Cook County Blog

It's an effort on the part of lawmakers to rein in the horrible nepotism that goes on in Cook County government. At least the spirit of it seems to be reasonable; it was drafted by Commissioner Elizabeth Gorman (R- Orland Park), who said

"This is an opportunity for Cook County to lead the way in ethics reform....How 'bout that?"

Indeed.

It requires Cook County contractors and lobbyists to reveal the names of relatives who work for local government; whether county, state or municipal.

This comes on the heels of the measure I mentioned in another post requiring lobbyists to make disclosures online - but another measure which cuts donations contractors can make to political campaigns in half.

More at the Chicagoist.

It's all well and good to put measures in place - but if you don't enforce them and allow people to skate based on party affiliation and politics, what good are they?

Folks, make sure you know where you're going in the February primary - because your old voting place may no longer be there. You might just pull up to a building that has no people and no voting booths if you don't check ahead of time. They've changed the boundaries again - from 2,290 precincts to 1,937. Cook County Clerk David Orr said most voters won't notice the difference.

Is that because they don't expect people to turn out to the polls?

This election will be a historic moment as we're fighting the forces of evil that has infiltrated Illinois - we need to make sure we cast our ballots in this primary to push the best candidates to the fore.

25% of the votes cast in the November election were done through early voting.

Orr said notices will be sent to the voters early next year; and this will not effect the Chicago voting process - only the Suburban voting process. Only the precincts have changed; not the districts for government office.

That's interesting; because democrats have the lockdown in the city; it's in the suburbs where there seem to be more people of a conservative mindset.

Is this an attempt to shut out the conservative vote?

More at NWI Times.

From the Chicago Tribune.

The measures, proposed by Cook County Clerk David Orr and a bipartisan group of county commissioners, also would require that expanded lobbyist disclosure statements be posted online within three days of filing. Lobbyist names also would have to be included on board agendas next to contracts they sought, and ex-county officials and workers could not become lobbyists within the first year of leaving county employment.

That might throw a monkey wrench into the plans of former county officials and workers, but perhaps they can find something else to do within that first year. Like work for the Post Office.

A message from Americans For Prosperity Illinois

Despite what the left-wing media has claimed, the state of Illinois does have official relationships with scandal-plagued ACORN; A 2008 report from the Illinois Housing Development Authority showed that ACORN's housing subsidiary received a $100,000 grant from the agency to build its Predatory Lending Database Program.  Somehow, this grant just happens to not appear in the Illinois Comptroller's database. Illinois has an ACORN problem and it's time to call for a real investigation, immediately.

The housing grant could be just the tip of a huge iceberg. Right now, there's just no way to know because our leaders in Illinois like Governor Pat Quinn have strong ties to ACORN. You can urge Governor Quinn to cut ties and put an end to ACORN right now.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for an investigation into the organization's activities. In Georgia, Governor Sonny Perdue told the state government to cut contracts to ACORN. Similar efforts are ongoing in Louisiana, Minnesota, New York, and Florida. Tell Governor Quinn that it's time Illinois gets serious about stopping corruption.

Through its numerous shell groups and affiliates such as SEIU Local 880, ACORN has been mixed up in corruption in Illinois politics for decades. Illinois State Board of Elections records shows since it began tracking contributions, SEIU has given over $12 million to Illinois political campaigns, both Republicans and Democrats. This includes $538,963 to disgraced former Governor Rod Blagojevich, and $30,750 to current Governor Patrick Quinn. Tell Governor Quinn that this corruption has to stop.

Recently, Congress has voted to defund ACORN but despite these necessary efforts in Washington, our Senators Durbin and Burris, as well as Representatives Davis, Jackson, Rush, and Schakowsky voted for ACORN to keep its federal funding, which suggests there may be more to the story here in Illinois.

This should not be a partisan issue.  It is a basic responsibility of government to investigate and prevent taxpayer dollars from going to corrupt and unethical organizations.  Join us and Say NO to ACORN.

Sign the petition and tell Governor Quinn that you want a real investigation to end corruption for good.

Sincerely,
Joe Calomino, State Director
Americans for Prosperity-Illinois

By the way, it was Kirk Dillard and Bill Brady who voted for that money going to Acorn's housing subsidiary, and frankly I'm really disgusted that we don't have better representation.

Hopefully we'll be able to work something out that will be more acceptable during this next election cycle - which might be our last chance!

SAY NO TO ACORN! Sign the petition!

See the details at Illinois Review.

I saw that Mark Kirk is going to make an appearance at about 4:00 on Sunday - on their itinerary...and Pat Brady will be in attendance speaking - a little earlier than that.  Kirk and Brady are not very good representations of the conservative community, and have been a disappointment.  It will be interesting to see what kind of a reception they get.

I'm not certain that I would be all that thrilled to be in a room packed with RINOs...I am more interested in people who are not trying to be professional politicians and who want to clean up Illinois.  Those are the candidates - regardless as to what side of the aisle or what ticket they're running on - that I want to cover and support.

We'll see what the attendees of the Convention have to report in a few days.

The Chicago Olympics bid failed, despite the glitz and star studded appeal attached to the Chicago Daley crime syndicate and Obama's collaboration in the expensive taxpayer funded PR blitz.  As noted by Michelle Malkin, here and here Obama and Daley were engaging in outright cronyism.  Their ploy for the Olympics was a design to broaden their supporter base and pay off supporters.  But if nothing else; Obama proved to the world that he is not the beacon of hope and change that he had promised his administration would bring to the US; that he is a poor judge of character and of the world's perception of him.  Instead of adulation, Obama and Daley and their entourage which included Oprah - got the cold shoulder in Copenhagen.

But Obama is getting the brush off elsewhere, as noted at the American Thinker by Thomas Lifson:

It turns out the world is getting sick of Mr. Know It All. The President of France openly mocks him, and now the Olympic Committee is unimpressed with his wonderfulness.

If Obama were any smarter - he'd be embarrassed; but he's too full of himself.  Richard Baehr explains:

Obviously, he neither can count, or control votes on the IOC, the way he may in the Congress. This will not help him with any part of his domestic agenda.

In addition to the Olympics bid failure-we have the Stimulus bill - failure; Cash for Clunkers - failure; Healthcare bill - at the very least, stalled if not a complete failure; Cap & Trade stalled if not gone completely...Card Check - same thing.  He is rapidly within just 9 months proving his actions are in reality contradictory to his words and promises...and Americans have awakened from their bleary-eyed hypnotic Obama trance and aren't buying the koolaid anymore.

All I've seen the democrats and progressives do in response to this record of repeated fiascos is to blame Bush.

I wonder if Axelrod can help him now.  Those of us who live in Cook County were watching this with gleeful astonishment as every now and then we see a glimpse of hope and reality.  There is some reaoson to celebrate this failed bid; beyond how it reflects on "O" - because the Failed Olympic bid also hurt Daley.