Nobody wants to discuss this unpleasant issue. I think we’re all saddened by the circumstances of Mr. Powers’s departure from the Elgin city council, but there are issues that remain unresolved and questions that are unanswered.

Mr. Powers violated the basic rules for an elected official or public servant. There’s no question about that. In isolation, one of his lapses could be seen to be an honest mistake, but here we have something that looks far more sinister. But I’m not going to beat the drum on Mike Powers. You can stick a fork in him because he’s done.

I’m more concerned about the Bandits, and their relationship with the City of Elgin and their continued funding. The Bandits owners certainly had an inkling of what would be appropriate or legal and what would not. They–but not Mike Powers–notified the city that Mr. Powers had proposed a business relationship. According to the memo circulated by Elgin corporation counsel William Cogley:

On April 4, 2008, Bill Sokolis, one of the co-owners of the Chicago Bandits, advised (Assistant City Manager) Sean Stegall that Mike Powers was proposing to do certain marketing work on behalf of the Bandits. Mr. Sokolis further advised Mr. Stegall that the Bandits were arranging for an initial $3,000 payment to Mr. Powers for such marketing services.

Mr. Stegall, the memo continues, immediately told Mr. Sokolis that “he believed such an arrangement would be prohibited.” After consulting with the corporation counsel, On April 10th, Mr. Stegall again notified Mr. Sokolis that a business relationship was prohibited. You wonder why then was the payment ever made?

I couldn’t determine from the newspaper articles the exact date of the payment but it does sound from the memo that it was definitely after April 4th, because the city’s memo says at that point that according to Mr. Sokolis, they were still arranging for an initial payment.

That means the Bandits went ahead and paid Mr. Powers despite the warning from city officials.

The Chicago Bandits furthermore could not have been oblivious to the fact that Mr. Powers voted with the council majority on May 14th to provide the softball team with more than $700,000 in subsidies as a prelude to an even bigger stadium deal.

All this is bad enough, but then we find out that that same month, Mr. Sokolis, through a company he owns, B&M Management, bought a condo in the shoe factory lofts for $202,500. Immediately after the purchase closed, Mike Powers moved in.

When questioned by the Courier, he said: “I’m just buying a property from people who buy and sell properties on a daily basis,” he said. “I don’t see it as unusual. That’s the business they’re in.” He also said he’s planning on buying the house in a couple of weeks for $202,500.

Of course, if it’s normal for Mr. Sokolis to buy houses for $202,500 and sell them a few months later for $202,500, he has an interesting business model indeed. Just the transaction costs ensures that he loses thousands of dollars, not to mention time wasted. The Courier could not determine how much rent, if any, Mr. Powers has paid to Mr. Sokolis.

Mike Powers was no stranger to Bill Sokolis when he moved into Mr. Sokolis’s house as his tenant. Mr. Sokolis knew very well from his conversation with city officials in early April that he could not have a business relationship with Mr. Powers. So what was the idea behind buying a condo and renting it out to Mr. Powers?

It could be entirely innocent, and we can hope so. But there is a definite appearance problem, and I’m guessing the State’s Attorney or United States Attorney will be taking a look at this. I think they will want to know whether this rent-to-own deal was conceived as a (really stupid) way to sidestep obvious prohibitions and obscure wrongdoing.

The Chicago Bandits are clearly implicated in this mess. They’ve brought a scandal to our community. They’ve brought dishonor and disgrace to the city council. They can’t say they didn’t know what the rules were. They were clearly informed by Elgin city officials on April 4th and again on April 10th, before they did any of this. It’s clear that this is not an organization that belongs in Elgin.

As long as they remain here, they and their supporters on the council will remain under a cloud of suspicion. I can’t see how the city can in good conscience continue to provide funding for the Chicago Bandits.

