Republicans elsewhere who, with Mr. Trump’s endorsement, won primaries against the wishes of their local political establishments are facing similar disparities in TV advertising in the final weeks of the midterm campaigns. Along with Mr. Mastriano in Pennsylvania, Trump-backed candidates for governor in five other states — Arizona, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts and Michigan — have combined to air zero television advertisements since winning their primaries.
Trump-backed candidates are very likely to win GOP primaries given the sway the former President still holds over the party faithful. But those candidates oftentimes appear ill-equipped to run the sort of professional (and well-funded) operation that is required to persuade voters in a general election. […]
Of course, Trump could help solve this problem – or at least mitigate it. He is sitting on more than $90 million in his Save America PAC, all of which could be spent on ads to bolster the underfunded candidacies of the likes of Mastriano and Dixon. To date, he has not done so, though his allies formed a new super PAC last week aimed at supporting his endorsed candidates.
“Public safety is on the ballot this November. This election is about more than the usual policy differences; it’s about what kind of state we want to be on January 1st when the Democrats’ no-cash-bail provision is slated to go into effect,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy. “Beyond merely being ‘soft-on-crime’, Illinois Democrats are fast becoming the party of ‘crime’. 15 Democratic legislators and Chicago Alderman have been indicted, convicted, or plead guilty to criminal misconduct since Pritzker became governor. Some of these same legislators helped pass the [un]-SAFE-T act in the dead of night. We must send corrupt Democrats packing and repeal the Democrat’s no-cash bail law on November 8th, before it’s too late.”
Steve Cochran: You’re running for Congress in the Sixth. And the incumbent, your opponent, has not spoken out about something that’s very important to Illinois residents the you have. I’m talking about the SAFE-T Act. There are lots of things that have been said on the far right. There are some reactions on the far left, but it’s hard to argue with 100 state’s attorneys who all say the same thing, this is a bad law. So what do you say to potential voters about how you could, if not repeal it prior to going into play, at least fix it?
You’d think a bigtime radio host who’s been doing this politics thing forever would know the difference between a state and a federal law. Sheesh, man. C’mon.
Well, so you’re right about my opponent. And that’s because at the national level, he voted on a law that was very similar to this, to impose it federally, that would have done many of these things nationwide. It didn’t pass. But so we have a very different, very different opinion. This law, as you mentioned, it’s very dangerous, as all states attorney’s have said, and we have to do something to to repeal it, or at least make significant changes. And the changes are so significant. And this is what happens when you pass a 760-page bill in the middle of the night with 40 minutes for people to review it. You get extremely bad laws like this that are very, very one sided and frankly, quite dangerous. You talk to our police officers, you talk to our police department, that we’re not exactly sure how we’ll handle it. We do have some workarounds, like we have entered a new partnership with the ATF to deal with, two of our officers are now part time special agents, and they will be able to take anything that’s weapons related. So a lot of violent crimes we can take straight to the USA and go federal which will allow those people to be kept behind bars on bail.
Unless, of course, they bail out of jail.
…Adding… Pekau’s campaign just purchased $39,000 in cable TV ads.
* CD8 press release…
Yesterday, we saw the impact of the anti-police rhetoric Raja Krishnamoorthi’s allies in Washington DC continue to promote. An active shooter training turned into a live shooter situation putting the lives of officers and civilians at risk when the offender turned his weapon on police.
Chris Dargis released the following statement:
“Raja Krishnamoorthi has hid behind one local grant to bolster his ‘law and order’ credentials but has stood idly by as his allies in Congress decry our law enforcement, leading to violence like we saw yesterday in Chicago. This is hardly an isolated incident, and while Democrats like Raja continue to defame law enforcement, chaos on our streets will continue.”
Blaming a suburban congressman for some whacked-out nutjob trying to break in to a Chicago police station is a bit much, but, whatevs. Politics.
