The Illinois Education Association (IEA) said Wednesday the practice of using seclusion rooms – where students are placed alone in a room and observed from the outside by an adult – should no longer be used. Instead, a workgroup should be formed to look at alternative, long-term solutions that value safety and restorative practices.
“We know that safety is priority number one with our students, especially those who have traumatic pasts and who have special needs,” said Kathi Griffin, IEA president. “Seclusion takes safety out of the mix and adds fear and torment. Calm rooms, or reflection rooms, should provide caring adults, helping to support students and to teach them strategies for self-regulation.”
The IEA has been working for nearly five years to bring these concepts to its 135,000 members across the state of Illinois. It has partnered with the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and many other community partners to educate teachers and support staff on restorative practices since 2014 in order to prevent situations exactly like those outlined in the reporting done by the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica.
“Plywood and cement walls are a ‘cell’, not a room meant to provide safety and support. We applaud the Illinois State Board of Education for coming up with emergency rules to try to provide immediate relief to this situation, but we’d also ask that a workgroup or taskforce be formed that includes all stakeholders – including parents – that helps determine how schools can wrap safety and support around struggling students, keep all students safe and determine how all of this work can be funded,” Griffin said.
“There is nothing more important to this state than its children. It speaks to who we are as a people how we are going to handle this crisis going forward. It’s imperative it’s handled the right way.”
Nineteen other states have banned the practice of seclusion rooms.
* Press release…
IFT President Dan Montgomery’s statement responding to the Chicago Tribune’s and ProPublica’s investigative report on the use of isolated seclusion and ISBE’s response
“The Illinois Federation of Teachers does not support the use of isolation as a form of school discipline, and as a parent and former teacher, I was disturbed to read yesterday’s report. We agree with ISBE’s decision to end the practice but that in itself does not solve the problem. The IFT would like to see a thoughtful and comprehensive approach to this issue and a broader discussion about how schools can sensitively address discipline and behavior issues.”
“Schools in every part of Illinois are in desperate need of supports for students such as counselors and mental health services, as well as training for teachers, staff, and school leaders who care for students each and every day. The IFT looks forward to working with ISBE and other partners to equitably address school discipline issues.”
* Attorney General Kwame Raoul…
I am appalled and share the outrage rightly expressed by many upon reading reports of the apparent widespread use of isolation rooms as disciplinary measures in Illinois schools, which seem to disproportionately impact vulnerable children with behavioral and emotional disorders.
I am encouraged that the Illinois State Board of Education has committed to taking immediate action, including filing emergency rules to ban the use of isolation practices. I urge the ISBE to work with the General Assembly to explore legislative solutions to more permanently address the use of isolation rooms, and my office is ready to work with the ISBE and the General Assembly on this issue.
* Just yesterday, ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune published a dramatic, yet painstakingly researched story on what amounted to torture of public school students by the very adults who were supposed to nurture and educate them.
One day later, the Illinois State Board of Education has been forced to issue emergency rules to stop this blatant child abuse and initiate an investigation.
That, my friends, is impact journalism at its best. So, I’d like to ask you to consider contributing to ProPublica to make sure it can continue publishing stories like this. Click here.
* Also, keep a kind thought in your heads for all Tribune reporters today. Their company’s top shareholder is now this outfit…
Michael Ferro, the largest shareholder in Tribune Publishing Co., sold his 25% stake in the newspaper company for about $118 million to Alden Global Capital LLC, a hedge fund known for making deep cuts to newsrooms. […]
Alden is the backer of MNG Enterprises Inc., which tried unsuccessfully to acquire Gannett Co. for $1.36 billion earlier this year. It also was rebuffed in its efforts to gain board seats at Gannett, owner of USA Today and the Arizona Republic.
Workers at Gannett were concerned that a MNG takeover would take a knife to its operations. MNG, owner of the Denver Post, St. Paul Pioneer Press and other daily newspapers, is known for heavy layoffs. […]
“Alden has a well-established history of harming media institutions and journalists,” the [Chicago Tribune Guild] said. “Still, no matter who owns these shares, we promise to fight as hard as we can to protect our members, improve our company and serve our readers.”
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced today that it will take emergency action to end the use of isolated seclusion in Illinois schools. ISBE also will take steps to improve data collection on all instances of time-out and physical restraint in schools, as well as immediately begin investigating known cases of isolated seclusion to take appropriate disciplinary and corrective action.
“Isolated seclusion will end now; it traumatizes children, does lasting damage to the most vulnerable and violates the most deeply held values of my administration and the State of Illinois. The use of this unacceptable practice in districts around the state for several years is appalling, and I am demanding complete and immediate accountability,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “I have directed ISBE to take immediate action to ban isolated seclusion in Illinois schools, investigate any case where isolated seclusion was used illegally in the past, and mandate strict reporting on any form of time-out moving forward. I also pledge to work closely with the General Assembly to take additional steps to codify these emergency rules and take any additional steps to protect all the children of this state.”
The emergency action follows the publication of an investigation into the misuse of isolated time-out and physical restraint in Illinois schools.
“The data and stories from students and parents are appalling, inexcusable, and deeply saddening,” said State Superintendent of Education Dr. Carmen I. Ayala. “The practices of time out and physical restraint have been misused and overused to a shocking extent; this must stop today. ISBE condemns the unlawful use of isolated seclusion, and we will take immediate steps to ensure the traumatic treatment described in the investigation never happens to another Illinois student.”
ISBE will ban the use of isolated seclusion in any educational entity serving public school students in Illinois. ISBE also will institute a new data collection to increase accountability and transparency for all instances of time-out and physical restraint, among other changes detailed below.
Unlawful use of time-out and restraint includes using these practices as a form of punishment. Time-out and restraint are lawful only when used to protect the safety of students and staff in certain rare crisis situations. ISBE will take action against any educational entity serving public school students that is violating these regulations.
“As educators, we work hard to make our schools trauma-responsive – but first and foremost, our schools must be trauma-free,” continued Ayala. “Our schools must be places where all students feel and are safe. We welcome additional feedback and dialogue as we work together to address this urgent problem and implement stronger protections statewide for students’ mental, physical, and social-emotional health.”
The Illinois Education Association (IEA), which represents more than 135,000 members, supports ISBE’s emergency actions.
“The IEA supports ISBE’s swift and decisive response to the reports of unlawful and egregious misuse of time-out and physical restraint in Illinois schools,” said IEA President Kathi Griffin. “The IEA supports banning the practice of isolated seclusion; this practice inflicts trauma upon children and has no place in Illinois schools. The IEA is committed to fully engaging in the rulemaking and legislative processes to institute the necessary protections for all students’ physical, mental, and social-emotional health.”
ISBE will take the following steps impacting all public schools, cooperatives, private special education facilities, and other educational entities serving public school students:
• File emergency rules today to:
o Ban all isolated seclusion practices;
o Allow time-out with a trained adult in the room and with an unlocked door, but only for therapeutic reasons or protecting the safety of students and staff;
o Ban physical restraints that could impair a student’s ability to breathe or speak normally, and institute strict parameters on when physical restraint is allowed;
o Require all educational entities to submit data to ISBE on all instances of physical restraint or time-out used during the current (2019-20) and past two school years (2018-19 and 2017-18);
o Require all educational entities to submit data to ISBE within 48 hours of any instance of physical restraint or time-out;
o Eliminate the option for parents or guardians to waive notification of instances of physical restraint or time-out.
• Issue an advisory notice today to school districts, superintendents, and special education cooperatives reiterating the emergency rules and guidance.
• Create a required State form for school districts to use to document and to provide thorough information to parents and guardians when time-out or physical restraint is used.
• Add a physical inspection of time-out spaces to the monitoring conducted by Regional Offices of Education.
• Issue updated guidance and provide technical assistance to the field on appropriate uses of time-out and physical restraint.
Additionally, the Governor’s Office will file a complaint on behalf of all known cases of isolated seclusion to expedite the investigative process and require a report to be returned within 60 days of the notification. ISBE will make determinations whether the educational entity violated federal or state special education requirements.
ISBE will work with lawmakers and stakeholders on legislative action and will issue further communication as these steps are taken.
KSED #801 is a special education cooperative whose Central Office is located in Centralia Illinois. KSED #801 partners with its thirty member school districts within the Clinton, Marion, and Washington Counties. KSED strives to provide integral special education services, support, and leadership to our member districts and the needs of the students within their districts.
Bridges Learning Center (BLC) is a therapeutic education center that serves students with severe behavioral, emotional, and developmental disorders. Self-contained classrooms are located at BLC that provide services to students enrolled in grades kindergarten through high school.
The mission statement for the Bridges Learning Center is to
“provide a safe, caring, and therapeutic learning environment where students with emotional, social, and educational challenges can best develop the skills and character necessary to achieve at his or her highest potential and transition to a successful future.”
By 8:35 a.m. on Dec. 19, 2017, all five of the timeout “booths” at Bridges Learning Center near Centralia were already full. School had been in session for five minutes.
Each booth is about 6 by 8 feet, with a steel door. That day, one held a boy who had hung on a basketball rim and swore at staff when they told him to stop. In another, a boy who had used “raised voice tones.”
Two boys were being held because they hadn’t finished classwork. Inside the fifth room was a boy who had tried to “provoke” other students when he got off a bus. Staff told him he’d be back again “to serve 15 minutes every morning due to his irrational behavior.”
None of those reasons for seclusion is permitted under Illinois law.
Yet, over the course of that one day, the rooms stayed busy, with two turning over like tables in a restaurant, emptying and refilling four times. The other three were occupied for longer periods, as long as five hours for the boy who hung off the basketball rim. In all, Bridges staff isolated students 20 times.
Seclusion is supposed to be rare, a last resort. But at Bridges, part of the Kaskaskia Special Education District in southern Illinois, and at many other schools, it is often the default response.
Bridges used seclusion 1,288 times in the 15 months of school that reporters examined. The school has about 65 students.
According to the Tribune/ProPublica Illinois analysis of Bridges records, 72% of the seclusions were not prompted by a safety issue, as the law requires.
