Eye on Carol Marin, who is giving a good look at Dan Proft

Carol Marin always gets excited about Cicero. There is something about small town corruption that seems to titillate her in a way that State of Illinois, Cook County or City of Chicago Democratic Party public corruption does not. Last night, Dan Proft, Republican political campaign consultant, media analyst and general PR flak catcher caught Carol’s attention on the local NBC-5 News 10:00 pm broadcast. Or, more precisely, it was Proft’s, or his company, Urquhart Media’s, 318K per year contract with Cicero (and it’s Town Hall builders) that caught Marin’s eye. [For some criticism of Dan Proft in a very different context, go here].

Carol never quite said what she was so upset about. But, this reporter guesses it was the idea that a thirty something PR guy could collect 318K per year for what appears to be 30 hours/week of work. And, because it is from a government entity, i.e., the Town of Cicero, the usual free market checks do not apply. Moreover, Cicero, with its long-time reputation for corruption, makes the contracts with Proft even more suspect.

Apparently, Proft did not give Marin too much, if any, information and he did not return this reporter’s late night call, so we don’t know how Dan might respond to the indictment issued by Carol Marin. But, we suspect Proft might put forth a few defenses: (1) the 30 hours/week could be a minimum hourly requirement and may not be the actual hours worked, (2) lots of highly skilled professionals get above normal hourly rates of compensation; See. e.g., doctors, lawyers, TV analysts, etc. and (3) enhancing the image of Cicero is worth a lot to its taxpayers, meaning Dan might be cheap at twice the price.

The last two factors, above, set this reporter to thinking about Carol Marin. You know, how does that saying go? Journalists who film in glass studios shouldn’t throw rocks? Yeah, that’s the ticket. The best defense is a good offense. Dan might inquire from Carol how much WTTW pays her. After all, she appears on WTTW, a “Public TV,” Station for 15 minutes, two times a week. What is Marin’s salary for that half hour’s worth of work? And, it doesn’t appear that she writes her own copy or questions. If that is true, how much do those “researchers,’ cost. There must be “make up,” people for Carol, maybe a few stylists, a few gophers, right? Those are Marin costs. Any other ancillary costs for Carol’s half hour a week contribution to Chicago Tonight?

So, what is that total cost, including salary and ancillary show and Carol Marin prep costs borne by WTTW for one half hour of air time? 50K, 100K, 200K, dare I guess 318K? Unlikely 318 K, but the point is we don’t know. Well, then shouldn’t Carol tell us. It was too late to call Carol this evening when we were going to press, but perhaps tomorrow we can get a response.

Carol might say—what business is it of yours? Well, WTTW receives some taxpayer support-- isn’t that enough of a rationale? After all, isn’t that why Carol could get Proft compensation information from Cicero—the fact that taxpayers paid for Proft’s salary is a major rationale for FOIAs or Freedom of Information Act requests.

And, what does Chicago Tonight get for Carol’s salary? A tough, but balanced set of questions from Carol to her guests? Balanced? Not so much. This reporter doesn’t know Marin personally, other than to say a friendly hello, but he doubts she would brag she is balanced. His professional assessment is that she is a liberal, in all things, and proud of it.

Tough questions from Carol? No, not so much. Girl next store is her trademark, except when conservatives like Proft present a juicy target. One guesses Carol got a special kick out of tonight’s expose on Proft—perhaps seeing some hypocrisy in Proft’s rants about government waste. Sharp hits on conservatives and crooks? This reporter will stipulate that she does that well.

Most suggest that Chicago Tonight’s budget is stretched a bit by Carol. Can Carol or management, thru ratings or otherwise, demonstrate that Carol’s value added to Chicago Tonight justifies her expense?

Oh boy, now this reporter has three things to look forward to learning on Thursday. Will those Masters of the Universe and towers of economic thought, McCain and Obama, figure out how to spend 700 billion dollars of taxpayer money wisely? Will Dan Proft return this reporter’s call? Will Carol Marin speak with this reporter. Go ahead, everybody, make my day.
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"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 often read Berkowitz's political interviews, analysis and commentary at the Chicago Daily Observer ].

