Gov. Bruce Rauner won’t be required to sit for a deposition in a federal lawsuit that alleges Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan put up “sham” candidates in legislative races, after a federal judge ruled Monday that there’s no reason to prove “Gov. Rauner hates Speaker Madigan.”
“You can turn on a TV and see the ads,” U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said during a status hearing, arguing that anyone who’s not fully aware of the Republican governor’s animosity to the Democratic speaker is “like Rip Van Winkle and you just woke up.”
The removal of Rauner reduces Madigan’s attorneys’ deposition list to just one man: millionaire investor Blair Hull. […]
Hull is being deposed because lawyers are trying to show that he had the most participation in funding the Gonzales campaign.
A newly formed charity came to Chicago pitching state officials on its “model” way to provide low-income housing.
The Ohio-based Better Housing Foundation said it would provide safe apartments. It would help tenants get jobs and health care. And it wouldn’t evict “solely on the basis that the tenant is unable to pay their rent.”
Starting in early 2016, with little scrutiny, a pair of state agencies helped the nonprofit borrow tens of millions of dollars at lower interest rates and obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in property tax breaks that allowed it to rapidly buy dozens of buildings across the South Side.
But a Tribune investigation has found that many residents have been left to live in deteriorating buildings. The nonprofit hasn’t provided social services there. And the charity regularly has sued to evict those behind on rent. Meanwhile, a real estate manager, lawyers and others have been collectively paid millions of dollars in fees. […]
As for the buildings themselves, closing documents show that of the nearly $14 million borrowed, just $100,000 was set aside to cover repairs in 16 older buildings mostly in South Shore but also to the west in Park Manor and as far south as West Pullman. […]
After that $52 million deal closed, DeAngelis’ firm was paid more than $3.3 million from bond proceeds — double what the state board had been told in a presentation, records show. […]
Building code problems also continued to increase. By February of this year — 19 months into the nonprofit’s stewardship — code violations topped 500. […]
Getting cheap financing was just one part of the plan. The other: getting property taxes eliminated.
The Illinois budget labeled as “balanced” by Democrats and Republicans alike has an estimated $1.2 billion structural imbalance, according to the state’s new offering statement.
The Fiscal Year 2019 General Funds budget has an estimated underlying structural deficit of $1.2 billion. To avoid future structural deficits, the Governor and the General Assembly would, among other potential solutions, need to reduce expenditures, adjust revenue collections or approve a combination of revenue adjustments and reductions in expenditures. The State provides no assurances as to how, when or in what form this structural deficit might be addressed.
According to the state’s report, the structural deficit results from one-time things like $800 million in interfund borrowing and $300 million for the sale of the Thompson Center. But there’s also the matter of $400 million in raises the state must pay, but never appropriated. Then there’s the hoped-for $400 million for pension savings from a buyout program…
“While these buyout programs have yet to be implemented, it is expected to create savings for the state in the long term,” state budget director Hans Zigmund said in a recorded investor presentation. “The state can provide no assurance as to the amount of savings actually realized from the implementation of such programs.”
* And despite the governor’s continued trash-talking of the tax hike, here’s his capital markets director…
“Several developments which have taken place since the beginning of fiscal year 2018 are putting the state on an improved trajectory for the future,” state capital markets director Kelly Hutchinson says in a recorded investor presentation, saying the permanent income tax hike “helped drive a 21% increase in general fund revenues.”
The report and the investor presentation are both here.
Director Hutchinson also made a good point during the presentation that the state’s GO bond program has a “perfect” repayment record since it was established in 1900. That’s 118 years.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Sunday vetoed legislation to expand benefit rights for paramedics and emergency medical technicians by defining them as firefighters in municipal collective bargaining agreements.
Rauner’s veto of the two measures, which were passed with overwhelming, veto-proof bipartisan majorities, was in line with his previous pronouncements that Springfield shouldn’t dictate “unfunded state mandates on local governments.”
But Rauner went further, castigating the legislation as perpetuating “the decades of political corruption that has plagued the state of Illinois for too long.”
“Time and again, elected officials have granted sweeping benefits and power to the unions in exchange for campaign contributions and political support, creating a system of entrenchment, waste and bad government,” Rauner wrote in his veto message of one of the measures.
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Sunday vetoed three education bills, including one that would have required students to learn about work ethic and another that would have created an “emotional intelligence” task force.
