* IGPA…
A new report from the University of Illinois System’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA) found that Illinois’ state tax revenues have fared much better through the COVID-19 pandemic than originally projected last spring
The report, titled Data Indicate COVID-19 Impact on State Revenue Not as Severe as Feared, comes from IGPA’s Task Force on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Report lead author Kenneth Kriz, who is the University Distinguished Professor of Public Administration and the director of the Institute for Illinois Public Finance at the University of Illinois Springfield, analyzed state data on tax receipts through November 2020.
What Kriz found may be good news for the state’s budget. The net loss to the General Funds from major revenue sources during the pandemic was $868 million. That’s less than 2% of total receipts for the General Funds, the state’s main accounts for general spending on things like education, healthcare, operations and more.
Several early projections, including an earlier report from the task force, anticipated much larger revenue losses. Most forecasters were predicting a prolonged recession that would cause revenue losses of up to 20%.
“There was a General Funds revenue loss in fiscal year 2020, but much of that was caused by the delay of the federal tax filing deadline,” said Kriz, who is an IGPA affiliate and a faculty lead for the Economic and Fiscal Impact Group of the task force. “Well over half of that revenue loss has been recouped in fiscal year 2021, and General Funds revenues are actually running above what might have been expected for fiscal year 2021.”
The loss across all state funds was $1.44 billion, which is still less of a loss than even conservative estimates projected in the spring.
Kriz said that the economy recovered more quickly than expected, with help from federal stimulus and recovery programs. The report also considered credit card spending data, and what it showed aligned with the findings on revenue. “There was a steep fall in spending in most categories in April and May, then a recovery toward pre-COVID-19 levels. Spending has not recovered completely, but it is near what it likely would have been in the absence of COVID-19,” Kriz wrote.
Still, Kriz warns that as long as COVID-19 is a threat, tremendous uncertainties remain. “If the virus surges again and the economy must be locked down, there will be another round of revenue losses,” he said.
The report notes that the unequal impact of the pandemic on low-income households was also a potential factor in the lower-than-expected revenue losses. “The labor market effects of the virus and mitigation measures fell more heavily on low-income households. High-income households have maintained their income levels or even seen them rise,” Kriz wrote. “And stimulus programs have buffered low-income household finances. Therefore, aggregate incomes and consumption have continued to grow, leading to stable or increased state revenue.”
OK, but just remember that revenues are only part of this equation. Illinois has borrowed billions that have to be repaid. And there’s still the matter of the structural deficit that was supposed to be addressed by the graduated income tax.
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* New York Times…
Open schools. Close indoor dining.
When to keep schools open, and how to do so, has been an issue plaguing the response by the United States to the pandemic since its beginning. President Biden vowed to “teach our children in safe schools” in his inaugural address.
On Tuesday, federal health officials weighed in with a call for returning children to the nation’s classrooms as soon as possible, saying the “preponderance of available evidence” indicates that in-person instruction can be carried out safely as long as mask-wearing and social distancing are maintained.
But local officials also must be willing to impose limits on other settings — like indoor dining, bars or poorly ventilated gyms — in order to keep infection rates low in the community at large, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote in the journal JAMA.
School administrators must limit risky activities such as indoor sports, they added. “It’s not going to be safe to have a pizza party with a group of students,” Margaret Honein, a member of the C.D.C.’s Covid-19 emergency response team and the first author of article, said in an interview. “But outdoor cross-country, where distance can be maintained, might be fine to continue.”
* From the JAMA piece…
Preventing transmission in school settings will require addressing and reducing levels of transmission in the surrounding communities through policies to interrupt transmission (eg, restrictions on indoor dining at restaurants). In addition, all recommended mitigation measures in schools must continue: requiring universal face mask use, increasing physical distance by dedensifying classrooms and common areas, using hybrid attendance models when needed to limit the total number of contacts and prevent crowding, increasing room air ventilation, and expanding screening testing to rapidly identify and isolate asymptomatic infected individuals. Staff and students should continue to have options for online education, particularly those at increased risk of severe illness or death if infected with SARS-CoV-2. […]
Nonetheless, some school-related activities have increased the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission among students and staff. Numerous media reports of COVID-19 outbreaks among US high school athletic teams suggest that contact during both practices and competition, and at social gatherings associated with team sports, increase risk. […]
Paradoxically, some schools have used a fully online model for educational delivery while continuing in-person athletic programs. Even though high school athletics are highly valued by many students and parents, indoor practice or competition and school-related social gatherings with limited adherence to physical distancing and other mitigation strategies could jeopardize the safe operation of in-person education. While there are likely many factors, the pressure to continue high school athletics during the pandemic might be driven at least in part by scholarship concerns; colleges and universities recruiting athletes for the 2021/2022 academic year should consider approaches that do not penalize students for interruptions to high school sports related to the pandemic to avoid incentivizing activities posing high risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection.
