How convenient…This morning State Senator (I’m suddenly a reform minded Senator now that I am running for Congress) Halvorson is quoted by Bethany Jaeger saying:

With two weeks left before the deadline to adjourn the General Assembly, one prominent Democrat says the process is behind schedule. “There are things they should have been working on a long time ago,” said Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson of Crete.

Halvorson also said the Senate should pass a “bare bones” budget and only pay for what the state can afford.

First, there are things Halvorson and her Democratic pals should have been working on a long time ago including ethics reform, a recall amendment, lowering taxes on Illinois families, and not supporting Rod Blagojevich and billions of dollars in new spending. So yes, Senator, there are a number things that should have been worked on a long time ago.

What’s interesting is that Halvorson, as Majority Leader, has done nothing on those issues for the last several years. Her preference has been the Rod Blagojevich way of doing business.

Which leads us to her second quote regarding passage of a bare bones budget.

As noted in a previous post, it’s amazing how a congressional campaign has changed Halvorson’s outlook on Illinois issues. After supporting Rod Blagojevich and his overspending for years, suddenly she’s in favor of passing bare bones budgets? How convenient…

Finally, that leads us to the same questions asked of her last time. Is Senator Halvorson the Majority Leader? Is she the “go-to person” as she claims?

If so, then why isn’t she pushing on these issues that they “should have been working on a long time ago”?

My guess is she will say she is pushing on these issues. But that begs the next questions: where have you been these last several years? why now? what has altered your outlook that would cause you to turn away from Rod Blagojevich and Emil Jones so quickly?

Oh, that’s right, you are now a candidate for Congress. How convenient…

Today the new State Senate Rules Chairman, Ricky Hendon, reminded Illinois voters that State Senator Debbie Halvorson, as Chair of the Senate Rules Committee, was one of Rod Blagojevich’s main protectors by holding up numerous pieces of legislation including ethics reform.

“It’s unfortunate that Senator Halvorson continues trying to re-write history and her longstanding support for Rod Blagojevich and his policies,” said Illinois Republican Party Spokesperson Lance Trover. “However, today’s comments from a fellow Democrat colleague are a stark reminder of how Senator Halvorson represents the Rod Blagojevich way of business as usual in Springfield.”

According to this morning’s Capitol Fax:

Hendon claimed last week that he wants to run a kinder, gentler Rules Committee. Hendon said that he already had 70 requests from both sides of the aisle to move bills out of Rules, “and I’m going to honor a lot of them.”

“More bills will be coming out of Rules,” Hendon proclaimed. “I’m not going to promise that every request will be honored, but [members] have a much better chance than ever before.” Hendon said he believes strongly “in the power of the individual member,” and said he had always thought the way Rules has been traditionally run by leadership “was wrong.” Even though he was a member of the committee, “I would go crazy when I couldn’t get stuff out of Rules.” Hendon also said he was taking a “much more active rule with staff” about how the committee dealt with bills.

“Ricky Hendon’s comments cement what we have known for years - that Senator Halvorson was Rod Blagojevich’s chief lieutenant and protector working vigorously to stymie any type of reform in Illinois,” said Trover. “Senator Halvorson needs to end the Blago-talk and explain to voters why, for the last six years, she has chosen Rod Blagojevich’s needs over the people’s.”

–Illinois Republican Party Press Release

In Kristen McQueary’s Southtown column yesterday, State Senator Debbie “I’m suddenly not best pals with Rod Blagojevich” Halvorson had an interesting take on what her duties as Senate Majority Leader are:

“I don’t know what happened. I have no idea,” she said. “We vote on 100 bills a day. I have no control over who is picked off and given something for their vote. When I counted, we had 36 votes. I pulled every trick out of my trickbag to make sure that bill came out of rules, and I voted for it on the floor.”

When pressed on who changed their votes and why she didn’t investigate afterward if the bill was so important to her, Halvorson said lawmakers vote their conscience and it’s not her job to twist arms.

“I don’t have power over that. It’s not my job to go into their privacy and see why they decided not to vote for it,” she said.

That’s quite a change from January 2005 when she told McQueary:

“I’m the go-to person who will guide the agenda, keep everyone calm and make noise when I need to,” she said.

It’s amazing how confident Senator Halvorson was about her new role as Majority Leader in 2005. Of course, that was prior to her decision to run for Congress.

