The Holder Justice Department has concluded that the Obama administration can lawfully pay Acorn for services provided under contracts signed before Congress banned the government from providing money to the group. Here is the Office of Legal Counsel memo reaching this conclusion.
OLC analysis is tortured. Congress stated: "None of the funds made available by this Joint Resolution or any prior Act may be provided to ACORN. . ." On its face, this looks like a blanket prohibition against paying ACORN under any circumstances. However, OLC purports to find ambiguity in the term "provided to" and then opts for a meaning that does not bar "payments made pursuant to a binding contractual duty."
OLC opts for this interpretation because it avoids a construction which might require the government to breach its contractual obligations to ACORN. In my opinion, this stated DOJ objective is a worthy one, whatever we think of ACORN, and I don't assume that it's just a pretext by OLC for favoring ACORN. However, it seems to me that OLC avoids the result it disfavors only by ignoring the plain meaning of the statute Congress enacted, which is unworthy of DOJ.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2009 00:00 ||
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As if we needed any more proof of the total corruption of this adminstration. This is overkill.
Mayor Daley is going on the offense in arguing for his beloved Tax Increment Financing program -- but experts say he is being less than truthful about what critics dub a "shadow budget."
Daley has held news conferences and conducted radio interviews about "TIF"s in recent weeks. But in just 2 1/2 minutes during one radio interview, experts say Mayor Daley told a number of falsehoods about the controversial economic development tool.
According to the city's own figures, nearly $500 million a year is diverted from the regular pool of property tax money heading toward Chicago schools, libraries parks, police, etc., into the obscure TIF funds, which are designed to promote development in "blighted" areas.
Daley's TIF program is controversial because in addition to "blighted" areas on the West Side and other economically challenged areas, the mayor has used a novel definition of "blighted" to include parts of booming downtown. Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) is fighting an effort to start a TIF around Grant Park which would claim the AON Center and other thriving high-rises are "blighted."
Here is what Daley told interviewer Alison Cuddy on WBEZ:
1. "Most TIF Funds don't generate any money," Daley said.
Wrong. Figures from the Cook County Clerk's office show the funds brought in $495 million in 2008, the last latest year for which figures are available. "They generate a lot of property tax revenue -- a substantial number of dollars in total," said Woods Bowman, professor of public service management at DePaul University.
2. "Most TIF funds are used for schools, parks, libraries, ex-offender programs, job training, economic development to keep jobs here," Daley said.
Wrong on everything but economic development.
In recent years, Daley's administration has started using parts of the burgeoning TIF funds to fund improvements in some schools and parks, but those remain the exceptions to the rule as the lion's share of TIF money goes -- as intended -- toward economic development. TIFs were not designed to capture money that would otherwise have gone to school and park districts only to return smaller portions of it to them. They were designed for providing funding for sewers, curbs, lighting and other improvements to spur redevelopment in blighted areas
"This is not operating cash -- these are capital funds that are pledged generally for infrastructure improvement," said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation. The biggest TIF payouts go not to schools or parks but businesses such as $15 million to the Board of Trade; $10 million to Republic Windows, and multi-million-dollar packages to lure Boeing, United and Willis to Chicago.
3. Daley disagreed when the radio interviewer said the city generates "about half a billion dollars per year in TIF funds." Daley responded, "No, I don't think so. I don't think it's that high."
Daley is technically right for last year, when the figure was $495 million (only 99 percent of half a billion). Wrong for the previous year, when it was $555 million.
4. Daley repeatedly interrupted the interviewer when she suggested that TIFS divert money from parks and schools by freezing property taxes in the TIF districts for a number of years and then putting the increases into development funds.
"No. No. No. No, it doesn't," the mayor said.
Actually, yes yes yes. "That's true. They used to deny that, but [Daley] needs to get a better briefing from his financial people. He's wrong," Bowman said.
TIFs by their very definition divert money from other taxing districts into TIF funds used to improve the TIF area. In a truly blighted area, school and park districts suffer no loss because any additional tax revenues being raised in the 20-plus-year lifetime of the TIF might not have happened but for the improvements there.
But in booming areas such as downtown where development likely would have happened anyway, that means hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes is off-limits to school and park districts which instead must reach deeper into the pockets of homeowners and and businesses in areas without TIFs.
Msall, says it might be more accurate to say that TIFs divert "equalized assessed value" from school and park districts to development. The schools and parks still collect just as much money, just from different pockets.
5. "They don't really create a lot of money in TIFs," Daley said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2009 00:00 ||
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The last time Jim Ryan ran for governor of Illinois, he offered voters a clear choice between a man who never took a dime in public life and Rod Blagojevich.
And though many would like to forget it, they chose Blagojevich.
"The infrastructure of the Illinois Republican Party has never really been for me," Ryan said over breakfast the other day as we talked about that 2002 campaign and his current run in the crowded GOP primary for governor. "I'm not a deal-maker. And senior Republicans knew my reputation. They knew I wouldn't be flexible."
