Better than Stephanopoulos w/Rahm Emanuel: Berkowitz w/R Guv candidate and Senator Bill Brady on Dem Party culture of corruption; Cable and Streaming
Post-Game Interview with Senator Bill Brady, April 5, 2009: [Watch Sen. Brady's Game Interview]
Jeff Berkowitz: Would you actually lower the …individual income tax?
2010 Republican Guv. Primary candidate and State Senator Bill Brady [R-Bloomington]: I don’t know that we could realistically do that at this point in time.
Jeff Berkowitz: But, you would certainly not increase it?
State Sen. Brady: No.
Jeff Berkowitz: And, the corporate income tax, you would certainly not increase it?
State Sen. Brady: No, absolutely not.
**************************
Jeff Berkowitz: And, you think you can do that, actually have property tax relief?
State Sen. Brady: I do.
Jeff Berkowitz: Without raising the income tax?
State Sen. Brady: I do. As we rebuild this economy and bring the jobs back to Illinois, 700,000 jobs that we’ve lost. Each job brings with it approximately $5200 in revenue, just for the state.
*********************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: …If you could have no minimum wage, federal or state, would you think that would be a good idea.
State Sen. Brady: Times are different, we don’t need a minimum wage.
Jeff Berkowitz: You don’t need a federal minimum wage or a state minimum wage?
State Sen. Brady: No. People are going to work at their own free will at the price they think they’re worth. Government doesn’t need to be involved in that.
**********************************
The "Public Affairs," show, featuring State Senator and 2010 Republican Primary Guv candidate Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) airs tonight in its regular cable scheduled slots throughout the City of Chicago at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21(CANTV, aka Chicago Access Network TV) and in Aurora and surrounding areas at 7:30 pm on ACTV-10. The Aurora station, ACTV-10, aka Aurora Community Television, Comcast Cable Ch. 10, reaches all of Aurora, Bristol, Big Rock and parts of Oswego, Sandwich, Sugar Grove and Montgomery.
*************************************************
You can also watch the show with Senator Brady, in his 16th year in the General Assembly, on your computer.
****************************************
The show with Senator Brady was taped on April 5, 2009.
****************************************
The "Public Affairs," show, featuring State Senator and 2010 Republican Primary Guv candidate Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) also airs throughout the City of Rockford (and in surrounding areas) this Thursday night, April 23 at 8:00 pm on Cable Ch. 17. Surrounding areas reached by Ch. 17 include Byron, Cedarville, Cherry Valley, Loves Park, Machesney Park, Mount Morris, New Milford, Portions of Ogle County, Oregon, Polo, Stillman Valley, Winnebago, Portions of Boone County and Poplar Grove.
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Game Interview with State Senator and 2010 Republican Primary Guv candidate Bill Brady:
--A culture of corruption in the Illinois Democratic Party?
Jeff Berkowitz: Will the deciding issue be, if you do get the nomination for the Republican party, and you are running in the general election, say against somebody like Pat Quinn, Lisa Madigan or Bill Daley… for governor…is the deciding issue social issues or fiscal issues?
State Sen. Brady [R-Bloomington]: I think first of all you've got to--you can't ignore this culture of corruption, the Chicagoland culture of corruption that has put a black eye on Illinois.
Jeff Berkowitz: How does it relate to Pat Quinn?
--The Blagojevich-Quinn administration?
State Sen. Brady: He was part of the Blagojevich administration.
Jeff Berkowitz: He was not-
State Sen. Brady: Wait a second. Pat Quinn was quoted as saying, at the re-election of Blagojevich-Quinn, that Rod Blagojevich was an honest man who only did things in the best interest of the people. Now, he served with him four years.
Jeff Berkowitz: When did he say that?
State Sen. Brady: Just before the election.
Jeff Berkowitz: In 2006?
State Sen. Brady: Yes.
Jeff Berkowitz: He was running with the guy. You understand. You make accommodations. He was the lieutenant governor running for re-election.
