Chicago Daily Observer

Let’s assume everything is on the square at the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.

OK. Forget about the fixing of the new hospital that Wisconsin’s Mercy Health Care System wanted to build in Crystal Lake to compete with local biggie Centegra Health Care System’s dominant hospitals in McHenry County.

Governor Rod Blagojevich appointed a new board, didn’t he?

Problem solved, right?

No reason to be suspicious when Naperville’s Edward Hospital gets turned down for the third time, right?

14th congressional district Republican candidate Jim Oberweis delivered a blow to the intolerance of academia Tuesday night. It was on the Family PAC cruise when he handed DePaul University Conservative Coalition Vice President Nick Hahn a check for $1,000 to help defray the $2,500 cost of security required by university officials before co-founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Chris Simcox was allowed to talk, according to Justine Perry.

Hahn’s group suffered what Peter Labarbera calls “the hecklers’ veto.”

I pledge to you that reform of the position of Republican National Committeeman of the great State of Illinois starts today,”said Kane County’s Pat Brady to Illinois Republican Party Convention delegates in Decatur Saturday.

“I know a lot about corruption.

“I know a lot about ethics.

“I know the difference between right and wrong.

“There will never be anything (I do) that reflects negatively on the Republican Party,” he continued.

A dramatic declaration of independence was issued by Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna in Decatur on Saturday at the GOP state convention.

McKenna tongue lashed both former Governor Jim Thompson and either DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom or DuPage GOP Party Chairman Dan Cronin.

Taking on Thompson’s continuing show of support of incarcerated former Republican Governor George Ryan, McKenna said,

Blago Budget

At the end of his first term, Dan Walker, the last Democratic Party governor, held a press conference and bragged he had passed a budget.

Governor Rod Blagojevich’s comments to the press after the General Assembly sent him a two-month+ late, but record-setting $59 million budget was that it was “all about pork, politics and false promises.”

Blagojevich did not bow to the inevitable and claim victory as his predecessor did in 1973. Instead, in his fifth year in office, the Democrat hinted of a total or partial veto, calling legislators to stay in Springfield, as he had done repeatedly since the session should have ended.

Legislative leaders ignored that call and sent members home.

With a 98–8 vote in the House and a 52–5 vote in the Senate, however, the General Assembly showed a unanimity not seen since the Walker days. There could be little doubt that ... Read More...