News Hound: September 2009 Archives

Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk has had a bad few weeks of late. That's what happens when you decide to jump from the narrow confines of the 10th Congressional District and run for the U.S. Senate. Your every move is placed under the microscope. And there's that learning curve moving from a tiny district to the statewide stage.

The Highland Park Republican is being accused of flip-flopping on the "cap and trade" issue, whereby pollutants companies release would be capped, but they would be allowed to buy and sell them for more emissions. Sort of a mercantile exchange for industrial polluters. When Kirk was a congressman, he was one of a handful of Republicans to support the bill, mainly because he voted the narrow interests of his congressional district.

That's what congressmen do. They vote their districts. If they don't, they don't get re-elected. Senators are supposed to look at the big picture, the statewide canvas. Kirk says if first nominated and then elected next November, he will do that when it comes to "cap and trade."

Democrats have leaped on Kirk's "cap and trade" stance as changing his tune, while conservative Republicans, who haven't factored in a Senate or gubernatorial race since Peter Fitzgerald, are getting their pound of flesh from moderate Kirk. Fortunately, it is early for Kirk to rebuff these pre-campaign gaffes.

The only folks paying attention at this stage are political junkies and the opposition. Voters aren't focusing yet on any election, if early polls are any conclusion, and won't start concentrating on the Feb. 2 primary until after Jan. 1. There's plenty of time for the Kirk Express to get rolling across the Illinois prairies.

Republicans have targets of opportunity across the Land of Lincoln next year. Just don't get overconfident.

Lake County Democratic Chairman Terry Link plucked Carol Sente from the obscurity of the Vernon Hills Park District. Let's see if this parkie can survive a contested primary come February.

That's what it's looking like as Waukeganite Link, who also is the state senator from the 30th District, which includes Sente's 59th House District, cast the weighted votes for the Vernon Hills owner of a Deerfield architecture firm to replace Kathy Ryg in the Illinois House. That move has not made a testy Buffalo Grove Mayor Elliott Hartstein none the happier.

Hartstein had lobbied vociferously for the appointment, but was rebuffed. He also has said he is a candidate in the Feb. 2 primary noting that "a contested primary on both sides of the aisle is a good thing for the district." At least two Republicans also are expected to run for the GOP nomination when filing begins next month.

Some may recall Link, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Illinois lieutenant governor, threw his considerable political weight into another intraprimary squabble last year. That was the 60th House District fight between incumbent state Rep. Eddie Washington of Waukegan and Lake County Board District 12 Rep. Angelo Kyle, also of Waukegan. Link spent a lot of money backing Kyle and when the smoke cleared, Washington was an easy winner. Is there the possibility of back-to-back losses for the Dem chairman?

As for Sente, vice president of the Vernon Hills Park District, she certainly hasn't been static since being sworn into office last weekend by the county's only Democratic judge, Jay Ukena of Wadsworth. That should send a message to Hartstein that party folks are, for the time being, behind her. She is reopening the shuttered 59th District office next week and getting her name out amongst the electorate.

The soon-to-be fighting 59th is one of those gerrymandered districts, which dips a bit into Cook County, but most of the voters are in the Vernon Hills corridor, although stretching north into Park City and snips of Waukegan.

We will see sooner than later if Master Link still has the political touch.

This Hound went to the liquor emporium on Labor Day to pick up a six-pack to take to a Labor Day barbecue. What a shock! The premium brew manufactured on an island in Chicago was $8.99. Yikes! At that price, The Hound is thinking low-end brewski.

Unlike most of you, this Hound did not stock up before the big Sept. 1 price increases on liquor, wine, beer, candy, pop and toothpaste. The state increased the tax on candy 525 percent! If this was beer, we'd be in the street and at the barricades.

When are we going to learn about Illinois government, and not in poly sci class? The local lawmakers to the county to the state keep on taxing and spending, taxing and spending. It's enough to make one want to move to Wisconsin. Wait, much of our industry already has!

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn made a big deal last week of vetoing the campaign finance "reform" bill he originally proclaimed as a "landmark" piece of legislation. As The Hound has contended all along: Illlinois ain't ready for reform.

Nobody was happy with that "reform" bill, except for Gov. Flip-flop. Quinn certainly is looking bad when it comes to making proclamations and then having to backtrack when everybody else goes, "Huh? What's he talking about?"

What the veto means is there won't be any campaign finance reform before next year's round of elections, just like lawmakers and the governor planned it under the original "reform" measure which was passed on party lines. Democrats lined up to vote for any measure they could spin as "reform". That sure worked out well.

Remember, this is the party of Rod Blagojevich. They will need all the faux-reform measures they can muster to convince voters next year Democrats should remain in office. But the Blagojevich reformers gave us what was essentially the Incumbent Protection Act of 2009. It gave incumbents an advantage such as failing to cap in-kind donations and not limiting contributions by election cycle. And, of course, implementing the bill until after the 2010 elections.

So, campaign reform continues to "go round and round and round in the circle game". As Joni Mitchell put it: "We're captive on the carousel of time/We can't return we can only look behind from where we came."