Hi. This is Ken Dunkin and I’m sure you’ve heard some things about me. But, baby, I’m back.
I’m running as an independent Democrat who will hold Republicans and us Democrats accountable to taxpayers.
Silly name calling does absolutely nothing towards job creation, school funding or stopping crime in our communities.
I want to hear from you. Please go to my website kendunkin2018.com or call me at (312) 414-7106. Help offer legislative solutions. Thank you. I’m Ken Dunkin and I approved this message.
* The Question: Your message for Mr. Dunkin? Snark is heavily encouraged, of course.
…Adding… Silly me, I didn’t even check out Dunkin’s new website. I kid you not, here’s a screen cap of part of his home page…
* Gov. Rauner told the Tribune editorial board today that he was excited to have “personally recruited” Erika Harold into the attorney general’s race because retiring incumbent AG Lisa Madigan, who was “loyal to her father”…
She and I together will transform this state. Having an attorney general who’s not actually undermining me every day, just working for her dad, blocking our initiatives, never defending our administration when we’re taking strong, tough actions. It’s been a nightmare for me not to have an attorney who is working for taxpayers and our administration.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the Kwame Raoul campaign…
Bruce Rauner already bought one constitutional office and it’s clearer than ever that Illinoisans can’t afford to let him buy another.
We’ve seen this horror movie before. Bruce Rauner and his Comptroller “shook up” Springfield with a 793-day-long budget crisis which led to multiple credit downgrades, the erosion of the state’s safety net and a record bill backlog. Now Bruce Rauner wants a taxpayer-funded legal department to help promote his anti-worker Turnaround Agenda and guard his administration in secrecy.
Illinoisans deserve an Attorney General who will stand up for them AND win on their behalf. Kwame Raoul is the only candidate who has stood toe to toe with Bruce Rauner’s anti-worker agenda and won.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Jesse Ruiz…
Governor Rauner today whined to the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board that Attorney General’s Lisa Madigan’s refusal to do his bidding has been a “nightmare.” Rauner complained about how difficult it is for him to have to deal with an Attorney General who insists on upholding the law and protecting the rights of the people of Illinois.
Rauner’s comments were eerily similar to President Trump’s recently reported complaints about the apparent unwillingness of the “Trump Justice Department” to blindly follow every whim of the White House.
Although he took a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution, Rauner clearly fails to understand that the Attorney General is accountable to the people and the Constitution. We need a forceful, independent-minded advocate in the Attorney General’s office - not Bruce Rauner’s hand-picked political stooge.
I am proud of my record of standing up to the powerful. So when I’m elected as Illinois’ next Attorney General, I’ll keep on giving Bruce Rauner nightmares - and I’ll keep on fighting for everyone’s chance to achieve the American Dream.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Former Gov. Pat Quinn…
“The Office of Attorney General must be an independent lawyer for the people of Illinois, not beholden to Bruce Rauner and his ruthless agenda. Attorney General Lisa Madigan has been a strong advocate for Illinois consumers, taxpayers, and workers. Apparently, by doing her job, she’s causing nightmares for Bruce Rauner.”
In a visit Friday to Springfield, Kenilworth resident Kennedy — son of the late ROBERT F. KENNEDY — told me that his family has always been Democratic but has taken on the party when needed.
His uncle, President JOHN F. KENNEDY, had to fight fellow Democrats who didn’t want a Catholic elected president in order to win that office in 1960, he said. His father in 1968 ran to take over from the Democratic administration of President LYNDON JOHNSON because RFK didn’t want more “young Americans” sent to Vietnam. And his uncle, the late Sen. TED KENNEDY, ran against President JIMMY CARTER because he thought Carter “sided with the big banks” against people hurting from high interest rates.
“I don’t think the system that we have in Illinois is representative of the values of the Democratic Party, and if I have to speak out against it, I will,” he said.
Sen. Kennedy ran against President Carter because of the banks? Learn something new every day, I guess.
* Anyway, while Kennedy proudly pointed to his ancestors’ fights against the Democratic machine, he told a woe-is-me story at a Saturday candidates’ forum…
In the Democratic Party all the money really flows at the behest of the Speaker of the House and if you cross swords with him that flow of money will be cut off.
If you look at how I’ll react to that, well you can see, you can see from the history of the primary, what’s happened during this election. I spoke truth to power, I said what Mike Madigan is doing is not illegal but it should be. And that money was cut off. I was threatened by him, I was told not to speak out against him by people associated with the party. And I said ‘No, I’m gonna speak the truth, what’s happening with the property tax racket is destroying our schools, dooming the next generation to a life of economic servitude.’
I spoke out against Rahm Emanuel and what’s happening in the City of Chicago, and my donors dropped.
* Meanwhile,last Friday we discussed Bob Daiber’s call to tax retirement income and Sen. Daniel Biss’ assertion that he’d be open to the tax idea under a progressive tax structure. JB Pritzker opposes the tax, but Chris Kennedy’s campaign didn’t respond.
* Well, WMAY’s Jim Leach had Kennedy on his show later that day…
JIM LEACH: Another issue that’s just arisen in the last couple of days, and we’re going to be talking a lot about taxes at every level, from progressive income tax to the sales taxes I know you’ve talked about in recent days. There’s also a proposal out now to tax retirement income in the State of Illinois. Bob Daiber’s put this forward, Daniel Biss has said it might work in the context of a graduated income tax. Your thoughts on whether Illinois should tax retirement income?
KENNEDY: I mean, in a flat tax environment I, absolutely, I don’t think we should do that. I think the average retiree, pensioner in Illinois makes, I don’t know, under $20,000 a year. Do I think that’s how we should pay for our government? By taxing people who make less than $20,000 a year? Absolutely not.
LEACH: If we move to a graduated income tax at some point would that be on the table then? Retirement income?
KENNEDY: I mean, I don’t know what that looks like. I mean, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts we’d all have a merry Christmas, so I don’t know, what…
LEACH: But you want to move to a progressive income tax?
KENNEDY: Absolutely, absolutely.
LEACH: If we do that, under your plan…
KENNEDY: If we means tested, if we means tested, um, retirement income. If you could say OK, people who have more than $250,000 a year household income and have retirement income, could that be part of progressive income tax? I think it could.
* Hinz: What Kennedy got right about Cook County property taxes: When I’ve talked to Berrios’ staff about this, they’ve said sales often are a lousy basis for a valuation. Instead the primary factor Berrios uses is building income, a somewhat more subjective standard in my view, but one that Berrios says the courts insist upon. Problem is, some tax experts say Berrios is wrong. The preferred factor set by courts in the key cases is the last sales price, not income stream, according to Civic Federation President Laurence Msall, whose group specializes in property taxation. Local officials have the discretion to use other factors, but only if there’s a problem with the sales data, such as no recent sales, he adds. I get a similar story from Berrios predecessor Jim Houlihan, who has endorsed Kennedy but who I’ve always found to be an honorable man. Assessors use three factors: replacement costs, income and sales, he says. And, he says, it’s “b.s.” to insist, as Berrios does, that sales data ought not usually play a major role.
Following a debate at the Tribune this morning with Governor Rauner, Jeanne Ives just disclosed a $500K contribution from Richard Uihlein.https://t.co/ndggdlwOGc
At the end of December Ives reported $404K cash on hand, including today she has added about $580K since bringing her estimated total to around $1 million.
“This helps level the playing field,” said an Ives spokeswoman. “Because of people like Uihlein, voters now will know there’s a choice in the election.”
Even bigger money would help now, but the spokeswoman said she does not know if more is coming.
Rauner’s campaign had no immediate comment. He lately has been pretty much ignoring Ives to attack Democratic front-runner J.B. Pritzker, releasing a new anti-Pritzker TV ad earlier today.
Uihlein donated at least $2.6 million to Rauner in the 2014 election cycle and gave $2 million in 2016 to Rauner’s hand-picked state comptroller, Leslie Munger, who lost to Democrat Susana Mendoza.
Ives contended Rauner’s signature on legislation that expanded taxpayer-subsidized abortions for women covered by Medicaid and state employee health insurance demonstrated that all the governor accomplished in his first term was a “progressive social agenda.”
“He told us he would veto the bill,” she said. He lied to a cardinal,” she said, a reference to Cardinal Blase Cupich.
Rauner would not say what he told Cupich about the abortion legislation, but called Ives’ allegations “outrageous.”
“There are a lot of politics swirling around the bill,” said Rauner, who repeatedly added that “the simple fact is I support a woman’s right to decide.” The governor said his choice to sign the bill was either to “follow what I believe or do politics.”
* Other highlights…
"That was quite a filibustering screed." - @GovRauner to the often-interrupting @JeanneIves at their @Trib_ed_board joint-appearance where she oddly defended Madigan from being called a crook by Rauner who made the implausible claim he can unseat the speaker. @wlsam890#ilgov
"you don't need legislative authority to propose a balanced budget. He never proposed a balanced budget" Ives says….Rauner counters………"That's false." ……
Listening to the Rep. Jeanne Ives talk about coalition building to get things done.. is the best thing I have heard so far.. Rep. Ives the bridge builder said no one ever. #Twill
Rauner says Madigan "would love nothing more" than Ives to win the GOP primary because "I am the only person at this table who can beat Pritzker in November."
What will be different in second term? Rauner: "Not only will I be able to block the gerrymandering from Madigan this time, but I led the effort to get two lawsuits to SCOTUS. These two lawsuits will transform Illinois."
Rauner: "My first few years in office, I've laid the dramatic change for my second term." Ives: "That is completely untrue." Watch: https://t.co/KI76s2eQNT
And the time he cites as getting over on Madigan, he says he got Ken Dunkin not to come down to Spfld on the arbitration bill. He got voted out in '16, he's back on the ballot now. Your choice, 5th District.
