The @illinoissbe has updated early vote totals (11/07/22): Total VBM requested: 873,486 Total VBM returned: 544,016 Total VBM outstanding: 329,470 Return Rate: 62% Total Early Vote: 632,447 Total Grace Period: 11,724 Total Already Voted: 1,188,187
On Friday afternoon, lawyers representing Champaign County Board member Jim McGuire filed a lawsuit alleging that Champaign County deputy clerk Michelle Jett mishandled official ballots. Attached to the lawsuit is a sworn affidavit from an election judge in County Clerk Aaron Ammons’ office, which included pictures of ballots on the passenger seat and floor of Jett’s car.
The judge threw out the order after Jett and the county provided evidence they were sample ballots being used to test voting machines.
Champaign County Clerk and Recorder Aaron Ammons has agreed to tweak a procedure concerning pre-election printer testing at polling places, bringing to an end to an emergency lawsuit and partisan skirmish that stretched into this past weekend.
A hearing set before Judge Anna Benjamin Monday started nearly an hour late while lawyers hammered out an agreement that then eliminated the need for the hearing.
The resolution of the lawsuit filed by Champaign County Republican Party Chair Jim McGuire against Ammons and Ammons’ director of operations, Michelle Jett, calls for all paper used to test election printers to be secured and preserved from the time of testing until 60 days following the election.
At issue is an attempt by Dan Proft, a longtime Republican operative and onetime losing candidate for Illinois governor, to inject himself into a potential legal settlement being sought by Brett Corrigan, a Bailey family friend who worked for the campaign for more than a year before leaving around mid-September. Corrigan’s attorney described his client’s complaint as an “internal HR,” or human resources, matter but didn’t provide any additional details. […]
Corrigan declined to comment and referred all questions to his attorney, Scott Kaspar of Orland Park. Kaspar said Corrigan attended Bailey’s private Full Armor Christian Academy in downstate Louisville, Illinois, and lived with Bailey’s family on their farm in nearby Xenia. Corrigan on the campaign trail served largely as a “body man” for the Republican governor candidate, who is also a state senator, closely following Bailey at events and assisting Bailey as he needed. Since June 2021, state campaign finance records show, he was paid $18,861 by Bailey’s campaign.
But around mid-September, Corrigan left Bailey’s campaign — whether he was fired or left on his own is a matter of dispute, his attorney said. Corrigan now serves a similar role for GOP attorney general candidate Tom DeVore, whose campaign Corrigan joined almost immediately after leaving Bailey’s.
Bailey told reporters yesterday that he wouldn’t answer any questions about the matter because Corrigan was still a student at Bailey’s school.
The #AANHPI community shows up to support its members. Sometimes on comedy stages but always at the ballot box. We were proud to show up for @TammyDuckworth and AANHPIs running down ballot in Chicago @SecondCity with VP @KamalaHarris to talk about the power of our vote. pic.twitter.com/EULMvPBv69
* Crain’s | Conservative activist behind faux newspapers is done living in Illinois: “I no longer have a place in Chicago or Illinois,” Proft wrote in an email to Crain’s, “nor will I until and unless the political leadership changes and that new leadership reforms the way we fund schools and structure and fund public sector pensions and in so doing reduces the usurious property taxes Illinois families pay.”
* Illinois Review | Kathy Salvi on the campaign trail gives three reasons to vote for her: Monday night, Kathy Salvi, 2022 Republican candidate for US Senate, gave a rousing speech at a rally in Lombard Monday night. Salvi gave three reasons Illinoisans should vote for her Tuesday: Economy, Crime and Education - all topics that are motivating voters to the polls.
* Patch | Raoul Vs. Lawyer DeVore For Attorney General: Illinois Election 2022: As expected, Raoul and DeVore plan to take very different paths as Attorney General and have targeted their opponent’s philosophies of lawmaking on key issues facing Illinoisans. Perhaps, most notable is the controversial SAFE-T Act, the sweeping criminal justice reform package that was passed by lawmakers and that is set to go into effect on Jan. 1. Neither Raoul nor DeVore responded to multiple requests from Patch to complete a pre-election questionnaire dealing with issues facing Illinois voters in Tuesday’s general election.
* Block Club Chicago | With Fewer Polling Places And Translators, Non-English Speaking Voters Could Be Discouraged, Advocates Say: Community organizers said they’ll do heavier lifting this election to help voters with language barriers cast ballots amid shakeups to the voting process. Nearly half of Chicago voters will have a different polling place for the election Nov. 8 than they did in the June primary, said Max Bever, Chicago Board of Election Commissioners spokesman. There will also be 97 fewer polling places citywide, and the board has struggled to hire poll workers, especially those who are bilingual, he said.
