Berkowitz to join Republican political consultant Charlie Johnston tonight on Roeser's radio show

Jeff Berkowitz will join Republican political consultant and analyst Charlie Johnston as a guest tonight on Tom Roeser’s weekly, Sunday, call-in radio show, Political Shoot-out, WLS 890 AM Radio, from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
******************************************************
You say you don't live within the WLS broadcast area? Not to worry. You can go here to listen to the program, live, on the web.[You may encounter some technical problems in signing on-- allow five minutes, or so, for following the prompts for technical difficulties, and you should be able to hear WLS live on the web] See here for Tom’s Blog which has Tom's thoughts on a great many matters, political and otherwise.

Upset with something Berkowitz said on his show [www.PublicAffairsTv.com] or the [Public Affairs YouTube.com page], something he wrote on this blog or just the way he looks? Tom Roeser’s show on Sunday night is your chance to fire back. A free fire zone, so to speak. Also, you can help shape the show and its topics by calling in with your questions and comments—312-591-8900. Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Independents, Peronistas, Communists [no collect calls, please], Palin boosters, Palin critics, elitists, clingers to religion and guns, outside agitators and others are, of course, all welcome.

Tonight's show may touch on the concerns of the great unwashed with a President Obama (Watch Mayor Daley, Gov. Sebelius and DLC Chairman Ford deal with some of those issues here), the concerns of the washed with a possible President Palin, the new lovefest among Jackson, Daley, Madigan, Blagojevich, et al , including whether Speaker Mike Madigan is setting the table for a Januray, 2009 massive income tax increase, is Ralph Martire salivating at that prospect, will the Republican and Democrat leaders finally get the capital plan they know in their hearts they all want, the possible impeachment of Governor Bungalow Blagojevich and whether there is credible evidence of an impeachable offense by Blago [Watch here the Public Affairs show with Rep. Durkin [dealing in part with this topic], [watch here the Public Affairs show with Rep. Dunkin dealing in part with this topic], the Blagojevich meltdown; Are the Republicans in Illinois now the party of ethics and better jobs [[Watch here this episode of Public Affairs with Senator Dillard dealing in part with this topic], will there be a capital budget, should there be state government provided healthcare insurance for all low income and middle class individuals in Illinois who need it? Should there be a Chicago casino, should there be more gaming and perhaps additional casinos in Illinois,For a look back at how the more things change, the more they stay the same, See here for a March 25, 2007, retro TV interview with Illinois Chief Operating Officer John Filan about Gov. Blagojevich's long defunct Gross Receipts Tax, archived shows with State Reps. Mary Flowers [D-Chicago] and Jim Durkin [R-Western Springs] discussing State Budget and Tax issues ].

Who knows, we may even discuss so-called education funding reform of Senator/Rev. Meeks [Watch here the show w/ Rep. Dunkin dealing in part w/ this topic], economics, school vouchers- school choice, why Governor Bobby Jindahl would have made a better McCain VP, charter schools, jobs and free lunches .

This reporter doesn't know the topics for tonight—they are determined by Mr. Roeser, with some incisive suggestions, no doubt, by his lovely, energetic and intelligent wife Lillian. However, an educated guess is that the questions will consist of various Illinois and Presidential political issues, possibly selected from the following questions, some of which are holdovers from prior episodes of "Political Shootout," or "Public Affairs."

Of course, you can call and ask any of the below questions or whatever you like. As with University of Chicago Ph. D. prelim questions in economics over the years, many of the questions on Political Shoot-out stay the same each week, only the answers change [or do they?]. And you are Free to Choose, so to speak, as this is the land of Milton Friedman, the late, great Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics from the University of Chicago [WWMFS, i.e., what would Milton Friedman say? is the question we classically ask, followed with:


--What would the last two years have looked like in Illinois under a Governor Topinka? a Governor Lisa Madigan? a Governor Brady? a Governor Oberweis? a Governor Gianoulias, a Governor Vallas for the last five years ? the next five years?

--Could Ald. Sandi Jackson be the next Mayor of the City of Chicago? the next Cong. from the 2nd CD?

--Will Cong. Jackson be the next Junior Senator from the State of Illinois? Cong. Jan Schakowsky? Cong. Rahm Emanuel?

--WasChicago Sun-Times columnist Laura Washington correct, once upon a time, to be concerned that "concealed carry," would put a dangerous person with a gun next to her in a movie theater, or is that more likely to be the case without a concealed carry law?

--
--Does the Chicago Public School system spend more than $14,000 per kid per year to try to educate kids? Does Arne Duncan tell the truth about this? If not, why not?

--Was Barack Obama Emil Jones' show pony, as Senator Rauschenberger contends? [watch here]

--Was Obama way too cautious in his handling of the Pastor Disaster? in his selection of a VP?

--Is Obama's cautious nature both his strength and his weakness?

--IsObama suffering from too much media exposure?

--Are voters concerned about Obama's lack of national experience?

--Will voters be concerned about Gov. Palin's lack of national experience? lack of knowledge of national security or foreign policy issues?

--In light of what has transpired about Rev. Wright, Rezko and Ayers, does Sen. Dillard reqret the TV ad he cut for Obama last year. [Watch Sen. Dillard discuss this topic].

-Will the state GOP cave in the next few months on its hostility to increased taxes? Will House Republican leader Cross lead the capitulation?

-Will 2006 10th CD Democratic nominee Dan Seals [D-Wilmette] come back to beat Cong. Kirk [R-Highland Park] this year? Does Obama's presence at the top of the ballot give Seals a chance to beat suburban agenda Kirk? Are both Seals and Kirk playing a prevent defense?

-Is WTTW's Chicago Tonight in need of an aggressive political interviewer to boost its sagging ratings and its lack of balance? Which cable TV personality in the Chicago Metro area could provide it? Is Carol Marin just a "Working gal."

-Is it past time for a change in leadership in the State GOP?

- Could Colonel Jill Morgenthaler (D-Des Plaines) upset first term Republican incumbent Cong. Peter Roskam in the Illinois 6th CD? Watch Morgenthaler go after Roskam here. Is Roskam hiding from Public Affairs? Roskam hiding from probing questions?

--Could Scott Harper upset ten year Republican incumbent Cong. Judy Biggert in the Illinois 13th CD. Watch Harper go after Biggert here. Is Biggert hiding from Public Affairs? Biggert hiding from probing questions?

-- Is Ozinga a likely winner over Halvorsen in the 11th? Halvorsen just wrong for the District?

--Could Greenberg upset Bean in the 8th CD? Watch a virtual conversation w/Bean-Greenberg here.
*************************************
Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com. *************************************************************
"Public Affairs," is a weekly political interview show airing in Chicago on CANTV, in the Chicago metro area and in Aurora on Comcast and also often on the Illinois Channel. You can watch the shows, including archived shows going back to 2005, here. You can read Berkowitz's daily reports from the presidential conventions for and at the Chicago Daily Observer [where you can read these reports first here]. *************************************************************
Recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page will soon include this coming week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs with State Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) and they currently include this Monday night's City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs with State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago), 8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg, our recent show with Senator Obama (D-IL), Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, recent shows w/ 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud, who is taking on 16 year, 16th CD Republican incumbent, Cong. Don Manzullo; Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan , 13th CD Demoratic Nominee Scott Harper,State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), Sen. Kwame Raoul(D-Chicago), Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago)- ; State Rep. candidate Joan Solms (R-Aurora), Comm. Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) on the Obama Presidential campaign and shows with many other pols.
****************************************

Barack Obama’s Vision: less meritocracy, more safety nets; how much Marxism does the country want?

Slight revisions made on Saturday at 6:30 pm
***********************************************
In his acceptance speech on Thursday night, Obama outlined his goals, placing himself squarely within the boundaries of a generic Democrat, especially those enthusiastic about more government safety nets and goodies for "the middle class." That would help him connect with his most troublesome demographic (as identified by Charlie Cook of the Cook Report): whites over fifty years old. Obama knows generic Democrats are outperforming him, so he has apparently decided to join them.

Obama built last night on the blocks that had been set out by the Democratic Party speakers earlier in the week: the soaring rhetoric of Ted Kennedy’s fight for universal health care, the sympathetic bio laid out by Michelle Obama of her husband: a hard working, smart, empathetic family man; a Hillary Clinton who told us if you liked her programs, you’ll like those of Barack Obama; a Bill Clinton, who stamped his endorsement not just on the Obama programs, but on Obama himself and finally a Joe Biden who sought to tie McCain to Bush, arguing McCain would be more of the “same,” having voted for tax breaks for companies that took jobs overseas and having supported a misguided and failed Bush foreign policy.

