* From Progress Illinois…
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL,2) urged state lawmakers to take action on gun violence during a Sunday visit to the site of a recent fatal shooting in Chicago’s Morgan Park neighborhood. Gun violence over the fourth of July holiday weekend in Chicago left 16 people dead and more than 60 others injured.
Quinn and Kelly called on state legislators to pass the Illinois Public Safety Act, which seeks to ban the sale or delivery of assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines in Illinois and require background checks for the transfer of guns, according to a release from the governor’s office.
“The recent epidemic of violence in Chicago is unacceptable and we must join together to fight back,” Quinn said in a statement. “Public safety is government’s foremost mission and Illinois should not wait any longer to act. There are too many victims of a war being waged on our streets, a war fueled in part by the availability of deadly, military-style assault weapons that have no purpose other than killing.
“We must work together to protect the lives of those we love and stop what’s happening in our communities. I urge the Illinois General Assembly to take a stand and pass this legislation that will save lives and protect communities.”
It was an emotional event. Raw audio…
Quinn has been politically hammered (perhaps fatally) by his bungling (and perhaps worse) of his own 2010 anti-violence initiative. He needs to somehow retake the high ground on this issue. That press conference was the beginning.
* And speaking of the anti-violence initiative…
Republican candidate for governor Bruce Rauner was at the Run to End Homelessness Sunday.
This was the fourth year of the 5K run. A Safe Haven Foundation held the event in Douglas Park.
Rauner has been involved in the Safe Haven Foundation since its inception and chatted with participants before the run.
“It’s a very important cause,” he said. “I was honored to be one of the early angel investors in helping get A Safe Haven founded. And it’s a great organization. They do wonderful work helping end homelessness, and provide support service, transition service, especially our veterans.”
How is this related? Well, A Safe Haven Foundation received money from Quinn’s now radioactive anti-violence initiative.
Rauner’s campaign needs to keep that in mind when attacking Quinn on the topic. A Safe Haven is a great group (I’ve covered their work in the past here, here and here and some pals of mine and I sent them a few hundred bucks several years ago after turning a silly drinking game into a quickie fundraiser).
Rauner helped found this top notch group and its director appeared in a Rauner TV ad. These days, any connection at all to Quinn’s anti-violence program is somehow deemed corrupt. But that’s just not the reality. We should all keep that in mind.
* Other stuff…
* Another weekend, another shooting? Chicago needs a Marshall Plan
* Charges filed in death of photographer in Rogers Park
* Four officers injured in Montrose Beach melee: “One of my friend’s cousins got hit on the head,” said Mejias, who lives in the Clearing neighborhood on the Southwest Side. “Everybody’s like all riled up, so you see these gangbangers, they’re different kinds of gang, so they’re fighting on the other side.
* Rauner invested in troubled fund linked to Daley’s son: Rauner was among the early investors, pledging $200,000 for an ownership stake in Cardinal Growth of less than 2 percent. According to Schrimpf: “Some acquaintances of Bruce’s knew Bob Bobb, a former U.S. attorney, and encouraged Bruce to invest. A number of Chicago-area business folks invested in Cardinal, and Bruce had heard about it from a few of them.
* Quinn also had ties to seized firm: Bobb, a former federal prosecutor, and five other Cardinal officials contributed a total of $2,800 to Quinn’s federal campaign fund in April 2009, when Bobb hosted a fund-raiser for Quinn… McInerney gave $700 to Quinn’s campaign fund in 2004.