Only 65 students and yet forced seclusion was used 1,288 times in 15 months? That place needs to be investigated pronto.
* Meanwhile, this is from Hope School in Springfield…
Rich,
In today’s Capitol Fax, you write about the ProPublica/Chicago Tribune article about the widespread use of “isolation rooms” to deal with children experiencing behavioral issues. We also read that alarming article and wanted to share Hope’s stance on these rooms and our own answer to providing the best care for our students.
At Hope, we specialize in educating children who represent a broad spectrum of learning styles and abilities. We recognized years ago that so-called “isolation rooms” are not an appropriate answer to the behavioral needs of children, nor are they appropriate for use on any child with a disability. Hope utilizes open sensory rooms for our students to elect to use them who need a quiet space to cope with overwhelming sensory stimuli, or to re-regulate. These rooms are located within classrooms and the students are always near their peers and the classroom staff. Students are not permitted to enter the room unless accompanied by a staff person. The goal of these rooms is to be a calm atmosphere where students can choose retreat. The rooms do not have a door so the children are free to come and go. Our trained behavioral staff monitor each classroom to ensure that these rooms are being used correctly at all times. For children with sensory issues, a room such as this has been proven to be helpful in dealing with the overwhelming feelings they may experience in a situation where they become overstimulated.
We strive to provide the very best learning environment for all of our students. The idea of isolation rooms is antiquated and does nothing to help a child learn. In fact, it does the exact opposite. At Hope, our mission is to educate our students in the most inclusive environments, which is why we focus on adapting our classroom environments to help our children learn and grow to the best of their abilities.
The Illinois Supreme Court will decide whether a Southern Illinois woman whose Firearm Owners Identification card was revoked in 2012 after the Illinois State Police were notified she had been convicted of misdemeanor battery.
The court on Tuesday heard a direct appeal from Wabash County Circuit Court, filed by the Attorney General’s office after a county judge ordered the state police to return her FOID card, finding the revocation unconstitutional. […]
When Justice Mary Jane Theis asked Johnson’s attorney David Jensen, of New York-based firm David Jensen PLLC, why Johnson didn’t instead file a federal lawsuit, Jensen said the federal application of the law to Johnson’s case was irrelevant.
Jensen told the justices that the federal law doesn’t necessarily matter to Johnson, as she could easily buy a gun from a non-licensed firearms dealer, build her own gun or buy a gun that falls under the definition of firearm under state law Illinois, but not according to federal law.
“The question here is: Is she entitled to a FOID card, which is what’s necessary to exercise Second Amendment Rights under Illinois Law?” Jensen said.
The 3rd District, which stretches from Montclare east to Central Park in Avondale, is over 65 percent Hispanic, mostly Puerto Rican. But there is a sizeable white voter base. [Sen. Rob Martwick] is backing his longtime political operative Dave Feller, who lives in Portage Park, in the March 17 primary. Feller did not present his credentials on Nov. 15, calling the meeting a “sham. Let the voters decide.” [Sen. Iris Martinez], who is running for Circuit Court Clerk, said the replacement of Arroyo by a non-Latino would be “racist.”
Nine candidates appeared [at the ward committeeman meeting to choose the replacement] on Nov. 15: [Eva-Dina Delgado, who was chosen to replace Arroyo], firefighter Joaquin Vasquez, Belinda Cadiz from the 33rd Ward, Ruth Cruz and Otilio Serrano from the 30th Ward, Alonzo Zaragosa, a perennial candidate against Berrios in the 31st Ward, former 1st Ward alderman Jesse Granato, TV broadcaster Ruben Calderon, and Jacqueline Baez, who announced months ago and is circulating petitions for both state representative and for 36th Ward committeeman, which will set up a three-way contest for Arroyo’s party post between her, Feller and Alderman Gilbert Villegas (36th), Arroyo’s ally. But Vasquez, Baez and Zaragosa walked-out with [Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa] (but Vasquez came back), sources said.
The March 17 primary will feature Feller, Delgado and Baez against Nadia Carranza, a teacher and CTU member who is Ramirez-Rosa’s candidate, and also backed by state Representative Delia Ramirez (D-4). Ramirez-Rosa is a “democratic socialist” and chairman of the Chicago Socialist Party, and he and his organization will be working fervently for Bernie Sanders. To win, Delgado needs equally fervent support from Reboyras, Villegas and Alderman Felix Cardona (31st), who is running for the retiring Berrios’s post.
Whether Delgado does or does not get seated is a critical factor. She can position herself as a martyr, a pristine victim of either Arroyo’s wrongdoing or of Madigan’s arrogance. Or, as Martwick predicts, she will be revealed as a self-promoting insider with connections to Arroyo. It is a fact that Delgado, who now works for Peoples Gas, Edison, was a lobbyist in Springfield for Chicago for many years, and that her husband Erik Varela has a top county job under Toni Preckwinkle and multi-tasks as a lobbyist for Union Pacific. Arroyo, chair of the House Latino Caucus, put Varela on the board of the Latino Caucus Foundation, which doles out college scholarships, primarily to children of undocumented immigrants who can’t get aid elsewhere. This “Arroyo connection” will surely surface during any expulsion hearing. Delgado’s name ID will rise exponentially, but not necessarily favorably.
The 3rd District primary turnout in 2016 was 15,860 and in 2018 was 7,906. Whoever gets 33-36 percent will win. About 4,500 votes will do it. That leaves out Feller and Baez. Give the edge to Carranza, who will have CTU money and no baggage.
I’ve been telling subscribers about Carranza for a while now. She is definitely one to watch and Feller’s presence on the ballot could siphon some “regular” votes away from Delgado.
…Adding… From the Cook County President’s office…
Erik Varela no longer works for Cook County and hasn’t for some time. He left the County more than a year ago. Additionally, he never multi-tasked as a lobbyist for Union Pacific while working for the County. He left his County position to take the Union Pacific job. There was never an overlap in employment.
I want the voters to have a representative that is chosen in a proper fashion, that will truly represent them and not be part of an air of corruption. It’s important to me that we look closely at this process and ask the question ‘Is this the right process?”
He also noted that the House will now decide whether to seat Delgado and noted that Speaker Madigan has already said what he plans to do.
ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune published the results of an investigation this morning into the use of isolated time-out and physical restraint in Illinois schools. The stories from students and parents and the data the reporters collected and analyzed are appalling, inexcusable, and deeply saddening. The practices of isolated-time out and physical restraint have been misused and overused to a shocking extent; this must stop today.
ISBE condemns the unlawful use of time-out and restraint, which includes using these practices as punishment. ISBE will take action against any school district that is violating the law.
The Illinois State Board of Education will take immediate steps to address this urgent problem and implement stronger protections for students’ mental, physical, and social-emotional health.
As educators, we work hard to make our schools trauma-responsive – but first and foremost, our schools must be trauma-free. Our schools must be places where all students feel and are safe.
…Adding… The ISBE knew this story was coming and waited until after the fallout hit to issue a statement of outrage. From the original story…
Informed of the investigation’s findings, the Illinois State Board of Education said it would issue guidance clarifying that seclusion should be used only in emergencies. Officials acknowledged they don’t monitor the use of isolated timeout and said they would need legislative action to do so.
…Adding… To the handful of folks defending this barbaric practice in comments, I point you to this passage from the original article…
In Illinois, it’s legal for school employees to seclude students in a separate space — to put them in “isolated timeout” — if the students pose a safety threat to themselves or others. Yet every school day, workers isolate children for reasons that violate the law, an investigation by the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois has found.
Children were sent to isolation after refusing to do classwork, for swearing, for spilling milk, for throwing Legos. School employees use isolated timeout for convenience, out of frustration or as punishment, sometimes referring to it as “serving time.”
*** UPDATE *** Gov. JB Pritzker was asked for comment today by reporters at an unrelated event. He called the forced isolation practice “appalling,” said it was “unacceptable” and pledged to “make a change.”
Pritzker said the State Board of Education will be implementing emergency rules for now. He said long-term solutions, like perhaps more funding, would be looked at, but wanted some short-term issues addressed as soon as possible.
“Under my watch these are things that should not happen,” Pritzker said.
In fall 2015, Glacier Ridge Elementary School in Crystal Lake first used its Blue Room, a padded space that allows school workers to place students in “isolated timeout” for safety reasons.
Students were secluded in that room more than 120 times during the 2015-16 school year, according to records obtained by ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune. Yet the district, in its required reporting to the federal government, said it hadn’t used seclusion at all that school year.
Crystal Lake District 47 is an example of how even with federal reporting requirements, it’s nearly impossible to know how often some Illinois schools seclude children. An investigation by the Tribune and ProPublica Illinois found widespread use of seclusion but little transparency.
All public school districts are required to report their use of seclusion and physical restraint to the U.S. Department of Education as part of its Civil Rights Data Collection, which the department uses to help investigate discrimination complaints and to ensure districts follow federal policies. The data is collected every other school year and published online.
Because the Illinois State Board of Education does not monitor the use of seclusion or restraint in public schools, the federal data is the only systematic way for communities to determine whether and how frequently those practices are being used in their schools.
Some public schools, however, either reported incorrect data or failed to submit any information — making it difficult for parents to know with certainty whether their children’s school secludes or restrains students. A spokeswoman for Crystal Lake District 47 said its failure to report accurate data was a mistake.
To determine whether Illinois districts complied with reporting requirements, the Tribune and ProPublica Illinois filed requests under the state’s Freedom of Information Act with 75 randomly selected districts where the federal data showed no instances of seclusion for the 2015-16 school year. Those requests asked for records documenting the use of seclusion or restraint from 2015 through the end of 2018 — records that Illinois law requires districts to keep.
In addition to Crystal Lake, five districts provided records showing they had used seclusion or restraint in 2015-16 despite indicating to the Department of Education they had not.
Unreal.
* I told you yesterday that Rep. Jonathan Carroll (D-Northbrook) is filing a bill to end these seclusions. He also texted me this…
I was so upset when I read this I filed something immediately. This practice has to stop.
