* The Martin Luther King, Jr. statue near the Statehouse was “toppled over” last night, according to Beth Kaufman at the Secretary of State’s office.
A person is in custody, but has not yet been formally charged. The statue is currently at a state warehouse being “assessed for damage,” Kaufman said. According to Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) there’s video of the alleged crime. Rep. Butler took this photo today of the empty pedestal…
I really hate people sometimes.
*** UPDATE *** According to Ms. Kaufman, Fernando Garcia Martinez, 24, has been formally charged with criminal damage to state supported property, which is a felony. He’s currently at the Sangamon County Jail.
…Adding… I’m told Martinez “has no address,” so it’s unknown at this time where he’s from. Bail will be determined tomorrow during a court hearing.
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Question of the day
Monday, Sep 12, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Back to the Tribune article…
DeVore, 53, a small-town attorney who has the words “liberty” and “freedom” tattooed on his forearms, received his law degree from Saint Louis University and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 2011.
* The Question: Do you have any tattoos? Explain either way.
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* The Sun Times…
Most Illinois taxpayers will soon be getting onetime income and property tax rebates from the state.
Distribution of the money to qualifying residents starts Monday. […]
Who qualifies? You must have been an Illinois resident in 2021 with an adjusted gross income on your 2021 Form IL-1040 filing under $200,000 for individual filers and under $400,000 for those who filed as couples.
How much is the rebate? Taxpayers who filed their tax returns as a single person will be eligible to receive $50. Couples who filed joint returns are eligible to get $100. If you have dependents, there’s an additional $100 per dependent, to a maximum of $300.
* NBC…
On top of the income tax rebates, some homeowners may receive more assistance.
Qualified property owners will receive a rebate equal to the property tax credit claimed on their 2021 IL-1040 form, with a maximum payment of up to $300. To be eligible, you must have paid Illinois property taxes in 2021 on your primary residence and your adjust gross income must be $500,000 or less if filing jointly. If filing alone, your income must be $250,000 or less.
Rebates will be distributed in the method that your original income tax refund was sent, according to the state of Illinois website. If you did not receive a refund, did not file an Illinois income tax return, or are requesting the property tax rebate separately, then your rebate will be sent by paper check.
As is the situation with the income tax rebates, property owners who completed the IL-1040 form will receive rebates automatically. If you didn’t, though, there’s no need to worry.
* Pritzker press release…
The rebate payments, which will take at least eight weeks to be issued in total, will be sent automatically to Illinois residents who filed 2021 state income taxes and claimed a property tax credit. Those who have not filed can still access the rebates after completing additional filing. […]
“I’m very pleased to announce that we remain on schedule and the first wave of tax rebate checks will be going out to taxpayers beginning today,” Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza said. “My Office will be working diligently to get these rebates into the hands of taxpayers. After all, it’s your money. A total of $1.2 billion dollars will be released over the next 6-8 weeks to nearly 6 million taxpayers.”
“If direct deposit was used, the rebates will be deposited directly into taxpayers’ accounts,” said Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) Director David Harris. “If there was no refund or a paper refund was issued, the rebate will be mailed to the address on file. Taxpayers who did not receive a refund directly from the state of Illinois, such as those who received an advancement of their refund from their preparer, will receive a paper rebate check mailed to the address on file.”
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* If you watched the Bears game yesterday, you may have seen that “Scream” ad put out by Dan Proft’s PAC. Click here if you missed it or didn’t see it posted on the blog last week. Gov. Pritzker was asked today about his thoughts on the ad…
Pritzker: Look, it’s terrible. It’s a terrible commercial. They’ve chosen a particular crime in which there was a white woman who is the victim and apparently Black perpetrators. That’s the ad they want people to see, particularly in the suburbs. That’s part of the entire racial tinge of everything that’s being put out by that PAC.
And let’s also take note, at least this morning, I think I read that the victim may not have approved of any of this and probably should have been consulted about her crime being put all over television, the crime that was perpetrated against her. I think it’s disgusting and I’ve said that before.
…You want to talk about crime? Let’s talk about crime. Darren Bailey sanctions these kinds of ads, thinks they’re okay, has accepted the support of that PAC. And Darren Bailey is the one who voted to defund police, literally voted against budgets that would fund State Police for Illinois, the increase in state police that we need, voted against providing new crime labs so we can solve crimes faster. Those crime labs are the ones that have eliminated the rape kit backlog in our state. Darren Bailey voted against all of the things that would reduce crime, preventing violent crime. So, you know, he talks out of one side of his mouth, and then he’s okay accepting support from people who were putting forward racially charged ads that are attacks about crime, that, frankly, he’s responsible more than many others for.
