McHenry County Blog

Apparently the leading candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination (according to the Chicago Tribune pollster), Jim Ryan, has called for privatizing the Illinois Tollway.

Actually, I see in the Daily Herald, Ryan wants to sell it.

One of his DuPage County opponents, Kirk Dillard has found my email address (Ryan hasn’t yet) and offers the following reaction seen below.

Dillard, by the way, is coming to Crystal Lake’s 1776 restaurant tomorrow morning from 8-9:30 to meet folks. Complimentary breakfast will be available at the event being hosted by State Senator Pam Althoff.

Dillard’s press release follows:

Dillard Statement on Privatizing the Tollway System

LISLE, Ill- State Senator Kirk Dillard, Republican candidate for governor, today released the following statement regarding Jim Ryan’s support of privatizing the tollway:

“It sounds like Jim Ryan is taking a page out of Rod Blagojevich’s playbook and looking for short-term solutions to the state budget problems.  It’s a risky scheme that threatens motorists, primarily suburban drivers, with massive toll increases and could put current bondholders in jeopardy.

“When other states have privatized their toll roads, tolls have skyrocketed, just like parking meter rates in the city of Chicago. I successfully worked with then State Senator and current Congressman Peter Roskam to protect motorists when Blagojevich tried to do the same thing.

“Let’s not lose site of the fact that suburban drivers have tossed hundreds of millions of nickels, dimes and quarters into the toll baskets for the past 50 years. The only way I would even consider leasing the tollway is if there is a guarantee the money would be used for infrastructure and after consultation with economists, transportation experts and leaders from areas served by the toll roads.”

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Privatizing is not the same as selling a public asset. Privatizing the tollway might make it more efficient. I remember Jim Thompson named one of his State Policeman body guards as his first Tollway director. He started cutting employees and trying to save money and got the boot. Replacing him was Thompson’s chief fund raiser.

News reports said that former Attorney General and Republican candidate for governor Jim Ryan wanted the coveted last spot who vastly out-polled my Libertarian Party candidacy but succumbed to serial liar Rod Blagojevich chickened out today.

Again.

As I have shared previously, when I was in grad school at the University of Michigan, I found a paper than analyzed the impact of ballot order on election results.

The researchers looked at paper ballots for a Michigan city near Detroit. In races of six or more, first place was worth an extra 10%. Second and last place on the ballot were worth another 5%.

There are seven people running for the Republican nomination for governor.

Worst place on the ballot was next to last.

That’s where Jim Ryan ended up.

He blinked at 4:18 PM this afternoon.

Andy McKenna filed seven minutes later.

We won’t know who gets the justifiably coveted first place on the ballot until the lottery, but we know that McKenna didn’t blink and file before any other GOP gubernatorial candidate.

Inexplicably, political consultant Dan Proft filed even earlier than Ryan at 3:26.

One of the men I ran against in the 2002 Libertarian Party candidate for governor has been indicted.

You remember him.

The laughing stock of Illinois, if not yet convicted felon, Rod Blagojevich.

The other one was Republican Jim Ryan.

They both had a lot in common.

Both were chickens.

I called them “JimRod, the Two-Headed Chicken.”

The cartoon you see above by Alex Raffi was commissioned by the campaign.

We also had various people—some of whom still probably wish to remain anonymous—wearing a two-headed chicken suit. The second head was floppy and I never did decide which head represented which candidate.

Ryan and Blagojevich not only refused to debate me, deliberately deciding not to participate in the Illinois League of Women Voters after I met the League’s qualification of having polled higher than 5% in a third party poll (the 1,000 person Daily Southtown newspaper poll), but they were not even brave enough to walk past me on the way to one of their “power party” only debates.

I remember the WGN-TV one vividly.

Upon learning that I was standing at the front entrance of the studio (JimRod and picket sign wielding supporters having been banished to the street entrance), both candidats’ vans drove all the way around the parking lot—they wouldn’t even drive past the entrance—to a side studio door to enter the building.

When the gathered non-WGN camera folks figured out what was happening, there was a rush to the eastern edge of the building to get their shots.

I wonder if Ryan will deign to debate others who file for the GOP nomination for governor.

Previously, McHenry County Blog extracted the responses of state representatives to a proposal to impose term limits on leaders.

Locally, Republican Mike Tryon was the only one opposed to imposing term limits on legislative leaders.

That’s the reform I championed when I was running on the Libertarian Party ticket for governor against “unreformer” (as John Kass puts it) Rod Blagojevich and Jim Ryan.

(Top fund raisers of both of my 2002 opponents are now Federal felons awaiting imprisonment.)

Based on my 43 years of watching Springfield politics, I believe such term limits would do more to make the General Assembly responsive to citizen wishes than anything else.

