Public Affairs

Buzzzzz: The intersection, or should I say union, of local news, the Senate Primary races, sex and drugs (and I won’t even mention Brenda, which ought to endear me to her)

Slouching toward Gomorrah with the Local News, and an assist from Senate Candidates Hynes(D) and Borling(R). Boy, does politics make strange bedfellows:

Diane Burns: And, Mike [Flannery], what is so interesting is that in the end, it looks like voters might know more about people’s personal lives than they do about their campaign platform, here.

Mike Flannery: Well, that’s for sure. Both on the Democratic side and on the Republican side, but that’s a by-product, I think, Diane, of so many of these rookie candidates, like [Jack] Ryan (R) and Blair Hull (D), multi-millionaires who have never run for office before and wanted to start out right at the top, running for the U. S. Senate.

Diane Burns: Thanks, Mike Flannery, reporting from the Control Room.

CBS- 2 News, 10:00 pm, March 11, 2004

Well, not so fast, Mike. Yes, lack of vetting in lower offices is a part of the truth, but not the whole truth. As we all know, CBS News’ ratings have been almost as low, for as long as I can remember, as those of Two Star (and Never has run for office) General John Borling—the Senate Candidate’s campaign whence came the allegations Flannery spent sort of discussing in his three minute sort of political ditty last night. For Mike, although his spot was almost half into the newscast, packed behind the murder, rape, fire, crazy mom, terrorism stuff, three minutes for a political correspondent is a very good night. Too bad it wasn’t real politics. Indeed, the low Ch. 2 news ratings are notwithstanding some management genius’ decision to couple, so to speak, Mora and Burns, for millions of bucks, and so far, with no result. Here is a novel idea, maybe some body who talked real politics and real public policy in an interesting manner might attract a better audience.

Anyway, of late, Mike gets to appear when he can gin up some political news. Well, not quite just any old political news—but some sex, drugs, and videotape. Yes, on some nights, he does vary it—perhaps, sex, lies and videotape.

Last night, Mike told us that Rod McCullough resigned as Borling’s campaign manager yesterday after Borling said he should do so, or he would be fired. Borling’s edict came after McCullough had gone public with unproven claims about a section of Ryan’s divorce file, which is in California. Flannery did not tell us what the claims were, when they had been made, the context in which they had been made, or what, if anything, Ryan’s ex-wife, Jeri Lynn Ryan was saying about them. [You can find McCullough’s allegations about allegations on www.capitolfax.com] Also, see www. Ericzorn.com/notebook entry of yesterday.

Flannery did tell us about Republican Senate Candidate Oberweis’ [known affectionately by the immigrant community as Mr. Stop illegal immigration] direct mail piece that referred to Ryan’s financing several years ago of a “weird soft core porn movie,” with a cast that included his then wife Jeri Lynn Ryan [Did you know that 10,000 soft core porn movies are coming into Illinois every day?]. The Tribune yesterday referred to the financing as a Ryan tax shelter. When I asked Jason Miller, Jack Ryan’s campaign manager, about the film yesterday, Miller indicated that actors typically set up such entities to pay for their personal health care, etc., that it was not a “tax shelter,” and that Jack Ryan was unaware of the content of the movie until after it was too late to reverse what had been done. Miller also indicated that Jeri Ryan did not participate in any of the nudity, graphic violence, etc., that Oberweis apparently complained about.

Flannery did not tell the viewers that this family values Oberweis was the same family values Oberweis who two years, or so, ago, had analogized Pro-Lifers to the Taliban. When I read the Taliban and related statements to Oberweis on “Public Affairs,” during his appearance on my show in this campaign season, Oberweis denied changing his position, but said he is now “more articulate.”

Nor did Flannery tell viewers that the Illinois Right to Life Federation had endorsed Senate Candidates Rauschenberger, Ryan and Andy McKenna, Jr. but not Oberweis. Nor did Flannery tell viewers that the Illinois Right to Life Federation has been lobbied by some [who reliable sources say have ties or an affection for the McKenna campaign] to remove its endorsement of Ryan because he is on the Board of and owns stock in a Company that processes, as a very small part of its business, Medicaid claims for abortions, in several states that permit such claims [Which concern some have likened to that age-hold question--How many angels can dance on the head of a pin]. Nor did Flannery tell the viewers that reliable sources have Rod McCullough calling, a few days ago, Paul Caprio, Executive Director of Family-Pac and arch rival of Dan Proft (adviser to the Jack Ryan campaign). Caprio, it is said, advised McCullough on how and whether he could make the disclosure of the sealed records. Caprio is officially neutral in the senate race, but reliable sources say he is supporting Andy McKenna, Jr.

Two nights ago, Flannery was aiming at Drugs and substance abuse, and that age hold question of serious public policy wonks, what illegal drugs have you used and when did you use them.

Why was that night different from all others, as we like to ask on Passover. Well, the Democratic Senate candidates were invited to a so-called Ch. 7, League of Women Voters Debate. Knowing as we all did that the format was designed to cure anyone suffering from insomnia, Mike had been working for a month on what? A story on the consistency, or lack thereof, of how each candidate assessed the Bush administration’s actions taken and policies in Iraq, Haiti and the Middle East? The consistency, or lack thereof, between each candidate’s criticisms of the Bush Administration’s jobs policy and the candidate’s recommendations to improve the environment for job creation in Illinois and the remainder of the Country? Well, not quite.

Mike had been working, for a month, on the lead he got from “someone not affiliated with a senate candidate’s campaign,” that Hull had a substance abuse problem in the past. Another Dime dropped by the Hynes Campaign? Now Flannery was into drugs, so to speak, one thing led to another and Flannery discovered that the current leading Democratic Senate, Barack Obama, stated in a ’96 autobiography that he had used Mary Jane [as we cool guys used to say] and cocaine [Dave van Ronk, cocaine run around my brain--- Go ahead, Mike, arrest me for knowing that. Anyway, I never inhaled, Mary Jane, that is.]

All right, 2’s ace political editor, readied himself for the big night, by having Barack into the CBS studio and buttoning down that Barack had indeed used Mary Jane and Cocaine in his teens in college.

Then come press conference time after the debate. From my right, ABC- ch. 7’s Andy Shaw, is taking his cue from Dan Hynes. What can I say, like the 19th ward rules, I mean, like totally. Dan, as the media love to say, came out swinging in the debate, accusing Obama of being part of the irresponsible George Ryan tax and spend regime. Dan said Barack did not use his enormous power to stop George Ryan. Dan said that Barack, unlike Dan, was not a fighter. That Barack, unlike Dan, did not stand up to George.

Just in case the dim witted media did not get it, fighter Dan’s staffer, dropped by to help the media , distributing, as Andy Shaw put it, a 3 page “dossier,” on “how Obama helped spend Illinois into crisis.”

Boy, I am sure glad those Hynes people helped me with that one. I thought that the big spending was due, in large part, to King George and his valiant Knights—Pistol Packing [Illinois Senate President] Pate and Speaker [of the Illinois House] Mike, aka the Two Tops. Of course, Mike Madigan, also chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party is generally viewed as the most powerful person in the State of Illinois. Nobody ever talks about him running for Governor or President because everybody knows that would be step down in Power.

