Illinois Primary Turnout May Have Been the Lowest in History

"Romney Is Victor by Wide Margin in Illinois Vote," announces the New York Times. According to the Times, it was a blowout. Mitt takes away "about three times as many delegates as Mr. Santorum, which aides hoped would increase his lead enough to tamp down talk of a contested convention and build an unassailable advantage in the race for the nomination." A big win, a landslide victory, a total rout.

Pretty impressive -- until you learn that it's not.

Associated Press:

Illinois voters, at least the ones who bothered to show up, did the math and wound up backing Mitt Romney, a candidate they see as less than thrilling but still the Republican Party's best chance of capturing the White House this fall.

Turnout seems likely to be among the lowest in decades — perhaps the lowest, period. The record low in state records dating back to 1960 is 23 percent, which happened two years ago. Officials in several election districts said Tuesday's turnout was hovering around 20 percent.

Romney easily bested Rick Santorum in the popular vote and captured at least 41 of the 54 delegates at stake, pushing him closer to his party's nomination.

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The Law is an Ass

You know what the bitch is about writing a daily post? Figuring out the first sentence. This doesn't have a damned thing to do with what I'm about to write, but I figure the best way to solve a problem is to point it out. Try this tomorrow; wake up and wonder what the hell you're going to do with your life. Then do it the next day and the next day and the next....

But you didn't dial in here to see me whine and I've managed to brilliantly solve my own problem. My first sentence is dead. This concludes this episode of "Fighting Writer's Block." Yay on me. Onwards and upwards.

Moving right along, I'm a little lost on what to think about Roland Burris. This is a problem. Turns out, he's just a little bit of a dick. The general consensus is that Burris is a good man caught in a controversy bigger than himself. That controversy may be bigger than he is, but he's not a good man.

ProPublica.org:

Former Illinois attorney general Roland Burris, embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s pick to replace Barack Obama in the Senate, is no stranger to controversy.

While state attorney general in 1992, Burris aggressively sought the death penalty for Rolando Cruz, who twice was convicted of raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. The crime took place in 1983.

Cruz was clearly innocent. Another man confessed to the crime. Burris pushed to legally murder -- there is no other word for it -- Cruz for political gain. My opinion of this man is that he's the scummiest of scum. Much, much worse than the corrupt governor who appointed him. Blagojevich never tried to kill anyone.





Most people probably don't know about this and still believe Burris shouldn't be seated. A recent Gallup poll finds that a slim majority -- 51% -- think that Burris should not be seated. Only 27% thinks he should get the seat.

And here's where I earn my blogger pittance -- Burris should get the seat. Screw you majority.

It's not about Barack Obama or Blagojevich. it's about the law. And, as Mark Twain put it, the law is an ass. A big freakin' brainless donkey who'll plant his ass anywhere, anytime, and refuse to budge. As much as we'd like the law to always make sense, that's not the way it is.

Blagojevich is the governor. Scandal or no scandal, Illinois still has an executive. He's signing or vetoing law and, if there were some sort of disaster -- an icestorm, say -- he's the guy who'll deal with it. He has every right and, dare I say, obligation to make this appointment.

We need to look at nations where the law serves the rulers, rather than the other way around. China shouldn't be our model. If law is subservient to leadership, we lose in the long run. Blagojevich is a dick, Burris is a dick, but the law should be absolute.

Don't get the idea that I take this stance casually. I really, really don't like Burris. Where ambition trumps justice, we all suffer. And Burris has proved he puts ambition above justice. Screw him,

As I write, news comes in that Burris will be seated.

San Jose Mercury News:

In a reversal, Senate Democrats now appear ready to let Roland Burris fill President-elect Barack Obama's vacant seat.

After being rejected Tuesday when he tried to join the class of incoming freshmen senators, Burris is finding new support on Capitol Hill among Democratic leaders, the Associated Press reported.

Burris, who would become the Senate's only black member, was blocked from taking the seat by Democrats who objected to an appointment by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

I wish I could celebrate.

-Wisco

Not Much of a Cunning Plan

The word of the day seems to be "stupid." That's the general consensus regarding the corruption scandal of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, that he's an idiot. You'd think the first clue would've been his hair; he looks like he got stuck halfway in a morph between The Monkees' Mike Nesmith and Donald Trump. But, if the hair wasn't a giveaway, his actions sure were.

"Blagojevich, it seems, figured he was a Master of the Universe, immune from the scrutiny he should have known he was under," writes CNN's Gloria Borger. "Of course, the feds were listening. Sad for the governor, the wiretaps that prosecutors detailed reveal a stunning and disgusting portrayal of a pol trying to extract personal gain from almost anyone -- whether a potential Senate candidate, a children's hospital or a newspaper."

Why would the feds be listening? Because Blagojevich was already under investigation. And he knew it. The feds were hot on his trail and the governor acted as if everyone thinks he's a solid citizen. As I say, the word of the day is "stupid."





