Results tagged “jackfranks”

When former governor Rod Blagojevich announced earlier this week that he had signed a six-figure book deal, we all sighed in exasperation. And while it's frustrating to see our friends and family get laid off left and right while Blago benefits from his shenanigans, there's not a whole hell of a lot we can do about it. As we mentioned in our previous post, Illinois repealed its "Son of Sam" law back in 1992, meaning he's free to profit from the book. Also, there's the fact that, while he's been booted from Springfield, he actually hasn't been convicted of anything yet. We still haven't come across any sort of federal law that would prevent him from profiting. We're still in touch with the Chicagoist Legal Counsel but like it or not, Blago does stand to make some cash. Unless, that is, if state Rep. Jack Franks has anything to do with it. He's introduced a bill similar to the old "Son of Sam" law but specifically aimed at government officials, preventing them from profiting on their story.

In the state where we tax the shit out of everything, there's a new gas tax proposal just waiting to raise our ire. State Senate President John Cullerton and Speaker of the House Mike Madigan are co-sponsoring a bill that would raise the tax on a gallon of gas to 27 cents a gallon; motorists currently pay 19 cents a gallon. The reason? To help fund "Grow Illinois", which would pay for debt services and capital improvements the wake of the state's budget shortfall. Another co-sponsor, State Rep. Luis Arroyo, (D-Chicago) said, "No tax for the taxpayers of Illinois is easy. We need infrastructure and we need jobs. Everybody's crying for jobs. There's a lot of people getting laid off. We have to do a capital bill." That raises taxes on people who can't afford to travel to their jobs as it is?

The CTA bailout passed, and now we can move on to that other chronic political problem: Governor Blagojevich. Just how much of Mr. Testicular Virility are Illinois residents willing to take? Judging by a new Chicago magazine article about the embattled gov, "Mr. Un-Popularity," not much. In that article, the Capital Fax Blog's Rich Miller suggests that Blago is the most unpopular governor in the country, with approval ratings that have sunk as low as 16 percent (which, Bernstein notes, is worse than President Bush polls in Illinois, one of the country's bluest states).

Earlier this week, Chicagoist reported Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich "roaring" with a new proposed campaign finance and ethics reform. Guess we got a bit ahead of ourselves -- since the proposal has turned out to be little more than a whimper. Ignore for a moment the expected Republican invective against the proposal, but Blago's own State Representative, John Fritchey (D-Chicago), responded to the proposal by, "pick[ing] up Blagojevich's press release, crumpled it and handed it...

State Representative Jack Franks is a pro-life, pro-gun, anti-tax Democrat. He's also just about the friendliest guy you could ever meet and dominates politics in his home county, northwest exurban McHenry County. He also doesn't want to be a state rep for ever. He clearly wants more. And so he seems to be riding pretty hard a bill he's authored for honesty in advertised movie start times. The guy seems to be everywhere. Today he's...

Do you hate the commercials before movies? We were always sure to yell "Why do we have to pay to watch commercials?" when we'd see them during our Kalle Lasn/Naomi Klein phase. But now we think they have at least one redeeming quality. Anger is an emotion everyone experiences at one time or another, and what better way to express it than with a group spit-and-seethe session before a movie? It's refreshing to walk out afterwards, greet your fellow movie-goers and say, "Wasn't that great when we all got really mad about those commercials at the beginning? I sure do hate them capitalists, but I sure do love you fellow human being."