* Related…
* President Biden, asked about Chicago schools’ reopening plan, says buildings need to be ‘safe and secure for everyone’
* Joe Biden supports Chicago Teachers Union COVID safety concerns as AFT president Randi Weingarten briefs senior staff
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House delays return
Tuesday, Jan 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Subscribers know more, but here’s the Center Square…
The Illinois House may cancel all but one scheduled session day for February.
When lawmakers do return to Springfield for one day Feb. 10, it could be at the capitol building and could be to adopt House Rules for the new General Assembly.
In an email to members of the Democratic Caucus, House Speaker Chris Welch’s Chief of Staff Jessica Basham said feedback from members of the Democratic caucus “suggests the House should find a balance between remote and in-person work.” […]
“The public health recommendations on quarantine, both before and after a large gathering like session, makes the notion of weekly trips to Springfield impractical, especially for members and staff carrying for young and school-aged children and/or older family members,” Basham wrote in the email.
“Therefore, with the health and safety of members, staff, and the public being the priority, the Speaker plans to cancel the session dates set for February 2-4, 9, 11, and 16-18,” she wrote. “Members should plan to return to Springfield on Wednesday, February 10, 2021, for a 1-day session for one purpose: to adopt House Rules for the 102nd [General Assembly].” […]
Basham said when the House returns Feb. 10, it will be at the Illinois State Capitol building, rather than the Bank of Springfield Center where previous House sessions were conducted to allow for social distancing amid COVID-19 concerns. That cost taxpayers an additional $330,000 in space and equipment rental and catering. […]
The Senate canceled the days it had scheduled for this week. A spokesperson said the next scheduled session date for the Senate is Feb. 9.
It’s unclear how the chambers’ schedules will impact the governor’s combined State of the State/Budget Address set for Feb. 17. That is to be delivered in front of a joint session of the General Assembly.
Still waiting on word about that address.
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A look at the state’s elimination of cash bail
Tuesday, Jan 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Raymon Troncoso at Capitol News Illinois…
Illinois will transition away from the use of cash bail as a determinant of pretrial detention by 2023 after lawmakers passed a wide-ranging bill reforming several aspects of the criminal justice system in the state.
The legislation, which now awaits Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature before it can be finalized into law, would shift Illinois’ pretrial detention and release system to one that is non-monetary.
Starting on Jan. 1, 2023, “all persons charged with an offense shall be eligible for pretrial release before conviction,” and the “requirement of posting monetary bail” will be abolished.
Proponents of ending cash bail have argued the presumption of innocence for those charged with crimes should also result in the presumption of freedom, rather than detention, as the default standard, except in certain cases.
Exceptions from pretrial release under the new law include forcible felonies such as first-degree murder, sexual assault, arson and any other felony involving the use or threat of physical force; stalking and aggravated stalking where the defendant poses a threat to the victim if released; abuse or battery of a family member where their release poses a danger to that family member; gun crimes where the defendant poses a threat to a specific, identifiable person; and cases where the defendant has committed a felony that wouldn’t otherwise result in detention but they are considered a high risk of fleeing prosecution and missing their court date.
The law would place the burden on the state to prove an individual should be detained, rather than the individual proving that they should go free.
* NPR…
And there’s also been pushback. Bail reforms in Alaska and New York were rolled back or amended. In California, a ballot measure kept cash bail intact. In Illinois, there was strong opposition from the Illinois Law Enforcement Coalition, a group of police unions and organizations representing police officers and county sheriffs.
JIM KAITSCHUK: You seldom see people sitting in jail for low-level crimes just because they can’t make bail.
CORLEY: Jim Kaitschuk is the executive director of the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association.
KAITSCHUK: It’s amazing how people can find the money to get themselves out. The second thing is they have an opportunity where they may very well very quickly go back in front of the judge, like the next day in some cases, and the judge may say, OK, I’m going to go ahead and waive your bail, let’s release you on your own recognizance. That happens all the time.
