Commenter dd says all Schock did was agree to a softball interview with a guy who ran a public access program. Ray LaHood and Judy Baar Topinka did the same.

But the difference is that when Aaron Schock went looking for folks to appear in his campaign commercial, he went looking for Coach Ron Willis:

Seven months later, Coach Ron was indicted.

What’s the big deal? Well, it’s not a HUGE deal. Schock can’t be held responsible if a guy who endorsed him developed a drug habit after the fact, if that is what happened. But I think the whole ad speaks volumes about Schock and the different “rules” for different candidates. He created an ad with only black faces. There isn’t a Democrat who could do that and NOT get vilified on talk radio. And Schock did bring up the subject of attracting black voters last night be speaking exclusively about that subject on national television. So don’t blame me for providing additional commentary.

The following is the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting of the Peoria City Council. The annotated version is available here.

Read More »

(press release)

Date: September 5, 2008
Released by: Alma Brown, Communications Manager, 494-8554
Subject: NEIGHBORHOOD LEADERSHIP AWARDS BANQUET

The 12TH Annual Neighborhood Leadership Awards Banquet will be held at the Peoria Civic Center from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Thursday, November 6, 2008. The keynote speaker is Dr. Andy Choui, Director of Endovascular Surgery, Peoria Surgical Group. Dr. Chiou is a graduate of District 150 and Bradley University. He currently serves as a member of the District 150 Foundation and is a champion in the development of economic and educational initiatives within the Peoria area.

The banquet is an annual event that celebrates the accomplishments of neighborhood associations and community advocates. The banquet recognizes grassroots leaders who have worked diligently with their neighbors, the city, and the community at-large to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods. Citizens are encouraged to nominate a special neighbor, business leader, or a young person who has contributed time, energy, and/or other resources to improve the quality of life in a neighborhood. Individuals and businesses are invited to sponsor a table or provide door prizes such as gift cards, merchandise, coupons, and free passes.

Tickets for the banquet are $25 per person. Tables of eight can be purchased for $200. City of Peoria neighborhood associations are eligible to receive a 50% discount on the purchase of one table per association. The association would receive eight tickets for the price of four tickets, which translates to a table of 8 for $100.

The Award Nomination form, Banquet Registration, and Sponsor Letter, are available on the City’s website: www.ci.peoria.il.us. See News & Events on the homepage, or contact Steve Fairbanks at 494-8603.

The Neighborhood Leadership Awards Banquet awards are:

• Mayor’s Award: This is the highest honor given to a citizen advocate who has contributed tirelessly in improving their neighborhood for over a period of years.
• Ted Bannon Brick Award: Presented to a citizen advocate who exhibits neighborhood advocacy. This person has been vocal about issues in the neighborhood and has worked with elected officials and local administration for positive change.
• Richard ‘Fuzzy’ Lenz Award: Presented to a neighborhood association that has shown a positive commitment to improving the environment in the neighborhood.
• Business Award: Presented to a business that has demonstrated commitment and partnership with surrounding neighborhood associations to improve the community at-large.
• Youth Award: Presented to a youth under the age of 18 who has worked with adults and peers in improving their community.

Peoria Pride Award: Presented to individuals, groups or organizations for a significant contribution to the campaign to reduce litter and to beautify Peoria.

(press release)

FREE FAIR HOUSING SEMINAR

The third annual Free Housing Seminar will be held on September 25, 2008 from 3:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Main Branch of the Peoria Public Library, 107 N.E. Monroe Street. Homeowners, homebuyers, tenants, landlords and property management professionals should attend this event. No advance registration is required.

The first session beginning at 3:00 p.m. will focus on being a smart borrower by protecting yourself from foreclosure and predatory lending practices. The second session beginning at 5:30 p.m. will address the legal rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords.

This free event is sponsored by the Cities of Peoria and East Peoria along with key supporters like the Illinois Department of Human Rights, Prairie State Legal Services, Peoria and East Peoria Housing Authorities, East Peoria YWCA, Advocates for Access, Debit Management & Credit Education, and Peoria’s Neighborhood Alliance and Fair Employment and Housing Commission.

Refreshments will be served and there will be several prize drawings. For more information, please contact the City of Peoria at 309/494-8530, the City of East Peoria at 309/698-4718 or the YWCA of Pekin at 309/347-2104. To request sign language interpreter services contact the City of Peoria forty-eight (48) hours prior to the event.