See also:

• Bandits Subsidy Doubles
• Making Out Like Bandits
• Lesson for Obama
• Pro Softball in Elgin–Why?
• Sympathy for the Devil
• Herald Endorses Powers
• Wine Comes to Downtown Elgin

Bandits owner Bill Conroy said Powers approached him about a full-time marketing consultant position that was supposed to start June 1. Conroy said it seemed natural since Powers had great area connections, so the team paid him $3,000 in advance, which would have been his monthly salary. (Daily Herald 8/11/08)

Mr. Powers later voted for the $711,000 deal to bring the Bandits to Judson University. You have to wonder what both of these guys were thinking.

In any case, the resignation has been effected, and we can move on. I’m glad Mr. Powers brought this to a speedy resolution, admitted his mistake, and accepted responsibility. He says it was an honest mistake, and I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt. Of course it does cast a cloud over the city’s dealings with the Bandits.

While there was turmoil on the home front, the Bandits’s star player Jennie Finch, the “pin up pitcher,” “the face of her sport,” the “Barbie-faced blonde” helped team U.S.A. bring home a silver medal at the Olympic games in Beijing. I did a search for “Jennie Finch” in Google news and it turned up 2,456 results. I did a search for “Jennie Finch Elgin” and it turned up nothing. So much for that.

But wow, those commies, er Chinese, sure know how to host an Olympics. Why don’t we just let them host it every year? That way we don’t have to pay for it. I mean, $366 million for a temporary stadium? I can see why the Chinese want to do it, but why do we? What do we have to prove? What are we getting out of it?

The total price tag for a Chicago Olympics is estimated at $5 billion, which seems conservative. By comparison, China spent $40 billion. Athens went almost 4x over budget, ending at $9 billion. Most economists question the economic benefits of the games, especially for a city like Chicago which is already famous. It seems more like an ego thing for Richard Daley.

The games are supposed to be privately financed, but how likely is that? Governor Rod Blagojevich has already proposed state funding, and the City of Chicago has been obliged to provide $500M in guarantees against cost overruns. I don’t think there has ever been an Olympics games that was not financed at least to some extent with public money. If the games are held in Chicago, I’m pretty sure we’ll all be paying for it in one way or another.

The temporary Olympic stadium is to be situated in Washington Park, according to the proposal. I was down in that area a few weeks ago on a visit to the Oriental Institute, which is definitely worth a visit if you haven’t been there. They have a monumental bull from Persepolis, which is very beautiful, and the lamassu is probably the finest you will see in a North American museum. It’s about twice as large as anything I’ver ever seen.

The nearby Robie House, unbelievably, is still undergoing renovation. The last time I was there might have been four years ago…

Anyway, while I was down in Hyde Park, it occurred to me that it would be interesting to see the much-discussed Barack Obama house and adjoining Tony Rezko lot, but without an address, I wasn’t able to find it. There were homes that looked similar, that could have been it, but it was hard to tell. There are many fine homes in that area. For his house, Mr. Obama paid $1.65M, and an additional $104,500 for an extra strip of land from Tony Rezko, who is now in prison.

It was interesting to see the brouhaha this month over how many houses John McCain owns or his wife owns. It would seem that houses are not a good topic for Mr. Obama or his running mate. Mr. Obama’s house problems are well known, but did you know about Joe Biden’s? Mr. Biden was once criticized for selling his Delaware house for the full asking price of $1.2M to an MBNA executive. Full asking price is abnormal in any region, including Delaware, where comparable homes sold for ten to twenty percent less than the asking price:

In the case of Biden’s house, the appraiser compared the home to another large old house about a quarter of a mile away. That house—which was in similar condition—was judged to be worth $1,013,000. It sold in August 1995 for $800,000…The appraiser also looked at two other newer houses in the area. One was appraised at $1,230,000 and sold for $1,007,500. The other was appraised at $1,163,000 and sold for an even $1 million. In all three cases, the homes sold for a good deal less than their appraised value. In comparison, it appears Cochran simply paid Biden’s full asking price. And, according to people familiar with the situation, the house needed quite a bit of work; contractors and their trucks descended on the house for months after the purchase. (National Review 8/23/08)

It would not be so scandalous if Mr. Biden did not have any other relationship with MBNA, but in fact his largest source of political contributions came from MBNA, his son was given a job by MBNA, and then when MBNA and other credit card companies wanted a bill to make it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy protection, Joe Biden was its biggest champion. For Joe Biden, this doesn’t seem like the kind of topic you’d want to bring up if you’re running on a presidential ticket.

