* This is big. This means money, this means people, this sets up a battle between trades and the CTU…
This evening, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 announced its endorsement for Jesús “Chuy” García in the upcoming Chicago mayoral race. Local 150 President-Business Manager James M. Sweeney issued the following statement:
The upcoming election will be a pivotal moment for the City of Chicago. Chicago is a world-class city with potential for enormous success and prosperity, but getting there will require a leader with experience bringing people together, facing difficult challenges, and delivering results.
Jesús “Chuy” García is the right leader to move Chicago forward, and on behalf of the 23,000 members of Local 150, I am proud to give him our endorsement. Chuy has spent the past 40 years as a public servant, and during his time as committeeman, alderman, state legislator, and today as a Congressman, he has brought people together to find solutions.
As a Congressman, he has been a leader in a caucus that has accomplished more in the last two years than many thought possible, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. In his service on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, he has fought to bring good jobs to our communities and to rebuild the economic backbone of our nation. The Chicago skyline, once crowded with tower cranes, is eerily quiet today as development has failed to rebound in the wake of the pandemic. Chicago needs a leader who knows how to fire up our economy.
I am a lifelong resident of Chicago, and I have never seen so much anxiety in the neighborhoods. It is no secret that crime and safety are among the most pressing problems facing all of us who live and work in Chicago. Residents don’t feel safe, and when our communities need economic growth more than ever, concerns about crime have stalled development. Chicago needs a leader who brings people together rather than dividing them. Chuy will rebuild the partnership with law enforcement to solve the problems that plague our communities and threaten growth Downtown.
We believe that Jesús “Chuy” García is the leader to bring Chicago into a prosperous new era of growth, safety and optimism, and we have committed significant resources to his campaign for Mayor.
The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 is a labor union representing 23,000 working men and women in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. Local 150 represents workers in construction and related industries, including material production, heavy equipment operation, concrete pumping, steel mill service, slag production, public works and others.
*** UPDATE *** From US Rep. García…
“As we begin this journey towards a more fair, more prosperous Chicago for all, I’m honored to have the support of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 and the 23,000 hardworking men and women they represent.
“As the son of Teamsters and a former Teamster and Retail Garment Worker Union member, I know first-hand the difference good-paying union jobs make for working families. I’ve organized alongside my union brothers and sisters to secure better wages, work conditions, and benefits. That’s why I’m proud to have Local 150’s support as we continue fighting for a brighter future for all of Chicago’s working families.”
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* Crain’s…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker is moving to pay off more than $1 billion in remaining debt in the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund and set aside with a little extra for hard times that may be ahead—actions already drawing a sigh of relief from the state’s business community.
In an announcement today in Springfield, Pritzker said he intends to allot, subject to General Assembly approval, a total of $1.8 billion to the fund, which pays weekly benefits to laid-off workers.
The bulk of the money, $1.36 billion, will pay off what’s left of what had been $4.5 billion in borrowing from the U.S. Treasury at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The remaining $450 million will be loaned without interest to the unemployment insurance trust fund. As the loan is repaid over the next 10 years, funds will be deposited directly into the state’s rainy-day reserve fund, rather than being spent.
Watch the press conference here.
…Adding… Pritzker stressed this agreement was reached through the agreed bill process. That process brings labor and business to the table.
…Adding… Here’s the press release…
Governor JB Pritzker announced today an historic agreement to pay off the remaining $1.36 billion unemployment insurance loan balance, replenish the fund for the future, and protect benefits for working families. The agreement will save taxpayers an estimated $20 million in interest costs that would be due next September and preserves hundreds of millions of dollars in future federal tax credits for Illinois employers.
The agreement between representatives from business, labor, bipartisan members of the General Assembly, and the state, will contribute more than $1.8 billion in state funds to the unemployment insurance trust fund, which includes the payment of the remaining federal loan balance borrowed under Title XII of the Social Security Act. The remaining $450 million will be placed into the trust fund from state funds as an interest-free loan. As the loan is repaid over the next ten years, funds will be deposited directly into the state’s rainy-day fund.
“I’m proud to announce that together, we’ve reached a historic, bipartisan agreement to eliminate pandemic-induced UI Trust Fund debt, replenish the fund for the future, protect benefits for working families, and further fuel Illinois’ strong economic trajectory,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Republicans and Democrats are delivering a historic state investment of $1.8 billion to the Unemployment Trust Fund. This bipartisan agreement eliminates the final portion of the $4.5 billion debt forced upon our state during the pandemic and saves Illinois businesses and taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade.”
“The people of our state deserve a secure future, one that supports working families and continues to make Illinois a great place to live,” said Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton. “Through collaboration and a shared vision among the stakeholders who came together in the work, this agreement is another example of our commitment to responsible, forward-thinking leadership that builds the groundwork for a strong economy for years to come.”
“In my brief tenure as Senate President, what I’m most proud of is the work we’ve done to restore fiscal stability, said Senate President Don Harmon (D- Oak Park). This agreement is yet another step forward. I applaud everyone involved for coming to the table with workable ideas and the desire to be part of a solution.”
“The pandemic created unprecedented challenges for unemployment insurance systems across the nation and without action, Illinois employers would have faced crushing tax increases in the midst of other challenges. This agreement will ease that pressure and provide greater stability for our system, while also ensuring employers pay over $900 million less in taxes over the next five years than they otherwise would have,” said Rob Karr, President and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. “On behalf of the Joint Employers, we extend our appreciation to our partners in organized labor, Gov. JB Pritzker and his staff, the Illinois Department of Employment Security, and the Democratic and Republican caucuses in the House and Senate for their dedication to working together to solve what we hope is a once-in-a-lifetime crisis.”
“Responsible fiscal decisions and new lows in unemployment claims have put our state in an advantageous position,” said State Senator Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago). “Thanks to the collective work of so many, our budgets are balanced, and we have the opportunity to fully pay down our debt in a timely manner.”
“This action is just the latest building block in our efforts to improve the financial status of our state,” said State Senator Linda Holmes (D-Aurora). “By paying what we owe and continuing to pass responsible budgets, our state’s fiscal status only continues to improve.”
“I’m proud of the long hours negotiators on both sides have put into creating this agreement,” said State Senator Sue Rezin (R-Morris). “It’s good to know we’re working together to pay off debt and even better to know that the funds previously allocated to paying down that debt will now go to shoring up the state’s Rainy Day Fund.”
“Paying off the unemployment insurance trust fund debt is a crucial step in our state’s continued recovery from the fiscal crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said State Representative Marcus Evans (D-Chicago). “Thanks to the hard work of my colleagues in the legislature, Governor Pritzker, and numerous stakeholders in the business community and organized labor, we can now proudly say we are on the path toward fiscal security in the state of Illinois.”
“This monumental agreement is an example of what is possible when sound financial choices are made,” said State Representative Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea). “Through these actions, we’re saving taxpayer and employer dollars while maintaining unemployment benefits and building on the state’s record of success in meeting our obligations.”
“This has been a long and tough process, but everyone stuck with it even when there were disagreements,” said State Representative Mike Marron (R-Fithian). “As a result, Business, Labor, Republicans, Democrats, the Governor, the Legislature, and IDES came together to get this deal done that will help both small business owners and Illinois workers.”
“This is a good agreement for both employees and the business community in the State of Illinois,” said State Representative Dan Ugaste (R-St. Charles). “Across-the-aisle cooperation of this type is what provides the best results for everyone in the State.”
“The Illinois Department of Employment Security has been proud to work alongside the partners of the agreed bill process and is pleased the outcome is beneficial to the state, workers, and employers,” said IDES Director Kristin Richards. “The state’s Trust Fund is a critical resource, and ensuring its healthy future is in the best interest of our state’s economy.”
The agreement strengthens the state’s trust fund, alleviates a burden looming over businesses, and ensures there are no reductions in both the standard number of weeks of unemployment benefits and the amount a person can claim. The agreement is expected to pass via bipartisan legislation during upcoming legislative sessions.
The unemployment trust was forced to borrow $4.5 billion in federal funds to provide economic relief to the unprecedented number of unemployed workers throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is the third significant contribution to the outstanding loan balance. In March of 2022, Governor Pritzker signed legislation which provided an historic $2.7 billion contribution to assist the state’s unemployment trust fund via one-time federal ARPA dollars; in September of 2022, another $450 million payment was made toward the loan balance from the fund itself due to months-long historically low unemployment claims.
