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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
Four distinct attacks have been launched against Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Democratic legislators in the past couple of weeks.
“The Scream:” If you watch Chicago TV, you likely saw a striking TV ad called “The Scream.” The ad featured surveillance camera video of a white woman being mugged in broad daylight by three men in hoodies while she screams. It’s a jarring spot, to say the least. The ad was paid for by Dan Proft’s People Who Play by the Rules PAC, which is backing Darren Bailey for governor.
The ad stirred plenty of controversy, and an attorney for the victim eventually objected to her attack being used in a campaign ad. She’s trying to heal, lawyer Tom Leinenweber told me, “and the Scream ad isn’t helping.” Most Chicago stations had pulled down the ad by week’s end after viewers complained, but the damage was done.
Trespassing: Republicans have claimed the SAFE-T Act has essentially decriminalized trespassing. Bailey said on Facebook police officers could only “write a warning … They cannot forcefully remove these people.” Congressional candidate and Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau went massively viral on TikTok and Twitter with a claim that, “Someone could decide to live in your shed, and all we could do is give them a ticket.” Grundy County Sheriff Ken Briley recently told ABC7 that come Jan. 1, his deputies won’t be able to arrest anyone for trespassing.
SAFE-T Act proponents have called this argument a “lie.” And the Illinois Supreme Court’s Implementation Task Force decreed of the new statute: “Law enforcement do have discretion to remove the person from the location of the alleged criminal activity, and then cite and release the person from another location.”
The meme and the “newspapers:” An internet meme about the SAFE-T Act has been widely shared across all social media platforms. The graphic was produced by WFCN News, which, despite the use of authentic-looking call letters, is not a broadcast station but a website with a distinct attitude. It’s also been used by publications designed to look like newspapers that have been linked to Proft.
The meme and the Proft papers list several “non-detainable offenses beginning Jan. 1, 2023,” including second-degree murder, kidnapping, threatening a public official, drug-induced homicide, burglary etc.
SAFE-T Act proponents and the governor have repeatedly said the law’s abolishment of cash bail would mainly benefit non-violent offenders. While they are not actually “non-detainable,” those crimes would indeed qualify an accused person for release, as long as the person isn’t a flight risk, or if the accused is on release for another alleged crime or is on probation or parole.
Second-degree murder was added to the list because in the year prior to the SAFE-T Act’s passage, nobody was initially charged with the crime in Cook County. It’s almost always used as a fallback position for plea deals.
And burglary, according to a proponent of the new law, “is most often a charge used on the homeless who are sheltering in abandoned buildings,” and those folks end up languishing in jail because they cannot make bail.
Some state’s attorneys and sheriffs also claim they will have no choice but to release people from their jails when the law takes effect Jan. 1, but SAFE-T Act proponents say local authorities can make a case to a judge that it would be unsafe to release the accused.
Migrants: As with previous influxes of asylum seekers, the state, Chicago and Cook County are using hotels for temporary housing, including in the suburbs. Fox News has fearmongered about the migrants for months, and some worry they’re bringing guns and fentanyl with them. Two suburban mayors have complained that hotels in their towns are being used to house the migrants, and local TV news eagerly lapped up the story. One of those mayors, Craig Johnson of Elk Grove Village, demanded to know whether the migrants had been searched for guns, according to the governor’s office.
Individual Democrats and activists have tried to push back on all of this, but they’re swimming up Niagara Falls.
The governor didn’t help matters by admitting last week the SAFE-T Act may need to be tweaked and then wouldn’t say what he wanted changed.
The Democrats say crime isn’t moving any needles in their campaigns. But the Pritzker campaign finally launched a new TV ad on Sept. 16 that attacks Bailey’s legislative voting record on crime. It’s a start.
We’ll have more on the SAFE-T Act aspect in a bit.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Sep 19, 22 @ 9:22 am
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Prosecutors always seem to be complaining about having to do work. Every time a SA is in the news it is complaining that some new law will make them actually have to do their job. I’m not sympathetic when a poor SA has to actually bear the burden of why a person should have to spend an unknown amount of the foreseeable future locked up in jail.
You’re taking away someone’s freedom for an indeterminate amount of time. The absolute least you could do is attempt to convince the judge to make that an affirmative choice, and not just expect locking up people to be the default position.
Comment by Homebody Monday, Sep 19, 22 @ 9:26 am
Just out of curiosity, have any SAFE-T Act critics made an affirmative defense of money bail as a concept? I know they object to the law’s standards for detention, but I haven’t seen anyone explain why “available cash” is a better metric.
Comment by vern Monday, Sep 19, 22 @ 9:41 am
The people I know who object to the SAFE-T Act think the response to people buying their way out of pre-trial detention should have been to stop letting the rich do that. Not sure where I line up on the issue, but I would like to see the next multimillionaire fraudster not handled by the Feds spend a good long time in Cook County Jail before trial — that’s an excellent deterrent in itself.
It’s a different answer and not really viable in the Illinois political climate, but not one that is obviously wrong — at least as a solution to the problem of inequitable pre-trial detention on the basis of wealth.
Comment by NotNotAStateEmployee Monday, Sep 19, 22 @ 9:51 am
If I were Pritzker, I would be seeking federal spending on migrants be based on where migrants are housed in real time (instead of which state housed migrants a couple of years ago), make a comparison to events that bring lot’s of people to town. Over the weekend I recalled the sports media talking about how Jacksonville, FL got overwhelmed by the number of people hosting a Super Bowl brought in (most not going to the game) & think Pritzker should show empathy to places along the border being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers that have arrived there. It would also be a place he could talk about Chicagoland’s ability to handle large numbers arriving.
Comment by Blake Monday, Sep 19, 22 @ 9:54 am
The goal is to get people to vote with their ids rather than their more rational brain. That’s it.
Comment by cermak_rd Monday, Sep 19, 22 @ 9:55 am
“Prosecutors always seem to be complaining about having to do work.”
Come on, be fair. Rule #1 of reporting on criminal justice issues is that you can never mention how lazy most police and prosecutors are.
Comment by Larry Bowa Jr. Monday, Sep 19, 22 @ 10:15 am
What would Republicans have without…fear?
Comment by Dotnonymous Monday, Sep 19, 22 @ 10:58 am
Solid and to the point update on the Governors race.
Not saying this is fair or unfair, but it seems every 6 pm news show presents video suggesting that Gov. Pritzker’s policy on Public Safety has been during the last 4 years is just not working to reduce crime.
On the new Bail Law, it really should have been worked on in a fall session of the General Assembly. The confusion over the new law seems to give the Republicans an important issue to raise with voters particularly at a time where news outlets have been showing pretty graphic videos. Even the Governor says it needs work.
Again, nice review of where the race has been heading.
Comment by Back to the Future Monday, Sep 19, 22 @ 2:30 pm
Rich, good stuff, specifically to where things fit…
… and with the real lacking of the pushback (I know, I’ll get to it) to the Act, and now, late to the game to educate… the amplified thoughts that are “misconstrued”, thanks, Rich, for trying to take down some the discussion to the break down levels.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Sep 19, 22 @ 4:41 pm