It’s also interesting, because with $1.75M, which is less than what Mr. Obama paid for his house and property, you can buy seven $250,000 condos. Who’s more out of touch? Someone with seven condos or someone with a $1.75M house with “four fireplaces, glass-door bookcases fashioned from Honduran mahogany, and a 1,000-bottle wine cellar.” Don’t answer that, because I don’t think anybody really cares about how many houses you have or how large it is as long as it’s honestly got.

I didn’t support John McCain in the primary elections, because I didn’t agree as much with his views and I didn’t think he was very likable, but I never found a reason to question his probity.

But what about Barack Obama?

The National Review writes:

In 2001, Obama was serving in the state senate, and his modest salary there (less than $58,000 per year) was not enough. His family made a total of $240,000 in 2000, but he was experiencing serious financial difficulties, in part because of the debt he had racked up in his losing congressional primary against Rep. Bobby Rush. In July 2000, his credit card was even declined when he tried to rent a car at the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles.

Obama was short of work and short of cash, but Robert Blackwell Jr. came to his rescue. EKI hired him in March 2001 and paid him $8,000 per month in legal retainers, for a total of $112,000. Obama and his staff then helped Blackwell’s other company, a ping-pong apparel company called Killerspin, get $320,000 in state grants…he did much better in 2003 and 2004. Dan Shomon, Obama’s longtime aide, helped Killerspin get $300,000 more in taxpayer-funded grants in those two years.

The Times reported that Obama, in his required legal financial disclosures for 2001 and 2002, buried this six-figure financial conflict of interest with respect to Blackwell’s companies amid a list of hundreds of other clients represented by his entire law firm. He did not mention in his ethics paperwork that EKI was his largest source of income in 2001…(National Review 8/25/08)

When Elgin councilman Mike Powers did something similar, he acknowledged his mistake and stepped down. Somehow I don’t see that happening with Barack Obama.

An exciting line-up of top-notch entertainment is scheduled for FoxFireFest, taking place from August 1st -3rd at Festival Park, 132 S. Grove Avenue, along the riverfront in downtown Elgin. FoxFireFest is the City of Elgin’s premier special event for the summer, incorporating the 49th annual AAUW Fine Arts Fest along with a wide variety of musical performers, food vendors and unique children’s activities throughout the weekend.

The festival will kick-off on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. with an opening performance by Elgin O.P.E.R.A., followed by the main-stage performance by the award-winning Elgin Symphony Orchestra (ESO) at 7:30 p.m. The evening will conclude with a brief pyrotechnic show along the river at approximately 9:30 p.m. Vendors on site will have a variety of food, beer and wine available for purchase. Families are encouraged to bring a blanket or lawn chairs and enjoy the free concert.

The festival continues on Saturday, August 2nd at 12:00 p.m. with live entertainment throughout the day. Mainstage evening performances begin at 4:00 p.m. with a special appearance by pop-artist Thomas Ian Nicholas, featuring songs from his debut album Without Warning. Starship hits the main stage at 6:00 p.m., performing a variety of hits from the 80’s, followed by the featured performance by the New York-based blues-rock quartet Blues Traveler from 8:00- 10:30 p.m. The evening will conclude with a brief pyrotechnic show on the riverfront.