--Did Pat Quinn speak out about Blagojevich when he should have?
State Sen. Brady: You don't make accommodations when it comes to corruption.
Jeff Berkowitz: You think he should have criticized his running mate?
State Sen. Brady: Absolutely, sure.
Jeff Berkowitz: You would have done that?
State Sen. Brady: Absolutely.
Jeff Berkowitz: But you know they hadn't talked for a year, year and a half before [Blagojevich] was arrested.
State Sen. Brady: Whose fault is that?
Jeff Berkowitz: Well, I mean Quinn was speaking out and Blagojevich didn't want to talk to him.
State Sen. Brady: It takes two. But the fact of the matter is, if we're going to move this state forward, you've got to remove this black eye and this culture of corruption.
Jeff Berkowitz: Culture of corruption.
State Sen. Brady: And then we've got to focus on rebuilding Illinois' economy. We are the greatest state in the nation.
--Did Sen. Brady speak out about Kjellander and Cellini when he should have?
Jeff Berkowitz: Wait, Bill Cellini, wasn't he indicted at the same time, recently, with Rod Blagojevich and the other Dems? Bill Cellini is a big Republican, right? [See here for discussion of indictment of Republican insider Cellini, included with Blagojevich, et al indictment handed down earlier this month]
State Sen. Brady[R-Bloomington]: Mmmhmm.
Jeff Berkowitz: In fact, he's downstate. Do you know Bill Cellini?
State Sen. Brady: I've met him.
Jeff Berkowitz: You got any association with Cellini?
State Sen. Brady: No.
Jeff Berkowitz: Have you ever spoken out against Cellini?
State Sen. Brady: I've never had an opportunity.
Jeff Berkowitz: Have you ever spoken out against Kjellander [See here for a Berkowitz interviw with Kjellander about, among other things, Kjellander's famous $809,000 fee and his MO]?
State Sen. Brady: I've asked Bob to resign.
--The Daley Ryan Combine
Jeff Berkowitz: But should it be stronger? I'm just saying--you said Quinn didn't do enough to separate himself from Blagojevich. Have you done enough to separate yourself from Cellini and Kjellander and all those Republican partners to the Combine? You know the Combine, right?
State Sen. Brady: I know of it. Let's face it--one of the problems some people have with me--people who have been around for a lot longer time than you and I have-- is that I'm not part of the old school. I'm a relatively independent conservative who speaks to his own values and issues. And that's the kind of governor I'll be.
Jeff Berkowitz: So you're not part of the Republican-Democrat Combine [aka previously as the Daley-Ryan Combine] that John Kass talks about?
State Sen. Brady: No.
--The No New Taxes Pledge
Jeff Berkowitz: All right, so you're a conservative, you're running for Governor on those principles. Are you taking the pledge that you would not increase the income tax or the sales tax during your first four years, if you were Governor?
State Sen. Brady: I have.
Jeff Berkowitz: You've taken that, and you'll take it again?
State Sen. Brady: I have and I will.
--School Vouchers-School Choice
Jeff Berkowitz: You’ll support school vouchers, or no?
State Sen. Brady[R-Bloomington]: You know, I think there's places for vouchers.
Jeff Berkowitz: Would you support school vouchers in Chicago?
State Sen. Brady: I have.
Jeff Berkowitz: Not have you, but would you going forward? Would you go forward and say- they should have a choice, those parents, school choice-school vouchers, in Chicago, where the schools are failing?
--Uncapping the number of Charter Schools
State Sen. Brady: I think they do. Absolutely. If they cannot succeed in those schools, then we need to use every tool possible--be it charter schools, which are doing very well, be it vouchers--
Jeff Berkowitz: Right, but there's a cap. There's a cap on charter schools in Chicago.
State Sen. Brady: You're right.
Jeff Berkowitz: Would you as a governor say-- I am going to the legislature and say, lift the cap? If it's 30 schools in Chicago, 15 in the suburbs, 15 downstate?