* CD13…
Today, Nikki Budzinski, candidate for Congress in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, called out her Republican opponent, Regan Deering, for her silence on Republicans’ recent policy agenda, “Commitment to America,” which doubled down on extreme Republicans’ recent promise to implement a nationwide abortion ban. The plan was even praised by the radical anti-choice organization, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which is supporting Regan and advocating for a national abortion ban if Republicans win back Congress this November.
Deering said that she was “thrilled” when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June and supports allowing states to outlaw abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest, or danger to the life of the woman.
Nikki Budzinski made the following statement: “Regan supports allowing states to ban abortion without exceptions, and now she is standing by and saying nothing while extreme Republicans work to implement a national abortion ban. It’s clear Regan will be a rubber stamp for national Republicans. She is drastically out of step with voters in this district on choice and many other issues. I’ll always stand up for a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions without interference from the government.”
Awake Illinois founder Shannon Adcock announced her bid for the Indian Prairie District 204 School board this week.
The announcement comes two days after her organization and the parents rights group she chairs, Mothers for Liberty, hosted a school board candidate training program in Des Plaines — an event that drew protesters opposed to the organizations’ positions on several issues, including diversity curriculum. […]
After losing in 2021, Adcock launched Awake Illinois to push against school and library COVID-19 mitigations and then went after schools for equity and inclusion training. […]
Cassie Creswell, director of Illinois Families for Public Schools, said plans are underway to host candidate training sessions for people who support equity and inclusion.
They’d better start cranking up.
* New ad by MKO…
Justice Mary Kay O’Brien, candidate for Illinois Supreme Court, Third District, released a second commercial today. The ad highlights the pro-choice organizations that support Justice O’Brien’s candidacy and the extremist groups that support opponent Mike Burke, who want to ban all abortion for Illinois women.
The new ad is entitled “Clear Choice.”
TRANSCRIPT: Now that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade -
In Illinois, extreme groups are trying to take away women’s freedom to choose
And THIS State Supreme Court race will decide who controls our Court.
Mike Burke says he agreed with the decision to overturn Roe.
He’s supported by the extreme groups that want to ban all abortion for Illinois women.
Justice Mary Kay O’Brien is supported by pro-choice groups, and in the past fought to protect a woman’s freedom.
Illinois has a clear choice, Mary Kay O’Brien. A Justice for All.
* Democratic nominee for Macon County judge voted in Republican primary: “At this point, the ballot is set,” said Matt Dietrich, spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Elections. “That candidate could have been challenged in the primary, was not, won the primary (and) went on to be certified. So I’m unaware of any process at this point where they could file any sort of objection to it.”
* Kane County Democratic Women to host forum on abortion rights: The panelists will be Ameri Klafeta, director of the Women’s and Reproductive Rights Project for the Illinois American Civil Liberties Union; State Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin; and Rianne Hawkins, director of Advocacy and Campaigns for Illinois Planned Parenthood.
* Candidates draw distinctions in state 32nd Senate District and 64th House District races: Wilcox said he considers himself a right-to-life legislator and candidate, though he does not see the Illinois General Assembly changing the law here. He believes it will remain legal. He said there is a lot of support for the law as it was decided in 1973, but people pushed for more including in Illinois. “Had abortion remained safe, legal and relatively rare, Roe v. Wade would likely not have been overturned,” Wilcox said.
But today, Illinoisans are back to work, the driving force behind our growing economy whose GDP is larger than it was pre pandemic. For 20 consecutive weeks, Illinois has had historically low unemployment claims, outperforming expectations. Our unemployment system is back on track and the balance of the unemployment trust fund continues to experience strong and steady growth.
Thanks to Illinois’ economic recovery, the Illinois Department of Employment Security has advised me that the UI trust fund balance is sufficient enough to pay down another $450 million of its pandemic-related debt. This payment will reduce the remaining balance of our loan by 25% and reduce interest costs by an estimated $10 million over the course of the next year.
This announcement comes just months after the General Assembly and I directed $2.7 billion of federal ARPA dollars toward the loan, cutting the original $4.5 billion loan down to $1.8 billion.