Anyone see Aaron Schock’s very brief speech to the Republican National Convention? I did. Read More »

(press release)

Former GOP Ag Secretary headlines Callahan fundraiser

Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture John Block, a Republican who served under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1986, will headline a slate of guests at the Callahan Ag Coalition hog roast Monday, Sept. 8 from 6-8 p.m. at the Meils Brothers Farm in rural Varna.

Cost is $50 per person and $75 per couple and proceeds will benefit the Congressional campaign of Democrat Colleen Callahan of Kickapoo. The farm is located at 608 County Road 1900 E. in Varna.

Featured guest emcee will be legendary farm broadcaster Orion Samuelson of WGN-AM radio in Chicago. Included among the guest will be state Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville. An auction of cuts from the Illinois State Fair Land of Lincoln Grand Champion Barrow 2008 will take place following dinner. Meat for the hog roast will be provided by Raber Packing Company.

Callahan has garnered great support among farmers throughout the region. She was the recipient of the 2005 Illinois Farm Bureau Eagle Award for Excellence. The award is given for bringing agriculture’s powerful message to the public on the state and national levels. Callahan was nominated for the award, and described as “a powerful advocate for agriculture and trailblazer for Illinois agri-women.” Callahan is a past president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters and two year ago accompanied former U.S. agriculture secretary Ann Veneman on an official ag delegation to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Individual and federal PAC contributions will be accepted. Corporate contributions are prohibited by federal law. All checks should be made payable to Citizens for Callahan.

Please RSVP to Anthony Rantisi of the Callahan for Congress Campaign at (309) 826-9900.

(press release)

Road construction is scheduled to start on Monday, September 8, 2008, at the intersection of Moss Avenue and University Street/MacArthur Highway in the City of Peoria. Driving lanes will be reduced to one lane in each direction while work is being performed for the reinstallation of traffic signals and concrete replacement work at this intersection. Please reduce speeds while traveling through this intersection.

Work is expected to last for approximately two months. If you have any question, please contact the City of Peoria Traffic Engineering Division at 494-8802.

Peoria is looking at a hefty tax increase to cover its current deficit (at least $2.5 million) AND to fix the sewage/storm water drainage system ((a mind-numbing $100 million) that dumps raw, disease-causing human feces into the Illinois River.

The feds aren’t going to be coughing up any money for this, so lets stop fantasizing about that. It’s our mess, caused by decades of electing politicians who lacked the testicular fortitude to confront the problem or the foresight to see that saying yes to every  magic-beans. economic development scheme might not be in the city’s best interests. The feds aren’t going to bail us out, nor should they.

But I have a solution. It’s really so simple, I’m surprised no one hasn’t thought of it before.

Consider the following. The City of Peoria is already in the shopping mall business (it used it’s power to force out widowed homeowners to make room for Mid-Town Plaza), the baseball park business (it forced out long-time successful businesses to make room for O’Brien Field) and health club business (it partnered up with the Peoria Park.

And since the city believes it’s appropriate to engage in these activities best left to the private sector, what’s the harm in entering into yet another field best traditionally left to the private sector.

I am speaking, of course, of architectural design.

It makes perfect sense. Consider the case of Hy-Vee, the company that’s trying to place one of their moderately priced grocery stores into the venerable Sheridan Village shopping center at the corner of West Lake Avenue and North Sheridan.

Hy-Vee submitted its own designs to the city for approval, only to be met with opposition. Neighbors want more walkways. The city of Peoria waned a completely new design that called for, among other things, TWO entrances/exits, one in the back of the store and one in the back. That this would almost require two check-out areas and make it even harder to prevent shoplifting isn’t relevant. Conformity in design is good … at least according to the city.

I couldn’t help but think that if the city is going to micromanage the design of a supermarket — which presumably knows what designs work best — then why not just have the city do all the design work. That way, there’s no chance whatsoever that the design won’t meet whatever the Hell the city’s standards are on that day of the week. This, there won’t be need for pesky revisions.

And it occured to me that we can kill two living things with one stone. What the city ought to do is require all commercial development be designed 100 percent by city staffers. And with a city-mandated monopoly in place,  City hall could charge whatever the Hell it wants. The businesses could pass this cost onto consumers, allowing politicians to duck their responsibilities and boars about how they held the line on taxes.