Well, not quite everybody. You see, Dan Hynes never mentioned Speaker Mike as perhaps having some control over spending, taxes, and yes, Pork. How impolite that would be. You see, boys and girls, Family Values in the Democratic Party means families run Illinois. Currently, the Mell Blagojevich family has its turn. Speaker Mike thinks the next turn should be the Madigans, as in AG Lisa Madigan. So, understanding that competition is wasteful and duplicative, Speaker Mike would like to clear a path for his loving daughter, as would any loving father. So, says Speaker Mike, to his good friend Tom Hynes, how about I help you with a little muscle to send your boy, Dan, to DC, and then we can anoint Lisa as Governess when Hot Rod is ready to roll out of Illinois. The Daleys? They prefer Chicago, which pretty much is Illinois, right? Right. Done. Okay, so you can see how Dan might forget Speaker Mike and put all the spending and taxes on Barack. For example, Dan’s White Paper went negative on Obama for supporting tax increases on wine, liquor and beer. But, wait a second, I thought liberals wanted to tax liquor so that people would consume less of it and live long enough to make social security a problem. Perhaps, but not liberal Dan, or at least not on March 10, 2004.

So, Andy Shaw dutifully hammered Barack on why he didn’t do a better job of smashing King George. I was hoping Barack would break out in laughter when he heard Andy’s question and say, Andy, that’s a good one—sort of April Fool’s day in March, now please give me your real question.

But, alas, I didn’t have the temerity to say that, so why should Barack.
Anyway, since this was Ch. 7, Andy was sort of the MC, and he would tell me when I was going on too long with apparently irrelevant questions like, Barack, Yes or No, do you support the fence in Israel as an appropriate means to defend against homicide attacks and other terrorists. You see, it was clear that Andy seemed to think that the main purpose of the press conference was for him [and others on a 10:00 pm deadline] to gather info for their 10:00 voiceovers. So, Andy would tell us not to ask any questions after we collectively had used 7 minutes, even though we were supposed to have 10 minutes for each candidate. And, Andy only cared about Barack, Dan and Blair. But, oddly, that night, Andy didn’t use any questions from the press conference for his little segment. Instead he selected boring summaries from the boring debate. So, all his limitations were for naught. Just think, we could have had a real press conference on real U. S Senate public policy issues.

BTW, Barack declined to answer the Israeli fence question, Yes or No—instead, he gave us a vague non-answer. When I pursued a Yes or No, he ignored the request and went to another question. When I asked him for a yes or no after he had stepped away from the podium, Obama declined, saying he had to go. In light of the Flannery- Drug and Shaw – Hynes fed questions, I might get annoyed, too, if I were Barack. But, still, very out of character for Barack Obama not to answer a question directly and clearly. Perhaps he is getting ready to be a U. S. Senator. To be fair, Dan did answer the Israeli fence question, with an unequivocal Yes.

And, from my left at the press conference, it was Mike Flannery on drugs, and Mike got it done. Rumors have it that people close to, if not in, the Hynes campaign have been talking up Barack Obama’s more recent use of illegal drugs. Another dime dropped from the Hynes campaign? Bam, Obama says nope, and Mike is pretty much done with Obama. And so, the press conference went. Shaw on the stupid Hynes stuff. Mike asking each candidate if they had ever used illegal drugs, etc. and Carlos Hernandez of WBEZ, Jim Andersen of IRN and me on public policy issues. To be fair, Shaw did castigate Hynes for pushing us to ask that stuff—but then why did Shaw play into the trap? To humiliate Hynes? That is always fun.

With Hull, it was special. Now, Mike could find out how recently Blair had used drugs. Blair, taking a page for W, tried the young and foolish line. Mike asked again, Blair answered again. Finally, I realized I had to help Mike get this over so I could ask a policy question. So, I shamed Blair, saying, Blair, can’t you answer a simple question, how long has it been since you used illegal drugs? Bam, Shaming always works. Blair said it had been a “substantial” period of time since he used illegal drugs. I was temped to ask what was substantial, just for the Hell of it. But, I really didn’t give a rat’s ass—so I went on to policy. Mike apparently was satisfied with substantial, at least until later.

Oh yeah, someone asked Obama, when he was up, what he thought about an indictment that was likely the next day. The questioner said the indictment would involve some key Obama contributors or supporters, or something like that. Obama said, “I don’t know what you are talking about,” and went to the next question.” Yesterday, the U. S. Attorney indicted Bob Creamer, spouse of Cong. Jan Schakowsky (D- 9th CD), who is a big time supporter of Barack Obama and helped him enormously in his Hat Trick win of the New Trier, Evanston and Northfield Democratic Organization endorsements (See, below). Creamer was investigated about 7 years ago and they apparently had nothing, or at least not enough to proceed. Another dime dropped by the Hynes campaign to sully up Obama? Now, I know why they call this month the March of Dimes.

At the conclusion of the press conference, I was muttering to someone that I thought it was sort of illegal that Hynes staff’ had distributed what appeared to be campaign material to the press without indicating that it came for or was paid for by Hynes. I guess the ABC walls have ears because a few minutes later, Chris Mather, Hynes communications director, materialized and said why was I saying the Hynes campaign had done something. When I explained, Chris invoked what John Bulushi used to recommended as a great defense for failure to file your income tax, two words, just say two words, “I forgot.” Anyway, it was so odd that Chris came up to talk to me. She had returned about 1 call of 50 calls and 1 email of my 50 emails over the last nine months in an effort to get her boy on my show. And, Dan never has time to do an on site interview when I ask. Last time, he said no time and then went over to chat with Cong. Hyde. Must have been telling him, “Roe v. Wade,” is on the ballot on March 16.

Oh yes, When Blair Hull stepped off the podium, concluding his portion of the press conference, Mike Flannery walked out with him and got Blair to admit that he had sought help for a substance abuse problem in the past, over the pathos and apparent protests of his daughter, Courtney. Any person who has a daughter and reads that has to feel for Blair. See www.ericzorn.com/notebook. You have to give it to Mike, he has _ _ _ _ when it comes to his War on Drugs.

Mike’s reward for the drugs, lies and videotape interrogation was to get to sit with the adults, Diane and Antonio, at the big table and to give his drug stuff as the lead story on Wednesday night’s, 10:00 pm news. And, he got the first four minutes of the news.

A good night for public policy? Hardly.

A criticism of Mike Flannery and Andy Shaw. Hardly. Sorry if it sounded that way. They are both hard working, intelligent and know more politics than I could ever hope to get my arms around.

But, as to the geniuses who manage the local news and push Mike, Andy and other talented people to do the above-- Well, those folks there is a special place in Hell for. And, don’t try to tell me this is what the audience wants, so they must give them that crap. They are all losing market share to cable, not to mention 2, which continues to lose to everybody. So, maybe it is time to try a new approach. Kind of like school vouchers. Oops, I meant to say school choice.

