Better than Charles Thomas w/ Obama:Berkowitz w/Sen. Dillard, who takes a few swings at Ryan on Levine & McKenna as "insider";Cable and Soon Streaming
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Senator Kirk Dillard [Republican Primary gubernatorial candidate]: …You know, many of us remember [Jim Ryan] said he was for House Bill 750 [the tax swap], which is the largest income tax [increase] in Illinois history, but you know he’s sort of dusted himself off after not having been in politics for a while to run again. And, apparently [Ryan] has changed his position with respect to where he’s at on taxes. You know, his biggest, his bigger problem is he’s going to have to explain why he brought probably the mastermind of Rod Blagojevich’s corruption scheme, a man named Stuart Levine into state government. Jim Ryan’s taken almost three quarters of a million dollars from this gentleman and Mr. Levine was one of the first people actually going to jail in the Blagojevich administration, so, you know, Jim’s got, he’s got other issues, along with...
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Senator Kirk Dillard: and I’m not criticizing him for-- but to call Andy McKenna an outsider--he’s much more inside than I am.
Jeff Berkowitz: Is his father, Andy McKenna, Sr…is he somebody who’s been involved with the Democratic Party and Mayor Daley?
**************************
Senator Kirk Dillard [Republican Primary gubernatorial candidate] debates and discusses a broad range of Illinois public policy and cultural issues with show host and executive legal recruiter Jeff Berkowitz on this week’s suburban edition of “Public Affairs.”
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Senator Dillard comes out swinging
Jim Ryan, candidate for Governor in the Republican Primary, may be the only one of the seven Republican Gov candidates who joined Joe Louis as a former Chicago Golden Gloves champ, but it was one of Ryan's competitors, State Senator Kirk Dillard (R-Naperville), who came out swinging on the Sunday before Christmas, when he taped “Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz.” The show airs in twenty-four Chicago metro north and northwest suburbs tonight [See the airing schedule, below].
Ryan’s return from political retirement
Polls in primaries are notoriously inaccurate, as they seldom pick up the intensity of the activists who dominate the primaries for both major political parties. Nevertheless, Jim Ryan, who came out of political retirement recently, after a long and continuing stint in the ivory towers of academia and a few years on the board of Ralph Martire’s left wing Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, is in second place in the recent Chicago Tribune poll with 26 % of the vote, trailing only “undecided,” at 31%. Senator and gubernatorial candidate Dillard, with 9%, is in 5th place in the poll, bunched with Senator Brady and businessman [and former State GOP Chairman] Andy McKenna, Jr. at 4th and 3rd Place, with 10 % and 12 % of the vote, respectively.
Only 90,000 votes to win the Republican Gubernatorial Primary?
The 2002 Republican Gubernatorial Primary (won by Jim Ryan with 44% of the vote over conservative Senator Pat O’Malley and moderate Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood) drew around 700,000 voters statewide. With the election scheduled for February 2, 2010 instead of the usual mid-March date, making snow and ice perhaps the climate du jour, and the possibility of the vote being split relatively equally among seven candidates, it is possible that the voter turnout could drop to 500,000 votes, with the winning plurality less than ninety thousand votes. If that happens, any one of the seven candidates could win, including the wealthy, small businessman Adam Andrzejewski, media personality Dan Proft or DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom. Those three candidates polled individually at 6%, or less, in the recent Tribune poll.
Dillard, riding tall with the still popular Jim Edgar
Fifteen-year State Senator Kirk Dillard (R-Naperville) has been endorsed by perhaps the most popular Republican in the State, the last elected Illinois Governor not to be indicted, Jim Edgar. Dillard was Chief of Staff for Edgar during Edgar’s first term as Governor, a period in which Edgar and Dillard guided the state out of a recession. Senator Dillard, somewhat immodestly, recently characterized (on WBBM’s “At Issue) that 1991-94 period of governance as “flawless.”
Dillard: throwing heavy punches and sharp elbows at Ryan and McKenna; the Stu Levine story
In Sunday’s taping of “Public Affairs,” in addition to outlining the positive program Senator Dillard would put forward to promote economic recovery and make the State a “Destination Economy,” for business, Dillard threw some heavy punches and sharp elbows at his opponents. One of his targets was Jim Ryan, the aforementioned “leader of the pack.” [except for undecided, that is]. Ryan has what many pundits view as a “Levine problem,” relating to Jim Ryan’s long time close association with and receipt of campaign contributions from Stu Levine, the now convicted felon and co-conspirator with Tony Rezko in the alleged rape of the State by the impeached, arrested, indicted and awaiting trial Rod Blagojevich.