Or "crazy." In February, Chicago Magazine ran a profile of Blagojevich that suggested (actually, more than suggested) that he was a little goofy in the head:

The governor's strange behavior has been fertile ground for local armchair psychologists. Last summer, the downstate newspaper the Peoria Journal Star declared that the governor was "going bonkers." Privately, a few people who know the governor describe him as a "sociopath," and they insist they're not using hyperbole. State representative Joe Lyons, a fellow Democrat from Chicago, told reporters that Blagojevich was a "madman" and "insane." "He shows absolutely no remorse," says Jack Franks, the Democratic state representative. "I don't think he gives a damn about anybody else's feelings. He tries to demonize people who disagree with him; he's got delusions of grandeur."

[Rich Miller, who writes the insider's newsletter/blog Capitol Fax] points out that people shouldn't blame Blagojevich's lousy governing skills on his personality alone: "You can be insane -- totally whacked out psychologically -- and be a good governor or a good president."

I'd like to see evidence of that claim, since Gov. Blagojevich -- like Richard Nixon and, perhaps, George W. Bush -- doesn't exactly prove that hypothesis. I have yet to see an example of a good Caligula.

It's actually hard to write about this at this point, because there are so many holes in the story. Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has released a 78 page criminal complaint that mentions few people other than Blagojevich by name. What's clear is that he was trying to play some weird chess game, with Barack Obama's vacated senate seat as his queen. It was his duty to appoint Obama's successor and he wanted something -- anything -- for that appointment from anyone who could give it to him. "Maybe an ambassadorship," says Borger. "Maybe an appointment as Health and Human Services secretary -- a 'trade' as he put it. Or maybe Energy, a loyal aide suggested, because that department is 'the one that makes the most money.'" He wasn't exactly clear on what he wanted, he just wanted something.

Some are already trying to use the Blagojevich scandal as evidence that Barack Obama is a dirty politician. People like the entire Republican party. Based on one quote from Obama in 2006 -- "We've got a governor in Rod Blagojevich who has delivered consistently on behalf of the people of Illinois" -- the GOP is trying to portray Gov. Caligula and Obama as coconspirators. The junior senator from Illinois once said something nice about the governor -- how unprecedented! "That isn't much at all," reports Greg Sargent. "Though Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett is in the midst of the case as the candidate Obama reportedly wanted for the Senate seat, there's no suggestion of any wrongdoing on her part."

Writing for The Nation, John Nichols says:

Intriguingly, one of the charges against Blagojevich is that he demanded appointment for himself as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration -- apparently in return for appointing a senator who would be to the president-elect's liking. That raises the prospect that either Obama or members of his transition team may have cooperated into the federal investigation of the governor's activities. Certainly, Obama fans will hope this turns out to have been the case.

In any case, the idea that Obama is tied into this in any way is made laughable by Fitzgerald's complaint. Barack Obama may have said something nice about Blagojevich once, but Blagojevich has nothing nice to say about Obama. Fitz has him on tape saying of the transition team, "[T]hey're not willing to give me anything except appreciation. F**k them." Doesn't exactly sound like a partnership in crime, does it?

In fact, some speculate it was Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who tipped off the feds. It's probably not true, but you never know. Either way, it's not as if Blagojevich needed Obama's assistance or even cooperation in his big, half-baked plan to use the seat to somehow enrich himself. The appointment was his alone to make, he didn't need any help -- he just needed someone willing to pay for it somehow. From everything I've read, he was having a little trouble with that part of his grand strategy.

The thing is, Blagojevich is still the governor, so the appointment is still his to make. There are the predictable calls for him to resign, but he seems like such a dick that I can't see him leaving until he's thrown out. Some see a remedy for this predicament:

Chicago Sun-Times:

Don’t trust the governor. Let the voters decide.

That was the message of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin on Tuesday as he called for the state Legislature to order a special election to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat, rather than allow Gov. Blagojevich to pick a replacement.

"No appointment by this governor, under these circumstances, could produce a credible replacement," Durbin said. Seems reasonable to me. Whether it's legally possible might be another question, I don't know. But unless it's absolutely proscribed by the state constitution, I think that's probably the best way to go. When the governor can't be trusted, let democracy do it.

If Blagojevich is as stupid and crazy as his alleged crime (I say "alleged," but it looks like an airtight case), then not only Illinois, but the nation, would suffer from any appointment he made. It could be the finest senator to ever serve and that taint of corruption would still follow them around. It doesn't seem fair to the eventual senator in even in the best possible scenario. The worst possible scenario is that Blagojevich would appoint some corrupt crony.

But if the voters choose Barack Obama's replacement, the legitimacy is restored. Every problem has a reasonable solution and any solution that hinges on democracy is a pretty solid one in my book.

The word of the day may be "stupid," but that doesn't mean the way out of the problem has to be.