Buzzzzz: The intersection, or should I say union(and would that be civil), of local news, the Senate Primary races, sex and drugs (and I won’t even mention Brenda, which ought to endear me to her)

Slouching toward Gomorrah with the Local News, and an assist from Senate Candidates Hynes(D) and Borling(R). Boy, does politics make strange bedfellows:

Diane Burns: And, Mike [Flannery], what is so interesting is that in the end, it looks like voters might know more about people’s personal lives than they do about their campaign platform, here.

Mike Flannery: Well, that’s for sure. Both on the Democratic side and on the Republican side, but that’s a by-product, I think, Diane, of so many of these rookie candidates, like [Jack] Ryan and Blair Hull, multi-millionaires who have never run for office before and wanted to start out right at the top, running for the U. S. Senate.

Diane Burns: Thanks, Mike Flannery, reporting from the Control Room.

CBS- 2 News, 10:00 pm, March 11, 2004

Well, not so fast, Mike. Yes, lack of vetting in lower offices is a part of the truth, but not the whole truth. As we all know, CBS News’ ratings have been almost as low, for as long as I can remember, as those of Two Star (and Never has run for office) General John Borling—the Senate Candidate's Campaign whence came the allegations Flannery spent sort of discussing in his three minute sort of political ditty last night. For Mike, although his spot was almost half into the newscast, packed behind the murder, rape, fire, crazy mom, terrorism stuff, three minutes for a political correspondent is a very good night. Too bad it wasn’t real politics. Indeed, the low Ch. 2 news ratings are notwithstanding some management genius’ decision to couple, so to speak, Mora and Burns, for millions of bucks, and so far, with no result. Here is a novel idea, maybe some body who talked real politics and real public policy in an interesting manner might attract a better audience.

Anyway, of late, Mike gets to appear when he can gin up some political news. Well, not quite just any old political news—but some sex, drugs, and videotape. Yes, on some nights, he does vary it—perhaps, sex, lies and videotape.

Last night, Mike told us that Rod McCullough resigned as Borling’s campaign manager yesterday after Borling said he should do so, or he would be fired. Borling’s edict came after McCullough had gone public with unproven claims about a section of Ryan’s divorce file, which is in California. Flannery did not tell us what the claims were, when they had been made, the context in which they had been made, or what, if anything, Ryan’s ex-wife, Jeri Lynn Ryan was saying about them. [You can find McCullough’s allegations about allegations on www.capitolfax.com] Also, see www. Ericzorn.com/notebook entry of yesterday.

Flannery did tell us about Republican Senate Candidate Oberweis’ [known affectionately by the immigrant community as Mr. Stop illegal immigration] direct mail piece that referred to Ryan’s financing several years ago of a “weird soft core porn movie,” with a cast that included his then wife Jeri Lynn Ryan [Did you know that 10,000 soft core porn movies are coming into Illinois every day?]. The Tribune yesterday referred to the financing as a Ryan tax shelter. When I asked Jason Miller, Jack Ryan’s campaign manager, about the film yesterday, Miller indicated that actors typically set up such entities to pay for their personal health care, etc., that it was not a “tax shelter,” and that Jack Ryan was unaware of the content of the movie until after it was too late to reverse what had been done. Miller also indicated that Jeri Ryan did not participate in any of the nudity, graphic violence, etc., that Oberweis apparently complained about.

Flannery did not tell the viewers that this family values Oberweis was the same family values Oberweis who two years, or so, ago, had analogized Pro-Lifers to the Taliban. When I read the Taliban and related statements to Oberweis on “Public Affairs,” during his appearance on my show in this campaign season, Oberweis denied changing his position, but said he is now “more articulate.”

Nor did Flannery tell viewers that the Illinois Right to Life Federation had endorsed Senate Candidates Rauschenberger, Ryan and Andy McKenna, Jr. but not Oberweis. Nor did Flannery tell viewers that the Illinois Right to Life Federation has been lobbied by some [who reliable sources say have ties or an affection for the McKenna campaign] to remove its endorsement of Ryan because he is on the Board of and owns stock in a Company that processes, as a very small part of its business, Medicaid claims for abortions, in several states that permit such claims [Which concern some have likened to that age-hold question--How many angels can dance on the head of a pin]. Nor did Flannery tell the viewers that reliable sources have Rod McCullough calling, a few days ago, Paul Caprio, Executive Director of Family-Pac and arch rival of Dan Proft (adviser to the Jack Ryan campaign). Caprio, it is said, advised McCullough on how and whether he could make the disclosure of the sealed records. Caprio is officially neutral in the senate race, but reliable sources say he is supporting Andy McKenna, Jr.

Two nights ago, Flannery was aiming at Drugs and substance abuse, and that age hold question of serious public policy wonks, what illegal drugs have you used and when did you use them.

Why was that night different from all others, as we like to ask on Passover. Well, the Democratic Senate candidates were invited to a so-called Ch. 7, League of Women Voters Debate. Knowing as we all did that the format was designed to cure anyone suffering from insomnia, Mike had been working for a month on what? A story on the consistency, or lack thereof, of how each candidate assessed the Bush administration’s actions taken and policies in Iraq, Haiti and the Middle East? The consistency, or lack thereof, between each candidate’s criticisms of the Bush Administration’s jobs policy and the candidate’s recommendations to improve the environment for job creation in Illinois and the remainder of the Country? Well, not quite.

Mike had been working, for a month, on the lead he got from “someone not affiliated with a senate candidate’s campaign,” that Hull had a substance abuse problem in the past. Another Dime dropped by the Hynes Campaign? Now Flannery was into drugs, so to speak, one thing led to another and Flannery discovered that the current leading Democratic Senate, Barack Obama, stated in a ’96 autobiography that he had used Mary Jane [as we cool guys used to say] and cocaine [Dave van Ronk, cocaine run around my brain--- Go ahead, Mike, arrest me for knowing that. Anyway, I never inhaled, Mary Jane, that is.]

All right, 2’s ace political editor, readied himself for the big night, by having Barack into the CBS studio and buttoning down that Barack had indeed used Mary Jane and Cocaine in his teens in college.

Then come press conference time after the debate. From my right, ABC- ch. 7’s Andy Shaw, is taking his cue from Dan Hynes. What can I say, like the 19th ward rules, I mean, like totally. Dan, as the media love to say, came out swinging in the debate, accusing Obama of being part of the irresponsible George Ryan tax and spend regime. Dan said Barack did not use his enormous power to stop George Ryan. Dan said that Barack, unlike Dan, was not a fighter. That Barack, unlike Dan, did not stand up to George.

Just in case the dim witted media did not get it, fighter Dan’s staffer, dropped by to help the media , distributing, as Andy Shaw put it, a 3 page “dossier,” on “how Obama helped spend Illinois into crisis.”