Jim Ryan’s previous support for a big time income tax increase
People have been wondering when the six trailing competitors of Ryan were going to “go negative on Jim.” Of course, each of those guys would prefer a “SOD,” action. That is, they want “some other dude,” to do it. Whoever goes negative on Ryan risks driving his own negatives up as he drives the positives of Jim Ryan down and the negatives of Jim Ryan up. In any case, Senator Dillard started chipping away at Ryan’s lead on Sunday. Senator Dillard also threw a jab, or two, at Jim Ryan’s previous support for “the largest income tax increase in Illinois’ history.” Read about it, below.
McKenna: political outsider or insider?
Another one of Dillard’s targets on Sunday was Andy McKenna, Jr., known for his recent “hair ads,” that cost a million dollars, or so, to try to persuade voters that McKenna, albeit State GOP chairman for five years, a candidate for the U. S. Senate in the 2004 Republican Primary and a part of a family that is said to have been immersed in the Chicago Civic, Business and Democratic Party establishment for decades, is a “political outsider.” Senator Dillard started stripping away, on Sunday, that “political outsider capital,” in which McKenna, Jr. has so heavily invested. Read about it, below.
McKenna and Ryan: ducking and dodging?
Both McKenna and Ryan, by the way, have declined to appear on “Public Affairs,” preferring less rigorous questioning and more of a “Rose Garden,” setting. Jim Ryan avoided the show completely during his last gubernatorial run, as well. McKenna did appear once when he ran for the U. S. Senate but he declined numerous invitations during his five year State GOP Chairman’s tenure.
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Our show with Senator and Republican Gov candidate Kirk Dillard will soon be streaming here.
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Jim Ryan’s tax problem and Stu Levine problem
Senator Kirk Dillard [Republican Primary gubernatorial candidate]: …You know, many of us remember [Jim Ryan] said he was for House Bill 750 [the tax swap], which is the largest income tax [increase] in Illinois history, but you know he’s sort of dusted himself off after not having been in politics for a while to run again. And, apparently [Ryan] has changed his position with respect to where he’s at on taxes. You know, his biggest, his bigger problem is he’s going to have to explain why he brought probably the mastermind of Rod Blagojevich’s corruption scheme, a man named Stuart Levine into state government. Jim Ryan’s taken almost three quarters of a million dollars from this gentleman and Mr. Levine was one of the first people actually going to jail in the Blagojevich administration, so, you know, Jim’s got, he’s got other issues, along with that tax increase to explain.
Jeff Berkowitz: Well, [Ryan] says he didn’t know anything about that; that was a secret life, [Ryan’s] implying even Levine’s wife didn’t know anything about it. She’s divorcing him now-divorcing Stu Levine. So, what are you holding Jim Ryan accountable for? Are you saying he did know what was going on? When he took that money?
What should Ryan have known and when should he have known it? The judgment issue.
Senator Kirk Dillard: Having been a Governor’s Chief of Staff, you better know who’s around you. I mean, we’ve seen this before and when you’re the Chief Executive of the State, you better know who’s around you, who are your friends—and, you know, [Ryan’s] going to have to answer how, as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of this State [and before that], the State’s Attorney of my county [DuPage], how in the world could you not know that a man who when he pled said he was a career criminal since adulthood and masterminded one of the biggest corruption schemes and started to unravel the Blagojevich administration. He’s one of [Ryan’s] closest friends. You know, you’ve got to have judgment. As the Governor, you better know who’s around you. And, you know, [Ryan] can come on here and he can explain that, but, there’s a lot of us that have raised eyebrows about whether you’ve got the judgment as to who’s around you when you’re in the Governor’s office or not, when you have a friend like Stu Levine.
Jeff Berkowitz: Now, McKenna says we need an outsider [for Governor]. He would say you’re an insider. You’ve been …what do you say to McKenna. Do you concede that you are an insider? What do you say?
Dillard: Experienced or an insider?
Senator Kirk Dillard: I concede that I have very unique experience and that’s why I’m running. I was Jim Edgar’s Chief of Staff. I’ve managed the State before in a recession. Managed it well. Downsized state government and we grew manufacturing jobs, Jeff, at a rate greater than the national average …I think that experience is what Illinois needs at this time. We need a Governor that knows how to create jobs and my destination economy plan is the best of any candidate that’s out there. And, there has been nobody who has had the experience in this race of myself in managing the state like it is. You know, I kind of laugh, as do most of the pundits in Illinois—I mean, Andy McKenna was the Chairman of the [Illinois] Republican Party. He comes from a family that is as socially and civically tied in in Chicagoland as anybody, so you know I just kind of laugh when he’s-
Jeff Berkowitz: Is Andy tied in—
McKenna, Jr.: A political insider?