You’re isolating children who on top of everything else feel isolated. Imagine being different from your peers and the response to your challenges is being isolated. Just terrible.
As a former special education teacher, I can tell you that these children already feel isolated. We need to focus on teaching coping strategies and make sure these kids do not feel alone. By putting them in isolation, it’s reinforcing that they’re different and that his/her challenges are his/her fault. It is not and we need to make sure our children are safe and protected.
Isolation rooms are, in theory, used to help calm an individual down through separation and reflection. Except these rooms can often act as a form of torture to an individual in crisis. Trust me, I know first-hand how painful being isolated can be. My childhood was very difficult. I was diagnosed with ADHD at a time where people still didn’t quite understand the disorder. There were many interventions used including isolation timeouts in a locked closed space. I am 45-years old and still have nightmares because of this treatment.
Due to my challenges, I was already ostracized by my peers. Getting invited to birthday parties and playdates was a rare occurrence. My life was isolation. In response to my challenges, I would be locked into a small room. I can recall every detail from the smell, lighting and texture of the carpeted walls. There was a small window on the door. One constituent who contacted us through social media shared that he still has scars on his knuckles from punching the carpeted walls because panic had set in. This treatment was, and continues to be, beyond cruel. We isolate criminals instead of using the death penalty. Think about that for a second; we use the same intervention on children that’s used on our worst criminals.
I very rarely talk about my past because it is very painful for me to do so. Simply writing this blog post, and recollecting my past experiences is giving me anxiety. Isolation was my personal Hell. I begged my parents to take me out of that school and when they did, it changed my life. My struggles didn’t go away, but I learned better coping strategies without having to be isolated. Thank goodness I was one of the lucky ones. Others are not so fortunate. It was my experience with this that helped shape my decision to become a Special Education teacher, and make sure that future students are not subjected to this kind of treatment. Now, as a legislator, I am working on a bill to ensure this practice stops entirely in our state.
I am drafting legislation to stop this practice in Illinois. It is a battle I must and will fight. No child should ever be isolated when he or she is in crisis. When around 40% of states already recognize how this treatment is wrong, hearing that Illinois uses this more than any other state is horrific. There will be opposition to my efforts, but I’ll be ready. To the 12-year old boy who’s still inside of me dealing with this pain, I will do everything in my power to not have others feel the same way.
* Related…
* The Quiet Rooms: How children are being locked away in schools across Illinois: Lakeidra Chavis, reporting fellow for ProPublica Illinois, and Jennifer Smith Richards, Chicago Tribune data reporter joins The Roe Conn Show with Anna Davlantes to discuss how children are being locked away in so-called “quiet rooms” in schools across the state.
The woman who says she’s “close” to having the votes lined up to become president of the Illinois Senate is laying out a detailed agenda, including ethical reforms, professionalizing her party’s election operation and standing up to House Speaker Mike Madigan.
In an interview, Sen. Kim Lightford, D-Maywood, confirmed what at least some Springfield insiders have been rumoring the past couple of days, that she is well on her way to securing the votes she’ll need to succeed John Cullerton, who is retiring in January.
Lightford wouldn’t give me any numbers but allies say she has a solid 14 votes on her side at the moment with another five or six heavily leaning that way. “It’s headed her way,” said one Democratic caucus member, adding that female lawmakers in particular are united in a desire to elect the Senate’s first female president ever.
Lightford only will need votes from only 21 of the Senate’s 40 Democrats to get the job—assuming her party unites around her after the campaigning and provides the total of 30 required for the actual election. That’s no sure thing, says Sen. Don Harmon-Oak Park, who along with Chicago colleague Elgie Sims is still running. “She’s far from 30 votes. I think I’m going to win.”
“Senate [Democrats are] diverse [and have] always led in tackling difficult problems,” said Harmon. “It is my goal to protect the working families of Illinois and bring sensible ethics reform to our state.”
Lightford, now Senate Majority Leader, promises a progressive agenda.
“John has served for over 40 years and he’s a traditionalist,” said Lightford. “And it’s just time for some different changes to take shape.”
Lightford acknowledges her bid is not quite as dramatic as it would have been a few years ago, now that African-American women already serve as Mayor of Chicago, President of the Cook County Board and Cook County State’s Attorney.
“I would love the opportunity to serve as Senate president,” Harmon said. “I ran for the office 11 years ago when John Cullerton was first elected, and I expect that I will be a candidate again this time. I’m just still working my way through talking to a handful of colleagues I haven’t connected with.”
But on Saturday morning, [Democratic Party of Oak Park] volunteers were urged to go to the far South Side of Chicago to gather signatures for the nominating petitions for state Sen. Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago) to put her on the ballot for the March primary. DPOP volunteers helping Collins get on the ballot could influence Collins to vote for Harmon as Senate president in January.
DPOP volunteers, guided by Harmon, have been sent to help out many Democrats across the state over the years.
“My colleagues recognize my track record and experience in helping others,” Harmon said. “That’s what a good Senate president would do, help 40 Democrats get re-elected. And as we go into redistricting and the 2022 election when all the senators will be on the ballot, that’s a critical skill.”
On a 3-2 vote, the Effingham City Council voted to allow the sale of adult-use cannabis within the city limits.
Actually, the vote was 2-3, since the motion before the Council was to prohibit cannabis sales. Mayor Mike Schutzbach and Commissioner Merv Gillenwater voted for the prohibition, while Commissioners Hank Stephens, Larry Micenheimer and Libby Moeller voted against the measure and to allow sales.
In a separate motion, the Council voted 5-0 to set the tax rate on cannabis sales at 3%. Sale of adult-use cannabis in Illinois will be legal as of January 1, 2020. […]
About 10 people spoke on the issue ahead of the vote, almost evenly divided between those supportive of or opposed to the sales.
Chicago voters take note: With one of your Illinois House seats open and one of your state Senate seats about to go vacant, you may think you should choose the two new legislators who’ll represent you in Springfield. To which we offer a full-throated Sit down, losers. Also Get lost, Fuggedaboudit and several coarser expressions.
Because you, little voter, have … no say in this. None whatsoever. Instead, Democratic Party swells are busy arranging who’ll replace Luis Arroyo, a disgraced and departed representative, and John Cullerton, a senator who’s about to retire.
The editorial board goes on to advocate for special elections to fill these and other vacancies. I have zero problem with that idea, although I can see some arguments against it, including costs and low turnout during special elections.
But, one thing not mentioned in the editorial is that Chicago ward committeepersons and Cook County Township committeepersons are elected. Elsewhere, precinct committeepersons are elected and they, in turn, elect their county party chairs.
Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Schiff have been trying to impeach this president since day one. When one play doesn’t work, they just go back to their political playbook for the next. https://t.co/cOV3qNRNOl
Problems started early Saturday because Madigan decided to call the House into session at 10 a.m., despite a declaration from Blagojevich that the House and Senate should convene at 2 p.m. Madigan wanted to finish work early so House members could return home overnight Saturday before returning to Springfield Sunday.
Madigan agreed that Blagojevich has the authority to call the General Assembly into special session, but said the governor does not have the authority to dictate the time of the meetings. Blagojevich’s office disagreed, saying it has the constitutional authority to set not only the date of the special sessions, but the time as well. The administration said it is exploring its legal options. […]
Before the House could finish its work Saturday, Blagojevich issued another proclamation calling for another special session to start at 2:30 p.m. Nonetheless, Madigan adjourned the House at about 11:45 a.m.
Rank and file lawmakers who’ve been forced to stay in Springfield with little to do while the budget impasse continues erupted in anger Saturday. […]
“I believe we should look into what it would take to see if he (Blagojevich) is to the point where impeachment proceedings should start,” said Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro. “I am dead serious.”
Back in the day, Rep. Bost wanted to impeach a governor over an argument about the precise time the House was required to convene a special session.
* Greg Hinz was at Gov. Pritzker’s appearance today at the Economic Club…
Insisting that “no silver bullet” exists to slay Illinois’ staggering public pension problems, Gov. J.B. Pritzker today flatly rejected the idea of tying constitutional pension reform to his proposed graduated income tax. […]
For instance, the most commonly discussed pension change that a constitutional amendment would allow is eliminating the current guaranteed 3 annual percent compounded COLA increase in benefits. But slashing that figure roughly in half to match today’s actual inflation rate “does not solve” the state’s current $133.5 billion unfunded pension liabilities, Pritzker said. “It doesn’t.” […]
Moreover, even getting such a proposition to voters would require a three-fifths approval of the House and Senate, both of which are controlled by union-friendly Democrats, Pritzker continued. Voters then would have to enact the change in a referendum by at least the same three-fifths vote.
“If you did all of that, if you could get it through . . . you will then face the U.S. Constitution’s contracts clause,” which holds that contracts cannot be dismissed by legislative fiat. That’s significant because the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that the government worker pensions here are an enforceable contract.
The key political numbers here are 71, 36 and 60. It’ll take 71 votes in the House, 36 votes in the Senate and 60 percent of voters to make this happen. If someone wants to show me a doable roll call in the overwhelmingly Democratic General Assembly and sound polling of likely Illinois voters, then I’ll listen. Until then, this ain’t going anywhere.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx on Tuesday released a digital ad for her 2020 reelection campaign that invokes President Donald Trump’s rhetoric against Chicago and addresses her own handling of the controversial Jussie Smollett case.
In the ad, Foxx also reminds viewers of her Cabrini-Green upbringing and the struggles she’s overcome on her way to becoming Cook County’s top prosecutor.
“State’s attorney is a tough job. Every day, my office is under attack: from a president who uses our city as a punching bag, the NRA hellbent on letting guns flood our streets and the FOP clinging to the old ways. They’ll do anything to undercut progress, including attacking me personally over the Jussie Smollett case,” Foxx said in the ad. “Truth is, I didn’t handle it well. I own that. I’m making changes in my office to make sure we do better. That’s what reform is about.” […]
Factions of the city’s law enforcement community, led by the Fraternal Order of Police, have heavily criticized Foxx. Her office’s role in the area’s bail reform efforts also is at the center of intense debate.