“After manufacturing a 736-day budget crisis, adding billions to our state’s bill backlog, holding school funding hostage, and decimating Illinois’ social safety net, there aren’t many questions that are easy for Bruce Rauner to answer,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “After today, it’s no surprise Rauner doesn’t want to defend his failed leadership.”
Our Revolution Illinois—one of the largest grassroots progressive organizations in Illinois and the statewide chapter of the national organization, Our Revolution, that grew out of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign— is excited to announce its endorsement of State Senator Daniel Biss in the Illinois gubernatorial race ahead of the March 20 Democratic primary.
There has been a growing surge of support for Senator Biss’ people-powered campaign since Our Revolution Illinois’ gubernatorial forum last October which was co-sponsored by over 50 grassroots and progressive organizations across the state. Further, in a recent internal statewide poll of nearly 40,000 progressives across the state, Senator Biss was the overwhelming favorite.
“Daniel Biss and Litesa Wallace will bring fairness, reform, and middle-class values to Springfield,” said Clem Balanoff, Chair of Our Revolution Illinois. “For the first time in many years, working men and women have a true voice and champion in our next governor and lieutenant governor.”
Balanoff further added, “Daniel has been a longtime champion of increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. He has been a longtime supporter of Medicare-for-All, because he understand that healthcare is a right and not a privilege. He has been a leader in the fight for education funding, including free tuition at public colleges and universities. And Daniel understands the need to get the state’s financial house in order by changing the tax system so that those who can most afford it will pay their fair share.”
“It’s an honor to receive the endorsement of Our Revolution Illinois,” said Daniel Biss. “We share a vision for this state: of a government accountable to middle-class and working people, and of universal healthcare, living wages, and tuition-free higher education. Just as importantly, we share a plan to make this vision a reality. By joining together in this election to organize our communities, we can transform our political system at its core and build a state that works for us.”
Rebecca Abraham, board member of Our Revolution Illinois and elected Sanders delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, added, “I am a nurse and mother of two. While some may be hedging their bets on the person with the most money to defeat Bruce Rauner, I am taking into consideration the lives of my patients and the future of my children. I am excited to say that I am voting for Daniel Biss and I strongly urge fellow progressives across the state to do the same. Daniel has the most progressive plan that will expand medical and social services for seniors, children, and families.”
Our Revolution Illinois is dedicated to building on Bernie Sanders’ core set of values — the values and agenda that electrified Illinois voters in the March 2016 primary and won Bernie Sanders 24 of 50 wards in Chicago, 79 of Illinois’ 102 counties, 11 of 18 congressional districts and almost a million votes across the state.
Daniel Biss today released the following statement in response to WCIA-TV’s report detailing how JB Pritzker transferred hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Hyatt Hotel Corporation stock from offshore accounts in the Bahamas to shell companies established in South Dakota and Nevada:
“JB Pritzker has claimed to be the solution, but today’s report detailing his latest tax scandal is more proof that he’s a continuation of the problem.
“JB’s repeated tax schemes don’t just cheat the state — they cheat middle-class and working families who have to make up for his tax evasion with higher taxes and reduced services. JB transferred money from offshore accounts to out-of-state shell companies that were not listed on his Statement of Economic Interest. This report has raised some alarming questions, and now JB Pritzker is asking us to take him at his word that he paid his fair share in taxes while still refusing to release his full tax returns. We should all be offended.
“We can’t trust a billionaire who benefits from the broken system to fix it. And we certainly shouldn’t elect one as the next governor of our state.”
OK, this was part of an interesting turn of events. A WCIA story was posted at 3:58 Friday morning, but was then taken down. Click here for the original, which I saved on my hard drive, and click here for the revised story, which was posted Friday night.
* The initial explanation for why the first story was taken down…
The Pritzker campaign has asked for time to respond to this story. We have decided to temporarily suspend the article until we can include their full response. https://t.co/bqW35mXmEu
An anonymous Twitter account accused @JBPritzker of “financing his campaign by liquidating offshore assets.” The SEC documents we found don’t prove that. They do show Pritzker dumped $220M in stock just as his prospects for a job in @HillaryClinton’s cabinet went up in smoke. https://t.co/BlY2qsXKyn
* The Pritzker campaign, however, still has problems with the revised story…
This “story” connects completely unrelated dates and facts and is a lesson in why regurgitating an anonymous political twitter account is so dangerous. Before taking anonymous information riddled with innuendo and parading it around as news, it would serve the voters to get the facts right first.
Below are excerpts from the story and bullets correcting inaccurate information:
In a series of tweets reminiscent of the now infamous WikiLeaks rollout of hacked DNC emails, the mysterious schemer peddled a web of tax avoidance theories which claim, with scant evidence, that Pritzker began filling his massive campaign war chest by “liquidating offshore assets” and funneling the money through shell companies in Nevada and South Dakota.
* This sale in question only concerns a domestic trust.
* No disbursements from offshore trusts ever went to trust companies in South Dakota or Nevada.
* Money from offshore trusts only goes to charity, and this sale has nothing to do with an offshore trust.
* The documents show the trust being a domestic trust.
SEC filing forms show the shares were cashed out and distributed into the Pritzker Family Foundation, which operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity. According to tax documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service in 2015, the Pritzker Family Foundation reported it held over $104 million in assets that year.
* This is false. The SEC documents do not show that.
* This sale is from a domestic trust set up in Illinois.
* It doesn’t matter where the trustee or the trust company is located, taxes have to be paid based on where the trust was set up.
* All applicable federal and state (Illinois) taxes were paid as a part of this transaction.
According to insider transaction documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Pritzker began unloading his shares of Hyatt Hotel Corporation stock on August 19th, 2016, less than one month after Julian Assange first published emails damaging to Hillary Clinton on WikiLeaks. At the time, Pritzker was heavily invested in Clinton’s presidential bid, donating over $15 million to Priorities USA Action, the pro-Clinton super PAC then run by current Pritzker campaign manager Anne Caprara.
* The timeline of Hillary Clinton’s campaign has nothing to do with the timing of the sale.
* At the time of the first sale, August 19, there was no indication that Hillary was going to lose the election.
* The Pritzker family has restrictions on when they can sell Hyatt stock. Other Pritzkers sold stock around that time as well.
It was only after the trove of WikiLeaks emails was released, some of which contain fundraising emails and conversations with Pritzker himself, did he begin moving money out of his Hyatt fortune in the Bahamas to establish what would become, ostensibly, a hedge bet against Clinton’s unlikely loss in November. Pritzker personally signed off on the documents that show he used shell companies established in South Dakota and Nevada to complete the multi-million dollar transactions.
* Again, this transaction has nothing to do with the Bahamas. If you look at the linked document it’s from 2010, not 2016.
* The Pritzker family has restrictions on when they can sell Hyatt stock. Other Pritzkers sold stock around that time as well.
* Hillary Clinton’s campaign had nothing to do with the timing of the transaction. Again, everyone thought she was going to win until election day. Even Trump’s campaign thought he was going to lose on election night.
* They’re not shell companies, they’re trustees
* No money from offshore trusts ever went to trust companies in South Dakota or Nevada.
Each of these stock transactions appears to have been conducted legally, but Pritzker’s political rivals will almost certainly raise questions about the timing and the ethics of the maneuvers, the civic duty of would-be public servants to pay taxes, the apparent contradiction between his transactions and his public statements calling on the wealthy to “pay their fair share,” and his pledge on Tuesday night to create a “truly blind trust” that would separate him from conflicts of interest.
* These transactions were done legally. Period.
* Trusts for JB’s benefit paid all applicable taxes on these transactions as Mark reports in the paragraphs previously.
* Chicago Board of Election Commissioners hearing officer Maurice Sone has recommended that Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) remain on the ballot because he has two more signatures than the minimum 1,000…
City election officials initially determined that Silverstein was about 45 signatures short, prompting a hearing at which lawyers for both sides were able to make their case.
Silverstein’s lawyer initially presented affidavits that were supposed to attest to the veracity of 116 of the signatures in question. Sone, however, compared the signatures on those affidavits to the signatures on the original petitions and was not convinced by the vast majority of them, rehabilitating just 26 of them. By the end of the first day, Silverstein appeared to be still 19 short of the minimum.
On the following hearing day, Silverstein appeared with more than two dozen of his allies, who testified in person that some of the petition signatures in question were theirs. A handwriting expert also gave hours of testimony defending many signatures that had been called into question.
Lawyers for the district resident trying to get Silverstein kicked off presented their own handwriting expert, and they offered several affidavits from people who said they were falsely identified on Silverstein’s petitions. Those attorneys also argued that Silverstein’s campaign had mishandled the process because a watcher from his campaign was not always present to defend the signatures as they were called into question during the board’s initial review.
Despite the recommendation, one of the attorneys contesting the petition says that the fight to rule Silverstein off of the ballot is not over.
“There are insufficient signatures, which we proved,” election attorney Burt Odelson said. “The board or the court will rule him off the ballot. (It’s) almost unbelievable an incumbent senator didn’t have enough signatures.”
Silverstein is in a five-way primary for the 8th District Senate Seat on Chicago’s North Side that he has held for 18 years. […]
While Sunday’s ruling was certainly good news for Silverstein, the decision is not final and the battle is not over yet. The Electoral Board was slated to consider Sone’s recommendation in a meeting Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.