When you learn of the Obama bio, you are struck by how well Obama did, notwithstanding his shaky family structure. His black Kenyan-born father (whence Barack got his name) abandoned his Kansas-born mother (whence Barack got his accent) and him at the age of two to pursue his Ph. D. in econometrics at Harvard-- and his mother, living then in Hawaii, became a professional academic who, at least some of the time, relied on her parents to raise Barack. Obama was also raised some of the time in Indonesia after his mother re-married.

As Barack himself tells it, he was raised by a hardworking, loving mom and with the help of his hardworking, loving maternal grandparents. Obama had the benefit of a high quality, private high school education, followed by excellent private colleges (Occidental and Columbia) and law school (Harvard), apparently financed in large part by private scholarships and government subsidized loans. Given that background, one might think that Obama would currently be more of a fan of private school choice, i.e., school vouchers, than he is. Indeed, he once said he was open to anything, including school vouchers, to cure the “admittedly intolerable conditions,” in the inner city public schools (“Public Affairs,” June 27, 2002), but that was before he began his run for the U. S. Senate and started his more intense courtship of teachers’ unions.

Obama, of course, is an example of how someone of humble means, with drive, talent and family support, as well as with access to a quality education, can become an enormous success in America. In short, if the Obama story is repeated often in America, even though not always as dramatically as with Barack, America can be called a substantial, if not total, meritocracy. Indeed, Barack, in last night’s speech, noted that the promise, in America, that your kids can achieve whatever they set their mind to, is what sets America apart.

However, what Obama often emphasizes in his speeches is not how to have more meritocracy but how to expand the federal safety net. Last night, he called for a “world-class,” primary and secondary education for all, a college education for those who commit to serve their communities or country, affordable health care for all, continued health insurance for those with major diseases, better mandated family leave laws and equal pay for equal work (whatever that means). Moreover, Obama and those Democrats close to him seem to have little recognition of the societal problems caused by safety nets that are too expansive.

Obama is an example of how America tends to make excellent educations available to those who are smart, work hard, etc. but who may not have the wealth to purchase the education on their own. Of course, having government programs in place to make sure people like Barack Obama get that quality education is a good thing.

The problem is that Team Obama speaks as if it does not understand the drawbacks of a society that gives out world-class education, healthcare, housing, etc. to anyone who just shows up. You don't want to subsidize people who don't know what to do with the education and don't want to work hard to put the education to good use. Who will work hard if you get what you want by simply showing up and asking? These incentive or disincentive issues are something Team Obama just doesn’t get.

For example, earlier this week (Tuesday), Joe Biden joined Michelle Obama and Governors Sebelius (D-KS), Napolitano (D-AZ) and Gregoire (D-WA) at a program in Denver to discuss how to assist “working women and their families.” The whole program consisted of a few “needy,” people who may have been working hard but they argued whatever they could earn and get from government assistance just wasn’t enough to get by. They “needed,” more from government. One of the women participating, who described her struggles to cover her family expenses, was trained as a lawyer but apparently had not been practicing when her relatively young husband died unexpectedly leaving the woman with the burden of raising their five children as a single mom.

Now, let’s think about this: while we would all like to be compassionate, that woman seemed to be a somewhat ”unsympathetic, needy” person. As a professional woman who chose not to work outside the home, and who had five children, one surmises her husband made a fairly good income before he died. Would it be unreasonable to expect that couple to purchase life insurance to provide for the family in the event of the husband’s death, or the wife’s death, for that matter? In the Obama targeted world, many who now buy private insurance would not do so under an Obama administration, because there would always be a government to tax others to care for those families who did not purchase insurance.

The main problem with Obama and his policy proposals is that he and those close to him do not seem to understand the perverse incentives his programs create. Obama, Biden and Michelle, just to name a few, are prone to argue that everyone has a “right,” to excellent education and excellent health care. And, although they don’t discuss it as much, one might think they would argue for a similar right to excellent housing, excellent transportation and excellent life insurance. At some point, we might ask if everyone in society could expect these items as a “right,” would many then choose not to work and, instead, accept the benefits of a welfare state. As a consequence, the tax burden on those providing these benefits becomes onerous, and those who are truly most in need of assistance end up not getting any.

While the above is not an argument for never having a “safety net,” it is an argument for trying to structure governmental assistance programs in a way that preserves a meritocracy and doesn’t give us, ironically, too few Barack Obamas. Put more bluntly, Team Obama, by promising world class education and health care to all, is putting us well on the road to accepting the Marxist view, at least in certain sectors of our economy: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” The thing of it is, like pregnancy, it may not be possible to be a little bit Marxist.

McCain, based on what we have heard so far, would take greater care to structure programs to give us a country with more meritocracy and a compassionate, yet smaller, set of safety nets. In short, McCain appears to be a bit more of a capitalist than a Marxist. Perhaps we will get a more definitive answer to that question this coming week, when we travel to the Republican Party convention in St. Paul.
*******************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz is host and producer of Public Affairs, a weekly political interview show airing in Chicago on CANTV, in the Chicago metro area and in Aurora on Comcast and also often on the Illinois Channel. You can watch the shows, including archived shows going back to 2005, here. You can read Berkowitz's daily reports from the presidential conventions for and at the Chicago Daily Observer [where you can read these reports first here]. You can contact Berkowitz: JBCG@aol.com *************************************************************
Recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page will soon include this coming week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs with State Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) and currently include this Monday night's City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs with State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago), 8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg, our recent show with Senator Obama (D-IL), Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, recent shows w/ 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud, who is taking on 16 year, 16th CD Republican incumbent, Cong. Don Manzullo; Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan , 13th CD Demoratic Nominee Scott Harper,State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), Sen. Kwame Raoul(D-Chicago), Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago)- ; State Rep. candidate Joan Solms (R-Aurora), Comm. Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) on the Obama Presidential campaign and shows with many other pols.
****************************************

Reflecting and Reporting on the Democratic Party Convention: The Kennedys, the Obamas, Ald. Burke and “moving on.”

Monday night, at the Democratic Party Convention in Denver, it appeared Senator Teddy Kennedy (D-MA) upstaged Michelle Obama a bit. It was not that Michelle was not warmly received at the Pepsi Center [This reporter kept hearing the Billy Goat’s and Second City’s “Pepsi, Pepsi, no Coke.”] Michelle was warmly received, performed and spoke well, and she may have achieved what she set out to do. That is, be irresistibly likeable by the great majority of Americans [If not as much as her husband, at least in his league] and remove that bad taste in America’s mouth from her comment about being proud of America for the first time in her adult life-- as a result of Barack’s run for President.

But, standing on the floor with the Illinois delegation, this reporter felt the tremendous warmth and affection of that crowd that Democrats all over feel for the Kennedys and the last of Joe’s boys to still be driving the Kennedy dream forward. Teddy Kennedy spoke of a “New hope for a just and fair prosperity for the many and not just for the few…and a guarantee for every American…decent quality health care [the cause of his life, Teddy said] “.

There was the obligatory feel good film showing Teddy with his family sailing and engaging in other uplifting activities [You had to wonder: might any MSM journalist feel it appropriate to ask Teddy some time how many sailboats does he own [ala how many houses do the McCains own], how did the Kennedys obtain their great wealth and how did Joe Kennedy’s bootleg whiskey enterprises compare with the way the McCain family obtained their wealth-- the magnitude of which some in the media think should be a source of great concern for McCain’s ability to be a good President.

All people of good will wish Teddy well in dealing with his difficult health issues. However, there is no reason to carry that thought and empathy further and deify Mr. Ted. So, this reporter gently tried that thought out with the first celebrity pol he could get to on the Convention floor (after all, no MSM could be expected to do this—asking questions like this has become the “cause of this reporter’s life,” so to speak):

Jeff Berkowitz: What do you think of the Ted Kennedy speech?

Ald. Burke (D-Finance Committee Chairman, Chicago): It was inspirational to be able to listen to Teddy’s words and see what a remarkable comeback he has made recently in his health.

Jeff Berkowitz: Do you think it will inspire others?

Ald. Burke: How can it not move people to see the great courage our nation has been able to witness in the Kennedy family for all these many years?

Jeff Berkowitz: Looking back, how different would it have been if he had been able to be President?

Ald. Burke: You can’t look back and we shouldn’t dwell on “what ifs or buts.” We should look forward to great victories.

Jeff Berkowitz: Do you think anybody is thinking about Chappaquiddick?

Ald. Burke: I think that that chapter in his life, just like all of us have had chapters in our lives we’d like to move on from, is long gone. His legacy will be— [Ed. Note: Well, that chapter may be gone, but not forgotten and not all of us are ready to “move on from.” After all, how many of us have had “chapters,” that might involve our responsibility for the death of another human being?]