Her biggest public blunder — the Smollett case — is still on the minds of a lot of people.
Nine months after the Smollett saga, in which Smollett reported to police that he’d been the victim of a racist, homophobic attack by President Trump supporters, and seven months after Foxx’s office mysteriously dropped all the charges him, the case still comes up a lot.
Earlier this month, President Trump brought up the situation during a speech at the International Association of Chiefs of Police convention.
“It’s a scam. It’s a really big scam, just like the impeachment of your president is a scam. And then you look what’s going on. Smollett is still trying to get away with it,” Trump bellowed.
Um, this is a Democratic primary race. And even if it was a general election contest, the president received 21.4 percent in Cook County. Running as the candidate the president hates would be a positive there.
* Foxx’s opponent raises nearly $900,000 since August: Big executives at the Carlyle Group, one of the world’s richest private equity firms, are pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into the campaign of Democrat Bill Conway, who is now outraising incumbent Kim Foxx.
* Facebook ads and direct mail make it very easy for candidates to talk out of every side of their mouths at once. Lynn Sweet with the scoop…
An internal document for Rep. Dan Lipinski’s Democratic primary campaign, obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, proposed pitching Republicans by highlighting his vote against Obamacare while wooing independents by reminding them he opposed its repeal.
Other highlights from the strategy document suggesting messages to various voter demographics in the 3rd Congressional District:
•Hispanics were to be flagged about Lipinski’s “pro-Dreamer votes” while Republicans would be targeted with “pro border patrol” messaging.
•Lipinski is anti-abortion and that would be the emphasis for Republicans and Catholics, but not for outreach to other women, millennials, teachers, independents, union members and nurses.
•A drive to persuade Republicans to vote in the Democratic primary would include reaching out to GOP officeholders; getting letters from “GOP surrogates”; and through Facebook “ads targeting independents.”
* React…
“The kind of cynicism displayed in the Lipinski campaign memo is why a lot of people are turned off from politics,” said Marie Newman. “Since he has not voted with the Democrats on critical issues, this memo suggests he is turning his attention to Republicans instead. This is why I am running - because I believe this district needs a real Democrat who will fight for everyday issues and represent working people, lower health care costs, and fight for our Democratic values.”
* Planned Parenthood, um, stretches the limits of possibility with this fundraising email…
Illinois could become the next anti-abortion state. Don’t let abortion opponents win! Make an urgent gift now to fight back!
The Reproductive Health Act (RHA) is under attack. It has only been in effect a few months, but dangerous legislation has already been introduced to repeal this critical protection for reproductive freedom.
You fought to pass the RHA, declaring reproductive health care as a fundamental human right in Illinois. But the opposition wants to steal your victory.
This new, alarming legislation will:
* Ban abortions at six weeks - before most women even know they are pregnant
* Jail doctors for providing abortion care
* Strip away people’s access to reproductive health care
You cannot let this happen. [Redacted], make an emergency gift today to support the pro-Planned Parenthood champions in Springfield, and help us fight back against this attack on our reproductive health and rights.
Your support is critical to fight this new legislation, and protect care in the Midwest.
In this together,
Jennifer Welch
Chair
Planned Parenthood Illinois Action PAC
The bill is not going anywhere and they know it and this pitch is designed to generate fear when none is warranted.
* Democratic congressional candidate Anthony Clark uses image of murdered student to raise campaign money…
Donor,
This is Michael Reese.
He was one of my students, and on Oct. 2, he was shot on a street in my district.
Five days later, he succumbed to his wounds and died.
I’ve shared with you before that in my 10 years of teaching here in the Seventh District, I’ve lost 11 students to gun violence. One of the reasons I’m running for Congress is to treat the systems that lead to violence and grief. But, here we are today—I’ve now lost 12 students to gun violence.
As I write this email, our school and our community are in mourning over Micheal’s death. We’ve mourned the loss of far too many young people.
We know these problems don’t have a single fix. They are intertwined with the systematic vehicles of oppression and marginalization. Our students, our communities, and all of us are owed opportunity. We demand a fair judicial system. We deserve fair pay. Everyone deserves the right to grow and flourish.
The system won’t change until people like US are elected to Congress. Our current leaders are too distant from the harsh realities we face on a daily basis to make effective change.
I got into this race because this is OUR community, and it deserves a voice in Congress that is connected to the roots in our neighborhoods. Someone who’s connected now to the communities of Bellwood, Oak Park, and across the district.
That’s why our campaign is 100% grassroots and doesn’t take any money from corporate PACs or special interests. I intend to serve the people, not big money, and I intend to finally put an end to the violence that has claimed 12 of my students and countless others in IL-07.
We can’t afford to lose one more life, so I’m asking you to support our campaign to root out the causes of gun violence and make this epidemic a thing of the past.
This is literally a matter of life and death.
In solidarity,
Anthony
Support Anthony’s camaign
…Adding… An eagle-eyed reader pointed out that Clark also spelled the kid’s name wrong in its second usage. “Micheal.” For crying out loud, do better.
* Rodney Davis uses the House impeachment process to appeal to his fundraising base…
Friend,
Since Nancy Pelosi gave Adam Schiff the green light to do anything he wants, he’s been turning Congress upside down and on its head. Schiff is calling up witnesses who aren’t credible, none of them have ever even met President Trump nor have they ever been in contact with him!
Schiff has no evidence to prove his politically motivated impeachment investigation, yet he continues to waste more and more of taxpayer money. More so, Democrats are polling what charges to bring against President Trump.
This entire investigation is nothing more than a political tool Democrats are trying to use to bolster their 2020 election chances.
If you agree that this entire investigation inquiry has been a complete waste of time and money, add your name to the growing list of Illinoisans who want this partisan impeachment to end!
Rodney Davis is committed to fighting for the priorities of Downstate Illinois and that means advocating on your behalf, Friend.
If you want your voice heard, click here to say NO to impeachment>>>
Help put an end to this politically motivated investigation by signing our petition today! Let Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff know what you think of their partisan impeachment process.
An investigator with the inspector general’s office for the state Department of Human Services remains on the job despite findings that he has sexually harassed employees of agencies that hold DHS contracts.
According to a report released last month by the state Executive Ethics Commission, Manuel “Manny” Zepeda told three women employed by Marcfirst, a Normal nonprofit that helps the developmentally disabled, that he had an ex-girlfriend who once obtained Viagra for him. Then he told the women that his wife liked to have sex in hotels. All the time, according to the report prepared by the Office of the Executive Inspector General, Zepeda was staring at a whiteboard in the agency office, and when someone said, “That’s not on our board,” Zepeda said that he should probably leave before he got another sexual harassment complaint against him. The conduct occurred in July 2018.
Reactions from employees, according to the report, ranged from alarm to someone who said, “This is just typical Manny” and, “You have to play along.” One of the employees who witnessed Zepeda’s behavior had met him that day. Zepeda was in Marcfirst offices to conduct an investigation, the nature of which wasn’t disclosed in the report released by the ethics commission. As an investigator, Zepeda is charged with investigating allegations of abuse, financial exploitation and neglect involving people who receive services from agencies licensed, funded, operated or certified by DHS.
One Marcfirst employee told the inspector general that Zepeda was “always inappropriate and creepy,” but she had decided to “let it go.” While she said that she was offended and made uncomfortable by Zepeda’s comments, she said she didn’t feel that she could speak up because her agency might suffer negative consequences from his investigations.
Another employee had similar concerns.
“I’ve always been told by coworkers to go along with what Manny says because it could affect the outcome of the case he is inquiring about,” the employee wrote in a statement.
Zepeda was put on 30 days of unpaid leave earlier this fall, according to DHS spokesperson Meghan Powers, after having been moved off of investigations involving the disability service agencies whose employees made complaints. Additionally, a letter has been put in his personnel file.
“IDHS takes employee misconduct extremely seriously,” Powers said in a statement. “In 2018, IDHS strengthened its sexual harassment policy, which was relied upon for the OEIG report. We will continue to aggressively enforce anti-harassment policies and ensure a safe environment for those we represent and serve.”
Zepeda received a pay bump of $1,000 per pay period in 2019, from $6,800 last year to $7,800. Even with his 30-days of unpaid suspension time, Zepeda has made $75,800 so far in 2019, according to state records.
Zepeda’s union contact with AFSCME may have played a role in both the raise — as state workers finally received step increases earlier this year that had been denied to them by former Gov. Bruce Rauner — and Zepeda’s continued employment with DHS.
In March this year, the small Illinois town of Hinsdale, in the western Chicago suburbs, was facing a crisis.
The village’s district had a funding shortfall, and a referendum was scheduled to determine whether $140m could be pumped into Hinsdale’s schools.
The referendum was hotly contested – an organized, enthused Vote Yes campaign was pushing hard for people to back the vote. It looked like the referendum might deliver a yes verdict.
Enter Locality Labs, a shadowy, controversial company that purports to be a local news organization, but is facing increasing criticism as being part of a nationwide rightwing lobbying effort masquerading as journalism.
The company, with two other linked organizations, was responsible for the Hinsdale School News, a print newspaper that was distributed around Hinsdale voters. The paper had the Hinsdale high school district logo, and the look of a journalistic organization. But, as the Hinsdalean reported, the “newspaper” was stuffed full of articles, mostly byline-free, which had a distinct anti-referendum skew.
“The depths of what they went to were pretty egregious,” said Joan Brandeis, who was part of the Vote Yes Campaign.
“This was purposely done to mislead people into thinking that was a publication from the district.”
We’ve talked about Locality Labs several times. These are the Proft papers run by Brian Timpone.
There’s this thing called the First Amendment, so the papers cannot be regulated or put out of existence. It’s possible, perhaps, to argue that some of them should be regulated like campaign committees, but that’s a dangerous path to tread. I mean, if you make that argument, are you gonna require the Tribune editorial board to register, too? Good luck getting that done.