Q: Are you saying the commercial is racist?
Pritzker: I’m saying that the intent of the people who put it out, look at all the things that they’re involved in, clearly has a racial tinge to it.
This was an independent expenditure, so Darren Bailey is not supposed to play a role in the ad. The governor seems to be more than just suggesting otherwise, but hasn’t offered up proof.
* I told subscribers about this earlier today, but here’s Dan Proft’s response when I asked if he’d obtained permission to use the footage from either CWBChicago or from the victim featured in the ad…
Chicagoland news stations broadcast the same video. CWBChicago put it up on its site. That’s where we obtained it. It is public domain material just as is anything else posted by any media outlet so long as it is not being used by a third party for commercial purposes, which this isn’t.
Attribution is not synonymous with endorsement. This is well-established. You see proper attribution to media outlets as the source of material all the time in political ads. In fact, people get criticized when they air content that makes claims that doesn’t have attribution.
All PBR PAC did was air video aired by news stations across Chicagoland and connect the dots to the responsible parties for the unchecked violence in Chicago, and soon via the SAFE-T Act, the rest of Illinois.
It’s holding pols responsible for the violence and mayhem they induce through their anti-police, anti-prosecution policies that has their friends in the media doing their performative pearl-clutching. Period.
* From the Pritzker campaign…
Illinoisans of all backgrounds can agree that exploiting an act of violence without permission from, or any compassion for, the victim is reprehensible. Darren Bailey should call on Dan Proft to stop running these ads and he should demand that his largest donor, Dick Uihlein, stop funding them. Their complete lack of empathy is shameful and our state deserves better.
I’ve asked the Bailey campaign for comment and will post it if I receive one.
…Adding… Bailey campaign…
Rich, JB doesn’t want to face the fact that he is keeping Illinoisans less safe. That’s why he doesn’t like the AD on the air. Does he have a response to this [person] being robbed in the middle of the day at 11AM.
Video is here.
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Campaign notebook
Monday, Sep 12, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We’ve been talking about all of these things and more for quite a while here, but the Tribune finally put some of them together in one piece headlined “GOP attorney general candidate Thomas DeVore has record of taking critics to court, including his girlfriend’s mom and Gov. J.B. Pritzker”…
While running for a downstate school board seat five years ago, Republican Illinois attorney general candidate Thomas DeVore complained in a Facebook post about students who struggled to make correct change at a concession stand during a basketball game.
“Lord help us with the window lickers, I mean special children,” DeVore, a civil attorney from Sorento, wrote.
People critical of DeVore’s post shared it more widely and in one case urged area residents to contact his law office. DeVore proceeded to file a libel lawsuit in Montgomery County against three people, including a local special education teacher, alleging they had falsely accused him of ridiculing “children with ‘special needs.’”
Go read the rest.
* Speaking of DeVore, he highlighted this button on his Facebook page yesterday…
I kinda think I want one.
* Here we go again…
* CD8 oppo dump!…
Chris Dargis, Republican candidate for Congress in Illinois, was a key advisor to PAR Technology, a New York-based “global provider of restaurant software” which has sourced products from a factory using alleged Uyghur forced labor.
Dargis is taking on Raja Krishnamoorthi, three-term sitting Indian American Democrat in Illinois’s 8th congressional district, in the Nov. 8 midterm election.
* Catalina Lauf has scrubbed her campaign website of abortion references. Up until very recently, this was on the 11th Congressional District Republican nominee’s “Issues” page, via the WayBack Machine…
If you click here and go to her Issues page now, that passage no longer exists. A search of her website shows no mention of her stance. Scrubbing campaign sites of all references to anti-abortion stances has lately been something of a national trend.
* We talked last week about a Democratic ad whacking 17th Congressional District Republican nominee Esther Joy King. A TV news fact-check of the ad found one attack misfired because Politico made what turned out to be a false claim. Another fell through because the Democratic PAC didn’t look far enough back in the records. And two were true.
* IL AFL-CIO…
Alyssa Goodstein has joined the Illinois AFL-CIO as Communications Director, effective September 1. Alyssa will focus on building the organization’s statewide and federal strategic communications efforts, while working with local affiliates to develop public affairs programs.
