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Huge win for Bring Chicago Home supporters as appellate court vacates lower court’s ruling (Updated)

Wednesday, Mar 6, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* First Appellate District…

The City of Chicago and Defendants Board of Election Commissioners for the City of Chicago appeal a final order of the circuit court in favor of the Plaintiffs, a collection of local business and real estate organizations. At issue is whether the circuit court erred by enjoining the Board of Elections from counting and reporting votes related to a referendum on the March 19, 2024, general primary ballot in Chicago commonly known as “Bring Chicago Home.” The referendum relates to a legislative effort to create a graduated transfer tax on real estate in Chicago where state statute requires voter approval whenever the City intends to raise the rate of taxation or impose a new tax. Because we conclude that the circuit court erred, we vacate the judgment of the circuit court and remand with instructions to dismiss the complaint for want of jurisdiction. […]

Like the parties, we are left guessing as to the bases for the circuit court’s ruling because the lower court gave no reasons for its ruling. Rather, the circuit court read the parties’ briefing verbatim in open court and then made its oral ruling: “I am going to grant their motion for judgment on the pleadings and grant the relief requested in the Complaint.” Three days later, the circuit court issued a written order that stated, “For the reasons stated in open court and on the record, Plaintiffs’ Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings is Granted.” […]

Illinois courts, however, have declined to exercise jurisdiction over challenges to referenda that are part of the legislative process. It is well settled that courts cannot “enjoin the holding of an election” on such a referendum. […]

This rule stems from two bedrock principles. First, Illinois’s constitutional system of government is one of separation of powers. In it “[t]he judiciary has no supervision over the legislative branch of government.” Id. Therefore, “[t]he courts can neither dictate nor enjoin the passage of legislation.” Id. The holding of an election for the purpose of passing a referendum to empower a municipality to adopt an ordinance is a step in the legislative process of the enactment of that ordinance. Courts do not, and cannot, interfere with the legislative process. […]

Second, we do not issue advisory opinions. Courts are empowered to rule on the validity of legislative enactments only after they have been enacted. “[U]ntil the legislative process has been concluded, there is no controversy that is ripe for a declaratory judgment.” […]

Plaintiffs further argue that the Illinois Supreme Court has recognized an exception to the rule against enjoining a referendum election where the challenge is based on noncompliance with the eligibility requirements for placing referendum questions on the ballot. However, no Illinois court has ever sanctioned a challenge to a referendum that was a step in the legislative process. […]

Thus, Plaintiffs’ complaint is premature. Fealty to our constitutional system of government and to well-settled concepts of justiciability requires us to decline to interfere with the legislative process. Accordingly, the circuit court erred when it exercised jurisdiction over the complaint. […]

Finally, we have allowed the City to participate in this appeal as if it was a party in all respects for two reasons. First, the City has a direct and substantial interest in this case and risked being unfairly prejudiced by the circuit court’s judgment if not allowed to appeal. Citicorp Savings of Illinois v. First Chicago Trust Co., 269 Ill. App. 3d 293, 299 (1995) (“[I]t is settled law that a non- party may bring an appeal when that person has a direct, immediate and substantial interest in the subject matter, which would be prejudiced by judgment or benefited by its reversal.”). Plaintiffs’ contentions to the contrary are without merit. The City has a clear and direct interest in defending the referendum, which is the product of a City Council resolution.

Second, the circuit court committed an abuse of discretion in denying the City’s petition to intervene. Under the Code of Civil Procedure, “upon timely application anyone shall be permitted as of right to intervene in an action *** when the representation of the applicant’s interest by existing parties is or may be inadequate and the applicant will or may be bound by an order or judgment in the action.” […]

The referendum is the result of a resolution passed by the Chicago City Council, and it is a step in the legislative process mandated by the Municipal Code. 65 ILCS 5/8-3-19; In re County Treasurer, 2017 IL App (1st) 152951, ¶ 17 (abuse of discretion to deny intervention where intervenors had a direct interest). Further, the only defendant in the case, the Board of Elections, asserted that it had no role in addressing whether the referendum complied with the Municipal Code or the Illinois Constitution, and thus it could not represent the City’s interest. See Kozenczak v. Du Page County Officers Electoral Board, 299 Ill. App. 3d 205, 207 (1998); 10 ILCS 5/6-1 et seq. (West 2022); Flood, 2016 IL App (4th) 150594, ¶¶ 18-21 (abuse of discretion to deny intervention where intervenor’s interests were inadequately represented). Against this backdrop, the City’s petition amply demonstrated its right to intervene, and the circuit court committed an abuse of discretion in concluding otherwise.

CONCLUSION

We offer this gentle reminder that seems warranted in light of some of the contentions raised by amici: we have decided this case exercising our best judgment in strict accordance with the law. Nothing in this decision is intended to suggest that we have any opinion one way or the other on the merits of the referendum at issue. That is a question wisely entrusted not to judges but to the people of the city of Chicago.

