67 Comments - Former Downstater - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:31 pm: Davis watching his conservative flank. Remember when people thought he was a moderate? - DarkHorse - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:34 pm: Much as I prefer Londrigan, the idea that her policies (compared to Davis’) may be more aligned with “Chicago” is a pretty good attack. I think her chance to beat Davis was in 2018, he’s on his guard now. - Chicago Cynic - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:35 pm: Vassal state? Good grief. The loony toon right really needs new material. - the Patriot - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:36 pm: On Sanctuaries, any politician that advocates disregarding the law they swore to uphold for their own purpose needs to go. You just have no credibility regardless of how crazy the other side it. I can’t help but wonder if Chicago sends more money down state than it gets back, and doesn’t really need Southern IL, who is opposing breaking up? - 360 Degree TurnAround - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:36 pm: Rodney is using his webster’s dictionary today. - Da Big Bad Wolf - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:37 pm: How is Chicago more of a “sanctuary city” than Decatur, Springfield, or Champaign with the Trust Act? - illini - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:37 pm: So suddenly, it is JB and not MJM that is dictating her positions? I think Rodney is starting to run scared. And he only has himself to thank/blame for the position he finds himself in. - Anon - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:38 pm: Go figure. A member of the GOP caucus will say whatever he thinks he needs to say to get elected. History, if it remembers him, and if it is written, will not prove kind to him. - Oswego Willy - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:38 pm: ===We cannot allow our communities to be made into “sanctuaries” for crime.=== “People not ‘like us’ are criminals” No other way to read it. - Honeybear - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:40 pm: This strikes me as Davis is already running scared…..real scared. Appealing to the racist ammosexual secessionists is all he’s got left. - wordslinger - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:40 pm: Looks like that nice Mr. Davis has decided to go full Eastern Bloc in an effort to hold on to his phony-baloney job. For those who didn’t grow up Downstate and can’t detect the obvious dog-whistles here, allow me to translate: Pritzker (Jew), sanctuary (Mexicans), Chicago (blacks) — they all comin’ to git ya, and your daughters and guns, too. See you in church, Rodney. - We'll See - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:43 pm: Where did the ADM executives move to? - illini - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:43 pm: @wordslinger - I live downstate and the dog-whistles did not go unnoticed. - Glengarry - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:44 pm: Race baiting and fear mongering is the GOP way these days. - The Captain - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:44 pm: I’m not betting on it but it wouldn’t surprise me if Davis Retires. His best case scenario is to win one more term, not guaranteed, but with the remap in two years the Democrats are going to draw one really good central IL district instead of narrowly losing two over and over (IL-12 & IL-13). That district will run from Champaign to E. St. Louis and Davis’ Taylorville base will almost certainly be in that new district. Having said that it’s no guarantee he wins in 2020. Londrigan missed beating him by less than a point in 2018, in 2020 she’ll likely get much better turnout from the campus vote in a Presidential election year. Also, with the Democrats finally winning the Champaign County Clerk’s office they’re almost certain to make campus voting easier. Davis will have to run up big margins in the rural parts of the district to offset those additional voters. It’s going to take a big effort for him to get two more years. - DD - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:46 pm: I believe you are the one to inject racism into this conversation wordslinger. It’s all you have left when you have no other argument. - Anon - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:46 pm: It’d be super helpful if some very safe Democrat could introduce a bill granting the Eastern Bloc’s separation requests that’s drafted in such a fashion that it enumerates the cost savings by jettisoning those counties and specifically spells out the impact of removing state funding, state facilities, and state employees from those areas. And then, of course, invite the Eastern Bloc to go ahead and sponsor it. - Oswego Willy - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:49 pm: ===I believe you are the one to inject racism into this conversation=== Please explain the following; ===We cannot allow our communities to be made into “sanctuaries” for crime.