“We are excited to have Alyssa leading our communications team, bringing a creative eye and breadth of experience to the table,” said Tim Drea, President of the IL AFL-CIO. “Most recently, Alyssa served as Deputy Chief of Communications to Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia. In this capacity, she advised on message development, managed media relations and crisis communications for a citywide office serving 2.69 million constituents.”
Previously, Alyssa was Chief of Staff to Illinois State Senator Sara Feigenholtz (D-6), running Feigenholtz’s district and Springfield operations. She was also one of the ten original staff members on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s primary campaign, developing outreach and field strategy that contributed to the mayor’s historic victory. In addition to her work with the federation, Alyssa is the LGBTQ+ Caucus Director for Young Democrats of Illinois, building relationships with stakeholders throughout the state to enhance LGBTQ+ advocacy efforts.
A native Californian, Alyssa holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from UCLA and earned her Master of Arts from the University of Chicago in 2018.
* PPIA…
Today, the Planned Parenthood Illinois Action (PPIA) Board of Directors, the non-partisan political and advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, announces its endorsement of Alexi Giannoulias for Illinois Secretary of State.
“We are endorsing Alexi Giannoulias because we must remain vigilant to keep abortion safe and legal in Illinois,” said Jennifer Welch, President and CEO of PPIA. “Giannoulias has been a long-time champion of this fight to preserve and expand abortion access. Giannoulias recognizes that abortion bans disproportionately impact the people who already face the greatest barriers to health care, including Black, LatinX, Indigenous folks, disabled people, young people, people in rural areas and immigrants. He will work tirelessly to protect the right and access to care for those already having difficulty making ends meet.”
Giannoulias said, “I am honored to receive Planned Parenthood Illinois Action’s endorsement. I have always been pro-choice and have always supported access to reproductive health care. Now more than ever, I am committed to defending everyone’s freedom to make their own reproductive health care decisions. I want to make sure that no politician or government agency has the power to interfere with the right to obtain an abortion in the state of Illinois.”
Since the SCOTUS ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, Giannoulias has worked with state Rep. Ann Williams (D-11) and Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-14) to develop legislation aimed at protecting the privacy of people who travel for reproductive health care.
PPIA endorses candidates based on their reproductive health care policies and their commitment to protecting the health and rights of all Illinoisans. A full list of PPIA endorsements and more information is available at ppiaction.org.
* Rep. Wheeler…
Representative Keith Wheeler today announces a coalition of job creators endorsing his candidacy in the 83rd District House race. The Illinois Chamber, Illinois Farm Bureau-Activator, NFIB Illinois, and the Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) endorse Wheeler over Hanson for the Illinois House in the General Election on November 8.
“Our members support candidates who support small business. Representative Keith Wheeler has shown that he understands the challenges facing Illinois’ job creators,” said NFIB State Director Chris Davis. “Our members believe Keith Wheeler will continue his good work to create, protect, and maintain an environment where small businesses can thrive and create jobs.”
“Small business owners and job creators here in the Fox Valley and all across Illinois are doing incredible work to grow our economy,” Wheeler said. “As a state representative and a business owner, myself, I feel a special connection with these folks and an obligation to do everything I can to redirect state policies to make it easier for small businesses to do what they do best - create Illinois jobs for Illinois families.”
* DuPage…
DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek announces that the DuPage County Fairgrounds’ main parking lot will be completely repaved in 2023 thanks to a $585,000 polling place accessibility grant from the Illinois State Board of Elections. A portion of the parking lot was already repaved in 2022 thanks to an initial state grant of $149,000. The Fairgrounds serves as DuPage County’s most popular polling place during Early Voting and Election Day.
“Nearly 34,000 people voted at the Fairgrounds during the 2020 General Election. Voters returning in 2022 will already notice a night-and-day difference in the condition of the main parking lot from funding from the first grant,” Kaczmarek says. “Many of the bumps, potholes, gravel and puddles near the polling place are already gone. We’re pleased that this latest grant was approved so the lot can be completed.”
I was pretty skeptical when I first started reading that, but it sounds like a win/win.
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* Press release…
Chief Justice Anne M. Burke has announced her retirement from the Illinois Supreme Court. Her last day on the bench will be November 30, 2022. Chief Justice Burke has served on the Supreme Court since 2006 and has served as Chief Justice since October 2019. Her term as Chief Justice concludes on October 25, 2022. Justice Burke’s full statement on her retirement is available here.
