* From Greg Hinz’s story about the Darren Bailey interview with the Crain’s Chicago Business editorial board…

Bailey did offer one surprise: He said the state needs to cut spending on grade and high school education, suggesting at one point that many children in regions of the state, such as his area, head for the military or factory jobs and do not need the broader curriculum mandated by state law.

From the full interview…

The state should be paying less money. The state should be pulling back, letting the local school boards determine how they want to educate their children, offering school choice. […]

What is good for New Trier is not good for Clay County, Illinois. Most, many of our children are, some of our children are going to go to the military. They’re going to go right into the workforce. There’s welders, pipe fitters, linemen. So that’s what public education needs to be.

* And here’s a good point by Shia on that Crain’s interview…

“I’m pro-life,” he said, adding, “I couldn’t change anything if I wanted to.”

That might appease some independent voters worried that Bailey would scrap abortion laws in the state if he were elected governor. He knows that as long as Democrats control the General Assembly, that won’t happen. Democratic insiders, meanwhile, worry that electing a Republican to the governor’s mansion would be the beginning of a chipping-away at such rights – or so they say.

The real question is, if Bailey knows he doesn’t have the power to end abortion rights, why does he think he can repeal criminal justice reform laws that the General Assembly passed and Gov. JB Pritzker signed?

Bailey sees an opening: Where abortion is an impenetrable issue in Illinois, he says there are enough concerned Democrats to support a repeal of the SAFE-T Act.

In a statement to Playbook: The SAFE-T Act legislation “narrowly passed in the middle of the night, and there is an appetite for change on this policy,” Bailey spokesman Joe DeBose said in a statement. “Darren will work with all stakeholders to repeal it and replace it.”

Yeah, good luck with that.

* Also from the interview…

Teachers aren’t teaching today because of the regulations that state government has put on them. I’ve experienced that. When we all went to school - probably not you, young man, but some of the rest of us - teachers went home and sometimes they worked on homework, they graded homework. You know what they do now? They spend their time filling out discipline reports. They spend their time filling out progress reports so they can send back to the state. And it’s not working.

* Because… Madigan! in CD13…

While struggling to connect with voters or talk substantively about anything besides abortion at a recent debate, Nikki Budzinski asked her opponent Regan Deering what she had been doing in Central Illinois all these years.

Today is a great day to address that question, and the answer is: working for organizations in her community and NOT with Mike Madigan.

Not surprisingly, after spending her entire career working for politicians and special interest groups, Budzinski is tied to multiple corruption investigations, especially those involving disgraced former Illinois Speaker of the House Mike Madigan.

Budzinski was at the center of the Madigan List scandal. After Gov. Pritzker’s election, Madigan’s office sent Budzinski and Anne Caprara a list of people he wanted placed into permanent positions. Budzinski then helped place at least 35 people from the list into prime spots in state government who would go on to receive more than $2.5 million a year in state salaries. Among those placed was Carrie Zalewski as head of the Illinois Commerce Commission that regulates public utilities such as Comed, the company that would help lead to Madigan’s indictment.

Budzinski’s connections to the Comed bribery indictments don’t stop there. She went on to help Speaker Madigan in a new way, by hedging the Clean Energy Jobs Coalition that sent billions of bailout dollars to Comed AFTER the company admitted to participating in a years-long patronage scheme to stay in Madigan’s good graces.

Budzinski also testified before a federal grand jury in the corruption case against former Rep. Luis Arroyo, who pled guilty and was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for a bribery scheme in which he offered another politician monthly payments to support legislation to legalize sweepstakes machines.

Budzinski was also named multiple times in the case against Jenny Thornley who was indicted by a Sangamon County grand jury in September for allegedly cheating the state out of up to $100,000 in overtime she allegedly never worked.

“We know from her ads that Nikki is looking to boost her name ID, but someone should tell her that being listed in indictments is probably not the best way to do it,” said Regan 4 Congress Campaign Manager Melanie Meyers. “Nikki Budzinski is part of the Madigan Machine that Regan Deering is running to disassemble. A vote for Nikki is a vote for corrupt pay-to-play politics, and a vote for Regan is a vote for change.”

* Press release…

ILAFL-CIO President Tim Drea issued the following response to Cornell University ILR Review study.

“This week’s study from Cornell University demonstrates that union workers’ will make a million dollars more over the course of their career when compared to non-union counterparts. This is good news for Illinoisans.

Illinois has some of the strongest worker protection and prevailing wage laws in the country, yet there is still work ahead. Today, workers of all stripes are demanding better conditions, pay and benefits.