Sunday morning activities will open with the Elgin Cycling Classic, a challenging new 1KM course throughout the Lords Park area. Races will begin at 8:00 a.m. and the final race will begin at 4:00 p.m. In addition to several pro races, there will be races for men, women and children throughout the day. Over $12,000 in cash prizes will be awarded. Registration forms available online at www.downtownelgin.org.

Festival Park will open at noon on Sunday, with another full day of art, music and food. Elevation will perform at 3:30 p.m. The festival performances will include the Elevation, a premier U-2 cover band taking the stage at 3:30 p.m., closing Sunday evening with Sister Hazel performing from 5:30 p.m. with a show of alternative rock, folk and southern rock music.

Food vendors include:

Chinese Wok, (840 Summit Street, Elgin) -Combo Fried Rice, Egg Roll, Beef Teriyaki and Crab Rangoon

Dairy Queen, (1022 S. McLean Blvd, Elgin) - Blizzards, Ice Cream Bars, Lemon Chill Cups, Chocolate Bananas

Maui Wowi, (2310 Fairfax Rd., Elgin)- Fresh Fruit Smoothies, Hawaiian Coffee Smoothie

Jethro’s, (9911 N. Clark, Richmond, IL)- Funnel Cakes, Curly Chips w/Cheese, Deep Fried Oreos & Twinkies

White Cottage Pizza, (220 S. Randall Rd., Elgin, IL)- Sausage Pizza, Cheese Pizza, Bread Sticks w/ Garlic Cheese

Casa Lara (previously Jalapeno’s), ( 7 Clock Tower Plaza, Elgin)- Tacos, Quesadillas, Flautas

JJ’s Chicken & Fish, (79 Clock Tower Plaza, Elgin)-Chicken Wings, Ribs, Pulled Pork Sandwich

Gasthaus Zur Linde, (15 N Grove, Elgin)- Bratwurst, Thuringer, Corn on the Cob

Big Sammy’s Hot Dogs, ( 2490 Bushwood Drive, Elgin)- Hot Dogs, Bag of Chips

Elgin Public House (219 E. Chicago St., Elgin)- Hamburger/Cheesburger, Veggie Burger, Grilled Chicken Sandwich

Lucky’s Bar and Grill, (335 N. McLean Blvd., S. Elgin)-Nachos Grande, Italian Beef Sandwich, Italian Sausage Sandwich

Victors Grill, (6235 N. Keystone, Chicago) -Shish-k-bob, Gyros, Polish Sausage

Sloppy Joe’s, (210 Penny Ave, Unit D, Dundee, IL)- Sloppy Joe’s, Chocolate Chip Cookies

JC’s Barbecue, (116 Penny Ave., East Dundee, IL) – BBQ Beef Brisket Sandwich, ½ Smoked BBQ Chicken, Pupusas

If you’re unfamiliar with FoxFireFest, check out Paula’s (Lovin Elgin) excellent review of last year’s event:

Last year I thought the highlight of the entire weekend was an unexpected performance by The Elgin Children’s Chorus with their ethereal, colorful, illuminated procession and angelic voices that sounded otherworldly as they made their way to the stage. At that point there was something happening all around. I was completely absorbed in the mood created by this highly talented group of young people…

As they made their way to the stage, a large float to their rear was exhibiting some kind of pantomime puppetry with a European flair. The children sang a beautiful, haunting melody in which I became utterly absorbed then “BOOM” the fireworks show began and my attention was moved again to a new sight.

Even without the Children’s Chorus, Friday night is an opportunity to see our world class Elgin Symphony Orchestra and the best fire works show I have ever seen in my life. The fireworks were so close you could almost touch them and the flaming fireballs exploding from the Fox River were exciting and hot. It reminded me of OZ, the Great and Powerful Wizard before they discovered the man behind the curtain.

From the city’s description it looks like fireworks–assuming “brief pyrotechnic show” means fireworks–are planned for both Friday and Saturday night.

Have a blast!

What a difference two weeks makes.

On July 9, about 20 members of the Near West Neighbors Association pleaded with the Elgin City Council to crack down on drug dealing, gangs and hookers in their neighborhood.