Today’s action is another major step toward eliminating pandemic-related UI debt, which we intend to complete by the end of this calendar year. And we will. I will work closely with the General Assembly to continue supporting the agreed bill process between labor and business to conclude negotiations.
Please pardon any transcription errors.
…Adding… Press release excerpt…
“Paying down this debt continues to strengthen our fiscal security, adding to the benefits the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund is seeing from historic low unemployment,” state Senator Linda Holmes (D-Aurora) said. “The fund now has a $1.2 billion surplus due to fewer claims, making it very practical to pay back the borrowed funds. It’s another great step in our state’s record of continuous financial improvements of the past few years”
Illinois has remained below the previously recorded low of just more than 70,000 continued claims for twenty consecutive weeks, unprecedented since the beginning of the series in January 1987. Since the start of this year, Illinois has gained nearly 120,000 jobs throughout the state, with the most significant increases seen in the hotels and food services, manufacturing, healthcare and social assistance, construction, and transportation and warehousing industries.
Federal funds borrowed under Title XII were necessary to supplement the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund and provide economic relief to unemployed workers throughout the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic. A plan to pay off the remaining balance on the loan will need to be developed through the agreed bill process.
…Adding… The talking points didn’t completely bite the dust, but yeah…
Another big step in fiscal responsibility for our Illinois government. Another GOP talking point hits the dust. https://t.co/CwF2RhzzDf
On September 27, Governor JB Pritzker held a press conference to tout the Illinois Department of Employment Security’s (IDES) use of $450 million from Illinois businesses’ tax dollars to pay down the remaining $1.8 billion borrowed under Title XII of the Social Security Act. Senate Deputy Minority Leader Sue Rezin (R-Morris) and State Senator Win Stoller (R-Germantown Hills), who were the Senate Republicans’ chief Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund negotiators, released the following statements in reaction to the announcement:
“While it is always good for the state of Illinois to make down payments on its outstanding debt, today’s announcement comes on the verge of the largest tax increase on businesses in Illinois history and does little to nothing to prevent it,” said Sen. Rezin. “No matter how the Governor and his allies try to spin this, Illinois is one of only five states to still owe money on its UI Trust Fund loan. This $450 million already paid by Illinois businesses will have no impact on future taxes that they will be forced to pay if we don’t completely repay our loan. We should have and could have filled this hole with the unexpected money we received from the federal government. Instead, the Majority Party waited for that money to be depleted on other proposals and programs, including personal pork projects.”
The state of Illinois received $8.1 billion from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021, which was designed to be used for COVID-19 relief and help with economic recovery. The federal government approved ARPA funds to be used on items like the UI Trust Fund, which prompted 31 states used their APRA dollars to eliminate their deficits and replenish their Trust Fund balance.
“It is disingenuous and a disservice for the Governor and Democratic lawmakers to be patting themselves on the back for today’s payment when they know that the burden of paying the remaining debt of $1.3 billion will be placed on struggling Illinois businesses,” said Sen. Stoller. “Illinois businesses did not create the lockdowns or give out billions of dollars of unemployment benefits to fraudsters that helped create our state’s nearly $5 billion UI Trust Fund debt. Now, Democratic lawmakers expect businesses to fix a problem of their own creation, which they could’ve easily fixed with the billions of dollars that the federal government provided them.”
If remaining UI Trust Fund debt isn’t repaid by Nov. 10, Illinois employers will lose Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) credit in 2023. The FUTA tax credit loss will be 0.3 percent of the first $7k of wages per employee or a maximum of $21 per employee. Consequently, for each employee earning $12,960 in 2023 a minimum rate taxed employer, the UI tax per employee will increase from $93.96 to $173.28 and for each employee earning $12, 960 in 2023 a maximum rate taxed employer, the UI per employee will increase from $988.20 to $1,326.72. The General Assembly is not expected to return to Springfield until the fall Veto Session on Nov. 15.