“I have been blessed to serve as a Supreme Court Justice for the past 16 years and have loved working with my staff, colleagues and Judicial Branch staff to serve the people of Illinois,” Chief Justice Burke said. “The past three years as Chief Justice have been a challenging time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I am thrilled with the progress made by the Illinois Courts.”
The Supreme Court has constitutional authority to fill interim judicial vacancies and has appointed First District Appellate Justice Joy V. Cunningham to fill the seat vacated by Chief Justice Burke. Justice Cunningham, whose term is effective December 1, 2022, through December 2, 2024, will be the second Black woman to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court. The first, Justice Lisa Holder White, was appointed earlier this year.
“I am grateful to the Supreme Court for the trust it has placed in me by allowing me to continue to serve the people of the State of Illinois as a Justice of our Supreme Court. I will do my best to serve with humility, integrity and compassion and always remember why I am there – to serve the people,” Justice Cunningham said. “We have a distinguished Supreme Court in Illinois, and I am proud to have the opportunity to serve alongside these exceptional public servants. I am pleased to live in a state and a country in which my contributions are valued and my opportunities are limitless.” […]
Justice Joy V. Cunningham has served as a First District Appellate Court Justice since 2006 and currently serves as Chair of the Executive Committee. She has served on and chaired the Settlement Committee and serves on the Orientation Committee for new justices. She spent a decade on the Education Committee and chaired the court’s Judicial Performance Committee. She currently co-chairs the First District’s Diversity Committee.
Justice Cunningham received her Bachelor of Science from the City University of New York and earned her Juris Doctorate from the John Marshall Law School. She began her career in 1982 as an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. She went on to be a law clerk to First District Appellate Court Justice Glenn T. Johnson. For 10 years she was the Associate General Counsel and Chief Counsel for HealthCare at Loyola University where she established, directed, and managed Loyola University’s in-house healthcare legal division.
In 1996, Justice Cunningham was sworn in as an Associate Judge in Cook County Circuit Court where she was assigned to the civil trial division. She left the bench in 2000 to serve as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Northwestern Memorial Healthcare where she reported and provided counsel to the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer. She returned to the bench in December 2006 as an elected First District Appellate Court Justice and was retained by voters in 2016.
Her professional associations include the Chicago Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the Cook County Bar Association, the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, the Black Women Lawyers Association, the Illinois Judicial Council, the Illinois Judges Association, the Economic Club of Chicago, the Chicago Network, the CBA Past Presidents’ Council, the American Law Institute, and the American Bar Foundation.
Justice Cunningham was the first African American woman elected President of the Chicago Bar Association, the nation’s largest municipal bar association. Her awards include the John Paul Stevens Award, the Earl Burrus Dickerson Award, the Mary Heftel Hooten Award, and the Torchbearer Award.
I ran into the Chief Justice at an event the other day and she talked a little about finishing out her term as the state’s top judge, but gave no indication that she was planning to step down from the Court.
Maybe her husband will finally take the hint and retire as well.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that Justice Mary Jane Theis will be its next Chief Justice. Justice Theis was selected by the Court to serve a three-year term commencing October 26, 2022. She succeeds Justice Anne M. Burke whose tenure as Chief Justice began in October of 2019.
An installation ceremony marking Justice Theis’ selection as Chief Justice will be held at the Supreme Court Building in Springfield during the Court’s November Term.
“I would like to thank my colleagues for giving me this opportunity to serve the people of Illinois as Chief Justice,” Justice Theis said. “I would also like to congratulate Justice Burke for her successful term as Chief and her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. I look forward to working with the bench, bar and community at large to further the Court’s mission of providing access to equal justice, ensuring judicial integrity and upholding the rule of law. Our goal continues to be increasing public trust and confidence in the courts.”
Justice Theis will be the fourth woman to serve as Chief Justice following the late Justice Mary Ann McMorrow, Justice Rita B. Garman, and Justice Burke. She will be the 122nd Chief Justice in Illinois history.
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* McLean County’s largest school district recently denied four resignations submitted by tenured special education teachers weeks before the first day of school. WGLT…
Unit 5 has invoked a rarely used state statute that allows school districts to reject teacher resignations in certain circumstances.
McLean County’s largest district denied four resignations, submitted by special education teachers weeks before the first day of school. Two of the teachers agreed to stay for the 2022-2023 school year.
But for two others who ignored the warning, Andrea Jefferson and Emily Andris, who left to teach elsewhere, their teaching licenses now are in jeopardy. […]
What’s at issue here is Illinois statutes in place that apply to tenured teachers during the school term: A district has the right to reject a tenured teacher’s resignation if that means the teacher would leave during the school term to take a teaching job at a different school district. […]
That critical need for special education services was key in Unit 5’s decision, said Baldwin. The district already had four vacancies in special education. The newly-submitted four resignations would have doubled the shortage.