SHARONE MITCHELL: That’s flat-out wrong.
CORLEY: That’s Sharone Mitchell, the head of the Illinois Justice Project and part of a coalition which helped draft the Illinois bill. He says pre-COVID-19, there were thousands still detained in the state because they couldn’t afford bail. But whether people languish in jail is not the Law Enforcement Coalition’s only argument. The group says communities will be less safe; that criminals released on bail will be running free, possibly committing new crimes; and that counties across the state don’t have the finances for electronic monitors, staff and other items that might be needed as people are released from jail before trial. Mitchell says he respects law enforcement, but their analysis is wrong.
* WTTW…
The Illinois State’s Attorneys Association criticized the legislation, as did law enforcement organizations like the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 — which represents rank-and-file officers with the Chicago Police Department — and the Illinois Law Enforcement Coalition.
They said the legislation will make Illinois “less safe” as it “ties hands of police officers while pursuing suspects and making arrests, and allows criminals to run free while out on bail.”
State Rep. Justin Slaughter (D-Chicago) noted that opposition and said he and other legislators will continue collaborating with law enforcement and state’s attorneys in order to address their concerns and issues with the bill in the coming years.
“What we’ll be doing is engaging them,” he said, “continuing to engage them in discussion as we come up with an effective, efficient system moving forward.”
* And, as I told subscribers earlier today, this is one of the most succinct defenses of the idea I’ve yet seen…
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Jan 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Fox Atlanta…
Georgia’s Speaker of the House removed a state representative from the legislature Tuesday after officials say he failed to get a COVID-19 test.
Speaker David Ralston ordered Rep. David Clark removed from the House by law enforcement, saying that the representative refused to follow the twice-weekly testing requirements. […]
According to a statement from a spokesperson for Ralston, Clark “had been advised numerous times about the requirements and had refused to be tested at any point during this session.”
After Ralston asked Clark to leave until he was tested, officials say he refused and was escorted out.
In this session, all state lawmakers and their staff members are required to undergo testing twice a week.
As we discussed several days ago, a majority of Illinois legislators did not get tested during all but one lame duck session day. Neither chamber has so far required testing to access the floor.
* The Question: Should the Illinois House and Senate bar members from the floor if they do not submit to regular COVID-19 testing? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
find bike trails
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* Bloomberg…
The end of 2020 brought the sharpest rise in the U.S. poverty rate since the 1960s, according to a study released Monday.
Economists Bruce Meyer, from the University of Chicago, and James Sullivan of the University of Notre Dame found that the poverty rate increased by 2.4 percentage points during the latter half of 2020 as the U.S. continued to suffer the economic impacts from Covid-19.
That percentage-point rise is nearly double the largest annual increase in poverty since the 1960s. This means an additional 8 million people nationwide are now considered poor. Moreover, the poverty rate for Black Americans is estimated to have jumped by 5.4 percentage points, or by 2.4 million individuals.
The scholars’ findings put the rate at 11.8% in December. While poverty is down from readings of more than 15% a decade earlier, the new estimates suggest that the annual Census Bureau tally due in September will be higher than the last official, pre-pandemic level of 10.5% in 2019.
* And to add insult to injury…
Doctors, nurses and other health care workers have taken on great risks in caring for patients sick with the coronavirus. But a new study from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, suggests that workers in other essential fields are even more likely to die from COVID-19.
The researchers analyzed excess deaths among working-age Californians from March to October 2020, and compared the death rates by occupation to previous years. The data showed that workers in agriculture, food processing facilities, warehouses, call centers and other essential businesses all died at a higher rate than the average worker.
Among the job categories with the highest “risk ratios for mortality” were cooks, farmworkers, construction laborers and shipping clerks. Food workers, in particular, saw a sharp rise in excess death during California’s first stay-at-home phase last spring, while workers in nonessential fields did not.
In general, essential workers outside health care have faced a 20% greater chance of dying during the pandemic than previously, and a 40% greater chance during the first two months of California’s reopening last year, the authors found. They wrote that their analysis was among the first to show non-medical essential work as “a predictor of pandemic-related mortality.”
* Related…
* Governors’ shutdowns did not cause the pandemic jobs crisis - People started staying at home before the shutdowns were ordered, data shows
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* Michael Hawthorne at the Chicago Tribune…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration is facing a federal environmental justice investigation after approving a new scrap shredder in a low-income, predominantly Latino neighborhood on Chicago’s Southeast Side.