Jeff Berkowitz: But for Chappaquiddick, he would have been President, don’t you think?

Ald. Burke: As I said, you can’t do “what ifs and buts,” you look forward.

Jeff Berkowitz: Are you confident Barack Obama is going to be President of the United States?

Ald. Burke: I think there is almost a sense of inevitability about it. I really do. That’s the sense I get.

Jeff Berkowitz: Does Biden help him?

Ald. Burke: He can’t hurt.

Jeff Berkowitz: How does he argue “change.” 36 years in the Senate [by Biden].

Ald. Burke: But, by the same token, I think there is an added layer of experience and competence.

Jeff Berkowitz: Gravitas?

Ald. Burke: I don’t know if I like the word “gravitas.” Some might say that. [Of course, when Cheney became Bush’s VP nominee in 2000, it was said by many pundits that the “experienced old pro,” from the government and private sector added “gravitas,” to the Bush-Cheney ticket]

Jeff Berkowitz: Jeff Berkowitz: Is Biden Barack Obama’s Dick Cheney?

Ald. Burke: Oh no, I don’t think so. Not at all, that’s-- Dick Cheney has too much of a negative implication. [and Ald. Burke gave his trademark Irish smile as we concluded our little chat that occurred as the Teddy Kennedy floor celebration continued. It was “our moment.”]

Better than Flannery from Denver: Berkowitz w/ Emil Jones in Denver

As we look toward Senator Obama delivering his acceptance speech this Thursday night, few, if any, mentors loom so large in Obama’s methodical march toward the presidency over the last quarter of the century as State Senate President Emil Jones. From community organizer in Chicago to becoming the first African-American President of the Harvard Law School to being a practicing civil rights lawyer active in politics on the South side of Chicago to becoming a State Senator and a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School to becoming a U. S. Senator who would make and win the improbable run against the best the Democratic Party had to offer, i.e., the Clinton partnership of Hillary and Mr. Bill, there has been Senate President Jones, who spoke to Barack as recently as last Monday.

Of course, Jones and Obama are quite different in style, age and in their public persona. Yet, when Barack ran away from the pack in the March, 2004 seven candidate Democratic U. S. Senate Primary, the first real, contested election he won, Obama emphasized [on the Public Affairs TV show] he knew the issues, he spoke out on the issues and he had a clear, strong vision for the country. One senses that Jones, although not necessarily being known for those attributes in his thirty-five years in the General Assembly, had a role in shaping that important organizing paradigm of Obama, in addition to tutoring Obama in the fine art of politics and just being a source of strength, wisdom and friendship, as Obama made his various successive moves toward the Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination.

Senator Jones is retiring at the end of this year, after having spent nineteen years in the State House, ten as the Senate Minority leader and the last six as Senate President. A colleague of Jones mentioned to this journalist last night that at one of the budget negotiating sessions in the last year or so among the four top Illinois legislative leaders and the Governor (when Speaker Mike Madigan was still attending), the Senate President was exhibiting little interest in the session until Obama’s name came up and he beamed, leading a half hour discussion of the mentee he seems to think of as would a father a son.

This journalist ran into Senate President Jones late Sunday night at his hotel in Denver. He kindly consented to a ten minute videotaped interview which will air on both Public Affairs and the Illinois Channel. Does the interview give the reader a sense of at least a portion of the Obama-Jones relationship, and of Obama, himself? Take a listen. We discuss, you decide.
*************************************************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: … Barack Obama said to you a few years back [in 2002] that [you] could make Barack Obama a Senator from Illinois, right?

Illinois Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago): Yes.

Jeff Berkowitz: U. S. Senator.

Senator Emil Jones: Right.

Jeff Berkowitz: And you did, didn’t you?

Senator Emil Jones: Well, I and a whole lot of others. I worked with him. I strongly supported his candidacy because I believed then, as I believe now, he had all the tools to be a great national leader so I threw all my support I could possibly give behind his candidacy. There is no question about that.

Jeff Berkowitz: Now, as we are taping this on August 24, 2008 in Denver, Colorado, how confident are you that Barack Obama is going to be the next President of the United States?

Illinois Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago): Well, if you look around the country and you look at the issues that the American people are faced with, the economy, high gas prices, the constant war in Iraq. If the people come together and look at the issues, they will vote overwhelmingly for Barack Obama.
************************************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: The Republicans say and … his opponent, John McCain, says the Surge is working, violence is way down in Iraq, not only for American soldiers but also for civilians—

Senator Emil Jones: You must remember, Barack Obama—

Jeff Berkowitz: McCain says that was the right decision. He says we are going to win in Iraq.

Senator Emil Jones: It was not the right decision for us to invade Iraq—

Jeff Berkowitz: But, is the Surge working?

Senator Emil Jones: It was not the right decision for us to invade Iraq. Two wrongs do not make a right.

Jeff Berkowitz: Even if the Surge works? Even if we’re winning in Iraq, you still think it was the wrong move?

Senator Emil Jones: The whole thrust of the Surge was to get the Iraqi government to take up their political responsibility and assume command.

Jeff Berkowitz: Are they doing it now?

Senator Emil Jones: I don’t know. I don’t know.

Jeff Berkowitz: But, if they are and a democracy emerges—

Senator Emil Jones: I don’t know. I am not involved at that level and I am not a foreign relations specialist.

Jeff Berkowitz: But, you know about gas prices.

Illinois Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago): But, one thing I do—I know about the economy. I know about all the other people-

Jeff Berkowitz: You know about gas prices.

Illinois Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago): Oh yes.

Jeff Berkowitz: That’s a big deal.

Senator Emil Jones: That’s right.

Jeff Berkowitz: McCain says we need to drill offshore, get the supply [of oil and gas] up, and prices down. Obama says no.—

Senator Emil Jones: All the experts—all the experts have already indicated you can drill and that would not solve our problem as relates to our dependence on fossil fuel. It is not going to change and you are talking ten to fifteen years down the road, so I am saying you must come up with another form of energy so it can take our dependence off of fossil fuel.

Jeff Berkowitz: So, just assuming [arguendo] those are the issues—war and gas prices—and assuming [arguendo] you are right and say Barack is right and he wins on those issues, but you said maybe people look at other things. What is it you are worried that they might look at?

Senator Emil Jones: I am not worried—I am not worried about anything.
Jeff Berkowitz: When you say they might look at other things—

Senator Emil Jones: I look at—I have enough confidence in the American people that they will make the right decision. *********************************************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz is host and producer of Public Affairs, a weekly political interview show airing in Chicago on CANTV, in the Chicago metro area and in Aurora on Comcast and also often on the Illinois Channel. You can watch the shows, including archived shows going back to 2005, here. You can read Berkowitz's daily reports from the presidential conventions for the Chicago Daily Observer [where you can read these reports first here]. You can contact Berkowitz directly: JBCG@aol.com.

Recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page will soon include this week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs with State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago)and already include last week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs w/8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg, this past Monday night's Chicago and Aurora show with Senator Obama (D-IL), Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, recent shows w/ 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud, who is taking on 16 year, 16th CD Republican incumbent, Cong. Don Manzullo; Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan , 13th CD Demoratic Nominee Scott Harper,State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), Sen. Kwame Raoul(D-Chicago), Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago)- ; State Rep. candidate Joan Solms (R-Aurora), Comm. Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) on the Obama Presidential campaign and shows with many other pols.
****************************************

Obama picks Biden: For his respectability and experience. Joe Biden--who would have thunk it?

Text Revised slightly and links added, below, at 4:30 pm (CST) on Sunday to Public Affairs shows, including one featuring Senator Obama, DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Chicago Mayor Daley, Cong. Rahm Emanuel and Illinois AG Lisa Madigan

Obama-Biden? There is a certain symmetry to this ticket. One, both names have five letters. And, that would be it in terms of similarities. Biden represents a small state (Delaware), went to a small, nothing law school (Syracuse University) and is not noted for much other than he has been in the U. S. Senate for a long, long, time—36 years. Elected at 29, he is one of the youngest to serve in the U. S. Senate. But, now at 65, Biden is almost as long in the tooth as Senator McCain (who will turn 72 this coming Tuesday). McCain, at least, is not looking to be number two, as a senior citizen.

Obama, on the other hand, went to Harvard Law School and then taught at the University of Chicago Law School. After only two years in the U. S. Senate, Obama announced his run for President. That was in part because when Obama speaks, people listen. When Biden speaks, they tend to fall asleep, whether he is engaging in plagiarism (Biden’s 1987 Presidential campaign), or not. And Obama, at 47, is a man in a hurry-- to be President, that is.