Regardless of what happens now, it’s clear an incumbent Senator who is also a ward committeeman with an aldermanic spouse was so damaged by the Rotheimer allegations that he had very real trouble gathering enough petition signatures to safely put him on the ballot. And the incumbent has spent the past several weeks trying to stay on the ballot instead of campaigning.
Does [Sen. Silverstein] want to offer anyone an apology? “I don’t want to answer that,” he said. “I wouldn’t do what I did again, but I’m moving on.”
* However, Rotheimer is planning a press conference today intended to criticize the inspector general. Press release…
I am going to speak on the flaws, inconsistencies, victim-blaming tactics, omissions and contradictions in Julie Porter’s report on her investigation into the Silverstein “Abuse of Power” complaint I filed in 2016 and attached. She promised the public that she would conduct a thorough and complete investigation which she did not.
There were two issues at hand in Porter’s investigation:
1. Allegation Silverstein behaved unethically by using his status as the bill’s sponsor to cultivate a personal relationship with Rotheimer.
2. Allegation Silverstein killed the bill in retaliation for what he believed to be Rotheimer’s relationship with another man. […]
There will be other survivors at the press conference on Monday, January 29, 2017 at 11 a.m. to discuss similar grievances from the way their complaints are being handled.
The longtime top watchdog for Illinois’ troubled child-welfare system — who’s been highly critical of the agency’s former director leading up to his resignation amid a corruption scandal last year — is now being replaced by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Gov. Bruce Rauner announced last week he’s appointing a replacement to Denise Kane, who was the first-ever inspector general for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. […]
Kane’s colleagues in the child welfare system are calling her tenure as “effective,” “fearless,” and “tenacious.”
The change in leadership comes after Kane published what will be her final annual report of DCFS, which included a biting critique of former Director George Sheldon’s leadership. Sheldon resigned last year under the cloud of a corruption investigation by Kane’s office into contracting and hiring. He was also facing questions about the death of 17-month-old Semaj Crosby, whose family had repeatedly been investigated by DCFS before her body was found under a couch in her Joliet home.
In the same report, Kane wrote that around the same time she was investigating Sheldon, DCFS contended she was overstepping her boundaries. […]
When asked if Kane’s biting report played a role in Rauner replacing her as DCFS’ watchdog, Rauner spokeswoman Rachel Bold responded, “It did not.” Kane’s term expired this year, after she served for governors from both parties over five administrations.
* I checked in with Ben Wolf, a top attorney with the Illinois ACLU who has been working on the DCFS problem for years. Wolf is quoted in the WBEZ story saying nice things about former IG Kane, but I was curious what he thought about this new turn of events.
“The more we learn about this decision, the more troubled we are,” Wolf said. Kane had a “record of independence and courage,” but the Rauner administration “replaced her with somebody who appears to be an insider,” Wolf said.
“That’s not the kind of background that we would endorse for an inspector general at this very troubled agency.”
The worry, as I take it, is that the Rauner administration will “solve” some of DCFS’ problems by appointing somebody who won’t be as aggressive.
Wolf went on to point out that Kane’s replacement, Meryl Paniak, had been an ethics officer at DCFS. If she was in that post during DCFS’ recent troubles with its former director’s “contracting practices,” he said, “that would only add to our concerns.”
Paniak was Chief Counsel in the Office of Legislative Affairs at DCFS before being upgraded to IG.
However, in her defense, Paniak has an MSW in social work and served as an attorney for the Cook County Office of the Public Guardian starting way back in 1992.
*** UPDATE *** From Kyle Hillman at the National Association of Social Workers, Illinois Chapter…
I think the timing, regarding the switch at DCFS, should give everyone pause – however, I would caution people from piling on Meryl Paniak. Our work with Paniak has been nothing but professional throughout the years. She is a strong advocate for the children in DCFS with an educational background that could bring a fresh look at oversight. She is hardly a Bruce Rauner insider and ACLU Illinois would be wise to keep their criticism toward the action of Kane’s removal rather than an unfair character hit against someone who has spent her career working to fight for children in state care. At minimum give the appointee an opportunity to prove her independence and professionalism in the job.
Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios is facing $41,000 in fines for failing to return campaign contributions from property tax appeals lawyers whose donations exceeded legal limits, according to a pair of new rulings by the county ethics board.
The rulings raise the level of scrutiny on campaign contributions given by appeals lawyers to Berrios, who doubles as chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party and depends heavily on their donations in raising political funds. The action also ignites another high-profile showdown with the county Board of Ethics, with which he previously clashed over nepotism issues.
At the center of the ethics board’s rulings is a 2016 county ordinance stating that donors who seek “official action” with the county may contribute no more than $750 in nonelection years. Attorneys for Berrios are seeking to overturn the rulings, arguing that the county limits are unconstitutional and that higher limits set by state law should apply, among other objections.
The fines add to the controversy surrounding Berrios, who is heading into a March primary as he bids for a third four-year term as assessor.
Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios filed a lawsuit Friday that challenges a county ordinance limiting campaign donations, saying it unconstitutionally restricts the free-speech rights of contributors.
“I plan to make sure that every resident in Cook County is afforded the opportunity to exercise their First Amendment right when it comes to contributing to their candidate of choice, whoever that may be,” Berrios said in a statement.
Berrios also maintains that the Illinois Constitution gives governing authority over election issues to the state and that Cook County does not have the power to set its own limits.
The lawsuit against the Cook County Board of Commissioners and its Board of Ethics opens a new front in a battle over the contributions Berrios accepts, particularly from property tax appeals attorneys who seek to lower real estate assessments through his office.
* Also on Friday…
Progressive Democrat Fritz Kaegi, candidate for Cook County Assessor, issued a statement on Friday in response to embattled incumbent Assessor Joe Berrios’ absence from the scheduled candidate interview session with the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board. The statement follows:
“Assessor Berrios’ skipping of the Sun-Times editorial board meeting is another slap in face for Cook County taxpayers. Berrios continues to dodge any opportunity–and he’s had plenty–to come clean about issues that have been plaguing his office for years…”
* Friday morning…
Congressman Bobby Rush (D-1) endorsed progressive Democrat Fritz Kaegi for Cook County Tax Assessor on Friday, joining a growing list of Democratic Party leaders rejecting embattled incumbent Joe Berrios.
Influential Ald. Ed Burke has sidelined an effort to increase the property taxes paid by the owners of two buildings his law firm represents on assessment appeals, a move one Chicago City Council colleague and ethics experts say could violate conflict-of-interest rules.
The issue arose last week after 22nd Ward Ald. Ricardo Munoz, joined by nearly two dozen aldermen, introduced a measure that would force Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration to take legal steps to try to increase the assessed property values of seven prime commercial buildings. Munoz contended the properties were sold for more than twice as much as Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios valued them.
City ethics officials are looking into whether longtime Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, violated ethics rules when he sidelined an effort to increase the property taxes paid by the owners of two buildings his law firm represents, according to the alderman whose effort he blocked.
Ald. Ricardo Munoz, 22nd, said the Chicago Board of Ethics told him it would take up the issue as soon as next month.
The machine is just having a grand ol’ time these days.
As he campaigns for the Democratic governor nomination, Downstate schools administrator Bob Daiber is calling for Illinois to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, saying it’s time to guarantee equality for men and women.
“I am proud of the fact that my staff that works for me is 80 percent female, and I have great relationships,” Daiber said at a late October forum in Chicago. “Because I build my office on one word: respect. And I think that’s what all women want, and that’s what I am all about.”
But records show that Madison County taxpayers paid nearly $500,000 to settle a 2010 lawsuit after a federal jury found Daiber retaliated against a woman by laying her off after she complained she wasn’t being paid as much as a male colleague.
Daiber described the case as an “unfortunate situation,” but denied retaliating against the employee. Daiber said he tried to work with her to find a resolution, and added that he has built a reputation as a fair employer who has worked to help women achieve leadership roles in education and government.
Ouch.
…Adding… According to the Daiber campaign, the county’s insurer paid the settlement.
Today, Citizens for Rauner launched a new TV ad entitled “That’s the One I Would Want.”
Despite Pritzker saying that “no one knew the FBI was investigating the man,” it was widely reported that the FBI was looking into Blagojevich’s corruption well before Pritzker’s fateful conversations with the soon-to-be federal inmate. In this ad, Pritzker can be heard asking Blagojevich to appoint him as State Treasurer, very clearly stating “that’s the one I would want.”
JB Pritzker is just another corrupt insider who is part of the problem. The people of Illinois deserve to know the truth.
Today, JB Pritzker and State Representative Juliana Stratton hosted a panel with DACA recipients to discuss the policy changes needed at the state and federal levels to protect immigrant communities and help families thrive. As JB and Juliana moderated the panel, they learned about the obstacles DACA recipients face pursuing a college education, obtaining work permits, and securing healthcare for their families.
“Illinois should be a welcoming state where everyone is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve,” said JB Pritzker. “But right now, immigrant families across our state are under assault by a racist, bigoted president and his partner in Springfield, Bruce Rauner. We can’t remain silent, we need to listen to immigrant communities and stand together to protect the people of our state. There is no doubt DACA recipients deserve every opportunity to thrive in Illinois and when I’m governor, immigrant families will never have to question if they have a partner and an advocate in Springfield.”
* Today…
On Thursday, February 1, Daniel Biss will kick off a seven day tour visiting colleges across Illinois to meet with voters and share his vision for an Illinois that works for all of us. Daniel has fought in the legislature and on the campaign trail to make higher education accessible to every Illinoisan, including advocating for free in-state tuition at public colleges and universities and introducing, passing, and overriding Bruce Rauner’s veto of the Student Loan Bill of Rights.