Here’s where suburban state senators stand on the issue:

• Pam Althoff – Favors
• Michael Bond – Favors
• Dan Cronin – Favors
• Kirk Dillard – Favors
• Dan Duffy – Favors
• Susan Garrett – Favors
• Don Harmon – Refused to answer, saying he was part of the negotiating process
• Linda Holmes – Favors
• Randy Hultgren – Favors
• Dan Kotowski – Opposes
• Chris Lauzen – Favors
• Terry Link – Opposes
• John Millner – Favors
• Matt Murphy – Favors
• Michael Nolan – Favors
• Carol Pankau – Favors
• Arthur AJ Wilhelmi – Opposes

So, all Republicans in favor; three Democrats openly opposed.

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The signs are the ones I took to every appearance in my 2002 gubernatorial campaign. The phone number on the bottom was switched because I thought an 8-year term limit for legislative leaders was more appropriate than one of 6 years.

I’m pretty amazed that the issue I stressed when I ran for governor against Rod Blagojevich and Jim Ryan in 2002 is getting attention during this year when the media is pushing reform:

When my Libertarian Party running mate Jim Tobin and I kicked off our campaign in his National Taxpayers United of Illinois office in the South Loop, the sign we held up is the one you see below.

The sign went everywhere in the campaign and might have gotten some real play had Blagojevich and Ryan not conspired to skip the Illinois League of Women Voters gubernatorial debate after I managed to reach the 5% threshold in the Daily Southtown’s 1,000 person survey. (That was the largest in the entire campaign, by the way.)

It seemed perfectly obvious to me that legislative leaders should not be leaders for life.

Except for two years after Republican Lee Daniels managed to elect a Republican majority in 1994—the year that the GOP’s Contract with America clicked on the national level—Mike Madigan has been speaker since George Ryan held the office in the early 1980’s.

Pate Philip stopped all sorts of bad legislation in his leadership of the state senate during the 1990’s, but it still seems to me that there ought to be turnover.

While the old guy/gal may pick the new guy/gal, at least the newbies would have different friends.

When Daniels got deposed during a staff-campaign-work-on-state-time scandal initiated by Rich Means–part of which took place in McHenry County–successor Tom Cross won votes by promising not to try to follow Daniels’ example of being Republican leader as long as he could.

Cross promised term limits.

In 2008, that 2002 promise went bye-bye.

And, of course, nothing will happen on the issue because Madigan is not willing to see an end to his regime…even if it were ten years from now.

The Daily Herald has polled suburban legislators on how they stand on various reform proposals and how the term limits for leaders issue shakes out can be seen below.

First House members:

• Susanne Bassi – Favors
• Mark Beaubien (Republican representing eastern part of McHenry County) – Favors
• Bob Biggins – Favors
• Linda Chapa-LaVia – Favors
• Franco Coladipietro – Favors
• Sandy Cole – Favors
• Michael Connelly – Favors
• Tom Cross – Opposed (Big surprise there.)
• Keith Farnham – Opposes
• Mike Fortner – Favors
• Jack Franks – (Democrat representing northern & western McHenry County) Favors
• Paul Froehlich – Opposes
• Kay Hatcher – Favors
• Emily Klunk-McAsey – Did not respond to Daily Herald
• Sidney Mathias – Favors
• Rosemary Mulligan – Favors
• Elaine Nekritz – Favors
• JoAnn Osmond – Favors
• Sandra Pihos – Favors



• Randy Ramey – Opposes (Step-father is Pate Philip.)
• Dennis Reboletti – Favors
• Kathleen Ryg – Favors
• Skip Saviano – Favors
• Tim Schmitz – Favors
• Darlene Senger – Favors
• Ed Sullivan – Favors
• Mike Tryon – (Representing southeastern McHenry County) Opposes
• Mark Walker – Opposes
• Eddie Washington – Favors

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The top sign is the one used in the 2002 campaign. The bottom one was the first version. I concluded that 8 years as leader was better than 6, hence the change in toll free phone numbers.

As you can plainly see from this cartoon drawn for my Libertarian Party campaign against Rod Blagojevich and Jim Ryan in 2002, Blagojevich is not a cuckoo.

Mayor Richard Daley is half right.

Blagojevich is a bird.

That bird is a chicken, however, not a cuckoo.

Here’s the whole cartoon, drawn to point out that both Ryan and Blagojevich were chickens.

The two conspired to hold debates where they could dictate who was included.

And excluded.

The specific inspiration for this cartoon was when the two refused to take part in the Illinois League of Women Voters debate. The LVW rules said that any candidate who had received at least 5% in a non-candidate poll could take part.

I received just over 5% in the Daily Southtown poll, which was taken in early September, 2002.

As you can plainly see from this cartoon drawn for my Libertarian Party campaign against Rod Blagojevich and Jim Ryan in 2002, Blagojevich is not a cuckoo.

Mayor Richard Daley is half right.

Blagojevich is a bird.

That bird is a chicken, however, not a cuckoo.

Here’s the whole cartoon, drawn to point out that both Ryan and Blagojevich were chickens.

The two conspired to hold debates where they could dictate who was included.

And excluded.

The specific inspiration for this cartoon was when the two refused to take part in the Illinois League of Women Voters debate. The LVW rules said that any candidate who had received at least 5% in a non-candidate poll could take part.

I received just over 5% in the Daily Southtown poll, which was taken in early September, 2002.

