* First, some news. As you may remember, the state’s prejudgment interest statute was pushed by the trial lawyers and initially opposed by the governor, who then struck a compromise, which business and medical groups still opposed. The law was declared unconstitutional today. Click here to read the order. Also, the governor signed several bills into law today. Click here to read the list.
* Jerry Garcia and David Grisman will play us out…
The tall dark man that rode by his side
Lay dead beside him there
There’s no one to write to the blue-eyed girl
The words her lover had said
Mom, you know, awaits the news
She’ll only know he’s dead
A gun raffle scheduled as part of the Lake Villa Township Republican Club’s annual fundraiser next month has been postponed indefinitely.
Club officials informally agreed via phone to hold off on the raffle for now, according to Dick Barr, vice chair of the Republican organization and a Lake County Board member.
The action comes in the wake of recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. The Uvalde shooting earlier this week claimed the lives of 19 elementary schoolchildren and two teachers.
“It was a unanimous sentiment, in light of the tragic events, out of respect for the families of all affected, that this is not the right time for the raffle,” Barr said Friday.
City Clerk Anna Valencia denied she used her position to help her lobbyist husband secure business opportunities — while former state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias defended his family’s failed bank on Thursday after the two squared off in a forum of Democratic candidates for Illinois secretary of state. […]
“I’m not the first woman running for office that has to say my husband doesn’t speak for me. I am my own person, my own woman. Period,” Valencia said. “And I decided that if my husband and I — if I win this race, my husband will have, and I, a strong firewall and will not do business with anyone in the state of Illinois.” […]
The secretary of state’s office oversees lobbyists, including statements of economic interest. And Giannoulias told reporters “people are sick and tired of lobbyists, the cozy relationship between lobbyists and elected officials.” But Giannoulias also insisted the campaign contributions he has accepted from lobbyists pose no conflict.
“Because, again, if you look at our ethics package — I’m not trying to be cute here. An elected official should not be allowed to lobby a different branch of government,” Giannoulias said. “I didn’t say they [elected officials] should not take money from lobbyists. I’m saying that they should not lobby other kinds of government.”
Weak answers from both.
* CD17…
Today, Jonathan Logemann, Democratic candidate for Illinois’ 17th Congressional District, announced the endorsement of Rockford United Labor. RUL is the local labor council for the Illinois AFL-CIO, which has previously endorsed Jonathan’s campaign, and represents over 20,000 workers in the Greater Rockford area. With nearly 120,000 union members and their families residing in IL-17, Jonathan’s momentum with organized labor has far and away surpassed all other candidates, as the endorsement from RUL represents his 15th from organized labor.
…Adding… I forgot about this one. Sorry…
Jackie Grimshaw, one of former Mayor Harold Washington’s top legislative aides and the Vice President of Government Affairs for the Center for Neighborhood Technology, is endorsing State Senator Jacqueline Collins in her bid for Illinois’ 1st Congressional District.
“I’ve known Jacqui Collins since we worked together on Harold Washington’s mayoral campaign, and I believe she will continue his fight for progressive policies that serve families of every race, creed, and economic status,” Grimshaw said. “I urge everyone in the 1st District to support Jacqui in her bid.”
Both Jacqui Collins and Jackie Grimshaw got their first real taste of politics working on the revolutionary mayoral campaign of Harold Washington. The first Black mayor of Chicago, Washington pursued aggressive policies to help uplift the city’s minority residents and built bonds between Chicago’s Black and Latino communities. In a forward-thinking move, he created the city’s environmental affairs department.
“Before Harold Washington was elected mayor, he represented Illinois’ 1st District in Congress, and I would be overjoyed by the opportunity to continue his legacy,” Collins said. “Washington was a trailblazer who helped inspire me to run for elected office.”
* More…
* 13th Congressional District Democratic candidates face off in debate: “I think we need to go further and support red flag laws to support our law enforcement officers. Making sure those who shouldn’t have weapons, law enforcement has an ability to stop,” Democratic candidate Nikki Budzinski added.
* Three newcomers seek GOP nomination for state Senate District 49: Felicity Joy Solomon said she is tired of state legislators doing “whatever they wanted to do.” She belongs to a group called the Kingdom Conservative Party, which requires its candidates to sign a pledge to follow the group’s platform, she said. Solomon lives in Shorewood. Solomon is self-employed as a life coach. She is also the pastor of a Christian house church.
Gov. JB Prizker is expected to attend the Memorial Day ceremony Monday, May 30 at Lions Park Memorial Bandshell in Mount Prospect, the Journal has learned.
Following the parade leading to Lions Park, 411 S. Maple St., Pritzker is expected to make a few nonpolitical comments during the ceremony, which is expected to start at 10 a.m.
