Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration is set to unveil a plan later this week that will more gradually move the state from current coronavirus restrictions to a full reopening, officials said Monday. […]
But at a state Senate Health Committee meeting Monday, Illinois Department of Public Health director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said to get “from where we are now to phase five, (is) maybe not just an on-off switch but a dial, so there may be one more phase.”
Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh confirmed that the administration is “working on a phased-in reopening.” […]
Ezike said the key bench marks that will lead to full reopening include having a majority of seniors vaccinated, as well as consideration of overall vaccinations, and seeing the number of COVID-19 related deaths continue to go down.
The upper floors of the Cacciatore family’s eight-story brick office building at Wells and Congress offer a perfect view of Oscar D’Angelo Park just across the street.
For some members of the Cacciatore family, that was a source of irritation: being stuck with a view of a park named for D’Angelo on what they considered their South Loop turf.
After nearly three decades of suffering, they asked the Chicago Park District to rename the park for their family patriarch.
Thus was borne one of the most unusual attempted bribery allegations in memory.
In a recent federal indictment, prosecutors accuse government affairs consultant Roberto Caldero of promising $50,000 in campaign contributions from the Cacciatores to then-Ald. Danny Solis (25th) in exchange for Solis arranging an honorary street name designation for one deceased Cacciatore family member and renaming the park for another.
To appreciate the irony, you need to know the background.
Low-to-moderate-income Illinois taxpayers will not have unpaid fines deducted from their state income tax refunds this year as families struggle to deal with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois State Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza announced Monday.
“Families on the edge are counting on their state income tax refunds to pay bills they have been putting off as COVID-19 cost them jobs or increased their medical bills,” Comptroller Mendoza said.
This is decisive action that will provide relief to families that are struggling the most from the pandemic. Statewide, Earned Income Tax Credit eligible taxpayers will have access to an estimated $15 million that would have been intercepted. This comes as a result of collaboration between the Comptroller, Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, and advocacy groups that asked for relief for these families, who are standing together for a news conference Monday.
“I applaud Comptroller Mendoza for creating welcome financial relief for our working families in Chicago and across Illinois,” Mayor Lightfoot said. “These families have carried the heaviest burden from the COVID-19 crisis with hours cut and jobs lost, and with it, the health care, transportation, and other essentials we rely on to live our daily lives. As we move to put this terrible pandemic behind us, we must do everything in our power to ensure our recovery is equitable and brings everyone into to the success we hope to all share.”
Ten years ago, the Illinois General Assembly gave cities around the state the right to contract with the Comptroller’s office to withhold unpaid traffic and parking ticket fines, and other court judgments from state income tax returns and send those to the towns. The Comptroller already performed that function for other state agencies, garnishing unpaid child support for instance. Those garnishments will continue to be withheld and passed on to the custodial parent.
A year ago, Comptroller Mendoza announced the office would no longer withhold unpaid red-light camera ticket fines from taxpayers’ income-tax refunds. That decision was made because of corruption uncovered in the red-light camera industry resulting in indictments, as well as reports showing connected government officials getting a cut of those fines and the fact that these fines disproportionately impacted poor families. More than 90% of red-light camera tickets in many jurisdictions are not for running through red lights, but rather for failing to make a full stop during a legal right turn on red.
For this tax year, the office will not offset tax refunds going to families or individuals who qualify for the state Earned Income Tax Credit. The state EITC, which is based on the federal EITC, is a widely accepted standard for determining who is considered low-and moderate-income. For the current tax year (2020), a family of four earning $56,844 a year or less or a single person earning $15,820 a year or less qualifies.
All of the families benefitting from this policy change are, by definition, “working class.” If you do not earn income and file a tax return, this policy will not affect you.
“Key to combatting structural inequity is to put more money in the pockets of lower income folks, who are disproportionately people of color. In our economy, wealth creates wealth. Protecting the tax refunds of lower wealth families gives them a chance to build a better life for themselves and their community,” said Brent Adams, senior vice president of policy and communication of Woodstock Institute.
