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Biss on board with Pritzker’s publicly funded campaign idea

Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* JB Pritzker spoke to the Evanston chapter of Action for a Better Tomorrow this week and said something for the first time…

During the Q&A portion of the event, Pritzker said he would get rid of gerrymandering and also does not support public financing of statewide campaigns

Pritzker has previously referred to his support for publicly financed judicial races, but never specifically ruled out statewide campaigns until now.

* But that’s not all Pritzker said on the topic. From a tracker video..

I don’t like the bill that I saw that’s in Springfield today.

That would be Sen. Daniel Biss’ bill to set up a publicly funded small donor matching system for all campaigns. That would also be the same Sen. Biss who recently endorsed Pritzker, but first wanted the nominee to come around on this issue.

* Pritzker also said this in Evanston, however…

We’ve got to work on trying to limit campaign contributions across the board, but I worry that since we’re going to have trouble convincing the vast majority of people in the state of Illinois that we should spend millions and millions of dollars on one race, for example, that that’s going to be very hard to do at a statewide level. I think for local races, for judicial races, even for state Rep and state Senate races, I think it’s very practical to do. I just have trouble at the statewide level — think about how much money is going to be spent in this attorney general’s race.

* I asked Biss about Pritzker’s opposition to publicly financed statewide campaigns and he chose to look on the bright side…

I think if we passed a law that was very similar to SB1424’s provisions for the GA that would be a huge step forward.

Look, I support SB1424. I disagree with him about the statewides. But I think what he’s proposing is real and would matter. It’s not window dressing.

Well, Daniel pretty much killed my “mess with JB” post, but whatevs. I guess he really is with Team JB now.

* The questions were pretty interesting, though. Biss may be on board, but some members of the audience clearly weren’t buying in…

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*** UPDATED x1 *** Rauner aide claims governor will likely sign stand-alone 72-hour gun buy waiting period bill

Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* David Risley, the director of criminal justice and public safety policy for the governor’s office, testified in a House committee hearing today and made a surprising offer…

Office of @GovRauner just committed to signing & @WillGuzzardi offered to sponsor standalone bill imposing a 72-hour waiting period on purchase of ALL guns. Waiting periods are evidence-based. We would be happy to work with the Gov & General Assembly to make it happen! #twill

— SCY Chicago (@SCY_Chicago) May 23, 2018

* Rep. Guzzardi was skeptical…

.@GovRauner’s guy: “We’ve got a clean bill on the waiting period drafted and ready to go, which we’d support.”

Me: “Umm… ok, let’s just do that?”

Him: “OK let’s do that!”

So… any bets on how quickly they walk it back?

— Will Guzzardi (@WillGuzzardi) May 23, 2018

* From the full transcript of the exchange…

Rep. Will Guzzardi: So what I’m asking you is to commit on behalf of the Governor’s office to enact a clean bill on a waiting period that the Governor’s office – on whose behalf you speak – admits will save the lives of Illinoisans without hanging it up on all these other provisions which are obviously very controversial. Is that a commitment that the Governor’s office can make to us today?”

David Risley: “Let me put it this way, we’ve already prepared that bill. We would hope that it would reach the Governor’s desk with exactly the language that he has proposed in the amendatory veto, without limiting it as it was in the original bill to a certain class of firearms, of long guns. The Governor wants to extend it to all firearms and it that bill reaches his desk I would fully expect he would sign his own bill.”

Rep. Will Guzzardi: “You say ‘that bill.’ You mean a standalone bill on a waiting period?”

David Risley: “Right, right. Exactly.”

Rep. Will Guzzardi: “That’s a bill that the Governor’s office would commit to signing?”

David Risley “I would fully expect so.”

Video is here.

I asked the governor’s office for comment at 1 o’clock this afternoon. I’ll let you know what they say if I do hear back.

*** UPDATE *** From the governor’s office…

The governor has presented a comprehensive public safety package to the General Assembly. We urge the General Assembly to consider this package that gets to the heart of critical public safety issues including a standard 72-hour waiting period for all gun sales, banning bump stocks, keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals, holding judges and prosecutors accountable for sentencing, freeing up local revenue to hire school resource officers and the death penalty for mass murderers and those who would kill law enforcement officers. A motion to accept the Governor’s changes to House Bill 1468 has been filed by the sponsor. There is a clear opportunity for the House to consider the package in its entirety.

