* It was a sleepy morning at the Capitol, as most Fridays tend to be, but there was this one moment on the House floor when Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora) got up on a point of personal privilege, congratulating her female colleagues — especially the working mothers — reaching their levels of professional success while dealing with systems set up for men in the workplace.
Then she stumped for the passage of the ERA (you’ll remember the vote was delayed Wednesday when Lou Lang said he didn’t have the votes because of an “attendance issue.”)…
“We need the Equal Rights Amendment now to ensure that women are not forced to completely sacrifice caring for themselves and their children in order to provide for their families. Gov. Rauner, you know I spoke to you this week and I said, ‘I love you and I bless you and I’m praying for you,’ but it is also your responsibility that falls heavy for this state. The responsibility to all the working mothers in Illinois to encourage — please encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and your Republican counterparts to do the right thing by women and support the Equal Rights Amendment.”
* Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) immediately responded to Chapa LaVia’s statement, warning that passage of the ERA would take away any special privileges women have gained through female-focused legislation in the past couple of years…
“While I appreciate the previous speaker’s remark, I’d like to point out that if we were to pass the ERA Amendment, everything she just spoke about and advocated for would be gone. There would be no distinction between sexes at all, there would be no breastfeeding rooms, there would be no bills, as Rep. Moeller even passed stating we should have a Women’s Task Force that dealt with women’s issues. All of that would be negated if we were to pass an ERA Amendment. It would literally say there is no distinction or difference between the sexes, which is absolutely ridiculous and unscientific. So, um, enough of this. Let’s just get back to the duties and the work that we’re supposed to do here. I’ll tell you what — personally, I have never felt that my progress at the statehouse has been impeded by my sex. Nor have I ever felt held back by my sex. Women have more opportunities than ever before in our lifetime. Women complete more college degrees than men do. Let’s just realize that scientifically speaking, there is a difference between the sexes, and you have come up with a number of bills, you have proposed a number of bills to recognize that distinction, and I’d just like to point that out.”
* Rae Hodge puzzled through it…
So there's this division in ERA opponent arguments I cant get my head around:
One hand: they say abortion rights'd be HARDER to deny bc it'd mean female sex desrimination. Other hand: they say breastfeeding rights'd be EASIER to deny bc it'd mean male sex discrimination.
If ERA would make it harder to deny abortion rights bc they're sex-specific rights, wouldn't that mean other sex-specific rights would likewise be harder to deny?
Both = sex-specific rights. So if ERA = no breastfeeding rights wouldn't it mean no abortion rights?
* From the governor’s recent amendatory veto statement on HB1468…
One recommendation of the School Safety Working Group that was well-received by the Legislative Public Safety Working Group and that requires legislation is amending the County School Facilities Sales Tax statute to expand the authorized uses of sales tax revenue approved by local referendum. The tax is currently restricted to improvements in physical facilities, such as locks and security doors. I ask that it be amended to include the hiring of school resource officers or mental health workers based on local determination of local need.
* From the original statute that the governor wants to amend, with emphasis added by me…
In any county, a tax shall be imposed upon all persons engaged in the business of selling tangible personal property, other than personal property titled or registered with an agency of this State’s government, at retail in the county on the gross receipts from the sales made in the course of business to provide revenue to be used exclusively for school facility purposes if a proposition for the tax has been submitted to the electors of that county and approved by a majority of those voting on the question as provided in subsection (c). The tax under this Section shall be imposed only in one-quarter percent increments and may not exceed 1%.
* The Question: Should local school infrastructure sales tax money be used to hire school resource officers and/or mental health workers? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs director Erica Jeffries tendered her resignation April 27. The governor’s office announced Elizabeth Pennix as her successor…
Gov. Bruce Rauner announced today Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA) Director Erica Jeffries will be leaving IDVA after leading the agency for more than three years. Jeffries is returning to the private sector where she will serve as an executive in a large multinational, Fortune 100 company. Elisabeth Pennix, the current General Counsel at IDVA and Navy veteran will serve as the interim director of the agency until a permanent director is announced.