I have already explained how Roland Burris didn’t know the difference between a civil and a criminal case.

That memory from a Champaign County debate in 1982 when I was running against Burris for State Comptroller made me chuckle when I heard a national talking head praise the former Attorney General’s legal prowess.

But, what about his managerial talents, not that much of that is needed by a United States Senator.

I looked at the Illinois Auditor General’s Audit of the last year and a half of Burris’ service as Illinois Attorney General.

Having served on the Illinois Audit Commission for a couple of terms in the 1970’s I can tell a good audit from a bad one.

Roland Burris’ last audit (for Fiscal Years 1993 and 1994 – Burris left office midway through FY94) had these negative findings:

• Burris didn’t pay $313,600 in phone bills over the two-year period. “We again recommend the Agency comply with the State Finance Act and not incur expenses in excess of amounts appropriated.”
• Burris had $14.5 million in receivables, $12 million of which were considered uncollectible.
• Burris got only a “qualified audit opinion” (emphasis in the original) because the agency’s 1994 and 1993 financial statements do not present the general fixed asset group of accounts.”
• Burris had not distributed $21,000 from a 1988 Consumer Trust Account to fifty consumers who should have received the money violating the office’s “fiduciary responsibility to distribute these moneys.”
• Burris “did not sufficiently plan and manage three computer database projects. Since 1991, the Agency has spent $716,070 for professional services on these and other projects with the three consultants. We did not see evidence that all required work products had been delivered. As of December 1994 (the month before Burris left office), none of the three projects had been completed; two of the computer systems developed were not usable; and only a portion of the third system was installed.”

Compare these findings with those for Burris’ successor Jim Ryan. There are a lot fewer negative audit findings for Ryan than for Burris.

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Credit for inspiration for this story goes to CPA Charles Nelson. He worked for Ryan and was assigned to the correction of the problems relating to the accounting, finance, and management related findingsfindings.

I have already explained how Roland Burris didn’t know the difference between a civil and a criminal case.

That memory from a Champaign County debate in 1982 when I was running against Burris for State Comptroller made me chuckle when I heard a national talking head praise the former Attorney General’s legal prowess.

But, what about his managerial talents, not that much of that is needed by a United States Senator.

I looked at the Illinois Auditor General’s Audit of the last year and a half of Burris’ service as Illinois Attorney General.

Having served on the Illinois Audit Commission for a couple of terms in the 1970’s I can tell a good audit from a bad one.

Roland Burris’ last audit (for Fiscal Years 1993 and 1994 – Burris left office midway through FY94) had these negative findings:

• Burris didn’t pay $313,600 in phone bills over the two-year period. “We again recommend the Agency comply with the State Finance Act and not incur expenses in excess of amounts appropriated.”
• Burris had $14.5 million in receivables, $12 million of which were considered uncollectible.
• Burris got only a “qualified audit opinion” (emphasis in the original) because the agency’s 1994 and 1993 financial statements do not present the general fixed asset group of accounts.”
• Burris had not distributed $21,000 from a 1988 Consumer Trust Account to fifty consumers who should have received the money violating the office’s “fiduciary responsibility to distribute these moneys.”
• Burris “did not sufficiently plan and manage three computer database projects. Since 1991, the Agency has spent $716,070 for professional services on these and other projects with the three consultants. We did not see evidence that all required work products had been delivered. As of December 1994 (the month before Burris left office), none of the three projects had been completed; two of the computer systems developed were not usable; and only a portion of the third system was installed.”

Compare these findings with those for Burris’ successor Jim Ryan. There are a lot fewer negative audit findings for Ryan than for Burris.

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Credit for inspiration for this story goes to CPA Charles Nelson. He worked for Ryan and was assigned to the correction of the problems relating to the accounting, finance, and management related findingsfindings.

First the disclaimer.

As the Libertarian Party candidate for governor, I ran against Rod Blagojevich in 2002. I got whomped, receiving just 2% of the vote.

Democrat Blagojevich, one of whose chief fund raisers, Tony Rezko, is a Federal felon awaiting sentencing and another, Christopher Kelly, is awaiting trial on Federal tax charges, beat the Republican Party candidate Jim Ryan, whose chief fund raiser and contributor Stuart Levine is also a Federal felon for soliciting kickbacks from Mercy’s Crystal Lake hospital contractor, by more than my two percentage points, so it’s tough to direct responsibility to me for Ryan’s loss.

(Looking at that sentence’s construction, can you tell I took German?)

Both of them were chickens in the campaign. See

Jim-Rod, the Two-Headed Chicken, Comes Home to Roost

JimRod, the Two-Headed Chicken Comes Home to Roost – Part 2

JimRod, the Two-Headed Chicken Comes Home to Roost – Part 3

With Levine’s proven bent toward corruption, I wonder how much better Illinois governance would have been had Ryan been the 2002 victor.

But, back to what I hope Blagojevich will do.

I hope he will cut a deal with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, agreeing to tell about all the corruption he knows.

That might perhaps appeal to him since many of those he would finger are probably quite willing to push the Governor out of office.