=== Use your words. Explain clearly who are the criminals, what crimes are we worried about, and what is different from Davis’ downstate district and She-Caw-Go. Thanks. - Jocko - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:53 pm: ==you are the one to inject racism== [T]hey’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” - What's in a name? - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:55 pm: Aren’t these the same folks passing Gun Sanctuary resolutions? The depth of racism is remarkable. - Da Big Bad Wolf - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:56 pm: ==On Sanctuaries, any politician that advocates disregarding the law they swore to uphold for their own purpose needs to go.== So called “sanctuary cities” or “sanctuary states” are misnomers. People aren’t given “sanctuary”, it’s a way to separate local police duties and federal police duties. It’s not a disregard for the law, it enhances law. - Rich Miller - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:57 pm: “We have to tone down this rhetoric,” Davis said, “and we’ve got to come together as a nation, as Americans, and say enough is enough.” - wordslinger - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 12:57 pm: –I believe you are the one to inject racism into this conversation wordslinger. It’s all you have left when you have no other argument.– Like, that’s just your opinion, man. BTW, argument about what? - Oswego Willy - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:02 pm: ===“We have to tone down this rhetoric,” Davis said, “and we’ve got to come together as a nation, as Americans, and say enough is enough.”=== I guess Davis is an utter phony when he needs the old, angry, white, rural voters? - Southfarmllama - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:08 pm: No offense to anyone or Davis for that matter, but Chicago does not care about downstate. Not trying to be mean, we just don’t. - Steve Rogers - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:12 pm: I find it extremely ironic that Halbrook did his interview in Chicago. Are there not any Fox affiliates in central Illinois?? - wordslinger - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:12 pm: –Davis watching his conservative flank. – I don’t think “conservative” is the word, but I get what you’re saying. I suspect Davis is trying to head-off any possible challenge from an Eastern Bloc type. They have nothing better to do, why wouldn’t one of them take a shot? - Son of Macon - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:14 pm: Who wrote this?? I do need to say, I used to be a huge fan of Rodney’s, and I still am a fan, but he’s slipping. His staff does not do him any favors. It’s been a stady decline since 2016. That being said, he’s the boss and the buck stops with him. I do hope Rodney wins re-election, but he needs to do a whole lot better than he did last cycle and a ton better than he’s doing this cycle, so far. Keep the stellar emails coming though… - Soccermom - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:16 pm: How did JB do in that district? - Oswego Willy - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:17 pm: If Davis “says” this for an ad… in a helicopter… flying over Memorial Stadium in Urbana… he could be the downstate Jim Oberweis. That’s fun. - Ginhouse Tommy - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:17 pm: Cheap scare tactics, nothing more. Pretty lame actually. IN the words of Jed Clampett If his brains were lard I don’t think it would grease too big a pan. Davis is a joke. - 47th Ward - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:18 pm: ===“We have to tone down this rhetoric,” Davis said, “and we’ve got to come together as a nation, as Americans, and say enough is enough.”=== I’ll assume he said that without bursting into laughter. Divisiveness. That’s all Trump’s GOP offers. Every day is Festivus when you have leaders like Davis airing the grievances of an old, white, rural population hoping to find someone else to blame for their problems. This is the opposite of leadership. - Cheryl44 - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:20 pm: I care about downstate, or I wouldn’t be reading a blog from a Springfield writer. Actually, that’s specifically what I was looking for when I found this place–something to remind me I live in Illinois, not just Chicago. - midway gardens - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:24 pm: Some of the new alder-persons want to change this but Chicago will detain undocumented individuals if they are wanted on a criminal warrant by local or federal authorities, if they have been convicted of a serious crime and remain in the United States illegally, or if they are otherwise a clear threat to public safety or national security - 62656 - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:24 pm: On wordslinger’s point, “conservative” in the sense of the more right-wing parts of the Republican electorate has shortcomings with “tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions : traditional” or “marked by moderation or caution” - Huh? - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:25 pm: “sign your name now to oppose any extension of “sanctuary” status to downstate” Wasn’t it the former owner of the IGOP, 1.4% who signed, in August 2017, a law enacting Illinois as a sanctuary state for immigration? And what about Effingham County’s designation as a “sanctuary” for gun owners? - Harvest76 - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:29 pm: Sanctuary city = immigrants Sanctuary city = crime Immigrants = crime Its terrible logic, and thoroughly debunked, but I’m not sure how else to read what he said. Someone please provide a good argument for how this isnt racist, xenophobic, and fear-mongering. - wordslinger - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:34 pm: –No offense to anyone or Davis for that matter, but Chicago does not care about downstate.