September 26, 2012
O'DONNELL FRUSTRATED BY "FIVE-FACED" KOTOWSKI
ANALYSIS & OPINION BY RUSS STEWART
It is conventional political wisdom that you can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but that you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Scrub "conventional political wisdom" in the 28th Illinois Senate District contest. Incumbent Dan Kotowski is the exception. Darwin's evolutionary theory is the survival of the fittest. Kotowski, a Park Ridge Democrat who was first elected in 2006 in a historically Republican district, is proof positive of the survival of the glibbest.
"He is absolutely, totally two-faced," said Republican Jim O'Donnell, Kotowski's opponent in the November election. "There is the 'Springfield Danny,' who provided the critical 30th vote to pass the state income tax hike and who votes like (Senate President John) Cullerton tells him, and there is the 'Park Ridge Danny,' who talks like a Republican."
Actually, O'Donnell is mistaken. Kotowski is not "two-faced," which is defined by Webster's Dictionary as deceitful or hypocritical. He's really five-faced, which rates an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. Here's why:
There's the "Disingenuous Danny," which means not candid or sincere. Kotowski bellows that he will "end business as usual" in Springfield. "Had enough of the same old, same old?" he carps in his mailers.
Yet Kotowski has been part of the Democrats' Illinois Senate majority for 6 years, and he was the chairman of the Revenue Committee and the vice chairman of the Appropriations I and Appropriations II committees. The Democrats have controlled all the levers of state government since 2002. In the past 8 years, since Kotowski launched his political career in 2005, he has raised a whopping $3,142,441 in campaign donations.
"I've reached out to people," Kotowski said. His "reach" has certainly hit the jackpot. The Illinois Senate Democratic Fund, which is run by Cullerton, has given Kotowski $329,272, and the Senate Democratic Victory Fund has given him $50,000. The Illinois Trial Lawyers have donated $41,000, the pro-choice Personal PAC $42,483, and five unions -- the Illinois Education Association, the Chicago Teachers Union, the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the City Colleges teachers union -- have contributed a combined $206,015. That's the "same old business as usual" folks shoveling $668,770 into Kotowski's coffers.
But give Kotowski credit: He's raised $2,473,671 from other, non-insider sources. In fact, as of July 1, Kotowski had $551,537 in cash on hand. For a guy who postures as an outsider, he has an insider's knack for raising money.
There's the "Dissembling Danny." He's "actually doing something to make Illinois better," his fliers blare. Like raising taxes -- but he's not a tax hiker. According to Kotowski, the state income tax increase was a "spending reform."
"It was necessary after decades of fiscal mismanagement by both parties," he states, adding, "The critical issue was to fix our state." Unfortunately, $5 billion later, it's still unfixed, with all the tax money allocated to state pensions.
Kotowski hypes the fact that he "broke with party leaders" in 2006 and "refused to endorse" Democrat Rod Blagojevich for re-election as governor. "I wrote in Dick Durbin," he said. That's odd. A check of the Illinois State Board of Elections Web site indicates that 20,607 write-in votes were cast for 17 different candidates, and not one was recorded for Durbin.
Kotowski's fliers boast that he "led the fight" to cut politicians' pay and perks, but so did a bunch of other senators. The bill to eliminate legislator-granted scholarships was co-sponsored by five senators, including two Republicans, and the bill to bar legislators' cost of living hikes and mandate 12 furlough days was co-sponsored by four other Democrats. However, on a bill that really mattered, removing the $250,000 cap on corporate and union spending for state candidates and the $100,000 cap for legislative candidates, Kotowski was MIA.
There's the "Dreamer Danny." Illinois must "live within its means," emphasized Kotowski, who said he sponsored and passed legislation that the state not spend more than is received by the general revenue fund, which was $33.7 billion in fiscal 2013. How nice. "We can't keep throwing good money after bad," Kotowski said, but that didn't stop him from voting to borrow money to pay state debts. In fact, this year Kotowski voted to issue $1.6 billion in state bonds for road construction.