Today’s policy change could affect 41,000 households of the roughly 1 million across the state that qualify for the EITC. The $15 million that they will keep in their refunds will help them get through the pandemic. The average hit to families that are offset is $363 and can involve multiple tickets. Sometimes the fines have doubled. Families count on those income tax refunds to pay for more critical bills, like rent, groceries, and medications.
This change reflects efforts by the City of Chicago and Mayor Lori Lightfoot to tackle regressive fines and fees, from implementing affordable payment plans to eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars in fees related to vehicle impounds. As a member of Cities and Counties for Fine and Fee Justice, a national cohort dedicated to reducing the harm of fines and fees, the city has worked with the community to identify and address harmful practices. Those initial reforms have resulted in numerous people getting their driver’s licenses back, allowing them to work and earn income, as well as a sharp increase in compliance due to people paying into affordable payment plans.
The Comptroller’s office made this decision after reviewing the impact of the program on vulnerable populations and consulting with the City of Chicago and a coalition of advocacy groups including the Chicago Jobs Council, Woodstock Institute, Economic Security for Illinois, the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice, the Chicago Urban League, the Heartland Alliance, the Illinois Asset Building Group, the Illinois Coalition on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and POWER-PAC IL, among others that had advocated for this change.
The groups argued persuasively that COVID-19 has been a serious hardship on poor families that are disproportionately impacted by these fines and fees.
“Although families qualifying for the state Earned Income Tax Credit are only about 15% of the state population, they account for 36% of the money withheld from income tax refunds. So, yes, these fines and fees hit them harder,” Mendoza said. “We were happy to work with Mayor Lightfoot’s office and the advocacy groups to make this policy change happen in time for this tax season, for the benefit of poor- and moderate-income families around the state.”
“It’s encouraging to see the Comptroller and the Mayor safeguard the tax refunds that Illinois’ lowest-income workers rely on. We hope their action will inspire the Illinois General Assembly to implement further changes that automate, expand and protect the state earned income tax credit for all of our neighbors who need it most,” said Harish I. Patel, director of Economic Security for Illinois.
The change also provides an opportunity to highlight that approximately 20% of eligible Chicago taxpayers do not take advantage of the EITC, and a 5% increase in uptake among eligible Chicagoans would likely cover more than 19,000 additional families and add over $52 million in economic benefit to families.
“Stopping the seizure of tax returns this year will have an enormous impact on low-wage workers, and particularly workers of color who are hardest hit by fines, fees, and collections practices. These communities have yet to see good jobs return during the pandemic and can utilize this influx of cash to help pay for their families’ needs,” said Mari Castaldi, director of policy and advocacy at the Chicago Jobs Council.
“This is a great start. The community wants to be able to trust government in this time, and to do so requires a focus of care towards communities who are already experiencing severe hardship. Those in positions of power should be making every effort to create policy that puts people on the road to compliance, without causing further harm and hardship,” said Rose Grillier, co-president emeritus of POWER-PAC IL.
Here are a few things the Comptroller’s actions do NOT do:
• This policy does not eliminate fines, but rather defers collections to help people struggling through this pandemic. This is not an amnesty. The Comptroller’s Office does not have the authority to forgive debt.
• People still have a legal obligation to pay traffic and parking tickets and other fines. Cities can hire private collectors to collect these unpaid obligations, so our office encourages people to pay those fines.
• This change is not permanent. It affects tax refunds for this tax year, 2020. The Comptroller’s Office may extend this policy change at its discretion and will make a determination based on how quickly the state returns to normal.
Today’s action is a narrow, targeted approach to provide COVID-19 pandemic relief to low- and moderate-income families who need help now.
* Some very low case numbers, but those are from Sunday and testing numbers were quite low, so don’t jump to conclusions. Press release…
Record 7-day vaccine administration average at more than 102,000 doses daily
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 782 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 12 additional deaths.
Cook County: 1 female 30s, 2 males 50s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 2 females 80s, 1 female 90s
DuPage County: 1 female 80s
Kane County: 1 male 80s
Peoria County: 1 male 60s
Will County: 1 female 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,210,113 cases, including 20,955 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 39,145 specimens for a total of 19,170,243. As of last night, 1,112 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 227 patients were in the ICU and 95 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from March 8-14, 2021 is 2.2%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from March 8-14, 2021 is 2.6%.