State Sen. Brady: Absolutely.
Jeff Berkowitz: Lift it completely, as many charter schools as we want.
State Sen. Brady: Absolutely.
--Taking on the teachers’ unions ?
Jeff Berkowitz: You would take on the teachers' unions? Because you know they would not like that, Bill.
State Sen. Brady: I don't know if we have to take on the teachers' unions.
Jeff Berkowitz: Well, if they're on one side-
State Sen. Brady [R-Bloomington]: I would want to work with the teachers' unions, and work with them to provide the same educational opportunities that children get in every other state in the nation. We need to make a lot of progress. The graduation rate of students in Chicago is horrific. I don't call it taking on. We've got a lot of good teachers who are members of those unions.
Jeff Berkowitz: You have to reform those schools.
State Sen. Brady: We have to reform and we have to make our schools better-
--Merit Pay for Teachers?
Jeff Berkowitz: Merit pay?
State Sen. Brady: Certainly a consideration.
Jeff Berkowitz: What do you mean a consideration? Would you favor merit compensation? Would you favor paying those teachers who perform better than the ones who don't? Would you favor paying them more—favor paying teachers more who perform better?
State Sen. Brady [R-Bloomington]: I favor empowering school boards and parents to make those kind of decisions that work best for their local school. I don't believe that Washington DC nor Springfield-
Jeff Berkowitz: We have to interrupt, just to say, I'd like to thank Bill Brady, who is a candidate for Governor in the Republican primary. We're taping this on April 5th. [The primary is] coming up in February unless the party bosses change that. And, that’s coming up in February, 2010. How do they get in touch with you, Bill?
State Sen. Brady: www.BradyForIllinois.com
Jeff Berkowitz: All right, just go to that website and you can find his smiling face there. He's been, as I said, a state senator for the past seven years, before that, state rep, for eight years. Where'd you graduate from school?
State Sen. Brady: Illinois Wesleyan and Central Catholic High School.
Jeff Berkowitz: So you're a downstater.
State Sen. Brady: Bloomington is home.
--Brady spending time upstate?
Jeff Berkowitz: But you're spending a lot of time upstate these days.
State Sen. Brady: It's a big state, and there's a lot of people up here.
Jeff Berkowitz: You'll come back and discuss the issues?
State Sen. Brady: I enjoy your show, I have always done it.
Jeff Berkowitz: Number one issue, culture of corruption and fiscal issues?
State Sen. Brady[R-Bloomington]: Let me say, it’s not just the the culture of corruption, We have to clean Illinois up but we also have to rebuild our economy.
************************************************
Public Affairs thanks Amy Allen, one of its interns, for preparing a draft of the above partial transcript of our show with State Senator and Republican Primary Guv candidate Bill Brady (R-Bloomington).
***********************************
For more about State Senator and 2010 Republican Primary Guv candidate Bill Brady and the topics covered in our show with Senator Brady (and another partial transcript of the show with Sen. Brady), 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. *************************************************************
"Public Affairs," is a weekly political interview show airing in Chicago on CANTV, in the Chicago metro area, Aurora and Rockford on Comcast and also often on the Illinois Channel. You can watch the shows, including archived shows going back to 2005, here.
************************************************************************
Recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page include the fastest five minutes on the web- a New York Times video about Obama-Berkowitz, a show with State Rep. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) about hot state legislative issues and politics, a show with Bill Brady, State Senator and 2010 Republican Primary candidate for Governor, a show with State Senator and likely 2010 10th CD candidate Susan Garrett(D-Lake Forest), a show with State Rep. Mark Beaubien (R-Wauconda), a show with State Rep. Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago), a show with then IL 5th CD Dem nominee--Cook County Cmsr. Mike Quigley (who recently won the April general election to replace Cong. Rahm Emanuel), the second fastest five minutes on the web- a segment of Bill O'Reilly with Berkowitz discussing a clip of Obama from 2002 on Blagojevich and many more shows. And, see here for very recent postings on our Youtube page.