The probe announced Monday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency comes amid a separate-but-related investigation of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration.
Civil rights divisions at the EPA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development are digging into why the state and city cleared Reserve Management Group to build a shredder in the East Side neighborhood after the Ohio-based company agreed to close a similar operation in Lincoln Park, a wealthy, largely white neighborhood on the city’s North Side.
Lawyers for Southeast Side community groups petitioned for federal intervention, accusing city agencies and the Illinois EPA of colluding with developers to concentrate polluting industries in a corner of the city where residential yards already are contaminated by heavy metals and toxic chemicals.
* Also from Mike…
As President Joe Biden pushes the nation toward 100% carbon-free electricity to combat climate change, a coal-fired power plant in southern Illinois is one of the biggest roadblocks.
The Prairie State Generating Station is among the top 10 industrial sources of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the United States, emitting as much as 2 million cars combined every year.
Less than a decade old, the massive electric generation plant is the brainchild of Peabody Energy, a St. Louis-based coal company that for years denied it contributes to global surges of extreme heat, wildfires, drought, flooding and rising seas.
Most of the other big U.S. coal plants still operating are at least 40 years old. They are either past or close to the end of their expected life spans. But Prairie State could keep churning out climate-changing pollution for another half-century — decades past Biden’s 2035 deadline to purge fossil fuels from the power sector, according to a new analysis published in the journal Science.
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* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 3,667 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 87 additional deaths.
- Adams County: 2 males 70s
- Alexander County: 1 female 60s
- Bond County: 1 female 80s
- Brown County: 1 male 70s
- Calhoun County: 1 female 80s
- Champaign County: 1 male 70s
- Clay County: 1 male 70s
- Cook County: 2 males 40s, 1 female 50s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 2 males 80s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
- Crawford County: 1 male 70s
- DeWitt County: 1 male 70s
- DuPage County: 2 males 70s, 3 males 80s, 1 female 90s
- Edgar County: 1 female 60s
- Effingham County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 70s
- Franklin County: 1 male 60s
- Hancock County: 1 female 90s
- Hardin County: 1 male 70s
- Jefferson County: 1 female 60s
- Jersey County: 1 female 70s
- Kane County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s
- Kankakee County: 1 female 60s
- Kendall County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 80s
- Lake County: 3 males 70s, 2 females 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
- Lawrence County: 1 female 70s
- Livingston County: 1 female 80s
- Logan County: 1 female 70s
- Macon County: 1 female 90s
- Madison County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
- McLean County: 1 male 90s
- Mercer County: 1 female 60s
- Montgomery County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s
- Ogle County: 1 male 80s
- Peoria County: 1 female 40s, 1 male 50s, 1 female 70s, 1 female 90s
- Perry County: 1 female 90s
- Putnam County: 1 female 70s
- Randolph County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
- Rock Island County: 1 female 70s
- Saline County: 1 female 90s
- St. Clair County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
- Tazewell County: 1 male 60s
- Vermilion County: 1 male 80s
- Warren County: 1 male 70s
- Will County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
- Winnebago County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,108,430 cases, including 18,883 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 69,285 specimens for a total 15,553,319. As of last night, 3,001 in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 608 patients were in the ICU and 320 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from January 19–25, 2021 is 4.6%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from January 19–25, 2021 is 5.7%.
A total of 1,227,625 doses of vaccine have been delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago. In addition, approximately 537,050 doses total have been allocated to the federal government’s Pharmacy Partnership Program for long-term care facilities. This brings the total Illinois doses to 1,764,675. IDPH is currently reporting a total of 719,995 vaccines administered, including 110,403 for long-term care facilities. Yesterday, a total of 27,232 doses were administered. The 7-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 30,180 doses.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. Information for deaths previously reported has changed, therefore, today’s numbers have been adjusted. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
* Meanwhile…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced Region 8 (DuPage and Kane) and Region 9 (Lake and McHenry) are moving to Tier 1 effective today. Information about which tier and phase regions are in can be found at the top of the IDPH website homepage.
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* WBEZ…
Four weeks into COVID-19 vaccinations at Illinois nursing homes, nearly 80% of the doses for the campaign are waiting for use, but the pharmacy chains performing the work say everything is going according to plan.