A total of doses of 4,623,735 vaccine have been delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago. In addition, approximately 414,900 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 5,038,635. A total of 4,102,810 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight, including 354,773 for long-term care facilities. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 102,147 doses. Yesterday, 62,508 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*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. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
More than 4 million doses of vaccine administered in Illinois
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,484 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 19 additional deaths.
Cook County: 1 female 50s, 2 males 50s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 100+
Fulton County: 1 male 80s
Jackson County: 1 male 80s
Jersey County: 1 female 60s
Kane County: 1 male 70s
Kankakee County: 1 male 50s
Lake County: 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
Lee County: 1 male 80s
Pulaski County: 1 male 60s
Rock Island County: 1 male 60s
St. Clair County: 1 female 70s
Whiteside County: 1 male 70s
Will County: 1 male 80s
Williamson County: 1 male 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,209,331 cases, including 20,943 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 65,028 specimens for a total of 19,131,098. As of last night, 1,141 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 238 patients were in the ICU and 94 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from March 7-13, 2021 is 2.2%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from March 7-13, 2021 is 2.6%.
A total of doses of 4,623,735 vaccine have been delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago. In addition, approximately 414,900 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 5,038,635. A total of 4,040,302 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight, including 354,414 for long-term care facilities. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 97,441 doses. Yesterday, 96,332 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,675 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 23 additional deaths.
Champaign County: 1 female 80s
Cook County: 2 males 40s, 2 females 50s, 2 males 50s, 1 male 60s, 2 females 70s, 2 males 70s, 1 female 80s, 2 females 90s
DuPage County: 1 female 80s
Lee County: 1 male 80s
Madison County: 1 male 40s, 1 male 80s, 1 male over 100
McLean County: 1 female 80s
Will County: 1 female 70s
Winnebago County: 1 female 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,207,847 cases, including 20,924 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 77,505 specimens for a total of 19,066,070. As of last night, 1,082 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 235 patients were in the ICU and 95 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from March 6-12, 2021 is 2.1%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from March 6-12, 2021 is 2.6%.
A total of doses of 4,623,735 vaccine have been delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago. In addition, approximately 414,900 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 5,038,635. A total of 3,943,970 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight, including 353,102 for long-term care facilities. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 97,758 doses. Yesterday, 152,697 doses were reported administered in Illinois, the highest one day total to date.
Approximately 400 Illinois National Guard members return home today (March 15) following a drawdown of National Guard forces in Washington, D.C.
Approximately 100 Illinois National Guard members have volunteered to remain in the nation’s capital as part of nearly 2,300 National Guard members who will provide continued support to the U.S. Capitol Police until about mid-May. The U.S. Department of Defense approved an extension of this mission. These 100 Illinois National Guard Soldiers volunteered to continue supporting this mission as part of the overall National Guard force provided by the Governors of multiple states.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker activated the approximately 500 Illinois National Guard members to support security in the nation’s capital in late-January at the request of the Department of Defense.
“Since January hundreds of the brave men and women of the Illinois National Guard have been in D.C. to support the U.S. Department of Defense’s mission to protect our nation’s capital. They have done their duty with pride and immeasurable selflessness and I am proud to welcome them back home,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “On behalf of the entire State of Illinois, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the Illinois National Guard and their ongoing commitment to protecting our state and the entire nation.”
The Illinois Army National Guard’s Chicago-based 108th Sustainment Brigade and its subordinate battalion, the North Riverside-based 198th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, provided the bulk of the Illinois National Guard force for the Washington, D.C. mission.
“Time and time again the Illinois National Guard has answered the call to duty,” said Maj. Gen. Rich Neely, the Adjutant General of Illinois and Commander of the Illinois National Guard. “I am proud to lead these extraordinary Citizen-Soldiers and Citizen-Airmen as they continue to serve their state and nation.”