* There is a state-wide shortage of special education teachers, says the Center for Illinois Politics…
While districts across the state report slight and sporadic shortages, there is little dispute that there continues to be a shortage of special & bilingual education, along with world languages, agriculture, and some secondary sciences teachers. And, according to Liam Chan Hodges, Media Coordinator for Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), “These current shortages have a disproportionate impact on chronically struggling schools, underfunded schools, and schools serving low-income communities.” The shortages hit hardest where the need is often the greatest – and simply doing more of what we’ve done in the past will not solve the issue.
* Some suburban school districts’ solutions to the special education and language teacher shortage is substitutes, ABC7 reports…
Superintendents around the area say the main problem they are encountering is that they simply don’t have enough qualified people applying for the positions they have open, most of which appear to be special ed, bilingual and dual-language teachers. […]
Around 35,000 students returned to the classroom in School District U-46, the second largest in the state, including Elgin as well as 10 other surrounding communities. But even as students begin to shake off the summer cobwebs, many will be taught by substitutes, for now.
“We still have around 100 teacher vacancies,” District U-46 Supt. Tony Sanders said. “We’re able to fill those. We have retirees. We have long-term subs. We have lots of people to step in to fill those roles.”
Most of U-46’s vacancies are for dual language and special ed teachers.[…]
It’s a similar story in Joliet’s Public School District 86, where students will be welcomed back on Wednesday. They are still short about 20 full-time teachers, and the Illinois State Board of Education will only allow districts to use subs for 30 days at a time in a single classroom.
* Illinois State Board of Education’s statement to ABC 7…
Like many states across the country, Illinois is currently experiencing a teacher shortage. In the hopes of better understanding this shortage, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) conducted an analysis to understand the specific students and communities most impacted by teacher vacancies. This analysis found that the current shortage has a disproportionate impact on chronically struggling schools, underfunded schools, and schools serving low-income communities, as well as specific subject areas including special education and bilingual education. The data reinforce the importance of equity as the driving strategy for continuing to strengthen the teacher pipeline in Illinois.
To help address the shortage of substitute teachers, ISBE has instituted changes to expand the pipeline for substitute teachers. For example, in addition to any individual with a bachelor’s degree, we also now allow those enrolled in an Illinois approved educator preparation program who have completed 90 semester hours of coursework to substitute teach beginning January 1, 2023. We have also waived the $25 application fee during public health emergencies, such as the current covid-19 pandemic, so individuals can get licensed to sub completely for free. Short-term substitutes can also teach up to 15 consecutive days, instead of the usual five, for up to 120 days for school year 2022-23.
The state has also employed several other strategic initiatives, which have proven to be effective in growing the teacher workforce, raising enrollment in educator preparation programs, and increasing teacher retention rates. […]
As a result of these initiatives, and others, the teacher workforce in Illinois has grown year-over-year since 2018, adding more than 5,000 new teachers to the profession. The state also saw an 11 percent increase in enrollment in educator preparation programs between 2019 and 2020, and last year teacher retention rates rose to over 87 percent, the highest since 2014.
…Adding… NPR…
This school year, 48 states, including Hawaii, reported shortages of special education teachers to the federal government.
The shortage is so severe that Hawaii is one of several states that rely on teachers without licenses in special education to teach some of the highest needs students — like those who do not speak and those with challenging behaviors.
But Hawaii’s pay increase [$10,000 per year for special ed teachers], which began in 2020, was a game changer. Before the incentive, in October 2019, almost 30% of the state’s special education positions were vacant or staffed by teachers without appropriate licenses, district data shows. By October 2021, that number dropped by half, to about 15%.
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Has Glasgow even read the SAFE-T Act?
Monday, Sep 12, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a Proft paper quoting Will County State’s Jim Glasgow…
If the SAFE-T Act were in place a violent criminal like Drew Peterson – who is being held on murder charges and was caught on tape planning the murder of Glasgow himself – would have been on the street.
“If you go back to his murder trial, he was in jail for three years on a $20 million bond,” Glasgow said. “That’s the most difficult prosecution I’ve ever handled. And there’s no way in the world that I would have weathered that storm had he been out of jail. In fact, on the overhear when he was captured by the FBI, when they were discussing my murder, he said if he was out on the street, he’d take care of it himself. And then he referenced back to ‘07 when it all started that he was going to take care of it then but he couldn’t slip the media and the police. So there’s real danger at all levels here when violent offenders cannot be held.”