On the other hand, Biden has had stints as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and he served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for three decades. This is no doubt a major reason why he was chosen over Virginia Governor Tim Kaine (No foreign policy experience) and Indiana Senator Evan Bayh (very little foreign policy experience and only ten years in the U. S. Senate). Moreover, unlike Kaine, Obama insiders viewed Bayh as extremely unpersonable and not a good campaigner. But, more to the point, neither was viewed as a good attack dog. It is team Obama’s thinking that Biden can play that role quite well.

So, an attack dog with foreign policy experience, and thirty six years in Washington, DC. That may offset Obama’s thinness in experience, but it hardly fits the “Change you can believe in,” theme of the Obama campaign. It will be interesting to see the spin Axelrod puts on that.

However, the main point about Biden is that line from the movie Chinatown. How are prostitutes, politicians and old buildings alike? They all become respectable if they stick around long enough. Welcome to the respectable Joe Biden. He certainly has stuck around long enough. It is interesting to see that Obama apparently decided he needed not only supplemental experience, but also someone with an aura of respectability and yet possessed the ability to attack Senator McCain. A whole new meaning to the word, “Change.”

Further, Obama picked someone for his VP who is a bit prone to gaffes, including the time about a year and a half ago when Biden referred to Obama as, "The first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." As Biden made clear after the statement, he meant, "Clean-cut." But, still. Obama's VP? What a contest this is gonna be. This reporter can hardly wait.
*******************************
Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com. You may watch "Public Affairs," shows with Presidential Candidates Obama and McCain, tomorrow night's C ity of Chicago edition of Public Affairs w/ 8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg, this past Monday night's Chicago and Aurora edition of Public Affairs with Senator Barack Obama, Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, prior shows with 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud(Barrington Hills Village President), Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica and shows with many other pols (including some archived as far back as 2005 at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
*************************************************************
Recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page soon to include this week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs with State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago) and currently including tomorrow night's City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs w/8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg, this past Monday night's Chicago and Aurora show with Senator Obama (D-IL), Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, recent shows w/ 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud, who is taking on 16 year, 16th CD Republican incumbent, Cong. Don Manzullo; Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan , 13th CD Demoratic Nominee Scott Harper,State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), Sen. Kwame Raoul(D-Chicago), Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago)- ; State Rep. candidate Joan Solms (R-Aurora), Comm. Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) on the Obama Presidential campaign and shows with many other pols.
*************************************

A virtual conversation w/8th CD Republican nominee Steve Greenberg and Democratic Cong. Melissa Bean, Part 2; The Bean Enemies List: are you on it?

The previously transparent Melissa Bean

When she was simply an 8th CD candidate, Melissa Bean thought it was important for challengers and the incumbent to appear on TV shows like “Public Affairs,” both separately and together. She argued such appearances were an important part of the democratic process. As the challenger in 2004 to 35 year incumbent Phil Crane, Bean appeared on Public Affairs and urged Crane, unsuccessfully, to join her on the show.

Bean discards her transparency

Melissa Bean’s days as the upstart challenger are far gone. She is now part of the Congressional establishment. Cong. Bean is now the 4th year Democratic Party incumbent in the 8th CD and she now declines to appear on Public Affairs, having appeared once, almost three years ago, as the congresswoman from the 8th CD.

So, this week’s suburban edition of “Public Affairs,” features Bean’s major party opponent, Steve Greenberg (R-Long Grove, 8th CD), and we contrast candidate Greenberg’s and Cong. Bean’s views the best we can, considering Bean’s reluctance to be a bit more transparent. You can watch the show w/ Greenberg here. The show was taped on August 10, 2008.

The "Public Affairs," show with 8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg will also air throughout the City of Chicago this coming Monday night, Aug. 25, at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 (CANTV) and that same night on cable in Aurora and surrounding areas at 7:30 pm on ACTV-10. The Aurora station, Aurora Community Television, Comcast Cable Ch. 10, reaches all of Aurora, Bristol, Big Rock and parts of Oswego, Sandwich, Sugar Grove and Montgomery.

Cong. Bean (D-Barrington), who used to champion transparency, now hides from media who challenge her to defend and explain her views on important domestic, cultural and foreign public policy issues. Instead of welcoming a journalistic probing of her views and debate with her opponents, Congresswoman Bean looks for appearances in front of those who will play softball with her.

In economics, bad money drives out good. Similarly, in the media, bad journalism drives out good. Softball, pandering journalism drives out tough, but objective journalism. Many, but not all, incumbents have a strong preference for and will reward the former, and they have an extreme distaste for and will penalize the latter.

Like President Nixon, who was forced to resign over Watergate and other abuses of the Executive and political process, Congresswoman Bean seems to have an enemies list. Journalists who ply their trade by asking tough questions and expressing opinions about Bean that the congresswoman does not like will apparently find themselves on that enemies list, implicitly or explicitly, and removed from her media list, i.e., no more press releases and notices of press conferences and media availabilities for those on the enemies list.

Jonathan Lipman, himself a former journalist at the Daily Southtown, but now toiling to put out the Bean spin, keep the media in line for Bean and catch flak for Bean, told this reporter recently, after months of discussions, that Team Bean would not restore Berkowitz to the Congresswoman’s media list. Initially, Lipman argued that Bean didn’t have a media list. That, of course, didn’t quite fit with the fact that Berkowitz used to be on Bean’s media list.

Then, Lipman said bloggers don’t quality for Bean’s media list. When Lipman was reminded that, in addition to publishing this blog, Berkowitz hosts a TV show with a potential audience of about two million, has been on the air for more than a decade and about 98% of the major politicians, and people who want to be major politicians, in the Chicago metro area have been on the show, including Presidential candidates Obama (6 times) and Richardson, Senators Durbin and former Senators Moseley Braun and Simon, almost all of the upstate and some of the downstate Illinois congressional delelgation; and Berkowitz is a contributing correspondent for the Illinois Channel, Lipman said simply, “we’re not going to add you to the media list,” and declined to give any further reasons why. Must be the ultimate exercise of power by a former journalist: "I don’t have to give reasons."

Lipman described his current position to this reporter as (1) the official Communications Director for Cong. Bean in her role as the congresswoman from the 8th CD and (2) the “volunteer,” Communications Director for the Campaign to Re-Elect Cong. Bean. This reporter was told Lipman’s contact phone numbers for the two positions he held were the same.

This journalist, who prides himself on being tough, but fair, to all politicians, found himself removed from Bean’s media list in 2006, apparently because the Congresswoman didn’t like what he had written [See here] or the way he had conducted his TV interviews or press conference questions of Bean [watch here and here].
***********************************************
Topics discussed on this week’s suburban edition of Public Affairs with 8th CD candidate Steve Greenberg (R-Long Grove) include gas and other energy prices, off shore drilling and other potential responses to the high energy prices, mortgage bailouts, guns, abortion, trade, taxes, and much more [see below for a detailed list of topics discussed]. Where possible, we have tried to highlight issue differences of Bean and Greenberg, for our viewers and readers.

Go here for a partial transcript of the show with Greenberg.

The suburban schedule for Public Affairs is included, below.

Another partial transcript of the show with Greenberg, is included, below:

Greenberg: Keep and extend the Bush tax cuts; Bean: support the Obama cap gains tax increases?

Jeff Berkowitz: Taxes. That’s a big deal. You were for, or tell me—are you for making the Bush tax cuts permanent, the ones that were put into place in 2001 and 2003? They’re set to sunset, I believe, in 2009, 2010. Would you make those permanent, all of them?

Steve Greenberg [R-Long Grove]: I think the debate needs to be, instead of just focusing on where the Bush tax cuts are today, I actually believe we need to go lower. The American people, it has shown, for the American government, that it drives the revenue up when we lower taxes. The American people are hurting. The best bail-out we could give people, the purest bail-out, is to give them more money in their pocket.

Jeff Berkowitz: Which ones would you cut lower?

Cut taxes to make U. S. competitive internationally

Steve Greenberg: Well, right now we’re not competitive internationally. We’re losing a lot of business overseas.

Jeff Berkowitz: Corporate tax rates, you’d cut lower?

Steve Greenberg: Absolutely.

Jeff Berkowitz: What would you cut it to?

Steve Greenberg: Well, we’re three times that of Ireland.

Jeff Berkowitz: What do you think? What is it now, and what do we need?

Steve Greenberg: I would say, over time, we need to get competitive internationally [in a way that] welcomes people to open their shops, hopefully in the eighth district when I’m the congressman, but ultimately get people to come back in the States.

