Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Fallout continues over Erika Harold story

Friday, Mar 9, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Prairie Advocate…

Gov. Bruce Rauner and a host of other GOP luminaries are slated speak at the Whiteside County Republicans annual Lincoln Day Dinner on Friday […]

The keynote speaker will be Erika Harold, attorney general candidate and Miss America 2003.

That should be interesting.

…Adding… I’m told Harold still plans to attend the event.

* Pritzker campaign…

According to a shocking new report, Republican Attorney General candidate Erika Harold said she’d rather see children adopted to “a heterosexual couple who were known child abusers” than a “loving gay couple.”

As the two share a stage tonight at Lincoln Day Dinner in Deer Grove, will Rauner speak out against these hateful remarks?

“Bruce Rauner hand-picked Erika Harold to run for attorney general and is contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to boost her candidacy, but does he stand by her blatant homophobia?” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh.

* Meanwhile…

#ILAG. GOP AG challenger Gary Grasso asks Erika Harold to “drop out” for purported anti-gay remark. @cbschicago. pic.twitter.com/PPL9gS4FBg

— Edward Marshall (@edmarshallcbs2) March 9, 2018

Gov Rauner still refusing to offer reaction on @ErikaHarold statement on gay adoption when she ran for Miss Illinois in 2000 #ILAG #GOP #twill

— Mary Ann Ahern (@MaryAnnAhernNBC) March 9, 2018

#ILAG. @KwameRaoul: @ErikaHarold “not fit to serve” if she is anti-Gay as book suggests. @cbschicago. #twill. pic.twitter.com/8iaV3AmyJy

— Edward Marshall (@edmarshallcbs2) March 9, 2018

Fallout over @ErikaHarold gay adoption remarks, Dem Candidate #ILAG @KwameRaoul questions her honesty and why Harold won’t yet speak publicly #twill

— Mary Ann Ahern (@MaryAnnAhernNBC) March 9, 2018

…Adding… Grasso is backed by the leaders of the Illinois Family Institute, one of the most anti-gay groups in all of Illinois, so this call of his for her to drop out over anti-gay remarks is kinda weird.

…Adding… Grasso campaign…

Rich, we are calling on her to drop out because she advocated for the endangerment of foster children. Placing them in known abusive homes.

* From the day the Illinois Senate passed the gay marriage bill…

Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, who said during debate he once discriminated against those attracted to the same sex, said he’s changed.

“Evolution is part of what we do as a body,” he said.

* Former Gov. Pat Quinn…

Erika Harold’s reported views about the legitimate adoption rights of gay couples should alarm everyone in Illinois. Ms. Harold should know that there is never a situation when it is acceptable to knowingly put children in an unsafe home.

All children deserve loving parents who will protect them from harm. To expose foster youth to abusive placements is inexcusable and wrong.

As Governor, I stood for tolerance and fought hard to make marriage equality the law of Illinois. As Attorney General, I will speak out against bigotry whenever it surfaces. I will protect children from abusive situations and I will safeguard the rights of gay couples.

As Bruce Rauner’s handpicked candidate for Attorney General, Ms. Harold has the duty to protect children from abuse and combat bigotry of any kind.

* Press release…

Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, an adult adopted person who chaired The Adoption Reform Committee in the Illinois House and championed scores of laws making adoption inclusive in Illinois, said:

“Illinois cannot risk electing an Attorney General who will allow her personal bigotry to reverse years of progress on adoption policies that reflect inclusion, equality and the best interest of the child standards that are codified in Illinois law.

“Whether Harold recalls what she said or not, I demand that she answer that same question now and to answer it publicly. “

Agreed on the need for Harold to speak publicly herself, not through a spokesperson.

41 Comments

Groups furious that DCFS report tracking system has been offline for 8 months

Friday, Mar 9, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* WCIA TV…

DCFS hasn’t published child abuse and neglect numbers since July. It’s something, for the past 35-years, they’ve done monthly. […]

Groups like the ACLU, the Foster Care Alumni of America and the Association of Social Workers Illinois, all depend on the data to keep track of abuse cases and ensure DCFS is doing it’s job. The information on the “Executive Statistical Summary” reports calls collected on the child abuse hotline, detailing where abuse is happening in the state and what the circumstances might be.

DCFS blames the halt on technical issues. A spokesperson says they’re working with Department of Information Technology (DoIT) to replace outdated software.

