By Steve Rhodes
“The Illinois House might expel one of its members Friday, but Rep. Derrick Smith remains on the November ballot and still could be re-elected,” AP reports.
Heh.
But wouldn’t they just expel him again after the election?
“The Illinois Constitution prohibits either house of the General Assembly from expelling a member more than once for the same offense.”
Heh-heh.
The obvious answer from the House’s perspective would be to wait until after the election to see if expulsion is even necessary. Maybe the voters will do it for them. But Illinois legislators can’t even figure out how to best kick out one of their own. And they’re gonna reform pensions?
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“If you want to know how cynical and corrupt Illinois politics has become, you should focus on Springfield today,” John Kass writes for the Tribune.
Go read the rest right now and come back.
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One of my favorite parts was Kass recalling U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Chicago) saying before last spring’s primary that “We know that our colleague is charged with criminal activity. But we also know that a charge is not a conviction.”
Good enough to win the election for us but not good enough to actually be seated.
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But what should the Dems have done? Wasn’t it proper of them to try to control the seat? Well, they’re running an independent candidate anyway. What’s the difference if the opponent is Smith or secret Republican Tom Swiss? In fact, it might have been better to back Swiss on principle and then work to pummel him in the fall instead of what they risk now, which is Smith winning re-election.
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Better yet, I would have advised residents that two really bad candidates ended up in the primary and while they were free to vote for either, the Democratic Party would back neither and instead put up that independent candidate in the fall, having failed to properly serve voters this time around. With an apology.
Tax Hacks
“Four large Chicagoland companies are among 26 publicly traded firms that paid more to their CEOs in 2011 than they did in federal taxes, according to a study released Thursday by a left-leaning Washington, D.C., think tank,” the Tribune reports.
“Tax breaks on research and development, past losses and foreign-held earnings were among those lightening the load for many companies on the list, which included Abbott Laboratories, Boeing Co., Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility, according to the study by the Institute for Policy Studies.”
But they’re for gay marriage, so they can stay.
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Actually I have no idea if the CEOs of these companies are for gay marriage. For some reason, neither Rahm Emanuel nor their aldermen care.
Speaking Of Chicago Values
“While some NFL teams will feature casino advertising on stadium signage for the first time this year under a new league policy, the Chicago Bears won’t be one of them,” Danny Ecker writes for Crain’s.
“The Bears are ‘choosing not to participate’ in doing ad deals with casinos, said the team’s vice president of sales and marketing, Chris Hibbs, who called it a decision based on ‘values.'”
The team wants instead to associate itself with blue-chip brands, like Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher.
Speaking Of Brian Urlacher
See our exclusive Beachwood report on why he and Jenny McCarthy broke up. Only in the Beachwood!
Squeeze Play
“The patent wars have come to the ketchup business, with a Chicago inventor battling H.J. Heinz Co. over who came up with the idea for its ‘Dip & Squeeze’ condiment packets,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In a patent-infringement suit filed earlier this month against the ketchup giant, Scott White claims he had a ‘flash of inspiration’ after too many ketchup spills at the drive-through. He came up with the idea of a flexible condiment package that would fit in a car’s drink holder and allow people to ‘choose between dipping finger foods and squeezing condiments onto sandwiches or other foods,’ he claims in his complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago.”
White is a risk manager for the Chicago Housing Authority, fyi.
The Week In Chicago Rock
They played at a venue near you.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Endure.
Posted on August 17, 2012