Sunday, May 17, 2009

Better than ABC's Desperate Housewives: Berkowitz joins Gene Mullins on Roeser's radio show tonight to discuss Desperate Pols

Jeff Berkowitz will join Gene Mullins, a Todd Stroger spokesperson, 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.
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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.

Political personalities or desperate pols who might be discussed tonight include President Obama, Gov. Palin, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, Republican House Leader Tom Cross, Senate President Cullerton, Senate Republican Leader Radogno, Democratic and Republican Guv candidates too numerous to mention, Cong. Schakowsky, Cong. Kirk, Treasurer Giannoulias, Chris Kennedy, Cheryl Jackson, Cong. Jackson, Rush Limbaugh, Sen. Dillard, DuPage County Board Chairman Schillerstrom, DuPage SA Birkett, John Kass, Mike Flannery, Carol Marin, Cmsrs. Peraica, Claypool and Schneider; Paul Vallas, Sen. Murphy, Gov. Quinn and many, many more.

Tonight's show may touch on:

-- Did Obama make the right decision about fighting the release of pictures of detainees arguably being treated by Coalition interrogators in a cruel and inhumane manner?

--Why did President Stroger fail to pay all his taxes in 2008?

--Did Cong. Kirk decide to postpone his decision about running for the U. S. Senate in 2010 until Lisa Madigan makes her choice of races? Always the Gentleman, that Cong. Kirk.

--Why did President Stroger hire Tony Cole? Ron Burleson?

--Will Senator Garrett (D-Lake Forest) defer to Sen. Bond and/or Dan Seals in 2010 in the 10th CD Dem Primary?

----Will the Cook County Board override, this Tuesday, Todd's veto of the sales tax repeal?

-Is WTTW's Chicago Tonight in need of an aggressive political interviewer to boost its sagging ratings and its lack of ideological balance? Which cable TV personality in the Chicago Metro area could meet that need?

--Is Gene Mullins a bail bondsman? Donna Dunnings? Have Credit, will travel?

--Is Gov. Pat Quinn's constitutional officer colleague," Attorney General Lisa Madigan, getting "fired up and ready to go," to challenge Quinn for the Gov position in 2010?

--Was Donna Dunnings the "Fall girl," or "Spring girl."

--Will Lisa pull the trigger by June or is Speaker Mike really concerned about the damage that could be done to the IL Dem Party by a fierce Guv primary?

--Might Speaker Mike be willing to change the primary date to June?

--Will Lisa get more specific about the spending cuts she would make in lieu of a tax increase to narrow the deficit?

-- Who would Mayor Daley prefer for Cook County Board President: Forrest Claypool, Paul Vallas or Toni Preckwinkle? Is that a possible fall choice?

--Is Joe Birkett's time for leadership in the Illinois Republican Party still viable. Will he run for Guv in the 2010 Primary? Taking on Senator Matt Murphy? Sen. Bill Brady? Ron Gidwitz? Schillerstrom? Dan Proft? Adam Andrzejewski?

--Will the base forgive Joe for joining the Topinka ticket in 2006? When they heard, did they say, "Say it ain't so, Joe."

--Will the base forgive Brady for not supporting Dillard earlier this year for Senate Republican Leader and for opposing SB 600?

--Will the base forgive Sen. Murphy for not supporting SB 600?

--Will the Republican base forgive anybody? WWJD?

--Could Cong. Kirk beat Chris Kennedy if both run for U. S. Senator in 2010?

--Who wins a Kirk-Giannoulias 2010 U. S. Senate face-off? A Kirk- Schakowsky face-off. How big a factor is Robert Creamer in a Schakowsky senate race. Did the polls really handle that issue?

-- Is Lisa Madigan looking more like a beatable candidate for Governor in the Dem. Primary? What philosophy, if any, does she have about government? tax cuts? education? Does she need one if she has 3.5 million dollars in cash on hand?

--Does AG Madigan engage in Pay to Play or do contributors give her money purely out of their devotion to "Good Government."

-- Does Pat Collins have political appeal? For 2010?

--Will there surely be an income tax increase in Illinois in 2009? Will Quinn own it? Can Lisa Madigan credibly disown it?

--Does the Democratic city wing of the IL Democratic Party want a much larger NET income tax increase than Quinn has proposed.

--Does the suburban wing of the IL Dem party want a higher threshhold for families paying higher income taxes?

--Who wins? The Suburban Dems or City Dems?

--Could Pat Quinn be persuaded not to run in 2010?

--Can Lisa Madigan oppose a tax increase that her father, Speaker Mike, facilitates and promotes?

--Will Senator Burris tough it out until the end of his term in 2010? Could he win a three way primay race with three strong white opponents? Giannoulias, Schakowsky and Kennedy? Would President Obama endorse Giannoulias in that race? Over Senator Kennedy's nephew?

--What will it take for the Illinois Republican Party to become the party of ideas? Somebody realizing they could take some ideas from the Illinois Policy Institute? Somebody realizing they could take some ideas from the Heartland Institute? Has a candidate already started to do that?

--Who would be next in line among the Republicans to run for Governor if that's how that decision were made? Joe Birkett? Who does Bob Kjellander want there? Who does the recently indicted Bill Cellini want there? Is the Illinois Combine alive and well? Is the Pope Catholic?

--How important is Chairman McKenna to who becomes the Republican State-wide nominees?

--Will Illinois Republicans be able to unite around the new Senate Republican Leader Christine Rodogno, and the continued leadership of House Republican Leader Tom Cross, both of whom are moderates, at least on social issues.

--Can Andy McKenna, Jr. hang on as State GOP Chairman for another year? Or, did his opposition to SB 600 doom him with the party activists?

--Will State GOP Chairman Andy McKenna, Jr. be kicked upstairs soon? After two State general election disasters under the "Leadership of McKenna," are the money guys getting restless? Are there any money guys left in State GOP? money ladies? bag ladies?

--Did Chicago Tonight manage to do its 100th consecutive interview of a liberal book author recently Do conservatives not do book tours in Chicago? Or, does the Chicago Tonight staff just not read the books of those authors?

--What examples would Chicago Tonight give of ideological diversity among their interviewers?

--Was putting Palin on the ticket a major mistake by McCain?

--Did Sarah Palin demonstrate she has insuffient knowledge of domestic and foreign policy issues to be the Republican front-runner for 2012

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, national and Obama transition issues, possibly selected from the above, or below, questions, some of which are holdovers from prior episodes of "Political Shootout," or "Public Affairs."

--Could Paul Vallas win as a Republican candidate for Governor?
Could he get out of the R Primary?

--Does the Chicago Public School system spend more than $15,000 per kid per year to try to educate kids? Did Arne Duncan tell the truth about this? Does Ron Huberman tell the truth about this? If not, why not?

--Will the Illinois Republican Party restore its brand by opposing the Quinn income tax increase? Will Cross and Radogno keep the party united on this issue?

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

-- Did RNC Chairman Michael Steele do a good job of speaking to the DuPage County Republicans (and to the media) in February?

Did Steele make a mixtake when he criticised Rush Limbaugh? or, was it a mistake to apologize to Rush? Did Steele make a mistake when he spoke recently of a woman's individual choice on the abortion issue?

--Will Kjellander be indicted? Cellini convicted?

--Will U. S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald be promoted? be removed? fall off a horse?

--Will Al Sanchez sing? More Heartburn for Mayou Daley's ears?
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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.
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Other 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 Tom Bevan, Executive Editor of RealClearPolitics and a show with conservative activist Joe Morris about SB600 as a litmus test for reformers, **********************************************************************