Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Tuesday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“Former Chicago Ald. Dick Mell, one of the most gregarious political creatures ever to grace City Hall, is back in the game with a new lobbying firm he founded with the help of daughter Patti Blagojevich,” the Tribune reports.
Too perfect.


“Patti Blagojevich is listed as the firm’s agent in state documents. She is not doing any lobbying, Mell said, and she is not registered as one with the city.
“She once worked in the real estate business, an issue that came up at her husband’s first trial.”
I’m not sure “worked” is the right word there.
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Also: Sources tell Sneed we should feel sorry for Patti.
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And: Patti says she’s in an abusive relationship.
Illinois State Rate
“Barely 7 months after he started, [ousted president] Timothy Flanagan resigns and gets a $480,418 check.”
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Under “Points of Pride” on the school’s website:
“Effective and efficient leadership: Creative and collaborative leaders provide capable stewardship of resources.”
Academic Commodities
“[I]nterviews with dozens of academics and traders, and a review of hundreds of e-mails and other documents involving two highly visible professors in the commodities field – Mr. Pirrong and Professor Scott H. Irwin at the University of Illinois – show how major players on Wall Street and elsewhere have been aggressive in underwriting and promoting academic work,” the New York Times reports.
“The efforts by the financial players, the interviews show, are part of a sweeping campaign to beat back regulation and shape policies that affect the prices that people around the world pay for essentials like food, fuel and cotton.”
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“While he customarily identifies himself solely as an academic, Mr. Pirrong has been compensated in the last several years by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the commodities trading house Trafigura, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and a handful of companies that speculate in energy, according to the disclosure forms.”
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“One of the most widely quoted defenders of speculation in agricultural markets, Mr. Irwin of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, consults for a business that serves hedge funds, investment banks and other commodities speculators, according to information received by The Times under the Freedom of Information Act.
“The business school at the University of Illinois has received more than a million dollars in donations from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and several major commodities traders, to pay for scholarships and classes and to build a laboratory that resembles a trading floor at the commodities market.”
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“The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for example, at times blur the line between research and public relations.
“The exchange’s public relations staff has helped Mr. Irwin shop his pro-speculation essays to newspaper op-ed pages, according to emails reviewed by The Times. His studies, writings, videotaped speeches and interviews have been displayed on the exchange’s website and its online magazine.
“In June 2009, when a Senate subcommittee released a report about speculation in the wheat market that raised concerns about new regulations, executives at the Chicago exchange turned to Mr. Irwin and his University of Illinois colleagues to come up with a response.
“Dr. Paul Ellinger, department head of agriculture and consumer economics, said, “‘he interactions that have occurred here are common among researchers.'”
Obama’s Island
Unprecedented censorship at Gitmo.
Prescription Madness
Nearly impossible to discern what’s covered.
Remembering DJ Rashad
‘Chicago’s footworks ambassador to the world.’
The Beachwood Radio Hour #4
Now with Show Notes!
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Posted on April 29, 2014