“Director Jeffries has done remarkable work for the veterans of Illinois during her tenure as director of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs,” Rauner said. “She has been a steadfast leader in providing the crucial services our heroes need and deserve. We are deeply grateful for her service, and are confident Elisabeth Pennix will lead the department and serve Illinois’ veterans tremendously until a permanent director is selected.” […]
Before serving as General Counsel at IDVA, Pennix served as Senior Program Manager for the Women Veterans Program, Gold Star Family Program, and Illinois Joining Forces.
During her military service, Pennix served seven years on active duty as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) in the U.S. Navy, and also deployed to Iraq in 2006-2007 where she conducted Geneva Convention legal reviews for Iraqi detainees. Pennix continues to serve part-time as a commander in the U.S. Navy JAG Corps Reserves.
“I’m honored to continue the work of Director Jeffries and the entire IDVA as we continue to strive to provide the best possible care for Illinois’ veterans today and in the future,” Pennix said.
Pennix is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and the Chicago-Kent College of Law. She lives in Chicago with her husband, a retired U.S. Army officer and active duty Chicago Police Sergeant, and their children.
* And it looks like IDVA’s Assistant Director is also out…
Just in: Sources say IL Veterans Affairs Assistant Director Harry Sawyer will "resign" within the week. Last month, IDVA slated Sawyer to fill in as interim director in place of Erica Jeffries who is also heading for the exits in the wake of the Quincy Veterans Home fallout. https://t.co/g2UflKCx5Q
The Department of Veterans Affairs confirms Sawyer’s exit. Spokesman says “We are very thankful and appreciative for his 36 years of service and wish him and his family the very best.” https://t.co/oDobWH1Smy
* Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti did a couple talk radio interviews Thursday with WJBC in Bloomington and WSOY in Decatur. Other than repeating she was “optimistic” a budget will be agreed upon before the end of the month, there was nothing else much notable.
However, I did find her comments on WSOY about Gov. Rauner’s amendatory veto of the gun bill interesting, if only for what was not discussed.
Before talking about anything else in the package, she pointed to the part of the governor’s AV that would provide more funding for school resource officers and mental health professionals and mentioned Wednesday’s attempted school shooting in Dixon, which thankfully ended with no fatalities.
* From there, the conversation jumped to JB Pritzker’s stance on gun control…
“We know that right now the package that we’re putting forward is fair on both sides. Whereas JB Pritzker — we know him to be hostile to the Second Amendment. And we also know that Pritzker is a big-money funder of state and national gun control groups, donating over I believe $100,000 to gun control groups.”
* She also said she looks at the gun debate through the lens of the daughter of a Cuban immigrant. Sanguinetti’s mother was a refugee from the communist regime…
“The first thing [Fidel] Castro did to us was take away our guns, and what followed that was taking away our freedoms”
The tie-back to her mother’s story growing up in communist Cuba was something Sanguinetti mentioned Monday at the announcement of the governor’s AV…
“The first thing Fidel Castro did was take away our ability to defend ourselves, take away our guns. The second thing he did to the people of Cuba was take away their properly. And then thirdly was our freedom. So I remember growing up with these stories of oppression. I remember my mother and family members telling me what it was like to not be able to read a book of your choosing, not be able to be able to practice a religion of your family’s choosing. That’s what a dictatorship does. And it doesn’t work. And I think we can all agree on that. So needless to say, my mother always raised me to be a strong supporter of the Second Amendment.”
Curiously, though, nothing about what many consider the main tenets of the original bill — the 72-hour waiting period — was discussed in detail, and the blockbuster announcement of the AV dealing with putting the death penalty back in place for cop killers and mass murders was not mentioned at all.
There are excessive executive compensation packages, and then there are outright giveaways. Put Tronc’s recent payment of $15 million to former Chairman Michael Ferro in the latter category.
