* Charles McBarron takes a look back at the summer of 1988, when Big Jim Thompson muscled a bill through both chambers to keep the White Sox in Chicago…
In the late afternoon on June 30, based on Senate President Phillip’s opposition, Lt. Gov. George Ryan pronounced the Sox stadium bill “dead.”
Phillip had a vice-like grip on his members, so there was no reason to doubt Ryan as the bill awaited a Senate vote. But, Gov. Thompson wasn’t giving up.
“I said, ‘Pate, this is personal. I want this stadium and you have to help me,’” Thompson said.
In a surprise, Phillip dropped his opposition, allowing his members to vote as they wished. The Senate Minority Leader smirked as Thompson prowled the Senate floor, looking for Republicans willing to support the bill.
Shockingly, Thompson convinced three Republicans to go along, giving the bill the minimum 30 votes needed. As soon as the votes were tallied, Thompson and his lobbying team literally sprinted into the House chamber to try to get the bill passed before the midnight deadline.
What happened next was as dramatic as anything that happened at Comiskey Park in the during the 80 years it hosted ballgames.
You can hear WMAQ’s tone that clearly signaled midnight before the vote was taken. But Charlie couldn’t hear anything on the other end because it was so loud in the chamber. Back in those days, the three-fifths vote requirement for bills with an immediate effective date didn’t kick in until July 1. It was most definitely July 1 when that bill passed.
As we celebrate Pride Month, Kwame Raoul’s campaign for Attorney General has released a new video, “Republican Erika Harold: Wrong for Illinois,” highlighting her shocking views on the safety of children and same-sex couples who wish to care for them.
“As both a father and public servant, it’s unconscionable to me that the safety of a child would ever be up for debate,” said Kwame Raoul. “When I was a county prosecutor, I took children out of abusive homes and helped place them with loving families without prejudice. Discrimination has no place in our laws, and my focus as attorney general will be on protecting at-risk children and defending the equal rights we’ve fought so hard to secure.”
Republican Attorney General candidate Erika Harold … was being hit from both the right and the left for something she is quoted as saying at a beauty pageant.
Harold was asked… “If you had to place a child in foster care, and the choices were either A) a loving gay couple, or B) a heterosexual couple who were known child abusers, who would you choose?”
Harold reportedly stated she would choose to place a child in an abusive heterosexual home.
One of the pageant officials tells us, “Her answer stopped the room.”
* Back to the Raoul campaign…
Harold has repeatedly supported policies that discriminate against LGBTQ individuals. During her 2014 congressional campaign, Harold supported a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and protection for employers who fire employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“Erika Harold’s disturbing opinion that even an abusive home is better than the nurturing family a same-sex couple can provide is an insult to all parents, but for me, as both a mom and a member of the LGBTQ community, she’s doubled down on the disgusting here,” said State Representative Kelly Cassidy. “The shortage of options for abused and neglected children is at a crisis point, exacerbated in other states by discrimination against gay foster and adoptive parents. We can’t afford to elect an attorney general whose commitment to at-risk kids’ safety is in question. I’m proud to stand with Kwame.”
“As an adult adoptee and someone who has fought for years to assure every child in care is placed in a loving home, I am gravely concerned about Erika Harold’s unconscionable position which threatens the progress we have made in building families through adoption,” said State Representative Sara Feigenholtz. “We need an attorney general dedicated beyond question to protecting children, and if Erika Harold continues to sit back while Trump tears families apart and refuses to stand up to harmful policies, she has no place in the AG’s office. I’m proud to support Kwame Raoul, who quarterbacked life-changing adoption legislation and whose profound ability to listen and lead is beyond reproach.”
“We fought for decades to make marriage equality the law in Illinois, and passed laws to protect LGBT people from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations. It’s important that our next attorney general enforces those laws and defends Illinois families against blatant discrimination, but if it were up to Erika Harold, these important protections could easily be rolled back,” Assistant House Majority Leader Greg Harris said. “I support Kwame Raoul, because he has always stood up for our rights.”
The video is currently running on digital platforms.