In addition to months of historically low unemployment claims, the state has created 770,000 more jobs since the bottom of the pandemic recession and surpassed one trillion dollars in GDP for the first time in history.
…Adding… IL Chamber…
Following today’s press conference, Illinois Chamber President and CEO Todd Maisch issues the following response:
“We were happy to participate in the negotiations that led to today’s agreement on the unemployment insurance trust fund deficit,” Maisch said. “Today’s agreement illustrates the results that can be achieved when everyone works together cooperatively to tackle the big issues facing our state. As we head into an uncertain economy, employers will benefit from the minimization of tax increases.”
…Adding… IL AFL-CIO…
Following Governor Pritzker’s announcement to pay off the state’s unemployment deficit and provide structural funding reforms to the unemployment trust, IL AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Pat Devaney released the following statement:
“Governor Pritzker’s announcement to pay the state’s remaining $1.36 billion debt to the unemployment trust fund and implement structural funding reforms is a win for both businesses and working people.
Today’s achievement is the result of bipartisan, bicameral negotiations led by Governor Pritzker’s Administration. Organized labor, businesses of all sizes, and elected leaders set aside their differences to advocate for working people. As a result, taxpayers will be spared millions of dollars in interest payments and our unemployment trust fund will move from a state of deficit to solvency – now and in the future.
Illinoisans can rest easy knowing that the future of our state’s unemployment system will reflect the needs of working people and those facing economic hardship. We are grateful to Governor Pritzker, the Illinois General Assembly, business, and labor leaders who came together to agree on commonsense policy that will benefit working families across Illinois.”
…Adding… IMA…
The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association (IMA) released the following statement regarding an agreement between business, labor and Democratic and Republican lawmakers to address the remaining $1.36 billion debt that currently exists within Illinois’ Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund:
“This bipartisan agreement will save manufacturers and other businesses more than $900 million in higher taxes while preserving the solvency of the Trust Fund at a time of economic uncertainty,” said Mark Denzler, President and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. “We applaud the Governor and lawmakers for contributing $4 billion in federal dollars to help eliminate the debt resulting from the global pandemic that would have otherwise been forced upon struggling businesses across Illinois.”
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Post-election coverage roundup
Tuesday, Nov 29, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* OK, now do Chicago, where the lines to vote are regularly just as bad, if not worse…
* I swear I am not making this up…
Kinda curious what sort of degrees they offer. /s
* The Patch…
Democrat Jenn Ladisch Douglass declared victory over Republican state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi late last week in the House District 45 race.
Mazzochi, who took office in 2018, has yet to publicly concede. She can seek a recount at her expense.
Douglass said the Nov. 8 election results were certified Tuesday in DuPage and Cook counties. […]
Douglass won with 50.4 percent of the vote. Her margin of victory was 365 votes out of more than 43,000 cast.
* Speaking of close races, this one went a different way…
The following statement was released by Maria Peterson today, candidate for Illinois State Senate, in the race that resulted in one of the closest margins in the state. As the final tally now stands at 49.78% (Peterson) to 50.22% (McConchie) and with less than a 400 vote difference, Peterson has conceded the race to Senate Minority leader Dan McConchie. Although the razor-thin margin would allow Peterson to trigger a recount, she chose to accept the results.
Peterson stated:
It was an honor to run for the Illinois State Senate in the 26th District. I am proud to have run one of the most competitive State Senate races in Illinois. We came within 393 votes of the approximately 90,000 votes cast. I am very grateful for our volunteers and team who made that possible. They went door to door, made phone calls, engaged on social media, and were a huge pillar of support. Their commitment and belief in our message are the reasons we came from so far back to make a lasting impact on this district and the Illinois State Senate. My rock throughout this campaign was my husband and the love of my life, Ken, who co-piloted this race with my team.
We owe it to the voters and supporters to see that each vote was counted, especially in a race that was so close. Now that the votes have all been tabulated, I left a message with Senator Dan McConchie, congratulating him on his win. I told him that I looked forward to working with him on bi-partisan issues affecting our district.
One year ago, this was a race that no one was interested in because it was believed that Senate leadership couldn’t be unseated. With hard work, values that mattered in my district, and continued growing support, we grew our campaign every day, including winning over those who were skeptical at first. This is why we came within .44% of beating the highly funded incumbent Republican State Senate leader. I am one who takes on challenges, and this campaign faced many uphill battles. Leaders rarely face challengers in their home district - a district the incumbent helped to draw.
I am proud of my campaign’s many accomplishments. Thanks to a strong organization, we contacted more than 50,000 voters directly, and I personally canvassed more than 5,000 doors. In our contact with voters, it was clear that a woman’s right to choose mattered. In a critical time in our country’s and State’s history, we activated the Pro-Choice movement through grassroots organizing. I am also proud to have enhanced the voice of the district by bringing common sense gun laws, ethics in government and protecting the environment to the forefront of this race. As a child of immigrants, I am honored to have engaged with our diverse population in the district.
Running against one of the most powerful leaders in the State Senate was challenging; however, we kept moving forward, and our campaign was able to make a significant impact proving that when leadership is left unchecked, we leave opportunity on the table.
There is still more work to be done, and I continue to have a vision for that future. I am committed to staying in the struggle. The results of this election have made it clear that our district is ready for new voices. We must codify a woman’s right to choose, remove the threat of gun violence from our neighborhoods, and always place service before politics.
* ILGOP fundraising email…
Rich,
Can you believe we only have one month left in 2022?
We have accomplished so much this year, despite tough losses earlier this month. But, Rich, we can’t let these stumbles deter or define us.
We have to remind ourselves that it is only up from here. This is why we’re reaching out to you about our November End-of-Month fundraising goal.
We need our TOP grassroots supporters like you, Rich, to pitch in and help make the Land of Lincoln the best it has ever been. Let’s show Springfield Democrats what it means to be a true conservative in our state. Will you consider pitching in for our efforts, Rich?
Make Illinois Strong - $10
Make Illinois Strong - $15
Make Illinois Strong - $20
Make Illinois Strong - $25
We want to come back stronger than ever and we promise to stay in this fight for you.
Pitch In Today
Thank you for your support,
Stronger Illinois
* HGOP staff memo from Mike Mahoney…
Hey everyone, the last day of my latest go-round with staff will be December 2nd.
I have never been as honored or had more fun than the days spent working in the Capitol. Know that everything and anything you do in this building can positively impact the people across this great state. Working here is a once (or in my case 3x) in a lifetime opportunity, so cherish every day you are here. It is a special place with some interesting characters.
If you ever need anything, I am always just a phone call away with ideas on fine dining options in Toluca, cliffs notes on Bill Black speeches, the specials at Saputo’s, the list goes on.
Have fun, stay sane and keep me apprised of the sweatshirt order.
Michael Mahoney
Deputy Chief of Staff
Illinois House Republican Caucus
Love that dude.
* HR1013 synopsis…
Congratulates Dave Dahl on being named Outstanding Illinois Father by the Illinois Council on Responsible Fatherhood and recognizes his dedication to his son and his family.
Love that dude, too. Here he is in the press box today…
* The hazing had gotten out of hand…
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Sun-Times | Suburban man gets 18 months probation for entering U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6: David Wiersma, 68, was arrested in Posen and charged along with Dawn Frankowski in September 2021. He pleaded guilty in late August to misdemeanor parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
* Axios | Refining the SAFE-T Act during this week’s veto session: With most veto session business done behind closed doors, we may not know what got changed until after the fact. But here are some provisions officials have cited as ripe for tweaks. Tickets for trespassing: Critics of the PFA say requiring police to ticket rather than arrest people for certain misdemeanors could mean cops can’t remove trespassers from property. PFA supporter and state Rep. La Shawn Ford told the Tribune, “I’ll be advocating for clarity … so it’s clear that they have the instructions through law to arrest people for trespassing.”
* Greg Hinz | Time finally expires on Ed Burke the survivor: The first time I ever really talked to Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, was on the back of a fire truck. We were both young, me a cub reporter who’d covered the City Council for a bit, Burke the fresh-faced political lord of a nice Southwest Side fief that he in the Chicago way had inherited from his father, the ward’s alderman and committeeman. I happened to be down there to report on something, perhaps the South Side Irish parade, and when Burke and his 14th Ward Regular Democratic Organization fire truck rolled by, he offered me a ride.