Um, the new law says this about denial of pre-trial release…
Upon verified petition by the State, the court shall hold a hearing and may deny a defendant pretrial release only if:
(1) the defendant is charged with a forcible felony offense for which a sentence of imprisonment, without probation, periodic imprisonment or conditional discharge, is required by law upon conviction, and it is alleged that the defendant’s pretrial release poses a specific, real and present threat to any person or the community.
Since Peterson was caught on tape saying he wanted to murder Glasgow, that would be a pretty darned specific, real and present threat to a person.
* By the way, here’s the rest of that statute for future reference about when people can be held in jail without pre-trial release…
(2) the defendant is charged with stalking or aggravated stalking and it is alleged that the defendant’s pre-trial release poses a real and present threat to the physical safety of a victim of the alleged offense, and denial of release is necessary to prevent fulfillment of the threat upon which the charge is based;
(3) the victim of abuse was a family or household member as defined by paragraph (6) of Section 103 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986, and the person charged, at the time of the alleged offense, was subject to the terms of an order of protection issued under Section 112A-14 of this Code, or Section 214 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986 or previously was convicted of a violation of an order of protection under Section 12-3.4 or 12-30 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or the Criminal Code of 2012 or a violent crime if the victim was a family or household member as defined by paragraph (6) of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986 at the time of the offense or a violation of a substantially similar municipal ordinance or law of this or any other state or the United States if the victim was a family or household member as defined by paragraph (6) of Section 103 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986 at the time of the offense, and it is alleged that the defendant’s pre-trial release poses a real and present threat to the physical safety of any person or persons;
(4) the defendant is charged with domestic battery or aggravated domestic battery under Section 12-3.2 or 12-3.3 of the Criminal Code of 2012 and it is alleged that the defendant’s pretrial release poses a real and present threat to the physical safety of any person or persons;
(5) the defendant is charged with any offense under Article 11 of the Criminal Code of 2012, except for Sections 11-30, 11-35, 11-40, and 11-45 of the Criminal Code of 2012, or similar provisions of the Criminal Code of 1961 and it is alleged that the defendant’s pretrial release poses a real and present threat to the physical safety of any person or persons;
* Some more alleged crimes that can get people held pre-trial…
(A)ggravated discharge of a firearm; aggravated discharge of a machine gun or a firearm equipped with a device designed or use for silencing the report of a firearm; reckless discharge of a firearm; armed habitual criminal; manufacture, sale or transfer of bullets or shells represented to be armor piercing bullets, dragon’s breath shotgun shells, bolo shells or flechette shells; unlawful sale or delivery of firearms; unlawful sale or delivery of firearms on the premises of any school; unlawful sale of firearms by liquor license; unlawful purchase of a firearm; gunrunning; irearms trafficking; involuntary servitude; involuntary sexual servitude of a minor; trafficking in persons; unlawful use or possession of weapons by felons or persons in the Custody of the Department of Corrections facilities; aggravated unlawful use of a weapon; aggravated possession of a stolen firearm.
More here.
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* Illinois Leaks…
We finally obtained a copy of the settlement agreement in the lawsuit where Senator Michael Hastings was sued, along with the Illinois Senate, for discrimination and harassment against Cassandra Matz, a former employee of Sen. Hastings.
In the settlement agreement, Hastings and the Senate deny any wrongdoing but agree to pay a total of $100,000 to Matz and her attorneys.
The settlement also:
• prohibits Matz from disclosing the settlement (a gag agreement) to anyone,
• prohibits the filing or use of the settlement in any court
• agrees to file a Stipulation to Dismiss in the court stating that each party shall bear their own attorney fees, costs, or expenses (kind of flies in the face of the $100,000 payment)
This leads us to think there are wider harassment issues in the Illinois government than simply this lawsuit, which by all appearances attempts to make the public think it was dismissed and no payments were made.
There’s more.
* I told subscribers about the $100,000 payout last week, but here’s WBEZ today…
And those were not the only costs to taxpayers from that legal battle. The state also hired a private attorney who represented Hastings — with the payments to the outside counsel’s firm adding up to nearly $47,000, according to records obtained by WBEZ.