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Sanguinetti calls Madigan “harasser-in-chief”

Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

By Hannah Meisel

* Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti appeared on a Bloomington-Normal radio station this morning to talk about Speaker Madigan and Kelly Cassidy. In case you haven’t been paying attention, Rep. Kelly Cassidy went public Monday with her story of being forced to resign from her part-time job in the Cook County Sheriff’s Office due to pressure from Madigan allies after she called for an independent investigation of sexual harassment within the state’s Democratic party organization, which Madigan also heads.

But either Sanguinetti has her signals crossed on who is doing the harassing, or perhaps she misspoke and meant something else, but she ended up calling Madigan the “harasser-in-chief”…

Host: Well, Madigan has a way of going after folks who make him look a little less than comfortable. I guess he feels that since he’s Illinois’ candy man, he can do it.

Sanguinetti: Absolutely, absolutely. And I have a daughter who just turned 18 and I’m always telling her to stand up for her rights and if you see something, you’ve got to say something. Look at what happened to Kelly Cassidy. What message does this send to our young ladies out there? You see something, you say something and what — you get fired? You get retaliated against? By the top harasser-in-chief. So we shouldn’t stand up for this. This should give you pause, this should give everyone pause.

For whatever reason, Sanguinetti’s “harasser-in-chief” comment was clipped out of the highlight reel distributed by the Rauner campaign this morning.

* Sanguinetti also echoed calls today for an independent investigator — other than Legislative Inspector General Julie Porter — to look into the Cassidy matter. As you’ll remember from yesterday, Sen. Melinda Bush told me that she and other female senators were planning on asking IG Porter to investigate the situation, but Speaker Madigan beat the senators to the punch and asked Porter to investigate the matter himself.

Sen. Karen McConnaughay (R-St. Charles) has been the loudest voice on this topic since yesterday. She sits on the Legislative Ethics Commission and chatted with reporters earlier…

@kmcconnaughay33 responds to @StateRepLouLang saying he doesn't see the conflict in Porter investigating Madigan when Madigan's attorney interviewed Porter for the job. pic.twitter.com/PyU6ShJ6BD

— Bishop On Air (@BishopOnAir) May 23, 2018

.@kmcconnaughay33 says the current legislative investigative process is like the “fox watching the henhouse.” She says Madigan’s call to investigate Rep. Cassidy’s claims is an inherent conflict of interest. pic.twitter.com/2JqKAKWEkd

— Raquel Martin (@WCIA3Raquel) May 23, 2018

* Transcript…

“You can’t say with a straight face that you have an independent process until you take the politics out of it, you take the political entities out of the equation and you give that independent individual the power to do the investigation. Remember, the way it works in Illinois is no Inspector General can go and do an investigation without asking the General Assembly to do so. It’s the fox guarding the henhouse problem that we have in Illinois…”

“As good as Julie Porter might be, if the person who’s responsible for hiring her is the person about to be investigated, then that is a clear conflict of interest. I don’t know how that could be at all complicated or confusing for anyone.”

Thoughts?

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*** UPDATED x1 *** A new one on me

Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Media advisory…

Daily Public Schedule: Wednesday, May 23, 2018

What: Gov. Rauner joins public safety and transportation leaders at a ‘Give Them Distance’ awareness event
Where: Illinois State Capitol Building-Press Room, Springfield
Date: Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Note: No additional media availability

So… the governor is going to the Statehouse press room and not taking reporters’ questions? That’s so odd. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.

*** UPDATE *** Here’s how the governor’s unusual press conference ended. Some folks were not pleased. The old rule was if you came to the Blue Room you couldn’t leave until the reporters said they were finished. Hey, it’s our room, so you abide by our rules. It’s why some people don’t hold these things in the press room…

Many thanks to the fine folks at BlueRoomStream.com for the video clip. If you don’t already subscribe to that service, you should.

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