* Considering Friday’s news about the federal raid on former Ald. Zalewski’s home and the reporting of how the feds were “seeking records” about House Speaker Michael Madigan, a top Madigan ally and ComEd, how much longer do you believe Madigan will remain as House Speaker?
Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
We were double-checking a location on the map and stumbled across this interesting place name, southwest of Peotone. Does anyone have a Photograph of this or is the map just Foolin'? @DefLeppardpic.twitter.com/pQPuaFzfke
The lagoon with the interesting name is located near the broadcast tower for Bible Broadcasting Network station WCPQ. Google lists the radio station location as WBUS-FM. The call letters have changed several times over the years. The last time the station was called “The Bus” was in the 1980s and 1990s when it played rock music.
A post to a fishing forum from 2015 sheds some light on the area, “You can find it, but I don’t think you can find it by googling for it as a phrase, and it’s not really a lagoon. It just happened to be the closest spot that FishMap had for me to check out for Rainbow Darters and Southern Redbelly Dace. Neither of which I found while there, unfortunately. It’s a small spot on the Rock Creek as it passes under S. Center Road SW of Peotone.”
I’m still hearing chatter that former gubernatorial hopeful Jeanne Ives is planning to enter the race, perhaps as soon as this weekend. An Ives candidacy would amount to a surrogate rerun of her contest against former Gov. Bruce Rauner, who has endorsed Sanguinetti. Ives hasn’t been returning phone calls. […]
Look for immigration policy and Donald Trump to be huge issues next year if [former Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti] indeed is the nominee. She and Casten already have clashed over his decision to support the opening of a Trump impeachment inquiry.
Asked about the president’s tweets over the weekend, in which he said of four Democratic congresswomen, “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” the spokesman for Sanguinetti, who is the daughter of an Ecuadorian immigrant and a Cuban refugee, said she has no comment.
I asked around and heard the same thing Greg did.
* Sanguinetti sent out this press release earlier today, perhaps in a bid to get ahead of Ives…
The Evelyn Sanguinetti for Congress campaign today announced more than 40 new endorsements from elected officials, activists and Republican leaders for Evelyn’s election to Congress for Illinois’ 6th district.
“I am so thankful and humbled by the amount of support I have received in the short amount of time since announcing my campaign for United States Congress,” said Evelyn Sanguinetti, candidate for Illinois’ 6th Congressional District. “Through my conversations with 6th District constituents and the overwhelming support I have received, it is clear the 6th is ready for change and I promise to work my hardest to ensure this district is properly represented in Washington.”
Adam Kinzinger, United States Congressman (IL-16)
Mark Kirk, Former United States Senator (IL)
Judy Biggert, Former United State Congresswoman (IL-13)
Corinne Wood, Former Lieutenant Governor of Illinois
Dan Cronin, DuPage County Chairman
Steve Balich, Will County Board, Founder of the Conservative Committeeman Project
Fred Bucholz, DuPage County Recorder
Greg Hart, DuPage County Board Member
Kitty Weiner, Elk Grove Rotary, Political Strategist
Robert Corbino, of Downers Grove
Jack Novak, Downers Grove GOP Township Committeeman
Michael Konewko, Winfield Township GOP Committeeman
James Doerge, of Cook County
Liz Eilers, Director At WLUJ
Jim Ruhl, Naperville Township GOP Chairman
Stephanie Rhinesmith, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Sam Maggio, Vietnam Army Veteran, Wheaton IL
Mark Senak, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Yvonne Sencial Bolton, Former Republican National Hispanic Chairwoman
Ron Menna, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Meaghan Jorgenson, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Tom Elsner, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Bob Cherry, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Tim Whelan, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Mike Formento, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Flo D’Angelo, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Christina Martin, Downers Grove GOP Township Committeeman
Don Rickard, Downers Grove Township GOP Committeeman
James Wool, Downers Grove Township GOP Committeeman
Bob Krzyzewski, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Jim Norris, Downers Grove Township GOP Committeeman
Carl Miller, Downers Grove Township GOP Committeeman
David Norck, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Paul Bischoff, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Thommen Poozhikunnel, Milton GOP Township Committeeman
Mark Thomas, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Greg Moffett, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Arthur Grant, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Chick Briner, Downers Grove Township GOP Committeeman
Christopher Davis, Downers Grove GOP Township Committeeman
Alex Ion, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Joe Duffy, Milton Township GOP Committeeman
Noel Manley, Downers Grove Township GOP Committeeman
Tim Waz, Downers Grove Township GOP Committeeman
Deborah Kraus, Downers Grove Township GOP Committeeman
Jonathan Nelson, Downers Grove GOP Township Committeeman
Jaye Wang, Downers Grove Township GOP Committeeman
Cynthia Schneider, Naperville Area Republican Women’s Organization
State Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland, said elected officials encouraging local law enforcement to not cooperate with federal immigration officials was dangerous.
