LAKE JACKSON, Texas - The Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign announced today that constitutional and international law expert Bruce Fein will join the campaign as senior advisor on legal matters.

"Bruce Fein's participation adds to our campaign's already intellectual heft, enabling us to more broadly engage the conversation about constitutionality, civil liberties and the dangers to national security of an increasingly interventionist foreign policy," said Ron Paul 2012 Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton.

Mr. Fein served as associate deputy attorney and general counsel to the Federal Communications Commission under President Ronald Reagan.  He served as Research Director for Republicans on the Joint Congressional Committee on Covert Arms Sales to Iran, and on the American Bar Associations Committee on Presidential Signing Statements.  He has been a Visiting Fellow for Constitutional Studies at the Heritage Foundation and an adjunct scholar at American Enterprise Institute.  He has advised numerous countries on constitutional reform, including South Africa, Hungary and Russia.

Mr. Fein graduated from Harvard Law School with honors in 1972.  He has worked in and out of government in Washington, D.C. for 39 years, and penned a weekly column for The Washington Times for more than two decades.  He is a frequent witness before Congress.

Mr. Fein is the founding member of Bruce Fein & Associates, Inc., and is a principal of a public advocacy organization, The Lichfield Group.

He is the author of Constitutional Peril:  The Life and Death Struggle for our Constitution and Democracy, andAmerican Empire Before The Fall.

About his appointment, Mr. Fein stated:  "I am honored to advance the Republican presidential aspirations of Ron Paul.  He is the only candidate in the field who understands and practices the constitutional principles and philosophy of the Founding Fathers that made this nation a government of the people, by the people, for the people.  He is the only candidate who knows that limited government and war are antonyms, not synonyms.  He is the only candidate who repudiates aimless, endless wars at extravagant expense.  And Dr. Paul is the only candidate that recognizes that the glory of a Republic is liberty, not domination."         

Group of Budget Experts Will Recommend Steps to Implement Budgeting for Results; Bring Greater Accountability and Transparency to Budget Process  

CHICAGO - August 22, 2011. In a key step in reforming the state's budget process, a commission named by Governor Quinn held its first meeting Friday in Chicago to help guide the implementation of Budgeting for Results. Enacted last year by the General Assembly, Budgeting for Results (BFR) is a tool to help government agencies set priorities, meet goals, deliver excellent services and achieve the best value possible to taxpayers.  

"Budgeting for Results represents a major step toward smarter, more transparent government and greater accountability across all agencies," Governor Quinn said. "This commission will help Illinois deliver essential services in the most efficient, effective way possible, and ensure that taxpayers are getting the results from government they expect and deserve."  

Private business has long employed a similar management model to improve performance through clearly defining and aligning objectives across organizations. Rather than setting budgets for each agency separately and based on historical funding levels, BFR allocates scarce resources based on government-wide goals. BFR calls on every agency of government to make the case for its budget each year measured in terms of its success delivering results and value to the people of Illinois. The budgeting shift will encourage innovation and performance among agencies, and allow taxpayers to see the true impact of their tax dollars.   

For the fiscal year 2012 budget, the first year of BFR, agencies and departments were required to justify budget requests based on results achieved in the following priority areas set by the Governor:  

 1.     Quality education and opportunities for growth and learning for all Illinois students;  

 2.     Enhanced economic well-Being of citizens;  

 3.     Protection of citizens' lives and property;  

 4.     Protection of the most vulnerable of our citizens;  

 5.     Improved quality of life of citizens; and  

 6.     Improved efficiency and stability of state government.  

The commission will make recommendations on the Governor's priority areas and proposed outcomes, propose a percentage of the overall budget to be assigned to each results area, and review current spending mandates.

The commission is composed of Illinois legislators, executive staff, outside experts and stakeholders. Senator Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge) serves as chairman of the commission and was co-sponsor of legislation enabling Budgeting for Results.

"I am honored to be appointed chairman of the Budgeting for Results commission," Sen. Kotowski said. "This bipartisan commission will implement a framework to cut, eliminate, reform and fund agencies and programs based on performance, not politics and self-interest. Illinois families live by these principles every day and now the state government will as well."