– Not true. A huge portion of the metro population has Downstate roots. And we know from dog whistles, from a lifetime of experience with the Downstate charlatans who’ve always employed them to fool some of the people, all of the time, for selfish purposes. - NeverPoliticallyCorrect - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:37 pm: Not everything is a dog whistle. those of us who aren’t part of the elite class in Illinois do take exception to the idea of sanctuary cities because they help illegal immigrants avoid following the law. What most of us want is fair immigration but that’s apparently not what the Dems want. Lots of people opine why they don’t but it isn’t tied to the law. But also to be fair, crime isn’t the major issue with immigrants and most of us don’t buy that argument. - Arsenal - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:39 pm: ==How did JB do in that district?== He won it, but McCann had his best showing in the 13th. - Anyone Remember - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:44 pm: The Captain - If Davis wins in 2020, I see his district being zeroed out and then (depending upon the map) Shimkus retiring and announcing his favored successor is Davis (his former projects director in the district office ). - Oswego Willy - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:45 pm: ===…they help illegal immigrants avoid following the law.=== “The one thing we want is illegal immigration… and their continued avoiding the law” It’s as phony as saying “Democrat legislators want NO borders” - truthteller - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:45 pm: why do conservatives like Davis can only use fear as motivator? Make me laugh as he knows this time around it will not bode well for him at all. Time to rid Il-13th of a corporate yes man… - 47th Ward - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:49 pm: ===take exception to the idea of sanctuary cities because they help illegal immigrants avoid following the law.=== NPC, depending upon who does the counting, there are anywhere between 6-12 million undocumented living in the US. Most Democrats I know favor legal immigration. But for those here illegally, especially those who’ve gone to school here, built businesses and families and have been here for many years, no, most Democrats do not want them to be deported. Democrats want a path to legalization for these people, and that’s been decried as “amnesty” by opponents. Democrats in the Senate offered President Trump $25 billion (with a b) for his ugly and unnecessary wall. In exchange they wanted to make permanent the provisions of Obama’s executive order (DACA) for those who were brought here as children and who know no other home country. This would only affect about 1.6 million people. The GOP rejected the deal. It takes two sides to compromise. Chicago chose to designate itself as a city that won’t help send its residents away. I’m sorry that upsets to many other Illinoisans, but I don’t think it’s going to change. You will, however, find some people of good will who will meet you half-way on this divisive issue. In fact, many of us are already here in the middle and wonder why our opponents keep moving further away. - Huh? - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 1:50 pm: “Chicago has always wanted to impose their will on us, and this time it’s no different.” Well, there are more of them than there are of your constituents. Because of that itty-bitty, minor, and inconsequential detail, they get more state representatives and senators. So until there are more of you then them, put your big boy pants on and represent your constituents to the best of your ability. Because no matter what happens, Chicago isn’t going anywhere. - IL-13 Expat - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:02 pm: annnd, just like that old Hot Rod goes by the wayside. I remember when he was a moderate that didn’t resort to race- baiting and fear mongering. Those days are over, along with his chance of any electoral success prior to remap. - Confused - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:03 pm: Doesn’t sanctuary city just mean they won’t use city resource to do federal work? Out resources are already stretched to thin in rural areas should we be using them to do immigration work? - Nick Name - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:06 pm: So, Davis opts for full-on racism and paranoia in his bid to hold on to his seat. Good to know. - Oswego Willy - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:07 pm: Rodney went full Jim Oberweis. Once you go full Jim Oberweis, you can’t walk it back. At least we know now. - Dale Doback - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:07 pm: The Halbrook video is a gem with downtown Chicago as backdrop. - Wylie Coyote - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:11 pm: Remember the old state tourism song from the 1970’s? “Just Outside Chicago There’s a Place Called Illinois.” - wordslinger - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:16 pm: –Not everything is a dog whistle.