**********************************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Would you actually lower the …individual income tax?
2010 Republican Guv. Primary candidate and State Senator Bill Brady [R-Bloomington]: I don’t know that we could realistically do that at this point in time.
Jeff Berkowitz: But, you would certainly not increase it?
State Sen. Brady: No.
Jeff Berkowitz: And, the corporate income tax, you would certainly not increase it?
State Sen. Brady: No, absolutely not.
**************************
Jeff Berkowitz: And, you think you can do that, actually have property tax relief?
State Sen. Brady: I do.
Jeff Berkowitz: Without raising the income tax?
State Sen. Brady: I do. As we rebuild this economy and bring the jobs back to Illinois, 700,000 jobs that we’ve lost. Each job brings with it approximately $5200 in revenue, just for the state.
*********************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: …If you could have no minimum wage, federal or state, would you think that would be a good idea.
State Sen. Brady: Times are different, we don’t need a minimum wage.
Jeff Berkowitz: You don’t need a federal minimum wage or a state minimum wage?
State Sen. Brady: No. People are going to work at their own free will at the price they think they’re worth. Government doesn’t need to be involved in that.
**********************************
The "Public Affairs," show, featuring State Senator and 2010 Republican Primary Guv candidate Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) airs tonight in its regular cable scheduled slots throughout the City of Chicago at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21(CANTV, aka Chicago Access Network TV) and in Aurora and surrounding areas at 7:30 pm on ACTV-10. The Aurora station, ACTV-10, aka Aurora Community Television, Comcast Cable Ch. 10, reaches all of Aurora, Bristol, Big Rock and parts of Oswego, Sandwich, Sugar Grove and Montgomery.
*************************************************
You can also watch the show with Senator Brady, in his 16th year in the General Assembly, on your computer.
****************************************
The show with Senator Brady was taped on April 5, 2009.
****************************************
The "Public Affairs," show, featuring State Senator and 2010 Republican Primary Guv candidate Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) also airs throughout the City of Rockford (and in surrounding areas) this Thursday night, April 23 at 8:00 pm on Cable Ch. 17. Surrounding areas reached by Ch. 17 include Byron, Cedarville, Cherry Valley, Loves Park, Machesney Park, Mount Morris, New Milford, Portions of Ogle County, Oregon, Polo, Stillman Valley, Winnebago, Portions of Boone County and Poplar Grove.
*******************************************
Game Interview with State Senator and 2010 Republican Primary Guv candidate Bill Brady:
--A culture of corruption in the Illinois Democratic Party?
Jeff Berkowitz: Will the deciding issue be, if you do get the nomination for the Republican party, and you are running in the general election, say against somebody like Pat Quinn, Lisa Madigan or Bill Daley… for governor…is the deciding issue social issues or fiscal issues?
State Sen. Brady [R-Bloomington]: I think first of all you've got to--you can't ignore this culture of corruption, the Chicagoland culture of corruption that has put a black eye on Illinois.
Jeff Berkowitz: How does it relate to Pat Quinn?
--The Blagojevich-Quinn administration?
State Sen. Brady: He was part of the Blagojevich administration.
Jeff Berkowitz: He was not-
State Sen. Brady: Wait a second. Pat Quinn was quoted as saying, at the re-election of Blagojevich-Quinn, that Rod Blagojevich was an honest man who only did things in the best interest of the people. Now, he served with him four years.
Jeff Berkowitz: When did he say that?
State Sen. Brady: Just before the election.
Jeff Berkowitz: In 2006?
State Sen. Brady: Yes.
Jeff Berkowitz: He was running with the guy. You understand. You make accommodations. He was the lieutenant governor running for re-election.
--Did Pat Quinn speak out about Blagojevich when he should have?
State Sen. Brady: You don't make accommodations when it comes to corruption.
