* Anti-Pritzker signs are being planted on public ways on Chicago’s South Side…
Here's the other. They currently run from the Dan Ryanish to Ashland. Every 20 feet. That graphic is sort of tire tracks? Tractor tracks? Can't begin to think who they're pitching this to. Same with the Devore signs every 10 feet lining 55th through Jackson Park pic.twitter.com/14SS0fSxjV
Illinois GOP nominee for governor Darren Bailey is desperately trying to get voters to forget that he groveled for an endorsement from Donald Trump for months.
At this week’s debate, when asked about endorsing a candidate for president in 2024, Bailey dodged saying whether or not he would support Trump.
This completely contradicts his Trump loyalist primary campaign, where he unapologetically embraced the MAGA platform and said Illinois would “roll the red carpet out” for Trump in 2024.
“Darren Bailey is trying to mislead voters and hide that he’s been completely loyal to Trump and the far-right all along,” said DGA Senior Communications Advisor Christina Amestoy. “Illinois voters deserve a leader with a track record they can trust, not someone who changes positions to whatever gets them further ahead.”
* MLL…
Today, the Lightfoot for Chicago campaign published a microsite highlighting quotes from Paul Vallas and Darren Bailey, quizzing Chicagoans on who said which MAGA-like comment.
The website is formatted as a guessing game where users are given direct quotes and are asked if each quote is attributed to Vallas or Bailey. Similarities run rampant between the two men, and many times, it’s hard to tell the difference and who is more extreme and wrong for Chicago.
“Paul Vallas for years now has been an extreme, conservative Republican masquerading as a Democrat,” said Lightfoot campaign spokesperson Christina Freundlich. “When compared to a far-right candidate who walks and talks like Donald Trump, Vallas’s disguise completely falls away. Vallas proves to be indistinguishable from MAGA role model Darren Bailey, and neither leader is right for Chicago.”
Last week, IL13 Republican congressional candidate Regan Deering decided to fully embrace Kevin McCarthy’s radical policy agenda for if Republicans win back the House this November, including expanding school vouchers and gutting Illinois’ public school system.
This is already in line with Deering’s position, who earlier this summer outlined her plan to effectively end public education in Illinois, even saying that “One of my prime issues is going to be advocating for universal school choice [vouchers].”
Nikki Budzinski, Democratic congressional candidate for IL-13, released the following statement: “As the granddaughter of a public-school teacher and someone that comes from a family of educators, this attack on our public schools is especially offensive.
“It’s not surprising that Regan would be so excited to end public education as we know it now. She has proved time and again that she is completely out of touch with working people in Central and Southern Illinois, and this is another example of that.”
* Deering…
Illinois Candidate for Congress Regan Deering released the following statement on the recent Better Government Association investigation into Nikki Budzinski’s special interest payments:
“Nikki has spent millions of dollars calling me an out-of-touch heiress and yet, she made her own millions working for politicians and special interest groups where she always seems to be just outside the line of corruption.
“Her hypocrisy is on full display as she talks about good government and eliminating dark money from politics, but acts as just another part of the Madigan Machine that has held the people of Illinois down for far too long.
“I am running to help end this vicious cycle of corrupt, pay-to-play politics by removing political insiders profiting off the state like Nikki Budzinski from the process. The people of Illinois deserve a representative who will help improve working people’s economic opportunities - not her own.”
* No relation…
A national grassroots Christian organization has named Rep. Mary Miller to its list of 20 “False Prophets” as part of a new initiative to counter Christian nationalism’s distortion of the Gospel and its threat to democracy and equal rights during the 2022 midterm season and beyond.
“There’s nothing Christian about far-right nationalism. Although faith in Jesus has no boundaries, Rep. Mary Miller consistently contorts Christianity to justify her extremist and hateful agenda,” said the Rev. Dr. Dwain DePew, Illinois resident and Faithful America member. “The words and actions of Christian nationalists like Rep. Miller stand for power and hatred, ignoring Jesus’s counter-cultural teachings of love and peace.”
A secondary list of False Prophet “Dishonorable Mentions” also includes gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey.
Leaders of Faithful America, the Christian organization behind the “False Prophets Don’t Speak for Me” campaign against this heretical ideology, note that the list includes both lawmakers who hijack faith to attack democracy and demonize equal rights (such as Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, Senator Josh Hawley, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene) as well as pastors and religious-right strategists (including Franklin Graham, Steve Bannon, and Tony Perkins) who build the Christian nationalist organizing infrastructure of the religious right.
Researchers define Christian nationalism as a political ideology that merges American and Christian identities with the goal of seizing power for conservative Christians and destroying the separation of church and state.
The name “False Prophets Don’t Speak for Me” is a reference to Matthew 7:15: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
“Christian nationalism is a grave threat to both American democracy and the church,” said the Rev. Nathan Empsall, executive director of Faithful America. “Christian nationalist leaders like Mary Miller come to us in sheep’s clothing, claiming to speak for Christ, but prove themselves to be ravenous wolves by distorting Scripture, spreading misinformation, and inciting political violence. The good news is that these false prophets don’t speak for the vast majority of American Christians, many of whom are speaking out to finally deflate the claims of a right-wing monopoly on faith, reclaiming our religion and its prophetic voice for the Gospel’s true values of love, truth, peace, equality, and social justice.”
* Chicago early vote totals…
The most up-to-date Early Vote and Vote By Mail totals in Chicago, night of Wednesday, October 19, 2022.
The Early Vote total stands at 3,087 ballots cast.
Additionally, 20,120 Vote By Mail ballots have been returned to the Board – total VBM applications stands at 187,516.
The grand total is 23,207 ballots cast so far in Chicago for the November 8th General Election.
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Rep. Casten calls for federal decriminalization of possessing small amounts of cannabis: “We should not be putting people in jail for low-level drug offenses,” Casten told the Daily Herald in a recent online interview. Casten’s Republican challenger in the mostly suburban 6th Congressional District, Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau, refused to participate in the interview or answer questions about the nation’s drug laws and other subjects.
* Underwood has big financial lead over Gryder in 14th Congressional District race: Underwood’s campaign raked in about $1.2 million between July 1 and Sept. 30 — more than three times Gryder’s $348,041 quarterly fundraising haul. Likewise, Underwood has raised about $6.4 million since the campaign began — more than 14 times Gryder’s $439,720 total for the cycle. Neither has gotten much financial help from their respective political parties — indicating party leaders expect an Underwood victory, said Kent Redfield, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois Springfield.
* Election day is around the corner, how is Candidate Jack Vrett feeling?: Arlington Heights veteran and attorney Jack Vrett is challenging Mark Walker for State Rep. in IL District 53. He and the Steve Cochran Show talk about how the mood of the country has shifted towards the “middle”, how he’s going to fight corruption, and he weighs in on recalling State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
* New grant targets political violence prevention in southern Illinois: “I don’t think the right or the left has a full monopoly on violence,” Weerarante said. “So whether you are on the right or the left you can have violent elements with your group.”[…] “The first part of the grant is we are going to do a survey of people in southern Illinois and the second part is based on the data that we get from the survey where we do training sets,” Weeraratne said.
* Regan Deering takes on Nikki Budzinski: In a congressional district drawn to favor Democrats, Republicans believe they have reason for optimism. But just how much optimism is justified remains a bit of an open question for the Illinois 13th Congressional District, which pits Republican Regan Deering against Democrat Nikki Budzinski.
Hiring precinct election judges and poll watchers has traditionally been routine work for state political parties and candidates trying to ensure ballots are cast and counted properly leading up to Election Day.
