* Rachel Hinton…
Vowing to “ensure access to justice for all, the mayor of Highland Park launched her bid for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court on Friday, setting the stage for what could be a hotly contested race to represent a newly redrawn district on the state’s top court.
Making her third run for higher office in five years, Nancy Rotering, a Democrat in her third term as mayor of the North Shore suburb, joins Democratic and Republican judges in Lake County who are also vying for the seat formerly held by Justice Robert Thomas. […]
Kicking off her run for the state’s top court, Rotering announced a slew of endorsements, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Newman, the mayors of Deerfield, Buffalo Grove and Fox Lake as well as Democratic state Representatives Bob Morgan of Deerfield, Dan Didech of Buffalo Grove, Sam Yingling of Grayslake and Joyce Mason of Gurnee.
Elizabeth Rochford, an associate judge in Lake County, is also running as a Democrat for the Supreme Court seat, which now covers Lake, McHenry, Kane, DeKalb and Kendall counties.
Daniel Shanes, a Lake County judge, plans to run as a Republican for the Second District seat in next year’s June 28 primary.
* Press release from Gary Rabine…
In response to the tragic death of a police officer Saturday night in Chicago and the severe wounding of another officer, Gary Rabine, a candidate for Governor, is calling on Gov. Pritzker to stop ignoring the wave of violent crime in the City of Chicago.
“How many police officers and innocent civilians have to die before Gov. Pritzker takes what is happening in the City of Chicago seriously?” Rabine said. “Where are you Governor? Show us you are not partnered with Kim Fox! A great leader doesn’t sleep as tragedies like this in our state continue because of terrible policies and terrible leadership. JB needs to wake up and hold Kim Fox accountable for violating her professional code of ethics daily when she refuses to enforce the Illinois law she agreed to under oath.”
Rabine said the Governor could put pressure on Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to address the rise in violent crime. He could withhold various state funds to the City to force the mayor to solve the problems. He could call a Special Session of the General Assembly to deal with the violence and, as a last resort, he could deploy the National Guard.
“There are ways the Governor could step up and protect the lives of innocent people and the lives of police officers, but instead he has chosen to ignore what is happening in Chicago,” Rabine said. “Chicago’s best – our police officer – show their passion and their bravery as they serve us every single day. A great governor would respond by serving our police and our communities by using his executive powers to retract the bad policies that have handcuffed our police and take bold action to protect the citizens of this state. Unfortunately, we do not ave a great governor. We have a weak, self-serving leader whose policies are benefitting politically connected insiders at the expense of the people.”
Rabine is asking Illinois residents to pray for this heroic young woman’s 2-month-old baby now without a mother, the other officer fighting for his life, and their families.
“My prayers are also for the many innocent families who have lost loved ones in one of the most violent summers in Chicago history,” Rabine said. “I am also praying for our governor, to find the strength to get his hands dirty and the courage to retract bad policy and protect the people in every community of our state.”
I asked what Rabine would have the General Assembly do in a special session…
The point here is to make this issue a priority and use the bully pulpit that is the Governor’s office to bring about meaningful changes.
Um, OK, but if you bring the GA back into special session, you gotta give them something to do.
Also, as I’ve already told you, Officer French had no child. Rabine bought into yet another right-wing online myth.
* Speaking of which, these folks claim Rabine signed an affidavit demanding an audit of Illinois’ 2020 vote…
More on these kooky “affidavits of maladministration” here. I know of one state Senator who has received one.
…Adding… Rabine’s Facebook post is even wackier…
A great governor will show his passion and bravery to serve our police and our communities by using his executive powers to retract the bad policies that have handcuffed our police. Retract his signature on these horrific bills and FIRE Kim Foxx!
Retract his signature? Fire an elected state’s attorney? Does he have even the slightest clue what a governor does?
* News-Gazette…
Few people can say their spouse encouraged them to go into politics.
But when David Palmer, a local former pro basketballer turned youth-development coach turned financial adviser, couldn’t stop chatting at weekly Illini football tailgates, his wife, Chelsea, took notice.
“You’re not the mayor,” she told him. “You know you can just walk out and leave, right?”
Then November 2020 came around, and politics dominated their conversations. Election buzz lit a fire under the couple, and Chelsea chimed in again:
“We talk about this so often, we’re going to have to get off the couch and do something about it,” she said.
Nine months later, Palmer is booting up his campaign for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, in hopes to unseat five-term U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville.
He has a great story, but nobody has a good handle on what the new districts will look like. We’re losing a seat, so the new map will be drastically different, particularly Downstate.