Boy, I am sure glad those Hynes people helped me with that one. I thought that the big spending was due, in large part, to King George and his valiant Knights—Pistol Packing [Illinois Senate President] Pate and Speaker [of the Illinois House] Mike, aka the Two Tops. Of course, Mike Madigan, also chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party is generally viewed as the most powerful person in the State of Illinois. Nobody ever talks about him running for Governor or President because everybody knows that would be step down in Power.

Well, not quite everybody. You see, Dan Hynes never mentioned Speaker Mike as perhaps having some control over spending, taxes, and yes, Pork. How impolite that would be. You see, boys and girls, Family Values in the Democratic Party means families run Illinois. Currently, the Mell Blagojevich family has its turn. Speaker Mike thinks the next turn should be the Madigans, as in AG Lisa Madigan. So, understanding that competition is wasteful and duplicative, Speaker Mike would like to clear a path for his loving daughter, as would any loving father. So, says Speaker Mike, to his good friend Tom Hynes, how about I help you with a little muscle to send your boy, Dan, to DC, and then we can anoint Lisa as Governess when Hot Rod is ready to roll out of Illinois. The Daleys? They prefer Chicago, which pretty much is Illinois, right? Right. Done. Okay, so you can see how Dan might forget Speaker Mike and put all the spending and taxes on Barack. For example, Dan’s White Paper went negative on Obama for supporting tax increases on wine, liquor and beer. But, wait a second, I thought liberals wanted to tax liquor so that people would consume less of it and live long enough to make social security a problem. Perhaps, but not liberal Dan, or at least not on March 10, 2004.

So, Andy Shaw dutifully hammered Barack on why he didn’t do a better job of smashing King George. I was hoping Barack would break out in laughter when he heard Andy’s question and say, Andy, that’s a good one—sort of April Fool’s day in March, now please give me your real question.

But, alas, I didn’t have the temerity to say that, so why should Barack.
Anyway, since this was Ch. 7, Andy was sort of the MC, and he would tell me when I was going on too long with apparently irrelevant questions like, Barack, Yes or No, do you support the fence in Israel as an appropriate means to defend against homicide attacks and other terrorists. You see, it was clear that Andy seemed to think that the main purpose of the press conference was for him [and others on a 10:00 pm deadline] to gather info for their 10:00 voiceovers. So, Andy would tell us not to ask any questions after we collectively had used 7 minutes, even though we were supposed to have 10 minutes for each candidate. And, Andy only cared about Barack, Dan and Blair. But, oddly, that night, Andy didn’t use any questions from the press conference for his little segment. Instead he selected boring summaries from the boring debate. So, all his limitations were for naught. Just think, we could have had a real press conference on real U. S Senate public policy issues.

BTW, Barack declined to answer the Israeli fence question, Yes or No—instead, he gave us a vague non-answer. When I pursued a Yes or No, he ignored the request and went to another question. When I asked him for a yes or no after he had stepped away from the podium, Obama declined, saying he had to go. In light of the Flannery- Drug and Shaw – Hynes fed questions, I might get annoyed, too, if I were Barack. But, still, very out of character for Barack Obama not to answer a question directly and clearly. Perhaps he is getting ready to be a U. S. Senator. To be fair, Dan did answer the Israeli fence question, with an unequivocal Yes.

And, from my left at the press conference, it was Mike Flannery on drugs, and Mike got it done. Rumors have it that people close to, if not in, the Hynes campaign have been talking up Barack Obama’s more recent use of illegal drugs. Another dime dropped from the Hynes campaign? Bam, Obama says nope, and Mike is pretty much done with Obama. And so, the press conference went. Shaw on the stupid Hynes stuff. Mike asking each candidate if they had ever used illegal drugs, etc. and Carlos Hernandez of WBEZ, Jim Andersen of IRN and me on public policy issues. To be fair, Shaw did castigate Hynes for pushing us to ask that stuff—but then why did Shaw play into the trap? To humiliate Hynes? That is always fun.

With Hull, it was special. Now, Mike could find out how recently Blair had used drugs. Blair, taking a page for W, tried the young and foolish line. Mike asked again, Blair answered again. Finally, I realized I had to help Mike get this over so I could ask a policy question. So, I shamed Blair, saying, Blair, can’t you answer a simple question, how long has it been since you used illegal drugs? Bam, Shaming always works. Blair said it had been a “substantial” period of time since he used illegal drugs. I was temped to ask what was substantial, just for the Hell of it. But, I really didn’t give a rat’s ass—so I went on to policy. Mike apparently was satisfied with substantial, at least until later.

Oh yeah, someone asked Obama, when he was up, what he thought about an indictment that was likely the next day. The questioner said the indictment would involve some key Obama contributors or supporters, or something like that. Obama said, “I don’t know what you are talking about,” and went to the next question.” Yesterday, the U. S. Attorney indicted Bob Creamer, spouse of Cong. Jan Schakowsky (D- 9th CD), who is a big time supporter of Barack Obama and helped him enormously in his Hat Trick win of the New Trier, Evanston and Northfield Democratic Organization endorsements (See, below). Creamer was investigated about 7 years ago and they apparently had nothing, or at least not enough to proceed. Another dime dropped by the Hynes campaign to sully up Obama? Now, I know why they call this month the March of Dimes.

At the conclusion of the press conference, I was muttering to someone that I thought it was sort of illegal that Hynes staff’ had distributed what appeared to be campaign material to the press without indicating that it came for or was paid for by Hynes. I guess the ABC walls have ears because a few minutes later, Chris Mather, Hynes communications director, materialized and said why was I saying the Hynes campaign had done something. When I explained, Chris invoked what John Bulushi used to recommended as a great defense for failure to file your income tax, two words, just say two words, “I forgot.” Anyway, it was so odd that Chris came up to talk to me. She had returned about 1 call of 50 calls and 1 email of my 50 emails over the last nine months in an effort to get her boy on my show. And, Dan never has time to do an on site interview when I ask. Last time, he said no time and then went over to chat with Cong. Hyde. Must have been telling him, “Roe v. Wade,” is on the ballot on March 16.

Oh yes, When Blair Hull stepped off the podium, concluding his portion of the press conference, Mike Flannery walked out with him and got Blair to admit that he had sought help for a substance abuse problem in the past, over the pathos and apparent protests of his daughter, Courtney. Any person who has a daughter and reads that has to feel for Blair. See www.ericzorn.com/notebook. You have to give it to Mike, he has _ _ _ _ when it comes to his War on Drugs.

Mike’s reward for the drugs, lies and videotape interrogation was to get to sit with the adults, Diane and Antonio, at the big table and to give his drug stuff as the lead story on Wednesday night’s, 10:00 pm news. And, he got the first four minutes of the news.

A good night for public policy? Hardly.

A criticism of Mike Flannery and Andy Shaw. Hardly. Sorry if it sounded that way. They are both hard working, intelligent and know more politics than I could ever hope to get my arms around.

But, as to the geniuses who manage the local news and push Mike, Andy and other talented people to do the above-- Well, those folks there is a special place in Hell for. And, don’t try to tell me this is what the audience wants, so they must give them that crap. They are all losing market share to cable, not to mention 2, which continues to lose to everybody. So, maybe it is time to try a new approach. Kind of like school vouchers. Oops, I meant to say school choice.