But this year, the Illinois Republican Party and its candidate for governor, Darren Bailey, have classified those roles as part of a broad “election integrity” effort that is a follow-up to baseless claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen. What’s more, that effort is being led in part by individuals who support former President Donald Trump’s debunked assertions. […]
For their “election integrity” efforts, Bailey and the state GOP have enlisted help from Carol Davis of Carol Stream. She is a former west suburban tea party activist who for years has held election training sessions as head of the Illinois Conservative Union and now is a leader in a national network of election deniers along with top former Trump aides. […]
Davis contends “there is fraud in every election in this country.” She has signaled belief that left-wing, anti-fascist or antifa groups, rather than Trump supporters, were behind the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. She expressed disappointment that a cold kept her away from the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C., on that day. She has questioned the integrity of election machinery. And she has said vote-by-mail ballots are susceptible to fraud and are part of a Democratic plot to do away with in-person voting.
Davis: Well, absolutely not. Monty and our experience over years of investigating elections, learning everything there is to know about elections and learning how to spot fraud teaches us that there is fraud in every election in this country.
Q: Especially here in Illinois, we’re the champion of that.
Davis: Absolutely. You know, Illinois, unfortunately, has got that reputation and it’s well deserved and their methodology of how to swing an election has been taught throughout the country. And I’m not saying they put people in classrooms, or private meetings and teach it. But I’m saying that the things that have worked to sway elections in the Chicago area and throughout the state are working now across the country. Let’s say the best practices of deceit have been picked up by many organizations.
Oof
* When poll watchers were brought up during the debate, Bailey dodged…
Q: Let’s talk about the popular subject these days, threats to democracy. A NextStar, Emerson College, the Hill poll found that threats to democracy is the second most important issue driving voters to the polls this November. Senator Bailey, on Facebook you said your campaign has signed up nearly 2,500 people to be poll watchers on November 8, but very few instances of fraud have been reported here. What specifically are your concerns for election security?
Bailey: My entire concern is the fact that people have lost confidence in the election process. And the very fact that this last primary only drew out 18% of eligible voters. That’s a problem. Peoria County, 9% of the voters showed up, registered voters. And as a matter of fact most times during general elections 40%, sometimes 50% at a high show up to vote. They’re not showing up because they have lost confidence in our election. There’s constitutional positions called election judges and poll watchers. And we need to make sure that we put people in place so that we rebuild integrity to our election process and that we make sure that people show up to vote. The brave men and women that served our country, they fought to protect our freedoms. And today it’s up to us, we the people to get involved with the process and uphold our freedoms. Otherwise, as you suggest, constitutional freedoms are at risk.
Swarms of form letters have been sent to election officials here threatening legal action for unsubstantiated claims of wrongdoing and voter fraud, WBEZ reporters Dan Mihalopoulos and Dave McKinney reported last week.
The letters, which of course offer no proof of misconduct, demand access to voter records the nonpartisan website Votebeat said cannot even be used to demonstrate fraud. But that detail isn’t important to these scribes, who sent the copycat missives to places across the country, including Chicago’s Board of Election Commissioners, the Cook County clerk’s office and the Illinois State Board of Elections. […]
Here in Illinois, Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey said there is no doubt Biden won the election fair and square. Still, he keeps pushing the narrative that election fraud is rampant and has vowed to get close to 4,000 poll watchers for the November general elections.
David Paul Blumenshine, the man Bailey enlisted to recruit poll watchers, also doesn’t deny the 2020 election results. But it is hardly comforting to know Blumenshine attended the Jan. 6 rally that descended into violent chaos at the U.S. Capitol.
State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, will be joined this week by Morgan County State’s Attorney Gray Noll and others for a discussion on changes being made to the criminal justice system through the massive Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act — commonly known as the SAFE-T Act.
* Wednesday press release…
This evening, Faith Coalition for the Common Good came together with concerned community members to disrupt Sen. Steve McClure and Rep. Sandy Hamilton’s SAFE-T Act Town Hall. This disruption was in response to misinformation that has been spread by right-wing political operatives seeking to undermine the law’s success.
“Over the last few weeks, right-wing operatives have spread misinformation about the Pretrial Fairness provision of the SAFE-T Act. These lies are rooted in racism and are meant to protect mass incarceration.
“The Pretrial Fairness Act was designed to protect everyone’s right to the presumption of innocence and ensure that nobody is jailed simply because they’re too poor to pay a money bond. Throughout Illinois, Black people are disproportionately jailed while awaiting trial. By passing the Pretrial Fairness Act, the Illinois legislature took a significant step towards addressing the harm pretrial incarceration has caused communities across our state. For decades, people have lost jobs, housing and even custody of their children, not because they were a danger to the community, but simply because they couldn’t afford to pay bond to secure their freedom.
“We oppose efforts to repeal the Pretrial Fairness Act or roll it back, like SB42228 which would further fuel mass incarceration, worsen racial disparities, and create a pretrial system that is far worse than the one in place today. Instead of suing the state or building opposition against this crucial reform, Sen. McClure, Rep. Hamilton and our county stakeholders should be working together to ensure this historic reform is properly implemented.”
Some video from last night…
Advocates for the Pretrial Fairness Act clashed with local State’s Attorneys and legislators during a Chatham town hall tonight: #twillpic.twitter.com/ph7Zli9Ruy
The Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice (INPJ) protested today in Dupage and Will Counties outside of the local state’s attorneys’ offices calling the state’s attorneys’ SAFE-T Act trailer bill (SB4228) unconstitutional and a violation of people’s rights. The group penned an open letter signed by more than 120 organizations calling on the Illinois General Assembly to protect the Pretrial Fairness provisions of the SAFE-T Act and oppose the State’s Attorneys proposal for gutting this historic legislation.
“It is absolutely essential that any future amendments to the Pretrial Fairness Act are made in the same spirit in which it was written.” said Katrina Baugh of The People’s Lobby. “Using this historic legislation as a vehicle for incarcerating more Black and brown people would be a slap in the face to the communities that have suffered under the injustices of the money bond system for decades.”
“The State’s Attorneys Association has not productively engaged in implementation conversations to ensure the safe and effective implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act,” said Reverend Marilyn Pagán-Banks of A Just Harvest. “Following the lead of right-wing operatives like Dan Proft, Jeanne Ives, and Dick Uihlein who’ve funded racist misinformation campaigns, the State’s Attorneys Association is exploiting this moment immediately before an election and attempting to use SB4228 to increase their power to jail vulnerable Illinoisans.”
The result of the State’s Attorneys Association’s political machinations is power-grab that would make the criminal legal system worse, not better.
“SB4228 is unconstitutional because it creates a presumption of detention in some cases, requiring the accused person to prove they deserve pretrial release,” said Em Gonzalez of Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice. “The Illinois Constitution grants a presumption of release to legally innocent people, and requires that the prosecution prove jailing a person pretrial is necessary and that that burden not be placed on a legally innocent person.”
Protestors also pointed out that SB4288 extends the timeframe a person must be brought to trial to 120 days from 90 days, making the right to a speedy trial even further out of reach and prolonging pretrial incarceration.
Worse still, that SB4228 would allow prosecutors to use evidence in their arguments for detention that would not have to be shared with the defense prior to a hearing. This would mean that accused people would have no way to challenge the evidence being used against them.
“The Constitution protects the presumption of innocence,” said David Cannon of West Suburban DSA. “Now these prosecutors don’t even want people to be able to properly defend themselves. It’s outrageous.”