Scroll down…
Still, a veteran environmental lobbyist in Springfield told WBEZ that Kathleen Hastings’s complaint to police — and what she says are her own personal experiences of being bullied repeatedly by Michael Hastings in professional interactions — have led her to decide she would no longer lobby him and to call for his resignation from the Senate.
Jen Walling, the longtime executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, said in an interview last week that Hastings had yelled at her, pounded his hands on a table in a Capitol meeting room and approached her in a menacing manner during disagreements over legislation in Springfield in the past five years.
“He clearly, to me, in observing him, has had serious issues with anger management that aren’t appropriate for the workplace where we are making laws for the state of Illinois,” Walling said. […]
But in a written statement sent to WBEZ, Hastings spokesman Ray Hanania said Walling was “not being honest,” and Hanania suggested her accusations and other complaints against Hastings recently — including those stemming from the senator’s marital problems — were designed to hurt his reelection bid. […]
Hastings’s spokesman, Hanania, said Walling “is the bully. And she is not being honest. Hastings has been the sponsor of the most sweeping environmental legislation we have seen.”
Yeah, that attack ain’t gonna fly, dude. Stay tuned.
* Related…
* Senator Hastings Continues With Lawsuit To Discover Who Distributed Police Report His Wife Filed Against Him
…Adding… I asked Senate President Don Harmon’s spokesperson if Harmon had a comment…
We are just seeing this article, and at this time we do not.
…Adding… Sen. Napoleon Harris has released a statement in support of Sen. Hastings…
“With the statements made by Jen Walling, I cannot sit by and allow her misleading and false political rhetoric to go without a response.
“First, how coincidental that Ms. Walling decides to make a statement two months before an election. I have known Mike Hastings to be one of the most upstanding, professional, and honest legislators in the Illinois Senate. As the Chairman of the Senate Energy & Public Utilities Committee, he helped champion one of the most sweeping clean energy pieces of legislation in the nation and has fought to implement diversity hiring requirements throughout the utility industry.
“Second, there is an unknown truth to Ms. Walling and the manner in which she conducts her business. She is one of the most abrasive and disrespectful lobbyists in Springfield. She is a bully. When trying to advance a piece of legislation that would help the South Suburbs and the 17th District, she literally threatened to organize local people in my community against me along with threatening to protest my office location. I know that she did the same to Senator Hastings in his district when she did not get her way.
“Jen Walling does not have the slightest clue about the best interests of Harvey or the South Suburbs, for that matter. However, when she does not get her way or someone does not agree with her demands, she either threatens you or bullies you to get what she wants. In this instance, she should be ashamed of herself and reflect on the way she conducts business.
Walling flatly denies the protest threat. She doesn’t deny asking constituents to contact their lawmakers, which is pretty common. The issue in question was SB1104, a bill pushed by the fossil fuel industry.
That Napo comment is just weird, man.
…Adding… ILGOP…
Illinois State Senator Michael Hastings continues to blame everyone but himself for his problems, like the inexcusable domestic violence allegations and the taxpayer-funded defense of alleged discrimination and retaliation against a former staffer. Meanwhile, Hastings’ Democratic colleagues have been either completely silent on his alleged misconduct or, in some cases, have even come to his defense.
Senator Napoleon Harris went so far as to defend Hastings, saying in a statement he was, “one of the most upstanding, professional, and honest legislators in the Illinois Senate.”
According to the police report as quoted in WBEZ, Hastings’ wife, “advised on 11-09-2020, Michael battered her, by placing her in a chokehold/neck restraint, and slammed her body into a door multiple times.” What has Hastings himself had to say?
Instead of taking responsibility for these deplorable allegations, Hastings has attempted to deflect time and again.
According to WBEZ, “Records show Hastings called two different police departments and unsuccessfully sought to have his wife arrested and charged two months ago in a dispute over visitation rights. In addition to denying his wife’s allegations of domestic-battery, he also sued south suburban Frankfort for allegedly leaking the report containing those allegations.”
According to the Chicago Tribune last month, Hastings accused the police report of being, “intentionally leaked to the news media in a sinister attempt to influence the elections, hurt me politically by tarnishing my reputation, and turning the divorce around to blame the divorce on me by using these false domestic violence accusations.”
While Hastings and his colleagues dodge and deflect, Illinois taxpayers are left to pick up the tab for his state-funded settlement and legal fees, to the tune of nearly $150,000.
“Senator Hastings’ colleagues should be ashamed of their silence. He has lashed out against everybody while using our tax dollars to do so. It’s time for Illinois Democrats to step up and condemn Hastings for these allegations unbefitting of anyone, let alone a public servant,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy.