The publisher of the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers disclosed last week that it accelerated payment of $15 million in fees under a three-year consulting agreement with Ferro and his private company, handing over the entire amount in the first quarter. Ferro retired from Tronc in March, shortly before Fortune magazine reported that two women had accused him of making unwanted sexual advances. A month later, he announced plans to sell his controlling stake in Tronc to a group including a distant relative of the McCormick family that once ran the Tribune. […]
Tronc has provided scant detail on what services Ferro has performed or will perform under the consulting agreement. The agreement itself, attached to a Tronc filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, contains no clause requiring a lump-sum advance payout of the entire $15 million under any circumstances. […]
Tronc’s financial outlook only grows darker, as online revenue sources fail to offset the impact of digital competition on print advertising dollars. The top line dipped again in the first quarter, falling 3 percent to $355.6 million, and the net loss quintupled to $14.8 million. (By the way, Tronc blamed most of the loss on the $15 million payment to Ferro.)
So, almost its entire quarterly loss is blamed on the accelerated Ferro payment. Great business practices.
* Tribune writer and union member Michael Hawthorne noted earlier today that tronc paid $1.3 million to lease a jet from a Ferro company and paid a half million dollars for stadium suite leases, including apparently paying for Ferro to go to the Cubs’ World Series while tronc “fired sportswriters, cut back on travel and operated a bug-riddled website seemingly designed to drive readers away.” His conclusion…
6/6 Why is Tronc wasting $15 million on Michael Ferro, when it could be investing that money in journalism that serves Chicago and other cities? This is one reason why the Tribune newsroom organized a union. #FerrosMillions#TribUnionpic.twitter.com/zCH0Ac6b5a
The @CTGuild is holding a picket outside of the @tronc shareholder meeting this morning to find out why Michael Ferro got a $15 million for consulting work through 2020. @tronc — you owe your shareholders and explanation. pic.twitter.com/Tte78xSJMU
Durkin said last summer’s state income tax hike is making things easier. Democrats – joined by some Republicans – imposed the $5 billion tax increase over the governor’s veto in 2017, breaking a two-and-a-half-year budget impasse.
“I’m not going to be overly optimistic until I see more progress made, but the fact is we’re in a better place than we were last year and the year before,” Durkin said.
Cullerton said if talks do break down this year, as they did last summer, Democrats are prepared to go it alone.
“Then we’ll have to go ahead and pass our own budget with as much cooperation from Republicans as we can get,” he said.
It’s a lot easier this year because no tax increases are involved, but this governor has yet to prove that he can negotiate a real budget and the Democrats believe they may have enough Republican votes to override a potential Rauner veto.
Democratic Senate President John Cullerton emerged from behind the closed doors of another lengthy budget meeting in Gov. Rauner’s Capitol office Thursday and announced the group had come to an agreement.
“We had a nice discussion,” Cullerton said. “I would say everybody heard ‘Laurel.’ ”
He was, of course, referencing the recent internet phenomenon in which people hear an audio clip as either “Laurel” or “Yanny.” But befitting the way budget talks go in Springfield, Cullerton quickly hedged on the idea there was some agreement.
“I heard Laurel,” he said. “You’ll have to ask the governor and the speaker what they thought.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner is joining humanitarian and mayoral candidate Dr. Willie Wilson at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Bruce Montgomery Operation HOPE, 815 W. 63rd St., 4th Floor, Chicago, IL, to sign an executive order that will give African Americans a fair share of all state contracts.
* Legislative Black Caucus members wanted to get their own views on record before that press pop with Wilson...
The Illinois Black Legislative Caucus accuses him of showboating for political gain. They say, in reality, his administration only made this problem worse by failing to enforce laws they’ve already passed.
At a press conference Thursday morning, the caucus shared data from the Business Enterprise Program (BEP), a state program designed to help women, minorities and disabled business owners partner with the state. While participation has grown, it shows over the last two years, the amount of money spent on black vendors has dropped 22%.
“All we’re trying to do is ask him to be fair and honest instead of playing lip service with these very important issues and pay attention to a lot of things we put into that bill,“ says Rep. Al Riley (D- Chicago). […]
Most of the suggestions found in the commission were made by Black Caucus members, outlined in a 2016 law and a task force. Members say he sat on these initiative for two years and could’ve delivered on his promise then.
“It’s appalling that the governor would try to come out as our champion today when he had an opportunity to actually become the champion if he wanted to solve this over the years,” Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D- Maywood).
* Rauner press release…
The Task Force was formed recognizing that African Americans represent 10% of business ownership in Illinois, yet only 1% of the total spending of the State of Illinois on state contracts. “This disparity is unacceptable,” Rauner said in announcing the order.