It’s funny how a congressional campaign affects things including a person’s abilities to do their job - especially when that job requires being the Chief Lieutenant for Rod Blagojevich and Emil Jones. It’s even funnier how a congressional campaign affects job descriptions.

So which is it, Senator? Are you the Senate Majority Leader?

Are you the “go-to-person”?

Or are you simply the person who has “no idea”?

The act of saying one thing, while being caught in the act of doing another

Senator Halvorson can’t figure out where she was (literally) during recall debate

CHICAGO - The Illinois Republican Party today is calling on State Senator Debbie Halvorson to come clean with the voters and stop Blago-talking them on her record in the Illinois Senate.

“Senator Halvorson needs to stop Blago-talking voters when it comes to ethics, GRT, and Recall,” said ILGOP Spokesperson Lance Trover. “Further, it’s time she told the truth about where, exactly, she was immediately following the recall vote.”

Immediately following the failure of the Recall Amendment, Senator Halvorson made the motion to adjourn without considering the House Republican’s version of the amendment. Since that day Senator Halvorson has given conflicting stories on where, exactly, she was immediately following the vote.

Click Here to Continue Reading

Statement from ILGOP Spokesperson Lance Trover on State Senator Debbie Halvorson’s removal as Chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee:

“After years of working to advance the interests of Rod Blagojevich and Emil Jones at the expense of her constituents, Senator Halvorson has now chosen simply to advance her own political ambitions.

“Unfortunately for Senator Halvorson the damage has been done.

“The voters of the 11th Congressional District will see right through this desperate attempt to distract the people from her long record of being Rod Blagojevich’s go-to person in the Senate.”

For more than a year the Illinois Republican Party has been advocating tougher ethical reforms for our government and if today’s published reports are true Illinois may be on the cusp of obtaining the first step in some much-needed reform.   

Of course, it’s guaranteed there will be a number of individuals who will line up to take credit for passing these reforms.  One such individual is State Senator and Congressional Candidate Debbie Halvorson.

 However, it’s important to understand that the Illinois legislature would not have to be debating new ethical rules today if Senator Halvorson had not bottled up the house ethics package that passed and landed in her committee more than a year ago.   

As Chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee Senator Halvorson held up the unanimously passed house ethics package in her committee for over a year!  She even went so far as to say last fall the house was just playing politics with the Governor by passing these reforms.

 Suddenly, after announcing her candidacy for Congress and prodding by the Illinois Republican Party, newspaper editorials, and voters Halvorson has had a change of heart.  She’s now working overtime in the face of a public spotlight on this issue to get an ethics plan through the legislature.  My, how time and a congressional candidacy changes things.    It’s laughable at best.   Halvorson protected Rod Blagojevich by sitting on ethics reform for more than a year but is now ready to claim credit.  That’s not leadership.  That’s opportunistic.  That’s being a politician.

Go ahead and try to take credit, Senator.  Try to tell the people of this state that you wanted ethics reform all along.  Try to convince the people of your district that you have not been Rod Blagojevich’s chief lieutenant in the state senate.  Keep trying. 

Just remember, Senator, the voters of this state are not dumb.  They are going to remember when you had a choice between them and Rod Blagojevich, for over a year you chose Rod Blagojevich. 

Apparently when it comes to Barack Obama and high gas prices hope has its limits.

At a time when gas prices have now reached $4.00 per gallon in the City of Chicago and American families are hoping for relief at the pump, Barack Obama is intent on opposing John McCain’s plan to place a moratorium on the federal gas tax.

In 2000 Obama thought putting a moratorium on the Illinois gas tax was a good idea, now he believes placing a moratorium on the federal tax is a “bad idea.”

The Illinois moratorium saved the people hundreds of millions of dollars at the pump - but McCain’s plan is a bad idea?

It appears Barack Obama’s idea of hope really does have its limits - especially when it comes to lower taxes and lower gas prices for the American people.

As John McCain tours the country talking about cutting taxes on the hardworking people of the United States including providing relief at gas pumps by asking Congress to suspend the 18.4 cent federal gas tax, Barack Obama is once again proving he truly is a product of the Chicago Machine way of doing business by voting for a temporary elimination of the Illinois state gas tax as a state senator but now believes it’s a “bad idea.”