Senator Kirk Dillard: and I’m not criticizing him for-- but to call Andy McKenna an outsider--he’s much more inside than I am.
Jeff Berkowitz: Is his father, Andy McKenna, Sr…is he somebody who’s been involved with the Democratic Party and Mayor Daley?
The McKennas and Obama
Senator Kirk Dillard: That I don’t know. I do know that the McKennas have made contributions to Barack Obama and you know I’m sure if you look at the McKenna family donations, they probably have given money to Democrats over time.
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From Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz, taped on December 20, 2009
************************************************************
The Chicago Metro suburban episode of "Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz," featuring this week's guest, Senator Kirk Dillard (R-Naperville), Republican Primary candidate for Governor, airs:
tonight, Tuesday night, 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 night, 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.
The Chicago Metro Suburban edition of "Public Affairs," usually airs, as well, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Bannockburn, Deerfield, Ft. Sheridan, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods and Winnetka.
Due to a transfer this month of control of broadcast facilities from Comcast to the Village of Highland Park for the above referenced ten suburbs, the airing of Public Affairs in those ten suburbs has ceased for the month of December, but will resume, on the same airing schedule, on January 4, 2010. We anticipate airng the Public Affairs show featuring Senator Kirk Dillard, discussed above, during that first week of January, 2010 in the aforementioned ten suburbs, in the same time slot we have previously aired, i.e., Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19
********************************************************
The Public Affairs show, featuring State Senator and Republican Primary gubernatorial candidate Kirk Dillard also will air on Monday night, January 4, 2010, throughout the City of Chicago at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21
******************************************
More than 118 of our shows from the last two years are posted on the Public Affairs YouTube page . Now streaming are our most recent shows w/Cong. Danny Davis, Patrick Collins, former Chairman of the Illinois Reform Commission; Democratic Primary candidates: for State Comptroller, Raja Krishnamoorthi; for U. S. Senate, David Hoffman; for 7th CD, Chicago Ald. Sharon Denise Dixon; [24th Ward]and for State Comptroller, Clint Krislov.
******************* .
Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com.
****************************************
Senator Kirk Dillard [Republican Primary gubernatorial candidate]: …You know, many of us remember [Jim Ryan] said he was for House Bill 750 [the tax swap], which is the largest income tax [increase] in Illinois history, but you know he’s sort of dusted himself off after not having been in politics for a while to run again. And, apparently [Ryan] has changed his position with respect to where he’s at on taxes. You know, his biggest, his bigger problem is he’s going to have to explain why he brought probably the mastermind of Rod Blagojevich’s corruption scheme, a man named Stuart Levine into state government. Jim Ryan’s taken almost three quarters of a million dollars from this gentleman and Mr. Levine was one of the first people actually going to jail in the Blagojevich administration, so, you know, Jim’s got, he’s got other issues, along with...
********************************
Senator Kirk Dillard: and I’m not criticizing him for-- but to call Andy McKenna an outsider--he’s much more inside than I am.
Jeff Berkowitz: Is his father, Andy McKenna, Sr…is he somebody who’s been involved with the Democratic Party and Mayor Daley?
**************************
Senator Kirk Dillard [Republican Primary gubernatorial candidate] debates and discusses a broad range of Illinois public policy and cultural issues with show host and executive legal recruiter Jeff Berkowitz on this week’s suburban edition of “Public Affairs.”
********************************
Senator Dillard comes out swinging
Jim Ryan, candidate for Governor in the Republican Primary, may be the only one of the seven Republican Gov candidates who joined Joe Louis as a former Chicago Golden Gloves champ, but it was one of Ryan's competitors, State Senator Kirk Dillard (R-Naperville), who came out swinging on the Sunday before Christmas, when he taped “Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz.” The show airs in twenty-four Chicago metro north and northwest suburbs tonight [See the airing schedule, below].
Ryan’s return from political retirement
Polls in primaries are notoriously inaccurate, as they seldom pick up the intensity of the activists who dominate the primaries for both major political parties. Nevertheless, Jim Ryan, who came out of political retirement recently, after a long and continuing stint in the ivory towers of academia and a few years on the board of Ralph Martire’s left wing Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, is in second place in the recent Chicago Tribune poll with 26 % of the vote, trailing only “undecided,” at 31%. Senator and gubernatorial candidate Dillard, with 9%, is in 5th place in the poll, bunched with Senator Brady and businessman [and former State GOP Chairman] Andy McKenna, Jr. at 4th and 3rd Place, with 10 % and 12 % of the vote, respectively.