Wednesday, city council members endorsed a new law to impound the vehicles of prostitutes and johns alike, publish their names and photos, strengthen loitering laws and declare properties a nuisance. (Daily Herald 7/24/08)

The proposed ordinance was written in haste and shows it. In a desperate attempt to look responsive to a neighborhood group, the city council simply went too far. It went from doing nothing to doing too much. I don’t have any problem with the fines and impounding of vehicles, but I think those measures are quite sufficient as a deterrent and punishment. The scarlet letter part of the ordinance–the idea of the neighborhood group no doubt–on the other hand is simply too much. Like any scarlet letter it serves no purpose other than to destroy people’s reputations and give them nothing to live up to. If you’re going to punish people, punish them once and let them rebuild their lives, not brand them with a letter.

The council needs to not just respond to every complaint with hasty legislation, but to think through what they’re actually doing.

Another case in point is the recent announcement that Ozzie’s Smoke Shop has been run out of Elgin. This is a major victory for SWAN, but I don’t know what this actually does for Elgin. In all likelihood what we end up with is another empty storefront. I never got a chance to see what the store had to offer, but just from driving by it I got the impression that they sold a lot of incense. I don’t know what else they sold, but somehow I doubt that the so-called drug paraphernalia constituted the majority of their stock. Even if it did, it’s legal. What’s the big deal?

Elgin has been trying to cast itself as an urban oasis in the midst of suburbia, and yet it often contradicts itself with policies like this. Dance clubs are told what nights they can be open, bars are told what drinks they can serve, shops are told what they can sell or not sell. What’s next? Who’s going to be run out of town next? What tattoo parlor? What shop? What bar? What taqueria?

If Elgin is serious about becoming a 24-hour city, if it’s serious about attracting artists to live and work here, then councilmen need to start thinking like big city councilmen. They need to ask themselves, if this were Chicago, would this be allowed? If this were New York, would this be allowed? We aren’t going to get anywhere by imitating a suburban village. That’s not where Elgin’s future or potential lies. Elgin has no choice but to be a city.

So please instead of these knee-jerk reactions to the latest complaints, let’s see the application of some wisdom. There is no reason we cannot have legislation that is both just and moderate. City policies should promote growth and commerce, not the shuttering of storefronts. Our city should welcome different ideas rather than imposing the personal tastes of a few people on all.

The City should not mistake the will of one group for the will of all.

I was out at Bluff Spring Fen (here’s a photoset on Flickr) a week or so ago, just as the lead plant (Amorpha canescens) was winding down. It’s really an extraordinary and beautiful plant, even when it’s not blooming. I have no idea why it’s not used more often in landscaping. It’s one of the most beautiful plants of the Illinois prairie.

One of my complaints about the library when it was designed was how they described their landscaping as prairie style. In reality, their plants come from everywhere but the Illinois prairie, with perhaps one or two exceptions. The building was also described as prairie style, but we won’t get into that…

Designing landscapes with native plants is one of the best ways to maintain a sense of place. Things like petunias and geraniums can be seen anywhere in the world and don’t serve to differentiate one place from another. Using native plants, on the other hand, clearly identifies a city and places it somewhere on a map. I hope the City of Elgin will give a preference to native plants, and I hope local gardeners do the same…

Falling crime rates have been one of the great American success stories of the past 15 years. New York and Los Angeles, once the twin capitals of violent crime, have calmed down significantly, as have most other big cities…

Lately, though, a new and unexpected pattern has emerged, taking criminologists by surprise. While crime rates in large cities stayed flat, homicide rates in many midsize cities (with populations of between 500,000 and 1 million) began increasing, sometimes by as much as 20percent a year…

Studies show that recipients of Section8 vouchers have tended to choose moderately poor neighborhoods that were already on the decline, not low-poverty neighborhoods. One recent study publicized by HUD warned that policy makers should lower their expectations, because voucher recipients seemed not to be spreading out, as they had hoped, but clustering together. Galster theorizes that every neighborhood has its tipping point—a threshold well below a 40 percent poverty rate—beyond which crime explodes and other severe social problems set in…

In each case, Suresh has now confirmed, the first hot spots were the neighborhoods around huge housing projects, and the later ones were places where people had moved when the projects were torn down.