Kotowski waxes ecstatic over his chairmanship of the Budgeting for Results Commission. "We look at the historical background, the value of the service compared to the tax, and the goals," Kotowski said. "We saved $700 million in 2011 and $1 billion in 2012." That's incredible. This guy is the Grim Reaper incarnate. If he were a Republican, he would be called insensitive and uncaring.
Ironically, Kotowski advocates eliminating funding for all part-time commission and board appointees.
There's the "Reformist Danny." He is "standing up to party leaders" in Springfield, Kotowski's literature asserts, claiming that "decades of corruption by politicians of both parties has poisoned the culture of state government." It's great to know that Kotowski has a firm grasp of the obvious. Let's blame Blagojevich and George Ryan, not Cullerton and Mike Madigan.
"I'm the most independent Democrat" in the Illinois Senate, Kotowski said. That's odd. The adjoining vote chart indicates otherwise. Of the 22 roll calls taken in the 2012 session, Kotowski differed with Senate President Pro Tem Don Harmon, Cullerton's chief cheerleader, just once -- on the casino issue. To be sure, Kotowski voted to cut the state budget, but then so did every other Democrat, and he voted to cut Medicaid by $1.6 billion and to require pensioned state employees to pay more toward health care premiums, like most Democrats.
There's "Tough Guy Danny." "Punishing political corruption," screams the tagline of his recent mailer, claiming that he "led the fight" and "passed laws" on ethics reform to "eliminate waste and corruption." What would we do without you?
"I'm for term limits," insists Kotowski, but only for legislative leaders and committee chairmen, not for himself and other legislators. That certainly generates a few smirks from Cullerton and Madigan, who have been in office a combined 76 years.
There's the "Ignore that I'm a Democrat Danny." Nowhere on Kotowski's fliers is there any mention of party. "He talks like a Republican, but he votes like a Democrat," O'Donnell wryly observed.
In the 28th District race, there's no dearth of talk and no love lost between the candidates. "He's a career politician," O'Donnell said. "His idea of good government is more government. His idea of job creation is more taxes. His idea of reform is to keep (Governor Pat) Quinn and the Democrats in control."
O'Donnell, of Park Ridge, calls himself a "career small businessman." He is the vice president and chief financial officer of a precision parts manufacturer in Hanover Park.
"I'm a capitalist," O'Donnell said. "He's a statist. I want to cut taxes. He wants to increase taxes, and then give tax credits to businesses. I want to repeal the income tax hike. His vote enacted it. I believe that the free market will spur an economic recovery. He wants government to do it."
"He's a hypocrite," Kotowski responded, charging that O'Donnell's company got a $1.7 million state tax break. "I favor responsible incentives for business expansion. I supported a $2,500 tax credit for every new business hire. I supported an $800 million state program for technological development, which created 3,500 jobs."
If elected, O'Donnell promises to opt out of the state pension system. "There is presently an $85 billion state pension deficit, with $600 billion owed and $70 billion in the fund," O'Donnell said. "Other states are curing their pension problems, but not Illinois," he said, citing Wisconsin, Indiana, New Jersey and Ohio. O'Donnell wants to freeze cost of living adjustments and raise the retirement age.
The remapped 28th District was designed by Cullerton to elect a Democrat. Previously concentrated in the Route 72 (Higgins Road) corridor between Park Ridge and Elk Grove, it was moved west to include Schaumburg, Roselle and parts of Palatine, Hanover Park, Bartlett and Bloomingdale. More than 40 percent of the district, west of Interstate 290, is new. Sixty percent of Park Ridge was chopped out.
The outlook: Both candidates are campaigning strenuously in the west end of he district, but the veteran Kotowski is the more energetic, having been dubbed "Energizer Danny" in past races. He will, with Cullerton's aid, spend more than $1 million, most on direct mail in which he will glibly say whatever he needs to say to win. O'Donnell raised just over $250,000, which puts him at a disadvantage. Kotowski will win by 2,000 votes.
Listed in the adjoining vote chart, along with Kotowski, are seven other Democrats: Don Harmon of Oak Park, Jeff Schoenberg of Evanston, and Chicagoans Ira Silverstein, Heather Steans, John Mulroe, William Delgado and Iris Martinez. Schoenberg is retiring, and all except Harmon are unopposed.