Only 90,000 votes to win the Republican Gubernatorial Primary?
The 2002 Republican Gubernatorial Primary (won by Jim Ryan with 44% of the vote over conservative Senator Pat O’Malley and moderate Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood) drew around 700,000 voters statewide. With the election scheduled for February 2, 2010 instead of the usual mid-March date, making snow and ice perhaps the climate du jour, and the possibility of the vote being split relatively equally among seven candidates, it is possible that the voter turnout could drop to 500,000 votes, with the winning plurality less than ninety thousand votes. If that happens, any one of the seven candidates could win, including the wealthy, small businessman Adam Andrzejewski, media personality Dan Proft or DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom. Those three candidates polled individually at 6%, or less, in the recent Tribune poll.
Dillard, riding tall with the still popular Jim Edgar
Fifteen-year State Senator Kirk Dillard (R-Naperville) has been endorsed by perhaps the most popular Republican in the State, the last elected Illinois Governor not to be indicted, Jim Edgar. Dillard was Chief of Staff for Edgar during Edgar’s first term as Governor, a period in which Edgar and Dillard guided the state out of a recession. Senator Dillard, somewhat immodestly, recently characterized (on WBBM’s “At Issue) that 1991-94 period of governance as “flawless.”
Dillard: throwing heavy punches and sharp elbows at Ryan and McKenna; the Stu Levine story
In Sunday’s taping of “Public Affairs,” in addition to outlining the positive program Senator Dillard would put forward to promote economic recovery and make the State a “Destination Economy,” for business, Dillard threw some heavy punches and sharp elbows at his opponents. One of his targets was Jim Ryan, the aforementioned “leader of the pack.” [except for undecided, that is]. Ryan has what many pundits view as a “Levine problem,” relating to Jim Ryan’s long time close association with and receipt of campaign contributions from Stu Levine, the now convicted felon and co-conspirator with Tony Rezko in the alleged rape of the State by the impeached, arrested, indicted and awaiting trial Rod Blagojevich.
Jim Ryan’s previous support for a big time income tax increase
People have been wondering when the six trailing competitors of Ryan were going to “go negative on Jim.” Of course, each of those guys would prefer a “SOD,” action. That is, they want “some other dude,” to do it. Whoever goes negative on Ryan risks driving his own negatives up as he drives the positives of Jim Ryan down and the negatives of Jim Ryan up. In any case, Senator Dillard started chipping away at Ryan’s lead on Sunday. Senator Dillard also threw a jab, or two, at Jim Ryan’s previous support for “the largest income tax increase in Illinois’ history.” Read about it, below.
McKenna: political outsider or insider?
Another one of Dillard’s targets on Sunday was Andy McKenna, Jr., known for his recent “hair ads,” that cost a million dollars, or so, to try to persuade voters that McKenna, albeit State GOP chairman for five years, a candidate for the U. S. Senate in the 2004 Republican Primary and a part of a family that is said to have been immersed in the Chicago Civic, Business and Democratic Party establishment for decades, is a “political outsider.” Senator Dillard started stripping away, on Sunday, that “political outsider capital,” in which McKenna, Jr. has so heavily invested. Read about it, below.
McKenna and Ryan: ducking and dodging?
Both McKenna and Ryan, by the way, have declined to appear on “Public Affairs,” preferring less rigorous questioning and more of a “Rose Garden,” setting. Jim Ryan avoided the show completely during his last gubernatorial run, as well. McKenna did appear once when he ran for the U. S. Senate but he declined numerous invitations during his five year State GOP Chairman’s tenure.
************************************************
Our show with Senator and Republican Gov candidate Kirk Dillard will soon be streaming here.
*************************************************************
Jim Ryan’s tax problem and Stu Levine problem
Senator Kirk Dillard [Republican Primary gubernatorial candidate]: …You know, many of us remember [Jim Ryan] said he was for House Bill 750 [the tax swap], which is the largest income tax [increase] in Illinois history, but you know he’s sort of dusted himself off after not having been in politics for a while to run again. And, apparently [Ryan] has changed his position with respect to where he’s at on taxes. You know, his biggest, his bigger problem is he’s going to have to explain why he brought probably the mastermind of Rod Blagojevich’s corruption scheme, a man named Stuart Levine into state government. Jim Ryan’s taken almost three quarters of a million dollars from this gentleman and Mr. Levine was one of the first people actually going to jail in the Blagojevich administration, so, you know, Jim’s got, he’s got other issues, along with that tax increase to explain.
