Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Friday, May 12, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Two days ago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the appointment of Kevin Barszcz as the city’s Director of Veteran Affairs. She also signed an executive order and declared a state of emergency earlier this week. Today, Lightfoot signed several more executive orders, just days before her term ends…

• Executive Order Requiring Recommendation on Continuation of Key Fines and Fees Reform Programs
• Executive Order Establishing the Pension Advance Fund
• Executive Order Establishing the Youth Commission as a Formal Advisory Body to Ensure Youth Voice Remains in City Government
• Executive Order Expanding Access to U/T Visa Certification
• Executive Order Formally Establishing the Office of New Americans
• Executive Order Enhancing Zoning Transparency and Consistency
• Executive Order to Promote LaSalle Street Revitalization
• Executive Order to Operationalize Annual Progress Reporting of City Departments’ Requirement to Create and Maintain Racial Equity Action Plans
• Executive Order to Ensure Implementation of ‘We Will Chicago’ Citywide Plan
• Executive Orders on Procurement and Delegate Contracting Reforms

Crain’s…

The move follows an executive order on Wednesday on environmental justice and another on Tuesday declaring a state of emergency due to a wave of asylum seekers arriving in Chicago.

Similar to those executive orders, the Johnson transition team was caught off guard by the orders and were not briefed in advance. Johnson’s transition team declined further comment until they read through the implications of the orders. […]

Those orders can be rescinded by Johnson, but their issuance forces him into the tough position of publicly doing away with policies, even if they are largely ceremonial. Some of the orders touch on policies Johnson has expressed are priorities of his incoming administration, but would want to craft the specifics of the policy with his own team.

Crain’s has posted the orders on its site.

* From the BGA’s David Greising…

Under Lightfoot, the City Council began to exercise a modicum of independence. There even was talk about appointing a parliamentarian to help the council further assert autonomy. Or perhaps a legislative counsel might supplant the city’s corporation counsel — a mayoral appointee — in ruling on legal matters before the body.

Such talk has mostly gone silent — at least for now. Waguespack was banished to the backbenches, and in case the point wasn’t made, Lightfoot-era heavyweights Aldermen Anthony Beale, 9th; Brendan Reilly, 42nd; Brian Hopkins, 2nd; and Walter Burnett Jr., 27th, were sent there too. They hold not a single committee chairmanship among them.

The guy needs a fact-checker. Hopkins will chair the Committee on Public Safety. And, according to a Brandon Johnson press release today, “Ald. Walter Burnett will make history as the first African-American Vice Mayor.” The current Vice Mayor is Tom Tunney.

Ald. Beale was quoted as saying “The only candidate in this election who has encouraged racial division is Brandon Johnson.” Ald. Reilly worked more closely with Vallas than just about anybody.

* The ILGOP is fundraising off the new mayor-elect…

Incoming Chicago Mayor and avid defund the police advocate Brandon Johnson appeared before the Illinois General Assembly to talk about his agenda for the city.

It’s worse than you’d think…

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* The Triibe…

In the month leading up to the April 4 mayoral runoff, Tio Hardiman Jr., a native of the Austin community on Chicago’s West Side, was paid to work for former Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Paul Vallas’s unsuccessful campaign for mayor. […]

In the final push for votes ahead of the runoff, Vallas spent more than $600,000 to hire hundreds of people like Hardiman Jr. to get out the vote in the Black community. Payments to such workers were listed under the catchall category “services” on campaign expenditure reports. A TRiiBE analysis found much of what Vallas spent on individual services went to residents of South and West Side wards.

And that doesn’t include the $700K he paid to Chima Enyia. We won’t see his April spending until July.

* A few more…

ADDED: Sun-Times | Chicago cops’ racist social media posts detailed in new COPA report:

* Tribune | Incoming City Hall chief of staff was suspended for role in free United Center parking ‘scheme’: The city suspended Richard Guidice for 30 days in 2017 after a report from the Chicago Office of Inspector General found he and several other city employees participated in a “scheme” in which they set aside free street parking for friends and family during Blackhawks playoff games and Bulls games in 2015 and 2016.