* Crain’s | Blue Cross trans care lawsuit tests limits of employer plan admins’ liability: A federal judge this month certified a class-action lawsuit against the nonprofit insurer that alleges its refusal to cover a transgender teenager’s gender-affirming care through a self-funded employee benefits plan it administers for Catholic Health Initiatives violates the ACA. Patricia and Nolle Pritchard of Washington state initiated the lawsuit two years ago after Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois declined to cover gender-affirming care for their son, identified as C.P., in adherence with Englewood, Colorado-based Catholic Health Initiatives’ company policy.
* ABC 7 | Lincolnwood Public Library declines to remove books with LGBTQ content from children’s collection: standing room-only crowd gathered at the Lincolnwood Village Hall Monday for a heated debate about a book with LGBTQ+ content on the public library’s children’s collection. The monthly library board meeting was moved from the library to the village hall to accommodate a large turnout after last month’s meeting got heated and ended early with police being called.
* CBS Chicago | Some parents object to book read to kids at library in Lincolnwood, others say complaints stigmatize LGBTQ+ community: The debate at a library board meeting centered on respect, decency, and values – and on the selection for kids’ summer reading. That selection was the children’s book, “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish.” “So I went and found a copy of it,” said Jen Mierisch. “I read the whole thing. It’s a garden variety picture book.” Mierisch defended the book at the meeting Monday night. “I searched it cover-to-cover for anything obscene, sexual, raunchy – you would come up with a big fat zero,” he said.
* Sun-Times | Whistleblower trial begins in alleged CPD cover-up in shooting of unarmed autistic teen : Testimony begins Tuesday in a lawsuit alleging Chicago Police Department brass demoted a detective after he refused to clear a fellow officer in the 2017 shooting of an unarmed, autistic teenager. Veteran CPD Officer Isaac Lambert claims he lost his job as a detective sergeant and was sent back to patrol just five days after he signed off on a police report on CPD’s investigation of the shooting of Ricardo “Ricky” Hayes by CPD Officer Khalid Muhammad.
* Tribune | Illinois, other states reach $9.4 million settlement with Google, iHeartMedia over misleading ads: The settlements stem from complaints alleging Google paid to have radio personalities endorse and talk about their personal experiences using the Pixel 4, one of the company’s cellphones, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta. At the time, the phone wasn’t available and many of the radio DJs had not used it, Bonta said.
* ABC 20 | Illinois Product Holiday Market returns to Springfield: “We are excited to partner with Downtown Springfield’s Holiday Walks to bring local products to shoppers this holiday season,” said Jackie Sambursky, IDOA Bureau Chief of Marketing. “Building off of the success of our Illinois Product Farmers Markets and Illinois Product Expo, the holiday market allows our vendors to showcase their products in a unique location during the giving season.”
* The Hill | Teddy Roosevelt’s glasses, JFK’s rocking chair among presidential auction ending Thursday: Other items include Roosevelt’s famed eyeglasses and pages from a 1912 speech that saved the then-White House hopeful during an assassination attempt, Thomas Jefferson’s signed letters from the 1790s, Dwight Eisenhower’s Stetson hat and Abraham Lincoln’s desk from the Illinois State House where he first served in public office.
* We raise money here during the holiday season for Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, the largest foster care provider in Illinois. As of 1:35 pm, the fundraiser had reached $9,250! While needs vary for each child, $25 is the average cost of a Christmas gift. A big thank you to all who have donated! Let’s keep this going!
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* Crain’s…
Todd Ricketts is taking on Google, betting there’s still a niche in internet search for what the former Republican National Committee finance chairman calls “unbiased, uncensored” media.
Ricketts, part of the family that made its fortune in the online brokerage business and owns the Chicago Cubs, recently launched Freespoke, which is described as “a search engine for the heart of America.”
“The whole concept is to put all the information in front of people and let them make up their own minds,” Ricketts says.
Google dominates the market with about 56% of all searches, followed by Microsoft at 21% and Yahoo at 9%, according to Comscore. Launching a new search engine may seem like a fool’s errand. But this is, after all, the family that bought the Cubs and managed to win a World Series after more than a century of futility.
The site was launched several months ago, but I decided to wait and see if they could get the bugs out. It’s no better now.
* For instance, Freespoke has a news search function, so I put it to the test. “JB Pritzker”…
Google News results…
* Freespoke news search for “Don Harmon”…
Google News…
* Freespoke news search for Illinois Legislature…
Google News…
Yeah, that’s enough for me. Google may have its faults, but Freespoke still looks useless for keeping up with the news I care about.
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* The 2022 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Session Restaurant goes to Fritz’s…
The food is good and the seating is perfect for working dinners
I would add that they have the best steak in town, by far.
* The 2022 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Session Tavern/Hangout goes to JP Kelly’s…
A few of the longtime downtown establishments have bitten the dust or significantly reduced hours the last few years, and JP’s has provided a safe landing space for some of those openhanded by the loss of the other traditional spots. And it’s done so while continuing to provide a true bipartisan atmosphere for both fundraising events and general happy hour socializing.
Congrats to both of our winners, and their staffs.
* On to today’s categories…
I know it’s not always possible for everyone to nominate in both categories, but please do your best. And, remember, this is about intensity, not numbers, so please explain both of your nominations or they won’t count. Thanks.
And after you’ve nominated your faves, click here and donate to Lutheran Social Services of Illinois if you haven’t already. Thanks again!
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Rep. Ford attempts to clarify remarks
Tuesday, Nov 29, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Politico…
[House Speaker Chris Welch] says there are two areas they already agree on. There will be language clarifying what officers of the court should be doing during the transition days of Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. That’s when state’s attorneys should be acting in “good faith” to file motions to make sure people who are dangerous to another person or community are detained in jail, said Welch. “Those acting in bad faith — saying Jan. 1 is when people will be let out of jail — that’s not what the law says in any way,” Welch said.
A second area that’s agreed upon is language that clarifies that a judge can issue warrants from the bench. “There’s some confusing language in the statute as it’s written now that says judges don’t have the ability to issue bench warrants. We agree on language that will clear that up.” Welch explained.
An issue they’re still debating: Language about when police officers can arrest someone for trespassing.
* AP…
Various lawmakers see parts of the law that give them pause. Rep. La Shawn Ford, for example, fears problems could arise from a change that allows police to confront trespassers with a misdemeanor ticket instead of arrest. In other words, if you call the police because someone’s on your property without permission and you call the police, the police might hand out a ticket but not remove the violator.
“If they’re not welcome, then they should not be left on public property, or private property,” said Ford, a Chicago Democrat. “Because what happens? You’ll see the homeowner taking matters into their own hands. You’ll see people killing people. They’ll say, ‘Don’t even call the police.’”
We’ve been over this numerous times before. As a reminder, from the Illinois Supreme Court’s Implementation Task Force…
Law enforcement organizations do have discretion to remove the person from the location of the alleged criminal activity, and then cite and release the person from another location.
When I asked Rep. Ford about his comments to the AP, he said “No law should be gray or blurry,” adding that “we know the leaders of FOP clouded the issue. It’s not worth the fight.” And, he said, “We have to take away excuses for misconduct.”
Except he also went all-in on the opposition’s dark rhetoric of how people will be killing trespassers.
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It’s just a bill
Tuesday, Nov 29, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
The Illinois Freedom Caucus is calling for an end to the Consent Calendar which enables the House leadership to pass hundreds of bills with a single roll call vote.
The Consent Calendar is a list of bills bundled together and voted on in one roll call vote. The list of bills includes ceremonial legislation such as measures to change the name of roads to honor members of the community, but the list also includes substantive legislation. The Illinois Freedom Caucus is issuing the following statement on the need to end the Consent Calendar.
“Any bills that come out of committee with no opposition end up on the Consent Calendar. While a single member can object and have any piece of legislation removed from the Consent Calendar at any time, the truth is the process to remove a bill is unwieldly and it is easy to miss some of the bills because the list of legislation is so long.
There is nothing wrong with voting on ceremonial legislation on a single roll call, but substantive bills need to be stricken from the Consent Calendar. It is certainly easier to vote on hundreds of bills on one roll call vote, but this process is not in the best interest of the people of Illinois. Substantive bills deserve individual roll calls so that members are completely aware of the full implication of their votes. The people of Illinois expect legislators to do their jobs and debating and voting on legislation is part of the job. It is time to stop taking the easy way out. It is time to end the Consent Calendar for substantive legislation.”