Some advocate groups the timeline doesn’t add up.

“It’s generally infuriating that we’re not able to get this data this is really core data so we can identify where trends are in the state where abuse cases are happening whether or not the department is doing their job in investigating those abuse cases, and without this data we can’t advocate for those children or the social workers that are suppose to be doing this work,” says Kyle Hillman of the National Association of Social Workers Illinois.

#FacePalm.

Rauner: “On things that we can control, I would give us an A.”

He must be using one heckuva grading curve.

…Adding… From Kyle Hillman in comments…

Also in that news coverage was this:

The last report was issued a month after new director, Beverly Walker, took over. When asked when new data would become available a DCFS spokesperson responded, “We are determining whether there is a legal mandate to produce this particular report.”

Rather than figuring out how to get the data out to the public, they are trying to figure out if they can legally just stop and hide the report numbers.

…Adding… Andrea Durbin at the Illinois Collaboration on Youth in comments…

DCFS testified in a Senate hearing in the fall that calls to the hotline were up 12% in the last two years, after years of declines. Our neighboring states have seen their child welfare systems explode with children due in part to the opioid crisis. This is a bad time for the data to go dark.

* Pritzker campaign…

“Hiding child abuse and neglect statistics is a new low in Bruce Rauner’s cover up of his fatal mismanagement of state government,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Children are suffering while this failed governor tries to preserve his image instead of protecting the lives of our most vulnerable.”

* Related…

* Boy died after being returned to his mother despite warning. The judge now works for DCFS: Carrie Cross told the judge the next time she would see 3-year-old Elijah Campbell, he would be dead. She was right. “I loved that boy. We had a lot of love for him,” Cross said. Elijah died in 2014 — three years after St. Clair County Judge Laninya Cason terminated Cross’ guardianship and returned the boy to his biological mother, Mio Campbell.

34 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 - Kennedy slams Pritzker *** Pritzker is spreading around a ton of cash

Friday, Mar 9, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Scott Kennedy’s extremely handy dandy website pinged me yesterday about a $43,000 independent expenditure by the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association. It looked like radio ads on behalf of JB Pritzker. I reached out to the IDCCA and they sent it over.

Glenn Poshard is featured…

Coincidentally, I’m sure, Pritzker’s campaign contributed $49,500 to the IDCCA a few months ago.

* And that got me to thinking about how much Pritzker was spreading around. His campaign has contributed almost $618,000 to other campaign committees, with the largest being a whopping $200,000 to the St. Clair County Democrats last month.

Most, but not all, of the rest appears to be “street money” to ward, township and county Democratic organizations. The scale of this is pretty amazing. For instance, Pritzker’s campaign gave $15K to the 37th Ward Organization and $10K to Democratic organizations in the 8th Ward, Lyons Township, 34th Ward and a few others (some are repeats). $5K each was given to 26 committees (some repeats). And 28 other contributions were made of less than $5K. Click here for the full list.

You can cover a whole lot of precincts with money like that.

* By contrast, Chris Kennedy’s campaign has made $9,550 in contributions to other committees, but $5K of that went to Personal PAC (although Pritzker got the endorsement and kicked in far more).

And Sen. Daniel Biss’ campaign has given other committees just $4,000 since the beginning of last year. And half of that went to Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, who now backs Pritzker.

*** UPDATE *** Sun-Times…

Chris Kennedy on Friday accused billionaire rival J.B. Pritzker of trying to buy forgiveness for insulting comments he made about black politicians in a wiretapped conversation with Rod Blagojevich — with $159,000 in contributions to Cook County Democratic ward bosses, many of them African-American. […]

“Since J.B. Pritzker started his apology tour for those comments about African American leadership, he’s s given $374,000 to political organizations across the state, more than $159,000 of which went to committeemen in the Cook County Democratic Party,” Kennedy said.

“He’s taken pay-to-play politics and amplified the system from pay-to-play to fund-to-forgive and fee-to-forget. He’s buying off the leadership.”

The always outspoken Austin was furious when told of Kennedy’s charge.

“I’ve sat quiet long enough. And I’m not gonna sit and die and let Chris Kennedy slander me. The hell with Chris Kennedy. I’m more than insulted by this so and so. Nobody can buy Carrie. Nobody! J.B. didn’t give me a dime when I endorsed him. Not one dime,” Austin said, her voice rising.”

24 Comments

« NEWER POSTS