Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak launches the Chicago Sun-Times/University of Illinois at Chicago Lecture Forum at an April 19 panel ``Inside Washington: Where Red States and Blue States Collide.''

 

"We are pleased to embark on our inaugural panel series with UIC. Our long-term commitment will be to address topics that reflect the diverse communities and cultures that both the university and the Sun-Times serve," said John Cruickshank, Chicago Sun-Times Publisher.
"We welcome the opportunity to join with one of the nation's major newspapers in hosting a forum that will give the public the opportunity to hear from, and question, leading experts from academia and journalism on vital issues of the day," said UIC Chancellor Sylvia Manning.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak launches the Chicago Sun-Times/University of Illinois at Chicago Lecture Forum at an April 19 panel analyzing Washington policies and politics.
"We are pleased to embark on our inaugural panel series with UIC. Our long-term commitment will be to address topics that reflect the diverse
communities and cultures that both the university and the Sun-Times serve," said John Cruickshank, Chicago Sun-Times Publisher.
"We welcome the opportunity to join with one of the nation's major newspapers in hosting a forum that will give the public the opportunity
to hear from, and question, leading experts from academia and journalism on vital issues of the day," said UIC Chancellor Sylvia Manning.
Novak, a native of Joliet who writes one of the nation?s premier Washington columns, will be part of a panel on ``Inside Washington: Where Red States and Blue States Collide?? moderated by Chicago Sun-Times political columnist Carol Marin.
Other panelists include Lori B. Andrews, a professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law; Lyn Ragsdale, professor and head of political science at UIC; Lynn Sweet Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief and Maria de los Angeles Torres, professor and director of Latin
American and Latino Studies at UIC.
The forum will be held from 1-2:30 p.m. at UIC's Student Center East, 750 S. Halsted St., Room 302.
The program is free and open to the public,
but space is limited and registration is required. To register, call (312) 413-0151 or e-mail karenj@uic.edu.

 

The polling place debacles during the presidential race almost six years ago should remind all of us how vital it is to design voting systems that are reliable. Even today, no one can be sure how accurate the vote tally was in that monumental race in Florida.

We don’t want the same thing to be said of Cook County some day.

The obligation of the clerk’s office is clear and simple: Every vote that is cast should be counted. Absolutely. The republic is founded on that notion.

But meeting that obligation may sometimes be more complex.

To be sure, the clerk’s office had its hands full during the primary election two weeks ago. It was the first election to include early voting. It was the first election to use touch-screen voting machines. It was the first election to use optical-scan balloting. It was one of those elections where, if anything could go wrong, it would. Officials in the clerk’s office knew that. In the days preceding the election, they warned that the results would be much later than normal, and that prediction certainly turned out to be correct — the outcome of at least one race wasn’t known for days.

Certainly, that delay is frustrating, but what’s much more important than the speed of the vote count is the accuracy of the vote count.

Over the years, we’ve been impressed with the professionalism of Clerk David Orr’s operation. But there were a number of new elements added to the mix on March 21, and the chaos in some precincts on Election Day suggests that a constructive public critique session is order.

Without a doubt, some votes were missing on election night, apparently not turned in or else delivered to the wrong place. This doesn’t have to be a crisis. The canvass seems to have found those votes and remedied the errors. But can we feel confident that every vote was, in fact, found? And has the clerk’s office been able to identify and develop a solution for all of the myriad problems that occurred?

Public hearings, in an unpoliticized atmosphere of problem-solving, would address all that. They would help identify problems and potential solutions. They would reassure the electorate that their votes count.

Orr has shown already that he is taking these problems seriously. He is suggesting procedural changes that, on their face, seem to make sense. But in doing so, he has attributed much of confusion to mistakes by election judges. He may be right, but not all election judges agree.

Hearings involving all interested parties would clear that up. Finger pointing is neither necessary nor helpful. But getting to the crux of the problems so they can be solved is what the business notion of continuous improvement is all about.