The Hinsdale referendum passed, so Timpone’s paper didn’t have a deciding influence.
But this should be a lesson for everyone. When campaigns are being planned, the possibility that one or more of these Locality Labs outlets could start engaging is something that should be factored into the equation. And whining to an overseas news outlet is not a plan.
Jace spent more than 80 minutes in the room before someone stepped inside to hand him a change of clothes, wipes to clean his feet and some lunch. https://t.co/ExUbPxTQQA
For this investigation, ProPublica Illinois and the Tribune obtained and analyzed thousands of detailed records that state law requires schools to create whenever they use seclusion. The resulting database documents more than 20,000 incidents from the 2017-18 school year and through early December 2018.
Of those, about 12,000 included enough detail to determine what prompted the timeout. In more than a third of these incidents, school workers documented no safety reason for the seclusion. […]
But disability advocates, special-education experts and administrators in school systems that have banned seclusion argue that the practice has no therapeutic or educational value, that it can traumatize children — and that there are better alternatives. […]
Nineteen states prohibit secluding children in locked rooms; four of them ban any type of seclusion. But Illinois continues to rely on the practice. The last time the U.S. Department of Education calculated state-level seclusion totals, in 2013-14, Illinois ranked No. 1.
Although state law requires schools to file a detailed report each time they use seclusion, no one is required to read these accounts.
Several school district officials said they had not reviewed seclusion reports from their schools until reporters requested them. The Illinois State Board of Education does not collect any data on schools’ use of isolated timeout and has not updated guidelines since issuing them 20 years ago.
Go read it all, but prepare to be disgusted, saddened and enraged.
*** UPDATE *** Rep. Jonathan Carroll (D-Northbrook) says he is “filing a bill to end this practice,” adding “It’s in LRB as we speak.”
* The Tribune takes a team-coverage look at a significant aspect of suburban opposition to approving local cannabis sales…
In several suburbs, crowds of protesters — many of them Chinese Americans brought out by social media — wore identical Opt Out shirts, carried signs, signed petitions and helped convince local officials to prohibit marijuana sales. […]
Activists said they shared their concerns with a broader audience through WeChat, a China-based multilingual messaging app, similar to Facebook, which claims more than 1 billion users.
Critics complained that Opt Out consisted of the same group of protesters going from town to town. While some people attended meetings in more than one suburb, and got their identical signs and T-shirts from the same group, Asian American Advocacy, organizers maintained that protesters mainly consisted of residents of each municipality.
Many in the movement are Chinese immigrants who share conservative, family-first values, according to Cynthia Hopkins of Hinsdale, a volunteer with Asian American Advocacy. Influenced by a history that includes the drug trade related to the Opium Wars of the 1800s, she said, many parents are motivated to minimize their children’s exposure to addictive drugs. Protesters also raised concerns about rising incidents of emergency room visits and traffic accidents involving marijuana users, and the fact that the drug remains illegal under federal law.
“It’s a perfect issue to show there’s so much potential with the Asian Americans,” Hopkins said. “Once they’re organized, they’re a force, they make sure their voice is heard.”
After hearing about large Asian-American crowds at several local council meetings a couple of months ago, I reached out to some folks in the polling business who told me that some of the most intense opposition to legalization comes from older Asian-Americans.
…Adding… Hmm…
The group behind this push is Asian American Advocacy, a dark money group formed last year, active in Republican politics. I did a long, deep investigation into the org's money trail last year, and more broadly that Asian American voters are often ignored: https://t.co/LoLggIagzKhttps://t.co/A2wJcx6AHG
As an aggressive federal corruption probe pursues Illinois Democrats, frustrated voters of both parties feel a sense of relief. Finally, someone is digging out the bottom of the well — and the top.
Grateful for the intervention of the feds? One person deserves kudos, and progressive Democrats especially might want a defibrillator on standby before saying it aloud: Thanks, Mr. President.
President Donald Trump, through his then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, nominated federal prosecutor John Lausch in summer 2017 to lead the Chicago-based U.S. attorney’s office. Lausch was one of a handful of candidates considered and vetted by Illinois’ GOP congressional delegation. U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth signed off, too, but only after eliminating from consideration Maggie Hickey, who had served under former Gov. Bruce Rauner. Her GOP connection made Democrats nervous. Maybe they thought Lausch would go easy. How wrong they would have been.
Also, the US Attorney’s office under Obama ensnared both a Chicago alderman (Daniel Solis) and an Illinois state Senator (reported to be Terry Link) who were eventually used to nab others. Link and Obama used to regularly play poker together back in the day.
The fact is, federal prosecutors and investigators have been involved in a years-long process to get to this point.
Has the Lausch appointment played a major role in this? Yep. No doubt. Does the president deserve kudos for nominating him after he was recommended by the delegation? Yep.
But that nomination didn’t come out of nowhere and neither did this widespread probe.
…Adding… Also, do you remember this case? Lots of players involved and it may have been the catalyst for some of what’s going on today…
The son of a wealthy pharmacist, Sethi was a licensed pharmacy technician in 2003 when his family were partners in a $10 million deal to buy a 122-room hotel on 2.8 acres at 8201 W. Higgins Rd., next to a Hooters along the Kennedy Expressway.
A few years later, Sethi decided to knock down the hotel and replace it with three hotels and a convention center.
He hired one of Chicago’s most politically connected zoning attorneys, James Banks, who got approval for the project from the City Council Zoning Committee which was then headed by his uncle, Ald. William Banks, a powerful member of the Cook County Democratic Party. The alderman — who later ended up working for Sethi — abstained from the January 2009 vote.
Four months later, Sethi hired Madigan’s law firm, Madigan & Getzendanner, to seek a reduction in the property taxes by appealing the value put on the hotel and the land by the Cook County assessor’s office and the Cook County Board of Review, agencies controlled by Madigan’s fellow Democrats. Over the next four years, Madigan’s firm saved Sethi and his family more than $645,000 in taxes as the family ended up tearing down the hotel to make way for the project. […]
Sethi also hired attorney Michael McClain, a Madigan loyalist who’s one of the top lobbyists in the state capital. A former state legislator, McClain once served as Madigan’s assistant majority leader. […]
Sethi settled the SEC case in March 2014, agreeing to pay a $1 million fine, sell the land and refund the money he collected from foreign investors, including the administrative fees that went to the Chinese brokers who lined up investors.
Five months later, Sethi was indicted for fraud. In January, he pleaded guilty.
Democratic state Sen. Kimberly Lightford of Maywood has emerged as the leading candidate to become the next Illinois Senate president after John Cullerton’s stunning resignation announcement last week.
Lightford, currently the Senate majority leader, would become the first African American woman to preside over a chamber of the Illinois legislature. […]
Two potential candidates to replace Cullerton aligned themselves with Lightford — state Sens. Andy Manar, a former Cullerton chief of staff from Downstate Bunker Hill, as well as Heather Steans from Chicago, who has family wealth to help Democratic candidates.
“I look at her leadership in the state senate and I see success after success in what is one of the most diverse Democratic caucus in the U.S. Not an easy task. Senate President Cullerton did it – mastered it. That’s what I’m interested in and I believe she has the skill set and the knowledge and the ability to continue that for the Senate Democrats,” Manar said.
Sen. Tony Munoz is also reportedly backing Lightford.
…Adding… I just talked to Sen. Munoz and he confirmed he’s supporting Lightford.
“I am talking with my colleagues and I am assessing their concerns and interests in the caucus. I expect that I will run for Senate president but I want to keep talking to my colleagues before making any formal announcements,” [Sen. Don Harmon] said. “People are eager for change but people also want to be sure that the next Senate president has all of the attributes to be effective both inside the building in terms of having good public policy, but also in the political spectrum. Our public policy victories are only as durable as our majority.” […]
[Sen. Mike Hastings] says the next president has to be a leader who shapes policy that lawmakers from all of the state’s diverse regions can get behind while also serving as a political operator who can get Democrats elected. That requires having a political operation and the ability, “unfortunately,” to raise money.
“I have all those things,” Hastings said. “I can count … probably five senators that have legitimate political organizations – a base of volunteers to send anywhere in the state, and are able to handle their own district, with no problem taking tough political votes. If you’re going to be the leader you got to lead the whole chamber.”
Sen. Hastings was sued in September by his former district office chief of staff who claimed harassment and retaliation.
As we’ve already discussed Sens. Elgie Sims and Melinda Bush are also interested.
* Last week, the Tribune editorialized that the Senate needed someone much different from John Cullerton as its next Senate President…
The next Senate president could insist on a fair redistricting process. He or she could acknowledge that a state with an unfunded pension liability of $137 billion ought to rethink the rigid pension clause of its constitution. The next president could insist on a more responsible budgeting process that begins in January, not mid-May. The next president could answer the call of voters to put term limits on the ballot.
As the various candidates make their cases for why they should be the next to take up the mantel, we encourage them to model themselves after Cullerton. Illinoisans need people who can be a leader not just for their party, but for the whole state. Serious issues remain to be addressed in Illinois, including the underfunded pension liability, teacher shortfalls, economic development, taxes and a host of other problems that only get worse the longer lawmakers wait to tackle them.
The next leader should pledge to continue to be like Cullerton, in that he or she can see the beauty and benefit of compromise with those with different political ideologies, and who will know when to dig in and when to sit down to hash out a deal on a given issue. Best of luck to Cullerton as he starts a new chapter in his life, and thank you for often being the adult in the room.
* The Question: Without naming any names, what qualities do you think are most important for the next Senate President?
* Here’s one I missed the other day. From Jon Seidel at the Sun-Times…
Federal prosecutors want a judge to send a longtime Dorothy Brown worker to prison for more than two years after they said she lied to a grand jury, “threw a wrench in the wheels of justice and ground them to a halt.”