For all these reasons, the judgment of the circuit court of Cook County is vacated and the case is remanded with instructions to dismiss the complaint for want of jurisdiction.

Judgment vacated; remanded with instructions.

…Adding… Lots of lawyers thought the case against the referendum was a slam dunk, including Odelson…

“The referendum question was poorly written. The case law supports the fact that it’s illegal to have multiple questions in one question,” said Burt Odelson, who opposed Kasper in the Emanuel residency case. “It is in his favor. It would be a highly charged political decision if it was reversed . . . the appellate court should be unanimous.”

Though Kasper’s involvement in the litigation would appear to set up an almost cartoonish David and Goliath battle between Chicago’s homeless population and an associate of Springfield’s embattled former House speaker, Dorf argues that’s not the case.

“The problem with the Bring Chicago Home referendum is not one of good versus evil. It’s one of competence in drafting a referendum,” he said. “The Johnson administration really should have thought more before they drafted it. They drafted a referendum, which I think made for great press and really showed what he wanted to do. It was really aspirational, but it just was a bad referendum. And they could have done it in a way which would pass the law, and they didn’t do it.”

* Max Bever, Director of Public Information, Chicago Board of Elections…

“This afternoon, the Illinois Appellate Court reinstated the citywide referendum question to the March 19th Primary ballot in Chicago. The initial judgment of the Circuit Court of Cook County is vacated, and the case is remanded with instructions to dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction.

All votes cast for the citywide question will be counted and reported by the Chicago Board of Elections on Election Night, March 19th.”

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Isabel’s afternoon roundup (updated)

Tuesday, Mar 5, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* The Senate voted 37-20 to pass SB15, which would elect the Chicago school board…

[From Rich: As Senate President Harmon explained today, ten elected members would represent the entire city for two years with ten members appointed. Then, after two years, those ten districts would be cut in half and all twenty members plus the chair would be elected. There’s more to it, but that’s the basic gist.]

* Press release…

The Illinois Senate Democratic Caucus today passed legislation to create an elected Chicago School Board, expanding representation and empowering communities with a greater say in how the state’s largest school system is run.

Under SB 15, 10 Board members will be elected in 2024 and 10 Board members and the Board Chair will be appointed by the mayor. Beginning in 2026, all 20 CPS Board members will be elected from subdistricts and the Board President will be elected citywide. These changes will give families and community members a direct say in the leadership of their schools, a right every other community in Illinois is already afforded.

“With today’s vote, we are bringing democracy to the people of Chicago,” said Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford, Chair of the Special Committee on the Chicago Elected Representative School Board. “For the first time, leadership of Chicago Public Schools will be accountable to the voters, who will have the power to set a new course for our city’s education system.”

A map detailing electoral district boundaries, as well as demographic data and shape files, is available online at www.ilsenateredistricting.com. The map consists of 20 districts, including seven majority Black districts, six majority Latino districts, five majority White districts and two coalition districts. School board districts must be consistent with the Illinois Voting Rights Act, which ensures districts are crafted in a way that preserves clusters of minority voters if they are of size or cohesion to exert collective electoral power.

“At long last, families across Chicago will have a platform to make important decisions about their children’s education,” said Sen. Robert Martwick, Vice-Chair of the Special Committee on the Chicago Elected Representative School Board and sponsor of the legislation creating an elected school board in Chicago. “Representation matters, and I’m proud we are finally giving parents in Chicago the same rights as those in every other community throughout Illinois.”

The legislation establishes ethics requirements for Board members that mirror those for other school boards across the state, as well as conflict of interest provisions in line with the state’s existing Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act. It also calls for the creation of the Black Student Achieve Committee within the Board, following feedback from education advocates, parents and community members about the need to focus on the disparity in academic performance among Black students.

“With a budget of nearly $10 billion a year, this change doesn’t just impact families enrolled in Chicago Public Schools but every person who lives in our city,” said Sen. Omar Aquino, Vice-Chair of the Special Committee on the Chicago Elected Representative School Board. “Our communities will now have a direct say in deciding how public funds are spent, ensuring schools are better positioned to respond to the unique needs of each neighborhood.”

…Adding… Senate Republican Leader John Curran…

Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove) released the following statement in response to the Senate passage of SB15 that enacts gerrymandered maps for hybrid Chicago School Board elections:

“I have and will continue to vote NO on any legislative or school board map drawn by politicians, rather than the people they represent. We stand with the thousands of opponents, citizens, parents, students, and teachers who want to end the process of gerrymandering that suppresses choice and disenfranchises voters in Illinois.”