CVS Health and Walgreens have administered only 110,403 of the 550,050 doses that Illinois has received for residents and staff members of long-term care facilities, according to state public-health data posted Monday. […]
“The distribution of the vaccines to long-term care settings, where the most vulnerable population resides, is not fast enough and it must, must improve,” said Karen Messer, head of LeadingAge Illinois, which lobbies for 380 congregate-care sites, mostly nonprofits. […]
“You have a captive population in these facilities,” said [Dr. Ronald Hershow, who directs epidemiology and biostatistics in the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Public Health], who serves on a team advising IDPH on its COVID-19 responses. “It doesn’t seem like it should be as logistically difficult as [vaccinating] the general population.” […]
“Our effort to administer COVID-19 vaccine to the long-term care community in Illinois is going according to plan and in close coordination with the state,” the CVS statement said.
The feds set up this public-private partnership program without apparently making sure that Walgreens and CVS had the capability to actually fulfill their duties (typical DC during this entire farce). The state mandated that the pharmacy companies vaccinate residents/staff of skilled nursing home residents first because that’s where the greatest fatality rates are. The effort started a month ago. The pharmacy chains finally finished the first round in those skilled nursing home facilities only yesterday, according to the governor’s office. And there’s a whole lot more to go, as is evidenced by the fact that only a fifth of available doses have been administered. For them to say that things are going as planned is simply ludicrous. Nobody planned on this unconscionable delay.
The pharmacies have been so slow, in fact, that the state decided to vaccinate residents of state veterans’ homes and some DHS facilities itself rather than wait on Walgreens and CVS.
If you can’t handle the task, ask for help, for crying out loud. And stop pointing fingers and obfuscating the issue. The problem lies with y’all. Get on it.
The feds either need to immediately step in and revisit these contracts or make sure the companies get the help they need.
Ridiculous.
…Adding… Florida…
After nearly three weeks of vaccinating residents and staff at Florida long-term care facilities, CVS and Walgreens will no longer be part of those inoculations, according to an update from the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
There are more than 321,000 residents and staff at those facilities across Florida, according to the AHCA. In late December, CVS and Walgreens pharmacies were selected by the federal government to help vaccinate these vulnerable populations. However, beginning Jan. 23 vaccinations at LTCs were taken over by a state-run program.
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* AAA…
AURORA, Ill., (January 26, 2021) – As we close out January, have a few New Year’s Resolutions already gone to the wayside? If you are looking for an easy-to-stick-to resolution that will make a difference, look no further than changing the way you talk about car crashes. Namely? Stop calling them “accidents.”
Here’s why: The language we use to think about and describe things affects the value judgments we make about acceptable behavior, and as a result, the way that we behave. When we call a crash, collision, or wreck an “accident,” we imply that these tragedies are inevitable, and that they’re beyond human influence or control. After all, “accidents” happen, don’t they?
When it comes to car crashes, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, according to comprehensive research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 94 percent of all crashes are the result of driver error. That means that 36,000 of the 38,800 people who lost their lives on American roadways in 2019 could still be here today if drivers made different choices. Consider also the outcomes for the 4.4 million people injured seriously enough to require hospitalization – or the billions of dollars spent on auto insurance claims, incurred losses, medical bills, and litigation each year. All told, nearly 95 percent of it could have been avoided completely.
Crashes aren’t accidents, and they don’t have to be an inevitable, acceptable fact of life. For example, nobody “accidentally” texts and drives. They choose to look at their phone while behind the wheel. The crashes may not have happened intentionally, but the causal behavior did.
In 2020 the Illinois State Police reported:
• 13,029 crashes were due to improper lane usage. This is when a driver has failed to properly stay within their lane or is weaving within their lane in an unsafe manner.
• 7,538 crashes were due to speeding. Speeding can be deadly and increases crash severity, as crash energy increases with speed. People often drive faster than the speed and our AAA Foundation’s Traffic Safety Culture Index finds that a large proportion of drivers confess to exceeding posted speed limits.
• 1,720 crashes were due to failing to yield. The purpose of right-of-way laws is to prevent conflicts resulting from one driver failing to yield and give right of way to another. All drivers are required to exercise due care to avoid a collision, and whoever has the last clear chance to avoid a collision has an obligation to do so.