They also said the lies Beena Patel told the grand jury investigating job-selling allegations in the office of Brown, the clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, “directly impacted the government’s ability to charge those most culpable in the illegal activity.” […]
The feds’ investigation centered in part around a $15,000 payment by Sivasubramani Rajaram allegedly to land a job at the clerk’s office. The feds say Rajaram made a $5,000 cash payment at a meeting at the Corner Bakery across from the Daley Center. But when prosecutors asked Patel about that meeting in front of the grand jury, they said Patel gave misleading answers.
“She attempted to minimize her own involvement by stating that Rajaram slid the envelope containing $5,000 in cash directly to the Clerk,” McShain wrote in Tuesday’s memo.
Prosecutors said it was Patel who accepted the cash.
I just don’t know enough about this to say one way or another, but this piece does bring up questions about whether the feds might have possibly chased the wrong person because of Patel’s testimony.
The federal criminal probe into Commonwealth Edison is one of the most aggressive anti-corruption efforts to permeate Illinois politics in a generation.
Exhibit No. 1 is the middle-of-the-day FBI and IRS raid of Democratic state Sen. Martin Sandoval’s office in the Illinois Capitol in late September. Investigators sought information about four unidentified officials at Exelon, ComEd’s parent company, and documents pertaining to utility rate hikes.
The federal scrutiny even has extended all the way up to the state’s most powerful politician, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, though the veteran lawmaker has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.
No one has been charged with a crime. But the investigation is broad, complex — and moving fast. Here’s what you need to know to catch up.
Today, the Illinois Republican Party is launching DemCorruption.com, a website to expose the Illinois Democrat Crime Ring as a wide-ranging network of lawmakers, lobbyists, and party bosses whose sole purpose is the personal financial benefit of those within the ring. Whether the public benefits from their government service is of no concern to them.
The individuals atop this network of criminals and cronies are in the most powerful positions within state government and our state’s largest city:
INDICTED on federal charges
Tom Cullerton, State Senator
Ed Burke, Chicago Alderman
Luis Arroyo, State Representative (former)
Under federal investigation
Mike Madigan, Speaker of the House & Chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois
JB Pritzker, Governor
Martin Sandoval, State Senator
Carrie Austin, Chicago alderman
Daniel Solis, Chicago alderman
Jeff Tobolski, Cook County Board
Only in Illinois would so many elected officials be indicted or under federal investigation. Some are tied up in the same scheme; others are being investigated for their own personal insider dealings. The thing that binds them together is that they serve in high-ranking leadership roles in the Democratic Party of Illinois.
The ILGOP has created DemCorruption.com to expose the misdealings of each politician and to help keep all the ongoing scandals straight. We even created helpful nicknames to make it easier to remember all the corruption, grift, and greed. Some of the infamous members of the Illinois Democrat Crime Ring include The Velvet Hammer, Junior Blagojevich, and the Red-light Baron. Information about the rest of the crime ring can be found at the website.
“DemCorruption.com will serve as a central clearinghouse for information on Democrat corruption in Illinois,” explained ILGOP Chairman Tim Schneider. “Voters can stay up to date, learn how to fight back, and get involved in exposing the Illinois Democrat power structure for what it is: a criminal enterprise.”
…Adding… Missed this one…
* Diminished and preoccupied, indicted Ald. Edward Burke no longer a dominating presence at City Council meetings
*** UPDATE *** From Eileen F. Boyce at the Democratic Party of Illinois…
As we watch the parade of Trump administration officials who are convicted of a variety of crimes, Illinois Democrats are continuing our work to protect workers’ rights, access to affordable health care, and a woman’s right to choose from attacks by dangerous politicians in Illinois and Washington. Democrats are working to strengthen ethics laws while Illinois Republicans are simply trying to distract from their own poor record and a failed President
SafeSpeed came to dominate the suburban red-light camera market during the last decade by developing deep relationships with public officials.
Consider the company’s dealings in southwest suburban Justice, where court records show the firm not only was getting a new contract but was enlisting the police chief to act as a consultant to get other towns to do the same for a cut of the proceeds.
SafeSpeed officials instructed him to invite fellow police chiefs to hear a red-light camera presentation at a River North Brazilian steakhouse. Later, records show, the chief had a meeting at a Countryside cigar shop with SafeSpeed officials, including its rainmaker, Omar Maani. As the meeting wrapped up, the police chief had a couple questions: Were his business cards ready? And could he get one of the company’s red polo shirts to wear when he pitched their business to his fellow police chiefs?
Justice officials would fire their top cop, Robert Gedville, for what they said was an obvious conflict of interest, soon after the Tribune disclosed his dealings with the village’s red-light vendor in 2012.
* You should read Mark Maxwell’s entire story, but here’s a small excerpt to get you started…
On the political side of his operation, the four separate campaign funds [Senate President John Cullerton] controlled sit in varying degrees of debt and disarray. Several members of the party complained to Cullerton about what they perceived as a “mismanagement of funds.”
Records filed at the State Board of Elections show the Senate Democratic Victory Fund took on $630,000 in debt in the final weeks of the 2018 election cycle. The risk paid off. Voters delivered Cullerton unprecedented political power with a supermajority of historic proportion. […]
However, despite strong financial backing, boosted by an extra $2.5 million from billionaire Governor J.B. Pritzker, the Victory Fund burned through so much money, it took most of 2019 for Cullerton’s team of political fundraisers to fill that hole.
In addition to taking on more than half a million dollars in debt, Cullerton’s campaign accounts lost tens of thousands of dollars in risky investments, paid out high fees to brokers, navigated through software glitches, and submitted campaign finance reports that Cullerton now acknowledges were littered with discrepancies and inaccuracies that, on the surface, appeared to some Democratic senators to look more like sleight of hand than transparent disclosure.
Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30) defied county and state party leaders on Friday by wrangling the voting power of former State Rep. Luis Arroyo to appoint Peoples Gas official Eva-Dina Delgado as Arroyo’ successor in the legislature.
Reboyras was one of four Democratic committeepeople who showed up to the meeting Reboyras had scheduled to pick Arroyo’s successor, in a process the alderman repeatedly said followed the letter of state law and party rules. But one of the committeepeople in attendance, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), called the meeting “corrupt” and walked out as soon as proceedings got underway.
Arroyo resigned his House seat Nov. 1, a week after he was arrested on a corruption charge that includes allegations that he bribed a state senator on behalf of a firm that hired him to lobby Chicago officials. But he refused to resign as 36th Ward Democratic committeeperson, giving him the largest share of the vote in the party-driven process of choosing his replacement.
Reboyras suggested during the run-up to Friday’s controversial meeting that Arroyo would assign his votes to a proxy, but the alderman repeatedly declined say who would wield that power. It was not until the meeting had already begun that Reboyras said, in response to a question from State Sen. Iris Martinez (D-Chicago), he had Arroyo’s votes, giving him more than 50 percent of the weighted vote and unilateral power to fill the seat.
Arroyo, who held the largest weighted vote, had called the meeting at the Alliance of Polish Clubs.
But after he did, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan sent letters to the other committeemen, warning them that any involvement from Arroyo “whether a direct vote or a vote by proxy would cause the candidate’s qualifications to be challenged by the full Illinois House of Representatives.”
Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, who’s also the 35th Ward committeeman, walked out of the meeting Friday, saying the process had been tainted by the use of Arroyo’s votes.
“I’ve been urging Ariel Reboyras not to use Arroyo’s proxy for weeks — I told him that would put a cloud over the process,” Ramirez-Rosa said after he walked out. “It’s clear he’s hell-bent on filling the vacancy with the support and collusion of the disgraced former state rep.”
Reboyras said he did not coordinate the selection with Arroyo and that he arranged Friday night’s meeting with him through attorneys. […]
Because Reboyras used Arroyo’s votes to make the selection, other committeemen, including 35th Ward Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa and state Sen. Robert Martwick, the 38th Ward committeeman, boycotted the process. Several potential candidates also withdrew from consideration.
“I think it’s a disservice to all of these candidates to allow them to go through this process when it’s very clear that they are unlikely to be seated,” Ramirez-Rosa said before leaving the meeting. “And I would urge any candidate that wants the respect of the community, that wants to be trusted as a candidate to fill this vacancy, to also leave this process because ultimately this process appears to be corrupt.”
Martwick didn’t attend Friday’s meeting but had given his votes to Ramirez-Rosa.
Delgado now faces the unusual prospect of being challenged from within the party to hold on to her 3rd District seat before an election is held since House Speaker Mike Madigan is sticking to his guns about ousting any appointment that included Arroyo’s weighted votes.
“The speaker’s position has not changed,” Madigan Spokesman Steve Brown told Playbook on Sunday.
We’re now in uncharted territory because such appointments are usually perfunctory. Lawmakers we talked to don’t know what a challenge might entail.
Delgado, who would hold the seat until January 2021 if she survives Madigan’s opposition, spent the weekend calling lawmakers for their support.
The heir apparent is already in line to fill the soon-to-be vacated seat of longtime state Sen. John Cullerton.
Within hours of Cullerton’s shocking announcement at the end of the fall veto session in Springfield Thursday that he plans to retire in January, signs were already pointing to state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz to replace her fellow North Side Democrat in the Illinois Senate.
Feigenholtz — who worked as Cullerton’s district chief of staff for more than a decade dating back to his time in the Illinois House of Representatives before she was first elected in 1994 — said Saturday she has contacted Democratic ward committeemen who will eventually vote to appoint Cullerton’s replacement once he steps down. […]
And as for who might eventually take Feigenholtz’s House seat, it’s too soon to say who might eventually land in that portion of the legislative game of musical chairs. Feigenholtz said she’ll still file to run for the House in the March election.
Much will change at the Statehouse when Senate President John Cullerton retires in January, a year before his term expires.
Unlike his House counterpart, Speaker Michael Madigan, Cullerton always wanted to find ways to get things done — and he got a lot done.
He’s a kind, approachable man who prefers bipartisan statesmanship but relishes partisan battle whenever the times call for it. He’s smart and funny and has managed to keep a diverse caucus together without resorting to intimidation, like his predecessor routinely did.