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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
I was looking for something else recently on Scott Kennedy’s Illinois Election Data website and noticed he had voter turnout numbers from statewide races since 1990.
We all know that Downstate has lost a significant amount of its political importance, but the numbers really help illustrate this decline.
In 1990, 42% of the total vote for governor came from Downstate counties, while a mere 17% came from the suburban collar counties outside Cook.
By 2018, just 36% of the total vote for governor came from Downstate and 25% was from the collars. When you expand the definition of the collar counties to include some in the Chicago metro region that had previously been considered more rural, the Downstate figure drops to 31% and the share of the collar county vote rises to 29%.
I happened to be talking with former Gov. Jim Edgar about something else shortly after seeing those numbers, and when I brought it up he said in those days, Republicans would figure on being stomped in the city, but they’d win Cook and the collar county suburbs and then the margin Downstate would wind up being pretty close to the statewide spread.
In Edgar’s first gubernatorial election in 1990, that’s just what happened. He lost Chicago by 33 points, won suburban Cook by 18, won the collars by 27 and took Downstate by 3, winning overall that year by just under 3 percentage points.
Edgar focused intently on the suburbs, campaigning on a promise to cap local property taxes and highlighting his strong support of abortion rights, among other things the voters in that region cared about.
By 2018, Chicago and suburban Cook County made up almost the same percentage share of the total vote for governor as in 1990, declining only by about a percentage point. The difference, though, is the Cook County suburbs are now firmly in Democratic control. Edgar won them by 18 points back in the day, but J.B. Pritzker won them by 29 points in 2018. That’s a 47-point swing.
The collars have leaned Democratic during presidential years since Barack Obama’s national bid in 2008 and gradually started trending more Democratic in off-year races, culminating in Pritzker’s three-point collar county win over Bruce Rauner in 2018 and historic county-wide Democratic wins in the region both that year and in 2020.
Downstate has become much more reliable for Republicans. No statewide Democrat except Secretary of State Jesse White has won the region for the past 10 years. Obama won it in 2008 by four points but lost Downstate four years later by seven, an 11-point flip. Pritzker lost it by 10 points four years ago.
But the increase in Republican identification in the region has not been enough to make up for its falling vote share and the party’s more recent disadvantages in the suburbs. Pat Quinn lost Downstate by 24 points in 2010 and still managed to eke out a narrow victory, after all.
Partisan red meat works well in Downstate, and Republican gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Darren Bailey will likely run up his numbers there, but it definitely doesn’t work in the suburbs.
Bailey has spent much of his campaign ignoring this basic Illinois electoral math and crafting an under-funded message that, if anything, almost appears to be designed to turn away those collar county voters. It’s impossible to win statewide by running up the score in a region that contains barely more than a third of the vote while turning off, and even firing up opposition in, the rest of the state.
Bailey’s recent “kitchen table” policy proposal is to require the University of Illinois’ flagship campus in Urbana-Champaign to guarantee 90% of its enrollment is made up of Illinois residents.
Other states have similar requirements mainly because of pressure from parents, and many of those folks live in the suburbs.
When Bruce Rauner was governor and universities struggled without a state budget, UIUC and other campuses were left to their own devices. The fiscal situation was only marginally better under Pat Quinn. Rauner took a fiscal crisis and turned it into a calamity.
State finances are better now, so perhaps it is time to start discussing the use of large numbers of international students to subsidize tuition for everyone else.
But, on the politics side, Bailey is gonna need infinitely more than this to overcome his geographical and ideological deficits.
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Mayors say the quiet part out loud
Monday, Sep 12, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Background is here if you need it. Tribune…
Earlier this year, Burr Ridge hosted asylum-seeking refugees from Afghanistan who have now found permanent housing and employment, according to [Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso]. Those families also stayed at Hampton Inn & Suites, he said.
“Being a place for refugees to come sounds like immigration — it’s not the hotel business,” Grasso said, sharing that he has been in touch with hotel staff. “We would likely not let you open a hotel if you tell us that you’re going to be housing refugees as your primary source of business.”
* Meanwhile, from a CBS 2 reporter…
The ABC 7 story in question is basically just a copy and paste of Mayor Johnson’s press release without any sort of label. Click here for the press release and click here for the station’s rewrite.
Also, while there may not be any need to notify the mayors, that particular mayor was notified in advance and he still complained.
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Live coverage
Monday, Sep 12, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
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