I hope you are well and that you have fun Memorial Day plans for once!… not that session isn’t fun.
I am hoping you can share something on the blog, as a favor. (Please do NOT name me).
Paul Phillips, who you may know, works under Senate Operations and is in charge of the mail room and handles all the supplies and paper for the Senate. If you don’t know Paul, he is the kindest human you will ever come across. He greets everyone with a warm smile and a hello whenever you run into him throughout the Capitol or the Stratton building. His warm soul, positive attitude, and kindness is so refreshing. He is truly a light. I recently learned that his young family has been going through an extremely hard time. His wife, Tiffany, was diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome, pulmonary fibrosis, and pulmonary hypertension, and is in need of a double lung transplant. Paul and Tiffany have two young children. The fact that Paul and his family have been struggling with this terrifying reality is absolutely heartbreaking. The crazy thing is, you would never know it. Paul continues to have a smile on his face and the most positive of attitudes. It truly goes to show what kind of person Paul is.
Below is a link to a Go Fund Me page that was created to help Paul and Tiffany Phillips. As they have an uphill battle ahead of them, I would sincerely appreciate your help in sharing.
Would-be marijuana shop owners breathed a sigh of relief Friday morning as a Cook County judge lifted a stay that had delayed state officials from issuing nearly 200 licenses for cannabis dispensary operators. […]
Removing the stay will allow the state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to begin issuing licenses to 185 candidates who had been awarded them in a 2021 lottery that was itself delayed months as the state struggled to implement rules for the drawing. Lawsuits, COVID-19-related delays and administrative gaffes ground the process to a near halt.
WAH Group LLC, which had disputed the results of the lottery, this week withdrew its opposition to releasing the licenses. WAH Group will continue to litigate the rules for the state to conduct “corrective lotteries” for another 50 or so licenses later this year, attorney Mazie Harris said Friday.
This stay was just so ridiculous. WAH Group won a license in a lottery last August, for crying out loud.
By law, the first 75 licenses were supposed to have been issued almost two years ago, but were delayed by problems with scoring the license applications.
“People are super excited to move forward,” said attorney Ryan Holz, who represents businesses in line to get new licenses, and some who were excluded from the license lotteries.
But, he cautioned, there’s also a real concern that businesses that were excluded may ask for a new court order to hold up the licenses again.
Circuit judges shouldn’t have this much power.
…Adding… IDFPR…
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) announced the Circuit Court of Cook County has lifted the stays that enjoined 185 Conditional Adult Use Cannabis Dispensing Organization Licenses to applicants selected in three lotteries in 2021.
In anticipation of receiving further guidance in a related federal case, IDFPR anticipates releasing detailed information on next steps for applicants as soon as that guidance is issued. The federal case concerns objections to the state’s residency requirements for dispensary owners.
“Today is a key development towards our ultimate goal of creating the most diverse, inclusive, and robust adult use cannabis industry of any state in the country,” said Mario Treto, Jr., Secretary of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. “We stand ready to swiftly move forward in ensuring Illinois’ standing as a national leader in the advancement of cannabis equity.”
To ensure fairness for all applicants and correct any errors in the lottery process, IDFPR is also working on finalizing plans for three corrective lotteries to be held in June (one for each of the cannabis dispensary license lotteries held in 2021). Details on those lotteries will be announced by the Department when finalized. Those updates will be available on IDFPR’s Adult Use Cannabis Program webpage.
* Democratic congressional candidate Jonathan Jackson’s latest campaign mailer not only confuses his father with his brother, but it spells his famous father’s first name wrong…
* The Peoria Journal-Star asked candidates “What help do small businesses still need due to pandemic?” Here’s Richard Irvin’s response…
When J.B. Pritzker ordered our business to close their doors, we worked quickly in Aurora to provide local businesses with the support they needed. But local governments can only do so much when Springfield keeps trying to raise taxes on small businesses. Cutting income taxes and delivering property tax relief will be an enormous help to small businesses in Illinois – and give them the support they need to recover from the pandemic.
Local property tax collections are about equal to state revenues. By far the biggest property tax driver is education spending. The state already picks up most of the tab on K-12 pension costs. So, unless you have a magic plan to drastically reduce the state’s teacher pension costs (which Irvin doesn’t, as far as I can tell), the only meaningful relief at the local school level is to provide more state investments. And that costs money, which you won’t have if you cut state income taxes.
This whole “The taxes are too high and the spending is too low” argument is very common, but quite tiresome.