If passed, the state’s attorneys’ bill would cause the number of people jailed while awaiting trial to skyrocket and exacerbate racial disparities in Illinois jails–the exact opposite of what the Pretrial Fairness Act was intended to achieve. Meanwhile, state’s attorneys representing counties that make up 50% of Illinois’ population support the Pretrial Fairness Act, and State’s Attorneys representing 60% of Illinois’ population support eliminating money bond. By contrast, many of the State’s Attorneys leading opposition to the Pretrial Fairness Act represent counties where Black residents make up at most 14% of the population, but up to half of the people admitted to their jails. Specifically:
“Illinois is currently jailing thousands of people simply because they’re too poor to pay a bond, not because they pose a danger to anyone,” said James Baugh, a resident of DuPage County. “While the current system limits who can be denied bond, SB4228 would allow prosecutors to ask that anyone be jailed indefinitely, far beyond the authority they had prior to the passage of the SAFE-T Act. We must protect the Pretrial Fairness Act”
From today’s event…
Illinois State's Attorneys are trying to gut the Pretrial Fairness Act and increase mass incarceration.
We're outside State's Attorney Bob Berlin's Office to tell him: Hell no! We will not go back! pic.twitter.com/nrDM8JbIgN
People Who Play By The Rules PAC has launched a new ad, “FALL OF FEAR.” It is available on YouTube, the PBR PAC Facebook Page and will run on statewide media this week.
JB Pritzker’s Purge Law has put you in danger. That’s what Democrats are telling you:
“…Significant increases in violent crime…” – Justin Hood, Hamilton County State’s Attorney, Democrat
“…Endangers our communities.” – Zachary Gowin, Alexander County State’s Attorney, Democrat
“What you see in Chicago, we’ll have here.” -Democrat State’s Attorney Jim Glasgow
AT HOME.
CHICAGO MAN HAD TO RUN AWAY WITH HIS CHILD DURING CARJACKING IN UKRAINIAN VILLAGE – CBS 2 CHICAGO
“You just started freaking out, thinking ‘Oh my God it happened, it happened, what we’ve been talking about and fearing forever just happened to us.” – Josselyn Kula, Mother
AT WORK.
MOVING OUT. BUSINESSES MOVING OUT OF BIG CITIES DUE TO CRIME.
“The city of Chicago has become Gotham City except we don’t have the Batman. We can’t even walk down the street without looking over our shoulder.” – Uzma Sharif, Chocolatier
Bailey discussed his vision of a “zero-based” budget that he believes will better serve the taxpayer. The candidate said during the Friday forum that he would appoint the proper department heads to serve this mission.
“They will account for every dollar that is going to be spent and, finally, the people of Illinois will be able to look and see directly where there money is being spent,” he said. “I believe that is how we are going to ferret out the waste that is currently in our budget.”
Bailey still won’t say how he’d cut roughly a third of the state’s budget that he believes to be “waste.”
When asked directly for three proposed budget cuts, Bailey didn’t name any. […]
The only number Bailey cited in the discussion was $2 billion in fraudulent claims paid out by the Illinois Department of Employment Security amid nationwide unemployment fraud of a new federal pandemic-related program.
It’s certainly an example of fraud, but it’s not an example of state spending.
The defrauded program was entirely federally funded.
* To the debate…
Q: Senator Bailey, we’re gonna play for you what you said about wanting to enact zero-based budgeting.
Bailey: Once we do a zero-based budget, I believe there’s $10 to $15 billion in that budget of waste. And we can take that and begin to get our state healthy again.
Q: And you’ve also said that everything is on the table. What in the $10 to $15 billion you plan to cut, name three things. You have 60 seconds for that.
Bailey: We’re going to fire all of the agency directors because they failed. We’re going to place business-minded men and women in those positions. They will be tasked with coming up with a zero based budget. Maybe people don’t understand what that means. But that means accounting for every dollar that’s spent. Governor Pritzker hasn’t even read the 5000-page budget that he’s created over the last four years. No one knows what’s in it. And as a matter of fact, just this last year $2 billion of fraud, of fraudulent payments was discovered in the Department of Employment. Governor Pritzker ignored it, he didn’t do anything about it. And it took some doing to actually get an account to find that money. Now I want to suggest to you that if $2 billion were just recently found as fraudulent unemployment payments, can you imagine how much more fraud or waste exists in each one of these agencies? A zero-based budget will ferret that out.
Q: I think I want to hear something a little more tangible. You say you’re gonna fire everybody and put more people in there, you’re gonna be paying them the same, right?
Bailey: Right. Agency directors that Governor Pritzker has put in place. They failed this because there’s not one state agency that’s doing its job.
Q: So where are you cutting the money then?
Bailey: That is the purpose of a zero-based budget. To find that waste.
This is basically just a dodge to avoid answering reporters’ questions and to look like he has a plan. What we all discovered during the Rauner years is that about 90 percent of state funding is mandated. If we try to cut it, the courts will step in. The other ten percent goes to fund a myriad of programs and services. OK, so cut 10 percent of that and you’ve saved less than $500 million. That’s a far cry from $15 billion.
Also, the $2 billion lost in that federal program was through fraud, not waste. And it was a lot less than a third of the overall pricetag. Bailey’s estimates are clearly being pulled out of thin air.
Dozens of counties in Illinois are labeled “Maternity Deserts ‘ meaning there are no maternal resources in the area. […]
After the recent closure of labor and delivery services at OSF in Danville, mothers in the community had to travel around 40 miles to deliver their babies.
Brenda Adams from the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program located in Danville stated that doctors from the Champaign county area are helping fill in the gap over in Danville to make sure all mothers can be seen. […]
Along with WIC services, the Gibbson Area Hospital and Health Services provide maternal care to patients from eight surrounding counties. Helping care for maternity desert areas in Illinois.
That’s according to a report released Tuesday by March of Dimes, a nonprofit focused on maternal and infant health. It finds that 36% of counties nationwide — largely in the Midwest and South — constitute “maternity care deserts,” meaning they have no obstetric hospitals or birth centers and no obstetric providers.
It paints a slightly grimmer picture than the organization’s last such report, which was released in 2020. Five percent of counties have a worse designation this time around, and there’s been a 2% increase in counties classified as maternity care deserts — accounting for some 15,933 women living in more than 1,000 counties.
March of Dimes says these changes are driven primarily by the loss of obstetric providers and hospital services within counties, as a result of financial and logistical challenges including the COVID pandemic.
And it warns the result is disproportionately harming rural communities and people of color: One in 4 Native American babies, and 1 in 6 Black babies, were born in areas with limited or no access to maternity care services.
On Chicago’s South Side, maternal care offerings are severely limited. Between 2019 and 2020, the number of South Side hospitals offering maternity services dropped from seven to three. The lack of options available to women on the South Side has created what the Chicago Tribune called a “birthing desert,” meaning expectant mothers must travel far beyond where they live to seek prenatal care.
How can we begin to address this crisis? A start would be to invest in community-based approaches that include certified practicing midwives providing Black families with holistic, culturally informed and science-based maternal health care before, during and after birth. These approaches can reduce maternal mortality and lead to improved outcomes such as lower rates of C-sections and fewer instances of pre-term or low-birth-weight infants.
Research shows that community-based approaches to maternal care, like doulas and freestanding birth centers (particularly when Black-owned), make a difference. This is why the organization I lead, Chicago Beyond, provided funding for Jeanine Valrie Logan, a birth-equity champion who works to address disparities in Black maternal health. Valrie Logan is bringing a nonprofit, Black midwife-led, culturally concordant, community-focused birth center to the South Side. […]
The truth of the matter is that systemic failures often prevent Black mothers and babies from receiving necessary care. And though we may never live in a perfect world, investing in community-based approaches can promise that healthy and safe birthing
COVID-19 drove a dramatic increase in the number of women who died from pregnancy or childbirth complications in the U.S. last year, a crisis that has disproportionately claimed Black and Hispanic women as victims, according to a government report released Wednesday.