The Illinois National Guard members were activated under the provisions of U.S. Title 32, which leaves them under the authority of the Governor with all costs paid by the federal government.
I saw the post today on Capitol Fax regarding HB 3913, the bill that removes barriers for people on the sex offender registry. James Medrick doesn’t seem to understand that the sex offender registry has proven to be an ineffective method to ensure public safety. However, it is effective at continually letting legislators and law enforcement off the hook for failing to actually respond to survivors’ needs and addressing sexual violence.
As an organization that advocates for survivors, we support HB 3913. We understand the importance of reducing or eliminating punishments that are not evidence-based and redirecting resources to real prevention strategies and support for survivors. Also, lowering the housing restrictions (from 500 ft to 250 ft) will help address the housing crisis created by the sex offender registry in Chicago and elsewhere among people with sex offenses who have homes but legally cannot live in them when they exit prison.
If you are interested in learning about or sharing our perspective, this blog post details our position. You can also see a short synopsis of our view in our Legislative Priorities for 2021. Also, feel free to reach out if you would like to speak to someone at CAASE about this issue.
Thank you for your time!
–
Hayley Forrestal | Communications Manager
Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation
* Press release…
Senate GOP Leader Dan McConchie on the need for executive power changes
“One year ago, Gov. Pritzker issued his first executive order, granting him sole decision-making power for millions of Illinoisans,” said Illinois Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods). “Over the next twelve months, the governor extended his state of emergency power by delivering executive order after executive order—a total of 76 times, shutting down our economy and making massive public health decisions without the inclusion of the legislature or the communities we represent. This go-it-alone strategy is not representative of our democracy, which is why I have introduced Senate Bill 103, requiring the General Assembly to approve any subsequent renewal of emergency powers after the initial 30-day state of emergency declaration.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated our families and businesses in Illinois. We must learn from this horrible situation and improve our governing process to allow for more seats at the decision-making table to reach better outcomes. I believe that this bill will help ensure Illinois has the most effective response possible in any future pandemic or disaster.”
The bill is co-sponsored by Republican Sens. Sue Rezin, Jason Barickman and Terri Bryant.
Abortion clinics would be required to offer patients the opportunity to view an ultrasound under legislation State Representative Paul Jacobs (R-Pomona) is sponsoring.
House Bill 683 would create the Ultrasound Opportunity Act. It would require attending physicians, referring physicians or other qualified personnel to offer any woman seeking an abortion after 8 weeks of gestation the opportunity to receive and view an active ultrasound prior to an abortion being performed.
“This legislation does not require abortion clinics to show patients ultrasounds but merely requires them to at least make the offer to do so,” Jacobs said. “There is no question that seeing an ultrasound has a big impact and can change people’s minds about having an abortion. But women should have all of the facts before making such a big decision and besides, anyone who is pro-choice should be in favor of legislation that gives women more choice and that is what my bill does.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a renewed focus on mental health issues, particularly among students. Some Illinois lawmakers say schools must bolster suicide prevention procedures to better identify warning signs.
Back in 2015, the General Assembly passed “AnnMarie’s law,” named after 11-year-old AnnMarie Blaha of Orland Park, who died by suicide after two classmates allegedly set up fake profiles on social media and persuaded her to take her own life.
The law called for the Illinois State Board of Education to develop a statewide suicide awareness and prevention policy for schools. Prevention policies must include reporting procedures, intervention methods, and professional development training for teachers and staff.
The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee this week passed HB 577 , which is aimed at building on AnnMarie’s law by specifically identifying in state statute groups of students who are more at-risk of committing suicide — including students who are homeless, identify as LGBTQ, or suffer from substance abuse.
In 2019, Kyle Woodman ran for an at-large seat on the Eau Claire City Council. In his campaign, he commented on the local issues that were likely to be decided by the 11-member body. He told VolumeOne, a Chippewa Valley culture magazine, his priority was building infrastructure that would facilitate economic growth.
He finished in 10th in a 10-person race.