“Students have so much at stake in this election,” said Daniel Biss. “Under Bruce Rauner’s administration, students have lost their MAP grants and seen academic programs cut while being asked to pay more and more every year. This tour is about acknowledging the challenges of the last three years and charting the road forward for the next thirty. It’s about joining together on our campuses and in our communities to build a state that guarantees every Illinoisan the opportunity to pursue higher education, exercise their right to healthcare, and earn a living wage.”
Over the course of the tour, Biss will visit 13 college and university campuses across Illinois.
Vallas’ recent move back into the city could open him up to attacks that he’s a campaign carpetbagger. His role in an aggressive expansion of charter schools under former Mayor Richard M. Daley would all but guarantee opposition from the Chicago Teachers Union and grassroots education activists. And his time as budget director could leave an opening for Emanuel to paint Vallas as having a role in Daley’s financial mismanagement of the city.
Plus, there is Vallas’ history with an education consultant who later would end up at the center of a kickback scandal that landed former CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett in federal prison. At a minimum, those ties would require some explaining from Vallas, which he’s done little of publicly to date. […]
It’s also unclear what political base Vallas could claim. He’d have to find his lane in a field that already includes Emanuel and Chicago principals association president Troy LaRaviere, a favorite of teachers and progressives. Former police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer also continue to mull possible runs.
But Vallas is somewhat more conservative than Emanuel, something that could hurt in a city that has moved to the political left in recent decades. He never has been a particularly strong fundraiser, and he’s been away from city politics long enough that someone with a deep war chest such as Emanuel could define him to younger voters.
2/ One Vallas friend told me he hopes to get financial backing for a mayoral campaign from @GovRauner - whom Vallas once asked to invest in his 'can't miss' education consulting company https://t.co/1XjHyJFvay
* From a late Friday afternoon Rauner administration press release…
A compromise negotiated this week has paved the way for more Illinois schools to participate in the Invest in Kids scholarship tax-credit program, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner announced today. The move leaves the General Assembly clear to act swiftly to fully implement the requested cleanups to the state’s historic funding law. […]
The compromise announced today allows ISBE to notify IDOR in real time as new schools become recognized, eliminating the lag time that prevented schools from participating in this program.
Earlier this month, the governor used his amendatory veto power to address an issue that prevented a number of schools from participating in invest in kids; they had not achieved “recognition” status by the Illinois State Board of Education in time.
But it’s an election year, and Rauner is running as Illinois’ education governor, with the funding formula bill as his signature achievement. His State of the State speech is Wednesday.
So the governor “negotiated” a “compromise” with his own education agency.
As it turns out, changing the funding formula bill wasn’t necessary to achieve the governor’s objective of making more schools eligible for the new tax credit program. All that was needed was for the State Board of Education, whose members are appointed by the governor, to start accepting applications for the tax credit program on a rolling basis throughout the school year. ISBE agreed to do that, and thus the “compromise” was struck.
To the degree that members of the General Assembly have any role to play in the deal, Rauner now wants them to re-pass the legislation he vetoed. Or, as the governor put it in his announcement, “the move leaves the General Assembly clear to act swiftly to fully implement” the bill it already passed once. (It could do that by overriding his veto.)
Kent Redfield, retired professor of political science at the University of Illinois Springfield, said he expects Rauner will talk about education funding, early childhood education and criminal justice reform as accomplishments during the speech.
“Everything gets dicey beyond that,” he said. “He’s certainly not going to take a victory lap in terms we normally think of that.”
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and primary challenger state Rep. Jeanne Ives will appear before the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board at 11 a.m. Monday for an endorsement session that will be streamed online here.
It’s the first time since Ives announced her campaign that voters will have a chance to see the two candidates together. And it might be the last.
No televised debates between the two are scheduled, and Rauner has been careful not to talk about Ives much, once suggesting she is a “fringe” candidate.
* Meanwhile, the Ives campaign sent this out yesterday…
Yesterday, State Representative Jeanne Ives, a conservative reform Republican for Governor, made several campaign stops in Southern Illinois. Ives spoke to voters and press at Meet & Greets in Newton and Litchfield, Illinois. Later, she delivered the keynote address at the Jersey County Lincoln Day Dinner, during which she defined the choice Republican voters have in the 2018 election. Ives told the audience, “Bruce Rauner doesn’t understand you. He doesn’t respect you. And that is why it was so easy for him to betray you.”
For a while now, the book on Chris Kennedy has been that he may not be cut out for a career in politics, despite his famous last name and pedigree as the son of Bobby Kennedy and nephew of John F. Kennedy.
That thinking goes all the way back to Kennedy’s disastrous performance after a breakfast speech to Illinois delegates during the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Kennedy had a serious freak-out experience in front of TV cameras as reporters jumped on an elevator with him to ask questions.
The Democratic gubernatorial candidate has had some weird, uncomfortable moments since then, but none so weird and uncomfortable as a recent media availability.
By now, most everyone bothering to read this knows what happened. Kennedy was asked whether Gov. Bruce Rauner is “almost becoming like a super PAC for you as he’s trying to undermine JB Pritzker,” with Rauner’s constant anti-Pritzker hits on property taxes, House Speaker Michael Madigan and imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Kennedy responded by defending the Republican governor. “I think Bruce Rauner is trying to do what he thinks is best for the state of Illinois,” Kennedy said. “Now, we may disagree on what that is, but his willingness to speak truth to power, to take on the powers that have been strangling our economy for decades in this state is something that I think he should be applauded for.”
I kinda get where Kennedy was trying to go there. There is a strong vein within the Democratic Party that despises the party’s powers that be. By attacking powerful and unpopular Democrats, Kennedy believes he can reach those sorts of folks and also immunize himself against attacks by Rauner during the fall election (I doubt it’ll work because Rauner will use his favorite “Blame Madigan!” issue no matter who the nominee is, but whatever).
Before he can take on Rauner in the fall, however, Kennedy has to win a Democratic primary this spring. I shouldn’t have to even say this, but Democrats don’t usually win Democratic primaries by going out of their way to heap compliments on an incumbent Republican who polls worse among Democratic primary voters than … well, just go ahead and complete that sentence yourself with the worst possible thing you can imagine.
There were plenty of other ways to say what Kennedy said without patting Bruce Rauner on the back. You’d think just about any half-competent candidate could come up with a few if pressed as Kennedy was last week. That this was the way he chose to answer the question shows as much about Kennedy’s abilities as a candidate as his abject failure to raise significant campaign funds.
There was also a blowup last week when Kennedy pulled a no-class stunt during a candidates’ forum. He was asked to say something nice about the other candidates, but Kennedy said he just couldn’t say anything positive about his billionaire rival Pritzker.
Kennedy most definitely didn’t come off as a happy warrior during that forum. He seemed grumpy the whole time. But not many people actually watched it. That’s the biggest mistake too often made by people in this business. We all follow state politics closely, but we forget that few others do. Even so, I would venture a guess that if “normal” people do hear anything about the forum through their various networks, Kennedy’s insult will be high on that list.
What struck me the most, however, was something I haven’t seen reported elsewhere.
Kennedy said he wanted to put another billion dollars a year into higher education, and the forum’s moderator Carol Marin asked him how he would pay for it.
“There’s two buildings in Chicago that are so under-assessed relative to their sales price, there’s a billion dollars of missing value from them alone,” Kennedy declared. “That should pay five percent a year in taxes. That’s $50 million a year.”
While I have no problem with booting Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios from office, I don’t think the man can be blamed for underfunded state universities. Kennedy is apparently so caught up in his property tax reform shtick that it has become his go-to answer on pretty much everything. Property taxes are local revenues. The state doesn’t get a cut.
Kennedy’s response was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard proposed by a supposedly legitimate candidate for governor — and that’s really saying something. With early voting about to begin, Kennedy still hasn’t demonstrated that he’s ready for prime time.
* The governor is right on his overall position. Not sure if the veto was the right thing to do, but it is past time that the GA solved this problem…
Veto Message for SB 332
January 26, 2018
To the Honorable Members of
The Illinois Senate,
100th General Assembly:
Today I veto Senate Bill 332 from the 100th General Assembly, which would authorize the issuance and renewal of a liquor license for a specific establishment in Chicago.
This legislation requests an exemption from a state law regarding which establishments can hold liquor licenses based on their distance from a church, school or other specified institution. Many of the broad exemptions to the general 100-foot restriction still leave out certain business owners, especially in Chicago. As a result, owners of 75 businesses have found it necessary to secure individual exemptions through legislation like this.
The time has come for the General Assembly to reform this broken system. Businesses should not have to secure exemptions to state law to acquire the licenses they need to thrive. Liquor licensure of this sort should be handled at the local level, where the impact of allowing a business to sell certain products is the greatest. Local government officials can better determine whether allowing such exemptions and licenses is appropriate for a given community, and are more well-situated than the state legislature to create a streamlined process for making these determinations in a business-responsive manner.
I have stated in the past that I would no longer sign these carve-outs into law, and have repeatedly urged the General Assembly to address the flawed structure. Legislation such as Senate Bill 2436 provides for local liquor commissioners to take ownership of this process and grant exemptions to the 100-foot rule if authorized by local law or ordinance, and represents a solution to a problem instead of a repeated work-around.
Therefore, pursuant to Section 9(b) of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return Senate Bill 332, entitled “AN ACT concerning regulation,” with the foregoing objections, vetoed in its entirety.