And, frankly, he’s been very good to me over the years, always taking the time to talk. If he disagreed with something I wrote about him, he’d call me himself and make his case instead of ordering some underling to do it or give me a cold shoulder. The state will be lesser with Cullerton’s retirement, but a lot of us will miss him.
OK, enough with the mushy stuff and on to the future.
Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood) told me she’s running for Senate President. She will be formidable because she’s well-liked, she’s already in the second position and she’d be the first woman of color to lead that chamber in Illinois history. Not to mention that she has strong leadership skills.
As a friend said, Lightford can either be the next Senate President or make the next one. If she can cobble together a coalition with one or more of the other people I’m about to mention, she may very well end up in the chamber’s top job.
One of the ways Cullerton convinced his fellow Democrats to back him for Senate President in 2009 was to demonstrate how much money he could raise. He took in more than $750,000 in the four months after Senate President Emil Jones announced his retirement. That may seem like a quaint amount these days, but it was enough to impress his colleagues back then.
On fundraising alone, Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) should be considered a serious contender. She has the connections and the ability to raise big cash and helped Cullerton raise all that money in the run-up to his Senate President bid. She’s also an experienced budget negotiator and has serious policy chops.
Sen. Tony Munoz (D-Chicago) was perhaps the leading contender last year to replace Cullerton when he quietly told select members of his leadership team that they might want to start lining up support to replace him. Munoz appeared to be Cullerton’s favorite right up until Cullerton decided to rescind his announcement because it was dividing his caucus and damaging his ability to maintain power. Munoz had been expected to get a primary opponent this coming spring, but nobody has yet surfaced, so that helps his bid. Munoz is very popular within the caucus, has powerful allies, but he was close to Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago), whose Statehouse office was raided by the feds in September, so we’ll see how that plays out.
Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) was the other leading contender for Senate President last year. Since then, he was moved out of the Senate Executive Committee chairmanship and given a paid leadership job. It seems certain that he will throw his hat into the ring. He has policy, campaign and communication skills and has some support within the caucus.
Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) is Cullerton’s former chief of staff, is perhaps the most media-savvy member of his caucus and is super-close to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who could turn out to be an important factor here. A Pritzker negotiated Lightford-Manar ticket might work. Manar’s biggest hurdle is that he represents a swingy, Republican-leaning district. His people love him there, but he will technically be on the political bubble every time he’s on the ballot.
Sen. Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake) describes herself as a dark horse candidate mainly because of her relative newness to the chamber (elected in 2012) and her outspokenness on ethics. But she’s built a formidable political organization in Lake County, so she has campaign skills.
Sen. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago) also said he’s looking at the job. Sims worked his way up the Senate staff to run the appropriations team. He served in the House before moving to the Senate.
I’m sure there will be others, but the field will eventually winnow as deals are cut. And whomever wins the job will have to run again in a year, after the current General Assembly adjourns. The new president won’t have long to prove that s/he is up to the job.
Monday, Nov 18, 2019 - Posted by Advertising Department
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Big shoutout to @BlueRoomStream for the video service they provide. Got me out of a couple of jams this week and allowed me to be in two places at once thanks to their being at (nearly) everything. Invaluable Springfield resource.
On November 12, 2019 during an ice storm, a stranded motorist who was being helped by two Illinois State Police Troopers experienced a “Miracle on the Ice.” That’s what it’s being called around ISP District 19 - Carmi!
Probationary Trooper Pflaum and his Field Training Officer, Trooper Zimmerman, were changing the tire on a vehicle on Interstate 64 at milepost 101 near Wayne City, when they came inches from losing their lives. Listen closely as the two ISP HEROES start yelling “Watch out!” and pull the woman out of the way. Fortunately, she was down in the ditch line as the box truck literally passed over the top of her and barely missed the two Troopers. She was treated and released from a local hospital and the two Troopers were not injured. While this was not a Scott’s Law violation because the box truck driver had already moved over to the left lane, he was not showing due caution as he proceeded past the scene. The driver of the box truck was cited for Failure to Reduce Speed to Avoid a Crash. (All subjects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.)
We were inches away from a different story being told. Literally inches.
Folks, we can’t stress this enough! SLOW DOWN! Move over when you see vehicles on the shoulder of the roadway with their lights on. Proceed with caution. It is especially important during the snow/ice conditions. As you can see, sometimes it’s a matter of life or death as a stranded motorist. It’s not just about us out there, it is people you know and love that we are assisting also.
* The video is quite dramatic. I presume the troopers are yelling “Truck! Truck! Truck!” and not something else, so just say that’s what it is if you’re at work…
Mayor Lori Lightfoot came away without her two big asks from the veto session in Springfield: a change to the real estate transfer tax and a restructuring of a Chicago casino tax rates to attract an operator.
“I wouldn’t say that we struck out. We actually came quite close,” Lightfoot said at a news conference today. “But in a very compressed period of the veto session, there were a lot of people who raised a lot of concerns back from the spring that weren’t able to be accommodated in a very short period of time. So I feel optimistic given how far we came in a short period of time to get this right, and we’ll be back at it in January, and I feel optimistic we’ll get it over the threshold at that point.”
Lightfoot traveled to Springfield Nov. 12 to lobby legislators. She said side issues derailed approval, but “people are grateful and thankful that a mayor of Chicago” visited in person instead of lobbying by phone or sending staff.
“You gotta take the long view about Springfield. I’m new to a lot of the people that are down there. We are working on building relationships and we’ll continue to do that,” she said.
Somebody told me today you have to be prepared for Springfield because Springfield is prepared for you. I don’t think she was fully prepared, but give her credit for that response. She didn’t do the Rauner/Tribune thing of lashing out at individuals or blaming some dark conspiracies. Those remarks were mostly spot-on and upbeat. She has another shot in the spring and she may actually succeed this time.
(A)s often happens with gambling bills, some lawmakers wanted other things included to help their districts. In particular, south suburban lawmakers wanted a new gambling facility located in a predominantly minority area, and some DuPage County representatives wanted money for health services there.
* Which Democratic Senator would you most like to see become the next Senate President? Please explain why and try not to be snarky about it. Your choice doesn’t have to be someone who has a chance of winning, it just has to be someone you’d most like to see in the job.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Forward Illinois released this statement following the news of Illinois Senate President John Cullerton’s retirement in January 2020:
“Forward Illinois thanks President Cullerton for his long record of public service and commitment to moving Illinois forward. Working together with Forward Illinois member organizations, Illinois has made significant progress under President Cullerton’s leadership, including marriage equality, raising the minimum wage to $15 for working families, enacting strong legal protections for immigrants and refugees, ensuring access to reproductive healthcare, jumpstarting Illinois’ clean energy economy, and implementing measures to prevent gun violence. Best wishes, President Cullerton.
“But Illinois must keep moving forward. As the Illinois Senate moves forward with selecting its next president, we urge and call on all senators interested in the post to commit to a bold agenda of economic, social, and environmental justice, ensuring public safety from gun violence and climate change, and protecting and advancing the rights of people of color, women, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and refugees. Forward Illinois will hold the next Senate President accountable to this bold agenda and to the values of the Land of Lincoln, including fairness, equality, opportunity, and the dignity of each person in Illinois.”
A historic coalition of Illinois progressive organizations united around a bold agenda, Forward Illinois includes Sierra Club Illinois, Planned Parenthood of Illinois, SEIU, Equality Illinois, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Chicago Votes, Citizen Action/Illinois, and Local 881 UFCW.
After criticism from health advocates, lawmakers moved to curtail provisions in the state’s legalization law — dashing the hopes of some business owners who sought to allow pot use at their restaurants, bars and even beauty shops when adult recreational use becomes legal Jan. 1.
The law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in June would have allowed municipalities to regulate pot use at cannabis businesses, though health advocates and even some legislators who helped pass that law said they weren’t aware of that, the Chicago Sun-Times reported in June. It gave an exemption to the Smoke Free Illinois Act to those establishments and other businesses that receive local governments’ approval for on-site consumption.
The new legislation says on-site consumption will be allowed only at dispensaries where marijuana is sold and at licensed smoke shops which — similar to cigar shops — will be granted an exemption to the smoke-free law.
The bill also clarifies a “revolving door” provision of the law by prohibiting future members of the General Assembly and their families from having a direct financial ownership interest in a cannabis business until two years after that lawmaker leaves public office. […]
Villanueva said lawmakers who were in the chamber during the passage of the original cannabis bill and their spouses “currently have a lifetime ban on being able to have a stakeholder ownership” in the cannabis industry. The new language change applies the two-year ban to future lawmakers and their immediate family members. […]
The bill also provides that marijuana-related paraphernalia would no longer be illegal in Illinois. But it would remain illegal to operate a snowmobile or any kind of watercraft while under the influence of marijuana.
Steans said it also strengthens and clarifies language that would allow employers to maintain zero-tolerance policies. It also cleans up language in the portion of the bill that expunges criminal records for people who have standalone marijuana convictions on their records, specifically ensuring that outstanding fines do not limit access to expungement.
Counties and cities that voted to tax recreational cannabis will be able to begin collecting sales tax on local cannabis sales on July 1, not Sept. 1.
Like some other laws like liquor regulation, the cannabis law forbade Illinois’ Joint Committee on Administrative Rulemaking from making small administrative changes as the committee would on many other issues, so lawmakers must take on the task of making even small changes via the formal statute amendment process.
* Statement from Gov. Pritzker…
“As Illinois prepares to launch legal adult-use cannabis, this legislation will strengthen the most equity- cannabis law in the nation, especially with stronger provisions to prevent conflicts of interest among elected officials and provide more information to people whose records will be expunged,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Illinois has done more to put justice and equity at the forefront than any other state in the nation, and we’re ensuring that communities that have been hurt by the war on drugs have the opportunity to participate.”
Chicago Democrats who supported [the Downstate and suburban pension consolidation] plan argued it’s time for lawmakers from across the state to help the city deal with its pension mess — which the Chicago casino is supposed to do.
