Results tagged “bettergovernment”

Sangamon County Circuit Judge Patrick Kelley ruled Wednesday that Governor Blagojevich's administration must disclose subpoenas from federal prosecutors in the ongoing investigation into state hiring. When the governor's office denied a Freedom of Information Act request for copies of the subpoenas last year, the Better Government Association, a Chicago-based government watchdog group, sued. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is investigating charges that the Blagojevich administration traded state jobs for campaign contributions.

Although it's pretty much a given that Daley will coast to re-election at the end of next month, by no means does it mean that his time is office has been an unmitigated success. In a report card scheduled to be issued today by a coalition of interest groups and local activists called "Developing Government Accountability to the People," Daley received low grades in many areas, including economic development, transportation, education, criminal justice and ethics....

While Topinka and G-Rod tried desperately to link each other to convicted former Governor George Ryan in last night’s debate, the Executive Director of Chicago’s Board of Ethics was handing in her resignation. More time with the retiring husband, she says.

Now and then a Chicago newspaper runs an article detailing gynormous sums of money coursing through the bank account of a campaign fund connected to a powerful city official. The story is usually structured: "Big sum of money -> little-known ward organization -> powerful official connected to it -> city contractors contribute to fund". The implication, with no direct facts, is usually that the powerful official directs city contractors to their favored ward organization, and in return the contractor gets a job.

For the same reasons as just about everyone else who writes about Chicago politics, Chicagoist loves Dominic Longo. He just can't resist the spotlight, and he doesn't seem to have a sense of how the outside world views him.

Yesterday Chicagoist wondered how organizations like the Hispanic Democratic Organization might play into Mayor Richard M. Daley's new campaign contribution restrictions. The Chicago Tribune learned the answer: HDO and other political committees will face no limitations. The upshot is that while city contractors will now be limited from making direct contributions to the mayor's campaign committee, contractors now have a green light to make contributions to Daley sponsored political committees like HDO, the Coalition for...

In a strange new twist of the Mell-Blago Saga, Capital Fax has been doggedly reporting the unravelling relationship between Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Mell captain, Dominic Longo. Longo, once convicted of voter fraud, and now the head of Alderman Dick Mell's patronage organization, The Coalition for Better Government, has recently sent the Governor (who's real first name is apparently "Milorad") a cease and desist letter for defamation, claiming that the Governor should stop saying he...