The work ethic bill called for the teaching of such concepts as the importance of trustworthiness, integrity, initiative, respecting authority, arriving on time, and being ready for work and dressing appropriately. […]
Rauner also vetoed a bill that would have mandated the creation of the Emotional Intelligence and Social and Emotional Learning Task Force. The nine-member task force would have been charged with developing curriculum and guidelines for elementary and high school students to learn things like how to recognize, direct and positively express emotions. Members of the task force would have been unpaid but eligible for expense reimbursements.
* Press release…
[Last week] Governor Bruce Rauner used an amendatory veto on House Bill 4469, a measure that had passed both chambers with bi-partisan support. The bill would have allowed an opportunity for eligible persons detained pre-trial to vote, and provide those leaving Illinois jails and prisons with information on voting rights for individuals living with records, including the basic knowledge that in Illinois, eligible citizens have their voting rights restored upon release. Unfortunately, the Governor eliminated the provision that would have provided basic information to those leaving jails and the Department of Corrections. The following can be attributed to Khadine Bennett, Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs Director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois:
The Governor’s action today stands in stark contrast to our State’s commitment to protecting voting rights. It is also a sharp departure from his SB 2273 (Crosscheck) veto message, where he stated that his “administration has demonstrated a commitment to increasing access to the vote.” Proclamations like these are hollow, especially where the provision of the bill that he vetoed would’ve provide crucial information to men and women leaving Illinois jails and prison – information that would make clear that individuals with records, including those leaving prisons and jails, have a right to vote in Illinois post release.
It is especially disappointing that a governor, who has publically stated that individuals who have served time in jails and prisons deserve an opportunity for redemption, rehabilitation and a second chance to be productive citizens, would use his veto to take away an opportunity for individuals leaving prisons and jails to know about their voting rights. Especially when this bill, and the provision he vetoed, was the result of negotiations with many entities, including IDOC and the Illinois Sheriffs Association.
In the months that we have spent working on this bill, we have heard from many citizens living with records throughout the state who didn’t realize that they still had a right to vote post release. They were very hopeful that they governor would sign HB 4469, as were the many organizations, churches, community groups, and individuals who worked on this bill.
The legislature should override this veto and enact House Bill 4469 in its original form.
* Other bills…
* New law aims to keep at-risk families together, out of welfare system: The law, House Bill 4885, provides child care for children younger than 5 who are part of an Illinois Department of Children and Family Services intact family case. After the DCFS case is closed, the families get an additional six months of child care.
* Stadelman proposal to crack down on mugshot websites signed into law: “These are private websites forcing individuals to pay thousands of dollars to remove incorrect information about their past,” Stadelman said. “In many cases, these people had their records sealed or expunged, or even had the case dismissed. It’s time to put an end to this unethical practice.”
Deputy Illinois House Republican leader Tom Demmer of Dixon says no one should expect the GOP to stop trying to tie Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan to local Democratic candidates.
“It certainly hasn’t lost its effectiveness.” Demmer said Sunday on WGN-AM 720. “I think the reason is in most articles you read about Speaker Madigan, it talks about the tremendous amount of influence and control he has over legislation that ever even comes up for a vote.” […]
“When you think about, across the state, there’s a lot of people both Republicans and Democrats, who are frustrated with Mike Madigan’s leadership and they don’t have a way of directly voting for him or not,” Demmer said, explaining what Rauner and Republicans have described as the “People’s Pledge” asking candidates not to back Madigan for speaker.
“And so the question really comes down to, if you’re somebody in the state who thinks that 40 years in politics is long enough … that it might be time to try something new,” he said. “That’s why we’re encouraging people to ask your local state representative candidate who they’re going to vote for for speaker. This is not something that a typical Illinoisan will see on their ballot.”
A Williamson County commissioner says the push for a gun control advisory question on November’s ballot has nothing to do with letting the voters speak and everything to do with heavy-handed Springfield politics.
Commissioner Ron Ellis said when the Williamson County Board first started talking in June about letting the voters decide if the board should oppose specific gun control bills that were being debated in Springfield, he was all for it. In fact, the three-person board voted unanimously to put the question on the ballot, they just had to finalize the language. […]
Ellis said that board meeting put the political machine in top gear, and the pressure was on him particularly. He said he got a call from Joe Hackler, the Southern Illinois director for Citizens for Rauner Inc., about his support of the measure.