You can contact Berkowitz by sending an email to JBCG@aol.com
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Recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page now include two shows featuring clips and interviews, primarily from the Democratic and Republican National Party conventions, and shows with Cook County Cmsr. and Obama Media Team Member Forrest Claypool, State Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) and State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago), 8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg, our 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.
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A tale of two Illinois Gubernatorial Candidates on taxes: Two Dans, Dan Hynes and Dan Proft

Proft and Hynes: An issue contrast

Here is a contrast I bet no MSM member noticed. Not Carol Marin [Host, WTTW], not Bruce Dold[Tribune], not Laura Washington[Sun-Times] and not Mick Dumke[Reader]. Each of whom appeared last night on "Chicago Tonight," to discuss the Guv Primaries, the U. S. Senate Primaries and the goings on at the Cook County Board. [The program repeats around 5:20 am this morning on ch. 11 in the Chicago Metro area].

Dan Hynes came out of the blocks yesterday, officially, and announced a run for Governor in the Democratic Primary, kicked off with a whopper of an income tax increase. 5.5 billion dollars [about 40% more than his Democratic rival, Gov. Pat Quinn], all from the Illinois individual income tax, and all, said Comptroller Hynes, from those earning more than 200K per year. The increase for those individuals would range from 0.5% to a maximum of 4.5%, meaning those individuals or families at the top income range, over one million dollars, would pay a marginal rate of 7.5 %.

Telling a quite different tale was Republican Primary Gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft, Carol Marin’s would be pin cushion [over the issue of his PR firm’s Cicero compensation]. Proft announced a few weeks ago on “Public Affairs,” he would cut the individual and corporate income tax in Illinois by 50% across the board, meaning the individual rate would fall from 3% to 1.5% and the corporate rate would fall from 4.8% to 2.4%, for all individuals and corporations, irrespective of income.

Proft argued this is necessary [Watch here] to reverse the message that Illinois has been sending that drives businesses and individuals out of Illinois. Proft said on “Public Affairs,” “The only way Illinois is viable short term or long term is to send a signal that we want businesses here because right now the signal that we are sending to the entire globe across the planet is ‘Don’t come to Illinois.’ ”

Questions for Dan Hynes

One question that the WTTW panel might have wanted to ask of Hynes is what kind of message does his tax increase send to small businessmen and businesswomen, many of whom pay individual, not corporate income taxes, and whose contraction would result in lost jobs for other men and women in Illinois. But nobody on the Chicago Tonight panel raised that issue.

Another question to ask Comptroller Hynes would be-- does his estimated increase in tax revenue of 5.5 billion dollars neglect to take into account that at least some individuals with incomes greater than 200K will move to states that do not have such high or “progressive,” income taxes for individuals like them. Because if he didn’t take that outmigration into account, Hynes’ tax revenue estimates are on the high side. This is what Art Laffer might call a “supply side,” or “incentive,” effect. I would have expected Bruce Dold to know this and most likely he does. But, his willingness to remain silent on the issue might explain why he gets invited to Carol Marin’s WTTW parties and this journalist can only watch them.

A question for Dan Proft

Finally, somebody might ask Dan Proft how he would “make payroll,” as they say, in the short-run, for the State. That is, Proft might argue that his tax cuts would ultimately expand the number of people and businesses in Illinois, raising tax revenue. But, that might take some time. What to do in the short-run? Charles Thomas, Political Editor at ABC-7 News, asked that very question to Proft this past Sunday night. Proft’s answer was that (1) he would sell or lease the lottery, a business he doesn’t think the State should be in anyway, for ten to twelve billion dollars (2) Illinois should seek a waiver to use Fed stimulus funds to cover some of these budgetary costs in the short-run]. This should enable the State to get by, as it “fixes,” its revenue system.

Proft gave that answer to Thomas on WVON’s 1690 AM Radio program, “Voice of the people with State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford.” Rep. Ford had invited this journalist to co-host the program and this journalist invited Proft, Thomas and Democratic Cook County Board President candidate Terry O’Brien to join the show as guests.

Proft and O'Brien: Similarities?

There was an interesting convergence of sorts as Republican Proft argued for lower state income tax rates and Democrat O’Brien argued for lower Cook County sales tax rates. And, Thomas and Berkowitz practiced the art of journalism by asking challenging questions. And, Rep. Ford no doubt took some pride in the intellectual diversity his show was bringing to his listeners. You have to wonder if anybody at WTTW was listening.

Eye on Dan Hynes

Oh yeah, it’s possible, but unlikely, some of the above was covered at yesterday's Hynes presser. This journalist is still trying to get on the Hynes media list, so he can get notice of pressers, ask Comptroller and Democratic Primary Guv candidate Dan Hynes these questions directly and know, for sure, what was asked of Hynes. Maybe next week.
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