“To say that we’re going to not cooperate with federal agents to deal with illegal immigrants is a violation of the law and I think that, I don’t know, I think the consequences of this can be most severe,” Miller said.
He said elected officials can’t pick and choose which laws to obey, be they state or federal laws.
There are no federal laws mandating complete state and local police cooperation on immigration matters.
Elected officials, including two Republican lawmakers, talked with residents Saturday about two controversial efforts, one that would separate Chicago from the rest of the state and another to encourage more counties to pass resolutions declaring themselves gun sanctuary counties. […]
“This is shrinking all the time, but the last I checked [Illinois] had the 18th largest economy in the world – in the world – and we have done almost everything that we can possibly do to destroy that,” said state Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland, referencing high taxes and regulations. “So just think about what would happen if we, instead of having the highest of everything, if we were the lowest of everything … we would be thriving.” […]
Effingham County was the first county to pass a resolution to be a sanctuary for legal gun owners from burdensome gun laws.
Effingham County Board Vice Chairman David Campbell started the gun sanctuary resolution efforts. He said it’s grown to more than half the state. He was also at the Springfield town hall event Saturday.
“We need Sangamon County [to pass a gun sanctuary resolution] so we can get the rest of the counties to jump on board,” Campbell said. “They see Sangamon do it, they’re going to jump on, a lot of the other ones.”
Democratic Attorney General Kwame Raoul has publicly said that county state’s attorneys have prosecutorial discretion on whether or not to charge people for violating state gun laws.
A new day, and a new reason for some people to hate Illinois.
Hating the state you live in is a pretty strange phenomenon, but a popular one in Illinois. In fact, I think of it more as a self-hate, honestly. People whine and moan and complain about Illinois loudly and often. And these are people who were born here and have lived here their entire lives.
Huh?
I have lived in eight states and one U.S. territory and have never seen anything like it. If complaining about your home state was an Olympic sport, Illinois would take home gold permanently.
There has been a spike in the incessant whining recently as a new gas tax, increased vehicle registration fee, new tobacco tax and a few others have gone into effect.
If you were to believe a lot of people you know locally, or from the sampling of unhinged comments on social media, you would believe Illinois is basically the deepest level of hell, or whatever other horrible place you could spend eternity in, like Kansas. […]
I hope that some of those apparently tortured people will leave, and I hope they find the utopia they believe is out there.
The reality is they will eventually find themselves miserable there too. Funny how that seems to work.
* Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA writing in the Daily Herald…
As a person who makes his living in the political world, a big part of what I try to do is separate my emotions from rational thought in hopes of being able to see the world as clear-eyed as possible. So, it is with much sadness, but after considerable rational analysis, that I have decided to say goodbye to the state of Illinois, the place that from this point on will have the qualifier of being my “childhood home.” I have officially made the move to Florida.
Like many other young people who are statistically likely to have their best earning years ahead of them, this decision will help me avoid the high taxes, excessive regulation and the corruption of Illinois politicians and government.
This is something I have been contemplating for awhile, but a combination of family, friends, loyalty and simple inertia have held me back from making the move. The results of the 2018 elections in Illinois and the rise to power of those who believe in growing the size of government, increasing regulations and strengthening labor unions — all at the expense of the individual, entrepreneurs and businesses — all helped make the choice relatively straightforward for me.
In some ways, I don’t feel like I’m leaving Illinois. I feel as though Illinois left me.
The fact is that a majority of the money from the infrastructure bill goes to Downstate Illinois. As you know, the many roads, the miles of roads all across the state, the bridges, the significant investment necessary, it’s in mostly Downstate Illinois. […]
Universities around the state are mostly, almost entirely in districts represented by Republicans. And that’s where hundreds of millions of dollars, in fact billions when you add it all up, are going. So, the money is getting distributed I think very fairly across the state.
At the time, I said I was looking forward to the fact check.
Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh responded to our inquiry not with details from a specific state plan but rather with some math and historical perspective, starting with the fact that the governor’s program dedicates 74% of funding to transportation projects. Well more than half of that, the summary of his plan details, is slated to go to roads and bridges.
“He was focused on roads and universities,” Abudayyeh said in an email. “Downstate roads make up the vast majority of the state’s roads and bridges.
“Of Illinois’ roughly 16,000 miles of IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) roadways, 83% are located Downstate,” she continued. “Historically, the traditional distribution of road funds has been approximately 55% going to Downstate projects, with the remaining 45% going [to] non-Downstate projects.”