* The bill passed out of committee on a 9-4 partisan vote earlier today…

* WTTW…

[F]or Eileen O’Neill Burke, locked in a fierce fight for the Democratic nomination for Cook County state’s attorney against Clayton Harris III, her last name has turned out to be a double-edged sword.[…]

“For the record – no, I’m not related to THAT Burke,” she posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, confident that she didn’t have to spell out her reference to former Ald. Ed Burke, convicted Dec. 21 on 13 counts of racketeering, bribery and extortion. He is scheduled to be sentenced in June. […]

After six years as a Cook County judge, O’Neill Burke had her eye on an appellate court seat. In 2015, O’Neill Burke contributed $500 to Burke’s main campaign account, her only direct contribution to Burke’s war chest, which he would eventually use to fund his criminal defense, according to records filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections. […]

In 2017 and 2018, O’Neill Burke’s husband, John Burke, an attorney at the law firm of Ice Miller, made four contributions totaling $1,250 to two campaign committees controlled by Ed Burke, according to records filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

* Tahman Bradley…

* Sun-Times…

Lurie Children’s Hospital has restored its electronic medical records platform after being down for over a month because of a cybersecurity threat, the hospital announced Monday evening.

MyChart remains offline, the platform patients use to communicate with providers, access medical records and test results and make appointments, according to a statement on the hospital’s website.

The hospital took its phone, email and electronic systems offline Jan. 31 because of a “criminal threat” from a “known criminal threat actor,” Lurie said in February. It has not explained what the threat was and how it affected its systems. The hospital has remained open and providing care.

Emails to and from external addresses and most of the hospital’s phone lines were restored last month. But the hospital’s electronic medical record platform, Epic’s MyChart, remains down.

* Here’s the rest…

25 News Now | Smaller school districts impacted most by teacher shortage:

* Capitol News Illinois | Funeral home director subject to ‘scary, filthy freak show’ complaint surrenders license: Moran Queen-Boggs funeral home director Hugh Moran signed a consent order on Friday, March 1, a copy of which was obtained by Capitol News Illinois. In it, he agreed never to reapply for his funeral director or embalmer license in the state.

* SJ-R | SIU School of Medicine scholarship challenged on race, gender identity discrimination grounds: The scholarship in question, the Tracey Meares Scholarship, is eligible to U.S. citizens in their fourth year of medical school in “good academic standing.” Where EPP founder and Cornell law professor William A. Jacobson takes issue are the race and gender identity-based criteria. Per the SIU School of Medicine website, the scholarship is open to students who are Black, Hispanic or Native American and those identifying as LGBTQ+. The award winner receives a $1,000 stipend to cover housing and travel costs throughout a four-week resident rotation.

* Crain’s | Rivian laid off about 100 Illinois workers: The Illinois layoffs are just a tiny fraction of its workforce here. Rivian employs more than 8,000 people in Normal, about 7,000 of whom are hourly workers who produce electric trucks, SUVs and delivery vehicles. But it also has engineers and designers at the facility, the company’s only production plant.

* Daily Herald | Hoffman Estates latest suburb asked to adopt Gaza cease-fire resolution: Schaumburg village board members heard from nine people last week asking they pass a cease-fire resolution, but ultimately chose not to act on a request, saying it was not relevant to the operations of the town. The decision led some advocates to verbally assail board members, leading them to recess their meeting.

* WCIA | Champaign Board of Education meeting erupts in heated discussion, ends with member resignation: After approving new business and listening to public comment, discussion began between board members, which quickly turned heated between Board Member Betsy Holder and Board President Gianina Baker. Holder requested more transparency within the district, wanting to specifically know what the district is spending money on. She pointed to a $38,000 monthly legal bill that she was told was “confidential information.”

* WCIA | Champaign School Board member resigns, citing ‘mistrust, missteps and misinformation’: Near the end of the March 4 meeting, Jamar Brown, Champaign Unit 4 School District Board Vice President, read a statement reflecting on many positive moments during his first term on the board. However, he called out his experience with his second term on the board as one filled with “mistrust, missteps and misinformation”. Brown noted that he saw a number of attacks pointed at the Champaign School District, but said what was “more alarming was the self-inflicted wounds we were doing to ourselves.”

* Tribune | Support staff at Crystal Lake D47 file unfair labor practice charge after district hires staffing firm: Crystal Lake Association of Support Staff, or CLASS, the union representing Chaix and more than 100 paraprofessionals across 12 schools in District 47, filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board in October after district administrators retained a recruiting firm to hire temporary employees. The union said the move was made illegally and without giving them notice.

* SJ-R | Springfield’s first cat cafe holds soft opening. Everything you need to know: The Cat’s Pyjamas, Springfield’s first cat café officially opened its doors to the public last Saturday and Sunday. After completing building repairs, the business welcomed a combined 130 patrons in a soft open during the weekend.

