I have concluded that Pat Quinn is an idiot...

This whole Thompson prison thing.

Agree with it or disagree with it. Reguardless he has handled it in a truly stupid way.

He needed to be ready to address the concerns/issues about security. He needed to be able to better explain the 'why' as something besides economic development. Finally he needed to seem a little less eager about the whole thing.

OneMan

The Beacon had a story today about the wealth of congressmen...

With this little thought from congressman Foster

Foster likes that the reports are accessible to the public, but he'd prefer the reports offer more specifics to give a clearer picture of net worth. "I'd be perfectly happy if they gave more detail," he said.

Well then congressman, share more detail. Nothing is stopping you.

OneMan

You Are The President Of The United States...

Sorry,

But you should not bow for no Emperor, King or Queen. Period.

Got a twitter notification from the Ryan campaign

That a blogger (marathon pundit I think) had endorsed Jim....

So blogger endorsements are twitter worthy. I will keep that in mind...

OneMan

What does it say about video gaming in Illinois

When the proposed rules for video gaming are marked as 'emergency rules'.

SOURCE: Adopted by emergency rulemaking at 33 Ill. Reg. _______, effective _______, for a maximum of 150 days.

So the challenge becomes do you try and issue revenue bonds for the video poker money before the rules become non-emergency rules? If you do, it will likely have an impact on the bonds because they would be for a revenue stream that is defined at the time by rules that are not necessarily 'final'. Also the longer you take to implement the more government entities will have time to take a pass on the machines and the more that take a pass the greater reduction in potential revenue you are going to have.

The longer this all takes, the more impact it has on the bonding for the revenue.


The Rules
There are a few interesting rules....

Immediately remove all video gaming terminals from the restricted area of play i) upon order of the Board or an agent of the Board or ii) that have been out of service or otherwise inoperable for more than 72 hours;

So if a big ice storm takes power out for three days a video gaming terminal would have to be removed? If the network these things are going to communicate with goes down for 72 hours would the machines have to be removed? Could a serious issue with the central communication system cause a trigger to require every machine in the state to be removed from where it is located? Seems you have a bit of an issue here with the rules.

The owner, manager, or employee of the licensed video gaming location who is over 21 years of age shall be present during all hours of operation, and the video gaming terminals or the entrance to the video gaming terminal area must be within the view of at least one such owner, manager, or employee.

So you have to have at least 21 year old on duty at all times the machines are on...

Again you ask me the machines should be owned or at least operated by the lottery.


OneMan

So Corzine lost in NJ

That's cool....

So there are seven candidates for governor.

I am going to make my prediction for who is going to win in February...

It is either going to be Jim Ryan or Adam Andrzejewski...

Why, either Ryan is going to win it on name recognition or Adam is going to win it because he is going to be the top pick among the 'outsiders'.

With seven candidates that are all at least somewhat legitimate I think Adam's early work going to a ton of events (he is the only candidate I have seen more than once this season) might just pay off.

The other option is the field is going to be so big and confusing people will go to the name they know, Jim Ryan.

OneMan

Interesting Times in the 25th State Senate District

Well Senator Lauzen has a primary opponent. Sugar Grove Mayor Sean Michels. He does not seem to have a committee registered with the state board of elections yet. He also is not the first creditable primary challenger that Senator Lauzen has faced over the past 10+ years. However this time things might be a bit different. Why?

• Well there is still some bad blood over the congressional race in the 14th. So some folks who might have helped Chris out are going to likely sit on their hands and their checkbooks.
  
• He had some quotes about public service that will make some great mailers....
• Most of his district is west of Aurora, folks might feel someone from Sugar Grove might 'get' them better.
  
• The Solheim Cup provided a lot of visibility to Sugar Grove, giving the mayor and the trustee who was the contact person for the city with the LPGA (more on that later) a lot of new contacts and exposure. Also a chance to get tight with a rather wealthy local...
  

Also you have Sugar Grove Trustee Melisa Taylor challenging Bill Wyatt in the primary for county board seat 5. Search Melisa Taylor at the Daily Herald, more than one feel good story about her there.

So you have two Sugar Grove officials who are challenging Republican incumbents in a primary. I don't think this is a coincidence kids, it might be. But I think two elected officials from the same smallish village don't take on two incumbents in a primary in a vacuum.

If nothing else, each will help the other in terms of generating turnout in the primary in Sugar Grove. Will it be enough? Who knows. But it's going to be interesting.

Campaign Pro-Tip

Don't do a presser in front of one of the other candidates campaign office when there is staff an volunteers around...

So you think Tom Dart is going to have a press conference

To announce the feds tossed his action against Craigslist....
I doubt it..

OneMan