Still, researchers around the country are seeing the same basic pattern: projects coming down in inner cities and crime pushing outward, in many cases destabilizing cities or their surrounding areas. Dennis Rosenbaum, a criminologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told me that after the high-rises came down in Chicago, suburbs to the south and west—including formerly quiet ones—began to see spikes in crime; nearby Maywood’s murder rate has nearly doubled in the past two years.

The problems that plague some of Elgin’s neighborhoods predate these developments, so I don’t think the perceived crime (according to Chief Womack crime has actually declined 11%) in parts of the Near West Side for example can be attributable to destruction of Section 8 housing in Chicago. Rather I find this article interesting because it’s something that we have to keep in mind if the problematic apartment complex on Locust Avenue is ever demolished, as some are advocating.

Demolition could be a good idea, but the city will have to make sure that crime does not travel with the inhabitants to wherever they disperse. That means ensuring that they do not go into marginal areas, but into high income areas, something that will naturally result in a high level of resistance.

My thought is that developments on the Far West Side should all be required to incorporate a minimal amount of affordable housing–not too much or else crime will travel as suggested by the Atlantic article, but enough to absorb all the people who would be leaving the area that is now troubled. Such a requirement will also ensure that the much vaunted diversity of Elgin is not limited to the older sections of the city.

Simply destroying the apartment building without creating replacement housing is not an option, as far as I know. The building itself was created as a result of a federal mandate during the construction of the Civic Center, which eliminated low income housing in that section of the city.

But removing the apartment building and spreading its inhabitants very thinly across the Far West Side could be a good idea. I think it has the potential to reduce crime citywide, and make the Far West Side more diverse so that we dont’ have a situation of two Elgins. By giving them a better environment, it would increase opportunities for the low income families that move. Any problems near or in the downtown are highly salient, and the image of downtown is the biggest factor in Elgin’s image as a whole, so if the environment in the area surrounding the downtown and in the downtown itself can be improved, the image of Elgin as a whole improves.

The FoxFireFest proved that a supreme fireworks show could be held at Festival Park. If any of you were unable to go to the last FoxFireFest….it was spectacular. Especially the fireworks. With all the parking garages in this city, why can’t the fireworks be held at Festival Park? Imagine….4th of July’s in the future. The wonderful parade on Douglas stopping at City Hall where there is entertainment.

Perhaps the streets of downtown could be given over to artists…..artists selling their wares and street performers. Open restaurants could supply lunch and do some good business. Walk your way through the arts and crafts and street performers…eat lunch at a great restaurant…stop for an afternoon coffee at Ravenheart then head to Festival park for more entertainment culminating in awesome fireworks. Afterward, one could stop in the Elgin Public House or Martini’s or Prairie Rock for some adult entertainment. Families could stop at Al’s for icecream then go home and tuck the little ones into bed.

I’m not sure if there’s enough parking and directing traffic in and out of the city center will be far more difficult than getting traffic onto Route 20, but I think it’s a great idea that’s worth considering if at all possible. July 4th is one of those events that market themselves, so promoting it will be far easier than promoting FoxFireFest. And if the idea of all the downtown festivals is to get people to the downtown to try out the restaurants, see the great architecture and experience all the things we love about downtown Elgin, then holding the fireworks display as part of an all-day celebration is probably a really great idea.

Since this year’s fireworks display turned out disastrous on more than one count, it’s a good time to consider new ideas.