Jeff Berkowitz: Would you cut or keep what the rates are now for capital gains, dividends?

Greenberg says maintain or Cut the Capital Gains Tax, but don’t increase it

Steve Greenberg: You’ve got to keep capital gains at a minimum where it is today, and if you go lower, I think it would help with reinvestment because the reinvestment of capital gains, where it’s generated-

Jeff Berkowitz: Where is it now? Ten or fifteen percent?

Steve Greenberg: Fifteen percent, but the biggest thing-

Bean aligned with the Obama Cap Gains tax increase?

Jeff Berkowitz: And Obama wants to talk about raising it to where it was, twenty eight percent.

Steve Greenberg: That’s a great example of somebody who’s never been in the real world.

Jeff Berkowitz: Is Bean going with Obama then,

Steve Greenberg: Absolutely.

Jeff Berkowitz: Because she’s got a picture of—obviously Obama’s popular—there’s a picture of Bean and Obama together on her website.

Steve Greenberg: She declared herself an “Obama mama.”

Jeff Berkowitz: Did she?

Steve Greenberg: She absolutely did. And that means, to me, that she’s attached to the idea that that growth capital—and that’s what it is, is when you take private equity money, that’s coming from the cap gains people, and ultimately, that’s helping small businesses get to big businesses.

Jeff Berkowitz: But she said, in January 2006, she was for those Bush tax cuts, the tax cuts on dividends and capital gains, because of the people who were in her District who would benefit from it. Are you saying she’s backing off from that?

Steve Greenberg [R-Long Grove]: I’m saying Melissa Bean is doing whatever is politically expedient at this point, to stay in office, and to be attached to something that she assumes is popular. That’s what’s wrong with Washington [where they seem to believe] ultimately, in doing whatever [they] have to do, or saying whatever [they] have to say, that’s expedient to staying in office.

Greenberg wants to maintain low marginal tax rates.

Jeff Berkowitz: And you want to have those marginal tax rates on income that were cut—you’d keep them low?

Steve Greenberg: Absolutely.

Jeff Berkowitz: Across the board [low taxes], low income, middle income, and high income?

Steve Greenberg [R-Long Grove]: Absolutely. It’s a non-negotiable for Steve Greenberg.
*************************************************
Cong. Bean rejects the transparency she touted four years ago; Candidate Greenberg embraces that transparency.

Jeff Berkowitz: Now, the thing is, Congresswoman Bean may have some defenses for [those positions]. We’ve asked her to be on. The last time she was on this show was January of 2006. She [first] came on this show in the fall of 2004, and criticized Phil Crane, the then-incumbent, for not being out here, not coming on this show, and so forth, and now she seems to be doing the same thing [that is, not showing up here to face the issues]. But we’d like her to be here, we’d like to give her a fair shot. We’d rather hear about her views from Congresswoman Bean as opposed to what Steve Greenberg has to say about them, but that’s her choice. Folks should know that. We’ve labeled this a virtual conversation between Bean and Greenberg, because this is as close as we can come. But that’s her choosing… she’s not going to be here this weekend. At least that’s what they’re telling me. Look. If Team Bean is watching this, and you change your mind, you’ve got a standing invitation to have your candidate, your incumbent congresswoman, on this show, Public Affairs, whenever you want.
*****************************
Jeff Berkowitz:… There are a lot of people in the 8th CD who are against [the CN running its railroad thru the 8th CD]. It sounds like Bean’s against it. You’re against it.

Steve Greenberg: Well, Bean wasn’t against it.
Jeff Berkowitz: She became against it?

Steve Greenberg: When it became politically expedient because all of a sudden—

Jeff Berkowitz: You were against it from the beginning?

Steve Greenberg: I was against it from the beginning…

Jeff Berkowitz: Bean was for it before she was against it?
Steve Greenberg: Yes, absolutely, she’s carried two thoughts in her mind.

Jeff Berkowitz: Again, we’d like Cong. Bean to come here and say what she was and what she wasn’t. She’s declined. We can’t even find out where she’s going to be. We’ve asked to be on her media list so we get notice of her press conferences. She’s declined to give us that. That’s her decision. She can do that. But, if you want to be known as transparent…you’ve got to come on shows like this before you get elected and after you get elected, right? We don’t endorse candidates but we do endorse the notion…as we said in ’04 and said in ’06, we don’t endorse Democrats or Republicans, but when Melissa Bean was here, we did endorse what she was doing [then], which was coming on this show and facing the issues. We endorse what Steve Greenberg is doing now—which is coming on this show and facing the issues.
******************************************
Public Affairs Chicago Metro suburban airing schedule.

The show with 8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg is airing this week in the North and Northwest Chicago Metro suburbs in its regular slot:

Tonight (Tuesday) at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, parts of Inverness, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northfield, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Wilmette

and Tonight (Tuesday) at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 35 in Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Glenview, Golf, Des Plaines, Hanover Park, Mt. Prospect, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Skokie, Streamwood and Wheeling.

and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:30 pm airing on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Bannockburn, Deerfield, Ft. Sheridan, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods and Winnetka.
*****************************************************************
Description of topics discussed with Steve Greenberg and summary of Greenberg's background:

Jeff Berkowitz, show host and executive legal recruiter, debates and discusses with Steve Greenberg, 8th Cong. Dist. Republican Nominee, domestic, foreign and cultural public policy issues. Greenberg's background is in working in sales and operations in his family’s business, as well as more recently doing "turn-around work," relating to underperforming distribution businesses. He also played minor league professional hockey.

Greenberg lives with his wife and children in Long Grove, IL. Like 4th year 8th CD incumbent Congresswoman Bean (D-Barrington), Greenberg lives just outside the 8th CD boundaries in the 10th CD.

Topics discussed include expansion of off-shore drilling, drilling in ANWR and nuclear power and the potential impact of such expansion on energy prices. Greenberg’s views are contrasted with Cong. Bean, who has declined to appear on the show since her last appearance in January, 2006. Also discussed is Bean’s tie-breaking vote to adjourn the House before it dealt with high gas prices and related energy issues, the impact on national security of energy public policy decisions and what do Greenberg and Bean think of solar, wind, shale, clean coal and plug in cars.

Additional topics discuss include Bean’s and Greenberg’s contrasting views on corporate and individual taxes and tax cuts, whether Bean is an “Obama mama,” Greenberg and Bean’s contrasting views on bail-outs of irresponsible big lenders like Countrywide, is the economy in recession, are people “hurting,” and did the House Republicans “lose their way” and are they “found.”

Additional topics include whether it was a mistake to go into Iraq, the Administration’s decision to conduct a Surge in Iraq, should Obama be President, should the U. S. consider taking military action to take out Iran’s nuclear capability, should the U. S. assist the Republic of Georgia militarily, the contrasting views of Greenberg and Bean on free trade and on the removal of a union member’s right to a secret ballot, and has Bean been on both sides of the Canadian National railroad issue.

Additional topics include school choice, charter schools and other aspects of education reform; same sex marriage and civil unions; background checks to own guns, the 2nd Amendment and contrasting views of Greenberg and Bean on reviving the Assault Weapon ban.

For more information on Steve Greenberg’s 8th CD campaign, please go here.
*********************************************
Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com. You may watch "Public Affairs," shows with Presidential Candidates Obama and McCain, this week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs w/ 8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg, this past Monday night's Chicago and Aurora edition of Public Affairs with Senator Barack Obama, Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, prior shows with 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud(Barrington Hills Village President), Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica and shows with many other pols (including some archived as far back as 2005 at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
*************************************************************
Recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page include this week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs w/8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg, this past Monday night's Chicago and Aurora show with Senator Obama (D-IL), Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, recent shows w/ 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud, who is taking on 16 year, 16th CD Republican incumbent, Cong. Don Manzullo; Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan , 13th CD Demoratic Nominee Scott Harper,State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), Sen. Kwame Raoul(D-Chicago), Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago)- ; State Rep. candidate Joan Solms (R-Aurora), Comm. Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) on the Obama Presidential campaign and shows with many other pols.
*************************************

Better than Fox's Hill w/Duncan&Meeks:Berkowitz,Marin,Pallasch and Bevan w/Obama, Ford,Emanuel, Madigan,Daley and Sebelius

Jeff Berkowitz: Might you think that the [kids in the] City of Chicago, and you could do something about it, symbolically and otherwise, might benefit…in schools that are not performing well [from] having some school choice. Would you possibly favor that?

[Then State Senator] Barack Obama: You know, one thing that I do favor and this is legislation that is going to be coming up in Springfield next week and that is an expansion of charter schools as a means of fostering competition with the public schools [From "Public Affairs," June 27, 2002].