Seven years ago, Ryan, then Illinois attorney general, had the misfortune of having the same last name as George Ryan, the crooked Republican governor who later was indicted and sent to prison in the license-for-bribes scandal. They're not related, but George Ryan's disgrace splashed over the GOP.
To make things worse, senior Republican bosses were secretly backing the Democrat Blagojevich and stabbing Ryan in the back -- a clear illustration of the Illinois Combine at work.
Springfield Republican boss and state asphalt king William Cellini, now awaiting his own Blagojevich-related corruption trial, held a 2002 fundraiser for Blagojevich, according to federal testimony.
Blagojevich's campaign later credited that fundraiser to state Sen. James A. DeLeo (D-How You Doin?), a longtime Cellini and Blago pal. Early in Blagojevich's first term, another Cellini buddy, Robert Kjellander (pronounced $hell-ANDER), received $809,000 in a finder's fee on a state bond deal.
According to federal court documents, Kjellander kicked part of the cash back to associates of influence peddler Tony Rezko. Kjellander, a former treasurer of the Republican National Committee, has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.
But when it came down to either an inflexible Republican Ryan or a flexible Democrat Blagojevich, boss Republicans wanted the gumby with the hair.
"Kjellander ended up getting that $800,000 bond deal about five minutes after the election was over," Ryan said.
Why are you running this time?
"I'm running because I'm disgusted in what I see," said Ryan, a distinguished fellow at Illinois Benedictine University's Center of Civic Leadership and Public Service. "I teach young people and they're disgusted, and that has to change.
"It's very hard to convince young people today about public service. They see it as politics, as a blood sport; they see the corruption, they think politics is dirty work. There's an entire generation of young people who'll be turned off to public service if we don't change that around. I'm in this for two reasons: to help my state and the people of my state."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Gimme a break, this guy is just pissed he's not getting his share of the pie.
#4
I met this guy a few years back. Seemed a decent sort for a politician, plus one didn't feel the need to wash and disinfect one's hand after shaking his. He did have an issue though in that he liked going to strip clubs. Cost him his marriage to Jeri Ryan.
Wrong Ryan: that one was Jack Ryan. And compliments to Spot who got to this one minute before I did ;-) AoS.
In the current group of Illinois pols vying for governor, Mr. Ryan (Jim) would be the 'least' of many evils.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/30/2009 9:24 Comments ||
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If you're interested in this article and the Illinois Gov. race in general, Kass has been taking each candidate out to lunch and giving them a chance to say their piece, letting them speak for themselves without a lot of editorializing from him. You may want to look up the other interviews in the archive.
#6
Mullah R - that was Jack Ryan who Jeri was married to. He was the leading Republican candidate for the senate seat that Obama won until the Chi. Tribune leaked his divorce records, forcing him out of the race (to be replaced by Alan Keyes) thus ensuring Obama's victory.
And yes, Illinois has too many Ryans running for office. Jim Ryan was State's Attorney for DuPage County. The lead weight around his neck is his (and his successor's) handling of the Nicario murder. Also, he had health problems and has been out of politics for a while now.
#7
I voted Libertarian that year: I knew Blago was dirty but no way would I vote for Ryan precisely because of the Nicarico affair. He'll never get my vote.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/30/2009 10:51 Comments ||
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Jeez, you guys are right. Too many Ryans. Me bad. Did meet 'Jim', though.
Forgot about the Nicarico murder and subsequent circus. Excruciating ordeal, that.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/30/2009 13:56 Comments ||
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Chicago politics serves to remind the rest of us how lucky we are in our own home towns.
More Iowans consider themselves to be conservatives than moderates or liberals, offering the state's Republican Party a potentially large pool of converts as it struggles to win back voters, according to a new Iowa Poll.
Most current and former Iowa Republicans agree on two reasons why the party has lost elections and voters. It has nominated lackluster candidates, and officeholders have neglected to make spending control a top priority, according to the poll.
But Iowans who have fallen away from the GOP differ with current members in how they view the party's tone and tactics:
By roughly 2-to-1, former Republicans say the party's lawmakers have become too partisan, have become the party of "no," and have made some people feel unwelcome.
Three times as many former Republicans as current members say the party is controlled by the religious right.
More than 60 percent of Republicans who have left the party say it has focused too much on social issues such as abortion, compared with roughly 40 percent of party regulars.
Iowa Republican leaders say they're optimistic about the 2010 elections, citing rising dissatisfaction with majority Democrats at the Iowa Statehouse and in Washington, D.C., and a national swing among independent voters away from the party in charge.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2009 00:00 ||
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FOX NEWS AM > NEIL CAVUTO Segment [Guests includ KARL ROVE, etal.] > seems the BAMMER is in SERIOUS DISCONNECT wid many DEMOCRATS = LIBERALS + PROGRESSIVES. However, the DEMS/DEMOLEFT still want to give the Bammer a chance, or in the alternate amy try to work wid GOP-Right in Congress to force barack back into the DemoLeft-fold. GUESTS > believe the GOP-Right will gain andor regain House-Senate seats in 2010, espec in the HOUSE???
