respublica

The highest sales tax in the nation is...

in Chicago after the Cook County Board adopted a one percent increase to "fill a hole in the budget."  It is now at 10.25%. 

What is the sales tax locally?  It varies from city to city.  Here's St. Louis city.

Only in Illinois

State democratic House leader, Michael Madigan has sent a talking points memo to all democratic candidates for state office which outlines how they can call for impeachment hearings for democratic governor Rod Blagojevich.

How often does it happen that officials of the same party think of impeaching one of their own?  A Madigan spokeman said, "It's not the viewpoint of Madigan or a House Democratic caucus position, Brown said, but simply more research for candidates who are interested in talking with voters about the issue." 

Bah. In the memo Madigan wrote: "One thing we learned from the (imprisoned former Republican Gov.) George Ryan case is that we should excise a tumor when it is first discovered; not leave it in the body to continue to spread and do further harm." 

It sure sounds like it's the view of Madigan.

Illinois earmarks 2008

Earmarks by state, a map.  Hold the cursor over a state and their earmark figure will appear.  Map link via Instapundit

Illinois reaped a bundle of earmark money this year, $394.2 million, a figure that may be low and which ranks Illinois 7th in total money. 

It is very difficult to find lists of these things by state or by legislator.

I'm not totally opposed to earmarks, funding put in the budget by congress for local/state projects.  Many are worthwhile for those of us back home in our cities and towns, but the problem is these earmarks are sort of hidden in the budget making an examination difficult.

So much interest in the Rezko verdict

When the news broke yesterday afternoon that the verdict in the Tony Rezko trial would be announced at 3:45, it drove what must have been thousands of interested people to their computers.  So many headed for websites which figured to play a prominent role in reporting the verdict that many of these sites went down.

Capitol Fax was grounded while Rich Miller worked to get more memory added to his site after too many visitors maxed out two servers.  The Chicago Tibune and Sun-Times also crashed.

This interested me almost as much as learning the verdict.  Much of the interest in this case must have been because of Rezko's ties to Governor Blagojevich and to a much lesser degree, to Barack Obama.

Capitol Fax once again did a most thorough job in reporting the end of this case.

Chicago, one of four

The International Olympic Committee announced today that Chicago is one of four cities still in the running to host the 2016 Olympic games.  Three contenders were eliminated: Prague, Dohar (in Qatar) and Baku (in Azerbaijan)

The other three cities are Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo.

The winning city will be announced on October 2.

No to straight party voting

The Illinois legislature legislature failed to pass straight party voting, effectively killing it for the November election.

There was quite a bit of talk about the state going to this form of ballot, but it will happen.  At least for this cycle.

They messed up the out of state wine purchasing, but got this one right.

Via Illini Pundit

Follow the Illinois contribution money

Re: the post just below on HB which took effect in Illinois on Saturday limiting the sale of out of state wine to individuals via wine clubs or internet sales.

The liquor distributors lobby has shelled out over $6 million since 2000 to help get this law passed.  One of the bill's sponsors, Jay Hoffman, is one of those in the state legislature who has benefited from these campaign contributions. 

Now Illinois residents join those in Kansas and a few other states who cannot receive a case of wine as a gift or order one themselves.  It benefits the liquor distributors, but as too often happens, shuts out the average person who enjoys the occasional purchase of a case of wine from somewhere else.

New Illinois law for 2008 affects wine drinkers

A new Illinois law which took affect on May 31, HB429, will hit wine aficionados who have been members of interstate wine clubs or who purchased wine on line.

The legislation allows for customers to buy wine directly from a winery — up to 12 cases annually — provided that winery has purchased a direct shipping license from the state.  But the legislation shuts out direct shipping for larger wineries, who must go through a distributor in order to sell their product. Out-of-state wine clubs and retailers are also prevented from doing business in Illinois.

The driving force behind this legislation is the Illinois liquor distributors industry, a group which has given $6.3 million in campaign money to state politicians since 2000.  Governor Blagojevich's campaign has received over half a million since he took office.

In an editorial in the Chicago Tribune last week, Tom Wark wrote: "When you buy that special bottle of wine from an Internet retailer, the distributors don't bring it into the state, so they don't get a cut of the sale. So the liquor distributors wrote a law, found a few friends in the legislature to introduce it and voila . . . you lost your rights."

Governor Blagojevich's best friend in the state house, Jay Hoffman, was one of the Bill's sponsors, but many other benefited from the money passed around by the liquor distributors.  "This law's lead sponsor, Rep. Edward Acevedo (D-Chicago), has received $32,000 from alcohol wholesalers since 2000, including $10,000 since the legislation was introduced last year. Senate sponsor James Clayborne Jr. (D-Belleville) has received $85,000 from alcohol wholesaler interests since 2000, including $15,000 since the legislation was introduced."

Illinois politics always surprise

What could happen in Illinois if Barack Obama is elected president.

The wife of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich yesterday answered a question from from a mock press conference of fourth graders:  "If Senator Obama resigns his Senate seat, is Governor Blagojevich interested in his position?"

She would not rule it out.

Via Capitol Fax

Buying green cleaning products for schools

The other day I posted about new Illinois legislation which will require the state's public schools to use green cleaning products.  After reading that, I began looking online for products which will be the standards set by the legislation and couldn't really find a link which mentions actual products by name or where you'd get them.  There are currently many cleaning products on store shelves that claim to be green.  But are they green enough to meet the state's standards?

The green cleaning products being used by many schools and cities appear to work just as well as the more traditional toxic cleaners, but they smell much better.  I've purchased a couple of kinds of these cleaners and am very pleased with them.

Last night at a meeting of Clayton's EEAC committee I asked where a person would go to find out this information and was told that a good place to start is the web site for Green Seal. 

School districts can also buy their new products in conjunction with U.S. Communities, a group purchasing alliance which I'd guess many school districts are already a part of.