* Sun-Times: NASCAR to use mufflers in Chicago, keep lakefront accessible: “Given the information provided from NASCAR related to their noise-reducing mufflers, we do not anticipate any negative noise or vibration impacts on our facility or to our animals,” Shedd Aquarium spokesman Johnny Ford said in an email Thursday.

* CBS Chicago | Lightfoot going on bus tour as part of final send-off as Chicago mayor: Today, Lightfoot will visit the Bronzeville Winery as part of a bus tour around the mayor’s INVEST Southwest and Chicago Works community development programs. Then at 4:30 p.m., a final sendoff as she leaves City Hall for the last time.

* Greg Hinz | As Mayor Lightfoot becomes Citizen Lightfoot, a look back at the good — and the bad: Mayor Lori Lightfoot had some choice words earlier this week when she declared a city emergency over a renewed wave of immigrants and asylum seekers now flooding the city, many of them on buses and planes dispatched from Texas.

* Tribune | Meet ‘Chonkosaurus,’ the Chicago River’s massive, fat snapping turtle: Scoot over Chance the Snapper: There’s a new famous critter in town. Its name is “Chonkosaurus” and it likes to bask in the sun. The massive snapping turtle was caught on camera by botanist Joey Santore as it lorded over a Chicago River pylon Saturday. In a widely shared video, the turtle suns itself as its fat, leathery legs burst beyond its shell.

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The state needs to step in

Friday, May 12, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The Tribune has a story about often-shady smoke shops…

On a recent school day, a student at Uplift Community High School in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood began vomiting multiple times and became unresponsive.

A short time later, other students alerted security that they had taken cannabis gummies from a classmate and felt sick, the school incident report showed. Another student who’d taken a gummy was “extremely paranoid and delusional.”

Five students were transported to hospitals, one classified as code red, suggesting a potentially serious condition, though all recovered. The Chicago Fire Department tweeted that the gummies came from a “dispensary” — but those involved indicate that’s not the case.

The gummies came not from a licensed cannabis dispensary, but from a neighborhood smoke shop, according to the school report of the incident and one of the parents of the teens involved. […]

Uptown Smokes is located within 1,000 feet of Uplift school and would not be allowed to be a licensed dispensary. The store, according to its Instagram account, advertises delta-8 and delta-10-THC, tobacco, and another drug called kratom, sold alongside potato chips, pop, candy and other items popular with high schoolers. […]

Uptown Smokes was shut down by the city the day after the incident — not for the overdoses, but for building code violations. Chicago officials say they generally have no authority to regulate the sale of delta-8, but can use code citations to temporarily address problem sites. The store was to remain closed until violations were corrected. The registered agent for Uptown Smokes, Zeyad Abughoush, could not be reached for comment.

The state has no authority to regulate the gray-market stores, either.

According to an online archived copy of the now-defunct website CBD At Work, there were an eye-popping 9,712 CBD shops in Illinois alone two years ago. And that doesn’t include the gas stations which sell it everywhere you look.

So far, the legislature hasn’t stepped up to do anything about it, although Rep. Bob Morgan tried a couple of years ago. There is no bill in the hopper right now, but the subject is being addressed by Rep. La Shawn Ford’s cannabis working group. Morgan ran the state’s medical cannabis program under Pat Quinn.

* From Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago)…

Incidents like what happened in the high school in Uptown are exactly why we need regulatory controls over these products. We regularly hear from people confused by storefronts calling themselves dispensaries, parents upset that their minor children have been able to purchase from these stores who are frustrated that there’s no recourse, and people who’ve purchased these products believing them to be tested and regulated. Regulation is about protecting consumers and ensuring the safety of the products being sold.

This reminds me of the taverns and other places offering the shady “sweepstakes” games that have never truly been addressed by the state.

* If the General Assembly is looking at reforms, maybe addressing this kind of stuff would be a good place to start. After all, the gray-market sweepstakes game industry was behind the former Rep. Luis Arroyo bribery scandal which resulted in the indictment of his alleged bribery paymaster James Weiss.

I doubt it will be too long before this delta thing attracts similar federal interest.