The Rauner administration is a staunch ally of minority business development. In recent years, African-American businesses have been growing under the Business Enterprise Program. Though they earned only $210.4 million from FY12-14, African-American businesses have earned $243.1 million from FY15-17 through BEP. Rauner’s executive order is intended to further accelerate growth of African-American businesses in state contracting. […]
“This Task Force was a bipartisan effort for which I would like to thank Gov. Rauner, Sen. Mattie Hunter, and Rep. Will Davis,” said Wilson. “We recognized that these important measures needed to be taken to strengthen economic development and job creation in the African-American community. The State’s engagement with African-American vendors will help lead to reduced unemployment and crime in areas that need job opportunities the most.” […]
“Thanks to the governor for giving us this unique opportunity,” said Rep. Will Davis, D-Hazel Crest. “I appreciate his desire to help and support African-American businesses. This executive order is a great first step in the right direction.”
* Perhaps stung by the criticism, Wilson sent out a press release yesterday after the event on a totally different topic…
Mayoral Candidate Willie Wilson stands up to condemn Governor Bruce Rauner’s recent proposal to reinstate the Illinois death penalty that was outlawed nearly a decade ago.
Southern Illinois University President Randy Dunn is pushing back against claims that he colluded with SIU Edwardsville officials in developing a proposal to shift $5.1 million in state appropriations from Carbondale to Edwardsville.
In a guest opinion column published in The Southern Illinoisan on Thursday, former SIUC Faculty Senate President Kathleen Chwalisz claimed that budget-related documents and correspondences obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests reveal how Dunn kept SIUC Chancellor Carlo Montemagno in the dark about the proposal, which ultimately failed to pass the SIU Board of Trustees on April 12.
In one internal email, Dunn said he was using certain funding distribution figures “simply to shut up the b*tchers from Carbondale” who opposed the reallocation.
I want to take this opportunity to respond to the Guest View written by Dr. Kathleen Chwalisz recently published in The Southern Illinoisan which I find to be both misleading and frankly intentionally and grossly misrepresenting the situation.
First, I want to take an opportunity to address what was a mistake on my part in referring to individuals in the Carbondale area who have questioned, as it is their right to do, this process regarding campus budget reallocations with a less than complementary [sic] term. I was wrong to characterize them in that way. Many are friends and colleagues and to them, I apologize for how I characterized those who reflexively refused to discuss the issue or engage in a dialogue about it.
The university president received harsh rebukes on the Illinois House floor. Republican state Rep. Terri Bryant of Murphysboro said the newspaper piece makes it “quite clear that (Dunn) is not working for the Carbondale campus and he’s in fact colluding with officials” at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. She called on him to resign “immediately.”
“President Dunn, calling the people of my district, the constituents that I serve, ‘bitches’ is not acceptable,” Bryant said. “Those are fellow southern Illinoisans, and they’re fellow Illinoisans. Those are hardworking people that are fighting to protect what they have built.”
Bryant referred to herself as “a loud, proud b*tcher” in solidarity.
Republican state Rep. Chad Hays of Catlin also called for Dunn’s resignation, noting he graduated from the Downstate campus and sends his two sons there. He brought up the school’s iconic mascot in his dismissal of Dunn.
“On behalf of all Salukis, you go to hell, sir,” Hays said.
I will let the statements that have been shared speak for themselves. I am, of course, dismayed and disappointed by what appears to be an active, deliberate effort to undermine the Carbondale campus and, by extension, the entire SIU system. The process and lack of transparency did not serve us or our colleagues at Edwardsville. I must add that the disrespect to Carbondale’s faculty, staff and community is especially disturbing. However, these concerns are best addressed by the Board of Trustees and system leadership.
To the other matter at hand, Dr. Chwalisz weaves an interesting story in her attempt to discredit my reputation in our community and I want to respond to her allegations:
Chwalisz Claim: Budget-related documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act show that SIU President Randy Dunn actively concealed from SIUC Chancellor Carlo Montemagno his plan to transfer $5.125 million from the Carbondale to Edwardsville campus.
