Chicago Daily Observer

Back in January, the Daily Herald asked serious questions about the ethics of Illinois’ 10th District Congressional candidate, Dan Seals. Seals was representing himself as a Northwestern University professor when the truth was that he was hired as a lecturer for a one-night-per-week class for the spring quarter in the school of continuing studies. When confronted, Seals cavalierly said that was because he didn’t know the difference, but failed to revise his literature. Seals, who lives in the district in which Northwestern in located but not in the district in which he is running, and who appears to have no civic or religious ties to the community which he seeks to represent, is a newcomer to the North Shore area. For these reasons, it is likely that at the time “Professor-gate” first emerged, he was unaware of the deep emotions locals feel when the topic of Northwestern University is raised. ... Read More...

The Tribune and AP’s Jeannine Aversa continued the election year shriek that we are in a recession, with the proclamation:

“Huge Job Losses Set Off Recession Alarms”

Then telling us

“the economy now has lost 232,000 jobs in the first three months of this year.”

yet, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has it that 574,000 and 1.1 million more Americans had jobs in March than in February and January, respectively.

So which is it? Did the economy gain jobs (as the BLS states) or lose jobs as the Tribune states?

Well, since the Trib story is based on BLS statistics, I would tend to believe the BLS, and note that job numbers are seasonally adjusted, so the additional “unemployed” are actually resulting from slower growth, rather than a reduction of workforce.

Contrary to the Tribune story, “Pink Slips” were not issued to 80,000 more workers, nor are ... Read More...

Barack Obama did not hunt or fish as a child. He lives in a big city. And as an Illinois state legislator and a U.S. senator, he consistently backed gun control legislation.

But he is nevertheless making a play for pro-gun voters in rural Pennsylvania.

By highlighting his background in constitutional law and downplaying his voting record, Obama is engaging in a quiet but targeted drive to win over an important constituency that on the surface might seem hostile to his views.

Who woulda thought anyone would have taken me seriously last October when I suggested that Illinois voters should be enabled to dump incompetent, dishonest and otherwise dreadful public officials by a “recall” referendum?

The idea was so, well, California-like, where voters in 2003 recalled the bumbling Gov. Gray Davis. And it so unlike Chicago and Illinois, where such a reform would be regarded as just another useless goo-goo (good-government) gesture.

But here comes the Illinois House, advancing with remarkable ease legislation that would allow voters to dispose unceremoniously of the governor, members of the General Assembly and executive branch officers elected statewide, such as the attorney general and secretary of state.

Last week, the House voted 80–25 (!) to tack onto the legislation an amendment that would exempt circuit, appellate and supreme court judges from recall. Such a wide margin of approval signals, according to the conventional wisdom, that the ... Read More...

What a spectacle. It is now respectable for Democrats to assert, even to welcome, military defeat (see here). But if a Presidential campaign functionary so much as hints at support for free trade, he’s banished to policy exile.

That’s the meaning of Sunday’s sacking of strategist Mark Penn from Hillary Clinton’s campaign. In his noncampaign job with a PR firm, Mr. Penn had met with Colombia’s ambassador to the U.S. to discuss the free trade agreement that President Bush sent to Congress yesterday. When word of that meeting leaked to a Wall Street Journal reporter last week, big labor went bonkers and Mrs. Clinton gave him the heave-ho despite more than a decade of loyal service. Maybe if Mr. Penn had called General David Petraeus a con man, he’d still have a job.

For the last few months I’ve been making bets with other political junkies on who will make the first move if Barack Obama’s senate seat becomes vacant.

Early guesses were split between U.S. reps Jesse Jackson and Jan Schakowsky.

Looks like the smart money was on Schakowsky.

Over the weekend on Carol Marin’s talk show City Desk, the congresswoman from Evanston said she was interested in being appointed, adding: “I think it is unseemly and untimely right now to do much beyond stating my interest in that.”

Moving to nip in the bud some potential bad press, White House hopeful Barack Obama’s campaign persuaded a delegate to step down after she was ticketed for calling her neighbor’s African-American children “monkeys.”

Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, a Carpentersville village trustee, was elected as an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention. She sports an Obama sign in her front yard.