Too much is at stake to ignore that philosophy here.

Kane County speech controls go too far - Editorial

http://www.dailyherald.com/opinion/index.asp

Anyone who has regularly attended public meetings knows they are often boring, too long and peopled by speakers who are ill-informed, overly emotional and relentlessly repetitive.

That means we understand the inclination to want to limit speech and muzzle speakers, but we cannot condone Kane County’s rather brazen attempt to act on that inclination with rules that would undermine free speech rights granted in the Bill of Rights.

Among the more egregious suggested rules for public comment at Kane County Board meetings is a ban on “political” comment. Given every topic being discussed at a public meeting by a policy-making body is political in some way, we can only surmise that “political” will often be translated by board members to mean “anything that disagrees with us.”

That’s simply unacceptable, as are rules that preclude naming public employees or using “condemning” remarks. Given the thin skin of too many public servants when they are questioned, we can only imagine nearly all criticism will be viewed as “condemning” by many. Just to be sure public servants’ feathers are never ruffled, there’s also this classic: “No speaker shall debate any member of the county board.” That’s nothing short of repressive.

Furthermore, the county would require speakers to pre-register, provide personal contact information and say whether they are speaking for or against a topic. It also would give the board chairman the power to determine the order of speakers, all of whom would be required to fit in a 30-minute maximum discussion period for agenda items, or a 15-minute window for comment on items not on the agenda.

Yes, indeed, public speakers can be rude and uncivil, and their right to speak does not extend to personal attack, vulgarity and profanity. These rules, though, go far beyond ensuring such restraint. They are attempts to chill and control public comment in order to make the lives of public servants easier. They should grow thicker skins if they want to serve the public properly.

Controversial decisions of major impact require more than 30 minutes of public discussion. In fact, in such cases, public servants should be going out of their way to ensure everyone is heard, not limiting comment to the shortest possible time frame and to the voices they approve.

Speakers should be able to sign up at the time of the meeting without having to pre-state their views and be allowed to speak on a first-come, first-served basis. “Picking and choosing public comment based on the content of the comment violates the First Amendment,” says Sarah Klaper, a lawyer with the Citizen Advocacy Center in Elmhurst. We agree.

Enforce individual speaker and public comment length restrictions. But if there are too many speakers on a single subject to fit within the designated comment period, continue the discussion to another day and time devoted specifically to that topic.

Public servants are, after all, in place to serve the public, not silence it.

Herald showing bias in immigration story - Thomas P. Young 

http://www.dailyherald.com/opinion/fencepost.asp

Once again your paper is showing its bias, this time in Friday’s (March 31) lead article on immigration. If one only looks at the headline, “Let them stay here, 39 percent say,” you would think that the majority is on the side of the illegal immigrants. Going further into the story we find the following:

1) 39 percent is closer to only one third than it is to 50 percent or one-half;

2) the survey covered 801 people in the Chicago area, hardly a representative sample on any scale;

3) 56 percent of the people interviewed felt the illegal immigrants did not pay their fair share of taxes. If so , how can it not have an effect on the quality of education?

4) Thirty-five percent of the interviewees felt that immigration should be reduced.

I could go on but hopefully the point has been made. Your headline is misleading and one can only assume it represents the Daily Herald’s position on this matter. Report the news in an unbiased fashion and save your personal opinions for the Op-Ed page.

Loaded offensive questions Roskam should have asked Cheney - Walt Zlotow

http://www.dailyherald.com/opinion/fencepost.asp 

When you met recently with Vice President Cheney to accept his support to replace retiring Rep. Henry Hyde, did you have a chance to ask him:

Why he was one of the most ardent proponents of the unnecessary war of choice in Iraq, which has drained our precious military and treasury only to become an unending national nightmare?

Why he has consistently opposed efforts by Republican Sen. John McCain to curtail the practice of torture and forbid its future use under any circumstances by the U.S. government?