The Illinois Freedom Caucus is comprised of State Representatives Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich); Chris Miller (R-Oakland); Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville); Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) and Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur). The members of the Illinois Freedom Caucus are members of the Illinois General Assembly who are advocating for limited government, lower taxes and accountability and integrity in government.
Very on-brand.
* Center Square…
One bill in the cue includes amendments. State Sen. Celina Villanueva told a Senate committee earlier this month it has four components.
“The first one being a student loan forgiveness income tax exemption,” she said. “So this is to make sure that the Illinois income taxpayers that are exempt from student loan forgiveness or are getting student loan forgiveness are exempt in case the federal government does not exempt those federal income taxes for that loan forgiveness.” […]
Villanueva’s bill at the Illinois statehouse also allows people with disabilities to be exempt for Illinois income taxes for up to $10,000 in contributions to Achieving a Better Life Experience savings accounts.
Another provision gives $2 million in tax credits for touring Broadway productions.
“As a lover of musicals, this is a good one, because who doesn’t love ‘Wicked’ or ‘Hamilton’ or any of the other wonderful shows that are touring in our state,” she said.
Also included in her bill, Cook County taxpayers get an additional month to pay property taxes without accruing interest.
Subscribers know more.
* The Pantagraph…
Last month, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined 17 other attorneys general in arguing that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit should affirm a ruling that a North Carolina health care plan violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by denying gender-confirming care.
Earlier this year, Raoul also joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in opposition to an Alabama law that criminalized gender-confirming care for transgender youth.
While Illinois is not immune to anti-trans proposals — Rep. David Friess, R-Red Bud, filed a trans sports ban bill in 2021 — such bills are not only rare but also nearly impossible to pass considering Democratic supermajorities in both chambers.
In contrast to its neighbors, though, a bill was filed in Illinois’ House earlier this year, known as Health Care Cultural Competency or House Bill 4654. It would “establish cultural competency requirements as part of continuing medical education for a range of health care professionals.”
The bill, which is not expected to be taken to vote during the current session, aims to better equip providers to care for communities that have been historically excluded, including LGBTQ people, people living with HIV, people with disabilities and people of color.
* Crain’s…
Illinois Sen. Laura Murphy is leading the way. She introduced legislation that would establish a “recycling refund” program, also known as a beverage container deposit return system. These programs place a fully refundable deposit on beverage containers made from different materials like aluminum, glass, plastic and others. Consumers pay that deposit at the time of purchase, and when they are done with their empty beverage containers, they can return them to convenient redemption locations to obtain their refund. In short, consumers buy the beverage and borrow the container.
At Ardagh Metal Packaging, a leading global supplier of sustainable metal beverage cans with North American headquarters in Chicago, we are supporting such legislation. In fact, we were pleased to recently welcome Murphy and several other state lawmakers to our Chicago beverage can plant to see firsthand how these products are produced and to discuss the importance of capturing the value of beverage cans and increasing the recycling rate in Illinois.
Undoubtedly, it’s time for Illinois to walk the talk on achieving environmental objectives and implementing proven and valuable recycling legislation. Ten states and many countries throughout the world already have recycling refund programs and enjoy consistently high recycling rates. In fact, the Container Recycling Institute found that aluminum beverage cans sold in the U.S. with a deposit are recycled on average at a 77% rate, while aluminum beverage cans sold without a deposit only averaged a 36% rate. The gap calculated for other packaging materials, like plastic and glass bottles, is even greater.
Beyond the increase in recycling rates and the accompanying economic boost and lower greenhouse gas emissions, a recycling refund program would also benefit taxpayers. Consider the potential savings from the need for less litter cleanups. Illinois spends more than $6 million a year on highway litter cleanup, and the Chicago Park District spends another $4.7 million each year picking up trash.
* WICS…
Members of the state’s Native American community partnered with state lawmakers to address issues impacting indigenous people.
Plans to introduce legislation to guarantee that native youth can wear cultural regalia during their high school graduation were announced.
This comes after an Evanston Township student was denied his graduation after refusing to take his regalia off. […]
Illinois is home to over 200,000 people who identify as Native American and 150 tribal nations.
* Lame duck legislator files bill in waning days of her term…
An Illinois House Democrat has filed a proposal that could prohibit people from using false or misleading statements to affect the outcomes of political campaigns. Rep. Denyse Wang Stoneback (D-Skokie) said Monday that people are exhausted from the misinformation and divisiveness they have seen in recent elections.
She hopes to combat misleading statements and mudslinging by updating the prohibitions and penalties article of the Illinois Election Code. Under her plan, people could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor for knowingly and recklessly making, publishing, broadcasting, or circulating false or misleading statements about candidates or elected officials. Anyone violating the change could also be sued civilly.
“All of this disinformation and hateful language is really resulting in disgusted and frustrated voters, that I think we’ve all seen, and it’s causing the public to become distrustful of government and politics in general,” Stoneback said. “This is a dangerous thing for our democracy.”
Stoneback said there are similar laws blocking misinformation and false campaign statements in 27 states. Illinois has a Code of Fair Campaign Practices in place, but it is voluntary. Stoneback noted that her bill would make that ethical practice mandatory for anyone running for office.
I’m guessing it’s voluntary here because the Illinois Constitution sets out the qualifications for running for office. Also…
No person shall knowingly and with intent to affect a outcome of a campaign for political office do any of the following: … make a false or misleading statement concerning the voting record of a candidate or public official
Who’s gonna decide what’s “misleading”?
Sounds like sour grapes.
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* Vox on the history of Giving Tuesday…
Giving Tuesday — the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving and the internationally recognized day to contribute to charity — is upon us.
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has always been the kickoff event of the holiday shopping season and one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Marketing experts recognized how popular it was and followed it up with Cyber Monday, a second day of mega-sales focused on online shopping, and then Small Business Saturday — making the period after Thanksgiving famous for its blitz of deals.
Some people noticed that would likely leave a lot of people looking to step away from shopping and do something a little more meaningful.
In 2012, the 92nd Street Y in New York and the United Nations Foundation introduced Giving Tuesday with the hope that after several days of big sales and rampant consumption, there’d be interest in giving back.
* We raise money here during the holiday season for Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, the largest foster care provider in Illinois. I was initially exposed to LSSI by a friend who ran a group home for troubled teens in Chicago and was immediately impressed at how the home was so full of love. My friend, the late Lynn Greenholdt, then went on to start a small business supplying home-style meals to group homes. But late state payments made her life a constant struggle. When I came up with the idea of a 50th birthday party to raise money for a good cause, LSSI was a natural choice and our efforts continue to this day.
The money we raise provides Christmas gifts to foster kids. LSSI says $25 is the average cost of a present. While some of our contributions are on the larger side, every contribution is deeply appreciated. If all you can afford is $25, rejoice in the knowledge that you’ve just bought a present for a foster child in need. So, please, click here and give what you can. Thanks!
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Illinois at heart of railroad labor dispute
Tuesday, Nov 29, 2022 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Background from Politico…
President Joe Biden on Monday asked Congress to intervene to prevent an economically crippling freight rail strike, even though it means delivering a defeat to his allies in the labor movement.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi immediately announced she will call a vote this week to carry out Biden’s request, which will mean that paid sick leave for the 115,000 workers involved in negotiations won’t be included in the deal.
Biden had held out for months on seeking congressional action, instead opting to give the freight rail industry and 12 of its unions more time to negotiate a contract. But as warnings mounted that a strike could begin as soon as Dec. 9, threatening to interrupt U.S. power and water supplies and devastate the broader economy, the pro-labor, pro-rail president said Monday that he saw “no path to resolve the dispute at the bargaining table.”
The development came two months after Labor Secretary Marty Walsh held an all-night bargaining session at his agency’s headquarters that produced a tentative deal, temporarily defusing the strike threat. But since then, members of three of the 12 unions voted to reject the agreement.