Chwalisz Claim: Montemagno was never briefed on the reallocation proposal, becoming aware of it with the general public when the April Board of Trustees agenda was posted online on March 30.
Chwalisz Claim: FOIA documents provide evidence that Dunn purposefully kept Montemagno in the dark about the reallocation proposal.
Dunn Response: There was never any concealment from anyone on the Carbondale campus regarding this item for the Board agenda. In fact, there cannot be any concealment because of our Board agenda process. The facts are, campus Chancellors, including Chancellor Montemagno, and senior staff have a conference call that occurs at least three weeks before every Board of Trustees meeting. In this case, for the April 11-12 Board of Trustees meeting, we gathered on March 21 for our usual conference call where we discuss items to be included for discussion at the upcoming Board meeting. Regardless if a Chancellor is present or not on this call (as Chancellor Montemagno was not), his staff was present in my office and on the call and following procedure had background on the items discussed for the upcoming meeting, including the FY 2019 campus budget reallocations.
Additionally, there was another opportunity for the Chancellor to discuss this with me at what has been coined the “Good Friday Ambush.” However the Chancellor cancelled that meeting and never rescheduled – even up until the time of the board meeting twelve days later. During this time period this matter was publically posted with all other Board agenda items, the Chancellor did not reach out to me to discuss the reallocation issue or any other posted Board agenda items. However, he saw fit to do a blog post on April 4 protesting the proposed board action.
Yikes.
Maybe while Gov. Rauner is down in southern Illinois touring areas hit hard by this week’s water shortage today he could convene an emergency private meeting of SIU honchos and try to work things out.
On May 1, our president reportedly surpassed the 3,000th falsehood of his term in office thus far, fewer than 470 days in at a rate of 6.5 lies per day — though he’s picked up the pace over the last couple months — according to the Washington Post’s Fact Checker squad.
As Bloomberg put it, “How did we go from a president who could not tell a lie to politicians who cannot tell the truth?” We’ve fallen a long way in almost 230 years.
Evidently Illinois’ governor would not be outdone. Last week Bruce Rauner told something of a whopper at an event in Chicago regarding the status of the former Mitsubishi plant in Normal, according to reporting in Springfield’s State Journal-Register.
“We tried to get another … car manufacturer to take over the plant” following the Japanese automaker’s departure in 2016, Rauner said. “No one would come in. No one would even take the plant if we gave it to them, because our regulations are so hostile to business and our taxes are so high.”
Just one catch, of course: In fact the central Illinois plant was purchased by Rivian Automotive, an electric car manufacturer, early last year. The Rauner administration touted that when it happened. Rivian potentially could receive nearly $50 million in state tax credits, thanks to a deal negotiated by Rauner’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Rauner visited the place a few months later.
To be sure, vehicles aren’t rolling off the Rivian assembly line yet. The company employs a fraction of the workers Mitsubishi did in its heyday here. Nonetheless, the governor’s information was clearly wrong. It wasn’t the first time. He continues to dance around it. When the facts don’t fit the narrative — Illinois is broken, only I can fix it, in this case — you make something up. […]
Once upon a time in this country, honesty was a virtue, and character destiny. This stops when voters stop rewarding it. Meantime, what are we teaching our children?
* DGA…
“Another week and instead of leadership, we get more lies from this failed Governor,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “The fact is that Bruce Rauner’s entire election campaign is built upon lies and deflections to explain away three years of failed leadership.”
“This is the sort of legislation that comes out of the General Assembly under Madigan’s Democrats that really, it just creates hassles for businesses and honest business owners — red tape, filings and fees,” Rauner said Thursday morning on WJPF, a radio station in southern Illinois. […]
As for insinuations that the powerful speaker is in charge of the measure, [sponsoring Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park)] said he hasn’t spoken to him about the bill.
“I never talked to the speaker as I was redrafting the bill and building a bipartisan coalition,” Harmon said. “He likes to blame the speaker for everything. He may be the politician most influenced by the speaker in Illinois.”
Rend Lake Conservancy District announced early Friday that 35 hours after a water main break, water is flowing from the Inter-City Water Plant. But things are not back to normal yet.