It finds that pregnancy-related deaths have spiked nearly 80% since 2018, with COVID-19 being a factor in a quarter of the 1,178 deaths reported last year. The percentage of preterm and low birthweight babies also went up last year, after holding steady for years. And more pregnant or postpartum women are reporting symptoms of depression.
“We were already in the middle of a crisis with maternal mortality in our country,” said Karen Tabb Dina, a maternal health researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “This really shows that COVID-19 has exacerbated that crisis to rates that we, as a country, are not able to handle.”
Governor JB Pritzker today signed two bills designed to provide better access to healthcare for rural Illinoisans. SB3017 amends the Loan Repayment Assistance for Physicians Act to address the shortage of healthcare providers, particularly for obstetrical services, in rural committees. SB1435 amends hospital licensing procedures to clear the way for health center mergers and increased healthcare coordination in rural districts.
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker outspent Republican challenger Darren Bailey more than 23-to-1 in July through September, according to quarterly campaign finance reports.
The reports show Pritzker spending nearly $38.5 million — including $15.2 million for other state and local candidates — the previous three months.
Dan Proft’s People Who Play by the Rules PAC spent $17 million in the third quarter to help Bailey.
The governor has faced plenty of criticism over his prodigious spending on his political campaigns, shelling out more than $150 million on his reelection efforts.
He says that his spending compares to that done by Republicans and opposing political action committees.
“We’re going head-to-head with them,” he said. “$100 million and more has been spent attacking me. It has to have an effect on the public while they’re doing that, and it’s a tough campaign. I’m certainly telling people what I think about Darren Bailey.”
* Former Teamsters boss John Coli asks judge for home confinement, probation: Duffy wrote that Coli is now “a thoroughly humbled man” who, at 63, has been “barred for life from associating with the Teamsters —the organization he has been devoted to his entire professional life.” Coli is set to be sentenced Wednesday.
* Lawmaker to IDPH at administrative committee: ‘The pandemic is over’: But at JCAR’s meeting in Chicago on Tuesday, state Rep. Steven Reick, R-Woodstock, objected, arguing that “the department has been issuing an awful lot of emergency rules lately.” […] “The pandemic is over,” he said. “It is time for us to get back to normal way of doing business, and the normal rulemaking process should be the one that is used instead of emergency rulemaking when the time is available to do that.”
* No, those Illinois tax rebate checks aren’t bouncing: WGN Investigates contacted Illinois comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office which issues the checks. A spokesperson said the check didn’t bounce due to lack of funds. Instead, the ink likely smeared on the routing numbers rendering the checks worthless.
* Tracking where Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Darren Bailey and their running mates have visited on the campaign trail: From July 1 through the end of last month, Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton had made 105 stops in 52 Illinois cities, making appearances at labor rallies, speaking with faith and equity leaders, and meeting with Democratic groups in various counties throughout the state. Bailey, a state senator from downstate Xenia, and his running mate, Stephanie Trussell, had made 208 stops in 124 cities since the start of July. The Bailey campaign has organized frequent bus tours, attended county fairs and fundraising events, and met with local chapters of law enforcement, as well as religious and conservative action groups.
* Illinois to take center stage in battle over union rights vote: Tim Drea, president of Illinois AFL-CIO, which is pushing for passage, said union counterparts from around the country have been calling him about the ballot measure. “They are watching this very, very closely,” he said
* Bailey Vows To Cut Billions From State Budget, Won’t Say How Government Jobs Would Be Affected: Bailey contends that through “zero-based budgeting,” where every dollar spent has to be justified, he can identify and eliminate $10 to 15 billion in wasteful spending. Speaking to reporters after a Springfield rally Wednesday, one day after his final debate with Governor JB Pritzker, Bailey did not answer when asked how many state jobs might be eliminated by cutting that much spending from the budget. Payroll is generally one of the largest expenditures each year for state government.
* Illinois elections: Big money funnels into lower-profiles state races: “State representative districts are not very big and those ads are very expensive,” ABC7 political analyst Laura Washington said. “They reach millions, but only a very small fraction of people you are targeting.”
Pritzker criticized Bailey for not taking media questions.
“This is the second debate in a row that I’ve shown up to answer your questions and the second time that Darren Bailey has not shown up,” Pritzker told media after the debate. “Like with so many other things, Darren Bailey is all hat and no cattle.” […]
“I can’t fathom what the next four years are going to be like under J.B. Pritzker,” Bailey said. “Every state agency is an absolute failure.”
Bailey said education has been decimated, crime is increasing and businesses and people are moving out.
“All cattle and no show, that’s J.B. Pritzker,” Bailey said.
A Googlewhack is a contest to find a Google Search query that returns a single result. A Googlewhack must consist of two words found in a dictionary and is only considered legitimate if both of the search terms appear in the result. The term googlewhack, coined by Gary Stock, first appeared on the web at Blinking on 8 January 2002.
OK, so it isn’t technically a Googlewhack, but nobody has ever used that phrase before that I can see.
Q: Let’s talk about equity and recreational-use cannabis. The state’s program went online in 2020. The first predominantly Black-owned craft grow house recently opened in the state. But, Governor, since 2020, more than 340 licenses have been given out and only one has been given to a minority owner. Governor when will you make good on your promise to diversify the lucrative cannabis industry?
Pritzker: Well that’s not true. Let me be clear, 185 licenses have been awarded under the social equity licensing program.
Q: But those are conditional.
Pritzker: They are conditional. Conditional upon opening a store. So right now, people are in fact opening stores. It’s terrific. Has it taken too long? Yes, it has. And the fact is that people went to court and sued because they didn’t think that they deserved to be knocked out of the program, some of those folks. People were in the program, wanted the program to change, they sued. Look, I think those things have been worked out through the court system. Now you’re seeing people taking out loans, building out their dispensaries. We’ve seen cultivation licenses awarded those licenses to be clear. 40 percent have gone to people of color, and the whole point of it is to make sure that there is equity across our state for people who have been left out and left behind who’ve been the victims of the war on drugs.
Q: So I guess, governor, where can people go though, if they wanted to support a Black-owned recreational marijuana business? Where would they go to find that?
Pritzker: Those folks are seeking investment right now. In fact, they’re taking loans from the state, which is great. That’s exactly what this program is about. I want to point out another aspect of equity, which is that we’ve expunged 800,000 arrest records. Low-level cannabis arrest records, and pardoned people with low-level convictions. That was all part of this cannabis legalization program. I’m proud of that. We also have the R-3 program which Lieutenant Governor runs and which distributes money in some places that have been left out and left behind.
Q: We need to bring Senator Bailey into the discussion. You voted against recreational cannabis in Illinois. It’s a big topic nationally with President Biden announcing he would pardon thousands convicted of possession earlier this month. If elected as governor, will you reverse decriminalization of cannabis?
Bailey: Nope. I don’t see that happening. That’s not on my priority list. You know, I find it interesting that Governor Pritzker for four years equity equity, equity, and he finally had his opportunity with the recreational marijuana dispensaries, and he failed. Again. I’m out in the Black community. You probably saw me on Facebook a few weeks ago, since you saw everything else, when I was walking with the Black community up and down the streets of Chicago. And they were screaming foul because they can’t get the licenses. So I’d love to see some proof of these actual people, these 146 people who have supposedly are in the process of getting their licenses, because it’s not happening because many of those people are coming to me screening that foul and wondering what the problem is. I simply tell them, you’ve got a governor who can’t tell the truth.