* Shaw Local | Controversial mailer with SAFE-T Act concerns sent to DeKalb residents: Earlier this week, DeKalb resident Eric Petruchuis said he was angry when he learned his photo had been included in a publication circulating around town beneath a headline that read, “Under the SAFE-T Act, these suspects would be released into your neighborhood.” His photo was on a page with 15 other mugshots, along with full names and bullet points of the charges allegedly pending against them. No other details were published with the arrest photos. One problem, for Petruchuis at least, is it wasn’t accurate. While Petruchuis had been arrested in October, and spent a night in the DeKalb County Jail, the charges were dismissed the next day, according to court records and the DeKalb County state’s attorney’s office.
* Patch | Election Day Blood Moon Last Total Lunar Eclipse Over IL Until 2025: The Election Day lunar eclipse will turn the moon an eerie red in the hours before polls open across Illinois on Tuesday. It’s the last total lunar eclipse until 2025, and that alone makes getting up early to see it worthwhile. Skies over Illinois should be partly cloudy on Tuesday during the height of eclipse activity when the moon takes on a reddish or coppery hue. If you’re not keen on watching the whole thing, the blood moon lasts from about 4:16 a.m. to 5:41 a.m. local time.
* Telegraph | Haine, McRae criticize Julian, Huddleston on ‘pledges for votes’: The texts, from campaign workers for Julian and Huddleston, stated they would “uphold Illinois law which allows women to make their own healthcare choices with their doctor.” Neither Julian or Huddleston responded to a request for comment. Haine and McRae argued promising specific legal rulings during a campaign is unethical.
The queen of misinfo strikes again. Her smoking gun is an email from a state rep’s office asking what the process is, but no response indicating that this is in the works.🙄 https://t.co/DYv3DBCErt
When Chicago reporter Amy Jacobson recently asked Illinois Governor J.B Pritzker about requiring the covid-19 vaccine for schoolchildren, he said he would leave that decision to legislators.
But internal emails from the Illinois Department of Public Health suggest Prtizker is looking into adding the covid shot to the list of school vaccines through a process that doesn’t involve full Legislative approval.
On October 27th, a few hours after Pritzker put the onus for school shots on lawmakers, a question from the Governor’s Office was raised in an email thread between IDPH staff.
Deputy director Shannon Lightner wrote, “From the GO [Governor’s Office]: To add immunizations, do we have to go through the Committee and have three hearings?”
Heidi Clark, Division Chief of Infectious Diseases, replied, “That seems to be the case…No statutory changes are necessary, which is a plus, but those meetings would be pretty rough, I’m sure…”
The communications between the governor’s office and the Illinois Department of Public Health indicate that they are preparing to move in that direction of a vax mandate, hold a few perfunctory hearings around the state and impose that vax mandate if this governor is reelected.
Um, no.
Darren Bailey’s running mate was on Proft’s show and said this about vaccinations…
I was very surprised when I took my son in for his senior year checkup and they asked me would I like to get him the shot. And I said no thank you, and I thought that would be the end of the discussion. It went on for about 10 minutes, him encouraging me that why he needed this, and I was very uncomfortable with it. And I finally had to say to him, You know, 17 years ago, I brought him in the same hallway and you guys gave him four vaccines instead of two that my other kids got in here. My son Reagan has Aspberger’s, he’s on the spectrum, very high functioning, but there are a lot of people who think that those many vaccinations at one time…I mean, there are theories that that causes kids to be on the spectrum. But I couldn’t believe that we just couldn’t move on to the next step in his examination. It was as if this guy was getting, you know, a kickback or something.
The connection between vaccines and autism have been thoroughly debunked.
DeVore: Now what people didn’t know on the 27th of October is that when the governor was on television making that comment, his administrative agency was already working on this process. The emails that we have, that were given to us by some very courageous mothers who do FOIA requests better than [loud applause] showed that they were already formulating their plan. … And the director of the Department of Health now sent an email that said that that you know they’re likely going to receive some pushback in the promoting of vaccines in the short term. And you may have those who say, well, that doesn’t necessarily say they’re doing it. And I would ask you, will they any other vaccines in the short term that the Department of Health would be promoting? Of course not. Of course not. I made a call to the Department of Health today. And I asked them, Do you have the date for this meeting of this committee? And they said the best we know right now it’s the second week of December. So as we stand here today, around the second week of December the Illinois immunization Advisory Commission committee is set to have a hearing about making a recommendation. … I am firmly convinced, but you’re going to hear real soon that Senator Bailey when he becomes the governor of the state of Illinois [applause] that he will not appoint anyone to the Department of Public Health, that would try to promote, I’m going to use their words, promote adding any vaccines in the near future. So it is my pleasure to introduce to you to talk about this Senator Darren Bailey.[applause]
Bailey: God bless you and thank you all for being here today. This is absolutely amazing. And it is an honor to stand here with mothers and their children and parents in the future of Illinois that we are in keep fighting for…
Audience member: Protect our kids.