(sss) Notwithstanding any provision of this Section to the contrary, nothing in this Section shall prohibit the issuance or renewal of a license authorizing the sale of alcoholic liquor at premises located within a municipality with a population in excess of 1,000,000 inhabitants and within 100 feet of a church if:
(1) the premises are approximately 2,800 square feet with east frontage on South Allport Street and north frontage on West 18th Street in the City of Chicago;
(2) the shortest distance between the north property line of the premises and the nearest exterior wall of the church is 95 feet;
(3) the main entrance to the church is on West 18th Street, faces south, and is more than 100 feet from the main entrance to the premises;
(4) the sale of alcoholic liquor is incidental to the sale of food in a restaurant;
(5) the principal religious leader of the church has not indicated his or her opposition to the issuance or renewal of the license in writing; and
(6) the alderman of the ward in which the premises are located has indicated his or her support for the issuance or renewal of the license in writing.
I'm hearing that ISBE, Gov's office, and Dept of Rev just agreed to accommodate 30+ pvt schools in the "recognition" pipeline so their donors can get in on tax credit deal.
Poof. Just like that. Rauner admin proves his veto of school funding bill was totally unnecessary.
Private schools will sleep well tonight. Underfunded public schools won’t; they are used to sleepless nights. Too many kids continue to wait for the equity we promised them. https://t.co/QvYTs5tMRN
*** UPDATE *** Looks like I should’ve waited another half an hour. Press release…
A compromise negotiated this week has paved the way for more Illinois schools to participate in the Invest in Kids scholarship tax-credit program, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner announced today. The move leaves the General Assembly clear to act swiftly to fully implement the requested cleanups to the state’s historic funding law.
“We have worked with schools, advocates, legislators from both parties, the Illinois Department of Revenue and the Illinois State Board of Education to ensure that more schools will be able to participate in the Invest in Kids Program,” Rauner said.
The compromise announced today allows ISBE to notify IDOR in real time as new schools become recognized, eliminating the lag time that prevented schools from participating in this program.
Earlier this month, the governor used his amendatory veto power to address an issue that prevented a number of schools from participating in invest in kids; they had not achieved “recognition” status by the Illinois State Board of Education in time.
“We encourage swift passage in the General Assembly of legislative language necessary to correct the other unintended consequences so the historic school funding law can be fully implemented,” Rauner said.
Invest in Kids is a scholarship tax-credit program that gives low- to middle-income students the opportunity to attend nonpublic schools that best meet their needs.
“I applaud Governor Rauner for taking action, and working with us in a bipartisan way, to ensure that even more schools, students and families in Illinois have the opportunity to participate in Invest in Kids,” said State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford, D-Chicago. “I look forward to continuing to work with the governor to support schools across Illinois.”
Going forward, ISBE has committed to accepting applications for initial nonpublic school recognition on a rolling basis throughout this school year. An updated list of schools that are recognized has been posted on the ISBE website. That list will continue to be updated as new schools reach this status.
Advocates including Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, Rabbi Shlomo Soroka, director of Government Affairs for Agudath Israel of Illinois, Nakisha Hobbs, principal and co-founder of the Village Leadership Academy, and Myles Mendoza, executive director of Empower Illinois, lauded the bipartisan, collaborative compromise that gives Illinois families more choices when it comes to educating their children.
“Once again, bipartisan leadership worked together to benefit the education of all Illinois children,” said Gilligan. “The Catholic Conference of Illinois, on behalf of the state’s Catholic schools, is grateful for this latest effort by the governor and legislators, along with the Illinois State Board of Education, to find a solution that allows more families to apply for a tax-credit scholarship so their children can attend a recognized school of their choice.”
“Following discussions with stakeholders, a solution ensuring the participation of all schools that become recognized was achieved,” said Rabbi Soroka. “Agudath Israel of Illinois thanks the Rauner Administration, the bipartisan group of legislators, the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois Department of Revenue and advocates who worked together to provide quality educational options to more students.”
“Over the past few weeks I’ve worked closely with State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford, the Governor’s Office, African-American school leaders and other education advocates from across the state to ensure that all high-quality schools had a path to participation in the inaugural year of the Invest in Kids Tax Credit Scholarship Program,” said Hobbs. “I am grateful to Governor Rauner’s administration for its demonstrated commitment to inclusion, and to Representative Ford for his unwavering and effective leadership.”
Empower Illinois also praised the collaboration. “This was a bipartisan effort by lawmakers, schools and advocates to expand quality education options for students across Illinois,” said Mendoza. “There is clear unity on the value of this program, as the demand for scholarships by families continues to grow. Today is a victory for Illinois kids.”
“Thanks to this collaborative, bipartisan effort,” Rauner said, “families in Illinois will have more choices when it comes to the education of their children.”
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* I seriously doubt this will ever see the light of day beyond the hearing…
Lawmakers in Illinois are so desperate to shore up the state’s massively underfunded retirement system that they’re willing to entertain an eye-popping wager: Borrowing $107 billion and letting it ride in the financial markets.
The legislature’s personnel and pensions committee plans to meet on Jan. 30 to hear more about a proposal advanced by the State Universities Annuitants Association, according to Representative Robert Martwick. The group wants Illinois to issue the bonds this year to get its retirement system nearly fully funded, assuming that the state can make more on its investments than it will pay in interest.
It would be by far the biggest debt sale in the history of the municipal market, and in one fell swoop would be more than Puerto Rico amassed in the run up to its record-setting bankruptcy.
An effort is underway in Illinois that would let the terminally ill choose to end their life.
Oregon approved the option back in the mid 90’s. A few more states and Canada have followed with similar laws. They allow a terminally ill and mentally sound individual to choose to end their life.
“We all die and unfortunately as we approach death, as we get sicker and sicker, often a lot of pain and suffering comes with it. And when death is imminent, when suffering is intolerable, it should be your choice,” said Ed Gogol of Final Options Illinois. […]
Gogol wants an Illinois law that would have the patient being prescribed medication they would self-administer. It’s not “physician-assisted suicide” or “euthanasia” because the doctor would only make sure the person qualified.
Paul Vallas continues to set the stage for a run against a formidable Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Vallas, who was appointed by Gov. Bruce Rauner to help restart a financially beleaguered Chicago State University, tells Sneed he plans to step down from that job soon — a clear reminder of what he has done politically in the past: not hold a public job while running for public office.
“My job is done,” said Vallas. “Although my contract ran until July 1, I now plan to leave March 31,” he said while also repeating an earlier report by Crain’s Chicago Business columnist Greg Hinz he was “seriously considering” running for mayor.
Trust me: The decision by Vallas to leave early is a huge indication he hopes to run for mayor.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly is taking attorney general candidate Kwame Raoul to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address next week.
Kelly, of Matteson, has endorsed state Sen. Raoul in the eight-way Democratic primary. His parents immigrated from Haiti, and Trump was quoted this month calling Haiti and African countries “shithole countries.”
“As a first-generation Haitian-American, his presence and voice at the State of the Union is greatly needed,” Kelly said of Raoul, “especially in light of the president’s recent racist and derogatory comments about Haiti and other nations.” […]
Raoul’s trip to Washington lets Kelly make her point about Trump and gives him a bit of a profile boost in the crowded attorney general primary.
What, no mention of Raoul’s Trump comments at the Tribune editorial board meeting this week?
* Kristen McQueary had asked the candidates to describe how they would specifically go up against the Trump administration. Raoul pointed to the Affordable Care Act, immigration and the “very insecure” Crosscheck system…
McQueary: I think you were one of the only candidates on your survey where you said the attorney general needs to be nonpartisan… If an attorney general is constantly fighting a Republican administration does that tend to look partisan?
Raoul: Well, it’s not because he’s Republican, it’s because he’s nuts.
Mayors and village managers across Illinois often complain bitterly that they have little control over the cost of the governments they run. They’re mostly right, and it’s thanks to unfunded mandates imposed by the state. Those mandates include workers’ compensation, binding arbitration for labor contracts and pension coverage.
This is about another one of those unfunded mandates—prevailing wage requirements for public works—and the numbers are scandalous.
The Illinois Department of Labor publishes, county by county, the hourly wages local governments must pay contractors and subcontractors. It’s important to note, and often overlooked, that 1) wages are set based on compensation paid on other public works, not private-sector compensation; 2) municipalities have to pay the cash equivalent of the additional compensation, including pension benefits, paid on other public works; and 3) all of that must be calculated on a full-time-equivalent basis to understand it properly.
The all-in result: The average total full-time-equivalent compensation, including benefits, for all job categories over all counties is $119,000.
* Jim Sweeney of Local 150 claims in a rebuttal that Glennon’s $119K figure is baloney because it assumes all construction workers are employed throughout the year…
The average salaries that Glennon suggests are preposterous, as construction workers do not earn “full-time equivalent” wages. Most construction is seasonal work, influenced as much by weather as by municipal budgets. According to the 2016 Economic Census of Construction, the average public works construction worker in Illinois clocked an average of 1,786 hours in a year, and earned an average base wage of $60,000. Put in perspective, that’s roughly the same as the statewide median household income figure Mr. Glennon cites in his column—a figure that is conveniently distorted downward by its inclusion of people who are either not working or work part time.
By contrast, most other occupations in Illinois are easily working the full-time equivalent of 2,080 hours per year.
Weather is a factor, but so is the availability of jobs. Very often, even with perfect weather, the jobs just aren’t there.
Vermilion County is an illustration: The average, total full-time-equivalent yearly compensation for a prevailing-wage worker in cities and towns in that central Illinois county is over $100,000.
Does anybody really think that annual compensation over $100,000 is “prevailing” in Vermilion County? Median household income for the county is only $43,600. Statewide, the median is just $59,000.
Comparing construction worker wages to all wages seems odd. Should we do that for Medicaid doctors, too?