Pritzker: Look, just like with abortion rights, where he opposes abortion, but then complains about how we’re going about providing the rights for people in Illinois. He opposes cannabis legalization. Now he wants to complain about how that legalization operates. Look, you’ve got to be at the table to get things done. You’ve got to work together with people. And indeed we have implemented equity across…
Bailey: Treat the Black people with respect, Governor.
Q: [Sighs.] We’re gonna move on…
Please pardon all transcription errors.
* The Question: Has Pritzker done enough to ensure equity in the recreational cannabis industry? Explain. Also, stick to the question that’s been asked. These can go off the rails fast.
Side question: Do you believe that Sen. Bailey wouldn’t try to roll back the recreational cannabis industry?
*** UPDATE *** Wondering when we would see something like this…
Chicago City Council Latino Caucus rejects Darren Bailey’s hateful rhetoric against immigrants from the southern border. Read full statement here: pic.twitter.com/A1TxeOSih2
(2/3): with our Southern border.’ Baileys’ unprompted connection between migrants and gang violence go far beyond a dog whistle; it is unabashed racism that has no place in Illinois. While Bailey continues to scapegoat Latinos for problems he has no plans to solve.
If the Illinois Primary election was any indication, voters are going to get pummeled with political robocalls and robotexts between now and Election Day next month.
This was true in 2020 when Americans received approximately 8.25 million robocalls on Election Day, and over the past two months Illinois ranks 24th in robocalls on a per capita basis.
Political robocalls, according to this source…
For the month of August, Illinois received around 123,406 robocalls.
For the month of September, Illinois received around 311,919 robocalls.
For the first two weeks of October, Illinois received around 281,917 robocalls.
From 8/1 to 10/16, Illinois received 717,242 robocalls.
* State early vote totals…
The @illinoissbe has updated early vote totals (10/19/22): Total VBM requested: 764,930 Total VBM returned: 200,084 Total VBM outstanding: 564,846 Return Rate: 26% Total Early Vote: 49,153 Total Grace Period: 560 Total Already Voted: 249,797https://t.co/44ga6AxRbY
the most up-to-date Early Vote and Vote By Mail totals in Chicago, night of Tuesday, October 18, 2022.
The Early Vote total stands at 2,694 ballots cast.
Additionally, 17,866 Vote By Mail ballots have been returned to the Board – total VBM applications stands at 185,745.
The grand total is 20,560 ballots cast so far in Chicago for the November 8th General Election.
* ILGOP…
“Pritzker’s policies have turned Chicago into a dystopian version - Pritzkerville - which may soon spread into the suburbs and downstate. Only by electing a new Governor can we begin to rebuild from the damage he caused and once again make our communities safe for residents and businesses. That is the message that Darren Bailey delivered last night,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy.
* Press release…
After begging for Donald Trump’s prized endorsement for months, GOP gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey tried to buck Trump’s support at last night’s debate — but voters know the truth.
Bailey scored Trump’s “complete and total endorsement” at a rally in June, where Bailey said unequivocally: “I’ve made a promise to President Trump that in 2024, Illinois will roll the red carpet out for him because Illinois will be ready for President Trump.”
At yesterday’s debate, he tried desperately to rewrite history, saying: “Nobody’s announced their run for president.”
“Gov. Pritzker tries to inject his radical gender ideology into our classrooms,” Bailey said.
But Pritzker pointed to the Full Armor Christian Academy school Bailey founded that uses curriculum connected to conservative South Carolina’s Bob Jones University. The university’s press has offered history books that taught that not all slaves were mistreated, that the women’s movement in society carried societal costs and that when the Bible and science are in conflict, the Bible is correct.
Q: Let’s talk about reproductive rights, gentlemen, shall we? Senator Bailey, just tonight you said nothing is going to change about Illinois abortion laws if you’re elected. But last week, the Executive Director of Illinois Right to Life promised you will work to undo extremism. If elected, would you pursue pro life policies through executive orders? You’ve got 60 seconds.
Bailey: Well, let’s talk about extremism. Governor Pritzker is perfectly fine with our children needing abortions without their parents knowing anything about it. I think that’s extreme. Governor Pritzker is perfectly fine injecting his gender curriculum, the first of its kind in the nation into our schools, woke ideology. I think that’s extreme. Governor Pritzker, his family foundation is the primary sponsor for experimental gender surgeries (Pritzker: That’s not true) in childrens’ hospitals (Pritzker: That’s not true) all across this nation right here in Chicago. (Pritzker: False.) I think that’s extreme. Governor Pritzker tries to inject his radical gender ideology into our classrooms, and most school districts have rejected that.
That accusation is based on a conspiracy theory about how the governor is supposedly in cahoots with his trans cousin Jennifer, who contributed to Bruce Rauner, Richard Irvin’s 2022 campaign and against the governor’s graduated income tax. The conspiracy theory was pushed by Dan Proft’s papers.
* Press release…
Chairman Scott Gryder released his new ad “Leader” which highlights his priorities in Congress, and his commitment to people, not politics:
“During her tenure as our representative, Lauren Underwood has put big government special interests and her own agenda first – at the expense of every individual in this district. She has made our lives more expensive and less safe. We deserve better.
That’s why I’m running for Congress.
I’ll go to Washington to end reckless spending and lower taxes, giving us back our financial freedom. I’ll also restore safety to our neighborhoods by standing with law enforcement and ensuring that they receive the funding and resources they need to effectively do their job.”
We’re protesting DuPage County Chairman candidate Greg Hart who has done a 180 degree turn on his pro-life stance and now says he’ll never stand in the way of a woman’s “right to choose” with the help and funding of the illinois GOP. Eric Scheidler, our executive director, has some thoughts:
* Cook County Voters to Weigh Forest Preserves Tax Increase in Upcoming Election: It’s rare when newspaper editorial boards and fiscal watchdog groups recommend that residents vote to increase their property taxes. But that’s exactly the case as Cook County voters face a binding question on their election ballot: Do you want to pay a little more to help fund the Cook County Forest Preserves? Outside groups have waged a public campaign to convince voters to say yes, because they believe the investment will pay growing dividends.
* Six takeaways from the second Illinois gubernatorial debate: Bailey had a message. He undercut that message by repeatedly refusing to get specific, but even a casual viewer would get the gist: At a time when the economy is bumpy, taxes are high and the streets of Chicago and other cities are dangerous, Illinois needs a change. Good and simple. Pritzker’s message was that things have improved on his watch, particularly with state finances, and that voters ought to stick with him. But “stick with me” is not much of a second-term agenda. In the closing weeks of the campaign, the governor might do well to spell out what a vote for him means, other than not electing Bailey.
* Illinois’ 6th Congressional District candidates offer stance on education: Pekau said Democrats are pushing their views in Illinois classrooms throughout the state. “We need to stop the agenda they are trying to push, it is unacceptable,” Pekau said. “We need to teach the skills that need to be [taught]. If you want to talk U.S. History, you talk about the good and the bad. We don’t do it through a racial based lens, we do it through an American lens.” […] Casten suggests “providing universal early childhood education” and to “ensure that all students have access to a top-quality elementary, high school, and trade school or higher education.”
* Opinion: In public education debate, don’t overlook community colleges: The ongoing gubernatorial campaign got a mild injection of interest earlier this month when one candidate said it might be time to reduce state spending on K-12 public education. The other countered by pledging further investment and making sure private schools aren’t enriched at taxpayer expense. You know which is which, but the point here isn’t settling the debate between two candidates, but discussing the larger issue of postsecondary education and workforce development.
* Latest fundraising has Vallas eager for campaign fight: A $500,000 donation from prominent GOP donor and golf course magnate Michael Keiser has left an opening for some opponents, including the Chicago Teachers Union, to attack Vallas, a former CPS CEO, as a closet Republican
About 31% of people who took part in the phone and text message survey conducted by Public Policy Polling said they think the Bears should move from Soldier Field to Arlington Heights, compared to 29% who said they think the team should stay put. About 39% said they weren’t sure.