Jeff Berkowitz: Right, they are going to increase [the cap on charter schools] to thirty schools but they are also going to make it much more stringent in terms of certification, so make it much harder for those charter schools to compete.

Barack Obama:
***************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Why would they do that? At a hundred and forty dollars per barrel of oil, why would you hoard something? Why wouldn’t you sell?

Cong. Rahm Emanuel(D-Chicago, 5th CD): Because-

Jeff Berkowitz: Why wouldn’t you drill?
**************************************
Lisa Madigan: Ready for Governor or Senator?

Jeff Berkowitz: You mentioned Social Security. Have you heard anything here or elsewhere that you think would be a good approach to reforming and dealing with the Social Security issue?

Attorney General Lisa Madigan [D-IL]:
*************************************
Abdon Pallasch [Chicago Sun-Times]: Is there any issue on which Barack Obama and the DLC are not completely aligned, [on which] you’re still trying to bring him around? Any issue that you’re still working on him on, or is he completely in line with the DLC agenda?

Harold Ford [DLC Chairman]:
*************************************
The "Public Affairs," show with Obama, Daley, Sebelius, Ford, Emanuel and Madigan airs throughout the City of Chicago tonight at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 (CANTV) and on cable in Aurora and surrounding areas at 7:30 pm on ACTV-10. The Aurora station, Aurora Community Television, Comcast Cable Ch. 10, reaches all of Aurora, Bristol, Big Rock and parts of Oswego, Sandwich, Sugar Grove and Montgomery.
*************************************************
Also now posted on our Youtube page (top left hand corner] is tonight's Chicago and Aurora edition of "Public Affairs," featuring Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, DLC Chairman Harold Ford questioned by Jeff Berkowitz ("Public Affairs," and the Illinois Channel), Carol Marin (WTTW), Tom Bevan (Real Clear Politics), Abdon Pallasch (Chicago Sun-Times) and others at [or immediately after] a Democratic Leadership Council Press Conference held on June 30, 2008 in Chicago, IL; Barack Obama questioned by Jeff Berkowitz on November 25, 2002; Cong. Rahm Emanuel (5th CD, D-Chicago) and Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D-IL) questioned by Jeff Berkowitz at the DLC National Conversation, held on June 30, 2008, in Chicago, IL. Watch the show here.
**************************************************************
Tune in to tonight's Chicago and Aurora edition of "Public Affairs," to watch the above referenced-exchanges, and more, introduced by Show Host and Executive Legal Recruiter Jeff Berkowitz [See here, for a more detailed list of show topics and a partial transcript of the show ].

You can watch the show with Obama, Daley, Sebelius, Ford, Emanuel and Madigan on your computer, 24-7. It is anticipated the show will also air next week, or soon thereafter, on the Illinois Channel across the state of Illinois.
***********************************************
A Partial Transcript of tonight's Chicago/ Aurora edition of Public Affairs, featuring Obama, Daley, Sebelius, Ford, Emanuel and Madigan is included, below:
*******************************************************************
Rahm Emanuel’s Sarah Lawrence economics: The greater the price, the less competing firms offer for sale?

Cong. Rahm Emanuel [D-Chicago]: The oil companies own sixty eight million acres of public land. Thirty years of natural gas supply…Use it, or lose it.

Jeff Berkowitz: But, you know they deny it’s thirty years. They say a lot of those [leases] are dry holes, and they say that’s only a small percentage of off-shore drilling. That’s what the oil companies say. That’s what McCain says.

Cong. Emanuel: And they got those permits because they thought, and they bidded on those permits because they believed, as even the government geologists thought, there’s supply there. They’re hoarding those supplies.

Jeff Berkowitz: Why would they do that? At a hundred and forty dollars per barrel of oil, why would you hoard something? Why wouldn’t you sell?

Cong. Emanuel: Because-

Jeff Berkowitz: Why wouldn’t you drill?

Cong Emanuel: What happened here and everybody knows this, they got caught flat-footed. They didn’t have the machinery and the capacity to deal with this. And all they’re trying to do is use the crisis as another reason to get at stuff that they what.
*******************************************************
Lisa Madigan: Ready for Governor or Senator?

Jeff Berkowitz: You mention Social Security. Have you heard anything here or elsewhere that you think would be a good approach to reforming and dealing with the Social Security issues?

Attorney General Lisa Madigan [D-IL]: I just got here this morning, so—I mean, people haven’t—ask somebody else.

Jeff Berkowitz: Let me ask you about Illinois, because as you know, many people think, and the Governor thinks, we have about a two billion dollar deficit in the budget that was presented to him. One, do you agree, and if so, how do you think that deficit ought to be handled?

Attorney General Madigan: I’m going to leave that up to the Governor and the Legislature. As the Attorney General, we’re a revenue-generating area of government...
******************************************************************
Liberal Obama in sync with centrist DLC?

Abdon Pallasch [Chicago Sun-Times]: Is there any issue on which Barack Obama and the DLC are not completely aligned, [on which] you’re still trying to bring him around? Any issue that you’re still working on him on, or is he completely in line with the DLC agenda?

Harold Ford [DLC Chairman]: I mean, Barack is, Senator Obama is for a balanced budget.

Abdon Pallasch: Uh, uh.

Harold Ford: He is for creating a “green way” that will allow for the creation of new jobs.

Abdon Pallasch: Uh, uh

Obama: for a strong military and strong family values?

Harold Ford: He’s a firm believer that the country has to keep a strong military, and he’s committed, as he’s said in speech after speech, to finding ways to encourage the passage of legislation that will help families remain strong and remain vibrant, so I think we are in line with Senator Obama on all of those issues, yes.

Abdon Pallasch: The DLC was basically created to bring the Democratic Party more to the center. Is the Party pretty much there, or what are the issues you’re still trying to bring the Democratic--

Harold Ford: …I guess that’s another way of asking the question and I think that his values are-

DLC- a political organization Hell bent on electing Obama?

Abdon Pallasch: Everybody needs to get on the same page?

Harold Ford: We have one goal, and that’s electing Barack Obama the next President of the United States. We believe that four more years of George Bush through John McCain would be very hurtful to the economy, would slow us down in finding energy sources, and would make it more difficult to balance the budget and create the kind of jobs we need to do going forward. Let me get in here because my panel is running—

Did then Tennessee congressman Harold Ford support going into Iraq?

Jeff Berkowitz: One last question, in 2002, did you support authorizing the President to take military action in Iraq?

Harold Ford: I supported the Iraq Authoriziation, which as you recall was not to go to war—it was shortly after a 15-0 vote that Colin Powell-

Any regrets by Harold Ford?

Jeff Berkowitz: Do you regret that vote now?

Harold Ford: I’m not in the business of regretting-- Naturally, if I knew then when I know now, I would hope that the President would not have brought the matter before the Congress.

Jeff Berkowitz: If you knew there weren’t weapons of mass destruction?

Harold Ford: I think if we all knew—you have to remember the context—if we all knew, I don’t think the President would have brought the bill to the floor. What I regret is the way he went about using the authorization that Congress gave him. Where we are now--

Jeff Berkowitz: What did he do wrong, the President?

Harold Ford: You all have written a lot about it, you oughta—but let me get inside to our—
************************************************************
Thanks to "Public Affairs," intern Amy Allen for preparing a draft of the above partial transcript of tonight's edition of "Public Affairs."
**************************************************
Camerawork for "Public Affairs," and "Illinois Channel," at the DLC Press Conference and for the post presser interviews with Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Emanuel and Attorney General Madigan, by Raza Siddiqui of Skyline Media Inc. [Contact Raza at-- Skylinemediainc@gmail.com]
*********************************************
Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com. You may watch "Public Affairs," shows with Presidential Candidates Obama and McCain, this week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs w/ 8thCD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg, tonight's Chicago and Aurora edition of Public Affairs with Senator Barack Obama, Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, prior shows with 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud(Barrington Hills Village President), Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica and shows with many other pols (including some archived as far back as 2005 at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
*************************************************************
Recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page include this week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs w/8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg, tonight's Chicago and Aurora show with Senator Obama (D-IL), Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, recent shows w/ 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud, who is taking on 16 year, 16th CD Republican incumbent, Cong. Don Manzullo; Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan , 13th CD Demoratic Nominee Scott Harper,State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), Sen. Kwame Raoul(D-Chicago), Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago)- ; State Rep. candidate Joan Solms (R-Aurora), Comm. Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) on the Obama Presidential campaign and shows with many other pols.
*************************************

A virtual conversation w/ 8th CD Republican candidate Steve Greenberg and Democratic Incumbent Cong. Melissa Bean, Part 1

Melissa Bean, as a challenger in 2004 to then 35 year incumbent Cong. Phil Crane (R-Wauconda, 8th CD) said it was important for challengers and the incumbent to appear on TV shows like “Public Affairs,” both separately and together. She argued such appearances were important for democracy to function well. Now that she is an incumbent, Cong. Bean (D-Barrington, 8th CD) is singing a different tune. She last appeared on Public Affairs in January, 2006 and has declined since to appear with or without her opponent.