“We took a leap of faith, but this body, as somebody said, needs to stop the regionalism and take a leap of faith that will allow Chicago to move forward appropriately and responsibly with a casino that will fund the projects that are going to be built all over this state,” State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, said during debate of the casino cleanup measure. […]
The revised structure would have introduced a new graduated tax system specific to the Chicago casino with a higher overall tax rate compared to existing casinos but with a smaller percentage going to the state, and a relatively bigger chunk earmarked for the city. […]
That didn’t sit well with some Republicans who viewed it as a special deal for Chicago.
In a show of frustration over the lack of support for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed changes that would have allowed a casino there, Chicago lawmakers pulled their support and asked for others to do the same on a bill that, had it failed, could have held up the state’s other casinos and the rollout of sports gambling.
When an amended Senate Bill 222 was called in the House, Chicago lawmakers began cryptically prodding state Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, about why it was being called, why another bill wasn’t being considered, and whether he could alter his bill to inject language into it.
Soon, it became clear that the Chicago lawmakers were frustrated with the lack of support from those outside of the city on Senate Bill 516, an amended bill that contained the changes Lightfoot said she’d need to get a Chicago casino off the ground. […]
Chicago lawmakers contended that those opposing the casino bill were endangering the state’s infrastructure bill as well.
“You’re right, this is a simple technical bill and the reality is that this could jeopardize the vertical capital projects,” said Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago. “But, do you know what else is going to jeopardize the vertical capital projects? Not having a Chicago casino.”
“I was identified as the point person for the House Republican caucus a year and a half ago on gaming issues. And throughout this whole thing, since the spring session, the city of Chicago has not approached me once – not a phone call, not an email, not a meeting – to talk about the Chicago casino,” said Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield.
On the one hand, I can see Rep. Cassidy’s point. Chicago Democrats voted with Downstate and suburban members on the first responder pension consolidation plan, but then they couldn’t get support for a bill that would help their first responder pension systems.
On the other hand, the city’s push started too late (you don’t run out of time at the Statehouse, you start too late) and there were serious problems with the way the whole thing was handled, so the accusations could be seen as a deflection of blame from the mayor.
* Alex Nitkin at the Daily Line has a great piece on the scheduled vote tonight to replace disgraced former Rep. Luis Arroy (D-Chicago). A small excerpt…
Nearly a dozen Northwest Side Democratic Committeepeople are due to meet on Friday to pick a replacement for arrested State Rep. Luis Arroyo (D-Chicago) following his resignation from the General Assembly earlier this month. […]
Arroyo has not told [30th Ward Ald. and Democratic Committeeman Ariel Reboyras] whom he plans to enlist as a proxy to cast the plurality of the votes — but Reboyras “hope[s]” that the former representative gives him that power, making the 30th ward alderman the sole decider for who gets to fill the seat, he said. […]
Other party leaders said they believe Arroyo and Reboyras have agreed to appoint Eva-Dina Delgado, who is chief of staff to the president of Peoples Gas and a former CTA lobbyist.
But Reboyras said on Wednesday that he does not know if Delgado still wants the job.
“I called Eva-Dina, and she did not respond,” Reboyras said. “I don’t know if she’s going to present her credentials.”
I told subscribers about Delgado earlier this week and suggested it would be wise of her to stay away from this whole thing. House Speaker Michael Madigan has decreed that if a replacement is selected with proxy votes from Arroyo’s 36th Ward then that person will face a qualifications challenge. The resulting uproar could easily splash onto her utility company employer. Not a good thing in these trying times. To be clear, though, she’d probably be a solid candidate if it wasn’t for all of this mess.
* Mayor Lori Lightfoot is allied with Ald. Reboyras, so I asked the mayor when she was in Springfield this week what she made of his threats to file a federal lawsuit if his and Arroyo’s decision was not honored by the Illinois House…
I was a little surprised to see Ariel Reboyras’ comments. I know him quite well and they seemed a little out of character. But in my conversations with him is he’s concerned that there’s a movement by some to try to take this out of the majority Latinx community’s hands. And that’s I think where he was coming from. But I think the speaker has said what he said and I think that it’s the right approach.
The progressives in that district have their own candidate, a Latina, so we’ll have to see how this plays out in the primary.
*** UPDATE *** This development takes a huge argument away from Ald. Reboyras and hands the progressives a late win…
Statement just in from Dave Feller, who is running to succeed Luis Arroyo as 3rd district state rep and 36th ward committeeperson. He’s asking 38th ward committeeman Rob Martwick to hand his ~10% of the weighted vote over to @CDRosa. Martwick says he will. pic.twitter.com/edrmiRnnoo
* We talked a bit yesterday about the legislative ethics bill, but not much about the new ethics commission. Jerry Nowicki at Capitol News Illinois…
House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, of Western Springs, questioned why language adding requirements to lawmakers’ statements of economic interest was removed from the lobbyist disclosure bill, Senate Bill 1639, by a late amendment Thursday.
Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, who carried the bill in the House, said economic interest disclosures would be discussed by the commission created in House Joint Resolution 93.
“Do we really need a commission to be able to come up with a solution that is, I would say, practical but also the right thing to do?” Durkin asked. “I’ve seen commissions come and go over the years. Many of us look at those commissions with jaundiced eyes because generally they don’t produce the positive results that we think are important.”
The commission’s role would be to study ethics reforms and report its recommendations on specific pieces of legislation to lawmakers, who would have the ultimate authority to enact the measures.
Legislators also created an ethics commission that will develop more comprehensive ethics reforms that lawmakers can take up during the spring session. Gov. J.B. Pritzker will appoint some members as will the four legislative leaders, Secretary of State Jesse White and Attorney General Kwame Raoul. […]
While the ethics bill itself did pass with wide, bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate, the resolution creating the ethics commission did not. All of the Senate Republicans voted against the measure, saying the makeup of the commission is too heavily weighted in favor of Democrats.
“We need to do something, but we need to do something that is balanced,” said Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady of Bloomington. “Corruption and ethics aren’t partisan. This is an unbalanced, partisan commission, though.”
Republicans objected to White and Raoul, both Democrats, having appointees to the commission. However, Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said the secretary of state and attorney general’s offices play a role in ethics and ethics enforcement and both offices should be represented on the commission.
In response to those criticisms, the final measure requires Raoul and White to name the inspectors general from their offices as one of their two appointments. Pritzker, who gets four appointments to the commission, could name up to four Republicans but only two Democrats.
That wasn’t enough to appease Senate Republicans, none of whom voted in favor of the measure creating the commission.
Republican leader Bill Brady of Bloomington said it would create an “unbalanced, partisan commission.”
“That’s what the people will see, and that will disgust them,” Brady said.
Rep. Tim Butler asked rhetorically, “We’re allowing someone who is a lobbyist in the state of Illinois to appoint a co-chair?” Cullerton is a registered lobbyist with the City of Chicago (he has not logged any lobbying activity since 2016). “There needs to be more balance. I will vote for this because this is a step forward, but hopefully we can address some of those situations,” Butler said.
Cullerton spokesman John Patterson said the city has a much broader definition of lobbyist and that Cullerton is registered out of an abundance of caution “given the legal work he does as a lawyer in Chicago.”
“Obviously he will not appoint a lobbyist to the commission,” Patterson said.
…Adding… Another view…
I think it is absurd that there is an ethics commission that will make recommendations to rein in lobbyists that will include zero lobbyists. Yet the commission is also charged with reining in politicians - and will be full of politicians. #Twillhttps://t.co/4kP20b71Rx
* Except for the budgeting part, the harsh reality is a candidate for Senate President could not be elected on this platform suggested by the Chicago Tribune editorial board…
The next Senate president could insist on a fair redistricting process. He or she could acknowledge that a state with an unfunded pension liability of $137 billion ought to rethink the rigid pension clause of its constitution. The next president could insist on a more responsible budgeting process that begins in January, not mid-May. The next president could answer the call of voters to put term limits on the ballot.
Your own unsolicited advice for Democratic Senators who want to replace John Cullerton?
* The Chicago casino bill wasn’t the only legislation that didn’t receive a vote this week. From a press release…
State Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, issued the following statement Wednesday after the Legislature adjourned the fall legislative session without the Senate passing House Bill 3904, the Student Athlete Endorsement Act:
“I’m very disappointed that we were not able to get this reform that brings equity and fairness to college athletes in Illinois sent to the governor’s desk for his signature.
“It’s unacceptable that the NCAA, collegiate athletic conferences and universities are earning billions of dollars every year, while student athletes are prohibited from earning a few extra bucks from working at a meet and greet at a local business.
“I would like to thank Governor Pritzker and all the stakeholders who worked so hard to pass this bill out of the House. And I look forward to continuing our fight in January of next year to do the right thing, get this bill signed into law, and give college athletes the opportunity to receive the compensation that they deserve.”
Rep. Chris Welch (D-Hillside), who introduced the bill on the same day California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an identical bill into law in September, told The Daily Line Thursday that he was “very disappointed,” but would continue organizing around the issue and bring the bill forward in January. “I think the issue of college athletes being able to be compensated for their name, likeness and image is a civil rights issue,” Welch said. “I don’t see any reason why the Senate legitimately held this thing up.” Senate sponsor State Sen. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago) told The Daily Line that allowing college athletes to be paid for endorsement deals is “an issue we’re all very passionate about, we care about deeply,” but said more discussions need to be had. “I think there are other issues that may present themselves and we want to fully vet it,” Sims said.
There was also a sponsorship dispute in the Senate, which likely played into this.
* Meanwhile…
Hi Rich,
Following up to with you after this past week’s veto session in Springfield. The Illinois Gun Violence Prevention Action Committee had been pushing for action on SB1966—a bill that would require background checks for all gun sales. Here is a statement from Kathleen Sances, president of the Gun Violence Prevention Action Committee, regarding this past week’s inaction on the bill:
We are deeply disappointed the Senate failed to act on SB1966. This bill would save lives - which is why two-thirds of Illinois voters and over 190 community and advocacy groups support it.
We are committed to making Illinois safer for our children, families and communities and will continue working with elected officials at all levels and across the aisle to pass commonsense, evidence-based, legislation.