While that statement dealt with transportation issues, neither Pritzker nor anyone in his office provided the information needed to back up the claim about the overall allocation of infrastructure money under the plan. So we won’t be rating it at this time. […]
Experts we spoke with confirmed the historic 55/45 funding split Pritzker’s office used to defend his claim, noting it’s been common practice for decades even though it isn’t prescribed by state law. […]
Our analysis of last year’s IDOT report bears out that trend. Estimated funds for projects in Cook County and its five collars comprised 41% of the department’s allocations for state roads and bridges over the six-year period.
After six fruitless days of searching for an elusive alligator in the Humboldt Park Lagoon, the city announced it’s bringing in an expert from Florida and shutting down part of the park in a stepped-up effort to trap the gator.
The orders came from the top — Mayor Lori Lightfoot, according to Ald. Roberto Maldonado.
The city’s Animal Care and Control Department said it “is grateful to the Chicago Herpetological Society for its onsite assistance,” but didn’t say if the group’s alligator hunter known as Alligator Bob was now out of the mix.
Alligator Bob, a volunteer, has toiled in the lagoon for six days, day and night, baiting traps and paddling his canoe around looking for the gator. He was on the job Sunday, but later packed up his traps and left the park.
Chicago animal control officials have closed the eastern half of Humboldt Park and have hired an expert from Florida as the search for an alligator in the park lagoon enters its second week.
The closure, which includes streets near the park, was done on the advice of the expert, Frank Robb, and is aimed at making the area around the lagoon as quiet and free from distractions as possible, according to Chicago Animal Care and Control. […]
Robb, who owns Crocodilian Specialist Services in St. Augustine, Fla., arrived in Chicago on Sunday and “immediately began assessing the park and lagoon,” according to the statement.
Robb’s LinkedIn page claims he’s been a “Self-employed Alligator Trapping Agent” since May of 1997. His media clips are here.
For the second time this year, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin has stripped one of his member’s access to a House communications staffer.
Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland, is the most recent to lose his state-funded communications staff member. Earlier this year, Rep. Dave McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, lost his comms staffer for criticizing fellow Republican Rep. Steve Reick for allegedly making “racist” comments and calling on House GOP Leader Jim Durkin to resign for being a “fake Republican” and “corrupt insider.” McSweeney, who wants to run statewide in 2022, said he paid for his own communications staffer, so he wasn’t concerned.
The problems with Miller (no relation) started coming to a head last month when his Facebook page displayed an Americans for Prosperity Illinois post calling on readers to “Keep Rep. Brady accountable for raising the gas tax.” The post featured a photo of Rep. Dan Brady, a Deputy House Republican Leader.
Rep. Miller claimed later that his Facebook account had been hacked. “Thanks for the heads up,” he told me after denying he’d made the post. I was dubious of the explanation, to say the least.
And the attacks on his fellow Republicans continued. Earlier this month, he wrote on Facebook “Republicans don’t vote for tax hikes,” and called the GOP members who voted to raise the Motor Fuel Tax “Republicans in name only.”
Miller claimed in another post (which, like pretty much everything else quoted here, has also disappeared from his Facebook page, but was saved by the House Republicans) that gasoline was 30 cents a gallon cheaper across the Indiana border and wrote “Thank Dems and Rinos.” And he talked some smack about Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, who voted for the gas tax hike. “She done the same crap last time on the budget.”
“The House Republican caucus does not tolerate attacks on fellow members,” said Leader Durkin’s spokesperson Eleni Demertzis when asked about the staff move.
”Apparently people that vote against tax hikes must be punished,” Rep. Miller responded, claiming that the move reminded him of junior high school.
Miller also said he was “very emotional” after losing his comms staffer. “It’s going to be tough without him.” But he posted a photo on his Facebook page, also since deleted, of his wheat combine with the text “Mission accomplished! Wheat cut. [Staffer’s name] gone. Prayers have been answered.” Asked about that, Miller said it was a “weak moment” and said he was probably spending too much time on his combine.
Rep. Miller issued a formal statement the following day quoting the Illinois Republican Party Platform’s plank about opposing tax hikes.
“It apparently is completely acceptable to violate a clear tenet of the Republican Party platform as no one who voted for the tax increases is being penalized in any way,” Miller said in the release. “I make some comments about my disappointment in Republican support for tax hikes and that is what gets our Republican leadership angry.”
“I will continue to speak my mind and will continue to oppose tax increases,” Miller continued. “The vast majority of my constituents are furious about the tax increases approved this spring. I hear from them every day and the message I give to them is that I will stand with them by opposing tax hikers regardless of their political party affiliation.”