Perhaps not surprisingly, suburban fans are more excited about the potential move, the Sun-Times/WBEZ Poll suggests, as 51% of respondents from suburban Cook County and the collar counties said the team should break ground in the suburbs. Only 19% of Chicago respondents said the team should leave the city, 44% opposed the move, and 37% were unsure. […]
But in a follow-up question, regardless of where they lived, 45% of all respondents said they would oppose any government funding being used for the stadium or any of the sewers, roads and other infrastructure costs needed to make the massive mixed-use development a reality. […]
Twenty-eight percent of respondents were open to public financing for the infrastructure alone, while 12% said they’d even be OK with giving the team money for the stadium itself — something the team has vowed not to ask for.
The remaining 15% of respondents to the Sun-Times/WBEZ Poll said they’re not sure how they feel about the prospect of public money going into an Arlington Heights stadium or the rest of the 326-acre plot that the team wants to round out with other amenities.
Q: Well, gentlemen, as you both know, and no doubt most of our audience knows, the Chicago Bears are currently exploring a move to Arlington Heights. What’s your position on using state tax dollars to develop the land there and build a new stadium? Senator Bailey, we’ll start with you.
Bailey: Well, first of all, we have to back up and we have to take a look at why this situation has arisen. And it’s because the state government, local government have failed. More taxes are not the answer. We have got to sit down at the table and come up with better solutions and there’s our our taxes. When I started running for governor, when I started running for state rep in 2017, Illinois taxes were $32 billion. And today under Governor Pritzker’s leadership they’re $46.5 billion [Editor’s note: It’s actually $41 billion, plus another $2 billion in transfers, lottery, gaming, cannabis, etc.]. Now I want you to think about that, if more money is the solution to everything, why are we talking about this? Why do we have the problems that we have in Illinois? We have got to start being responsible with our money. We’ve got to start saving tax dollars money, we’ve got to start bringing business into the state of Illinois and right now with all of our regulations and when our high taxes and our unsafe streets and our failed schools. Nobody’s wanting to come instead they’re all leaving.
Q: Governor Pritzker. Same question for you. What is your position on using state tax dollars to develop land in Arlington Heights for the Bears?
Pritzker: That I should meander around to other questions while I’m answering? No, that’s what Darren Bailey does. Look, I’m a Bears fan. I support the Chicago Bears. But I do not think that the state should be funding the private development of a stadium anywhere in the state.
* Nowhere in this BGA story is it mentioned that state law was recently changed to require almost immediate disclosure when a Statehouse lobbyist hires a non-lobbying consultant. It’s a good reform and I thought it was a strong first step to cleaning up some problems. Former Rep. Ed Acevedo, we just learned with the latest round of indictments, was hired as a consultant to an AT&T lobbyist in order to funnel him some pin money. It was never disclosed before because disclosure wasn’t mandated. It’s mandated now.
That doesn’t mean that what Budzinski or any other lobbyist consultant did was wrong. It’s legal. I was just pointing out that a significant recent state reform was completely ignored in this exposé…
Shortly after she left her state job as a senior adviser to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, longtime political operative Nikki Budzinski collected more than $500,000 in consulting and other fees in 10 months, including more than $80,000 from a Springfield lobbyist Budzinski helped while working for the governor. […]
The lobbyist who paid Budzinski $82,810 after Budzinski left the Pritzker administration is longtime Springfield operative Julie Curry.
A BGA review of state and federal public records shows a cozy relationship between Budzinski and Curry, who frequently reached out when her clients needed assistance, whether it was to set up a meeting with the governor for a client or access for an event at the governor’s mansion.
One expert said Budzinski’s actions after she left the Pritzker administration highlight weaknesses in Illinois’ ethics laws.
State workers are generally barred from accepting compensation as a lobbyist for one year after leaving government work. Since Budzinski was not a registered lobbyist, but rather worked as a consultant to the lobbyist paying her, Illinois’ executive order did not apply to her, records and interviews show.
“The law should also include work for a lobbying firm,” Southern Illinois University law professor and former lieutenant governor Sheila Simon told the BGA.
I’d probably agree with Simon. If you’re gonna ban employees from lobbying, then you should probably extend that to consulting for lobbyists. But most of the activities ascribed to Curry in the article aren’t particularly juicy. They’re just normal things that lobbyists routinely do. And people obviously jumped at the chance to hire Budzinski after she left the administration. She’s been pretty good at almost whatever she’s put her mind to.
Other contracts Budzinski got were from Sixteen Thirty Fund (consultant, $64K), New Venture Fund (consultant, $48K), Climate Jobs National Resource Center (Midwest strategist, $150K), Dewey Square Group (consultant, $40K), Emily’s List (election strategist, $59K), Kilbride for Supreme Court (consultant, $41K), Union Insurance Group (board member, $24K).
It’s perhaps most interesting to me that Budzinski is now campaigning against dark money in politics after having worked for dark money group Sixteen Thirty Fund.
* By the way, I reminded subscribers about this new disclosure law on Monday in reference to former Rep. Acevedo and complained about the lack of a decent search function for consultants. The folks at the secretary of state’s office have since taught me a little site hack.
If you go to the lobbying info search page, then click the “Consultants Retained By Lobbying Entities” box, then select the year and then ignore the “required” language and just click the “Submit” button without inputting a name, voila, you get the entire list of every consultant hired by lobbying entities.
I’ve converted that page into a pdf for your viewing pleasure. Click here. I didn’t see a whole lot with a cursory scroll, except that Maze Jackson appears to have consulted this year for SafeSpeed, the red light cam company at the heart of some federal probes.
* If your Tuesday night didn’t include watching the debate, here is a thorough roundup from Tina Sfondeles…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker blasted his Republican challenger as an “extremist” and a “threat to democracy” who “shouldn’t be let anywhere near the governor’s office,” — as state Sen. Darren Bailey countered the Democratic incumbent was the extreme one, and his “arrogant leadership is killing people.” […]
But Bailey accused Pritzker of pushing “woke ideology” in schools across Illinois.
“His gender issues are so extreme,” Bailey said. “Gov. Pritzker is perfectly fine injecting his gender curriculum, the first of its kind in the nation, into our schools. Woke ideology. I think that’s extreme.” […]
Pritzker accused Bailey of having no plan to address crime, beyond criticizing Chicago. The governor took credit for increasing the number of police officers, eliminating the rape kit backlog and funding violence intervention, mental health and substance abuse treatment programs in the state to help combat crime.
With early voting underway and Election Day just three weeks away, Pritzker defended his record and deemed Bailey’s policies to be too “dangerous” for Illinois. And Bailey, with a smile, baited the governor repeatedly, frequently interrupting his answers.
The interjections, mostly by Bailey, were met with stern warnings from WGN-TV moderator Micah Materre. There was also an exasperated, “Shh” as Bailey tried to talk after a buzzer went off.
It was the last scheduled televised debate between the candidates and possibly the last time they shared venues, giving Bailey perhaps his last chance to cut into Pritzker’s lead in the polls. Recent polling conducted by The Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ found the Democrat with 49% of voters supporting him compared to 34% for Bailey.
That same poll, when broken down to Chicago voters, found Pritzker’s lead grow to a substantial 66 points with 78% supporting him and 12% backing Bailey.
The Republican has been campaigning heavily in Chicago, even renting an apartment in the Hancock Center to “immerse himself in the culture” as he put it and also to win some votes in the state’s largest city. Challenging that connection, however, potentially are past comments and legislative action from Bailey regarding Chicago.