Why he has become the primary cheerleader of the illegal spying conducted by the Bush administration in violation of FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)?

Why will he not reveal the substance of the secret meetings he held with major energy companies considering the impending energy crisis we face in America?

How he can justify the astounding increase in the deficit during his five years in office so his base of supporters can gorge on tax cuts?

How he can travel with the most modern medical personnel and equipment for his health issues while his administration does nothing for the 43 million of his fellow citizens with no health insurance?

Mr. Roskam, you need to address these issues because they will address you every day of this campaign until election day. We await your responses.

 

DIERSEN HEADLINE: Daily Herald publishes Morgan Mader's anti-traditional marriage letter to the editor

(Not posted as of 6:00 AM)

NEWS SUN

Latinos to protest at Bean's office  Demonstration Monday: Supporters of immigrant rights - Ryan Pagelow 

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/city/5_1_WA08_BEANPROTEST_S1.htm

Supporters of immigrant rights are planning a demonstration in front of the Schaumburg office of Democratic U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean on Monday at 11 a.m.

Rep. Bean voted for a bill that was approved in the House last year that would make it a felony to be in the United States without the proper immigration paperwork.

Latinos Organized for Justice, an immigrants' rights organization with the Illinois Hunger Coalition, is asking that she reverse her position on immigration and take a pro-immigrant stand.

"We contribute to our community as taxpayers. We mow the lawns, paint the houses and we fix the cars of people living in District 8," said Joel Ruiz, a leader of Latinos Organized for Justice and a deacon at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Round Lake. "We believe that we have a right to expect that she will represent all of the people in her district."

Three buses from Round Lake, Wauconda and Palatine will bring demonstrators on Monday.

A group of 250 Latinos mostly from Round Lake and Wauconda met with Rep. Bean in June during an immigration forum where they asked her to support a solution to bring immigrants out of the shadows and promote family reunification.

NAPERVILLE SUN

Responsible actions on building bills - Editorial

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/sunpub/naper/editorials/n09edit.htm

When Gov. Rod Blagojevich took office, the state was in a precarious fiscal position.

It still is, though he has jacked up fees to businesses and taken some other action in an attempt to appear fiscally responsible.

In the Illinois Senate in last week's waning days of the legislative session, two big spending bills were axed along strictly partisan lines — Democrats voted for them but even with their majority could not get them passed. They needed four Republicans to break ranks and support the bills, but none did so, and though each of the bills had a 32-26 majority they failed by four votes to gain passage.

Had the bills passed, they would have resulted in the state borrowing $4.3 billion — $1 billion for school construction and maintenance and $3.3 billion for roadwork, mass transit and college-building needs.

Supporters insisted the money could be paid back out of existing fuel tax revenues and the state's primary bank account, but those who opposed the bill said there was no reliable funding source built into the plan.

Republicans also expressed the opinion that the whole plan was a sham, intended to force them in an election year into opposing what could be considered programs that voters would like. After all, building schools and spending money on such things as higher education, mass transit and roads have a tendency to create a warm, fuzzy feeling in those who benefit from them.

To be sure, we'd like to see the state take more responsibility for educational spending, but not as an election-year gimmick in a state that still has money problems.

Sen. Rickey Hendon, D-Chicago, criticized Republicans harshly, saying "You should support the children of Illinois, even if you don't like Rod, even if you don't like me, even if you don't like (Illinois Senate) President (Emil) Jones."

We don't see this at all as a matter of who hates whom or who likes whom.

While building programs can be good, if needed, fiscal responsibility is more important, in our view.

We think the Republican minority acted responsibly and that state spending has to be restrained.

DIERSEN HEADLINE: Naperville Sun promotes illegal immigration and mass immigration, again

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/sunpub/naper/news/n09immig.htm

Securing their place in America, local immigrants work to live the American dream - Ann Hanson

Ling-Yan Matson, who came to the United States from China 10 years ago and is now living in Villa Park, is doing double duty — waiting tables and studying English — in her quest to live the American dream.