So, this coming week’s suburban edition of “Public Affairs,” contrasts Bean's views with that of her opponent, Steve Greenberg (R-Long Grove, 8th CD), as best we can. You can watch the show here. The show was taped on August 10, 2008.
*****************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: A big difference between you and Congresswoman Bean is on [dealing with high] gas prices. One thing you’ve come out for is off-shore drilling, right?

Steve Greenberg [R-Long Grove, 8th CD]: Yes.

Jeff Berkowitz: An expansion of off-shore drilling.

Steve Greenberg: Yes.

Bean and Greenberg contrasted on the Energy issue.

Jeff Berkowitz: You’ve come out for drilling in ANWR. You’ve come out for nuclear power. All ways to increase supply and lower the price, in the long run, maybe the short run. Your opponent, Congresswoman Bean, where is she on off-shore drilling, drilling in ANWR, nuclear power.

Bean against expanded off-shore drilling:

Steve Greenberg: My opponent’s against off-shore drilling, and really has taken a stance where Nancy Pelosi has put the Democratic Party, which is only new technologies and I personally believe we need to do all of the above. Part of the reason people are paying the price at the pump is, while they [the Democratic House majority] were very quick to take the vacation for five weeks, and go off to their various comfort zones, the American people are paying a dear price every day, and hard-working families—we were just at a food pantry the other day where we spoke with a gentleman who [said] it was costing him an extra 120 dollars a month to go back and forth to work and you hear stories like that, and they have to supplement some groceries, that’s just unacceptable. And the fact that Melissa Bean was a deciding vote to send everyone on vacation, I think is really a miss for what the district needs.

Bean casts tie breaking vote to go on vacation:

Jeff Berkowitz: Was it a one-vote margin?

Steve Greenberg: Yes.

Jeff Berkowitz: The House voted to take a five-week vacation-

Steve Greenberg: Yes.

Jeff Berkowitz: To adjourn. That adjournment vote was 213 to 212.

Steve Greenberg: 213 to 212.

Jeff Berkowitz: The tie-breaking vote was Melissa Bean?

Steve Greenberg: Yes.

Jeff Berkowitz: Has she said anything about that?

Steve Greenberg [R-Long Grove, 8th CD]: No, and nor has my opponent said much about anything. Running a few commercials at the end, putting as much as she can on her career, I think that’s all she wants to do in this election.

Jeff Berkowitz: Now, has she said she’s opposed, with Pelosi, to off-shore drilling, or to an expansion of off-shore drilling?

Why Bean opposes off-shore drilling:

Steve Greenberg: She has said as recently, as the Daily Herald stated, this week, that she’s against off-shore drilling.

Jeff Berkowitz: Has she given a reason why? Environmental reasons?

Steve Greenberg [R-Long Grove]: She has not given a reason why, short of the fact—oh yes, she has. She said, “I do not believe that it will increase—that it will have the kind of impact at the pump.” And I think it’s amazing to me that anyone out there would vote for—anyone who doesn’t understand the basics of supply and demand. Increasing supply will absolutely bring down the price.

Jeff Berkowitz: And how long would it take? Let’s be fair. Some of the critics, especially Democratic critics, have said—we’re taping this on August 10th, 2008—they’re saying once you let out those leases, once they decide where the oil is, once it’s changed into gas, et cetera, distilled, refined—we’re talking, they say, five to ten years. Even then, a small effect on prices. What do you say to those critics?

Time line for off-shore drilling to have an impact:

Steve Greenberg: I say that it is going to take years, as many as six years, seven years, before we actually see the full flow of this, but you also have to attack the lack of refineries that we have right now. We’re at about ninety percent capacity, which means any blip in our system to refine, take it from crude to the street—if one of those breaks down, the price is going to spike up. But, where the impact is, just as we saw the President showing leadership recently, in saying that he’d lift the ban on the executive branch level. The congressional lift of the ban would open up the market to push [gas prices] downward, because they’d be seeing a path to loosening, and opening up a new player to the energy side of things.

Jeff Berkowitz: So you’re saying because of futures markets and so forth, the effect, even though the actual drilling and production of oil may be years down the road, prices can be affected this year?

Steve Greenberg [R-Long Grove, 8th CD]: Yes, it’s like two-

Jeff Berkowitz: Prices for gas.

Steve Greenberg: Absolutely, because it’s like two retail stores—I’m from the retail side of things, as well—and if a retail store says it’s moving in in about a year from now, watch the prices of the retail store that’s currently holding that community’s attention. Prices will start dropping; they know a competitor’s coming in. There are a lot of things that are effects of saying, hey, America’s open for business, we want to create American production of oil, create American jobs. I don’t understand how anyone could stand in the way of that. I think it’s a priority for this nation.

Is off-shore drilling about energy security?

Jeff Berkowitz: And drilling in ANWR, that’s something you support?

Steve Greenberg: I do, but there’s also something, Jeff, we need to also focus on. You’re talking about 1.5 billion dollars a day going to people who want to do harm to this nation. I think most Americans don’t realize that we give, per person, two hundred dollars [a day] to the Saudi king for having the right to have oil. Two thousand dollars to foreign national companies for oil. This is not just about energy independence, it’s also about energy security, and for the Democrats to say what they’re saying, I think, to keep us safer, we need to keep our American production of oil going in this country and expand it.

Jeff Berkowitz: But it is a world market, so even oil produced in the United States may end up going overseas, and we end up buying overseas, that’s how a world market operates, right?

Steve Greenberg: Sure, Absolutely, but what you want to do is put America in play as one of the people who are producing it. That is only a short-term fix, because we need to have alternatives. We need to have a long-term, John Kennedy approach. Just because Sputnik beat us up in the air, didn’t mean we weren’t going to compete.

Why Bean opposes drilling in ANWR:

Jeff Berkowitz: You’d expand off-shore drilling. You’d also expand or permit drilling in ANWR.

Steve Greenberg [R-Long Grove, 8th CD]: Yes.

Jeff Berkowitz: Bean says no because of environmental reasons?

Steve Greenberg: I believe she’s [Bean] been hijacked by the left. Obviously, in this situation, in addition to that, whatever the special interest groups that are pulling her strings, and Nancy Pelosi, obviously this is a bipartisan problem, and both sides, the Republicans and Democrats alike, I think are at fault, because this is something where you need people who are going to forecast problems and get ahead of the curve. Obviously the current leadership, or lack thereof, has not done the right things for the district.

Bean in 2004 argued for all coming on “Public Affairs.”

Jeff Berkowitz: Now, the thing is, Congresswoman Bean may have some defenses for that. We’ve asked her to be on. The last time she was on this show it was January of 2006. She came on this show in the fall of 2004, and criticized Phil Crane, the then-incumbent, for not being out here, not coming on this show, and so forth, and now she seems to be doing the same thing. But we’d like her to be here, we’d like to give her a fair shot. We’d rather hear her views from Congresswoman Bean as opposed to what Steve Greenberg has to say about it, but that’s her choice. Folks should know that. We’ve labeled this a virtual conversation between Bean and Greenberg, because this is as close as we can come. But that’s her choosing. I’m not sure why it is, but she’s not going to be here this weekend. At least that’s what they’re telling me. Look. If Team Bean is watching this, and you change your mind, you’ve got a standing invitation to have your candidate, your incumbent congresswoman, Melissa Bean, on this show, Public Affairs, whenever you want.

Steve Greenberg: Well, the simple fact is, how do you defend the indefensible? No matter what she has advocated for, the fact is that gas prices have doubled since she has been in Congress, and we need to make sure that there’s people who can forecast the problem before it becomes a problem. I think oil is the best example of a do-nothing Congress and the results—the people pay the price.

Greenberg is for solar, shale, wind, clean coal, plug in cars:

Jeff Berkowitz: But you’re for solar, you’re for shale, you’re for wind, clean coal, plug-in cars.

Steve Greenberg: Absolutely.

Jeff Berkowitz: So you’re not saying to the exclusion of that, you’re saying in addition to all those things I just mentioned—you’d sign on to all those things?

Steve Greenberg [R-Long Grove, 8th CD]: Actually, in my eight-point plan, one of the key priorities was re-investing the money that we get on oil off-shore leases, that we get from the oil companies, we actually re-invest that-

Jeff Berkowitz: Government does.