Jeff Berkowitz: You think he should have criticized his running mate?
State Sen. Brady: Absolutely, sure.
Jeff Berkowitz: You would have done that?
State Sen. Brady: Absolutely.
Jeff Berkowitz: But you know they hadn't talked for a year, year and a half before [Blagojevich] was arrested.
State Sen. Brady: Whose fault is that?
Jeff Berkowitz: Well, I mean Quinn was speaking out and Blagojevich didn't want to talk to him.
State Sen. Brady: It takes two. But the fact of the matter is, if we're going to move this state forward, you've got to remove this black eye and this culture of corruption.
Jeff Berkowitz: Culture of corruption.
State Sen. Brady: And then we've got to focus on rebuilding Illinois' economy. We are the greatest state in the nation.
--Did Sen. Brady speak out about Kjellander and Cellini when he should have?
Jeff Berkowitz: Wait, Bill Cellini, wasn't he indicted at the same time, recently, with Rod Blagojevich and the other Dems? Bill Cellini is a big Republican, right? [See here for discussion of indictment of Republican insider Cellini, included with Blagojevich, et al indictment handed down earlier this month]
State Sen. Brady[R-Bloomington]: Mmmhmm.
Jeff Berkowitz: In fact, he's downstate. Do you know Bill Cellini?
State Sen. Brady: I've met him.
Jeff Berkowitz: You got any association with Cellini?
State Sen. Brady: No.
Jeff Berkowitz: Have you ever spoken out against Cellini?
State Sen. Brady: I've never had an opportunity.
Jeff Berkowitz: Have you ever spoken out against Kjellander [See here for a Berkowitz interviw with Kjellander about, among other things, Kjellander's famous $809,000 fee and his MO]?
State Sen. Brady: I've asked Bob to resign.
--The Daley Ryan Combine
Jeff Berkowitz: But should it be stronger? I'm just saying--you said Quinn didn't do enough to separate himself from Blagojevich. Have you done enough to separate yourself from Cellini and Kjellander and all those Republican partners to the Combine? You know the Combine, right?
State Sen. Brady: I know of it. Let's face it--one of the problems some people have with me--people who have been around for a lot longer time than you and I have-- is that I'm not part of the old school. I'm a relatively independent conservative who speaks to his own values and issues. And that's the kind of governor I'll be.
Jeff Berkowitz: So you're not part of the Republican-Democrat Combine [aka previously as the Daley-Ryan Combine] that John Kass talks about?
State Sen. Brady: No.
--The No New Taxes Pledge
Jeff Berkowitz: All right, so you're a conservative, you're running for Governor on those principles. Are you taking the pledge that you would not increase the income tax or the sales tax during your first four years, if you were Governor?
State Sen. Brady: I have.
Jeff Berkowitz: You've taken that, and you'll take it again?
State Sen. Brady: I have and I will.
--School Vouchers-School Choice
Jeff Berkowitz: You’ll support school vouchers, or no?
State Sen. Brady[R-Bloomington]: You know, I think there's places for vouchers.
Jeff Berkowitz: Would you support school vouchers in Chicago?
State Sen. Brady: I have.
Jeff Berkowitz: Not have you, but would you going forward? Would you go forward and say- they should have a choice, those parents, school choice-school vouchers, in Chicago, where the schools are failing?
--Uncapping the number of Charter Schools
State Sen. Brady: I think they do. Absolutely. If they cannot succeed in those schools, then we need to use every tool possible--be it charter schools, which are doing very well, be it vouchers--
Jeff Berkowitz: Right, but there's a cap. There's a cap on charter schools in Chicago.
State Sen. Brady: You're right.
Jeff Berkowitz: Would you as a governor say-- I am going to the legislature and say, lift the cap? If it's 30 schools in Chicago, 15 in the suburbs, 15 downstate?
State Sen. Brady: Absolutely.