The district had a breach in a pipe at the plant Wednesday that caused several communities in Southern Illinois to be without water by Thursday.
“The close of one very long day is within sight,” reads a statement from the district distributed by the Franklin County Emergency Management Agency.
A bypass is completed and is now pumping some water into the system while the broken pipe is repaired, according to the statement.
Marion Mayor Anthony Rinella said Thursday that schools were shutting down early and that a variety of businesses, including restaurants, hotels, and dental offices, for example, were following suit. Carwashes and laundromats were closed Wednesday. Hospitals have not been evacuated.
“We’re getting no water from Rend Lake right now,” Rinella said. “They’re telling us that they hope to have the repairs done within 24 hours, but even if that is the case, it will probably take another 24 hours or more to fill the tanks and get back to normal production.” […]
“Don’t water your garden or your lawn. Don’t wash your car. Use as little water as possible inside your home, too,” the mayor cautioned.
Local stores like Kroger, Walmart and Sam’s Club were selling out of bottled water rather quickly Thursday. Rinella said weekend shows at the Marion Cultural and Civic Center were canceled and will have to be rescheduled.
Gov. Bruce Rauner is keeping a close watch on the communities impacted by the Rend Lake Water Conservancy Water Disruption. He has been briefed on the situation several times today and issues the following statement:
“The Rend Lake Water Conservancy District, which supplies water to more than 175,000 people in southern Illinois, experienced a major water main break late yesterday afternoon. Efforts by the district to repair the break are on-going at this time. While there currently have been no requests for state assistance, state agencies are actively preparing to provide support needed to ensure the public health and safety of the many communities served by the district.
“Earlier today the Illinois Emergency Management Agency convened a conference call with several state agencies and mutual aid partners to assess the whole community impacts of situation and prepare for potential deployment of state resources t0 impacted communities until the water supply is restored.
“Our primary concern is the well-being of the people affected by this situation. I want to assure everyone affected that the State of Illinois will do everything in our power to ensure public health and safety is protected until this situation is resolved.”
The governor, I’m told, is heading to the region today. The governor’s office says the Marion mayor spoke personally with IEMA Director Robbie Robertson. A retired firefighter, Mayor Rinella had been the city’s finance commissioner and was automatically elevated to the top post when Mayor Bob Butler, who’d held the office for 55 years, retired earlier this year.
Marion Mayor Anthony Rinella, in an interview with POLITICO last night, expressed anger that the state hadn’t done more to help his community and surrounding towns served by the Rend Lake Water Conservancy District that are struggling with little or no water since Wednesday’s water main break. Rinella issued an emergency declaration. All schools, hotels, restaurants and other businesses were ordered closed by 3 p.m. on Thursday and were not to reopen until further notice.
“It’s just been a nightmare,” Rinella said last night. “It’s very disconcerting that 160,000 people can be out of water and the state of Illinois has got its head stuck in the sand, like they didn’t know it was going on.” […]
To that, Rinella responded: “I’m not going to apologize for the governor. He could have taken it upon himself to make a call down here,” Rinella said. “I would think that if I was a governor and I knew that 160,000 were without water, I would have reached out.”
Stoking frustrations? Someone else did call Rinella on Thursday: Rauner‘s November opponent J.B. Pritzker.
“J.B. Pritzker has contacted me three times today. I know JB’s running for governor, but he was kind of wondering why the state hadn’t reached out to me,” Rinella said.
Nice move by Pritzker, but I’m not sure the governor is expected to personally call all 40-some water-starved mayors in the region. Then again, the squeakiest wheel should always be given early attention.
…Adding… Texts from a pal in southern Illinois…
It’s crazy down here, all the restaurants and most all gas stations closed. Cars coming off I 57 from Mt Vernon to Marion driving around aimlessly looking for gas or food and there is nothing open, no signs no direction. Crazy.
Selling bottles of water for $6 in Franklin County last night. People going crazy rich.
I’ve been driving all morning nothing is open between Mt Vernon and Herrin.
Today, the Illinois state Senate voted 35-18 to pass Senate Amendment 3 to Senate Bill 337, which would shut down your local gun stores with onerous red tape and regulations. Governor Bruce Rauner has previously vetoed two of these egregious dealer licensing bills, but anti-gun legislators are not giving up.