“I was literally told that if I didn’t put this on the ballot that there would be repercussions,” Ellis said. He said he later heard from a local Republican official that if he wasn’t careful, it was possible there could be a smear campaign launched against him for standing up to Springfield, making his political life very difficult in the future.”
Williamson County’s controversial advisory question opposing gun-control legislation died during Friday’s special meeting after commissioner Jim Marlo did not get a second for his motion to put the question on the ballot. […]
Friday’s meeting was well-attended, with the majority of the gallery filled with people wishing to speak on whether or not they thought the question should go on the ballot. The majority spoke in favor, saying they wanted the voters’ voices to be heard in Springfield, despite the advisory question being a nonbinding measure. […]
Bradley Marks addressed Ellis directly, accusing him of standing against voter turnout. He said the advisory question represents a hot-button issue that would draw out not just conservative voters, but also liberal voters as well.
“If we have to use a gimmick to turn people out to the polls, that’s sad,” Ellis replied.
In the end, however, the board voted unanimously to put their original question on the ballot…
After the question failed to advance to a vote, the commissioners voted instead to take up the original referendum opposing five specific pieces of gun legislation that were under consideration at the state level, some of which deal with wait periods for purchasing certain weapons and others banning possession of firearm accessories like bump stocks. That passed unanimously.
Helene Miller Walsh, the wife of conservative radio host and former GOP U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, has been picked to fill the state House vacancy of a former Republican lawmaker who stepped down after being accused of sending an ex-girlfriend’s nude photos to other men online.
Nick Sauer, of Lake Barrington, resigned from his Illinois House seat this month after the accusations surfaced in a Politico report. Local Republican officials on Saturday chose Walsh to replace Sauer both in the General Assembly and on the November ballot.
Now, Walsh faces the potentially difficult task of building a campaign in the short few months before the election. She will run against Mary Edly-Allen, a teacher from Libertyville, in the race to represent a central and southern Lake County district in the state legislature.
“I’m really angry about what’s going on in this state,” Miller Walsh said. “People are leaving and have already left. I’m tired of what’s going on.”
She also said that, as a legislator, she wants to help the black community. Miller Walsh is a five-year advisory board member at Project H.O.O.D., an inner city nonprofit organization started by Pastor Corey Brooks in 2012 to help people become peacemakers, problem solvers, leaders and entrepreneurs in their communities.
“We all want the same thing, ultimately,” said Miller Walsh, a lifelong Chicago-area resident. “We all want to be able to live our lives with a lot less government interference. And we are responsible for ourselves. We’re no different up here in Mundelein than they are on the South Side (of Chicago).” […]
“When people came to her, she said to me, ‘You know what, I’ve got a chance to do my part to fight for Illinois,’” [Joe Walsh] said. “I think she’ll make a great candidate because she’s the epitome of a citizen legislator. She ain’t a professional politician, that is for sure.”
Today, Betsy Dirksen Londrigan’s campaign for Congress released her first general election television message to voters. The spot, titled “Hike,” tells the story of a family hike that landed her son in the intensive care unit, fighting for his life. It highlights the critical importance of access to quality and affordable health care for Illinois families. The spot begins airing on television in the district tomorrow.
“For me, and for so many parents across central Illinois, health care is a personal issue,” said Betsy Dirksen Londrigan. “No family should risk losing a loved one, or face bankruptcy, because of one medical emergency. That’s why I’m running for Congress — because Rodney Davis has voted repeatedly to cut health care coverage, raise costs, and gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Central Illinois families deserve better.”
Ten years ago, a family hike almost cost our son Jack his life. A simple tick bite led to a deadly infection that put Jack in intensive care for 21 days where he was read last rites twice. I’m Betsy Londrigan and I know that without great health care, Jack [my son] would have died. Thankfully, he came home. But then the bills started coming. Without good insurance, we would have been bankrupt. I approve this message, because now I want to make sure every parent can afford good health care for their family, too.
Madigan’s attorneys on Friday filed exhibits in U.S. District Court to show that Blair Hull — a millionaire investor who made a failed Democratic run for the U.S. Senate — emailed Rauner’s assistant to provide an update on [Jason] Gonzales’ 2016 campaign [against Madigan]. Hull helped create the PAC Illinois United for Change, which in 2016 helped to fund ads and mailers that either helped Gonzales or criticized Madigan.