As Illinoisans, we can seize this momentum by passing the Workers’ Rights Amendment to protect union jobs for future generations that provide stability and prosperity for all, no matter their zip code, race, ethnicity, or education level.

Unions are critical to fostering a just economy where all workers’ have a seat at the table.”

More info here.

* Chicago Board of Elections…

Please attached for the most up-to-date Early Vote and Vote By Mail totals in Chicago, night of Thursday, October 13, 2022.

The Early Vote total stands at 1,525 ballots cast.

Additionally, 7,444 Vote By Mail ballots have been returned to the Board – total VBM applications stands at 173,071.

The grand total is 8,969 ballots cast so far in Chicago for the November 8th General Election.

* Vote Yes For Clean Air, Clean Water & Wildlife TV ad 1…

Vote Yes For Clean Air, Clean Water & Wildlife TV ad 2…

* Somebody I know who’s not directly connected to any campaigns and who wishes to remain anonymous spoofed Dan Proft’s ads that feature Charles Thomas…

* Isabel’s roundup…

* ‘Sickened, but not surprised’: What lawmakers are saying about new charges against Madigan: Suburban lawmakers expressed anger, frustration and other emotions following the announcement of new charges against disgraced former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. “(I) am of course sickened but not surprised,” said Democratic state Sen. Melinda Bush of Grayslake, a long-standing critic of Madigan and one of the first legislators to call for his eventual resignation.

* Editorial: For Illinois attorney general, the clear choice is Kwame Raoul: DeVore has chosen to not take part in the Tribune’s endorsement process, but that doesn’t really matter. Too often his response to critics is to simply sue them. We find him unqualified for the job. […] Raoul pledges to expand the attorney general’s jurisdiction over corruption cases, and Illinoisans should hold him to that pledge. In this important race, he is clearly the best qualified candidate.

* Darren Bailey skirts questions about PAC cash being used on his campaign: On the Uihlein cash? “I’m grateful for Mr. Uihlein, for what he’s done to help us. What he does through the [PAC] I have absolutely no knowledge or discretion of what they do.” He added later, “I’m in the driver’s seat of my campaign… I have no input on that.” And what does he think of those nasty TV ads? “I don’t watch TV,” he said, laughing. (Meanwhile, the Pritzker campaign asserts Bailey discussed the ads with Proft on his TV show.)

* Ballot error in Schuyler County, Illinois, results in early votes being tossed: An error on the 2022 general election ballot in Schuyler County, Illinois, has resulted in dozens of early votes being thrown out, according to the county clerk. Schuyler County Clerk and Recorder Mindy Garrett said 45 people had voted before the mistake was noticed on Wednesday. She said her office had also sent out 307 vote-by-mail ballots and volunteers were working Friday to resend updated ballots.

* Candidates make their case for how they would represent sprawling, Latino-centric district: With less than a month until Election Day, Democratic state Rep. Delia Ramirez points voters to the historic nature of her candidacy in a new congressional district that runs from Chicago’s Northwest Side about 30 miles west into DuPage County. “This moment allows for the constituents of the 3rd Congressional District to elect the first Latina in the entire Midwest to go to Congress,” Ramirez said.

* ACLU: Pretrial Fairness Act needs reform, not complete overhaul: Ben Ruddell, criminal justice attorney at the ACLU of Illinois, said reform attempts regarding the PFA will likely come during next month’s veto session in the Illinois General Assembly. The last two years of conversations among Illinois Supreme Court working groups revealed that further change is needed, he said, mainly in terms of clarifying language.

* Why sheriffs and prosecutors are so concerned about the Safe-T Act in Illinois: Tazewell County Sheriff Jeff Lower minced no words, saying “You have our leaders in Chicago saying that we are giving all the control to the judges and that’s a blatant lie. If you look at the statute, this is a total gamechanger of how we do our jobs.” To him, no-cash bail will put more work on his deputies and on judges. Moreover, he’s upset there’s only a few months until Jan. 1 and he doesn’t know yet how this will look within Tazewell County.

* Illinois’ 1st Congressional District Candidates: General Election 2022: The Republican side of June’s Primary Election was much closer, as Carlson secured the nomination with 40.5 percent of the votes. Challenger Jeff Regnier tallied 39.1 percent of votes. Only around 350 votes separated the two. […] Patch sent each of the candidates questionnaires to give each the opportunity to allow voters to get to know more about them. Carlson submitted his responses to the questionnaire, while Jackson has not.