More Buzzzzz:

Slouching toward Gomorrah: The intersection, or should I say union (and would it be civil) of Local News, Sex, drugs, lies and videotapes. With an assist from Senate Candidates Hynes (D) and Borling (R). Boy, does politics make strange bedfellows.

Diane Burns: And, Mike [Flannery], what is so interesting is that in the end, it looks like voters might know more about people’s personal lives than they do about their campaign platform, here.

Mike Flannery: Well, that’s for sure. Both on the Democratic side and on the Republican side, but that’s a by-product, I think, Diane, of so many of these rookie candidates, like [Jack] Ryan and Blair Hull, multi-millionaires who have never run for office before and wanted to start out right at the top, running for the U. S. Senate.

Diane Burns: Thanks, Mike Flannery, reporting from the Control Room.

CBS- 2 News, 10:00 pm, March 11, 2004

Well, not so fast, Mike. Yes, lack of vetting in lower offices is a part of the truth, but not the whole truth. As we all know, CBS News’ ratings have been almost as low, for as long as I can remember, as those of Two Star (and Never has run for office) General John Borling—the Senate Candidate's campaign whence came the allegations Flannery spent sort of discussing in his three minute sort of political ditty last night. For Mike, although his spot was almost half into the newscast, packed behind the murder, rape, fire, crazy mom, terrorism stuff, three minutes for a political correspondent is a very good night. Too bad it wasn’t real politics. Indeed, the low Ch. 2 news ratings are notwithstanding some management genius’ decision to couple, so to speak, Mora and Burns, for millions of bucks, and so far, with no result. Here is a novel idea, maybe some body who talked real politics and real public policy in an interesting manner might attract a better audience.

Anyway, of late, Mike gets to appear when he can gin up some political news. Well, not quite just any old political news—but some sex, drugs, and videotape. Yes, on some nights, he does vary it—perhaps, sex, lies and videotape.

Last night, Mike told us that Rod McCullough resigned as Borling’s campaign manager yesterday after Borling said he should do so, or he would be fired. Borling’s edict came after McCullough had gone public with unproven claims about a section of Ryan’s divorce file, which is in California. Flannery did not tell us what the claims were, when they had been made, the context in which they had been made, or what, if anything, Ryan’s ex-wife, Jeri Lynn Ryan was saying about them. [You can find McCullough’s allegations about allegations on www.capitolfax.com] Also, see www. Ericzorn.com/notebook entry of yesterday.

Flannery did tell us about Republican Senate Candidate Oberweis’ [known affectionately by the immigrant community as Mr. Stop illegal immigration] direct mail piece that referred to Ryan’s financing several years ago of a “weird soft core porn movie,” with a cast that included his then wife Jeri Lynn Ryan [Did you know that 10,000 soft core porn movies are coming into Illinois every day?]. The Tribune yesterday referred to the financing as a Ryan tax shelter. When I asked Jason Miller, Jack Ryan’s campaign manager, about the film yesterday, Miller indicated that actors typically set up such entities to pay for their personal health care, etc., that it was not a “tax shelter,” and that Jack Ryan was unaware of the content of the movie until after it was too late to reverse what had been done. Miller also indicated that Jeri Ryan did not participate in any of the nudity, graphic violence, etc., that Oberweis apparently complained about.

Flannery did not tell the viewers that this family values Oberweis was the same family values Oberweis who two years, or so, ago, had analogized Pro-Lifers to the Taliban. When I read the Taliban and related statements to Oberweis on “Public Affairs,” during his appearance on my show in this campaign season, Oberweis denied changing his position, but said he is now “more articulate.”

Nor did Flannery tell viewers that the Illinois Right to Life Federation had endorsed Senate Candidates Rauschenberger, Ryan and Andy McKenna, Jr. but not Oberweis. Nor did Flannery tell viewers that the Illinois Right to Life Federation has been lobbied by some [who reliable sources say have ties or an affection for the McKenna campaign] to remove its endorsement of Ryan because he is on the Board of and owns stock in a Company that processes, as a very small part of its business, Medicaid claims for abortions, in several states that permit such claims [Which concern some have likened to that age-hold question--How many angels can dance on the head of a pin]. Nor did Flannery tell the viewers that reliable sources have Rod McCullough calling, a few days ago, Paul Caprio, Executive Director of Family-Pac and arch rival of Dan Proft (adviser to the Jack Ryan campaign). Caprio, it is said, advised McCullough on how and whether he could make the disclosure of the sealed records. Caprio is officially neutral in the senate race, but reliable sources say he is supporting Andy McKenna, Jr.

Two nights ago, Flannery was aiming at Drugs and substance abuse, and that age hold question of serious public policy wonks, what illegal drugs have you used and when did you use them.

Why was that night different from all others, as we like to ask on Passover. Well, the Democratic Senate candidates were invited to a so-called Ch. 7, League of Women Voters Debate. Knowing as we all did that the format was designed to cure anyone suffering from insomnia, Mike had been working for a month on what? A story on the consistency, or lack thereof, of how each candidate assessed the Bush administration’s actions taken and policies in Iraq, Haiti and the Middle East? The consistency, or lack thereof, between each candidate’s criticisms of the Bush Administration’s jobs policy and the candidate’s recommendations to improve the environment for job creation in Illinois and the remainder of the Country? Well, not quite.

Mike had been working, for a month, on the lead he got from “someone not affiliated with a senate candidate’s campaign,” that Hull had a substance abuse problem in the past. Another Dime dropped by the Hynes Campaign? Now Flannery was into drugs, so to speak, one thing led to another and Flannery discovered that the current leading Democratic Senate, Barack Obama, stated in a ’96 autobiography that he had used Mary Jane [as we cool guys used to say] and cocaine [Dave van Ronk, cocaine run around my brain--- Go ahead, Mike, arrest me for knowing that. Anyway, I never inhaled, Mary Jane, that is.]

All right, 2’s ace political editor, readied himself for the big night, by having Barack into the CBS studio and buttoning down that Barack had indeed used Mary Jane and Cocaine in his teens in college.

Then come press conference time after the debate. From my right, ABC- ch. 7’s Andy Shaw, is taking his cue from Dan Hynes. What can I say, like the 19th ward rules, I mean, like totally. Dan, as the media love to say, came out swinging in the debate, accusing Obama of being part of the irresponsible George Ryan tax and spend regime. Dan said Barack did not use his enormous power to stop George Ryan. Dan said that Barack, unlike Dan, was not a fighter. That Barack, unlike Dan, did not stand up to George.

Just in case the dim witted media did not get it, fighter Dan’s staffer, dropped by to help the media , distributing, as Andy Shaw put it, a 3 page “dossier,” on “how Obama helped spend Illinois into crisis.”

Boy, I am sure glad those Hynes people helped me with that one. I thought that the big spending was due, in large part, to King George and his valiant Knights—Pistol Packing [Illinois Senate President] Pate and Speaker [of the Illinois House] Mike, aka the Two Tops. Of course, Mike Madigan, also chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party is generally viewed as the most powerful person in the State of Illinois. Nobody ever talks about him running for Governor or President because everybody knows that would be step down in Power.