Madigan’s team is seeking to show why Hull and Rauner should be deposed in the case, and to try to link that back to one of their defense strategies: trying to show that Gonzales was a “closet Republican.”
Gonzales’ team is hoping to prove that Madigan put up two “sham” candidates with Latino names to try to split the Hispanic vote in the March 2016 Democratic primary. Madigan beat Gonzales 65.2 percent to 27.1 percent. The other two candidates received a combined 7.8 percent.
Madigan attorneys also included an August 2016 email from Illinois Policy Institute head John Tillman — sent to Rauner’s assistant, his “body man” at the time and Illinois first lady Diana Rauner — which in length includes information about the anti-Madigan documentary “Madigan: Power, Privilege, Politics.” Gonzales was listed as a “potential expert” to be featured in the documentary and ultimately did appear in it.
That e-mail was addressed to “Bruce.” And the documents filed by Madigan’s attorneys appear to indicate that Hull bankrolled Gonzales’ suit against Madigan…
If this lawsuit is being supported or paid for by political opponents of Defendants, that fact calls into question Plaintiff’s credibility as a witness and as an alleged member of the Democratic Party.
They’re claiming that they believe Gonzales was a plant, and therefore the party was in its rights to do whatever it could to beat him.
MJM’s lawyers also claim that months after the primary Hull was still expressing interest in video taken of Gonzales during the primary, suggesting that there might be a link between Hull and the Illinois Policy Institute’s Madigan “documentary.” Click here to read the filing for yourself. Lots of interesting stuff in there.
* Tillman’s e-mail to “Bruce” includes a bit of PR strategizing for the Madigan documentary. “We will also use a number of other tactics to reach individuals outside of our digital community,” Tillman wrote, including..
• Syndicated columns: We are developing a series of columns that highlight Madigan’s control of legislative and political processes and the ways in which he and his political allies are enriching themselves off of Illinois’ property-tax scheme. These columns will be distributed via our Illinois News Network to approximately 15 media outlets across the state with a unique circulation of nearly 200,000 readers.
• Earned media: We will leverage our relationship with media to undermine Madigan’s narrative as a “defender of the middle class” and paint him as an obstructionist.
• Radio: We will develop radio segments based on our articles and columns on Madigan. These segments will air on our Illinois Rising radio show on AM 560 and will be syndicated through our Illinois Radio Network, which reaches more than 300,000 unique listeners.
I can’t help but wonder how newspaper publishers and radio station owners feel now about being so deliberately duped.
Mac Strategies Group, a twenty-five time, award-winning strategic communications, public affairs and government relations firm, announced today that former Chicago Tribune Statehouse Bureau Chief Monique Garcia will join the firm as its vice president of public and media relations.
In this newly created role, Garcia will be developing effective communication strategies for clients’ issue campaigns, while simultaneously using her experience to help navigate the Statehouse pressroom along with media outlets statewide. She has been recognized as one of the “best state capitol reporters in America” by the Washington Post, so she offers an invaluable blend of skills to successfully execute a variety of media and public relations campaigns. This role is a natural progression for Garcia who has chronicled the political process of hundreds of public policy issues in Illinois, having served as a key reporter and leader in the Chicago Tribune’s organization over the last decade.
“Monique will develop messaging plans and strategies to gain positive public exposure for our clients,” said Ryan McLaughlin, president and CEO of Mac Strategies Group. “Her familiarity and expertise of the news process will prove to be extremely beneficial for the clients we serve. She will bring a lens to statewide issues that furthers our ability to communicate sometimes complicated subjects, providing the perspective of those who want their important stories told.”
Garcia added, “This is a wonderful new chapter in my career, as I have long watched the smart, hard work of the team at Mac Strategies Group and am excited to join their ranks. I look forward to using my experience in the newsroom to help connect clients with journalists across the state in order to drive meaningful conversations about very important public policy issues.”