-Wisco

Banks Buy Banks, Workers Get Screwed

The signs say it all. At a nondescript industrial building, sided with corrugated metal, workers display signs that read "Respect Federal WARN Act Law," "You got bailed out. We got sold out," and "$Billion$ for Bank of America, $0 for workers."

The building is the Republic Windows & Doors plant in Chicago and the signs are held by former workers, let go after the company lost its line of credit with Bank of America. The company gave them three days' notice and no severance -- federal law requires 60 days notice and severance. That's the WARN act referred to on the signs. The workers, clearly getting screwed illegally, staged a sit-in and effectively took over the building.

What happened next was unexpected, at least for the workers. "We never expected this," factory worker and union VP Melvin Maclin told the New York Daily News. "We expected to go to jail."

What Maclin and the rest of the Republic workers didn't expect was strong political and governmental support. Political realities in America are quickly correcting themselves after years -- perhaps decades -- of wrongheaded top-down economic theory. The economic crisis is making realists of us all.





"When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right," President-elect Barack Obama said sunday at a press conference. "What’s happening to them is reflective of what’s happening across this economy." He went on:

When you have a financial system that is shaky, credit contracts. Businesses large and small start cutting back on their plants and equipment and their workforces. That’s why it’s so important for us to maintain a strong financial system. But it’s also important for us to make sure that the plans and programs that we design aren’t just targeted at maintaining the solvency of banks, but they are designed to get money out the doors and to help people on Main Street. So, number one, I think that these workers, if they have earned their benefits and their pay, then these companies need to follow through on those commitments.

And it's those current "plans and programs" which are the problem here. Not only are they solely "targeted at maintaining the solvency of banks," but they're a multi-billion dollar giveaway without strings. Out of $350 billion handed out in the first round of a $700 billion total bank bailout, only $15 billion is left. According to the Associated Press, "Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who is overseeing the program, is weighing tapping the second $350 billion. The main goal of the program is aimed at getting financial institutions to lend money more freely again, which would help revive the economy."

But they aren't lending money. They're using the bailout funds to buy other banks. When "too big to fail" is basically the heart of the problem, allowing them to become even bigger seems stupid beyond words. "[B]anks, both privately and publicly, aren’t talking about helping the economy," reported the investigative jounalism site ProPublica. "They’re talking about helping themselves... The government's investment in the banks, of course, comes with few strings attached and no requirement on how the money can be used." It's a simple calculation; "too big to fail" today may not be "too big to fail" tomorrow. Corporate growth is an insurance policy. Monopolies won't be allowed to go under.

With companies struggling as it is, the absence of available credit is unbearable for many -- like the construction dependent Republic Windows & Doors. Since the idea of the bailout was to increase available credit, we can trace the closing of the Chicago plant directly to the credit crunch. After cutting off Republic's line of credit, Bank of America approved a $50 billion takeover of Merrill Lynch. It had previously acquired LaSalle Bank and Countrywide. Bank of America received $15 billion in bailout funds in November. With the acquisition of Merrill Lynch, they got $10 billion of their bailout bucks -- call it a rebate.

Republic Windows & Doors would've needed somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 million to continue operations. That's chump change to BoA at this point.

Where the feds under Bush wouldn't act, the State of Illinois did. Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- arrested this morning on unrelated charges -- suspended all state business with BoA, Chicago's second-largest bank. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced an investigation into the plant closure.

Even after such disastrous consequences for working families, the Treasury seems unlikely to change the merger-mania that their bailout has inspired. In November, they all but announced they were all for it.

Associated Press:

The Treasury official overseeing the federal $700 billion financial bailout plan yesterday defended banks that want to use the government's money to buy competitors.

One of the first deals announced was last month's acquisition of National City Corp. by PNC.

Treasury doesn't want to "micromanage" banks that receive capital infusions under the bailout, Assistant Treasury Secretary Neel Kashkari said at the Wharton Finance Conference in New York.

"Prudent mergers and acquisitions can be good for our financial system and our communities," Kashkari said.

How good was it for the community of Chicago, Illinois? Those people with those signs would probably tell Kashkari "not very." As things are, they're considering spending Christmas occupying the plant.

But wait, there's more. This story may have a happy ending -- at least, for the family who owns Republic.

Chi-Town Daily News:

A company managed by the wife of Republic Windows and Doors owner Richard Gillman recently purchased an Iowa plant that manufactures similar products, according to public records.

Gillman has come under fire in recent days for abruptly closing Republic's Goose Island plant and refusing to provide workers there with the 60 days notice and pay required by federal labor law.

Echo Windows and Doors was created two weeks ago and lists Sharon Gillman as its manager, according copies of records obtained by the Daily News from the Iowa Secretary of the State. According to Cook County property tax records, Sharon Gillman is Richard Gillman's wife.

It's a Christmas miracle! Warms your heart, doesn't it?

-Wisco