Remember Thomson? It is the location of the prison slated to become the stateside home of enemy combatant detainees currently housed at the military-run facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. You might recall that quite a few Illinoisans bristled at the thought of suspected terrorists and enemies of the State becoming our newest residents. Even more bristled at the idea of selling the facility for roughly $170 million despite the facts that the mostly unoccupied facility has already racked up in excess of $164 million in state expenses and another $12 million in village expenses (and counting). (For those of you doing the math, that represents a net loss.) Prepare to bristle again as Thomson finds itself back in the news again. Read more
On September 18, 2009, Governor Pat Quinn announced that he was going to release 1,000 inmates early from their prison sentences with the intent of saving Illinois up to $5 million annually. At the time, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Januari Smith assured everyone that those released would be “low-level, non-violent” offenders in the last year of their sentences. We were also assured that they would be fitted with electronic monitoring at the time of release. As blogger “Joe the Cop” pointed out in December, at a time when the Illinois recidivism (or “repeated or habitual relapse, as into crime”) rates have been notoriously high, it did not make the most sense to view early release as a practical cost-saving measure. More importantly, in September, the Department of Corrections instituted the secret “MGT Push” program (“Meritorious Good Time”) that allowed repeat drunk drivers, drug users, and some convicted of battery and/or weapons charges to serve less than three weeks behind bars despite a long standing practice of incarcerating for a minimum of 61 days. Read more
This ad about says it all. I wonder how Alexi Giannoulias can possibly be the best the Illinois establishment has to run this election cycle. It’s kind of sad really.
In case you haven’t noticed, there are still six Republican candidates vying for governor of our fine State. Rather than endorse one candidate, I would rather- in this particular contest- give you food for thought in voting against one. That lucky guy is Kirk Dillard. What beef could I have with one of the most endorsed Big-R candidates running this election cycle? There are a ton of reasons but none greater than the fact that he is part of the Illinois State party establishment. Read more
IL had to pay out an extra $551.3 million due to a series of credit rating downgrades. How ridiculous is that??10:51:53 AM August 31, 2010from Twittelator
I'm proud of Quinn for being on the right side of the NYC mosque debate. Now if only he'd show some wisdom regarding IL's direction. #ILGov01:13:15 PM August 19, 2010from Twittelator
There's talk of a fat tax on sugary beverages sold in IL on the horizon. I actually like this idea.. mostly cuz I don't drink that crap.05:46:16 PM July 14, 2010from Twittelator