Jeff Berkowitz: Lift it completely, as many charter schools as we want.
State Sen. Brady: Absolutely.
--Taking on the teachers’ unions ?
Jeff Berkowitz: You would take on the teachers' unions? Because you know they would not like that, Bill.
State Sen. Brady: I don't know if we have to take on the teachers' unions.
Jeff Berkowitz: Well, if they're on one side-
State Sen. Brady [R-Bloomington]: I would want to work with the teachers' unions, and work with them to provide the same educational opportunities that children get in every other state in the nation. We need to make a lot of progress. The graduation rate of students in Chicago is horrific. I don't call it taking on. We've got a lot of good teachers who are members of those unions.
Jeff Berkowitz: You have to reform those schools.
State Sen. Brady: We have to reform and we have to make our schools better-
--Merit Pay for Teachers?
Jeff Berkowitz: Merit pay?
State Sen. Brady: Certainly a consideration.
Jeff Berkowitz: What do you mean a consideration? Would you favor merit compensation? Would you favor paying those teachers who perform better than the ones who don't? Would you favor paying them more—favor paying teachers more who perform better?
State Sen. Brady [R-Bloomington]: I favor empowering school boards and parents to make those kind of decisions that work best for their local school. I don't believe that Washington DC nor Springfield-
Jeff Berkowitz: We have to interrupt, just to say, I'd like to thank Bill Brady, who is a candidate for Governor in the Republican primary. We're taping this on April 5th. [The primary is] coming up in February unless the party bosses change that. And, that’s coming up in February, 2010. How do they get in touch with you, Bill?
State Sen. Brady: www.BradyForIllinois.com
Jeff Berkowitz: All right, just go to that website and you can find his smiling face there. He's been, as I said, a state senator for the past seven years, before that, state rep, for eight years. Where'd you graduate from school?
State Sen. Brady: Illinois Wesleyan and Central Catholic High School.
Jeff Berkowitz: So you're a downstater.
State Sen. Brady: Bloomington is home.
--Brady spending time upstate?
Jeff Berkowitz: But you're spending a lot of time upstate these days.
State Sen. Brady: It's a big state, and there's a lot of people up here.
Jeff Berkowitz: You'll come back and discuss the issues?
State Sen. Brady: I enjoy your show, I have always done it.
Jeff Berkowitz: Number one issue, culture of corruption and fiscal issues?
State Sen. Brady[R-Bloomington]: Let me say, it’s not just the the culture of corruption, We have to clean Illinois up but we also have to rebuild our economy.
************************************************
Public Affairs thanks Amy Allen, one of its interns, for preparing a draft of the above partial transcript of our show with State Senator and Republican Primary Guv candidate Bill Brady (R-Bloomington).
***********************************
For more about State Senator and 2010 Republican Primary Guv candidate Bill Brady and the topics covered in our show with Senator Brady (and another partial transcript of the show with Sen. Brady), 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. *************************************************************
"Public Affairs," is a weekly political interview show airing in Chicago on CANTV, in the Chicago metro area, Aurora and Rockford on Comcast and also often on the Illinois Channel. You can watch the shows, including archived shows going back to 2005, here.
************************************************************************
Recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page include the fastest five minutes on the web- a New York Times video about Obama-Berkowitz, a show with State Rep. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) about hot state legislative issues and politics, a show with Bill Brady, State Senator and 2010 Republican Primary candidate for Governor, a show with State Senator and likely 2010 10th CD candidate Susan Garrett(D-Lake Forest), a show with State Rep. Mark Beaubien (R-Wauconda), a show with State Rep. Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago), a show with then IL 5th CD Dem nominee--Cook County Cmsr. Mike Quigley (who recently won the April general election to replace Cong. Rahm Emanuel), the second fastest five minutes on the web- a segment of Bill O'Reilly with Berkowitz discussing a clip of Obama from 2002 on Blagojevich and many more shows. And, see here for very recent postings on our Youtube page.
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