* AP | Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Threads logins restored after widespread outage: The outage comes just ahead of Thursday’s deadline for Big Tech companies to comply with the European Union’s new Digital Markets Act. To comply, Meta is making changes, like allowing users to separate their Facebook and Instagram accounts so personal information can’t be combined to target them with online ads. It’s not clear whether the outage is connected to any preparations Meta might be carrying out for the DMA.

* D Magazine | Here’s Why Jalapeño Peppers Are Less Spicy Than Ever: “As more growers have adopted drip irrigation, more high-tech farming tools to grow the peppers, they’ll tend to be milder,” Walker told me first, as a sort of throat-clearing exercise before the real explanation. “But there’s more to it than that.” The truth is more like a vast industrial scheme to make the jalapeño more predictable—and less hot.

* Sun-Times | CTA bus driver, passenger rescue 14 residents from burning South Shore homes: “We started banging on doors and yelling ‘fire fire fire!’ at the top of our lungs and just trying to wake as many people up and alert as many people as we possibly could,” Adamopoulos said, adding that he didn’t think about his own safety as he ran toward the flames. “The only thing I was focused on was getting the people out.”

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Pat Quinn to back GOP-sponsored constitutional ethics amendment (Updated)

Tuesday, Mar 5, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Media advisory…

Rep. Spain to Present Ethics Reform Amendment Alongside Former IL Gov. Pat Quinn

Who: House Deputy Republican Leader Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) and former Democratic Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.

What: Leader Spain and former Gov. Quinn will discuss the pressing need for reform to state ethics regulations and present a bipartisan amendment to the Illinois Constitution recently filed by Spain.

When: 10:30 AM on Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Where: Capitol Blueroom in Springfield (event will also be streamed on Blueroom Stream).

Rep. Spain’s proposed constitutional amendment is here…

Amendments to Section 2 of Article XIII shall be limited to establishing and enforcing stronger ethical standards for candidates for or office holders of: (i) State office; (ii) offices in units of local government and school districts; and (iii) a position on a commission or board created by this Constitution.

* I asked Rep. Spain to explain his proposal…

We have lots of restrictions for ballot initiatives in Illinois. This resolution will allow referenda on ethics issues each election that are initiated by petition. Basically it gives more opportunities for citizen reform initiatives.

…Adding… Press release…

Today at the Capitol, Deputy House Republican Leader Ryan Spain (R-73rd District) was joined by former Democratic Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to propose an amendment to the Illinois Constitution that will give Illinois citizens the ability to establish and enforce stronger ethical standards on elected officials in the state.

“It was two years ago, on March 2, 2022, that former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan was indicted on federal racketeering and bribery charges for the network of corrupt behavior he oversaw,” said Spain. “While his trial is still pending, since then, we’ve seen his associates convicted in the ComEd Four trial and his closest confidant, Tim Mapes, convicted, and the rash of ethical lapses in Illinois continues to be a serious problem. However, the state legislature has failed to deliver needed ethics reform to clamp down on this behavior.

“Fortunately, there is a different way we can approach this problem by creating an avenue for Illinois citizens to use a petition initiative to enact anti-corruption measures. As March is National Ethics Awareness Month, this is the perfect time to draw attention to this issue and empower the people of Illinois to establish the more ethical government they deserve.”

House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 19 (HJRCA 19), which was filed by Rep. Spain on March 1, proposes to amend the Illinois Constitution to establish a petition process that will allow citizens to propose changes to state ethics requirements via ballot initiatives to be voted on by the voters of Illinois. Any ethics requirement approved by the voters would apply to candidates and office holders of state offices and local governments, as well as boards and commissions created in the state constitution.

In a show of the bipartisan nature of this proposal, Rep. Spain was joined by former Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who, like Spain, has sought to champion ethics reform in Illinois.

“In 1976, I was part of a petition initiative called the Political Honesty Initiative to add ethics requirements to our state constitution,” said Quinn. “At the time, we collected 635,158 signatures to get the initiative on the ballot. Unfortunately, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution did not allow for a petition initiative process to amend the constitution for ethics matters. That is why this proposal is so important today. The legislature has shown it’s not able to adequately reform its ethical requirements on its own, so now is the time to give that power to the people of Illinois and allow them to hold government officials accountable through direct initiative action.”

As a constitutional amendment proposal, HJRCA 19 would need to be approved by both houses of the Illinois General Assembly by May 5. Once it passes that legislative hurdle, it would then be placed on the November 5, 2024, General Election ballot for Illinois voters to approve the use of the petition initiative process for ethics matters.

For more information about HJRCA 19, Rep. Spain or video of the press conference held today, visit RepRyanSpain.com.

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Live coverage

Tuesday, Mar 5, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* You can click here or here to follow breaking news. It’s the best we can do unless or until Twitter gets its act together.

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