The ability to travel and change jobs easily attracted her to America. A waitress just for now, Ling-Yan said she would eventually like to work for the government or as a flight attendant when she becomes a citizen.

"You have very little choice (in China)," said Matson, who is more fortunate than most immigrants because she is is married to an American citizen. "The people, or most of the people, have one job their whole life. In the United States, you can change your job if you want."

After visiting the United States twice, she said she decided she wanted to make it her home.

"I chose to stay here because I think here I can do anything I want," she said.

In his work helping others like Ling-Yan secure their piece of the American dream, Jeremy Mains sees dozens of immigrants every week as an immigration counselor for World Relief DuPage. He knows the hopes of immigrants today are no different than they were 400 years ago.

"People come to the United States for the same reasons they have since the nation was founded," Mains said. "They come for opportunities, for freedom."

He said the immigration legislation being debated now in Congress will touch the lives of all of his clients.

"All of them are affected by this, even if their nation doesn't border the U.S.," he said.

Going nowhere

The Senate immigration bill, which suffered a possibly fatal blow Friday, would have provided for stronger border security, regulated the future entry of foreign workers and created a complex new set of regulations for the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. Officials said an estimated nine million of them, those who could show they had been in the United States for more than two years, would eventually become eligible for citizenship under the proposal.

Despite being hailed as a bipartisan breakthrough Thursday, Friday the bill fell victim to internal disputes in both parties as well as to bewildering political maneuvering. On the key vote, only 38 senators, all Democrats, lined up in support. That was 22 short of the 60 needed, and left the legislation in limbo as lawmakers left the Capitol for a two-week break.

"Obviously, it's a polarizing issue," Mains said.

'Secure our borders'

Rick Biesada is co-founder of the Chicago Minuteman Project and views the immigration legislation from a different perspective. While Main said his organization generally favors the McCain-Kennedy version of the legislation, Biesada said he and his group want to see tougher laws. They favor the House version of the bill, which would make it a felony offense to be in the country illegally.

"Our general thoughts are, it's not the greatest bill they've come up with, but it's a good bill," Biesada said of the House legislation. "It's the best bill that we're going to get."

Border protection is the primary focus of the minutemen, who, including Biesada, went to the Mexican-American border last year in an attempt to prevent people from coming into the country illegally.

"We have to secure our borders," he said. "That's the number one thing that we have to do. ... because it is my understanding that we're at war. The first thing you do when you're in a combat zone is secure the perimeters."

Mains doesn't argue the importance of border protection, but he said that can be accomplished without making criminals of the illegal immigrants here today.

"I feel that can be done in a spirit that recognizes the contributions of immigrants in this county," he said.

A new home

Carol Garcia, an English as a Second Language Specialist at College of DuPage, teaches citizenship classes to immigrants who hope to be naturalized. She said the students in her courses are usually green card holders, but the college is not required to verify their status.

One of the provisions of the McCain-Kennedy bill would be that illegal residents must learn English before they can become citizens. That's an exciting prospect for her students now, Garcia said.

"They're learning so many things and they're anxious to share that," she said. "They like to talk to native speakers."

This is just like one of her students, Ling-Yan Matson, who is willing to work long hours as a waitress to help her earn a most precious reward — American citizenship.

What polls say
Recent polls show that about six in 10 Americans oppose letting illegal immigrants remain in the country and apply for citizenship. Three of every four don't believe the government is doing enough to stem the continuing tide of new arrivals. The government says the number of illegal residents grows by half a million every year.

On the other hand, a poll of people who described themselves as legal immigrants, found that 68 percent said they supported temporary worker permits for illegal immigrants and a way for them to apply for residency after learning English and paying a fine. The survey was conducted by the firm Bendixen and Associates between Feb. 24 and March 21.

Illinois stat
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, about 4 percent of the undocumented population lives in Illinois. California has the most, at 24 percent, followed by Texas with 14 percent.

ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR

Illinois residents better invest in good pairs of walking shoes — or heavy-duty shock absorbers — because it doesn’t look like there will be agreement on a capital plan to build and fix roads in the state any time soon.

That makes three years without a capital plan and it’s unlikely anything will change until next year’s spring legislative session.

The latest silliness hit Springfield on Thursday. Senate Democrats proposed a $4.3 billion plan, which far exceeded the $3.2 billion plan Gov. Rod Blagojevich proposed in his State of the State address.

Democrats knew there was no way Republicans would support a plan that cost more and didn’t have any details about where the money was going. It was a thinly veiled attempt to make Republicans look bad. Republican votes are needed to achieve the three-fifths super-majority it takes to approve the debt the new bonds would create, but instead of offering up a plan Republicans could at least consider, Democrats proposed outrageous spending.

Democrats will hit the campaign trail and proclaim that they wanted more jobs and better roads — not to mention much-needed school construction — but Republicans wouldn’t cooperate. Republicans will counter that they would have considered a reasonable spending plan, but were not presented with anything reasonable.

The governor’s $3.2 billion plan is more reasonable than what Democrats tried to pass Thursday, but Republicans are concerned about how the governor will pay for it.

“For three years now I have said I will vote for a plan that identifies a revenue stream and provides details about how the money will ultimately be spent,” said state Sen. Dave Syverson of Rockford in a statement. “But for three years the governor has failed to identify how the state will pay for the new debt, refused to provide proof that the projects will be fair and geographically balanced, and any assurance that promises made will be kept.”

The governor and his staff can roll out all kinds of charts and graphics to explain how the state can afford the $3.2 billion spending plan, which includes about $113 million for projects in the Rockford area, but Republicans say they don’t trust the governor or his numbers.

Partisan politics have hit an all-time high — or is that low? — in Springfield. The only bipartisanship we see is agreeing to disagree.

It seems Republicans are willing to bet that Judy Baar Topinka will be elected governor in November, and then they won’t have to deal with Blagojevich and his crew. That’s not a very good bet when federal dollars also are at stake. The Illinois Congressional delegation, which has shown it can work across party lines, brought a record $6.1 billion in federal transportation money home.

That money will go to waste unless the state antes up its share, about 20 percent of the cost of each project.

The spring legislative session was supposed to be a quick one. Lawmakers were hoping to adjourn Friday so they could get on the campaign trail early to tout all the wonderful bills they supported and passed.

It looks like lawmakers will be in session for another week and then potential voters can get ready for vigorous whining about who is really letting you down.

There’s always hope for the remaining days of the session, but we don’t see any potential for conciliation when Democrats and Republicans are so firmly entrenched that neither side seems willing to listen to the other.

We’ll just lace up our shoes and wait until next year.

ANTHONY CASTROGIOVANNI

Castrogiovanni announces bid to challenge Cook County Party Chairman, Gary Skoien for his seat

www.gopillinois.com (4/9/06 News Clips page)

Text of letter sent the Cook County Committeemen:

With the March 21st Primary behind us, it is time for us to look toward the future of this Party, it’s leadership and it’s candidates. We have great opportunities before us to win state and county-wide offices this November, however, this can only be achieved if certain issues are addressed:

SPRINGFIELD – Anonymous, automated phone calls some Champaign-Urbana residents received this week were part of an orchestrated effort by House Republicans that targeted state Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, D-Urbana, and at least a dozen of her Democrat colleagues.

The calls criticized the lawmakers by name for their support of a two-year reduction in state pension contributions, which was part of a law enacted last summer, and for other budget practices, like sweeping cash from dedicated state funds to pay for general operations.

"It's unfortunate that a group has resorted to anonymous misleading scare tactics just to score political points in an election year," said a written statement from Jakobsson calling the phone messages inaccurate. "I am confident that the people of the Champaign-Urbana area will see through gimmicks like anonymous telephone calls."