Bailey: And that is exactly what I promise. I promise you this, that your children’s future will always be my top priority. I will not waver under pressure and I will never stop fighting for them and the future of our state. JB Pritzker uses our kids to make political points. … And let me be clear, I will not appoint an Illinois Department of Public Health Director who will attempt to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine. Friends these decisions belong to the parents. These decisions belong to the parents with the consultation of their family physicians because you know what’s best for your children and their unique circumstances.
DeVore eventually got the audience riled up and then stormed out of the press conference when Mary Ann Ahern asked a question about the Proft papers.
*** UPDATE *** From the governor’s office…
FYI—statement on the vaccine lies.
As the Governor has clearly said, there are no plans to update the vaccine requirements for school age children. But it should come as no surprise that Darren Bailey and Tom DeVore are once again playing political games with public health. The CDC recommended school age children get the COVID vaccine and the email chain they are referencing is IDPH making sure they had a full understanding of the process for adding a vaccine to the existing requirements in order to answer questions about it. In other words, it’s an email discussion where DPH staff are doing their jobs.
…Adding… DeVore calls a reporter doing her job “disrespectful”…
@MaryAnnAhernNBC questions about political flyers had nothing to do with these parents concerns about vaccines. It was only your irrelevant question Mary Ann. It was disrespectful to these parents to ask such a ridiculous question at their event!
“JB Pritzker uses our kids to make political points,” Bailey said at a rally in Oak Brook. “He locks schoolchildren out of their classrooms, and he tries to twist their tender minds with ideology in his quest to be the most left-wing governor in America. Now his minions are looking to impose vaccine mandates on our children.”
Pritzker, however, said he had no plans to mandate any vaccine requirements, saying Bailey was “lying” in “a desperate attempt to win some votes.”
“There’s absolutely nothing that’s happening that’s out of the ordinary. He’s just making things up,” Pritzker said when asked about Bailey’s allegation.
The same day Elon Musk fires half of Twitter. It’s an official verified account for the spokesperson of the Governor of 5th largest state in the nation. Here’s hoping this was a rare occurrence. https://t.co/ZSwKQ7UvaW
The family of a murdered Chicago Police officer is calling out Governor JB Pritzker as the parole board comes under renewed criticism over prisoner releases.
“I think Governor Pritzker has blood on his hands for releasing these inmates,” said Jean Cable, the niece of a murdered police officer. […]
Cabel still incensed more than a year after the Illinois Prisoner Review Board released convicted cop killer Johnny Veal. He was sent to prison for 100-300 years for the 1970 Cabrini-Green sniper killing of her uncle, Police Sgt. James Severin, and his partner Anthony Rizzato. […]
“What’s going on with the Illinois parole board? I don’t like it. I don’t know what they’re doing,” Cabel added.
* Dan Proft’s PAC released a TV ad about the case the other day…
“My message to the governor,” Cabel says in the ad, “would be ’shame on you.’”
The Proft spot is called an “outrageous TV ad that should insult us all.” The ad points out that the governor cannot parole anyone and the announcer states “the [Proft] ad is 100 percent false.”
* Proft’s PAC today…
There will be a virtual PRESS CONFERENCE at 11AM CT Today hosted by People Who Play By The Rules PAC with JEAN CABEL, the niece of slain Chicago Police Officer Sgt. James Severin, to respond to a malicious commercial recently put out by sitting Illinois Governor JB Pritzker that attacked Cabel’s character. […]
Pritzker’s ad in essence calls the niece of Sgt. James Severin a liar, claiming that everything in her ad with PBR PAC is “100% false.”
In reality, everything in our ad is 100% true.
After a brief statement she will take questions from the media.
At press time, the Pritzker campaign has not made their ad available on their public YouTube channel, not surprisingly, but we have it and will play it at the press conference.
I got the Pritzker ad from Proft’s PAC. Isabel will be covering the press conference, so stay tuned for any updates.