* Yesterday, we discussed some of the objections to Personal PAC’s endorsement of JB Pritzker for governor, even though he isn’t the only pro-choice candidate. Here’s Terry Cosgrove’s full explanation about why his organization is backing Pritzker…
Who Will Defeat Governor Rauner?
The Personal PAC Board voted to endorse JB Pritzker after fully considering the qualifications of all of the candidates and conducting in-depth interviews of Daniel Biss, Chris Kennedy and JB Pritzker. Despite claims by their supporters to the contrary, none of these candidates is without flaws. That is to be expected from loyal partisans, passionate supporters and close friends of each candidate.
Governor Rauner lacks the capacity to tell the truth and does not hesitate to take inconsistent positions on the same issue at any given time. The only way to fully protect the reproductive rights of all women in Illinois for the next decade is to defeat Bruce Rauner on November 6, 2018. Within hours of the polls closing on March 20, the Rauner team will unleash a non-stop torrent of television, radio, direct mail and social media ads that will cost upwards of $250 million on a 7+ month nonstop assault on the winner of the Democratic primary.
Because Rauner has accomplished little to nothing over the past 4 years, his ads will be negative, untruthful and predictable: Biss voted for Speaker Madigan and ran his Super PAC; Kennedy sought Speaker Madigan’s endorsement at some point; Pritzker is secretly Speaker Madigan’s candidate; and all three have ties to the evil Cook County Democratic party. Wash. Rinse. Spin. Repeat.
Beware of those who refuse to learn from history. After the 2006 primary election, then severely wounded and endangered incumbent Governor Rod Blagojevich found himself facing Judy Baar Topinka, one of the most popular and admired officials from one end of Illinois to the other among Independents, Democrats and Republicans. The Blagojevich campaign was smartly flush with money and Topinka was broke after the primary, leaving the Blagojevich campaign to immediately launch a brilliant non-stop campaign of “Judy Baar Topinka: What’s She Thinking?” ads. With no money, Topinka never had a chance to recover from or respond to those ads and this highly respected candidate was trounced by Blagovich’s team in the November election.
The Rauner campaign will be the 2006 Blagojevich campaign on steroids, regardless of who wins the 2018 Democratic primary on March 20. Given the near unanimous agreement among Democrats and progressive independents that Rauner must be defeated and the few significant policy differences among the Democratic nominees, including support for reproductive rights, the critical question is which Democrat is in the best position to defeat Bruce Rauner.
I completely reject the most common arguments about this race, which are 1) Rauner can’t possibly win (think Donald Trump); 2) Democrats won’t be united around any one candidate (see none are without flaws above); 3) Money shouldn’t matter and is evil (think Rauner’s $250 million, Citizen’s United is the law of the land in 2018 no matter how much anyone hates it). It is quite possible that, despite being incredibly unpopular, Governor Rauner could win a second term. Democrats must be united behind their nominee and money does matter a great deal.
As I frequently tell people, don’t expect me to show-up to a proverbial knife fight against anti-choice activists with my left leg in a cast, my right arm tied behind my back, holding a toothpick, and expect me to win for pro-choice candidates. It’s-not-happening! We have to show up on a level playing field and play by the rules, whether we like the rules or not. Complaining about the rules in the middle of an election is like showing up for a rugby game and complaining about the rules and the players on your team, saying “if only the players and rules were different, I could win this match.” The same is true in politics. If you are going to sign-up to compete as a candidate or supporter of a candidate, know the rules and accept them. It’s called reality. Think passing HB 40, thank you.
I firmly believe JB Pritzker is the very last person Rauner wants to face in November, as only JB can go toe-to-toe with Rauner hours after the polls close on March 20 through the November 6 general election. Why would Rauner spend millions and millions of dollars before the Democratic primary attacking Pritzker instead of his Republican challenger? Rauner will immediately bury Biss or Kennedy in an avalanche of social media, radio and tv ads starting at 5 a.m. on Wed. March 21, from which they will never recover a la Blago/Topinka 2006. Instead, at that same time on March 21, Pritzker’s team will be up with their onslaught of ads against Rauner that will never cease until November 6, even as Rauner spends $250 million to survive. Pritzker will not be outdone, outsmarted, outspent or intimidated by Rauner. Pritzker is building the deepest statewide campaign apparatus I have ever seen by a gubernatorial candidate whose organizers are embedding themselves in local communities in 25+ field offices with over 100 full-time staff from Rockford to Carbondale, in Cook County and the Collar counties. Pritzker social media platforms are diverse and massive. His paid television and radio is superb with high rotation statewide, along with his direct mail campaign, making a huge impact in every corner of the state. And it is only January. No other candidate has travelled to and spent more time in as many counties as Pritzker has in this campaign. Pritzker is the only candidate in the Democratic primary that is doing more to unite the Democrats than divide them. That demonstrates strong leadership.
JB Pritzker’s commitment to progressive values and reproductive freedom is lifelong. He marched with us in the 1993 Washington, D.C. National March for Abortion Rights and was one of the earliest allies of LGBTQ rights in Chicago decades ago, long before it was “mainstream” and comfortable for most other people to do so openly.
In addition to Personal PAC believing JB Pritzker is the best candidate to defeat Rauner, a broad range of diverse organizations and individuals across Illinois have endorsed only his candidacy, including nearly every labor union that has made an endorsement to date, Citizen Action, Democratic County Chairs’ Association, Illinois Education Association (IEA), Illinois AFL-CIO, Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT), United Mine Workers, United Steelworkers District 7, U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, U.S. Reps. Mike Quigley. Cheri Bustos and Luis Gutierrez, State Treasurer Mike Frerichs, Comptroller Susana Mendoza, Secretary of State Jess White, HB 40 Senate sponsor Heather Steans, HB 40 House sponsor Sara Feigenholtz, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle City Clerk Anna Valencia along with dozens of other State Senators and State Representatives, Alderpeople and Cook County elected officials. All of us united behind JB Pritzker to defeat Bruce Rauner.
We cannot allow Rauner to be re-elected. I firmly believe JB Pritzker is the best candidate to prevent that from happening on November 6, 2018.
Terry could very well be right about Rod and JBT and how that could repeat itself in the spring. But I’d rise to make a point of historical order here: Cosgrove helped Blagojevich by repeatedly attacking Topinka for not being pro-choice, even though she was. She just wasn’t pro-choice enough for Personal PAC.
Creates the CTE Prevention Act. Defines terms. Provides that a child under the age of 12 may not participate in tackle football offered by an organized youth sports program. Provides that a child under the age of 12 may participate in all other athletic activities offered by an organized youth sports program.
Keep in mind that Sente is retiring and she has no co-sponsors. But her bill did strike a nerve.
The best evidence shows CTE risk correlates to the number of years playing football, much as lung cancer risk correlates to number of years smoking. Athletes who begin football before 12 have a greater risk of cognitive impairment, mood and behavior disturbances as adults than players who began after 12.
The coalition also pointed to overwhelming public support from former and current football players and coaches and the general public to end tackle football for pre-teens, and to encourage them instead to play flag and other non-contact versions of football.
“They don’t need a helmet. They can play flag football. And with flag football you can get all the techniques. Why do we have to start with a 6-year-old who was just potty trained a year ago and put a helmet on him and tackle? … We’ll eventually get to tackling.”
The Illinois bill is similar to a proposal in New York, and Nowinski said lawmakers in at least one other state are working to raise the age at which children begin playing tackle football. He said studies have shown that starting tackle football before the age of 12 can lead to great neurological impairment later in life.
“This isn’t about an act to ban tackle football,” Nowinski said. “This is about an act to prevent children from being hit in the head hundreds of times through sports each season.“
State Representative Carol Sente, a Democrat from Vernon Hills is sponsoring the bill. Sente says research and data prove the risks of playing tackle football “aren’t worth it.”
“I’m not trying to ban football. You can balance protecting football with protecting our kids,” says Sente. “Illinois has been a leader in concussion legislation and I’m proud of that. We want to be the leader in the CTE issue.”
Chris Nowinski, CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, said because there is no national organization that oversees youth football, a state law would be the best bet for establishing guidelines.
“This isn’t about an act to ban tackle football, it’s an act to prevent children from being hit in the head hundreds of times through sports each season,” Nowinski said. “CTE is not something you get from bumping your head every once and a while. This has to come from the government if it’s going to happen at all.”
Boston University last year reported an association between participation in youth tackle football before age 12 and impaired mood and behavior later in life.
More recently, a Boston University publication linked CTE to repetitive hits to the head, even if they don’t produce symptoms of a concussion. According to the report, the risk is higher for athletes who played tackle football as children, which is why Sente’s proposal would target pre-teens.
At the Aspen Institute discussion, Robert Cantu, a leading concussion and brain trauma researcher at Boston University, said he believes children younger than 12 should not play tackle football.
Cantu said research shows brains reach their maximal developmental state between ages 10 and 12. If kids experience brain injuries at that point, he said, it can have stark effects later in life. He also said playing contact sports at a young age increases the number of subconcussive blows, which research has shown can lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy even without a concussion.
“If you injure a brain at that early age, you have later life potential consequences,” Cantu sad. “I want very much for football to be played in a safer form. I think that safer form is flag.”
Some experts, though, took issue with Sente’s bill, saying no evidence demonstrates that younger football players are at greater risk for the disease.
“There’s no scientific consensus that 12 or 11 is a threshold age below which (tackle football) becomes more dangerous,” said Dr. Julian Bailes of the NorthShore University HealthSystem Neurological Institute, a CTE researcher who advises the Pop Warner youth football organization.
Jerry Miller of Bill George Youth Football, a suburban league of 3,500 players, about 1,000 of whom are under 12, said the game already has undergone numerous changes that have made it safer.