Jakobsson's Republican opponent, Rex Bradfield, issued a statement on Thursday saying he was not behind the calls and had not heard any of them.

Later on Thursday, David Dring, spokesman for House Minority Leader Tom Cross, said House Republicans paid for the calls.

"We think the citizens of Illinois deserve to know that their pensions are being raided and that this budget puts the state in dangerous fiscal condition," Dring said. "Everything in these phone calls is accurate information."

Dring said it was not necessary for the calls to disclose who was paying for them because they were "public policy calls," not political calls aimed an influencing an election.

"This is not about politics," he said. "This is about informing the citizens and trying to save the state from the reckless policies that the Democrats are pursuing."

Dring said the calls cost less than $10,000, and the money came from the House Republican Organization, a campaign fund controlled by Cross and state Rep. Angelo "Skip" Saviano, R-Elmwood Park.

House Democrats denounced the calls as "cowardly and false," and said they should have identified who was behind them.

Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, said calls were received by residents in at least 13 Democrat House districts. They included the districts of : Jakobsson; state Rep. Dan Beiser, D-Alton; state Rep. Mike Boland, D-Moline; state Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion; state Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora; state Rep. Bob Flider, D-Mt. Zion; state Rep. Careen Gordon, D-Coal City; state Rep. Tom Holbrook, D-Belleville; state Rep. Karen May, D-Highland Park; state Rep. Brandon Phelps, D-Norris City; state Rep. Kathleen Ryg, D-Vernon Hills; state Rep. Mike Smith, D-Canton; and state Rep. Patrick Vershoore, D-Milan. State Rep. Kurt Granburg, D-Carlyle, also received reports of calls in his district.

According to Dring, the following is the text of one of the calls that went out in Jakobsson's district: "This is a public pension alert. Your pension may be in jeopardy. Your state representative, Naomi Jakobsson, supports diverting over $1.1 billion in payments to your pension and instead wants to spend them on frivolous pork projects throughout the state. Illinois currently has the worst-funded pension system in the nation, and by voting for this budget, your representative, Naomi Jakobsson, would make it worse. Call Representative Jakobsson's office at 373-5000 and tell her to fully fund our pension system."

At issue is legislation the Democrat-controlled General Assembly approved last May. The measure reduced some benefits for future hires and cut the state's expected pension contributions by about $1.2 billion this year and $1.1 billion next year, freeing up that money for other state operating expenses.

Republicans in the General Assembly uniformly opposed any reduction in payments to state pension systems, which already have the largest unfunded liability of any state in the nation. They are demanding that the state replace the pension funds that were diverted this year and halt the diversion planned for the coming year, but Democrat budget negotiators have shown little interest.

In her statement, Jakobsson said pension benefits are guaranteed by the state constitution and that the bill she supported reduced long-term pension liability while preventing cuts to important state services.

"I deplore these desperate attempts to confuse and scare constituents in the 103rd District by falsely claiming that their retirement benefits are in jeopardy," she stated. "I would never support legislation that would put anyone's retirement security at risk."

Bradfield took issue with Jakobsson's position.

"It makes no sense to assert a pension system is strengthened by taking money away from or not contributing to it," he stated. "Any person with a savings account can understand, if you stop putting money in that account, it doesn't get stronger."

A different version of the automated call reportedly claimed that the lawmaker in question wants to take money away from important state programs, including programs for veterans, and use it to balance the state budget or to pay for spending in other communities. The transcript of that call was not made available.

The governor's proposed budget for the year beginning July 1 would skim about $144 million from variety of special state funds, which the administration said had built up excess balances over the years that were not being used. The list of funds that would be affected in the coming year has not yet been finalized, but funds that have been swept in recent years include the Illinois Veterans Rehabilitation Fund, the Youth Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Fund, the Coal Mining Regulatory Fund and the Sex Offender Registration Fund.

Republicans oppose taking money collected for and intended for a specific purpose and using it for something else, but Democrats have defended the practice as an important budgeting tool.