Well, not quite everybody. You see, Dan Hynes never mentioned Speaker Mike as perhaps having some control over spending, taxes, and yes, Pork. How impolite that would be. You see, boys and girls, Family Values in the Democratic Party means families run Illinois. Currently, the Mell Blagojevich family has its turn. Speaker Mike thinks the next turn should be the Madigans, as in AG Lisa Madigan. So, understanding that competition is wasteful and duplicative, Speaker Mike would like to clear a path for his loving daughter, as would any loving father. So, says Speaker Mike, to his good friend Tom Hynes, how about I help you with a little muscle to send your boy, Dan, to DC, and then we can anoint Lisa as Governess when Hot Rod is ready to roll out of Illinois. The Daleys? They prefer Chicago, which pretty much is Illinois, right? Right. Done. Okay, so you can see how Dan might forget Speaker Mike and put all the spending and taxes on Barack. For example, Dan’s White Paper went negative on Obama for supporting tax increases on wine, liquor and beer. But, wait a second, I thought liberals wanted to tax liquor so that people would consume less of it and live long enough to make social security a problem. Perhaps, but not liberal Dan, or at least not on March 10, 2004.

So, Andy Shaw dutifully hammered Barack on why he didn’t do a better job of smashing King George. I was hoping Barack would break out in laughter when he heard Andy’s question and say, Andy, that’s a good one—sort of April Fool’s day in March, now please give me your real question.

But, alas, I didn’t have the temerity to say that, so why should Barack.
Anyway, since this was Ch. 7, Andy was sort of the MC, and he would tell me when I was going on too long with apparently irrelevant questions like, Barack, Yes or No, do you support the fence in Israel as an appropriate means to defend against homicide attacks and other terrorists. You see, it was clear that Andy seemed to think that the main purpose of the press conference was for him [and others on a 10:00 pm deadline] to gather info for their 10:00 voiceovers. So, Andy would tell us not to ask any questions after we collectively had used 7 minutes, even though we were supposed to have 10 minutes for each candidate. And, Andy only cared about Barack, Dan and Blair. But, oddly, that night, Andy didn’t use any questions from the press conference for his little segment. Instead he selected boring summaries from the boring debate. So, all his limitations were for naught. Just think, we could have had a real press conference on real U. S Senate public policy issues.

BTW, Barack declined to answer the Israeli fence question, Yes or No—instead, he gave us a vague non-answer. When I pursued a Yes or No, he ignored the request and went to another question. When I asked him for a yes or no after he had stepped away from the podium, Obama declined, saying he had to go. In light of the Flannery- Drug and Shaw – Hynes fed questions, I might get annoyed, too, if I were Barack. But, still, very out of character for Barack Obama not to answer a question directly and clearly. Perhaps he is getting ready to be a U. S. Senator. To be fair, Dan did answer the Israeli fence question, with an unequivocal Yes.

And, from my left at the press conference, it was Mike Flannery on drugs, and Mike got it done. Rumors have it that people close to, if not in, the Hynes campaign have been talking up Barack Obama’s more recent use of illegal drugs. Another dime dropped from the Hynes campaign? Bam, Obama says nope, and Mike is pretty much done with Obama. And so, the press conference went. Shaw on the stupid Hynes stuff. Mike asking each candidate if they had ever used illegal drugs, etc. and Carlos Hernandez of WBEZ, Jim Andersen of IRN and me on public policy issues. To be fair, Shaw did castigate Hynes for pushing us to ask that stuff—but then why did Shaw play into the trap? To humiliate Hynes? That is always fun.

With Hull, it was special. Now, Mike could find out how recently Blair had used drugs. Blair, taking a page for W, tried the young and foolish line. Mike asked again, Blair answered again. Finally, I realized I had to help Mike get this over so I could ask a policy question. So, I shamed Blair, saying, Blair, can’t you answer a simple question, how long has it been since you used illegal drugs? Bam, Shaming always works. Blair said it had been a “substantial” period of time since he used illegal drugs. I was temped to ask what was substantial, just for the Hell of it. But, I really didn’t give a rat’s ass—so I went on to policy. Mike apparently was satisfied with substantial, at least until later.

Oh yeah, someone asked Obama, when he was up, what he thought about an indictment that was likely the next day. The questioner said the indictment would involve some key Obama contributors or supporters, or something like that. Obama said, “I don’t know what you are talking about,” and went to the next question.” Yesterday, the U. S. Attorney indicted Bob Creamer, spouse of Cong. Jan Schakowsky (D- 9th CD), who is a big time supporter of Barack Obama and helped him enormously in his Hat Trick win of the New Trier, Evanston and Northfield Democratic Organization endorsements (See, below). Creamer was investigated about 7 years ago and they apparently had nothing, or at least not enough to proceed. Another dime dropped by the Hynes campaign to sully up Obama? Now, I know why they call this month the March of Dimes.

At the conclusion of the press conference, I was muttering to someone that I thought it was sort of illegal that Hynes staff’ had distributed what appeared to be campaign material to the press without indicating that it came for or was paid for by Hynes. I guess the ABC walls have ears because a few minutes later, Chris Mather, Hynes communications director, materialized and said why was I saying the Hynes campaign had done something. When I explained, Chris invoked what John Bulushi used to recommended as a great defense for failure to file your income tax, two words, just say two words, “I forgot.” Anyway, it was so odd that Chris came up to talk to me. She had returned about 1 call of 50 calls and 1 email of my 50 emails over the last nine months in an effort to get her boy on my show. And, Dan never has time to do an on site interview when I ask. Last time, he said no time and then went over to chat with Cong. Hyde. Must have been telling him, “Roe v. Wade,” is on the ballot on March 16.

Oh yes, When Blair Hull stepped off the podium, concluding his portion of the press conference, Mike Flannery walked out with him and got Blair to admit that he had sought help for a substance abuse problem in the past, over the pathos and apparent protests of his daughter, Courtney. Any person who has a daughter and reads that has to feel for Blair. See www.ericzorn.com/notebook. You have to give it to Mike, he has _ _ _ _ when it comes to his War on Drugs.

Mike’s reward for the drugs, lies and videotape interrogation was to get to sit with the adults, Diane and Antonio, at the big table and to give his drug stuff as the lead story on Wednesday night’s, 10:00 pm news. And, he got the first four minutes of the news.

A good night for public policy? Hardly.

A criticism of Mike Flannery and Andy Shaw. Hardly. Sorry if it sounded that way. They are both hard working, intelligent and know more politics than I could ever hope to get my arms around.

But, as to the geniuses who manage the local news and push Mike, Andy and other talented people to do the above-- Well, those folks there is a special place in Hell for. And, don’t try to tell me this is what the audience wants, so they must give them that crap. They are all losing market share to cable, not to mention 2, which continues to lose to everybody. So, maybe it is time to try a new approach. Kind of like school vouchers. Oops, I meant to say school choice.