The other commission members are:

Hon. Sheila Simon, Lieutenant Governor;

State Senator Tony Munoz (D - Chicago);

State Senator Pam Althoff (R - Crystal Lake);

State Representative Will Davis (D - Hazel Crest);

State Representative Kent Gaffney (R - Lake Barrington);

Hon. Will Burns, Alderman, City of Chicago;

John Bouman, President, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law;

Carole Brown, Managing Director, Barclays Capital;

Larry Joseph, Director, Budget and Tax Policy, Voices for Illinois Children;

Jim Lewis, Senior Program Officer, Chicago Community Trust;

Lyle Logan, Vice President, Northern Trust Bank;

Dr. Roger Myerson, Glen A. Lloyd Professor of Economics, University of Chicago;

Maria de Jesus Prado, President, Prado & Renteria;

Alex Rorke, Co-chair, Illinois Economic Recovery Commission;

Jose Sanchez, CEO and President, Norwegian American Hospital;

Steve Schnorf, Budget Consultant;

Kevin Semlow, Director of Legislative Affairs, Illinois Farm Bureau and;

Donna Sims Wilson, Executive Vice President, Castleoak Securities.

"It is a privilege to serve the state of Illinois on the new Budgeting for Results Commission," Roger Myerson, Noble Prize winning economist said. "This commission reflects a broad commitment by Governor Quinn and the legislature to improve the process by which this state makes tough fiscal choices. We will work to develop better measurements of government performance and budgetary transparency."

"The appointed Commissioners are a good cross-section of private and public sector individuals," Rep. Kent Gaffney (R-Lake Barrington) said. "The task ahead will become more difficult as we work towards a plan to allocate scarce state funds in a manner that will improve the business climate and overall economic situation of our state, while also improving the quality of life for Illinoisans."

Appointees from the Governor's executive staff are Cristal Thomas, Deputy Governor, and John Kamis, Senior Advisor to the Governor.

The commission will issue a report the Governor and the General Assembly by Nov. 1 each year, starting in 2011.

 

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Hammond-Henry Hospital to hold open house for South Services Building

Geneseo, IL - A milestone event will take place on Sunday, August 28th for Hammond-Henry Hospital in Geneseo, IL. From 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. an open house will be held to commemorate the end of construction on the new South Services Building located at 600 N. College Avenue in Geneseo, IL. Press is invited to attend and encouraged to enter the hospital through the south entrance on College Avenue.

The South Services Building includes new locations for the clinical pharmacy, social services, home health services, material management, maintenance and IT areas. The second floor of the facility features areas for physical rehabilitation services such as physical therapy, cardiac rehabilitation, occupational therapy and speech therapy. This includes a state-of-the-art aquatic therapy pool, complete with treadmill, underwater observation cameras and a virtual lift. The rehabilitation suite also includes a rooftop therapy area.

The South Services Building is the second completed phase of the larger 73,000 s.f. Designed to be Patient Kind addition/renovation project that is currently taking place at Hammond-Henry Hospital. Construction on this phase began in August 2010. The remainder of the Patient Kind project phases, which includes demolition and renovation of the existing hospital, will be completed by October 2012.

"This is a big step in the project for us," stated Brad Solberg, CEO of Hammond-Henry Hospital. "The design of this building goes a long way in meeting the needs of our patients, visitors and staff."

Hammond-Henry Hospital was established in 1901, utilizing approximately 62 acute and long-term care beds and serves nearly 20,000 residents in the Geneseo, IL area. For more information on Hammond-Henry Hospital, please visit their website at www.hammondhenry.com.

Russell Construction, located in Davenport, IA, is serving as the Design/Builder and General Contractor on this new addition project. Shive-Hattery, located in Moline, IL is providing architect and engineering services. The Patient Kind Addition is the third project that Russell Construction has completed for Hammond-Henry Hospital since 2004. Previously, Russell constructed a 34,000 s.f. addition and renovation to their existing hospital in Geneseo, IL and a 3,500 s.f. medical office building in Colona, IL. For more information on Russell Construction, please visit their website at www.russellco.com.

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LAKE JACKSON, Texas - A new Gallup poll of registered voters shows 2012 presidential candidate Ron Paul locked in a tight race with President Obama. Ron Paul is tightly competitive versus President Obama, doing better than a majority of the other Republican contenders. The poll gives Paul 45 percent of the vote versus the incumbent president in a head-to-head matchup.

"This push for true leadership over the status quo is gaining more support," said Ron Paul 2012 Campaign Manager John Tate. "In poll after poll, Americans are eager for real change and looking for a leader who stands for individual liberty and limited government, and who follows the Constitution."

Paul is coming off of a strong finish in the Iowa Straw Poll, where he barely missed the top spot by less than one percent. In addition, recent surveys taken in both New Hampshire and Iowa show the Congressman in the top three of Republican contenders.

The Gallup survey, conducted August 17-18, shows Paul only 2 points behind Obama in a general election match up. In a similar head to head survey from last year done by Rasmussen, Paul actually drew a statistical dead heat with the President. And earlier this year in a survey by CNN, he did the best out of the other Republicans put up against Obama in a head-to-head poll.