Notice that he said he will oppose “tax hikers.” That would include members of his own Republican caucus.
Miller is a member of what’s known in Springfield as the Eastern Bloc, a handful of anti-tax, pro-life, ultra-conservative House members from eastern and southeastern Illinois. They haven’t had an impact on the Statehouse outside of occasionally getting a little publicity by using over-heated rhetoric. And now at least one of them has decided to go after fellow Republicans.
It’s difficult not to wonder where all of this goes for Leader Durkin, who heads up a super-minority caucus that is fractured into at least two even smaller camps.
Rep. McSweeney, for one, has been a constant thorn in Durkin’s side all year. And the Eastern Bloc members are apparently trying to reignite the party’s old circular firing squad habits of attacking fellow Republicans (say whatever you want about former Gov. Bruce Rauner, but he and his people put a stop to that stuff for a few years) and they and other members, including Durkin’s own House Republican Organization chairperson, are calling on Chicago to be kicked out of Illinois while a fight continues festering in southern Illinois over the Confederate flag.
I wouldn’t want to be that guy.
* Rep. Miller responds…
What intraparty struggle? I did not realize that Democrat light was the same thing as the Grand Old Party I am a proud member of. Republicans oppose tax increases. Period. https://t.co/eXUg77Z7QP#twill
Federal agents recently executed a search warrant on the Southwest Side home of retired Chicago Ald. Michael Zalewski, and sources familiar with the investigation say they were seeking records regarding the alderman’s longtime political ally, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. […]
Part of the probe centers on efforts to get work for Zalewski at ComEd and the interactions between Madigan, Zalewski and longtime ComEd lobbyist and Madigan confidant Michael McClain, according to three sources familiar with the federal investigation. The three sources declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak about the investigation. […]
The younger Zalewski’s wife, Carrie, was appointed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in April to head the Illinois Commerce Commission — which is ComEd’s chief regulator. […]
Contacted by phone at his Quincy home, McClain declined to discuss the federal investigation but expressed confusion about what the agents might be investigating.
“There’s nothing against the law about asking for a job,” he said.
* ComEd statement…
Exelon and ComEd have received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Illinois requiring production of information concerning its lobbying activities in the State of Illinois. Exelon and ComEd have pledged to cooperate fully and are cooperating fully with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in expeditiously providing the requested information.
Those two companies have a huge Statehouse presence. They employ a ton of lobbyists connected to all four caucuses, but Speaker Madigan does have a whole lot of his people on contract over there, as the WBEZ story points out.
Former Ald. Michael Zalewski (23rd) has hired one of the city’s leading criminal defense law firms, the first confirmation he is caught up in the sweeping federal investigation of the City Council.
Newly-disclosed campaign finance reports show Zalewski paid $25,000 in May to Breen & Pugh, whose name partners Thomas Breen and Todd Pugh are considered among the city’s go-to lawyers for politicos in trouble.
Some of their recent clients have included former Donald Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, sentenced to 14 days in prison for lying to the FBI in the Russia investigation; former Mayor Richard M. Daley nephew R.J. Vanecko, sentenced to 60 days in jail for the death of David Koschman; Chicago police officer Joseph Walsh, acquitted of conspiring to falsify reports in the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald; and Cook County Judge Joseph Claps, acquitted of bringing a gun into the courthouse. […]
Zalewski resigned his aldermanic seat in May 2018, in partial recognition of the overwhelming Hispanic majority in the 23rd Ward that would have made re-election difficult. He was replaced by state Rep. Silvana Tabares, an ally of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
From what I’ve heard, the G is/was interested in that replacement process. Zalewski did have plenty of other reasons for getting out of the city council, including the Latinx composition of his ward and his maxed-out pension.
Public records indicate Zalewski, who was making more than $114,000 a year as an alderman, has been having money problems recently. The IRS filed two liens totaling $185,634 against Zalewski for unpaid taxes in the past two years, records show. The most recent, filed in March, was for $99,770. The IRS last November filed a lien for $85,864.
It wasn’t the first time Zalewski had faced financial difficulties. In 2001, he and his wife, Mildred, filed for bankruptcy, which they emerged from a year later.
* This may or may not be related, but you may recall that a formal request for a federal investigation of Madigan’s political operation was made by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners back in December. To my eyes back then, it looked like a case could be made for suborning perjury. And once these federal investigations start, they can go pretty much anywhere.
* One more bit that may or may not be related…
My name is Sarah Mckay, I’m married to Kevin Quinn. I have stayed silent long enough, I have two children that I love more than anything in the world, they are currently uninsured, while he has insurance, he made $14,000 in January, he’s being ghost pay rolled by Madigan goons.