Woo Hoo! Deficit solved.Heridan Village, taxesw, sewage, Illinois River

Well, solved at least until city hall figures out THIS revenue stream could be tapped for more shopping centers, ball parks and health clubs. But then, no economic development scheme is perfect.

Who is this Coach Ron who is interviewing State Rep. Schock? That’s Ron Willis. This video was filmed for Willis’ public access cable show “Krime and JustUs in Da ‘P’,” and uploaded to YouTube on April 18, 2006.

This was before Ron Willis was indicted by the Peoria County Grand Jury on May 1, 2007:

WILLIS, RONALD R - 07CF400 (4 counts)
DOB: 01/01/63

• ROBBERY - He did take property, being United States currency from the person or presence of another by the use of force or by threatening the imminent use of force.
• THEFT - He did knowingly exert unauthorized control over property from the person or presence of another said property being United States currency with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of the use and benefit of said property.
• UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE - He did knowingly and unlawfully have in his possession less than 15.0 grams of a substance containing a controlled substance, cocaine.
• RESISTING A PEACE OFFICER - He knowingly resisted the performance of Mike Johnson of an authorized act within his official capacity being the arrest and detention of Ronald Willis knowing Mike Johnson to be a peace officer engaged in the execution of his official duties in that he moved his body in a manner that prevented Mike Johnson from handcuffing him and the defendant’s violation of this section was a proximate cause of an injury to Mike Johnson.

In all fairness, Schock isn’t the only politician Coach Ron captures in video. He’s also interviewed Congressman Ray LaHood and former State Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka. And all this DID happen before Willis got indicted.

(press release)

Rural Police Departments Back Darin LaHood for State’s Attorney’s

Elmwood, Glasford, Norwood Police Issue Endorsements, Join Other County Organizations

Peoria, IL – Law enforcement in Peoria County firmly stands behind Darin LaHood for State’s Attorney; with the announcement of Elmwood, Glasford and Norwood Police Departments’ endorsements of LaHood’s candidacy, the challenger has secured the public support of all police organizations in Peoria County.

“The smaller police departments, which are at the mercy of their sometimes tight municipal budgets, are no less committed to public safety than any other police force,” said LaHood. “When an officer in one of these communities makes an arrest, that officer has provided necessary protection to residents. When the State’s Attorney’s office fails to charge that suspect and lets that suspect out as a result of a plea agreement, it weakens our County’s criminal justice system. It is my goal to strengthen that system and make Peoria County a safer place for all.”

Police Chiefs from each of the community departments described why they support LaHood:

“We need support from our State’s Attorney and Darin LaHood has indicated that he will stand firm for police officers throughout Peoria County,” says Glasford Police Chief Mark Harper. “With myself and nine part time officers, we cannot do it all ourselves. It will be good knowing that Glasford law enforcement has solid back-up in the Courthouse.”

Elmwood Chief Aaron Bean said, “We work closely with the Sheriff’s deputies, but seldom do we have the necessary and consistent communications with the State’s Attorney’s office. In law enforcement, we all have to work together, be on the same page and ultimately we can make Peoria County a safer place.”

Echoing his counterparts, Norwood Police Chief Christopher Carrier said, “While our small department does a great job for our community, it is imperative that we have cooperation with the prosecutor. Clearly we don’t face the crime problems of the inner-city, but we do have our problems that end up at the County Courthouse. We believe Darin LaHood is candidate who will support all police departments and communities in Peoria County.”

The three rural police departments, Glasford, Elmwood and Norwood round out the full slate of police organizations in Peoria County that have publicly endorsed LaHood’s candidacy for State’s Attorney. Among those, the Peoria Police Department, the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office, the Chillicothe Police Department, the Bartonville Police Department and the Peoria County Correctional Officers.

Darin LaHood, 40, was born and raised in Peoria. He is a former Chief Terrorism and Federal Prosecutor who served four years with the U.S. Department of Justice in Las Vegas, Nevada. LaHood was also an Assistant State’s Attorney in both Tazewell and Cook counties. LaHood and his wife, Kristen, returned home to Peoria in 2005 to raise their three children: McKay, Luke, and Teddy. LaHood currently practices with the Peoria law firm of Miller, Hall, & Triggs. Darin and Kristen are active in numerous Peoria charitable and civic organizations and are members of St. Vincent de Paul Church. Visit www.DarinLaHood.com to learn more about Darin, volunteer opportunities, or to contribute to the campaign.