This may seem pedantic, until you look at the data. According to research published in the December 2019 issue of Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, use of the word “accident” tends to shift blame to the victims of car crashes, and prevents people from thinking about these deaths and injuries in the context of a preventable public health challenge. Importantly, the study concludes, ridding our lexicon of the word “accident” has “the potential to save human lives and prevent injury on a large scale.” That’s significant, given that road traffic crashes are a leading cause of death for people aged between 1 and 54, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That potential is why NHTSA hasn’t used the word “accident” in its official communications since 1997, why Nevada lawmakers changed all statutory references from accident to crash in 2016, why the City of New York stopped using the “a-word” in 2014, and why the Associated Press Stylebook urges journalists to “avoid accident, which can be read by some as a term exonerating the person responsible.”
As we kick off the new year, Illinoisans hoping to take this important first step in preventing traffic violence can sign the pledge at CrashNotAccident.com.
“When a plane crashes, we don’t call it an ‘accident’ – in large part because we demand answers, and that it doesn’t happen again,” said Molly Hart, spokesperson for AAA – The Auto Club Group. “In 2021, let’s change our language to reflect the fact that car crashes aren’t something that just happen. They’re something we control. They’re a problem we can solve. Accidents happen, but most crashes don’t have to.”
Thoughts?
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The splintering GOP
Tuesday, Jan 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* “Andrew Eastmond is a member of the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network, active in Illinois Republican Party politics in Lake County where he lives, and is an airport consultant assisting large municipalities with air service development efforts at their airports.” From his Daily Herald op-ed…
The Republican Party has arrived at an inflection point where many of our policy solutions have never been more relevant to helping improve citizens’ lives but our messaging style is defined by what we are against rather than what we are for.
As we approach the critical 2022 election cycle, how do we become more relevant in the Chicago suburbs and suburbs nationwide, particularly in Democrat-leaning states, where our influence has steadily ebbed over the past half decade? What are some “first principles” that can guide us?
We need messengers who can open hearts and minds, particularly those of young people, to principles such as support of the free enterprise system, the protection of First Amendment rights, property rights and the rule of law (never more important than after the appalling events at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month by individuals who do not understand, or even care, about the norms and institutions that support our fragile democracy), benefits from free trade and globalization, the judicious use of the American military as a force for global stability, and the recognition that all individuals throughout the world are created with equal dignity in the image of God.
We also need messengers who employ fact-based reasoning and ask, “What policies will best secure all my constituents’ freedom and allow them to pursue happiness and fulfill their potential in the years to come?”
Go read the rest.
* Meanwhile, today’s email from AM 560…
You’ve probably seen the stories that some big box retailers are caving under pressure from progressives to take MyPillow products off their shelves. They want to see MyPillow and its CEO Mike Lindell canceled because of Mike’s support for President Trump, just like they are trying to cancel other conservative voices.
You can show your support for this great American company by ordering from MyPillow today. Don’t let cancel culture win!
“Conservative”…
: tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions
b : marked by moderation or caution
c : marked by or relating to traditional norms of taste, elegance, style, or manners
* AP…
Lindell has continued to push bogus claims of election fraud since Trump’s loss to President-elect Joe Biden in the presidential race. MyPillow’s logo was also prominently featured on TrumpMarch.com, a website that promoted the Jan. 6 events in Washington, in which rioters stormed the Capitol.
New York Times…
In photographs captured by Jabin Botsford, a photographer for The Washington Post, Mr. Lindell held notes in his hand as he stood outside the doorway to the West Wing lobby mid-afternoon on Friday. The notes included a mention of Sidney Powell, the lawyer and conspiracy theorist whom Mr. Trump at one point wanted to offer a job in the White House.
They were only partially visible, but there was also a suggestion about invoking the Insurrection Act, by which a president can deploy active military troops into the streets, and “martial law if necessary.” One line appeared to suggest moving Kash Patel, currently the Department of Defense chief of staff and a Trump loyalist, as “C.I.A. Acting,” which seemed to indicate the top job. […]
Reached by phone, Mr. Lindell said that he was carrying notes supplied to him by a lawyer he was working with to try to prove that Mr. Trump was the true winner of the 2020 election. He would not identify the lawyer.
“The attorney said, can you bring these to him,” Mr. Lindell said. ”It was stuff to help the American people.”
Maybe we need a different word.
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* SW News Herald…
Arguably the most powerful state politician in Illinois history, State Rep. Michael J. Madigan (D-22nd) left his constituents speculating about his future last week, in the wake of news that he failed to muster enough votes to be re-elected as speaker of the state House of Representatives.
A Greater Southwest News-Herald request for comment went unanswered last week, but voters outside the Walgreens at 71st and Pulaski—just blocks from Madigan’s longtime political headquarters—were filled with what they said were answers.