Either legalize, tax and regulate it or ban it. The status quo is not acceptable.

…Adding… Mark Peysakhovich…

Hi Rich –

I am one of the lobbyists who represents some Illinois companies involved in various aspects of Illinois’ hemp industry, including cultivation, research, processing, and retail of products like delta-8. They have invested years of our lives and millions of dollars to build hemp businesses, which, by the way, was legal before adult use applications even started. The industry includes hundreds of demographically and geographically diverse companies and a lot of jobs in Illinois.

The honest, legitimate companies in this space have been advocating for strict regulation of hemp-derived cannabinoids for almost two years. (Fact sheet attached.) Unfortunately, the insatiable cannabis companies see delta products as competition and they really do not just want regulation, which is part of why there is no regulation. They want to take the hemp businesses away for themselves by putting the hemp products (like the deltas) under the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (CRTA.) If they can’t do that, they will push for a ban. They went as low as hiring a retired DEA agent to spy on Illinois hemp businesses and presenting the cherry-picked information to the House Cannabis Work Group a few weeks ago.

The Illinois General Assembly acknowledged that hemp products, such as delta-8, are legal when it passed the Industrial Hemp Act in 2018. But now, even though their products remain federally illegal, Big Cannabis is advocating a hostile takeover of the hemp industry by moving hemp regulation under the CRTA rather than amending the Hemp Act. This step would put us out of business and give control of our industry to the huge cannabis corporations.

While my clients already carefully test and label products and restrict sales to consumers who are 21 or older, we know there are irresponsible people out there cutting corners to make a fast buck. That’s why we have been advocating for age restrictions as well as robust state licensing and regulation of hemp consumer products for years. This approach will protect consumers by ensuring they get fairly taxed, carefully tested, quality hemp products that are professionally made in local state-of-the-art facilities, rather than dangerous, potentially tainted, and mislabeled or unlabeled products made by shoddy operators in basements and garages.

At the same time, hemp and cannabis cannot be put under the same regulatory structure, which is what Big Cannabis wants. Hemp is federally legal. Cannabis is not. Giving control of the hemp industry to Big Cannabis is neither fair nor viable. It would disenfranchise those in the hemp industry and give away our businesses to the few hundred wealthy individuals who already own the licensed cannabis industry.

In short, we hope the Illinois General Assembly will protect consumers by enacting a strong hemp licensing and regulatory network. At the same time, we hope the General Assembly to resist Big Cannabis’ cynical scaremongering and to protect Illinois’ legal and legitimate hemp industry.

I am attaching a fact sheet we’ve been sharing widely. Please let me know if you have questions.

The fact sheet is here.

12 Comments

Dems take yet another swing at DeSantis

Friday, May 12, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* This attack has been sustained for much of the week. DPI…

Democrats from Peoria to Florida know just how dangerous Ron DeSantis’ “Florida blueprint” really is. Ahead of his visit to Illinois, Party leaders are speaking out against the spread of his extreme agenda:

“Ron DeSantis’ policies have no place in Illinois, and we won’t let him spread his ‘blueprint’ without accountability. From stripping reproductive rights to attacking members of the LGBTQ+ community and restricting civil rights across Florida, DeSantis has shown us that his vision for our nation contradicts everything that we stand for in Illinois,” said DPI Chair Lisa Hernandez. “Illinoisans have repeatedly rejected extremism, both in races up and down the ballot last November and just last month in school and library board races across the state. It’s clear that DeSantis’ hateful agenda is antithetical to our values and priorities in Illinois. While DeSantis callously enacts his dangerous platform in Florida, we’re lucky to have leaders here who respect the dignity of all Illinoisans, especially the most marginalized among us.”

“We here in Florida have seen firsthand the devastating effects of Ron DeSantis’s failed ‘Florida blueprint’. DeSantis spent Florida’s legislative session pushing through extreme legislation—including a more extreme abortion ban and a law that could make it easier for criminals to carry weapons—while ignoring the growing cost-of-living crisis that working Floridians are facing,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried. “Ron DeSantis is shadow campaigning for president with an extreme MAGA agenda built on the backs of Floridians, and we will make sure that people in every state know how devastating DeSantis has been for Florida, and how devastating he would be in the White House.”

