landscape—and raised a new political star: a 31-year-old lawyer named Barack Obama. By Gretchen Reynolds A huge black turnout in November 1992 altered Chicago's electoral landscape-and raised a new political star: a 31-year-old lawyer named Barack Obama. In the final, climactic buildup to November's general election, with George Bush gaining ground on Bill Clinton in Illinois and the once-unstoppable campaign of senatorial candidate Carol Moseley Braun embroiled in allegations about her mother's Medicare liability, one of the most important local stories managed to go virtually unreported: The...

The federal monitor over Cook County government hiring issued a progress report on patronage problems today -- *snip* Some workers for the county are actively undermining efforts to take politics out of personnel practices. Read the report here.

At last, Roland Burris has made a decision as senator that we can endorse wholeheartedly.He will not run next year for his Senate seat.Thank goodness.At least one chapter in the sad show that is Illinois politics can soon come to an end.You'll remember, of course, that Burris began shredding his own credibility and the legacy of his decades of state service when he accepted the Senate appointment from our radioactive governor, Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich anointed Burris, just as the governor was getting tossed from office for allegedly trying to sell that very Senate appointment. Recall, too, that we have state...

Politics: The career of Roland Burris, a political cipher from Illinois who became a U.S. senator and the lamest of ducks, is over. He can now retire into the obscurity he so richly deserves.Having obtained the seat under a cloud of typical Illinois corruption, Burris announced Friday he won't run for a full term in 2010. He was appointed by the former and recently impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich who, among his other accomplishments, tried to auction off the seat formerly held by Barack Obama. Blagojevich was forced out of office and may soon join other Illinois governors who went on...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/ILLINOIS_GOVERNOR_ADVISOR_B?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US rules:link only

Obama pick faces questions over bombers' clemencyBy PETE YOST Associated Press Writer Originally published Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 2:05 PM WASHINGTON — New York police detective Anthony S. Senft's life changed forever when a bomb set by Puerto Rican separatists exploded, blowing him 15 feet in the air and blinding him in one eye. Now, he's angry that Eric Holder, who played a key role in awarding clemency to the bombers, is in line to be attorney general. Holder, as President Bill Clinton's deputy attorney general, worked closely with the Justice Department's pardon attorney to raise the possibility of...

CHICAGO – Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says he is not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing and plans to stay on the job. In his first official statement since his arrest on corruption charges last week, Blagojevich (blah-GOY'-Uh-vich) says he will fight until he takes his "last breath." ... The Democratic governor says he intends to "answer every allegation in a court of law."

Cable television introduced us to "The Real Housewives of Orange County" -- an estrogen-infused reality show featuring a coven of conniving and ambitious women living pampered lives in Southern California. Blago-gate has brought us something even juicier: The Real Housewives of Crook County, Illinois. The public may be wearying of indicted Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the Chicago boys' club, but the conniving and ambitious women behind the scenes of the corruption scandal are a must-see political drama all their own. Mrs. Blago, the former Patti Mell, won the hearts of old-school thugs everywhere with her f-word-filled rants captured on...

Blagojevich refuses to budge NBC Nightly News VIDEO: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/vp/28200681#28200681&gt1=43001

America wanted change and we sure got it. We elected a politician who looked and sounded fresh and new and different (and don't forget "clean" as Senator Biden once remarked), and promised that magic word "change." Aren't we lucky? It appears that the change we got is that we've moved Chicago machine-style politics into the White House. We found out on Tuesday what that business model consists of- the good Governor of Illinois was arrested for allegedly trying to sell Barack Obama's United States Senate seat. Yes, I said sell Obama's seat to the highest bidder. It's nice to know...

<p>President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, refused to take questions from reporters this morning about whether he was the Obama “advisor” named in the criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.</p> <p>The complaint states Blagojevich wanted a promise of a high-level appointment or some other reward for Blagojevich in exchange for Blagojevich naming Obama’s friend Valerie Jarrett to replace him in the U.S. Senate.</p>

The story that put the lie to the No-O & Blogo Meeting was found yesterday and disappeared down the memory hole at News : KHQA.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich wanted President-elect Barack Obama "to put something together&something big" in exchange for going along with Obama's choice to fill his vacant U.S. Senate seat, according to a FBI affidavit unsealed following the governor's stunning arrest. "I've got this thing and it's f***ing golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for f***in' nothing. I'm not gonna do it. And I can always use it. I can parachute me there," Blagojevich said in a phone call secretly recorded by the FBI on Nov. 5, the day after the election, according to the affidavit. Click here...

Breaking... Sheriff says banks are to blame...

Cook County sales tax increase proposedHike from 9 to 11 percent By Leah Hope September 18, 2007 - One Cook County commissioner wants to increase the county's portion of the sales tax, and if approved, the sales tax in Cook County would go up to 11 percent. That tax increase would also apply to restaurant and hotel bills. Cook County Commissioner Joan Patricia Murphy said the additional tax revenue would be used to avoid another crisis when it is time to come up with next year's budget. It appears everything is on the table as Cook County commissioners prepare for...

It was Todd Stroger's turn in the spotlight Monday. But a 12-year-old stole the show. Stroger took office in a ceremony wreathed in flowery tributes to him and his father, John, his predecessor as Cook County Board president. Then a seventh-grader punctured the pomp of the swearing-in of Stroger and county commissioners. When it was Republican Commissioner Elizabeth Gorman's turn to speak, she said her son asked her about Stroger's ascension to his father's post, saying: "Mom, if the Democrats can give their seats to their kids, why don't you?'' At that, she turned her desk over to her son,...

Dumbest poll question ever.... Go to: http://www.nbc5.com Scroll down to lower right. Do you think corruption is a big problem in Cook County politics? Yes No

FBI agents descended on Cook County government offices this morning, serving a search warrant in an investigation that apparently centers on county hiring practices. FBI agents could be seen carrying boxes of documents out of the Cook County Human Resources Department at 118 N. Clark St., as county human resources director Mark Kilgallon and county general counsel Laura Lechowicz Felicione looked on. “We are fully cooperating” with the investigation, Felicione said. While the seizure of documents proceeded downtown, federal agents served the search warrant at other county offices, too — including Provident Hospital, Cermak Hospital and the forest preserve district....

A Cook County Jail guard has admitted to investigators that he helped six inmates escape over the weekend to give a political advantage to a former jail supervisor running for sheriff... The 36-year-old guard confessed that he allowed a convicted killer, two accused robbers and two others charged with aggravated kidnapping and battery to bust out of the jail to cast a shadow on Sheriff Michael Sheahan's management of the complex at 26th and California. The guard knew the negative publicity would hurt Sheahan's chief of staff, Tom Dart, who is running for sheriff... And the guard admitted he helped...

The Cook County Republican Party is offering a $10,000 bounty — on the political head of Mayor Richard M. Daley. Saying the mayor’s credibility has vanished, county GOP Chairman Gary Skoien Tuesday announced that the Republicans will pay a $10,000 reward to anyone who offers information “leading to the indictment and conviction of Mayor Richard M. Daley for violations of the Shakman Decrees or other forms of corruption.” The Shakman Decree bans the use of political factors in hiring, firing and promotion for most city workers. Mr. Skoien said the bounty is being offered “to assist” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald,...