I believe that protecting the health of our citizens is the most important thing I can do as Governor, while also doing everything possible to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on our economy. I have worked to save lives AND livelihoods and have always followed the science to ensure our economy would reopen when we had the proper tools to mitigate the spread, like masks and vaccines. We created the nation’s largest state program of its kind, providing grants and other support to over 12,000 small businesses. We led with equity and prioritized hard-hit industries in awarding state funding, including businesses that didn’t qualify for federal funds and businesses in disproportionately impacted areas of the state. While Republicans ignored science, encouraged people to inject bleach, lied about the dangers of COVID, and promoted conspiracy theories, I was assisting small businesses and helping workers and their families weather the health and financial impacts of the pandemic.
Yeah, OK, but the question was about what small businesses still need. No answer. At all.
The biggest thing small businesses need is leaders who represent them, rather than the corrupt virtue-signaling insiders in Springfield. Government is too often focused on making sure the insiders get their cut. We saw that in the past two years, and we’ve seen it for the entirety of J.B. Pritzker’s term.
I’ve been an entrepreneur and job creator, helping small-business owners all over the world create the jobs of the future. I know what it takes to foster a business-friendly environment, from lower taxes to regulatory certainty, and I will bring that commitment to growth here to Illinois.
Small businesses deserve the right to earn a living, without fear that they could be shut down again at any moment. I will deliver that for Illinois – as the first step of making our state the best in the nation to hold a job, raise a family, or run a business.
The question was about what small business still need because of the pandemic, Jesse.
Sullivan claimed he could save $10 billion in the state budget, citing only a planned hiring freeze, planned pension reforms and local government consolidation.
Griffin, who has feuded politically with the first-term Democratic governor, has given Irvin $45 million in his bid to win the GOP nomination for governor and the right to face Pritzker on June 28.
In an invective-filled statement Thursday, Griffin said the TV attacks show Pritzker fears facing Irvin in the fall.
“I don’t care about the governor’s pathetic attacks against me. I started one of the most important businesses in the world at the age of 21 right here in Chicago. And unlike J.B. Pritzker, I’ve endured real challenges and made real sacrifices in writing the success story of Citadel,” Griffin said.
“J.B. Pritzker was gifted a life of tremendous wealth. It’s disappointing that a man born with a silver spoon has accomplished so little, especially as governor. Pritzker’s policies have driven the largest crime wave in the history of Illinois,” Griffin said. “Richard is the exact opposite of J.B. and has already done more for the people of Illinois than silver spooned billionaire J.B. Pritzker ever will.”
…Adding… In case you’d rather not click on that account to read the full statement…
- Bailey Campaign Statement on Richard Irvin, the hand-picked candidate for Governor of hedge fund mogul Ken Griffin, just telling the girls and parents of Illinois that he is fine with allowing boys and men to invade female sports competitions.
During Tuesday night’s undercard debate, NBC 5’s Mary Ann Ahern asked, “Should [men] be banned from being able to participate in women’s sports.” Irvin tried to squirm and equivocate, just as he does whenever asked whether or not he voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. But Ahern pressed him, thankfully, and his answer was shocking. He declared, “the governor should not have a say.”
Next door to Illinois, the solid General Assembly of Indiana just voted to override the veto of a squish Governor Eric Holcomb. Richard Irvin openly promises to be just that kind of sellout. In reality, we should not be surprised at Irvin’s extremist stance. He wants to permit boys and men to ruin female sports because he subscribes to the far left, liberal agenda of the Democrat Party he has supported for years, voting as a Democrat in 7 of the last 8 elections in Illinois. Richard Irvin reveals his true, radical self, from supporting militant BLM to lavishing praise on J.B. Pritzker to sacrificing our girls at the altar of woke, politically correct madness Illinoisans deserve better than a career Democrat who plays tough on TV. Darren Bailey is the true conservative champion in this race who will stand up to keep our communities safe and protect our children from a radical political agenda.
Huh. I thought Sen. Bailey was all about local control. I mean, he said this that very same evening…
Government needs to be pulled out of our schools. Get the unfunded mandates out of the way and let local school boards and parents come together and decide how they want to educate their children in their schools.
* The Irvin campaign sent me to the debate video. This starts at the 42:40 mark…
Mary Ann: Should transgender girl athletes be banned from participating in women’s sports? Mr. Irvin?
Irvin: Each sport agency has to determine what’s best for the competition and fairness in their particular agency.
Mary Ann: Should, again, the question is, should transgender girl athletes be barred?
Irvin: It’s about fairness. It’s about making sure these competitions are fair for everyone. Each organization, whether it be basketball, whether it be football or whether it be swimming has to determine what is fair and who should compete. It should be totally local and the governor should not have a say. This shouldn’t be something we should legislate from the governor’s office. It should be something we determine that parents and local school districts are allowed to make for themselves.
And Irvin’s position would do nothing to protect those athletes’ interests at the state level.