“He’s slick, he’s smooth and he’s not going anywhere,” Jose Salgado said. “He’s going from being the man on the throne to the man behind the throne. I think [new House Speaker] Chris Welch was Madigan’s Plan B. Madigan saw he didn’t have the votes [to be re-elected speaker], so he put forth one of his lieutenants as a proxy. Madigan still has plenty of power. Don’t let anyone kid you with these ‘end of an era’ pronouncements.
“Madigan knows what his next move is, but he hasn’t said what it is because he’s holding his cards close to his vest,” Salgado added. “No one plays political poker as well as he does.” […]
“The Hammer’s still pounding,” [Francisco Salgado] said, using Madigan’s longtime nickname, the Velvet Hammer (referring to Madigan’s reputation for pounding his political opponents quietly and with finesse). “If anything, he’s going to pound his enemies even more quietly, now that he can do it through Welch. I think [Governor JB Pritzker] and everyone who tried to force Madigan out are in for a pounding.” […]
“What does every politician do after their career in a legislature is over?” [Keith McGuane] asked rhetorically. “He registers as a lobbyist; and then oh boy, that’s when they really cash in. Aldermen do it. Congressmen do it. I’ll bet Madigan does it, too. This is a man with options. And if he can get past this ComEd investigation, his next address is Easy Street.”
I think he already lives on that street.
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ComEd-related defendants: Nevermind
Tuesday, Jan 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Jon Seidel…
Members of former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s inner circle have mostly withdrawn their request for information about the grand jury that handed up a 50-page indictment against them last November.
Madigan confidant Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, onetime ComEd vice president John Hooker and ex-City Club President Jay Doherty have all pleaded not guilty in response to that indictment, which accused them of a long-term bribery scheme designed to curry favor with the once powerful legislative leader. Madigan has not been charged and has denied wrongdoing.
Last month, defense attorneys for the group questioned whether the grand jurors who handed up the indictment “were representative of the community” and noted that the COVID-19 pandemic “has had a disparate impact on different groups.” They asked for details about the race, religion, sex, gender, ethnicity, year of birth, ZIP code, income and occupation of all grand jury members.
Earlier this month, though, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu wrote in a court filing that the grand jury was impaneled more than a year before the pandemic took hold, and “no additional jurors have been selected to serve on this grand jury since the time it was impaneled.”
More here.
5 Comments
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Google is your friend
Tuesday, Jan 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WMBD TV…
MATT SHEEHAN: Before being the speaker of the house, you represented Illinois’ 7th District in Chicago in Cook County. For those in Central Illinois who haven’t seen you very much these last couple of years, what should they know about you and how are you going to work for them as well?
SPEAKER WELCH: I’m not from Chicago, I’m not from downstate, I like to say I’m the guy in the middle. I’m the bridge to both to make us one Illinois. If you look at me, and my leadership team I’ve rolled out, that leadership team is reflective of our state. I live by a motto a high school teacher told me years ago, “People may doubt what you say, but they believe what you do.” I don’t want you to listen to anything I’m saying to you, I want you to watch my actions. We’re going to bring this state together and work collaboratively to move us forward, work together to improve Illinois.
Welch’s district does not contain a single Chicago precinct.
…Adding… Again, Google is your friend. Welch has introduced his own Fair Maps bill. It’s not just a GOP/Pritzker thing…
MATT SHEEHAN: Illinois GOP lawmakers pushed for this fair maps proposal in 2018, according to the northwest herald. Gov. Pritzker was quoted saying he does support the end of gerrymandering district to promote more competitive elections. Do you agree with the governor on this, and is there any chance we see this fair maps proposal becoming a reality?
SPEAKER WELCH: I believe in fair maps, but my definition of fair maps might be different than what Gov. Pritzker’s definition is, what the Illinois GOP’s definition is. We have to get everyone around the table and at least have an open and transparent process. I think a fair map has to be reflective of the diverse population of this state. The population has to drive what happens here, and diversity is our strength, and our diversity should show up in our map. If that’s not reflective in our map, that’s not a fair map in my opinion, but again, others may differ. We have to be willing to listen to all views and have an open and transparent process and I’m willing to do that.
45 Comments
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Open thread
Tuesday, Jan 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Keep the convo strictly Illinois-centric and do your best to be nice to each other. Thanks.
29 Comments
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