* WCIA…
“Just as we’re trying to get those supply chains unsnarled, this rail strike would completely upend the supply chain to get into the country,” Mark Denzler, the president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, said. […]
Eight out of the 12 rail unions in the country ratified the agreement, but to go into effect, all of them must agree to the terms of the deal. […]
Right now, Birge said low water levels on the Mississippi River have slowed down barge traffic limiting their capacity. This leaves it up to freight trains to make up the difference.
“Without those other two major transportation systems. It all falls on trucks and it’s not capable to handle that,” Birge said. […]
If the unions and the train companies can’t make a deal, Congress can intervene and put in place contract terms that workers would have to follow.
* WTVO…
Farmers and manufacturers rely on freight trains to move items around, but a potential rail strike could soon bring that to a crashing halt.
Freight rail unions and train companies are involved in a labor dispute. The Biden administration helped broker an agreement between the two back in September to prevent a strike, but not all of the country’s rail unions are on board with the deal.
One downstate Illinois farm bureau is raising concerns.
“We, like, rely upon rail transportation to bring us the goods that we enjoy in our homes and the food that we, that we eat,” said James Birge, manager of the Sangamon County Farm Bureau. “So, without those transportation modes available, it, food security becomes even greater issue than we’ve already learned it to be.”
* Center Square…
Employer associations from Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana and Ohio sent Congressional leaders a letter last week urging them to implement the Presidential Emergency Board’s recommendations.
Illinois Manufacturers’ Association President Mark Denzler said it’s a rare ask, but the U.S. Congress should intervene. […]
He said Illinois would be heavily impacted as the only state with all seven Class 1 railroads in the heart of the country.
“Guess what, if the trains aren’t rolling, the trucks aren’t rolling, so you’re having an impact on the truck drivers that can’t move product, and so it trickles down,” Denzler said.
If an agreement isn’t reached, a strike could happen as early as the first week of December.
* More transportation news…
* Sun-Times | More women getting behind the wheel as trucking industry seeks drivers: “Everything in this world needs transportation,” said Maggie Selagea, who got into trucking when the construction business she and her husband owned collapsed in the 2008 recession. “If this industry stops, that means that the world will stop.”
* Bureau of Transportation Statistics | Low Water on the Mississippi Slows Critical Freight Flows: Of the 12 states, Illinois shipped the most freight to Louisiana in total (55 million tons) and by water (44 million tons) in 2020. Cereal grain accounted for 43 percent of the total tonnage between Illinois and Louisiana, and other agricultural products accounted for 26 percent. The river carried 93 percent of the cereal grain between Illinois and Louisiana, compared to 6 percent by rail, and it carried 82 percent of “other agricultural products” between those two states, compared to 15 percent by rail and 3 percent by truck.
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Morning briefing
Tuesday, Nov 29, 2022 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* I really enjoyed this story from yesterday and this bonus thread…
* Here’s your morning roundup…
* Sun-Times | Illinois bid to become early Democratic primary state likely to be rejected this week: President Joe Biden has yet to signal what states he wants to have early primaries. Michigan, Minnesota are front-runners for the Midwest early primary spot in 2024.
* WCIA | SAFE-T Act to render bailout non-profit’s services obsolete: The Champaign County Bailout Coalition was founded around the belief that no one should await their day in court from a jail cell just because they can’t afford to post bond. The non-profit has spent nearly $200,000 in donations to offset the cost of bail for more than 155 people since starting up in 2019.
* WMBD | What does the SAFE-T Act really do?: WMBD’s digital producer Maggie Strahan has a Masters degree in Public Affairs Reporting and has covered the work of the Illinois General Assembly closely in the past. She is here to break down the 764-page bill for concerned citizens.
* Center Square | Amendment 1 could force changes to Illinois’ SAFE-T Act police regulations: Some of the SAFE-T Act’s provisions that could be challenged with the enshrined rights include the requirements for police-worn body cameras, anonymous complaints against police or restrictions on the use of force or deescalation techniques. “Those police unions would have the ability to demand that there are basically contrary provisions in their collective bargaining agreement that would override state law like the SAFE-T Act,” Smith said.
* Celeste Fisher | My husband, Republican Jim Durkin, is an endangered species: State Rep. Jim Durkin is an endangered species — a socially moderate, fiscally conservative gentleman who plays well with others. Now, the reasonable dad of the Illinois Republican Party has had enough, post-election. He picked up his keys, and he is going for a drive. As his wife, I am happy for him and beyond proud. As a constituent, I’m at a loss.
* Sun-Times | City Colleges enrollment uptick outpaces state, national averages but still short of pre-pandemic levels: City Colleges enrollment stands at 34,798 this fall, up 6.9% or 2,233 students from 32,565 a year ago.
* Tribune | Illinois’ Inclusive Athletic Attire Act was first of its kind in the US. But some athletes say there is still confusion on the courts.: The law, which was the first of its kind when passed in September 2021, allows student-athletes in Illinois to modify their uniform to match any cultural, religious or personal preferences they may have without facing any penalties or disqualifications during competitions, like wearing longer sleeves, full-length pants or playing in hijab, said Maaria Mozaffar, director of advocacy and policy at the Illinois Muslim Civic Coalition, which helped draft the legislation.
* WGNTV | Lightfoot files petition for reelection on last day: While the advantage of filing later gives more time to collect signatures and less time for opponents to challenge signatures on petitions, there are still six challengers who filed on the first day.
* Greg Hinz | City Hall is up for grabs: In one development, a business-backed group formed by ex-Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s former campaign manager disclosed it intends to wade into the City Council fight big time, raising “well into seven figures” to help candidates it considers pragmatists rather than ideologues. And in another, longtime political operative Victor Reyes confirmed rumors he’s begun talking with Jesus “Chuy” Garcia about backing the congressman’s mayoral bid and working for his campaign in some capacity. Sources close to Garcia denied Reyes will have any formal role, but even an informal alliance could indicate that Garcia will go after incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot from the moderate center and not just the political left.
* Tribune | Facing indictment, Ald. Ed Burke will end his run as the longest-serving City Council member ever, won’t seek reelection: Burke’s reign as alderman since 1969 over his ward not far from Midway Airport has seen its demographics shift from a mix of working class Irish and Eastern Europeans to an overwhelmingly Latino constituency. Those changes and the specter of the high-profile charges alleging he abused his considerable power made it far from certain he would have won had he decided to run again.
* WHBF | What’s next for Congresswoman Cheri Bustos after a decade of service to the QCA?: After serving her community and state since 2007, what’s next for Congresswoman Bustos? Local 4’s Stephanie Johnson sat down with Cheri Bustos as she reflects on her career and talks about the future.
* WCIA | Pritzker appoints new cannabis officer for Illinois: The new appointee is Erin Johnson, who currently works at the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice and previously worked for former governor Bruce Rauner.
* Tribune | ‘An intellect, a bully, and a great judge’: Courthouse leader Vincent Gaughan set to retire after handling Chicago’s biggest cases: Gaughan is retiring after 31 years on the Cook County bench much like that: caustic but fatherly, autocratic but skilled, temperamental with everyone in his courtroom except — usually — the defendants themselves.
* Sun-Times | River North restaurants cut hours more than any area in U.S. during COVID: River North restaurants have cut 20.2 hours per week, on average, since COVID hit. Restaurant owners cite reasons including inflation, lack of workers and changing consumer habits. But the biggest issue may be the sluggish return to workers downtown.
* SJ-R | On final day of filings, the field in three races for Springfield alderman gets crowded: Monday at 5 p.m. was the deadline for filing for the April 4 election, which will also feature races for District 186 board of education, the Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority (SMEAA) board, the Springfield Park District trustees and the Lincoln Land Community College trustees, among others.
* Aurora Beacon-News | Gold coins found in Salvation Army red kettles in Batavia, Geneva: One anonymous donor dropped a 1-ounce American Buffalo coin into a kettle outside a Jewel-Osco store in Batavia Saturday, officials said. A 1-ounce fine gold Standing Liberty coin showed up in a kettle at a Starbucks in Geneva the same day, according to a news release.
* ABC7 | Astros sign slugger Jose Abreu to 3-year deal : Following a dreadful first five weeks, Abreu was one of the best hitters in baseball over the final three-quarters of the season, batting .335/.405/.479, though his 15 home runs over the entire year were a career low. He joins an Astros lineup with fellow Cuban Yordan Álvarez, Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman and World Series MVP Jeremy Peña. Abreu will replace Yuli Gurriel, a longtime rival in the Cuban National Series. Abreu and Gurriel, along with Yoenis Cespedes, were widely regarded as the best players of their generation from Cuba, both high-contact hitters — though Abreu’s power was the separator.