The truth is that Governor Pritzker is directly responsible for the composition and integrity of his Prisoner Review Board. As a family member of a Chicago police officer who was killed in the line of duty in 1970, I have spent my entire adult life maintaining his honor and working tirelessly alongside with both families to keep two convicted cop killers in prison. My family and the family of Anthony Rizzato have been fighting this horrific battle for 40 years. My recent involvement in a political ad only stated that truth. The family of Jim Severin and Tony Rizzato have been associated with eight cooperative Governors of the state of Illinois all the way back to Governor Ogilvie. These governors understood what the judge was trying to say to future generations with a sentence of 100 to 300 years. This all stopped when JB Pritzker was put in office in 2019.
The governor’s office says that the case had “only one other parole hearing in 2014. We checked the file and there are not letters from previous governors in it.”
For months, the People Who Play By The Rules PAC, run by one-time failed candidate and Florida resident Dan Proft, has been running ads funded by Dick Uihlein to support Darren Bailey’s run for governor. By law, PACs cannot coordinate with individual campaigns, but new reporting sheds light on Proft and Bailey’s relationship that begs the question: What is Dan Proft doing for the Bailey campaign and why?
• The political committee is an independent expenditure PAC and, by law, is not supposed to coordinate its spending activities with Bailey’s campaign. But the apparent efforts by Proft — who also co-hosts a conservative radio show for which Bailey has been a frequent guest — to try to intercede in a potential legal matter involving Bailey indicate he may be playing a larger role than previously acknowledged.
• Proft also is involved in political mailers disguised as newspapers that have been sent to thousands of homes across the state, disseminating disinformation to disparage Pritzker. In 2016, a similar mailing effort funded by a former Proft independent expenditure PAC was cited by the Illinois State Board of Elections for illegal coordination with candidates.
• An internal dispute between Republican governor candidate Darren Bailey’s campaign and a recently departed Bailey political worker has raised questions about the level of involvement the conservative leader of a Bailey-aligned political action committee has had with the Bailey campaign.
• During those negotiations, Proft weighed in, apparently in an effort to quash the filing of a possible lawsuit in the matter that could become public and hurt Bailey’s chances.
• Asked to clarify, the campaign did not respond.
With hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans already casting their ballots and thousands more headed to the polls this weekend, Darren Bailey’s campaign must answer about his relationship with Dan Proft. With just four days to go, voters deserve to know: Why did Bailey fire Brett Corrigan and why was Dan Proft involved in an internal HR dispute?
Corrigan declined to comment and referred all questions to his attorney, Scott Kaspar of Orland Park. Kaspar said Corrigan attended Bailey’s private Full Armor Christian Academy in downstate Louisville, Illinois, and lived with Bailey’s family on their farm in nearby Xenia. Corrigan on the campaign trail served largely as a “body man” for the Republican governor candidate, who is also a state senator, closely following Bailey at events and assisting Bailey as he needed. Since June 2021, state campaign finance records show, he was paid $18,861 by Bailey’s campaign.
But around mid-September, Corrigan left Bailey’s campaign — whether he was fired or left on his own is a matter of dispute, his attorney said. Corrigan now serves a similar role for GOP attorney general candidate Tom DeVore, whose campaign Corrigan joined almost immediately after leaving Bailey’s.
In an interview, DeVore said he was aware of a dispute between Corrigan and Bailey’s campaign and that the two sides were trying to reconcile their differences. DeVore had no comment when asked about any involvement by Proft.
The penalty appears to be a fine.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Pritzker campaign…
The best read of the law suggests the State Board of Elections could impose a fine of as much as $28,083,000 on the [Proft] PAC should they find a violation. We haven’t found examples of fines that large, but that amount should be possible under the IE statute, as described in more detail below.
If an independent expenditure committee (in this case, People Who Play By The Rules PAC) makes a contribution to candidate committee, the State Board of Elections assesses a fine on the committee equal to the amount of any contribution received in the preceding 2 years by the independent expenditure committee that exceeded the limits a [normal, non-independent] PAC may accept in an election cycle. 10 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/9-8.6(d). For background, a normal PAC in IL may accept $12,000 per year from individuals, $24,000 per year from corporations, unions, or associations, $59,900 per year from candidate committees, $24,000 per year from party committees, and $59,900 per year from other PACS. Id. 5/9-8.5; see also IL State Board of Elections, Contribution Limits Per Election Cycle (Jan. 1, 2021), https://www.elections.il.gov/downloads/campaigndisclosure/pdf/contributionsummary.pdf. So, any contribution the PAC received in excess of those limits could be imposed against them as a fine in the event of a violation.