Buzzzzz: The intersection, or should I say union, of local news, the Senate Primary races, sex and drugs (and I won’t even mention Brenda, which ought to endear me to her)

Slouching toward Gomorrah with the Local News, and an assist from Senate Candidates Hynes and Borling. Boy, does politics make strange bedfellows:

Diane Burns: And, Mike [Flannery], what is so interesting is that in the end, it looks like voters might know more about people’s personal lives than they do about their campaign platform, here.

Mike Flannery: Well, that’s for sure. Both on the Democratic side and on the Republican side, but that’s a by-product, I think, Diane, of so many of these rookie candidates, like [Jack] Ryan and Blair Hull, multi-millionaires who have never run for office before and wanted to start out right at the top, running for the U. S. Senate.

Diane Burns: Thanks, Mike Flannery, reporting from the Control Room.

CBS- 2 News, 10:00 pm, March 11, 2004

Well, not so fast, Mike. Yes, lack of vetting in lower offices is a part of the truth, but not the whole truth. As we all know, CBS News’ ratings have been almost as low, for as long as I can remember, as those of Two Star (and Never has run for office) General John Borling—the Senate Candidate whence came the allegations Flannery spent sort of discussing in his three minute sort of political ditty last night. For Mike, although his spot was almost half into the newscast, packed behind the murder, rape, fire, crazy mom, terrorism stuff, three minutes for a political correspondent is a very good night. Too bad it wasn’t real politics. Indeed, the low Ch. 2 news ratings are notwithstanding some management genius’ decision to couple, so to speak, Mora and Burns, for millions of bucks, and so far, with no result. Here is a novel idea, maybe some body who talked real politics and real public policy in an interesting manner might attract a better audience.

Anyway, of late, Mike gets to appear when he can gin up some political news. Well, not quite just any old political news—but some sex, drugs, and videotape. Yes, on some nights, he does vary it—perhaps, sex, lies and videotape.

Last night, Mike told us that Rod McCullough resigned as Borling’s campaign manager yesterday after Borling said he should do so, or he would be fired. Borling’s edict came after McCullough had gone public with unproven claims about a section of Ryan’s divorce file, which is in California. Flannery did not tell us what the claims were, when they had been made, the context in which they had been made, or what, if anything, Ryan’s ex-wife, Jeri Lynn Ryan was saying about them. [You can find McCullough’s allegations about allegations on www.capitolfax.com] Also, see www. Ericzorn.com/notebook entry of yesterday.

Flannery did tell us about Republican Senate Candidate Oberweis’ [known affectionately by the immigrant community as Mr. Stop illegal immigration] direct mail piece that referred to Ryan’s financing several years ago of a “weird soft core porn movie,” with a cast that included his then wife Jeri Lynn Ryan [Did you know that 10,000 soft core porn movies are coming into Illinois every day?]. The Tribune yesterday referred to the financing as a Ryan tax shelter. When I asked Jason Miller, Jack Ryan’s campaign manager, about the film yesterday, Miller indicated that actors typically set up such entities to pay for their personal health care, etc., that it was not a “tax shelter,” and that Jack Ryan was unaware of the content of the movie until after it was too late to reverse what had been done. Miller also indicated that Jeri Ryan did not participate in any of the nudity, graphic violence, etc., that Oberweis apparently complained about.

Flannery did not tell the viewers that this family values Oberweis was the same family values Oberweis who two years, or so, ago, had analogized Pro-Lifers to the Taliban. When I read the Taliban and related statements to Oberweis on “Public Affairs,” during his appearance on my show in this campaign season, Oberweis denied changing his position, but said he is now “more articulate.”

Nor did Flannery tell viewers that the Illinois Right to Life Federation had endorsed Senate Candidates Rauschenberger, Ryan and Andy McKenna, Jr. but not Oberweis. Nor did Flannery tell viewers that the Illinois Right to Life Federation has been lobbied by some [who reliable sources say have ties or an affection for the McKenna campaign] to remove its endorsement of Ryan because he is on the Board of and owns stock in a Company that processes, as a very small part of its business, Medicaid claims for abortions, in several states that permit such claims [Which concern some have likened to that age-hold question--How many angels can dance on the head of a pin]. Nor did Flannery tell the viewers that reliable sources have Rod McCullough calling, a few days ago, Paul Caprio, Executive Director of Family-Pac and arch rival of Dan Proft (adviser to the Jack Ryan campaign). Caprio, it is said, advised McCullough on how and whether he could make the disclosure of the sealed records. Caprio is officially neutral in the senate race, but reliable sources say he is supporting Andy McKenna, Jr.

Two nights ago, Flannery was aiming at Drugs and substance abuse, and that age hold question of serious public policy wonks, what illegal drugs have you used and when did you use them.

Why was that night different from all others, as we like to ask on Passover. Well, the Democratic Senate candidates were invited to a so-called Ch. 7, League of Women Voters Debate. Knowing as we all did that the format was designed to cure anyone suffering from insomnia, Mike had been working for a month on what? A story on the consistency, or lack thereof, of how each candidate assessed the Bush administration’s actions taken and policies in Iraq, Haiti and the Middle East? The consistency, or lack thereof, between each candidate’s criticisms of the Bush Administration’s jobs policy and the candidate’s recommendations to improve the environment for job creation in Illinois and the remainder of the Country? Well, not quite.

Mike had been working, for a month, on the lead he got from “someone not affiliated with a senate candidate’s campaign,” that Hull had a substance abuse problem in the past. Another Dime dropped by the Hynes Campaign? Now Flannery was into drugs, so to speak, one thing led to another and Flannery discovered that the current leading Democratic Senate, Barack Obama, stated in a ’96 autobiography that he had used Mary Jane [as we cool guys used to say] and cocaine [Dave van Ronk, cocaine run around my brain--- Go ahead, Mike, arrest me for knowing that. Anyway, I never inhaled, Mary Jane, that is.]

All right, 2’s ace political editor, readied himself for the big night, by having Barack into the CBS studio and buttoning down that Barack had indeed used Mary Jane and Cocaine in his teens in college.

Then come press conference time after the debate. From my right, ABC- ch. 7’s Andy Shaw, is taking his cue from Dan Hynes. What can I say, like the 19th ward rules, I mean, like totally. Dan, as the media love to say, came out swinging in the debate, accusing Obama of being part of the irresponsible George Ryan tax and spend regime. Dan said Barack did not use his enormous power to stop George Ryan. Dan said that Barack, unlike Dan, was not a fighter. That Barack, unlike Dan, did not stand up to George.

Just in case the dim witted media did not get it, fighter Dan’s staffer, dropped by to help the media , distributing, as Andy Shaw put it, a 3 page “dossier,” on “how Obama helped spend Illinois into crisis.”

Boy, I am sure glad those Hynes people helped me with that one. I thought that the big spending was due, in large part, to King George and his valiant Knights—Pistol Packing [Illinois Senate President] Pate and Speaker [of the Illinois House] Mike, aka the Two Tops. Of course, Mike Madigan, also chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party is generally viewed as the most powerful person in the State of Illinois. Nobody ever talks about him running for Governor or President because everybody knows that would be step down in Power.