“The differences between Illinois and Florida under Ron DeSantis’ leadership could not be more clear. I am proud and grateful that our state’s leaders have never stopped working to uplift working families, defend women’s rights, and make Illinois a place where all are welcome and have opportunities to thrive,” said Illinois Senator Dave Koehler. “In Peoria, we believe in access to quality education, equitable economic opportunities, and the freedom to make our own decisions about how we live and who we love. While DeSantis seeks to divide us in pursuit of his own ambitions, I have no intention of ceasing our efforts to build a more inclusive, accepting, and supportive community for all.”

“Ron DeSantis is waging a self-serving culture war at the expense of Floridians, decimating access to health care, childcare, affordable housing, and educational resources. I hope that in visiting Peoria, DeSantis can learn that in Illinois we trust women, we say gay, and we will never allow extremists like him to intimidate us into turning back the clock on freedom and progress,” said Peoria County Democrats Chair Rick Fox.

Illinois Democrats have a successful record of progress that continues to serve working families across the state. Illinoisans have made it abundantly clear: hate and extremism are not welcome in Illinois

* Pritzker campaign…

It is no coincidence that the party that was unable to make any statewide gains in the last Midterm election would invite failed governor Ron DeSantis to keynote one of their largest dinners. DeSantis, who is trailing Donald Trump in the polls and has yet to show he is ready for primetime, will keynote tonight’s Peoria-Tazewell Lincoln Day Dinner and share the policies he has implemented that has made Florida one of the most restrictive states when it comes to exercising reproductive freedom, one of the worst states for health care access, and one of the worst states for teacher pay––with one of the largest number of banned books.

DeSantis has repeatedly failed to lead Florida, passing draconian abortion bans, overseeing the collapse of the state’s unemployment insurance system, delaying needed evacuations during a devastating natural disaster, and even running campaign ads during the state’s latest crisis.

“Inviting a failed governor who is at war with Donald Trump to keynote one of your largest events is emblematic of today’s Illinois GOP,” said JB For Governor spokesperson Natalie Edelstein. “Republicans are too busy fighting each other to get out of their own way and solve the issues facing working families. While they celebrate banning books and picking on LGBTQ+ kids, Illinois Democrats will continue to win elections and build a state where everyone is free to be who they are.”

DeSantis has shown time and time again he is an authoritarian career politician who has no business being in public office. From passing a harsh abortion ban in the dead of night to erasing Black history from textbooks, it is clear the only direction he wants the country to go is backwards. The Illinois GOP would be better off putting their resources into helping families across the state instead of playing footsie with an extremist who will forget all about central Illinois the minute his plane takes off.

Your thoughts on this?

…Adding… A DPI fundraising pitch just landed in my inbox…

Hey Richard, JB here.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is in Illinois. Today, DeSantis will give a speech to GOP donors in Peoria about how Illinois needs to be more like Florida.

He’ll try to pass off his racism, homophobia, and misogyny as protecting your freedoms.

I’m calling BS.

It’s up to us to show Americans there is a better way forward than DeSantis’ campaign of hate. Here in Illinois, that’s exactly what we’ve been doing.

DeSantis tried to force the AP to revise an African American studies course. I announced that Illinois will reject a water-downed course that censors the contributions of Black and queer Americans.

DeSantis signed a 6-week abortion ban into law. I’ve made Illinois one of the strongest states in America for protecting reproductive care.

And while Governor DeSantis is pushing to lower the age to buy an assault weapon, I’ve already signed legislation to ban assault weapons altogether.

Richard, if you agree we should keep being ILLINOIS and not Florida, will you chip in $10 or more today to the Democratic Party of Illinois so we can keep electing real leaders to block the GOP’s attacks on our freedom and rights?

If you’ve saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately […]

Illinois will not be pushed around. We value our diverse history, we defend our rights, and we know the path forward.

In solidarity,

JB Pritzker
Governor of Illinois

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