Because PACs may accept $12,000 per year from individuals, the excess of any individual contribution over $12k will count towards the fine. 10 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/9-8.5; see also IL State Board of Elections, Contribution Limits Per Election Cycle (Jan. 1, 2021), https://www.elections.il.gov/downloads/campaigndisclosure/pdf/contributionsummary.pdf.
Since the People Who Play By The Rules PAC was formed in March 2022, it has reported $28,095,000 in contributions from Richard Uihlein—which is $28,083,000 above the limit Uihlein could give to a normal PAC as an individual. See generally People Who Play By The Rules PAC, Committee Details, https://www.elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/CommitteeDetail.aspx?ID=meYU8YumQ1UjlydtIJRv9w%3d%3d (last visited Nov. 4, 2022). Should the State Board of Elections find that the PAC illegality coordinated with the Bailey Campaign, its fine could therefore exceed $28 million.
A $28 million fine? Whew.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The Democratic Party of Illinois has filed a complaint with the State Board of Elections, according to the Tribune, and the Dems have revised the possible penalty upwards to $42 million…
We’ve updated the figures to include all of Uihlein’s contributions to the PAC, including the one on the October A-1. Based on all contributions, the fine could exceed $42 million. Revised version below.
he best read of the law suggests the State Board of Elections could impose a fine of as much as $42,018,000 on the PAC should they find a violation. We haven’t found examples of fines that large, but that amount should be possible under the IE statute, as described in more detail below.
If an independent expenditure committee (in this case, People Who Play By The Rules PAC) makes a contribution to candidate committee, the State Board of Elections assesses a fine on the committee equal to the amount of any contribution received in the preceding 2 years by the independent expenditure committee that exceeded the limits a [normal, non-independent] PAC may accept in an election cycle. 10 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/9-8.6(d). For background, a normal PAC in IL may accept $12,000 per year from individuals, $24,000 per year from corporations, unions, or associations, $59,900 per year from candidate committees, $24,000 per year from party committees, and $59,900 per year from other PACS. Id. 5/9-8.5; see also IL State Board of Elections, Contribution Limits Per Election Cycle (Jan. 1, 2021), https://www.elections.il.gov/downloads/campaigndisclosure/pdf/contributionsummary.pdf. So, any contribution the PAC received in excess of those limits could be imposed against them as a fine in the event of a violation.
Because PACs may accept $12,000 per year from individuals, the excess of any individual contribution over $12k will count towards the fine. 10 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/9-8.5; see also IL State Board of Elections, Contribution Limits Per Election Cycle (Jan. 1, 2021), https://www.elections.il.gov/downloads/campaigndisclosure/pdf/contributionsummary.pdf.
Since the People Who Play By The Rules PAC was formed in March 2022, it has reported $42,018,000 in contributions from Richard Uihlein—which is $42,006,000 above the limit Uihlein could give to a normal PAC as an individual. See generally People Who Play By The Rules PAC, Committee Details, https://www.elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/CommitteeDetail.aspx?ID=meYU8YumQ1UjlydtIJRv9w%3d%3d (last visited Nov. 4, 2022). Should the State Board of Elections find that the PAC illegality coordinated with the Bailey Campaign, its fine could therefore exceed $42 million.
Mr. Proft has consistently acted in “cooperation, consultation, or concert” with the Bailey Campaign. The examples are endless. For example, Mr. Proft co-hosts a conservative radio show in which Mr. Bailey has been a frequent guest. In one instance, Mr. Proft talks about the millions he has spent supporting the Bailey Campaign, with Mr. Bailey on the line, saying that he “supported Darren Bailey through the super PAC that I run in the primary. And I’m supporting him through the super PAC that I run into the general too.”
Jimmy Kimmel spotted a pretty unusual political ad that was made for a candidate in Illinois but that’s getting attention far beyond the state’s borders for an unexpected endorsement.
It’s “not a major name,” Kimmel noted. “But a really good one.”
That name? Dick Bigger Jr., a farmer featured in a spot for Susana Mendoza, a Democrat seeking reelection as state comptroller.
* Longtime readers will remember Tim Nieukirk, who ran for governor in 2006 as a write-in. We profiled the “Get Nieuked” campaign’s YouTube “ads” on the blog and Fox News eventually did a piece on him. He even showed up for my bipartisan preelection party. I’ve invited Dick Bigger Jr. to this year’s event.