Well, not quite everybody. You see, Dan Hynes never mentioned Speaker Mike as perhaps having some control over spending, taxes, and yes, Pork. How impolite that would be. You see, boys and girls, Family Values in the Democratic Party means families run Illinois. Currently, the Mell Blagojevich family has its turn. Speaker Mike thinks the next turn should be the Madigans, as in AG Lisa Madigan. So, understanding that competition is wasteful and duplicative, Speaker Mike would like to clear a path for his loving daughter, as would any loving father. So, says Speaker Mike, to his good friend Tom Hynes, how about I help you with a little muscle to send your boy, Dan, to DC, and then we can anoint Lisa as Governess when Hot Rod is ready to roll out of Illinois. The Daleys? They prefer Chicago, which pretty much is Illinois, right? Right. Done. Okay, so you can see how Dan might forget Speaker Mike and put all the spending and taxes on Barack. For example, Dan’s White Paper went negative on Obama for supporting tax increases on wine, liquor and beer. But, wait a second, I thought liberals wanted to tax liquor so that people would consume less of it and live long enough to make social security a problem. Perhaps, but not liberal Dan, or at least not on March 10, 2004.

So, Andy Shaw dutifully hammered Barack on why he didn’t do a better job of smashing King George. I was hoping Barack would break out in laughter when he heard Andy’s question and say, Andy, that’s a good one—sort of April Fool’s day in March, now please give me your real question.

But, alas, I didn’t have the temerity to say that, so why should Barack.
Anyway, since this was Ch. 7, Andy was sort of the MC, and he would tell me when I was going on too long with apparently irrelevant questions like, Barack, Yes or No, do you support the fence in Israel as an appropriate means to defend against homicide attacks and other terrorists. You see, it was clear that Andy seemed to think that the main purpose of the press conference was for him [and others on a 10:00 pm deadline] to gather info for their 10:00 voiceovers. So, Andy would tell us not to ask any questions after we collectively had used 7 minutes, even though we were supposed to have 10 minutes for each candidate. And, Andy only cared about Barack, Dan and Blair. But, oddly, that night, Andy didn’t use any questions from the press conference for his little segment. Instead he selected boring summaries from the boring debate. So, all his limitations were for naught. Just think, we could have had a real press conference on real U. S Senate public policy issues.

BTW, Barack declined to answer the Israeli fence question, Yes or No—instead, he gave us a vague non-answer. When I pursued a Yes or No, he ignored the request and went to another question. When I asked him for a yes or no after he had stepped away from the podium, Obama declined, saying he had to go. In light of the Flannery- Drug and Shaw – Hynes fed questions, I might get annoyed, too, if I were Barack. But, still, very out of character for Barack Obama not to answer a question directly and clearly. Perhaps he is getting ready to be a U. S. Senator. To be fair, Dan did answer the Israeli fence question, with an unequivocal Yes.

And, from my left at the press conference, it was Mike Flannery on drugs, and Mike got it done. Rumors have it that people close to, if not in, the Hynes campaign have been talking up Barack Obama’s more recent use of illegal drugs. Another dime dropped from the Hynes campaign? Bam, Obama says nope, and Mike is pretty much done with Obama. And so, the press conference went. Shaw on the stupid Hynes stuff. Mike asking each candidate if they had ever used illegal drugs, etc. and Carlos Hernandez of WBEZ, Jim Andersen of IRN and me on public policy issues. To be fair, Shaw did castigate Hynes for pushing us to ask that stuff—but then why did Shaw play into the trap? To humiliate Hynes? That is always fun.

With Hull, it was special. Now, Mike could find out how recently Blair had used drugs. Blair, taking a page for W, tried the young and foolish line. Mike asked again, Blair answered again. Finally, I realized I had to help Mike get this over so I could ask a policy question. So, I shamed Blair, saying, Blair, can’t you answer a simple question, how long has it been since you used illegal drugs? Bam, Shaming always works. Blair said it had been a “substantial” period of time since he used illegal drugs. I was temped to ask what was substantial, just for the Hell of it. But, I really didn’t give a rat’s ass—so I went on to policy. Mike apparently was satisfied with substantial, at least until later.

Oh yeah, someone asked Obama, when he was up, what he thought about an indictment that was likely the next day. The questioner said the indictment would involve some key Obama contributors or supporters, or something like that. Obama said, “I don’t know what you are talking about,” and went to the next question.” Yesterday, the U. S. Attorney indicted Bob Creamer, spouse of Cong. Jan Schakowsky (D- 9th CD), who is a big time supporter of Barack Obama and helped him enormously in his Hat Trick win of the New Trier, Evanston and Northfield Democratic Organization endorsements (See, below). Creamer was investigated about 7 years ago and they apparently had nothing, or at least not enough to proceed. Another dime dropped by the Hynes campaign to sully up Obama? Now, I know why they call this month the March of Dimes.

At the conclusion of the press conference, I was muttering to someone that I thought it was sort of illegal that Hynes staff’ had distributed what appeared to be campaign material to the press without indicating that it came for or was paid for by Hynes. I guess the ABC walls have ears because a few minutes later, Chris Mather, Hynes communications director, materialized and said why was I saying the Hynes campaign had done something. When I explained, Chris invoked what John Bulushi used to recommended as a great defense for failure to file your income tax, two words, just say two words, “I forgot.” Anyway, it was so odd that Chris came up to talk to me. She had returned about 1 call of 50 calls and 1 email of my 50 emails over the last nine months in an effort to get her boy on my show. And, Dan never has time to do an on site interview when I ask. Last time, he said no time and then went over to chat with Cong. Hyde. Must have been telling him, “Roe v. Wade,” is on the ballot on March 16.

Oh yes, When Blair Hull stepped off the podium, concluding his portion of the press conference, Mike Flannery walked out with him and got Blair to admit that he had sought help for a substance abuse problem in the past, over the pathos and apparent protests of his daughter, Courtney. Any person who has a daughter and reads that has to feel for Blair. See www.ericzorn.com/notebook. You have to give it to Mike, he has _ _ _ _ when it comes to his War on Drugs.

Mike’s reward for the drugs, lies and videotape interrogation was to get to sit with the adults, Diane and Antonio, at the big table and to give his drug stuff as the lead story on Wednesday night’s, 10:00 pm news. And, he got the first four minutes of the news.

A good night for public policy? Hardly.

A criticism of Mike Flannery and Andy Shaw. Hardly. Sorry if it sounded that way. They are both hard working, intelligent and know more politics than I could ever hope to get my arms around.

But, as to the geniuses who manage the local news and push Mike, Andy and other talented people to do the above-- Well, those folks there is a special place in Hell for. And, don’t try to tell me this is what the audience wants, so they must give them that crap. They are all losing market share to cable, not to mention 2, which continues to lose to everybody. So, maybe it is time to try a new approach. Kind of like school vouchers. Oops, I meant to say