Under the guise of open public discussion, the City of Davenport is conducting a serious spin campaign. Last week's town-hall budget meeting was advertised as "an opportunity for the public to hear from city officials and staff about the operating and capital budgets of the city and an opportunity for public input on priorities for city services, infrastructure, and programs.
I had to read twice Tom Lundy's letter ("Clean Up Davenport: No Vacancy for the Homeless") in the 400th issue of the River Cities' Reader (November 13-19, 2002) before I realized that it was not tongue-in-cheek.
It is curious the Bush Administration would be faulted, or credited for that matter, for the sluggish economy based upon the president's income- and estate-tax cuts that passed in 2001, because most of those cuts will not take place until 2005 and 2006.
The Federal Election Commission's vote on November 25 to allow campaign committees to pay a salary to candidates for Congress and the presidency might on the surface seem like a terrible idea. Why should fat-cat politicians be allowed to skim cash off the tops of their campaign war chests? Don't they have enough perks as it is? But the idea has merit - a lot of merit, actually - even though it doesn't go far enough.
Some top Illinois Republicans are making a lot of noise lately about finding a candidate to run against Senator Peter Fitzgerald, a fellow member of the GOP, in two years. But is their publicity barrage against the incumbent freshman a warning that he faces defeat, or is it just a shot across his bow to remind him that he needs to start being more cooperative in Washington, or, at least, be a little more quiet? Whatever.
It would behoove any journalist to use more than one source for information for an article. It seems you have consulted Mr. Guard, and only Mr. Guard for the information in your article. (See "Davenport School-Board Member Guard on the Guard," River Cities' Reader Issue 400, November 13-19, 2002.
Downtown Davenport's "number one" corner at Second and Main is really coming to life these days. The exterior renovation of the Redstone (formerly Peterson/Von Maur Department Store) building as part of the Vision Iowa project is phenomenal.
Congressmen almost never have much influence in Illinois politics. The political class sometimes even ships them off to Washington to get them out of the way - often to keep them from running for a truly important job, like alderman.
Employment Uncertainty and the Holiday Season Thanksgiving is the start of the holiday season. The holiday season is a time when families, friends and acquaintances gather in an expression of goodwill and comradery.
Every legislative session has its own feel, and its own rhythm. This fall's veto session feels like death - in more ways than one. One should never predict anything about what could happen in a veto session, but nothing big seems to be moving or percolating this fall.

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