“The problem is that when all this happened, football was played as a gladiator sport,” he said. “Football has toned down so much. Our league hardly hits.”
In a statement, Brian Heffron, a spokesperson for Pop Warner, said that while the youth football organization encourages player safety, they “don’t agree banning football for young people is the answer.”
“We can’t imagine elected officials mandating to parents which sports their children can play,” Heffron said. “Literally millions of young people have played Pop Warner football for nearly 90 years and have grown up to be healthy, successful adults contributing to society in so many ways. We think the life lessons, experiences and memories from playing this great team sport far outweigh the risks.”
Not everyone agrees with the new proposed legislation. John Calabria, head of the Schaumburg Athletic Association’s football program, says the legislation is over-reaching.
“You’re not getting that growth, that ability to be a teammate,” he said. “Hard work, ethics, all that is taken away. Yes, you get some of that with flag football, but not to the fullest effect as with tackle (football).”
If a bill proposed Thursday ends up getting passed, youth football organizations like Sycamore Youth Football League won’t be able to offer tackle football to children younger than 12.
SYFL President Brian Klaassens said he feels football is being unfairly targeted.
“I’m not very surprised that’s what they are trying to do,” said Klaassens, who is in his first year as president but has had two children play football in the league. “At what point do we try to stop and limit any kind of sports to our kids?”
Just sayin, but a lot of those adults would be out of jobs if this bill passed.
Children under the age of 12 should not play tackle football. It is too dangerous.
We say that as an editorial board, and also as parents. We don’t say it as a matter of potential law. We believe this is a decision best left to parents, not dictated by the Illinois Legislature.
If ever there was a problem that seems to be taking care of itself, this is it. Participation in youth tackle football is plummeting, even without legal bans, as the risks become more widely understood. Since 2009, participation among boys ages 6 to 12 has fallen nearly 20 percent, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, and you can bet participation will fall further as more parents wise up.
“Public safety issues that have severe health implications, I think, the government does play a role, whether that’s car seats or seat belts or smoking I think that the data at this point, for me, while it’s not 100 percent, it’s convincing,” said State Rep. Carol Sente, D-Vernon Hills.
Mayor Emanuel and Gov. Rauner are on the set of Chicago P.D. this morning, according to a source. Both gov’s office and mayor’s office not immediately responding. Cinespace visit not on their public schedules.
Democratic governor contender Chris Kennedy abruptly left a candidate forum Monday, criticizing Republican candidate Jeanne Ives for what he called “ignorance and stupidity” after she said Chicago’s gun violence could be solved if more fathers stayed in the home.
The controversy came when Ives, a three-term conservative lawmaker from Wheaton who is challenging Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, responded to a question on curbing gun crimes.
“The problem is the gun violence in this city of Chicago, predominantly. And you know how you’re going to solve it? Fathers in the home,” she said.
As the audience booed and shouted, she repeated, “Fathers in the home.”
The Ives campaign later doubled down on the comment, explaining in a statement released to media that “many have advocated the same idea, including President Obama.”
The Ives statement quoted from a 2008 Father’s Day speech in which then-candidate Obama, himself raised mostly by a single mother and her parents, called on fathers to own up to their family responsibilities.
So is Ives seeking to further an idea that was earlier championed by Obama? Did Obama say fathers actively raising their children will solve the epidemic of gun violence in Chicago? We decided to check.
Ives claims she was echoing comments from former President Obama as she declared recently that the solution to curbing rampant gun violence would depend on more fathers taking responsibility for their families.
In his 2008 speech, Obama drew a link between children from fatherless homes and those who stray into crime. But Ives took it a lot further than Obama ever did.
Her sweeping claim is not supported by the passages from Obama’s speech that her campaign pointed to as evidence. A reading of the full speech doesn’t support Ives either.
As president, Obama made several speeches about the proliferation of guns and violence, and also laid out an array of proposals to deal with the problems. In his public pronouncements, however, Obama did not make statements linking the problem of absent fathers with gun violence.
Ives is taking the message from Obama’s 2008 Father’s Day speech out of context. We rate her statement False.
* The video file didn’t come from the Rauner campaign or even a Republican. But I’m told this new Rauner TV ad which uses FBI wiretap audio of JB Pritzker talking to Rod Blagojevich about being appointed state treasurer will go up Monday…
In the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s downfall due to sexual assault and harassment claims from numerous women - it’s glaringly apparent that the issue is not limited to a certain industry or segment of society. Statehouses across the nation have joined in the #MeToo movement. Some are saying state legislatures harbor environments where such activity is commonplace.
In Illinois, over 150 people signed an open letter calling for change and alleging rampant sexual harassment within the system of state politics. Kerry Lester was one of those people to sign. She’s spent years covering the statehouse as a reporter for the Association Press, she’s now with the Daily Herald. She says like many other women, she has been treated inappropriately by men in power, but hadn’t know how to respond in a meaningful way that wouldn’t threaten her credibility. Listen to an interview with her below about what’s been going on in Springfield as a result of that letter.
* Lester has since left the Daily Herald and has written a new book called “No, My Place: Reflections on sexual harassment in Illinois government and politics.” Click here to order it on Amazon…
Illinois women understand well that political currency is a delicate mix of connections, favors and power. They’ve also learned that the game is fixed, one that puts them, more often than not, in no-win situations. Award-winning journalist Kerry Lester collects the stories of harassment, inappropriate and sexist behavior endured by the state’s most powerful women, including the Illinois Attorney General, the Cook County State’s Attorney, Chicago’s City Clerk, numerous members of the General Assembly, lobbyists and political consultants.
* Kerry was kind enough to send me an advance copy and said I could post an excerpt here. There are no “outings” of men by name, but some folks may be able to figure some stuff out.
Several years ago, before I was a lawmaker, I was an advocate down in Springfield working on a bill. When the legislation finally passed both chambers, a state representative who had helped me suggested we go to The Globe, a popular bar near the Capitol, and celebrate.
It was then when I experienced how gross and entitled many men can be. While we were having drinks, this lawmaker became very handsy. He was clearly not being professional and took the instance as a sexual opportunity. He was on the make, and it became obvious to me that this was pretty habitual for him.
After he’d had a few drinks, he put his hand on my leg and invited me up to his room. I was able to extricate myself from the situation as quickly and politely as possible. I made it clear that I wasn’t interested and left it at that. I was glad that the bill we had worked on together had passed already, so I didn’t really have to have much to do with him after that. I was able to put that episode behind me.
I think a lot of men in Springfield behave like that because they believe it’s the norm, and they don’t believe there’s any chance they’ll be reprimanded or anything. And experiences like mine aren’t serious enough that most women would go and report them. I didn’t.
Again, click here to order. You can buy the hard copy now and it can be downloaded on January 31st.
Illinois could lose political clout and federal funding if immigrants afraid of deportation in the Trump era sit out the 2020 census, experts say.
Officials with the U.S. Census Bureau are weighing whether to ask households across the country about their citizenship status, a move experts say could have a chilling effect on participation among immigrants. The fear is that the data, including home addresses, could lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to the doors of those living in the country without documentation. And even for those on their way to becoming naturalized citizens, the controversial question may keep them from raising their hands and being counted, especially as the immigration debate has taken sharp turns and left them uneasy about their future here.
In Illinois alone, immigrants make up about 7 percent of the state’s population, ranging from those on their way to becoming naturalized citizens to others living here illegally, said William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution. Illinois’ falling population means it’s already on the cusp of losing one representative, but if immigrants decide they don’t want to be counted, that could cost the state a total of two seats, Frey said. […]
Thomas Saenz, the president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said if a question about citizenship made it onto the 2020 census, the bureau could face legal challenges on the grounds that it would lead to an inaccurate count and thus not fulfill its constitutional mandate. That’s one of the reasons why Saenz said the request could be more political than rooted in an actual need.
“I’m not sure the DOJ is serious,” Saenz said. “This could be just a dog whistle to the far right that this administration often seems to feel the need to cater to. It could be a political message.”
I emailed Rauner campaign spokesman Justin Giorgio to find out why the governor is laying low. He did not respond to multiple emails.
Of course, Rauner doesn’t likely see himself as a coward. He’s probably been advised not to give his opponent an opportunity for free publicity since he is leading her in the polls.
But there is a problem with that contention. When there is no debate, the loser isn’t Jeanne Ives. The losers are the voters.
They deserve to know where their candidates stand on the issues. When Rauner thumbs his nose at debating the person he is running against, he is showing contempt not just for his opponent but for the process. […]
Since Rauner’s campaign won’t say why he won’t debate, I asked Ives why she thinks the governor is avoiding facing her.
“Bruce Rauner is not prepared to have a substantive policy discussion with me. There is much he has to answer for during his four years in office. He’s just afraid to debate a woman on the issues.”
They are meeting at the Tribune editorial board next week, but that’s it.
The inspector general for the Illinois General Assembly says a top state senator did not sexually harass a woman whose legislation he was sponsoring last year.
Inspector General Julie Porter concludes in a report that Sen. Ira Silverstein’s interaction with Denise Rotheimer did not rise to the level of ethical misconduct. But she says it was “conduct unbecoming of a legislator” and recommended the 19-year veteran lawmaker be counseled by the Senate’s ethics officer.
Rotheimer helped author a 2011 law to increase penalties for violent sex offenders. She said she was working with Silverstein to pass legislation to help crime victims get free legal representation during ongoing criminal cases, when the senator killed the bill because he thought she had a boyfriend.
“Once I explained to him I don’t have a boyfriend, my bill came back alive,” Rotheimer said at the hearing.