This year, he’s running for City Council again, against incumbent Emily Anderson, but now he’s got a much different strategy. Woodman is largely ignoring local issues — unless agitating against a countywide mask mandate counts.
In the years since his last run, Woodman, a member of the Eau Claire County Republican Party Executive Committee, has built a decently sized social media following by arguing for conservative government and fighting the culture war.
He’s brought that strategy to his latest campaign; his stated plans if he wins are to protect individual freedoms, open the economy, oppose high taxes and defend law enforcement. The resulting rhetoric is mostly full-throated defenses of 2nd Amendment rights and the spread of Stop the Steal conspiracy theories. […]
Woodman is part of a mostly conservative group of candidates for local office across the state who are forgoing the hyper-local issues that city council and school boards largely deal with — instead aligning themselves with controversial culture war topics and making appearances with some of the state’s most divisive conservative personalities.
The Illinois House Democrats have been using national issues like Social Security and Medicare in state legislative races here for what seems like decades. You use what works in politics. It’s up to the news media and the other side to call it out or counter it. So, kudos to the Wisconsin Examiner for shining some light on this. It would be nice if that happened more in this state.
ILLINOIS: has the potential to be Dems' biggest redistricting weapon of the cycle. Once again, it's losing a seat. But Dems could replace the current 13D-5R map (left) with a 14D-3R map (right) - and they might need to to have any chance of holding the House majority. pic.twitter.com/WnLY0lHL5J
Notice that he keeps the current Latino district intact. There will be pressure to create two Latinx districts in the coming mapmaking process. Also, the chair of the House Redistricting Committee is Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez and the Senate’s Redistricting Committee chair is Sen. Omar Aquino.
He does have a point about creating another Downstate Democratic district by correcting the Dems’ 2011 mistake and no longer splitting all of their Metro East turf into two districts. He would take away some GOP voters from Cheri Bustos and give her a few more Dems. Lauren Underwood does even better in this map.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s congressional seat could be eliminated when Illinois conducts its remap, according to the Cook Report’s David Wasserman.
Taking out the current 16th Congressional District makes “geographic sense,” Wasserman said in his subscription-only report. […]
The 16th District stretches from Indiana up to the border with Wisconsin and touches the fast-growing Chicago exurbs and some downstate districts. “More rural/GOP parts of it could go to Rep. Darin LaHood’s 18th CD and Rep. Mary Miller’s 15th CD, while its Rockford suburbs and the liberal university town of DeKalb could go to Democratic seats,” writes Wasserman.
* Back to Wasserman…
In the map above (right), 13/17 districts would have voted for Clinton *and* Biden by 10%+, up from 10/18 under the current lines.
Underwood's #IL14 could lose Lake/McHenry counties and pick up DeKalb, Aurora, Elgin or Bolingbrook, moving it from Trump +4 in '16 to Clinton +10.
* Jake Griffin at the Daily Herald has the best story I’ve yet seen about the governor’s corporate loophole closure proposal. There’s just too much good stuff to excerpt, so you should definitely click here and read the whole thing. However, buried deep down is this little nugget…
State Rep. Fred Crespo, a Hoffman Estates Democrat, said he doubts the governor can get those changes made by the legislature.
“I am always concerned when there are assumptions built into those budgets that might or might not happen,” Crespo said. “In closing those corporate loopholes, I think he valued that at close to $1 billion. … We’re not hearing that’s going to happen.”
Rep. Crespo chairs the House Appropriations-General Services Committee.
…Adding… From a House Dem involved with the budget-making process…
I’m not sure who Fred speaks for here. We haven’t even started going through each loophole yet.
For the first year or so of his administration leading up to the beginning of the pandemic, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s polling wasn’t exactly horrible, but it was still pretty darned underwhelming. And after some spectacular crisis-induced polling spikes last year, the governor has seemingly come back down to earth.
The first poll taken by Morning Consult after Pritzker was sworn into office in January of 2019 found his job approval rate at 40%, with his disapproval at 29% and 31% not saying either way. By the end of 2019, Morning Consult had his approve/disapprove at 43-41 with 16% not weighing in. An early February 2020 poll by Fako Research & Strategies found 39% of Illinois voters rated him positively, while 36% rated him negatively and 19% were neutral.