Mac Strategies Group continues the expansion of its capabilities with the addition of Garcia. In recent years the firm has added Matt Murphy, the former deputy leader of the Illinois Senate, to lead its government affairs practice; Matt Butterfield, a Peabody Award-winning Chicago broadcast journalist; Tom Bowen, a former key political strategist for Mayor Rahm Emanuel; and David Vite, one of the most respected lobbyists in Illinois. The firm was started by veteran media and political operative Ryan McLaughlin in 2008 and has quickly become one of the “go to” Chicago-based firms in executing public relations and public affairs campaigns for clients at the city, state and federal levels.
Huge loss for the reading public, huge gain for Mac. Monique is not only a good reporter she’s good people. I wish her nothing but the best. And I will never understand why the Tribune let her get away.
Today, the Pritzker campaign released a new digital video featuring President Barack Obama on why he’s backing JB Pritzker for governor. In the video, President Obama commends JB’s leadership in creating thousands of jobs at 1871 and expanding the school breakfast program to over 200,000 kids.
“Juliana and I are incredibly honored to have the support of President Barack Obama as we fight for the values that defined his presidency,” said JB Pritzker. “President Obama has done so much to move our country forward: expanding healthcare for millions, leading our country out of the Great Recession, and standing up as a model of leadership and integrity for millions across our great state and nation. I was proud to play a role in his historic presidency when I led the White House Summit on Early Childhood Education, and I’m proud to have his endorsement in this election. I look forward to fighting to preserve and build on his legacy as Illinois’ next governor by putting Springfield back on the side of working families.”
“I am proud to endorse JB Pritzker to be the next governor of my home state of Illinois, and let me tell you why,” said President Barack Obama in the video. “It’s simple. JB gets things done. When folks said Illinois couldn’t be a leader in creating high tech jobs, JB thought we could, and he started a tech incubator that’s helped entrepreneurs create hundreds of new companies and more than 7,000 good jobs. When JB saw that too many of our school kids were going hungry, he made it a personal mission to change that, and working with Illinois non-profits, he helped expand a program we started to make sure more than 200,000 low-income Illinois kids have access to school breakfast.
“I know JB. I trust JB, and that’s who he is — someone who is always thinking about how he can make difference. Someone who identifies the right problems and brings the right people together to solve them. And that’s something we can use in Illinois. JB will be a governor who looks out for all of us — from downstate towns to northern suburbs to the neighborhoods of Chicago. He’ll work as hard as he can to strengthen opportunity for every Illinoisan, today and into the future. So, I’m asking you to join me in supporting and voting for JB Pritzker for the next governor of Illinois.”
Chicago billionaire J.B. Pritzker isn’t sure whether he’ll back President Obama in 2012, Bloomberg TV reported on Friday. “We’ll have to wait and see. We have to see who the nominee will be on the Republican side,” Pritzker said. “I’m a Democrat, and I tend to lean towards voting for the president.”
“As in every election, it’s going to be a choice between two people and two parties that you’re not 100 percent behind,” Pritzker said. “You just have to pick the best of a mediocre set of choices.
Billionaire J.B. Pritzker has pumped another $20 million into his Democratic campaign for governor, bringing his record self-funding total to $126.5 million with 2½ months to go before the Nov. 6 general election.
Campaign finance reports filed late Saturday night showed Pritzker made his latest out-of-pocket contribution Tuesday, two days before he was a featured speaker at Democrat Day at the Illinois State Fair.
At the fair’s Republican day, Gov. Bruce Rauner asked the gathered crowd for financial help, warning that he would be outspent by Pritzker by a 3-1 ratio, though he offered no specifics. […]
Still, the Republican governor has put $95.3 million of his own money into his campaign fund since March 2013, when he announced his first candidacy for governor. In December 2016, Rauner made a record one-time contribution of $50 million to his re-election fund.
Maxwell: Why do you think at this time in Pat Quinn’s governorship he created more jobs than you have in this time in yours? [Rauner laughs] Those are the facts, those are the dry numbers. Why do you think that is?
Rauner: So, um, Quinn was a disaster for the state of Illinois. And Pritzker will even be a bigger disaster. Regulations, restrictions, tax hikes…
Maxwell: How was he able to create more jobs at this time in his governorship than you have in yours?
Rauner: We have had the headwinds of a tax hike from Mike Madigan and the talk of further tax hikes…
Maxwell: To the same rate that it was under Gov. Quinn, to the same rate.
Rauner: And, and people see the deficit spending. People see what Madigan’s doing to the state. And it’s very difficult to persuade investors, very difficult to persuade job creators to come.