After some other heated questions, the moderators asked Pritzker and Bailey each to identify one thing they admire about their opponent. Each man did find an answer.
“Governor Pritzker, I’m going to be honest with you – you look awesome,” Bailey said. “I like your suits. You look good in them.”
Bailey said he hoped Pritzker would take him suit shopping when the race was over.
To Bailey, Pritzker said, “I admire the fact that you married your high school sweetheart; that you’ve been together for 30 years. That shows deep commitment. That’s something that I feel strongly about as well.”
Meanwhile, the senator was asked several times about his stance on abortion protections in Illinois. During a debate on Oct. 6, Bailey said he couldn’t change the state’s abortion laws if he wanted to. Bailey was endorsed by all of the state’s anti-abortion groups earlier this year. The Illinois Federation for Right to Life, Illinois Citizens For Life, and Illinois Family Action said Bailey has shown a strong commitment to life and is unafraid to speak about his opinions on abortion.
Bailey has recently pulled back on his strong stance against abortion. Political insiders feel that he may be trying to gain support from moderate Republicans in the Chicago suburbs, although it may distance him from public opinion downstate. Bailey deflected Tuesday night and critiqued Pritzker for repealing the state’s parental notification of abortion law.
“Let’s talk about extremism,” Bailey said. “Gov. Pritzker is perfectly fine with our children getting abortions without their parents knowing anything about it. I think that’s extreme.”
Yet, Planned Parenthood Illinois Action said decades of research and experience showed that forced parental involvement laws hurt young people and served no valid purpose. PPIA Vice President of Public Policy Brigid Leahy said PNA was antiquated, harmful, and did not help young people in dangerous situations.
Pritzker noted that Bailey opposes abortion in all cases except saving the life of a mother. The Democrat said Illinois must continue to be a safe haven for women and others who can become pregnant.
The candidates discussed several topics, including crime, Chicago, and the performance of the Department of Child and Family Services and its director Marc Smith. The department has had significant issues despite budget increases in the past three years.
Bailey said the department needs to be addressed at all levels to succeed.
“We are going to start finding and taking applications for all of these agencies,” Bailey said. “I will tell you this, DCFS must be rebuilt from the ground up because it is failing our children all across the state.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker stood behind Smith, who has been held in contempt of court nine times for failing to find suitable placements for children in DCFS care.
“Governors firing the head of the agency does not solve anything,” Pritzker said. “You actually have to go in and fix the problems. Governors for twenty years did not do that. We are doing that.”
State Sen. Bailey has said he could cut state spending by 10 to 15 billion dollars, about one-third, saying everything should be on the table, including state aid to local schools.
“Our children here in Chicago receive $29,000 per student. Yet Chicago schools — they’re failing our children,” Bailey said. “More money is not the problem. Accountability and transparency is the answer.”
Gov. Pritzker was quick to respond.
“I’ve increased education funding by $1.3 billion. And that really is improving our schools. U.S. News & World Report has named us number one among the top 10 most populous states in the nation for pre-k to 12 education,” Pritzker said.
The candidates also traded barbs over immigration policy, as thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers have arrived in Chicago on buses from Texas in recent weeks.
“We need to get rid of this sanctuary state status, so law enforcement can do their job and start reining this gang activity in,” Bailey said. “We need to deal with our southern border and we need to get that under control and stop the inflow of illegal activity.”
The city of Chicago’s “sanctuary city” policy has made it a target of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has ordered migrants to be bused here, as well as New York and Washington, D.C.
Pritzker has declared a state of emergency, activating 75 members of the Illinois National Guard to provide state resources to asylum seekers.
During the debate, Bailey was asked if he would support Trump if he ran for president in 2024. He dodged the question, saying Trump hasn’t announced he will run.
“Nobody’s announced their run for presidency yet, so I’ll tell you that when they announce,” Bailey said. […]
In response, Bailey said if re-elected governor, Pritzker will use his position to make a presidential bid in 2024.
During the first debate, Pritzker said he intends to serve his full term if re-elected and would support President Biden’s campaign in 2024.
* Some tweets…
Post debate: Billionaire liked what he saw, donates another $2M to @DarrenBaileyIL
Ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker argued against his Republican opponent Darren Bailey on school curriculum, gender-affirming therapy, violence and abortion during a televised debate pic.twitter.com/f464oAmyf4
Q: Senator Bailey, over the course of your career, you have at times called for the City of Chicago to be separated from the rest of Illinois. You also in this studio in the Sspring referred to Chicago as a crime-ridden corrupt hellhole. You also have called it the OK Corral and an unruly child. If you’re elected, what is your specific plan for Chicago within the powers of the governor’s office?
A: To let the people know that help is on the way and things can be better. And I want to remind you four and a half months ago as I stood right here and made that comment within six hours later a homeless man was put on fire in Chicago. So I’ve been thinking about that since you keep bringing it the situation up and I’ve got a new name for Chicago. I’m gonna call it Pritzkerville, because every one of Governor Pritzker’s extreme policies are destroying the city. Out of control crime, devastated education, the fact that corporations are packing up and leaving every day. No, I think Pritzkerville fits quite well because Governor Pritzker, it’s time for him to own it. Chicago is the nightmare called Pritzkerville and it’s still two weeks from Halloween.
* His evasive non-answer was eaten up by reporters. Here’s one example…
Well after this debate I’m going to drive my chumbolone self back to my apartment in Pritzkerville where my friends can practice their reproductive rights and love who they love. Might even stop for some tax-free groceries. #ILGovDebate
* Pritzker was asked about Bailey’s comment in the spin room…
We live in a great global city. I am happy to rename Chicago Pritzkerville as he has, but the fact is we have challenges. There’s no doubt I’ve talked about those challenges and how I would address those. He hasn’t. He just calls Chicago names, wants to throw it out of the state. Again, no solutions from Darren Bailey.
* It turns out that this isn’t an original Baileyism. From an October 13 op-ed by ILGOP Chair Don Tracy…
Illinois is more than its elected officials. Each of us adds something to our community, town, state, and nation. As the clumsy angel Clarence told George Bailey in the Capra classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” This could be said of Chicago, too.
Policies pursued jointly by Pritzker, Lightfoot, and Foxx, such as not prosecuting crime, not backing police, and imposing imprudent and illegal lockdowns by fiat scare people and businesses away. The “hole” created by people leaving is filled by criminals who further ruin Chicago.
Now, mobs of teens led astray steal from stores on Michigan Avenue, day in and day out; thugs chase cops and beat them in the West Loop; and drag racing and drifting competitions are becoming common at night in heavily populated areas of our city. […]
Call it Pritzkerville – eerily like Potterville from “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with pot stores and a massive casino planned to fill the holes ripped in Chicago due to the loss of great businesses and decent people pursuing their dreams. […]
Pritzkerville is the dystopian version of Chicago: a dystopia of high taxes, rampant crime, and Democrat corruption. Pritzkerville is Chicago losing its “soul.” It doesn’t have to be this way. Urban life has challenges, but these challenges have long been met – and still are in thriving cities like Miami.
I’ve picked up on some of the lingo and one of the words that I’ve found that was used many years ago is the word chumbolone. It means lacking common sense. It pertains to the people who are being duped by their elected officials. But in this case, I believe that elected officials are the fools here because JB Pritzker and Lori Lightfoot and Kim Foxx, well, they’re the chumbolones of Chicago. They’re responsible for the crime, the corruption and the chaos that exists today and it’s got to change.
I don’t get it. But, hey, nice shout-out to a noted Indiana resident by a guy being backed to the hilt by a noted Florida resident.