But then came the COVID-19 pandemic and Pritzker’s numbers really shot up, mainly because of his handling of the pandemic. Three polls in April and May of last year showed his pandemic job approval rating at 70% or higher and one had his overall job approval at 61-35. “He was bullet-proof,” a top Republican consultant recalled of those heady days.
What goes up often comes down, however, and by October, a quite prescient Change Research/Capitol Fax poll had Pritzker’s fave/unfaves at 48-45, possibly due at least in part to the unpopularity of his graduated income tax proposal.
A poll released last week that was conducted February 17-21 by Chip Englander’s firm 1892 Polling had Pritzker back to even, with 41% favorable and 41% unfavorable. The margin of error was +/-3.5 percent. Englander was a key figure in Bruce Rauner’s 2014 gubernatorial campaign, but I’ve always found his polling to be reliable.
Pritzker’s apparent problem now is the same problem he had in the early days: Lots of folks say they have no opinion either way about him – 18% in this instance.
A look at the crosstabs shows this is especially problematic with his party’s base. Black voters have a favorable opinion of Pritzker (58-14), but 29% said they had no opinion of the governor. Other groups with no opinion of the governor: 23% of women and Latinos; 21% of Democrats; 19% of Chicagoans and 17% of liberals. This more than just suggests that Pritzker has a serious enthusiasm issue.
There were some other warning signs in the poll. A quarter of Chicagoans said they had an unfavorable opinion of Pritzker, which is not far off the 28% of city voters who opposed the governor’s fair tax last November. Rauner beat Pat Quinn in 2014 with 21% of the city’s vote and lost to Pritzker four years later with just 15% of the city’s tally.
“We are where we need to be in the city and Downstate,” that aforementioned GOP consultant claimed. The key, he said, is the suburbs.
The “suburbs” classification in Englander crosstabs includes suburban Cook, DuPage and Lake counties. He’s separated those counties out for years because, an associate explained, that’s where the real battleground is. Pritzker took those three counties with 57% in 2018. This recent poll has the governor’s favorables in those counties at 47%, his unfavorables at 35% and “No opinion” at 18%.
This isn’t pandemic epidemiology here. Pritzker has to find a way to convince the large number of people with no stated opinion of him to move his direction. He has plenty of time to do it, but it’s more difficult to accomplish as the months click by for an incumbent.
As the virus hopefully fades away, it’ll also be easier to use pandemic-related issues against Pritzker, like the ongoing catastrophe at the Illinois Department of Employment Security, massive small business closures, the LaSalle Veterans’ Home deaths, etc. The criminal justice reform law is also going to be a very tricky issue to handle, if other states are any guide. And he needs to put some wins on the board to help people forget about his disastrous 2020 graduated income tax referendum.
In other words, Pritzker will have his own record to contend with instead of running against a horribly unpopular Republican incumbent in an off-year election during the term of a fabulously unpopular Republican president. The overall trend will not be so friendly next time, unless Pritzker gets lucky with a fatally flawed Republican opponent, or creates his own luck by quietly helping a far-right candidate across the primary finish line.
Monday, Mar 15, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
A few weeks ago, the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition sat down with small business owners on the South Side of Chicago to learn more about what Illinois is doing to support community-based clean energy companies. The short answer? Not enough.
Right now, instead of supporting these small businesses, we’re spending nearly $1.7 billion each year to bail out fossil fuel companies. The Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA, HB 804) will change that.
Watch Arthur Burton from AMB Renewable Energy, Wendell Terry of Terry Electric, William P. Davis with JitneyEV, and Stacey McIlvaine from SM Environmental Engineering explain the current outlook and their vision for a clean energy future in Illinois.
CEJA will create workforce development programs in the communities that need them most, prioritize equitable hiring and ownership, and increase solar projects in low-income and environmental justice communities. It’s a transformative investment that will ensure these small businesses can hire local talent and take advantage of one of the fastest growing job sectors in the world: clean energy.