A good sign that someone comes from the Chicago Machine way of doing business is: you oppose tax increases as a candidate (or at some other time prior to running for higher office) and then once you are elected refuse to enact tax reform (i.e. lower taxes) or (their favorite) increase taxes on your constituents sighting all the “vital services” that otherwise would need to be cut.

In many walks of life this is also called hypocrisy.

Now whether Barack comes by this hypocrisy naturally or not, I cannot say. However, when it comes to living up to his Chicago Machine upbringing Barack Obama has certainly had some good influences, most notably his Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Barack Obama’s Governor Rod Blagojevich ran on a promise to clean up Illinois state government and is now the most investigated administration in Illinois history.

Barack Obama’s Governor Rod Blagojevich ran on a promise to not raise taxes on Illinois families and then proposed the highest tax increase in Illinois history along with raising the state sales tax.

Barack Obama’s Governor Rod Blagojevich promised to get the states budget under control and we are now in more debt than ever.

Barack Obama’s Governor Rod Blagojevich promised to bring back respect and honesty to the Governor’s office and is now the most distrusted individual in Springfield.

So I guess considering his Chicago influences like Rod Blagojevich, we shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that Barack Obama once thought that ending the state sales tax on gas was a good idea when there was a “huge hike” in gas prices and now doesn’t support gas tax relief when there’s been a huge hike in gas prices.

Barack’s hypocrisy is what some would call the Chicago Way of doing business…maybe it’s time that statement becomes “The Blagojevich Way” of doing business.

Maybe it’s a good thing State Senator Debbie Halvorson is running for Congress?

If she were not running we may never have seen an ethics bill even get out of committee.  Of course, never mind the fact she only moved an ethics bill after being called out consistently for over two weeks by the ILGOP.  Never mind the fact that the bill is pretty much the same bill the House sent over to her last fall and is considered by many to merely be stalling tactic to tie up the process. 

She clearly wanted to show true leadership just in time for her congressional race to try and prove she’s not carried Rod Blagojevich’s water for 6 years in the state senate. 

It only took her a year to let an ethics bill out of the Rules Committee - the committee she chairs.  Of course, not much has happened in the last year…just more allegations of pay-to-play, the Tony Rezko trial, and witnesses declaring our Governor personally offered up state contracts for contributions.  Nothing major. 

After all, according to Debbie, we passed comprehensive ethics reform nearly a decade ago.  Looks like that worked out really well for the people of Illinois…

Thanks for running, Debbie.  You’ve really shown the kind of leadership we are looking for in Washington.

Check out today’s Tribune Editorial: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0418edit1apr18,0,5041641.story

Winter and early spring are known for bringing allergies, colds, sore throats and even laryngitis.  Laryngitis, the extreme part of a cold, pretty much shuts down a persons voice for a period of time until their larynx is no longer inflamed. While he hasn’t admitted that it’s the cause, the only possible answer we can discern as to why Pat Quinn chose to remain silent for six years about the corruption of Rod Blagojevich must be laryngitis. 

Afterall, Quinn has been an outspoken critic of Republicans for more than 20 years advocating many of his “reforms” for Illinois.  However, around 2002 Quinn fell silent.  As 2002 turned into 2006 and allegations of endemic hiring fraud and pay-to-play seeped out of the Blagojevich administration Quinn remained curiously silent.  Laryngitis can be a booger. Some people can go weeks without a voice, but 4 years?  This could be one for the record books. 

Quinn did manage to regain that voice briefly in 2006 but when he was able to talk he defended Rod Blagojevich calling him an honest man.  Then suddenly the voice disappeared again all the way through his 2006 re-election with Rod.   Colds are the strangest things. 

Now it’s 2008 and **WHAM** Pat Quinn has found his voice again.  Not what we would call a speedy recovery, but better late than never, right?  Now that Quinn has regained his voice he is once again a big fan of “reform” for Illinois.  Galavanting across the state Quinn is speaking out about recall and ethics legislation all the while blasting Rod Blagojevich. 

Wow!  Who would’ve thought?  The last time he was able to speak up, he defended the Governor - now he’s slamming him. 

Losing one’s voice for six years probably gives one plenty of time to ponder their future and what exactly they want to say when they regain their voice. 

Either way here’s to wishing Pat Quinn the best on keeping his laryngitis from coming back again.