Representative Justin Slaughter (D-Chicago) and Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) join crime survivors’ advocates at a press conference on Tuesday to fiercely oppose the misguided, late-stage trailer bill (Senate Bill 4228) that was orchestrated by conservative states attorneys.
The advocates highlighted three core elements of the prosecutors’ trailer bill that would not only undermine reforms, but move Illinois even further backwards, especially where it concerns survivors.
* SB 4228 removes the requirement that State’s attorneys are responsible for notifying victims about detention hearings (Page 69, lines 20-21).
* SB 4228 creates a system where low-level, nonviolent cases will clog up our pretrial detention system, rather than focusing on serious cases (Page 5, lines 7-9; page 60, lines 7-16).
* Creating a “presumption of detention” is unconstitutional, and particularly harmful to criminalized survivors of violence (Page 11, lines 14-15; page 19, lines 7-9; page 62, lines 12-22; page 63, lines 7-16).
“The supporters of the prosecutors’ trailer bill are knowingly undermining the lived experience of survivors and advocates who fought for and won the provision of the Pretrial Fairness Act that requires States Attorneys to notify victims of crimes about detention hearings,” said Vickie Smith, executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “Survivors do not want to be left in the dark, with potentially life-threatening consequences.”
“The shared goal of the Pretrial Fairness Act reforms is to better use the criminal legal system to make us all safer,” said Radhika Sharma-Gordon, Manager, Outreach and Education at Apna Ghar, Inc. “This means freeing up unnecessary resources spent on detaining low-level, low-risk people who’ve been accused of a crime. The prosecutors’ trailer bill seeks to maintain the failed status quo by creating a “catch-all” provision that allows for prosecutors to move for detention on any charge, which is not only a waste of resources, but it diverts attention from the cases that truly need careful and considered review in court.”
Under the Pretrial Fairness Act, prosecutors and law enforcement actually get the time and resources they need to work on cases that impact community safety, instead of spending their days dragging people into bond court for misdemeanors and petty offenses. Under a more focused system they can actually spend their time focusing on the 80 to 90 percent of sex crime reports in Chicago that don’t lead to any arrests. Law enforcement statewide could also spend more time on the 34,000 people in Illinois who have had their right to own a gun revoked by courts – many of whom with domestic violence backgrounds – who have not turned in their weapons or had them confiscated by law enforcement.
“Not only does the prosecutors’ trailer bill undermine the shared goals of the Pretrial Fairness Act, it also undermines the Constitution,” said Kaethe Morris Hoffer, executive director of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation. “We all agree that a presumption of innocence is a cornerstone of our criminal legal system and any legitimate democratic government. That’s why it’s unthinkable that our elected State’s Attorneys have drafted a bill that creates a presumption of detention. Not only is it unconstitutional but it contradicts the democratic institutions our criminal legal system is ostensibly supposed to protect.”
* Capitol News Illinois did a story on the letter. Here’s an excerpt…
Another unmentioned change contained in [Sen. Scott Bennett’s] bill is a provision to ensure that the end of cash bail does not apply to individuals who were held in lieu of bail prior to Jan. 1, 2023. It addresses one of the main concerns of opponents, that those held before Jan. 1 may be entitled to release depending on how a judge interprets the existing language.
That provision has been called the “Purge Law” by some over the top detractors. Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow has said he’d be forced to empty his jail in an “end of days” scenario. The Lake County state’s attorney, on the other hand, has said he’s actually putting in the work to make sure everything is in order come the first of the year.
* Gov. Pritzker brought up that very change last night during the debate…
Q: Governor you’ve accused Republicans of putting out disinformation about the legislation but the law does have critics from your own party, including State’s Attorneys who are suing you What steps are you taking to clarify what the law actually does?
Pritzker: Look, the folks who are critical of the SAFE-T Act and who are spreading disinformation want to let violent criminals out of jail on January 1. That’s not what the SAFE-T Act says. But if they’re going to try to do that, we ought to amend the SAFE-T Act to make sure they can’t do it. Let’s amend it, but not end it. […]
Q: …Today, the sponsors of the SAFE-T Act said they would not support the proposed changes by Democratic Senator Scott Bennett. You’ve previously called his proposal a ‘pretty good bill.’ Do you still feel that way?
Pritzker: Well as I’ve said, there are a lot of provisions in that bill. I think that we ought to be looking through all those provisions to decide which ones. I just suggested one that we ought to implement. But, look, Senator Bennett is a former prosecutor. He’s very thoughtful about these things. But as you know, I support the SAFE-T Act. Again, we ought to amend it appropriately. And make sure that we’re ending cash bail, while keeping murderers rapists and domestic abusers in jail.
Bennett said while much of the current conversation regarding “non-detainable” offenses stems from “misstatements on the right,” he filed the bill to erase any potential doubt.
“But if there was any ambiguity that some judge might misinterpret that, I think it’s fixed in (Senate Bill) 4228 and I think it makes it very clear that we want people out in the community if they are not a danger to the community. We want people getting back on the path to rehabilitation,” he said. “But I think we also need to recognize that there are people that threaten our society, and if there is an objective finding of that, I think everyone feels better if they are detained until they can have their day in court.”
* Quick coverage roundup from Isabel…
* Debates continue among political parties over Illinois’ new SAFE-T Act: One state lawmaker filed a bill that amends language in the current law, while others in his party fired back, saying such changes would do more harm than good. “Right now, the system is broken and I am proud of my partners in the survivor advocacy community for coming to the table and staying at the table and getting changes that will make us all safer,” said Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), who adds that some of the changes fought for in the Safe-T Act are being threatened.
* City of Moline votes down resolution addressing SAFE-T Act: But, only half of the council members supported the resolution. Mike Wendt gave his reasoning and stated, “It is important to give the city of moline one voice that we are supportive of our officers and our law-abiding residents.” The resolution addresses what they deemed major issues in the SAFE-T act, such as the removal of cash bail and unclear guidelines for law enforcement.
* Kendall County Board approves resolution requesting changes to SAFE-T Act: The resolution received unanimous support from the board. During the meeting, State’s Attorney Eric Weis told the board that preparing for unknowns with the SAFE-T Act has been difficult. Kendall County, along with many others, has filed to suit to halt the act’s implementation.
* I forgot to post a debate thread yesterday. Sorry about that. While Isabel and I gather stories about last night’s gubernatorial debate, here’s your chance to give it your own spin.
* Where 28th state Senate candidates stand on abortion: Murphy, who has represented the district since 2015, said the government “has no business” making decisions about reproduction or other health care issues for women. “We have the right to make our own decisions on our health care,” she said. “Everyone else makes their own decisions on their health care. Why wouldn’t women, throughout the country and particularly in Illinois, have the right to do it?”
* In their own words: Meet the candidates running for Illinois’s 36th Senate District:
For the first time since 2014, State Senator Neil Anderson (R) will not be on the ballot for Illinois’s 36th district. After the state’s once-per-decade redistricting process, Anderson was drawn out of the 36th. He now resides in and is running to represent the new 47th district.
* What’s the Difference Between Illinois’ Treasurer and Comptroller?: While the offices of attorney general and secretary of state seem simple enough, Illinois is one of only a handful of states that has both a treasurer and a comptroller, with both offices controlling elements of the state’s finances.
* Daily Herald Endorsement: Costa Howard for House Dist. 42: Many Democrats danced around questions related to former House Speaker Michael Madigan, the once all-powerful head of the party in Illinois. Costa Howard worked for his ouster. In fact, she was one of the 19 House Democrats who opposed his leadership and one of the first to call for him to go. […] It is a shame that in endorsing Costa Howard we cannot therefore endorse Hood. She is a responsible Republican running to add political balance to a state now dominated by one party and normally we would herald that.