Contacted Thursday, Rotheimer said she was “livid” over the ruling and fears it will discourage others from lodging complaints against lawmakers.
“For her (Porter) to victim-blame and to say I was flirting with him, that shows that the whole system is corrupt,” Rotheimer said. “The process is worse than the abuse because now I’m being blamed.” […]
Porter said Silverstein’s conduct could only be defined as sexual harassment if it created “an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.”
She also found evidence that Silverstein continued to push the legislation even after it was clear there was little support for passage. Rotheimer said that’s why, recognizing there was no employer-employee relationship with Silverstein, she filed an “abuse of power” charge with the Legislative Ethics Commission, not a sexual harassment complaint.
Porter noted two instances when Silverstein teased Rotheimer that he would drop sponsorship of the bill. The context of the conversations was lighthearted, but even the appearance that a lawmaker’s opinion of legislation could be based on his relationship with the advocate “has harmed the public’s trust in the General Assembly,” she wrote.
[Inspector General Julie Porter] also noted many of the messages were “flirtatious,” although none were “sexually explicit and there was never any express discussion in the messages about cultivating a romantic relationship.”
And she did not conclude that Silverstein “killed” the bill.
“If anything, it appears that Silverstein — like Rotheimer — was misguided or naive about whether the bill could actually succeed as proposed. He kept going and going because he wanted to help, please and placate Rotheimer,” she wrote.
In explaining why she considered Silverstein’s conduct “unbecoming” of a legislator, Porter writes that “he did not maintain an appropriate professional distance from the proponent of a bill he was sponsoring.”
She writes that Silverstein “should have been much more cautious and conscientious about engaging in these types of teasing and flirtatious communications with someone he knew was depending on him to advance legislation.”
“Legislators are public servants, held to a higher standard,” Porter wrote. “Even the appearance — which Silverstein himself created — that Silverstein felt enamored with a bill proponent and may have used his office to advance or impede legislation as a result is problematic and warrants my finding.”
Attorney Les Alderman, who has handled harassment cases in Washington, D.C., said Porter’s report will have consequences.
“Here you have this inspector general airing all of this dirty laundry and declaring it to mean nothing, and to amount to no violation of the law,” Alderman said. “That will have a chilling effect on the victims who will decide that they don’t need to go through the same process and get the same result.”
Alderman said accusers should take their cases to court. Rotheimer said she’s evaluating her options and that the process is rigged in lawmakers’ favor.
Illinois state Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Raymond, said the legislature’s harassment task force is evaluating how other inspectors general investigate cases in other agencies and other states.
Becky Carroll, a political consultant and one of the women behind the open letter last fall, said she did not think the inspector general’s finding would discourage women from coming forward.
“Women and our allies are united more than ever around this issue, and this movement is too strong a force to be deterred by any single incident of this nature,” Carroll said. “There’s no going back.”
Carroll said she could understand why Rotheimer was dissatisfied with the process, saying state government needs a “clear, consistent and fair process in place so everyone who comes forward has confidence that their complaints will be taken seriously and addressed accordingly.”
Lawmakers have formed two task forces to try to address the larger issues of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination in Springfield.
Silverstein didn’t want to answer any of my questions about the finding, but he did say “I am very grateful that we have an independent inspector general who saw the facts for what they were. My priorities are now my family and my re-election.”
But Silverstein’s two more impediments to his re-election: He’s currently 45 signatures short on his petition to get on the March 20th ballot and even if he does get on the ballot he’s got a primary challenger.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Daiber put some distance between himself and his primary opponents Thursday afternoon by suggesting the state tax retirement income to help pay pension obligations.
Daiber, the only Downstate candidate running for governor, said those seeking the office had to “think outside the box” to meet the state’s more than $130 billion pension obligations instead of acting as if it could be solved by spreading “fairy dust.” To do that, Daiber said everyone in the state will have to pitch in, from retirees to those currently receiving large tax breaks. […]
State Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, one of Daiber’s opponents in the Democratic primary, said he does not support taxing retirement income under the state’s current flat tax structure, but would be open to the idea under a progressive system.
“I would only consider taxing retirement income once we’ve amended the Illinois Constitution to allow for a progressive income tax so that we tax retirement income of wealthier Illinoisans rather than burden middle-class Illinoisans,” Biss said.
Fellow contender J.B. Pritzker does not support a tax on retirement income, his campaign said.
Chris Kennedy’s campaign couldn’t be reached for comment by the reporter.
Illinois farmers harvested 611.9 million bushels of soybeans last year, which led the nation, and we had a 58-bushel yield, also No. 1 in the nation. At nearly $10 a bushel, this is a $6 billion industry. We are a soybean factory in Illinois. Soybeans are used in food, fed to livestock, and converted to biodiesel. Thousands of jobs are generated in the handling, transportation and processing of soybeans, and in the biodiesel industry. Soybeans are essential to the Illinois economy.
But the health of the soybean industry is threatened by the herbicide dicamba.
Bob Daiber, a Democratic candidate for governor and a small-time farmer himself, is urging Illinois, at the center of the soybean universe, to ban dicamba, either through legislation or regulation, before crop damage and insurance claims are rampant. The ban should last indefinitely, until problems with drift are resolved. Arkansas and Missouri already have banned the use of dicamba.
“Somebody has to look out for the long-term health and best interests of agri-business in Illinois,” Daiber said. “If we let this get out of hand, farmers will end up in a thicket of crop loss, insurance claims and litigation, none of which are good for business. If I should be honored to be elected governor, you’ll have someone in Springfield who knows about farming, and how a few pennies here or there, multiplied over thousands of acres, make a difference. But I will also be someone who wants to make sure we don’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, whether it’s regarding corn and beans, livestock or specialty crops.”
Daiber, in addition to his duties as regional superintendent of schools for Madison County, is a small-time farmer himself: He and his wife own 250 acres in four locations in Madison and Macoupin counties, and he personally farms 120 acres (corn and beans).
Dicamba kills plants – except for the soybean plants that are genetically modified to survive dicamba. But the trouble is, whether through misapplication or off-label use by farmers, or because of a design flaw in the product itself, dicamba drifts. It not only damages soybeans: A farmer in Pulaski County lost 40 acres of beans and 12 acres of grapes (www.semissourian.com/story/2456331.html). There are reports of oak trees damaged by drifting dicamba.
Dicamba has been used in the United States for 50 years, but starting with the 2017 crop year, it was approved for the first time to be sprayed on fields after the soybeans are already growing, instead of before they sprout. It’s a product farmers find attractive because some weeds have developed resistance to other herbicides.
Lawsuits and insurance claims are piling up. Farmers are having insurance claims against neighboring farmers denied, with the insurance companies claiming it is not the farmer who is to blame, but the product itself. The manufacturers – Monsanto, BASF and DuPont – are being sued.
Nationally, 3.6 million acres have been damaged – that’s 4 percent of the crop – and 2,708 claims are in process, including 245 in Illinois, according to the University of Missouri.
“There are herbicides on the market that don’t drift. Illinois farmers in this important crop sector should stick to those until that bugs are worked out of dicamba,” Daiber said.
* Democrat Daiber Pushes Dicamba Herbicide Ban For Illinois Farming: “We have to make a decision in this state whether we want billionaires to govern us. I believe that the best thing that could happen for all of Illinois, from Chicago to Cairo, is if an everyday working-class person like me became the next governor, (someone) who really understands how everyday people work and live,” Daiber said.
* Meanwhile…
Madison County regional superintendent of schools and Democratic candidate for governor, will address labor issues on Monday, Jan. 29 at news conferences in Wood River and Springfield.
Daiber, a teacher for 28 years, was a member of the Illinois Education Association, and served four years as president of his local at Triad H.S. in Troy.
Members of the media are invited and urged to attend. The Wood River news conference will be on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bobdaiber2018/. The Springfield news conference will be available on Blue Room Stream.
* Eric Zorn’s latest column is entitled “Kennedy fail: Camelot has become Goofalot in the race for governor.” It basically covers Chris Kennedy’s slam on JB Pritzker when asked to say something nice about the other candidates during the NBC 5 forum, and Kennedy’s flubbing a press conference on Joe Berrios…
When reporters asked Kennedy to name his greatest weakness, he replied, “my honesty.”
No. Not in this context. Though I agree with him on many issues, Kennedy’s greatest weakness is that he simply isn’t ready to play the game at this level.
It was not too long ago that Chris Kennedy was seen by many as the best challenger to J.B. Pritzker. But after a couple of stumbles during and after some candidate forums this past week, some political observers say Kennedy needs to rev up his campaign quickly, before it’s too late.
“I think it’s very clear from the debate performance, that he was a bit sluggish and it’s very clear from just watching the airwaves that both Pritzker and Biss are a bit ahead of him,” Northwestern Political Science Professor Alvin Tillery said.
Time is of the essence for Kennedy. And with Biss launching a new TV ad attacking Kennedy and Pritzker by trying to tie them to President Donald Trump and Governor Bruce Rauner, Tillery said Kennedy needs to make a move now with a new TV ad of his own. Kennedy’s campaign says they will, soon. […]
“He needs more than an ad to go up, he needs a series of ads. In fact, he needs to go up and not come down through March 20 is what he needs at this point,” political consultant Delmarie Cobb said. […]
“I think he still has an opportunity to correct any mistakes he’s made, I mean they haven’t been fatal blows at all, they’ve been what I would call novice mistakes,” Cobb said. […]
Kennedy’s campaign said they are the only ones message of vision and change for Illinois. On Thursday, a spokeswoman said “we’re very much in contention with or without ads.”
He can’t run ads without money and he doesn’t have enough to go up and stay up more than a week or so, if that.