Jeff Berkowitz: Well, [Ryan] says he didn’t know anything about that; that was a secret life, [Ryan’s] implying even Levine’s wife didn’t know anything about it. She’s divorcing him now-divorcing Stu Levine. So, what are you holding Jim Ryan accountable for? Are you saying he did know what was going on? When he took that money?
What should Ryan have known and when should he have known it? The judgment issue.
Senator Kirk Dillard: Having been a Governor’s Chief of Staff, you better know who’s around you. I mean, we’ve seen this before and when you’re the Chief Executive of the State, you better know who’s around you, who are your friends—and, you know, [Ryan’s] going to have to answer how, as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of this State [and before that], the State’s Attorney of my county [DuPage], how in the world could you not know that a man who when he pled said he was a career criminal since adulthood and masterminded one of the biggest corruption schemes and started to unravel the Blagojevich administration. He’s one of [Ryan’s] closest friends. You know, you’ve got to have judgment. As the Governor, you better know who’s around you. And, you know, [Ryan] can come on here and he can explain that, but, there’s a lot of us that have raised eyebrows about whether you’ve got the judgment as to who’s around you when you’re in the Governor’s office or not, when you have a friend like Stu Levine.
Jeff Berkowitz: Now, McKenna says we need an outsider [for Governor]. He would say you’re an insider. You’ve been …what do you say to McKenna. Do you concede that you are an insider? What do you say?
Dillard: Experienced or an insider?
Senator Kirk Dillard: I concede that I have very unique experience and that’s why I’m running. I was Jim Edgar’s Chief of Staff. I’ve managed the State before in a recession. Managed it well. Downsized state government and we grew manufacturing jobs, Jeff, at a rate greater than the national average …I think that experience is what Illinois needs at this time. We need a Governor that knows how to create jobs and my destination economy plan is the best of any candidate that’s out there. And, there has been nobody who has had the experience in this race of myself in managing the state like it is. You know, I kind of laugh, as do most of the pundits in Illinois—I mean, Andy McKenna was the Chairman of the [Illinois] Republican Party. He comes from a family that is as socially and civically tied in in Chicagoland as anybody, so you know I just kind of laugh when he’s-
Jeff Berkowitz: Is Andy tied in—
McKenna, Jr.: A political insider?
Senator Kirk Dillard: and I’m not criticizing him for-- but to call Andy McKenna an outsider--he’s much more inside than I am.
Jeff Berkowitz: Is his father, Andy McKenna, Sr…is he somebody who’s been involved with the Democratic Party and Mayor Daley?
The McKennas and Obama
Senator Kirk Dillard: That I don’t know. I do know that the McKennas have made contributions to Barack Obama and you know I’m sure if you look at the McKenna family donations, they probably have given money to Democrats over time.
*************************************************
From Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz, taped on December 20, 2009
************************************************************
The Chicago Metro suburban episode of "Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz," featuring this week's guest, Senator Kirk Dillard (R-Naperville), Republican Primary candidate for Governor, airs:
tonight, Tuesday night, 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 night, 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.
The Chicago Metro Suburban edition of "Public Affairs," usually airs, as well, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Bannockburn, Deerfield, Ft. Sheridan, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods and Winnetka.
Due to a transfer this month of control of broadcast facilities from Comcast to the Village of Highland Park for the above referenced ten suburbs, the airing of Public Affairs in those ten suburbs has ceased for the month of December, but will resume, on the same airing schedule, on January 4, 2010. We anticipate airng the Public Affairs show featuring Senator Kirk Dillard, discussed above, during that first week of January, 2010 in the aforementioned ten suburbs, in the same time slot we have previously aired, i.e., Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19
********************************************************
The Public Affairs show, featuring State Senator and Republican Primary gubernatorial candidate Kirk Dillard also will air on Monday night, January 4, 2010, throughout the City of Chicago at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21
******************************************
More than 118 of our shows from the last two years are posted on the Public Affairs YouTube page . Now streaming are our most recent shows w/Cong. Danny Davis, Patrick Collins, former Chairman of the Illinois Reform Commission; Democratic Primary candidates: for State Comptroller, Raja Krishnamoorthi; for U. S. Senate, David Hoffman; for 7th CD, Chicago Ald. Sharon Denise Dixon; [24th Ward]and for State Comptroller, Clint Krislov.
******************* .
Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com.
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