Illinois Review

IL GOP State Central Committee meeting moved to Sept 6th

Illinois Review has just learned that the IL GOP State Central Committee conference call expected this week to discuss the presidential candidate selection process has been moved to next Tuesday, September 6th at 5:00 PM.  For more information on the proposal, see IR's "IL GOP Presidential Delegate Selection Process Files Now Available"

The meeting will conducted in person at the Bolingbrook Golf Club.  It is our understanding that the meeting will be opened up to the public.

We have also learned that at least one other resolution will be discussed at the meeting, a proposal that would cause county chairmen to advise and be given the authority to allow or not allow Republican National Hispanic Assembly chapters to exist.  This proposal is reported to have been submitted by IL GOP State Central Committeeman Angel Garcia. 

Secret Deals Damage Illinois GOP

By Mark Rhoads

The bosses will win again this week and the voters will lose. It is always difficult to read tea leaves of the Illinois Republican State Central Committee when they labor so hard to keep their deals as secret as possible.  The committee is 19 indivduals who are not elected by any registered voter (as they were for almost 80 years after World War I.)  For the last 20 years committee members have been "elected" (what an monstrous abuse of that word) by a variety of county chairs and other party officials who are also not elected by voters.

IL state lawmaker crosses state line to marry gay partner

Get ready for another huge Illinois court battle to begin. State Representative Deborah Mell (D-Chicago) crossed the Iowa border last week to marry her lesbian lover Christin Baker in the Mississippi River town of Davenport.  For the two, a same sex civil union allowed in Illinois just wasn't good enough.

According to reporter Carol Marin of the Chicago Sun-Times, Mell has become the first high-profile elected official in Illinois to publicly enter into a same-sex marriage. She is the the sister-in-law of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the daughter of Chicago alderman Dick Mell.

… “Our relationship deserves marriage,” said a beaming Mell, her newly wedding-banded hand resting on Baker’s shoulder Tuesday. “That’s how I feel about it. I mean there was a time in our relationship where it just wasn’t right to call Christin my ‘partner’ or my ‘friend’ . . . or even my ‘civil-unionized partner.’ You know she’s my wife. . . . We deserve those titles, those rights.” …

The Iowa Republican writes:

Daycare is expensive. Enter the Super Nanny State?

The hot news buzz today is that in many states, daycare costs as much or more than college costs.  A group called the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies released a 61-page report entitled "Parents and the High Cost of Childcare".  And guess what it found?  It's expensive to put kids into daycare.

And the ulterior message to us all?  Child care is so expensive, we need the Nanny State to step in.

Now any sharp news observer knows that these big news reports don't just happen.  They're designed and released to soften the public for something the orginating group wants. In this case, it's relief. They want more money for child care workers - a growing number which are joining service worker unions - and they're demanding more funds from their taxpaying neighbors. 

 We say "more subsidy" because the fact that states like Illinois already heavily subsidize child care is hard to find in those 63 pages.  Why?  Because, well, the message clearly is what we do now is just not good enough. And likely, it's an issue that will be pushed in the upcoming political campaign. 

Prez pre-empts next week's GOP prez debate with jobs speech

In your face, GOP.  From the WSJ:

President Barack Obama intends to deliver his much-anticipated speech laying out his jobs agenda and plan to cut the federal deficit on Sept. 7 to a joint session of Congress. Mr. Obama’s timing steps directly on a Republican presidential debate scheduled for that same evening in Simi Valley, Calif.

UPDATE via Twitter:  White House spokesman Jay Carney says debate sponsors "control the timing of it." Clearly expects NBC to delay debate.

Economy and Ethics: top 2 issues on Americans' minds

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 84% of Likely Voters rate the economy as Very Important in terms of how they will vote in the next congressional election.  That’s up from 74% in early June and 76% in April.  Still, the number of voters who feel this way about the economy has remained fairly consistent since January 2008.  (To see survey question wording, click here.) By a 45% to 35% margin, voters trust Republicans more than Democrats on the economy.

Regaining the number two spot in terms of importance is the issue of government ethics and corruption. However, it’s a distant second, with 67% regarding it as Very Important.  For several years, government ethics and the economy ran neck-and-neck as the most important issues on voters’ minds. In September of last year, just before the midterm elections, healthcare rose to the number two spot and stayed there prior to the latest survey. 

As for health care, 65% say that issue is Very Important come the next congressional election.  That finding is down from 79% in early November 2010 and 72% in early April of that year, the first survey conducted after President Obama signed the health care bill into law. 

Walsh: Buffett needs a day job

Freshman Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-8) tells it as he sees it on Bloomberg TV this morning about billionaire Warren Buffett's efforts to hike taxes on the uber-rich. Video below the fold:

Medved in for IFI October 11

Illinois Family Institute is excited to announce the keynote speaker for our annual fall banquet is conservative stalwart Michael Medved!

Medved is a nationally syndicated radio host, best-selling author, and veteran film critic. His daily three-hour broadcast reaches more than 3.5 million listeners on nearly 200 stations across the country, drawing an audience that consistently ranks his show as one of the top ten conservative political talk shows in the United States.

ADA protects alcoholic truckers

Have a drinking problem?  Boss threatening you to get your act together or you'll be fired?  You say you drive for a living?  You should know your rights. 

Alcoholism is listed as a federally-protected disability under the American Disabilities Act, and now even truck drivers are given a pass if found to have a drinking problem. Heritage.org reports EEOC's decision:

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc., a trucking company with a service center in Fort Smith, Ark., violated federal law by discriminating against at least one truck driver because of self-reported alcohol abuse, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. The company should have met its legal obligation to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act while assuring safety, rather than permanently sidelining self-reporting drivers, the EEOC contended.

Yeah, we don't want those truckers with drinking problems to lose their jobs ...

How Obama’s Rules Hold Back Chicago Business

by Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-6)

“Please don’t challenge us with more rules and regulations from Washington.”

That was one farmer’s plea to President Barack Obama at a recent town hall in Atkinson. Unfortunately, its become a steady chorus from American businesses of all walks, including in meetings with Illinois businesses on Tuesday.

Appropriate and responsible regulations play an important policymaking role. Yet the Obama administration has turned rule-making into an assault on American businesses and the jobs they create. Right now, 4,257 new regulations are in the works, 219 of which will cost over $100 million annually — 15 percent more than last year.

Just one rule has Chicago White Metal Casting, a Bensenville manufacturer employing 240, fighting to survive in an already tough economy. They’ll soon face a restriction regulating greenhouse gases from stationary sources. After the congressional defeat of cap and trade, the EPA began implementing the job-destroying scheme through regulations. The EPA estimates this regulation will cost businesses $132 million the first year and add EPA oversight to 10,000 new facilities.