Comments on: An update on Joe Ricketts pursuit of public funding for the Cubs

By: The Rabbit

The Rabbit — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:56:12 +0000

Unless the local or State citizenry has a direct vote on a particular expenditure, there isn’t a difference…..and it’s disingenuous for organizations such as “Taxpayers Against Earmarks” to infer that there is.
Once again, Craig has succinctly described the connection: Local budgets in most States rely on its share of State funding and States can live or die on Federal monies.
While the media and some politicians love to rail against “earmarks” the fact is that there are some very convoluted formulas (by category) for State Aid. Some have existed for decades.
Because backroom deals to tweak those formulas may have far exceeded the monies spent in earmarks, I’m immediately suspicious of the unstated agendas of some of these organizations and politicians whose mere existence are generally found to be funded by trust fund babies, the uber-rich, and corporations.
Call me cynical, but for groups such as these, I assume that the reason that they focus on federal matters is that a state/local representative can be purchased at the Dollar Store and Congress is more like shopping at Neiman-Marcus.

/Former Aide to a State Senator who was Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee

By: apbaguy

apbaguy — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 05:55:33 +0000

Craig-you’re going to have to move to CA if you keep this up. No taxpayer funded stadiums here anymore.

By: johnvmoore

johnvmoore — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 03:28:17 +0000

Hey Craig here is an interview Tom Ricketts did on Chicago Tonight this evening. He dodged the question about his father’s statement.

http://www.wttw.com/chicagotonight/video/zJm9G_Dui_L__xuBW69yNXvTJd_jJBd6/

Also, the old man did an OpEd on Politico re: earmarks: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45225.html

By: crankyfrankie

crankyfrankie — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:41:38 +0000

The idea that any sports team should ask for and receive government subsidies has always struck me as wrong. Go get them Craig and godspeed.

By: jh0088

jh0088 — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 23:17:18 +0000

Hey Craig,

Be careful here bro, you are starting to blur the line between average joe blogger and bona fide reporter. You’re calling and checking facts, asking for quotes and trying to get your story straight here. All that is well and good, but once the general public begins to expect honest “jounalistic integrity” from you just how are you going to tear into the Braves with an “opinion” not based on carefully researched and vetted facts?

Quit while you’re ahead my friend. Stay a blogger and hold onto 16 as long as you can.

By: Reflex

Reflex — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 22:28:48 +0000

This is truly fantastic. Keep up the good work Craig, and I’d like to see more of this.

By: johnvmoore

johnvmoore — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 22:17:56 +0000

Update the Cubs are saying that their plans have not changed.

By: schlom

schlom — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:51:08 +0000

Well, isn’t there a difference between getting money that’s voted on by the local population (like the Mesa Spring Training Facility) and an earmark? I don’t think that it’s necessarily hypocritical to be against earmarks and also take money from the local or state government. Or are we claiming that government spending is government spending – voted on or slipped into a bill by a Congressman, there is no difference?

By: easports82

easports82 — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:41:51 +0000

Well that’s just stupid hypocrisy. “We care about the federal government wasting money, not the state”. How about the fact that many states balance their budgets by getting federal money? Government waste is government waste.

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:21:13 +0000

If you get an answer being nice i’ll be shocked. This is great, don’t back off because it’s not about bats and balls, it’s still about the country and the sport. Craig, you could really open a can of worms for this guy. Which is good. In my job I get this run around all the time. Threats work. Honestly they really do. Use the NBC name, you are now a Journalist, and tell them you’re about to let loose a sh!t storm in the media and you’d like to at least give them a chance at rebuttal before it hits the main stream. I’ll bet you they get back to you then.

By: cwkash

cwkash — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:11:36 +0000

Give’em hell Craig!