More to come!
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Open thread
Tuesday, Nov 29, 2022 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* What’s going on? Keep it Illinois-centric please!
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Live coverage
Tuesday, Nov 29, 2022 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Afternoon briefing
Monday, Nov 28, 2022 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* This game went as expected…
* Here’s your roundup…
* Crain’s | How dark money helped the only Republican Cook County official win re-election: The official is suburban Commissioner Sean Morrison, who also happens to be the Cook County GOP chair. I wrote in September about how $200,000 mysteriously appeared in Morrison’s campaign fund in September, money that originally was donated by hedge fund mogul Ken Griffin to a group that opposed Gov J.B. Pritzker’s graduated income tax amendment in 2020. … While the Coalition to Cut Taxes isn’t registered with the elections board, it is registered as a not-for-profit with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office. The group’s registered legal agent is Chicago attorney John Fogarty–the same John Fogarty who is general counsel for the Illinois Republican Party.
* Daily Beast | Inside the Billionaire-Backed ‘Hub for Election Denial’: VoteRef has focused its efforts not just in Arizona, but the Midwest. (The Uihleins live in Illinois and have focused much of their giving in Wisconsin.) Over the past year, VoteRef has disclosed the personal information of millions of voters as part of a broader effort to empower members of the public to search for alleged “errors” in voter rolls. (Some states make it illegal to publish voter registration rolls.)
* Tribune | Mayor Lori Lightfoot files for reelection: ‘Only rational choice is to return me to office’: “With the filing today, one chapter in the campaign ends and another opens,” she said after submitting a stack of nominating papers that, sitting on the Board of Elections table, almost reached her shoulders. Surrounded by supporters and Chicago first lady Amy Eshleman, Lightfoot quipped that her pile of more-than-40,000 signatures “looks like enough to me” before expressing that the next focus is on telling voters “why the only rational choice is to return me to office.”
* Blair Kamin | How do we achieve equity-driven urban design in Chicago? The city’s future depends on it. : We should keep that joyous scene and its intimations of equality in mind as Mayor Lori Lightfoot and multiple challengers battle to determine who runs Chicago and the direction the city takes in the post-pandemic, post-George Floyd era. For while the need to stanch gun violence likely will dominate the campaign, another issue, no less urgent, deserves to be on the agenda: building a more equitable Chicago.
* Salon | The postliberal crackup: The GOP’s post-midterm civil war starts with the New Right: Earlier this month, after the midterms failed to deliver a promised “red wave,” those fights spilled into the headlines, as Republicans’ disappointed hopes led to some of the first open shots in what’s been a cold civil war over the party’s future. Partly that fight revolves around whether Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will lead the GOP into the 2024 presidential election. But it goes much deeper than that, and the fight also has implications that go well beyond the right.
* Telegraph | Illinois receives $14.4M to buy locally produced food: The two-year program will involve direct purchases from eligible farmers and multiple aggregation sites where goods will be consolidated and then distributed to schools, nonprofits and food banks.
* ABC 7 | Joliet Amazon workers stage walkout on busy Cyber Monday: The protest took place around 3 a.m. on Monday morning. This is the second walkout in two months.
* Illinois Public Media | The pseudoscience spreading to police precincts around Illinois: A phenomenon known as 911 phone call analysis is being used by more and more police departments across the country, including in Illinois. It’s a pseudoscience that claims that what someone says, how they sound and how they act during a 911 phone call, can determine if they are calling for help, or if they are trying to cover for a crime they have committed.
* Patch | $200,000 Settlement In Black Joliet Officer’s Discrimination Lawsuit: The city of Joliet has agreed to a $200,000 settlement to resolve retired Joliet Police Officer Lionel Allen’s racial discrimination lawsuit against the city, Joliet Patch has learned.
* WGLT | In post-Roe America, pilots take the abortion battle to the skies: The idea for a volunteer organization that would transport women seeking abortion care, and physicians who provide it, to states where it is safe and legal to do so, began with a volunteer stint Mike did at Midwest Access Coalition. “As a pilot, I was looking for some way that I could use my skills to help people,” Mike says. “And being someone who believes in someone’s ability to make their own choices, I thought helping people access abortion could be it.”
* Grist | Herschel Walker, South Park, and the Prius: How loving gas-guzzlers became political: When states moved to ban rolling coal, some drivers pushed back, the New York Times reported in 2016. “Why don’t you go live in Sweden and get the heck out of our country,” one diesel truck owner wrote to an Illinois state representative who proposed a $5,000 fine for removing emissions equipment. “I will continue to roll coal anytime I feel like and fog your stupid eco-cars.”
* Can a Millstadt Republican represent all of IL House District 114? Black leaders worry: Their concerns became a reality with Republican Kevin Schmidt of Millstadt unofficially taking the House District 114 race over incumbent Democrat LaToya Greenwood of East St. Louis. The Associated Press declared him the winner, though the ballots must still be canvassed and certified. … In 2016, she had 8,195 votes from East St. Louis as part of her 26,029-vote total. Those totals dropped this year to 4,990 in East St. Louis and 17,177 districtwide, according to unofficial election results. Meanwhile, the number of votes that Stuart received in St. Clair County for District 112 increased from 4,495 in 2016 to 6,891 in 2022. Hoffman’s totals in St. Clair County in District 113 decreased from 23,533 in 2016 to 20,621 in 2022.
* KMOV | Border protection officers seize counterfeit Super Bowl rings headed for Jerseyville, Illinois, feds say: The shipment arriving from China contained 422 rings with the image of the Lombardi Trophy. An import specialist determined the rings to be counterfeit.
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* Dan Mihalopoulos at WBEZ…
Embattled Illinois State Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Frankfort, is set to lose his powerful legislative committee chairmanship in the new session of the General Assembly next year, Senate President Don Harmon told WBEZ.
Harmon’s move comes after Hastings was accused of physical abuse by his ex-wife, according to police and divorce-court records.
Hastings has denied the accusations, which became public last summer, and went on to win a narrow reelection race in his south suburban district earlier this month.
But Harmon said he would not re-appoint Hastings as chairman of the influential Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee or choose him to lead any other legislative committee when the new session starts in January. […]
“The voters are one thing – the Senate and the Senate Democratic Caucus is something else,” Harmon said. “I think that Sen. Hastings’s road to rehabilitation within the caucus is likely to be long and rocky. I think he’s lost the trust of a significant number of members of the caucus.”
One veteran Democratic state senator, Mattie Hunter of Chicago, expressed support for Hastings, saying the voters’ will must be respected.
Go read the rest for more.
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* Daily Herald…
Since recreational marijuana sales were legalized statewide in January 2020, taxes and fees have generated more than $850 million for Illinois.
Last month alone, the 110 recreational dispensaries throughout Illinois collected $131,547,031 in revenue, their fourth-highest monthly tally ever.
But those sales figures have remained relatively flat since March, leading some to worry the state’s cannabis cash cow has reached the highest hill in the state’s revenue pasture. […]
[Pam Althoff, executive director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois] cited inflation, more workers returning to the office after the COVID-19 pandemic and the state’s high tax rate on marijuana as reasons sales have leveled off.
* I asked Isabel to compile some numbers from two state sources and produce this chart…
As you can see, growth is definitely slowing, but a 6-7 percent increase the past several months year-over-year is still pretty darned good, considering the run they’ve had.
* Not to mention this tidbit from Crain’s…
Profits in Illinois also remain higher than elsewhere, with retailers here selling marijuana for 48% more than they pay to buy it from growers in the state. That works out to a gross profit of about $7.62 per gram in Illinois, compared with $4.62 in Massachusetts and $1.84 in Michigan, Cantor Fitzgerald says.
If the retailers think prices are too high, maybe cut their own prices first? Hopefully, with more competition coming soonish, they’ll have no choice but to cut prices.
* Also, from ABC 7…
Twenty five percent of Illinois’ pot tax goes to non-profit organizations with small budgets in communities designated as socioeconomically disadvantaged. Another 20% of the state’s marijuana tax revenue goes to substance abuse, prevention and mental health care programs.
Cutting the cannabis tax means reducing those programs unless the tax cut is completely offset by higher sales. But there’s no guarantee of that happening.
