Edgar endorses Sheahan for state rep

If you care what former-Governor Jim Edgar thinks, he's supporting Brien Sheahan for the 41st Illinois House district. State Rep. Bob Biggins is retiring. See Daily Herald Animal Farm (John Patterson).

BTW, the blog entry mentions the professions of the other candidates, but not Mike Manzo. Doesn't it seem Manzo should be identified as an employee of Commissioner Tony Peraica? It seems at least as relevant as mentioning the professions and employers of the other candidates.

conflict of interest on school boards

Daily Herald (Bob Susnjara) reported Illinois Association of School Boards is lobbying to exclude students from being eligible to run for school boards because of "conflict of interest" issues.

I found the story linked from Capitol Fax Blog where Rich Miller asked readers for their opinions.

In April one high school student in Peoria was elected to the board of education. While I think that reducing conflict of interest in school politics is a good thing, I think IASB is behaving badly in this case.

If one added up all the conflict of interest problems in the whole state of Illinois that are caused by students serving on school boards, it would be far less of a problem than the conflict of interest issues at any one of a number of Proviso school districts.

IASB should quit wasting its energy on straw man problems. The fact that IASB can overlook serious problems and waste time on non-issues detracts from the credibility of the organization.

I made some comments at Capitol Fax Blog.

Sheriff Tom Dart argues prostitution is not a victimless crime

The Cook County Sheriff arrested 250 in a prostitution sweep. See Daily Herald (Rob Olmstead).

“There’s still some people that are deluded into thinking prostitution is a victimless crime,” said Dart, who said that’s simply not true.

Dart then goes on to explain how street prostitution adversely affects communities and gave an example of a prostitute leaving her 1-year baby unattended to turn a trick.

But the operation also targeted prostitutes advertising on "a popular free Web bulletin board" (presumably Craigslist).

The article does not include any statements by Dart that make the case that women (and men) who voluntarily turn a trick now-and-then to help get extra money or for the thrill of it are harming anyone else.

It's interesting that news articles now include the sheriff having to argue that arresting prostitutes is worth the effort. It does seem that there's a change in thinking happening.

Medill Reports (Jacqueline A. Ingles) included this tidbit.

A high number of women charged with prostitution via craigslist were not residents of Chicago. Rather, they came here with round-trip airline tickets from as far away as California to engage in prostitution to evade the risk of embarrassment associated with arrest in their hometowns.

“There was a desire [among these women] to conduct these activities away from their hometown,” Dart said. “Most would come here and stay for a month and then go back.”

OBIT, Don Stephens, Rosemont Mayor

Don Stephens served as mayor of Rosemont since 1955.

As I understand it, two deals defined his life and shaped the growth of the western suburbs.

Mayor Richard J. Daley wanted some land from Rosemont to connect O'Hare Airport to the City of Chicago. Stephens struck a deal to bring city water to Rosemont.

The next deal Stephens struck to benefit his community was with Sam Giancana, an organized crime figure. Stephens bought a mob hotel being used for prostitution as part of improving Rosemont.

The FBI became suspicious that Stephens was participating in organized crime as a result of the transaction and ultimately Stephens was prosecuted by the U.S. attorney. Stephens was acquitted, but blamed the prosecution for his declining health.

Capitol Fax Blog (Rich Miller) and shsilver have blog entries.

Stephens has two sons involved in politics. Mark Stephens is the chairman of the board of Triton College. Bradley Stephens is the Leyden Township Supervisor.

See Daily Herald (Ames Boykin and Eric Krol) and Chicago Tribune (Richard Wronski with Rick Pearson and Michael Higgins) have more.

TRANS, Bellwood & Chicago only municipalities with redlight cameras [BW]

Chicago and Bellwood have cameras to catch drivers running red lights; no other Illinois municipalities do.

Daily Herald (Jake Griffin):

Municipal officials say they’ve been hampered [from installing the cameras], in part, because of a lack of policy guidance from the Illinois Department of Transportation and county transportation departments. That’s key because most of the troublesome intersections in many towns involve either state or county roads.

“IDOT is still forming a policy on how they’re going to treat these municipal requests,” said Andy Hynes, a Naperville project engineer. “It’s a new technology, so it may take a little time.”

CRIME, Terrence Miller sentenced for murder [BW]

To beat a forgery rap Paulyn Miller of Bellwood recorded her son confessing to the murder of a Woodridge heroin dealer. Terrence Miller, 30, received 70 years for the 2001 killing. See Daily Herald (Christy Gutowski).

“It’s obvious this defendant is intelligent, but he chose to be a thug and a criminal,” [prosecutor Steven] Knight said. “He chose to go over to Ezra’s apartment with a loaded gun. He chose to kill him. He needs to be warehoused.”

Warehoused?

I wonder how often DuPage County assistant state's attorneys use the words, "S/he needs to be warehoused," with "White" defendants from families with above average incomes.

While Knight is eager to portray Terrence Miller as having the advantages of intellect, it seems pretty clear he came from a dysfunctional family. His mother is a career criminal who would sell him out to avoid a few months in jail. Something tells me she wasn't the kind of mother who sacrificed much for her child when he was growing up.

BUSINESS, AT&T wants to compete with Comcast like in Bellwood [BW]

Bellwood is one of three Illinois communities to allow AT&T to sell video services that compete with cable (Comcast). AT&T is trying to get into more communities. See Daily Herald (Anna Marie Kukec).

BTW, I checked and I didn't see a contribution to the Bellwood First Party from AT&T.