By Steve Rhodes
News you can abuse.
1. Squeezy Is A State Secret.
“The birth of Squeezy was apparently so secretive that Quinn’s attorneys blocked out information that might reveal exactly who came up with the concept,” Kurt Erickson reports in the Pantagraph.
Our response.
2. Cook Illustrated.
“A judge presiding over the involuntary manslaughter case against a nephew of former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley recused himself from the politically charged case, citing his own ties to Daley,” WBEZ reports.
Vanecko lawyer Marc Martin must have really wanted that judge because he was livid.
“We are really outraged by the fact that because some newspaper reporters think that Cook County judges can’t be fair that this case has to be reassigned,” Martin said.
Because a judge weak enough to be influenced by what some newspaper reporters think will be strong enough to not be influenced by the fact that he once worked for the defendant’s uncle, who happens to be named Richard M. Daley. Thanks for playing!
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How Cook County judges are made.
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Martin also stated that the “state’s witnesses in this case are liars.”
As Carol Marin pointed out on Chicago Tonight last night, the only person we know for sure has lied so far is a friend of Vanecko’s.
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And the only witnesses in this case who have refused to cooperate with police? Vanecko and at least some of his friends.
3. It’s Pat.
“This year, with little explanation or discussion, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has fought to keep reporters out of state prisons, including Vienna,” Rob Wildeboer reports for WBEZ.
“Reporters were allowed in a couple of weeks ago though, but only after WBEZ threatened to sue Quinn and the Department of Corrections.
“I regret we didn’t represent ourselves better than we had in the past, but the fact is we’ve never changed policies,” said IDOC director Tony Godinez in a meeting with reporters who came for the prison tour. “If you present the proposal and what you want to do, we then take a look at it and I weigh in on whether or not it’s beneficial to all of us.”
Italics mine. Inference yours.
4. Bush’s Fourth Term.
CIA Heir Apparent Leaks Officer’s Name to Filmmakers; Kiriakou Gets Jail for Giving Torturer’s Name.
5. University of Point Break.
If only it had been a package from Bodhi, then I would have been interested.
6. Bankster.
“Robert Glickman, former CEO of the largest Chicago bank to fail since the onset of the financial crisis, has escaped a personal financial reckoning for his role in Corus Bank’s demise. But that may change soon,” Crain’s reports.
Good. Let’s balance the budget on his back.
7. Skyjacking at United.
“After years of divisive negotiations between United Airlines and its pilots, union members on Saturday ratified a new labor agreement, shedding a bankruptcy-era contract for pilots and marking an important step toward fully integrating United and Continental airlines, which officially merged in 2010,” the Tribune reported last weekend.
But footnoted, as is so often the case, has the real story:
“[W]e’re always fascinated by the things that companies take to the Friday night dump – that magical window on a Friday night after the market closes, but the SEC remains open. It’s no coincidence that the number of 8Ks filed during those 90 minutes is significantly higher than any other 90 minute period during the rest of the week, as we noted in this WSJ article last month.
But this short and sweet 8-K that United Continental (UAL) filed late Friday seemed particularly interesting, given the fact that on Saturday, the Air Line Pilots Association announced that the pilots at both United and Continental approved a joint collective bargaining agreement.
According to the union’s press release, 67% of pilots approved the agreement, with over 97% of the 10,193 eligible pilots voting. This WSJ piece has some of the details: the new 4-year deal provides hefty signing bonuses followed by an 8.5% raise in Jan. 2014 and three subsequent annual raises of 3%.
That seems like a good deal until you compare it to the even better deal that the airline’s Chief Revenue Officer and newly named Vice Chairman James E. Compton got, according to the 8-K that was filed at 5:28:47 – a little more than a minute before the SEC’s electronic window closed for the night. As the filing notes, the company’s board raised Compton’s salary to to $875,000.
But the filing is silent on how much of a raise that is. To get that, you have to flip to the proxy filed last April, which shows that Compton’s base salary in 2011 was $750K, which represents a 16.7% raise effective immediately. Compare that to the pilots who will have to wait another year before their 8.5% raise kicks in.
Nice job, Jimmy. When the revolution comes, we totally won’t be looking for you first.
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“Compton holds a bachelor of science and master’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois Chicago.”
And he’s been profiting at your expense ever since.
8. The Jonah Hill Side of Sears.
“Sears Holdings Corp. today announced the election of Paul DePodesta, vice president of player development and amateur scouting for the New York Mets, to its board of directors,” Danny Ecker reports for Crain’s.
“You might not recognize the name as a character from the movie Moneyball (neither he nor his likeness was in it), but the former assistant to Billy Beane was one of a few real people who formed ‘Peter Brand,’ Jonah Hill’s economic whiz character from the film.”
If nothing else, their company softball teams are about to get a whole lot better.
9. Chicago Has Gangnam Style.
10. Bill Kurtis’s Tallgrass Beef Not In Tall Cotton.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Big & Tall, Short & Small.
Posted on December 18, 2012