* Related…
* Green Thumb sales jump as New Jersey, Illinois enjoy the high: U.S. cannabis producer Green Thumb Industries Inc (GTII.CD) posted higher third-quarter sales and core profit on Wednesday, as strong demand in newly legalized New Jersey and home market Illinois helped ward off some of the hit from inflation. … However, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 4% to $84.5 million. “Inflation is real…However, with the measures we put in place, we were able to control costs and increase margins,” Kovler said.
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* The holiday season means two things on this ol’ blog: 1) Fundraising for Lutheran Social Services of Illinois; and 2) our Golden Horseshoe Awards.
From Mariah Heinz Wiggins at LSSI…
At LSSI we are turning our focus to Christmas! We are so grateful for your support over the years, and your online fundraisers in recent years have made a HUGE difference in our efforts to provide gifts and meet holiday needs for every child and family we serve. I was just looking at your page from last year which raised over $20k in maybe 2 weeks. So incredible. We cannot thank you enough.
The thanks should really go to y’all, not me. The kids we buy presents and winter coats and other needs for are served by LSSI’s Foster Care Services. They’re good people doing a great service for children who need it and we get to play a role in that.
I quietly opened up the donation page last week and without much fanfare we’ve already raised $1,200. As soon as we hit $2K, I’ll donate a matching amount. So, please, click here and help out the kids.
* On to the question. Because of the pandemic, it’s been a while since we’ve voted on these topics…
As always, do your very best to vote in both categories and make sure to explain your votes or they will not count. Thanks and have fun!
Also, after you’ve cast your ballot, maybe click here and donate to LSSI. Let’s help those kids!
*** UPDATE *** Wow, that was quick! I just kicked in my pledged $2,000. Thanks!
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Tony McCombie news coverage roundup
Monday, Nov 28, 2022 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* The Tribune…
Representing a largely rural district outside the Quad Cities in northwestern Illinois, she will be the first woman to lead a House caucus for either party, a distinction she downplayed a day after the vote. McCombie told a throng of reporters in her new statehouse office that “women get things done” but said she doesn’t want to be defined by her gender.
“You shouldn’t be chosen because you’re a woman,” she said. “You should be chosen because you’re the right person.”
Welch, the state’s first Black House speaker, congratulated her “as a fellow history maker” and said he hopes her selection signals a fresh start for Democrats and Republicans in the chamber to work together.
“Obviously, we have some sincere disagreements, but I also respect Leader McCombie’s commitment to those who have elected her to serve,” Welch said in a statement.
Welch’s words belie the reality that Democrats don’t need much help from McCombie’s side of the aisle to get anything done. She’s taking over a caucus badly battered in the recent election, when House Democrats increased an already sizable 73-45 supermajority to a 78-40 edge.
* WGEM…
McCombie has served in the house since 2017 and led the House Republican campaign organization during the 2020 election cycle.
The Savanna Republican worked with Democrats in the past on plans to improve the state’s finances and address safety concerns within the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
McCombie still hopes to see a proposal pass to charge people over 21 with an aggravated battery if they attack DCFS employees. The legislation honors the legacy of DCFS caseworkers Deidre Silas and Pam Knight who were murdered while conducting home visits over recent years.
“As Leader, I might actually get that bill passed now. We’ve been fighting for Pam Knight for a long time,” McCombie said Wednesday. “We’ve done it in the House and then it dies in the Senate. With the tragic loss that we had here in Springfield, we thought we were going to get that through with the Senate and the House again and we did not.”
* Greg Hinz…
Essentially, she faces the same question Republicans do nationally: How to make the GOP competitive again in increasingly blue suburbs, be they Wheaton; Mesa, Ariz.; Philadelphia’s Main Line towns; or Orange County, Calif. The problem is particularly acute here, as McCombie takes over leadership of a caucus that lost five of its 45 seats on Nov. 8 and now is a super-superminority whose very relevance is in question in a body with at least 78 Democrats.
So what does McCombie bring to the table?
The woman from Savanna in northwestern Illinois is, with no offense to outgoing state GOP leader Jim Durkin, something new for a party that clearly needs change. She’s the first woman ever to head a House caucus, and that can’t hurt. Equally important, she’s not from the Chicago suburbs like almost all GOP leaders for the past half-century have been. She’s from downstate, potentially enhancing her ability to explain to rural voters that now compromise the Illinois GOP’s backbone exactly why they need to give suburban Republicans the ability to follow the first rule of politics: Represent your district, not an ideology.
That’s task one: improving internal communication within the caucus. Or as McCombie put it in an interview, “What we need to do is explain the benefits of someone who will vote with you 90% of the time as opposed to a Democrat who will vote your way 0% of the time.” In that vein, there will be no caucus rule requiring members to vote a certain way, McCombie said.
Task two: developing a small-donor contributions base that’s not dependent on the whims of some deep-pocketed official, like Bruce Rauner, or wealthy business type, as in Ken Griffin or Dick Uihlein. McCombie doesn’t mention any of them, but putting together a small version of what Democrats have done nationally with ActBlue would be enormously helpful.
* Shaw Local…
“It is extremely unhealthy for us to have this big of a spread between Republicans and Democrats. It’s not good for Democrats and it’s not good for Republicans,” McCombie said.[…]
“Obviously our issues polled very well this election cycle,” McCombie said. “The kitchen table issues everybody talks about inflation, cost, crime. Although, crime didn’t — if you hadn’t been affected by crime it didn’t poll, as well.”
McCombie criticized national media outlets for Illinois voters not trusting Republican Party candidates.
“The media has a big place in that across the nation more so outside. Not necessarily our local newspapers. But, when you are looking especially at the federal side, a large percent of media stories were left-leaning,” McCombie said. “There is a lot of divide between parties and we do have a Democratic president, so often you protect the president that is in place. I think with the extreme messages that have been pushed through media, through social media — I think that’s what scares especially single women. I think that’s what scares them.”
McCombie, who has opposed the implementation of the SAFE-T Act, which will eliminate cash bail from the state’s criminal justice system on Jan. 1, wants to repeal it.
* Peter Hancock…
Known for being more conservative than Durkin, McCombie said she will seek to moderate policies in the state that she says have been driven by the left wing of the Democratic Party.
“In Illinois, it’s not about being pro-life or pro-gun,” she said. “In Illinois, we continue to push the extremes. And maybe that message wasn’t apparent.
“But there would be, in my opinion, no pro-choice Republicans that would vote to repeal parental notification, that would allow abortions up to nine months,” she said. “So I think that’s what we need to talk about in Illinois is the extremes.”
Among her first tasks as leader will be naming the rest of a leadership team. In addition to Durkin stepping down, much of the rest of the House GOP leadership team will be leaving public office at the end of this session.
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* The collar counties “need to be fixed”…
* Creepy…
* Attacking a guy who took a seat from the Democrats and has held onto it ever since, which are accomplishments that Proft is not exactly known for…
* This sums it up best: The voters are to blame for right-wing losses…
Back in June, Proft called the governor’s contest a “tough but winnable race. A dogfight.” And then his guy got creamed, so he naturally blames voters.
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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
The Illinois Senate Republicans’ new leader, John Curran, told Capitol News Illinois the other day that there was nothing left to do on the abortion topic in Illinois.
“The reality is, what else can we do here in Illinois?” Sen. Curran said. “The laws of Illinois are more weighted towards guarantees of the rights to have an abortion than any other state in the nation. There’s no further to go.”
However, House Speaker Chris Welch strongly indicated recently that a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing reproductive rights was a very likely prospect.
“Right now, we’re a single Legislature or a single Supreme Court away from losing [abortion] rights,” Welch told KSDK TV.
Welch will soon have more members of his party than any Speaker since the state constitution was revised to reduce the chamber’s membership by a third. He said there were a number of explanations for his caucus’ expansion, but the United State Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was “monumental.”
“It changed everything,” Welch told me. “And the Republican Party, not just here in Illinois, but across the country, is wrong on those issues. They’re just wrong. Until they get it right on those issues, I think they’re gonna create opportunity for us to continue to expand.”
Welch said he’s never seen Democratic numbers like this before, calling the one-time Republican bastion of DuPage County, “BluePage.” The county, he said, is “one of those areas where our message resonates more than the Republican Party,” and predicted the GOP would continue losing ground if they don’t change.