Also indic on CAVUTO'S SHOW > IIHC seems the only thing remining in Amer these days that is "LEFTIST" IS THE MEDIA ["The Left in Amer is the Media"]???
THE Kennedy clan casts a long shadow over American politics -- no more evident than in the current race for a seat in the US Senate.
Four Democrats are vying with each other to succeed the late Senator Edward M Kennedy but first they have to triumph in the primary on 8 December. Three of those seeking a place on Capitol Hill have chosen to model themselves as the natural successor by emphasising connections with the Kennedy family.
Representative Michael E Capuano, the only candidate with Congressional experience, says his Washington seasoning makes him the obvious Kennedy heir. Electing someone who has not worked on Capitol Hill, Capuano said in a recent debate, "would be to say to Senator Kennedy, 'Your 47 years of experience weren't worth much.'"
Stephen G Pagliuca, a co-owner of the Boston Celtics basketball team, has said he decided to run because "Senator Kennedy would have wanted me to".
And Alan Khazei, co-founder of a national service programme, says the Kennedys were his role models. Khazei's latest advertisement opens with the "ask not what your country" passage from John F Kennedy's Inaugural Address.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2009 00:00 ||
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"Voters are smart enough to know they're not going to get another Ted Kennedy literally or figuratively," Marsh said, "but they're looking for someone who has his qualities." Real smart voters, all right. If they really were smart, they'd move to another state.
#2
Real smart voters, all right. If they really were smart, they'd move to another state.
I would in a heartbeat if it were economically feasible (long story), but both my younger kids have made it clear they want to get as far away from Mass. as possible as soon as they set out on their own.
#3
There are exceptions xbalanke but not enough. Quite a few show up here. However, that said...
The office must be rich in power and plunder and there must be a lot of people getting fed on the public trough. I am also reminded that Teddy got elected and re-elected for years. Barney Frank is another who keeps getting re-elected. Mass. needs to throw off these politicians. We all pay the price outside of Mass.
The Senate healthcare bill presents a tricky political challenge to Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Arlen Specter (Pa.), the only two Democrats in the Senate to have signed anti-tax pledges.
Americans for Tax Reform, the group which persuaded Nelson and Specter to sign the pledge, will press both lawmakers on the issue during next month's Senate healthcare debate, putting them in an awkward position.
"If they vote for this bill as the written it violates the pledge," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, in an interview.
The $848 billion piece of legislation would extend health insurance coverage to an additional 31 million Americans and would impose new taxes and tax increases. An analysis by Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee estimates the bill would raise taxes by $494 billion.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) appears to need every Democratic senator to support the bill because Democrats have failed to muster any Republican backing. The measure needs 60 votes to clear the chamber.
Nelson, for one, knows the political risks of abandoning a campaign pledge. In 1996, he came under heavy criticism for pursuing a Senate seat while serving as Nebraska's governor. The bid violated a 1994 campaign pledge that he would serve out his full term as governor before seeking another office.
Nelson lost the race despite high approval ratings. Political analysts said he was hurt by the pledge. He won a Senate seat in 1998 and is up for re-election in 2012.
Americans for Tax Reform aired cable ads at the end of October pressing Nelson to "keep fighting for Nebraska taxpayers" and to "keep the pledge."
The group argues that Nelson violated his anti-tax pledge by voting for procedural motions to begin debate over the bill and would do so again if he votes to bring it to a final vote.
In an op-ed published Wednesday in the Omaha World-Herald, Nelson defended his vote to begin debate.
"This past Saturday evening, I voted for the Senate to proceed to a full and open debate on healthcare reform with two goals in mind: The first goal is that the Senate, now able to follow normal parliamentary procedures, will produce a bipartisan bill cutting the cost of healthcare for Nebraskans and all Americans," he wrote.
Nelson argued that his second goal was to avoid the prospect of Democratic leaders bringing up healthcare reform under budget reconciliation rules, which would allow them to pass a truncated version of the bill on a fast schedule with only a simple majority.
"The result of the limits on debate and content could be a convoluted bill passed by only 50 senators," Nelson wrote. "That is not what the Senate is about."
Nelson's spokesman declined to comment specifically on pressure from Americans for Tax Reform.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2009 00:00 ||
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"The result of the limits on debate and content could be a convoluted bill passed by only 50 senators," Nelson wrote. "That is not what the Senate is about."
What planet is he from? He's just given a perfect description of how things actually work in DC.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Holder Justice Department has concluded that the Obama administration can lawfully pay Acorn for services provided under contracts signed before Congress banned the government from providing money to the group. Here is the Office of Legal Counsel memo reaching this conclusion.
THE Kennedy clan casts a long shadow over American politics -- no more evident than in the current race for a seat in the US Senate. 
The Senate healthcare bill presents a tricky political challenge to Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Arlen Specter (Pa.), the only two Democrats in the Senate to have signed anti-tax pledges.