Elgin’s July 4th celebrations starts off with a parade at 9:00 a.m. in downtown Elgin at the corner of Slade and Douglas. The parade’s grand marshall is…Tammy Duckworth! Yes, that Tammy Duckworth, who is now director of the Illinois Department of Veteran Affairs. From 11:00-4:00, a blues concert will be held at the Civic Center parking lot. All the details are on the Downtown Elgin website. Keep in mind that numerous downtown restaurants and shops will be open for business.

Gear up for the fireworks display starting at 7:00 p.m. at the Elgin Sports Complex, 709 Sports Way. That’s when the concessions, entertainment and music (World Class Noise) starts. The fireworks extravaganza starts at 9:20.

Have fun, and remember what it’s all about: the birth of freedom and democracy and a new world order paid with great sacrifice and won through great valor. Happy July 4th, and God bless America.

Could this be the most handsome water tower in Illinois? What do you think?

The Elgin logo on the water tower is not used anymore, which is too bad, because I think it looks better than the current logo, which to me just looks like some generic cursive writing. I don’t know who designed the logo that’s pictured above–and which was used for a number of years as the city logo, but I think it’s an effective one. For many years I never thought about the logo. If anything, the large loop of the letter G evoked a money bag. It wasn’t until I was an adult, that I understood the genesis behind the motto “City to Watch”–also retired–and the money bag logo, which of course is actually meant to evoke an Elgin pocket watch.

I understand the need to freshen things up occasionally. Every major brand sort of gets a makeover every several decades or whatever and it’s often necessary. But I have to admit that I just don’t find the current logo or motto very effective. “It’s happening here?”

I can see how they evolved from “City to Watch” to “It’s happening here!” But is “It’s happening here” really better than “City to Watch?” The problem with “It’s happening here” is that it just doesn’t evoke anything. It’s not all that different from a motto that proclaims, for example, “Best city in the world!” It’s sort of an empty promise, in other words. What exactly is happening here? It is. Okay. Whatever that is. Use your imagination? Unfortunately, some people’s imaginations will tend towards the negative…

Sure, “City to Watch” doesn’t tell you what to watch for, but it’s still clearly linked to Watch City, and believe it or not, millions of Americans still know and love Elgin watches. Of course we can’t get stuck to the past and be known as the city where something used to happen, where watches were once made, but the old motto grabbed a hold of that old identity or position–already cemented in the minds of millions–and turned it around in a new and positive way, saying basically, look, we were the Watch City and now we’re the City to Watch. And that statement implies something. It implies that this is a growing, dynamic city that is moving into the future, unencumbered by dying industries of the past, yet proud of its heritage.

It was a clever motto and along with the logo, I think it worked very well.

For Elgin, there’s $8 million money for ECC, the Boys and Girls Club, and a variety of other stuff. St. Charles will get a million dollars for their downtown parking deck.

Of course these are just requests, and as a freshman it will be interesting to see whether the appropriations cardinals will give him anything. They might because the 14th could still theoretically go back to Republican control in the fall. And being able to deliver for the district could help his prospects for reelection. But it’s unlikely.

It’s just that I can’t help remembering when he criticized Dennis Hastert for spending too much money. In fact, his own campaign website still says:

If elected, Foster promised to help end America’s dependence on foreign oil and put a stop to the out of control spending that has plagued Washington.

“We’re bankrupting our country. Every man, woman, and child in the 14th district right now has $29,500 in debt because of the out of control spending that has gone on in Washington,” said Foster.

Isn’t it ironic?

Denny Hastert never publicized such requests, not even in an election year:

Foster’s predecessor, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, never released his full list of appropriations requests, according to his former spokesman Brad Hahn. Hastert, Hahn said, preferred to work behind the scenes until the job was finished before calling attention to it.

“He believed there was plenty of time to celebrate accomplishments after the fact but saw little use in notifying the media until the job was done,” Hahn said. (Courier News 6/19/08)

Another sign of the “real changes” that Mr. Foster is promising the 14th district.