Steve Greenberg: Yes, the government should re-invest that into new technologies. Absolutely.

Where is Melissa Bean?

Jeff Berkowitz: So on that—has Bean come out for all of those things we mentioned? Solar, shale, wind, clean coal, plug-in cars? I mean, is she with you on that?

Steve Greenberg: You know what? Melissa Bean has got to come on your show and speak for herself. The main thing is, I want to tell you my vision, where I want to take the district, and how I want to remember the customers back home, not the people in DC.
***********************************************
Thanks to Public Affairs intern Amy Allen for preparing a draft of the above partial transcript of the show with 8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg.
******************************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com. You may watch "Public Affairs," shows with Presidential Candidates Obama and McCain, this week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs w/Senator Barack Obama, Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, Monday night's City of Chicago and Aurora edition of Public Affairs w/16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud(Barrington Hills Village President), last week's Chicago and Aurora edition of Public Affairs with Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica and shows with many other pols (including some archived as far back as 2005 at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
*************************************************************
Recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page include this week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs w/Senator Obama (D-IL), Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, Monday night's Chicago and Aurora edition of Public Affairs w/ 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud, who is taking on 16 year, 16th CD Republican incumbent, Cong. Don Manzullo; other recent shows featuring Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan , 13th CD Demoratic Nominee Scott Harper,State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), Sen. Kwame Raoul(D-Chicago), Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago)- ; State Rep. candidate Joan Solms (R-Aurora), Comm. Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) on the Obama Presidential campaign and shows with many other pols.
*******************************************************

Better than Monday Night Football: 16th CD Democratic Nominee Abboud, Cable and Streaming on Illinois Channel

Jeff Berkowitz: I know. Just as a matter of inspiration, just philosophy, would you like that? To see people have more [school] choice?

Robert Abboud [16th CD Democratic Nominee]: I think that each local government and the school system has to make that choice for themselves, because that decision is fundamentally different in Chicago, than it is in Polo. And you cannot make them-

Jeff Berkowitz: So let the local schools, if they want vouchers, fine-

Robert Abboud [D-Barrington Hills]: That’s why we have local school government. Absolutely.
******************************************
The "Public Affairs," show with 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud has been airing this week throughout the State of Illinois , and it will continue to do so thru Sunday on the Illinois Channel. You can watch it on the web through Sunday on the Illinois Channel website by clicking the picture of Abboud and also you can watch the show on the Illinois Channel's cable outlets. You can also watch the show with Abboud here. Go here for a partial transcript of the show and for links to more about the show's topics, Robert Abboud and additional partial transcripts of the show.

The Illinois Channel cable outlets air a two hour, weekly block of programming on cable. The show with candidate Abboud is the third of three segments airing on the Illinois Channel this week, and will air starting about 85 minutes into that two hour block of programming. Please click on Distribution at the Illinois Channel website or click here to find the cable airing days, time at which the two hour block of programming begins and the channel for your location.

Please note that 16th CD incumbent Republican Congresswoman Don Manzullo is scheduled to appear on "Public Affairs," and the Illinois Channel in late September to discuss domestic and foreign public policy issues.
********************************************
Some examples of the scheduled times and channels for the show with Robert Abboud on the Illinois Channel this week of August 11th (including for areas within the 16th CD) are given below:

Belvidere, Insight Cable Ch. 20, Thursday, 7:25 pm

Freeport, Insight Cable Ch. 17, Thursday, 7:25 pm

Rockford, Insight Cable Ch. 17, Thursday, 7:25 pm

Galesburg, Cable Ch. 22, Thursday-Sunday, 10:25am, 3:25 pm. 9:55 pm

Bolingbrook Community TV, Cable Ch. 6, Friday, 7:25 pm

Chicago CANTV, Cable Ch. 21, Saturday, 10:25 am

Chicago CANTV, Cable Ch. 19, Sunday, 9:55 am

DeKalb, Cable Ch. 14, Friday, 8:25 pm and Saturday, 7:25 am

Evanston, Cable Ch. 16, Sat., 1:25 pn,

Naperville, Wide open west Cable Ch. 6, Saturday, 1:25 pm

Naperville, Comcast Cable Ch. 10, Saturday, 1:25 pm

Romeoville, Comcast Cable Ch. 6, Fri., Sat., Sunday; 6:25 pm

Springfield, Municipal Ch. 18, Sat. and Sun., 11:25 am

Springfield, Insight Cable Ch. 22, Fri., Sat., and Sun., 11:25 pm

Springfield, Insight Cable Ch. 18, Sat., Sun., 6:25 am

Westmont, Comcast Cable Ch. 16, Friday, 7:25 am, 10:25 am, 1:25 pm, 4:25 pm, 7:25 pm, 10:25 pm.

To find the days, time and channel for which the two hour block of Illinois Channel programming begins in your village or municipality, please click on Distribution at the Illinois Channel website or click here to find the cable airing days, time at which the two hour block of programming begins and the channel for your location. The show with Abboud begins 85minutes into the two hour block of programming.
************************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Education. School vouchers, school choice. Would you be attracted to that?

Robert Abboud, 16th CD Dem. Nominee (Barrington Hills): I’m a huge fan of the public school system. I see the issues public schools have to deal with... We need to support our public schools.

Jeff Berkowitz: In the inner-city, for instance—you could have pockets where schools aren’t doing so well in the 16th, but in the City of Chicago, just as an example, one out of every two schools, I think, people would often label as a failing school. People say, for people who like those schools, that’s fine, but why not give the people who want to take their money, their pro-rata share, a choice. Competition. You like competition?

Robert Abboud: I love competition.

Jeff Berkowitz: Why not give them that? Charter schools as a means of competition, vouchers as a means of competition.

Robert Abboud: There’s nothing to prevent someone from doing this.

Jeff Berkowitz: But they can’t [currently] take their pro-rata share. [Private schools] can’t compete. Right now we spend about 14 thousand dollars per kid per year in the Chicago public schools.

Robert Abboud: That’s right.

Jeff Berkowitz: If somebody’s dissatisfied, and if they want to leave and if they could take that 14 thousand, then they’ve got a choice. But if you simply say to them they can leave, they don’t have any money with which to leave.

Robert Abboud: This is not a congressional decision. This is a matter for local communities.

Jeff Berkowitz: I know. Just as a matter of inspiration, just philosophy, would you like that? To see people have more [school] choice?

Robert Abboud: I think that each local government and the school system has to make that choice for themselves, because that decision is fundamentally different in Chicago, than it is in Polo. And you cannot make them-

Jeff Berkowitz: So let the local schools, if they want vouchers, fine-

Robert Abboud: That’s why we have local school government. Absolutely.

Jeff Berkowitz: Bush tax cuts. 2001, 2003, substantial tax cuts. You know they’re going to expire soon, people say without those tax cuts, the economy will be facing one of the hugest tax increases in history. Would you support the continuation of the Bush tax cuts?

Robert Abboud, 16th CD Dem. Nominee (Barrington Hills): I support a realignment of the tax policy that we have today. Some of those cuts should remain in place, but others need to be removed. There are a couple of problems here. First off, the very fact that an executive pays half the tax rate that their assistant does, their secretary does, that the mid- to lower-person in their company does, is a fundamentally flawed tax policy. Second of all, we’re carrying almost ten trillion dollars in debt. That costs us about forty two billion dollars a month.
******************************************
Robert Abboud: By the way, your point about Republicans and Democrats and Independents, it’s a big tent, and in fact I’ve got as many Republicans working on our finance committee as Democrats.
************************************
Our thanks to Public Affairs intern Amy Allen for preparing a draft partial transcript of our show with Robert Abboud
**************************
Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com. You may watch "Public Affairs," shows with Presidential Candidates Obama and McCain, this week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs w/Senator Barack Obama, Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, Monday night's City of Chicago and Aurora edition of Public Affairs w/16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud(Barrington Hills Village President), last week's Chicago and Aurora edition of Public Affairs with Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica and shows with many other pols (including some archived as far back as 2005 at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
*************************************************************
Recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page include this week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs w/Senator Obama (D-IL), Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, Monday night's Chicago and Aurora edition of Public Affairs w/ 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud, who is taking on 16 year, 16th CD Republican incumbent, Cong. Don Manzullo; other recent shows featuring Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan , 13th CD Demoratic Nominee Scott Harper,State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), Sen. Kwame Raoul(D-Chicago), Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago)- ; State Rep. candidate Joan Solms (R-Aurora), Comm. Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) on the Obama Presidential campaign and shows with many other pols.
*******************************************************