Most every pre-election poll claimed that voters ranked abortion low on their priority lists. Yet, the abortion issue seemed to drive voters to the polls this year. What happened?
Senate President Don Harmon told me it may have been a couple of things. “Across the country, Democrats did about three points better than they were polling. And I think it’s in part because of the way voters responded to [the repeal of Roe v. Wade]. This is the first time in a long time a long-held right has been taken away in such dramatic fashion. I think that did motivate voters, but not necessarily the voters we were calling because they weren’t part of the turnout model. So I think when we unpack this, I think you’re going to see some voters, younger voters, younger women in particular — but not just women — who said, ‘I’m not giving up my rights that easily and I’m going to go vote.’
“And I also suspect, and would love to prove it with the analysis of the numbers, something we saw anecdotally going door to door, that women who would traditionally be considered Republican women weren’t thinking about voting Republican because of that issue. And they might have been lying to their husbands, they might have been lying to the pollsters, but they weren’t lying once they got inside the voting booth.”
To sum up, Harmon said, “I think voters we didn’t think were going to turn out, turned out. And I think that voters who would traditionally vote for Republican candidates turned out and said ‘I’ve had enough of this nonsense. I’m going to vote for a Democrat, or I’m certainly not going to vote for the crazy Republicans’ and skipped a race.”
The newly chosen leader of the powerful and successful pro-choice group Personal PAC told me she would “absolutely” work with legislative Republicans to recruit pro-choice candidates.
However, Sarah Garza Resnick told me it was “too early to tell,” when asked if she expected the Republicans to work with her. “But I think that any smart political strategist would need to read the tea leaves of what is going on and what the voters are sending a very clear message on. And if you want to stay relevant and get the other important issues that you care about discussed, then I think it would make sense to recruit and run pro-choice Republicans.”
Garza Resnick stressed that she hasn’t yet had a chance to talk with all other stakeholders about a possible constitutional amendment.
Even so, she said, “If you look at what happened in Kansas, and if you look at what happened where [abortion] was on the ballot in five states … on Nov. 8, the people of this country overwhelmingly want choice to be protected and codified and they don’t want it to be dismantled.”
So, considering all that, “codifying on the constitutional level would make sense,” Garza Resnick said.
Thoughts?
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Morning briefing
Monday, Nov 28, 2022 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Do you go all out on Christmas decorations?…
* Here’s your morning roundup…
* Daily Herald | Solutions for Illinois’ broken business climate: A recent Alignable report found that 37% of Illinois’ small business owners could not pay their rent in full and on time this past October. The survey’s respondents cited nationwide economic concerns such as rampant inflation, rising labor expenses and shortages, and a slowdown in consumer spending as some of the top reasons.
* Center Square | Illinois lawmakers return this week amid calls for changes in the SAFE-T Act: Illinois lawmakers return to Springfield Tuesday as state’s attorneys and law enforcement officials await changes to the SAFE-T Act. The controversial justice reform package eliminates cash bail on Jan. 1, making Illinois the first state to do so.
* Politico | A Progressive Latina Thinks Democrats Are Blowing It with Hispanic Voters: Delia Ramirez won her suburban Chicago district with a strong progressive message. She thinks it’s the key to stemming gains by the GOP.
* Politico | How redistricting shaped the midterms: The first election held under new congressional maps reflected both parties’ successes in shaping the House landscape for the next decade.
* Sun-Times | Tim Degnan, Daley top gun and state senator, dies at 82: Tim Degnan a trusted point man, was key to Richard M. Daley’s political, policy success. As a lawmaker, he raised funds for the new Comiskey Park to keep the White Sox in Chicago.
* WSIU | Democrats made midterm gains in rural areas. Can they keep them?: “I think there’s like a coming to Jesus moment, for lack of a better analogy, around if Democrats are going to like make a more full-throated decision and investment to contest for the rural vote,” said George Goehl, a community organizer with a focus on rural areas. “And I think this election shows what’s possible, even in many cases without resources, and that the rural vote is not static.”
* Rolling Stone | Inside the Far-Right’s Fight for College Campuses: With tensions rising around the country, and many progressives experiencing increasing fear and rage at Trump’s presidency, it wasn’t hard to catch an angry assistant professor or usually mild-mannered lefty student driven mad by TPUSA’s more aggressive stunts. And TPUSA chapter leaders and staff members were at the ready, watching for outbursts, provoking them if they could, and capturing them on their iPhones. Their videos were quickly slapped together for maximum impact, given sassy titles, and sent out into the cyberworld, where, if all went as planned, they went viral. Circulating online in late 2017 was the video of an anti-Trump grad student at the University of Illinois who grabbed a TPUSA member’s phone — after the student hollered at him, “No one is scared of you 50-year-old man. Don’t you have kids to look after?” — then threw the phone across the lawn, cracking it. It was, it seemed, designed as a visual reminder that liberals were violent.
* Tribune
| Progressives looking to expand amid Chicago City Council departures: The large number of open seats plus newly drawn ward boundaries that might make it tough for some incumbents means the council is primed for big change in numbers, philosophy and, perhaps, how malleable they’ll be to the mayor. How many seats progressives are able to win next year may go a long way in determining the direction the council takes in the next term, and how they work with or against whoever occupies the mayor’s office to try to push through their agenda.
* SJ-R | Wards 5 and 7 will have contested races in 2023 election; filing closes today: The nonpartisan election is April 4. If more than four candidates emerge for a race, a primary will be held on Feb. 28. Also on the ballot are races for District 186 board of education, the Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority (SMEAA) board, the Springfield Park District trustees and the Lincoln Land Community College trustees, among others. Those offices file from Dec. 12 to Dec. 19.
* Daily Herald | Has interest in recreational marijuana in Illinois peaked?:Last month alone, the 110 recreational dispensaries throughout Illinois collected $131,547,031 in revenue, their fourth-highest monthly tally ever. But those sales figures have remained relatively flat since March, leading some to worry the state’s cannabis cash cow has reached the highest hill in the state’s revenue pasture.
* WBEZ | Formerly incarcerated students can now Zoom back into prison to finish their degrees: The pandemic forced prison programs across Illinois to adapt to remote learning. It also paved a path for college students leaving prison.
* Tribune | What will Obama center mean for nearby home values on the South Side? Wary of being priced out, groups push for housing benefits and protections: A similar campaign by the same coalition won protections for Woodlawn after a five-year campaign and long negotiations with city housing officials. But organizers in South Shore say they were shut out, and that initial steps announced by the Chicago Department of Housing to help area condo owners did not go far enough.
* Sun-Times | Al Capone’s grave in Hillside is defaced: A photo on social media shows the word “Evil” spray-painted in red on Al Capone’s grave marker.
* Block Club | Edgewater’s ‘Young Lincoln’ Statue Vandalized On Thanksgiving By Group Advocating Indigenous Rights : An anonymous group of activists poured red paint on the Lincoln statue in Senn Park, tagging the site with slogans including “colonizer” and “land back.”
* Sun-Times | White supremacist, Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, who met with Ye and Trump, raised in suburban Chicago: “Fuentes is among the most prominent and unapologetic antisemites around,” David Goldenberg, the Anti-Defamation League director of the Midwest regional office, told the Chicago Sun-Times on Sunday.
* Tribune | An actual game-time decision? Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on the Chicago Bears’ Week 12 loss, including that pregame QB chaos.: Leave it to the Bears to have their quarterback situation appear to be in complete chaos Sunday morning.
* Tribune | Will Justin Fields start at QB for Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers? ‘It’s about mobility and strength in his left arm.’: The Chicago Bears already had declared Justin Fields inactive because of a left shoulder injury when more quarterback uncertainty popped up Sunday morning. Trevor Siemian, who prepared all week to start if Fields couldn’t play against the New York Jets, also was injured.
* Tribune | ‘I thought I would make it’: The strange psychology behind the crashes at Long Grove’s covered bridge: Before them sits a charming covered bridge that would fit right into a Robert James Waller novel. The only difference is the large yellow sign affixed to the wood that reads “8-foot-6,” a height significantly shorter than the average school bus or box truck.
More to come!
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Open thread
Monday, Nov 28, 2022 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got your rest, because we’re going back to session! What’s on your Illinois-centric mind?
5 Comments
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Live coverage
Monday, Nov 28, 2022 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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