Even after the Democratic sponsor of a gun dealer oversight measure made changes and brought in bipartisan support, Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday called a revamped effort “political grandstanding” while also blaming a familiar foe: Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan. […]
“This is the sort of legislation that comes out of the General Assembly under Madigan’s Democrats that really, it just creates hassles for businesses and honest business owners — red tape, filings and fees,” Rauner said Thursday morning on WJPF, a radio station in southern Illinois. “And it really doesn’t improve public safety and it doesn’t really stop criminals. This is the kind of legislation that really, it’s more for headlines than it really is to keep the people of Illinois safe.”
Rauner said the motivation for the new bill is “political grandstanding, grabbing for headlines rather than trying to get real improvement for the people of Illinois.”
“That happens far too often with Madigan, the Democrats and the General Assembly,” Rauner said.
The governor’s office said the “burden on small businesses” is the chief concern regarding the new bill, but noted they will fully review the bill if it makes it to his desk.
* Pritzker campaign…
After Bruce Rauner announced his opposition to the second bipartisan gun dealer licensing bill, JB Pritzker released the following statement:
“There are lives on the line as Bruce Rauner plays the lowest form of election year-politics,” said JB Pritzker. “This callous governor vetoed a commonsense Gun Dealer Licensing Act that would have helped keep families and communities safe. Now, after bipartisan legislators came together on a compromise that addresses Rauner’s concerns, he still plans to shamefully oppose the bill. It’s past time for this failed governor to put people before politics and do something about the senseless gun violence ravaging our communities.”
SA 3 to SB 337 will now go to the House of Representatives for further consideration, where anti-gun legislators are also attempting to override Gov. Rauner’s veto on a bill which would arbitrarily expand waiting periods for certain commonly owned semi-automatic firearms. Please contact your state Representative and urge them to OPPOSE SA 3 to SB 337 and to OPPOSE overriding the veto of HB 1468. Click the “Take Action” button below to contact your state Representative.
The NRA apparently understands that a big part of the reason for the governor’s amendatory veto to partially reinstate the death penalty was to distract from the fact that he’s actually vetoing a bill to expand waiting periods for assault weapons.
* Related…
* Madigan sets up vote on Rauner death penalty plan, creating political minefield: Lawmakers on both sides who vote against the measure could find themselves targeted by political opponents as being soft on crime and weak in their support of law enforcement by refusing to lift the state’s seven-year ban on capital punishment. That could particularly impact suburban Democratic lawmakers in a region where the party has made increasing inroads on traditionally Republican territory. … While reinstating the death penalty has its appeal to Republican voters, Rauner’s plan also would create a 72-hour waiting period for all guns, not just military-style firearms contained in the original bil. An expansion of the waiting period is opposed by the politically powerful National Rifle Association and is at odds with many voters in rural Illinois legislative districts represented by Republicans who champion their support for gun rights.
House Speaker Michael J. Madigan released the following statement Friday:
“House Democrats agree that action must be taken to protect the health and wellbeing of our military heroes in the Quincy Veterans Home, and we stand ready to work with the governor. Concerns and questions raised by our caucus remain unaddressed by the administration, but need to be resolved in order for us all to make the best decisions on behalf of our veterans and their families.
“We know all too well that we are in this situation entirely because for three years Governor Rauner failed to act, attempted to shift blame, and hid the truth even from our veterans, their loved ones and their caregivers. We must now work together to correct these failings and protect our veterans through the careful, considerate process that should have been this administration’s policy all along.”
Notice he didn’t say what questions “remain unaddressed.”
*** UPDATE *** Rachel Bold with the Rauner adminstration…
We hope this isn’t an attempt to play politics with the health and safety of our heroes at the Quincy Veterans Home or to hold up funding for this vital project. Our administration has cooperated with House and Senate hearings and provided hours of testimony, thousands of responsive documents, and has offered to collaborate with legislators to answer questions. In 2015 we acted immediately in conjunction with CDC scientists. If Speaker Madigan, or the members of his caucus have remaining questions it’s time for them to clearly articulate them.