Go watch the rest. The governor claims he’s talked to business owners who’ve vowed to leave the state if Pritzker is elected. Maxwell also pressed him on all the jobs his overseas trips were supposed to create that haven’t yet been announced. The governor didn’t have much of an answer.
The Democratic Party of Illinois has sent out what could wind up being the most unintentionally hilarious campaign mailer of the season.
“Mica Freeman’s Plan: No Budget, No Pay,” the DPI mailer blares on behalf of the Democratic candidate challenging Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield).
“If politicians in Springfield don’t do their job and balance the budget, they shouldn’t get paid. Period,” the mailer claims. “Mica Freeman is outraged Governor Bruce Rauner and Springfield politicians continued collecting taxpayer-funded paychecks while failing to balance the budget for more than 700 days, putting critical services like breast cancer screenings and domestic violence shelters at risk.”
The other side of the mailer has a photo of a bespectacled, cross-armed Freeman staring at the camera. “If you don’t do your job, you don’t get paid. Even my kids understand that. But Springfield politicians who fail to pass a budget still collect a paycheck. I say that’s wrong and I’m going to stop it.”
Wait. What?
House Speaker Michael Madigan’s top attorney Mike Kasper filed a lawsuit on behalf of several of Madigan’s House Democratic members in 2016 against Comptroller Leslie Munger for withholding legislators’ paychecks during the two-year budget impasse. The Republican Munger’s special election campaign that year centered around her “No budget, no pay” slogan, and she got backup from Gov. Rauner, who, by the way, doesn’t accept a salary.
So, I about died laughing when I saw that Democratic Party mailer.
Rep. Batinick himself co-sponsored legislation in 2015 that would’ve repealed a state law enacting a continuing appropriation for legislator salaries and General Assembly operations. That 2014 law was pushed by Madigan after Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed legislator salaries out of a budget bill in a failed effort to force the GA to take up a pension reform bill. Madigan himself sued Quinn over the paychecks and won in 2013.
Rep. Batinick also sent a letter along with several of his colleagues to incoming Comptroller Susana Mendoza in December of 2016 offering their advice on how to counter the Madigan-backed lawsuit. Batinick even owns the NoBudgetNoPayIL.com website.
The issue definitely polls well, which is why the Democrats are using it. Munger received far more votes than the other two statewide Republican candidates in 2016 (President Donald Trump and Sen. Mark Kirk). “They’re hurting Illinois, so why should they get paid?” Munger asked in a TV ad focusing on the issue. And it was extremely telling that Madigan’s members waited until after the election ended to file their lawsuit. Madigan’s side prevailed in court, however, and the issue was dropped after the appellate court ruled it moot.
I asked Madigan’s spokesman Steve Brown if this meant Madigan was now in favor of the concept. “As I recall,” Brown wrote in an e-mail, “Madigan opposed efforts to block pay because it was being used as an economic weapon.”
OK, but that issue would be weaponized yet again if Rep. Batinick and now his Democratic opponent have their way.
“It’s sad that candidates are so far from policy and at a place where some do anything to win,” Rep. Batinick said. “It’s a big reason we are in the mess we are in.”
The Democratic Party of Illinois is also using the “Invest in Kids Tax Credit” program to bash a Republican House candidate.
The 75 percent tax credit on donations to a fund to help lower-income families send their kids to private or out of district schools was passed as part of the school funding reform bill. It was hotly opposed by teachers unions, but backed to the hilt by folks like Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich.
So far, contributions have not met expectations. Less than $41 million has been donated, even though the program is capped at $100 million. Democratic gubernatorial candidate JB Pritzker has said he will end the program if elected.
“Tonia Khouri’s extreme agenda would strip millions in funding from our schools,” the mailer blares. Khouri “supports a plan to strip 75 million dollars from our public schools in a voucher-style scheme that diverts tax money to private schools,” according to the mailer.
The mailer is interesting mainly because this plan was supposed to be popular with suburbanites, and Khouri is vying to replace retiring suburban Rep. Mike Fortner (R-West Chicago). But, apparently, the polling works on this hit.
As usual with these things, it’s also more than a bit misleading. The “extreme” plan was backed by DPI’s chairman Speaker Madigan, passed by both Democratic-controlled legislative chambers and signed into law a year ago.