– No one said “everything” is, Strawman-maker. Was referring to Davis’ statements here, specifically. But perhaps you can explain how Londrigan works for Pritzker and why local governments passing innocuous sanctuary resolutions are an issue in a Congressional race and how that all results in Downstate being a “vassal state” to Chicago, whatever that means? I’ll gladly reconsider my lifetime of experience if you can conjure up a cogent explanation. - Tommydanger - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:19 pm: Nice tie in to a verse from the Eve of Destruction: “… hate your next door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace….” - Demoralized - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:32 pm: ==they help illegal immigrants avoid following the law== No, it doesn’t. All it means is that they won’t be helping the feds do their job. ==What most of us want is fair immigration but that’s apparently not what the Dems want== According to who? The talking heads you are listening to? What exactly is “fair” in your head? - wordslinger - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:35 pm: Stoking up fear of the “other” and blaming them for all your problems is the oldest gag in the book in American politics. We live in reactionary times similar to the 1920s when the cry of the wildly corrupt Harding Administration was “Return to Normalcy” (what’s that sound like?). Back then, the bad guy “others” were the immigrant Jews, Catholics and Orthodox, the Slavs and the Southern European/Mediterranean types, plus the Chinese on the West Coast. Racist demagoguery was rampant and hate groups were on the rise and had great influence in the halls of power. Again, sound familiar? - ChicagoVinny - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:47 pm: Medieval thinking is becoming more common in the GOP these days but ‘vassal state’ is new. What’s Chicago’s end of the deal? Do we get to call the banners? Invade Wisconsin? /s - Oswego Willy - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:48 pm: “I had to come up to She-Caw-Go cause we got none of that dang fangled Tee-Vee E-quiptment down in our utopia 51st state. We also import our Fox talkin’ points from In-Dee-Ana.” - Rep. Brad Halbrook… maybe. - 9 miles of bad road - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:56 pm: It’s not called “sanctuary cities” downstate, the ordinance in Normal, IL for example, is a “Welcoming City” ordinance. What it does is keep local police at arms length from ICE and away from doing their deportation work. ICE under federal law unfortunately can still do its thing (differentiated from real sanctuary). Either Davis doesn’t know the difference or doesn’t care to know - either answer is bad for a Congressman who is responsible to weigh in on federal immigration policy. - Oswego Willy - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 2:58 pm: ===Either Davis doesn’t know the difference or doesn’t care to know=== It’s neither. It’s ”Simple” pandering to angry, old, white, rural folks. Davis can care less about the rationale. - Simple Simon - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 3:02 pm: I’m embarrassed by my Congressman. Again. The only people who thought Davis was a moderate were Republicans and the uninformed. - Katiedid - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 3:34 pm: So, using Davis’ logic, if Pritzker is Londrigan’s supposed boss, then he’s saying that for the past four years, Rauner was his boss? - Oswego Willy - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 3:58 pm: ===Davis is almost in the middle of the liberal-conservative spectrum in the House. Some people might consider him to be a moderate.=== … and yet, makes sure he’s the downstate version of Jim Oberweis… less the helicopter and stadium? - illini - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 3:59 pm: @Anonymous @3:57 - Get a name - Simple Simon - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 4:10 pm: You and he may say it is true, but a quick look at his voting record shows him to be fully on board with all Republican ideas, with 538 tallying him voting 93% of the Time with Trump’s position, including most or all hot button issues such as ending Obamacare. - Chicago Cynic - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 4:43 pm: I’m just excited that after we extricate Chicago (and the collars?) from the rest of Illinois we’ll pick up two more senators. Woohoo. - Al - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 5:50 pm: People who believe individual taxpayers should not be allowed to deduct all their State and Local taxes they have paid from their Gross Income is not conservative, nor liberal nor moderate. Is is irrational, crazy and dangerous this thinking. This thinking that citizens should not deduct paid taxes while we have depreciation, depletion, carry-trade and the elimination of the Estate Tax. Sad. What would George Washington say about that Republican tax plan? I am pretty sure he would call it horse litter. - SIUEALUM - Monday, May 20, 19 @ 7:05 pm: Looks like he’s getting a head start on his 2022 primary fight against Shimkus Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.