The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), after several days of tracking and observing a mountain lion on the west side of Springfield, made the decision today to tranquilize the animal and transport it to a sanctuary specializing in the care of large felines.
Wildlife experts and public safety officials from IDNR, the Illinois Conservation Police, the United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services (USDA WS), and the Springfield Police Department determined that the mountain lion, or cougar, that had strayed into residential and business areas of Springfield posed an imminent threat to residents and property and therefore needed to be removed.
The animal, which is wearing a GPS collar and has made its way to Illinois from Nebraska, was detected by satellite in western Springfield Wednesday morning. IDNR officials conferred with their counterparts at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, who declined an offer to send the mountain lion back to their state.
USDA WS staff tranquilized the mountain lion around noon on Friday and will be transporting the animal to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center (ERFC), a 260-acre feline sanctuary in Center Point, Indiana that provides homes and veterinary care for large and exotic cats.
“Thank you to our hardworking wildlife staff and conservation police and our partners across federal, state, and local agencies for handling this difficult situation with the professionalism and care that this beautiful wild animal and concerned residents deserve,” said IDNR Director Colleen Callahan. “I am confident that the mountain lion will be protected and cared for at its new home. I also want to thank the families of Springfield for being cautious and keeping their distance while our experts worked to ensure the safety of the community and the mountain lion.”
Earlier this week, IDNR notified residents living west of Veterans Parkway in Springfield that the mountain lion was detected on the western edge of the city and was being tracked by researchers.
The cougar is a young male that has been moving through central Illinois the past couple weeks. It was captured and fitted with a GPS collar by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in November 2021 as part of an ongoing research project. IDNR continues to cooperate with biologists and researchers in Nebraska. It previously was detected in McDonough and Cass counties.
Although classified as an animal of “least concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on their Red List of Threatened Species, mountain lions are protected in Illinois, and it is unlawful to harm, harass or kill them unless they pose an imminent threat to a person or property, which rarely occurs. While cougars can travel great distances, they tend to avoid conflict with humans.
For more information about mountain lions in Illinois, visit https://bit.ly/ILmountainlions.
* For whatever reason, RCP has moved the Illinois governor’s race from Likely Dem to Lean Dem, with a projection for Dem Hold. The RCP poll list did not include either the Proft or Bailey polls, which had the race tight, but also didn’t include the Civiqs poll, which had it as a blowout.
* Halloween…
GOP candidate for IL Governor Darren Bailey is holding an event Monday night with former Democratic presidential candidate turned independent Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. IL Republican Chairman Don Tracy will also be on hand.
This morning we had an awesome, early stop at the Fullerton CTA station meeting with voters on their commute alongside Tommy Hanson! Friends, I promise you we are working hard every dayto meet new people no matter where they are at. We will #firepritzker on November 8th! pic.twitter.com/hiBCpsCXRc
Recently uncovered public records indicate that, since Keith Pekau became Mayor in 2017, Orland Park Police have been sent to Pekau’s home over 260 times for “extra watch”, including the day of an armed robbery at the Orland Square Mall.
Taking hours of police time and costing taxpayer resources, these calls are unprecedented in Orland Park history and pull officers away from keeping the rest of their community safe.
“From his self-interested misuse of law enforcement to being investigated for using taxpayer money to enrich himself, Keith Pekau has shown us who he prioritizes as mayor – himself”, said Casten for Congress campaign spokesman Trevor Nyland.
“As voters and constituents grow increasingly concerned about crime and safety, Mayor Pekau wasted police resources to check on him more than 260 times. Meanwhile, Congressman Sean Casten was fighting for local law enforcement in Congress, bringing home millions of dollars in police funding through the American Rescue Plan & sponsoring the Invest to Protect Act, which provides local law enforcement the resources they need to fight crime,” Nyland continued.
* Illinois early vote totals…
The @illinoissbe has updated early vote totals (10/28/22): Total VBM requested: 832,456 Total VBM returned: 362,604 Total VBM outstanding: 469,852 Return Rate: 44% Total Early Vote: 224,595 Total Grace Period: 3,134 Total Already Voted: 590,333https://t.co/44ga6Axjmq
A federal judge Friday ordered a southern Illinois couple to each spend 14 days in jail for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. District Senior Judge Thomas Hogan said he would allow Christopher and Tina Logsdon, of Sesser, to serve their sentences intermittently, on weekends. He said Tina Logsdon could start serving her time after her husband finished his sentence.
But the judge also put both of them on probation for three years — noting that it would last until after the next presidential election. […]
Tina Logsdon plans to serve as an election judge in November, according to her husband’s letter. She told the judge Friday that she has “no ill will toward any of our government.”
Sure, Jan.
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Facebook’s parent is fined nearly $25M for violating a campaign finance disclosure law: Washington’s transparency law requires ad sellers such as Meta to keep and make public the names and addresses of those who buy political ads, the target of such ads, how the ads were paid for and the total number of views of each ad. Ad sellers must provide the information to anyone who asks for it. Television stations and newspapers have complied with the law for decades. But Meta has repeatedly objected to the requirements, arguing unsuccessfully in court that the law is unconstitutional because it “unduly burdens political speech” and is “virtually impossible to fully comply with.” While Facebook does keep an archive of political ads that run on the platform, the archive does not disclose all the information required under Washington’s law.
Illinois’ annual school report card was released Thursday, with the state’s board of education touting the highest graduation rate in a decade and academic growth in students outpacing pre-pandemic levels.
While officials noted there’s still much work to be done following a disruption during the coronavirus pandemic, the numbers show gains in a variety of areas.
Last year, the Illinois State Board of Education noted data illustrated “the significant impact of the pandemic and remote learning on student enrollment, attendance, and academic achievement.”
This year, the report card showed average student growth rose in English language arts and math compared to 2021’s metrics. That growth stretched across every demographic group, officials said.
The 2022 state report card also shows continuing disparities among racial and ethnic groups, English language learners, and students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), according to a Chalkbeat analysis.
On the IAR and SAT, Asian American and white students far outpaced their Black and Hispanic peers, who were among the hardest hit by the pandemic.
The 2022 data shows that, on the IAR, only 6.9% of the state’s English language learners were proficient in reading and 6.8% were proficient in math. English language learners make up over 13% of the student population. […]
During Chicago’s school board meeting on Wednesday, district CEO Pedro Martinez acknowledged “significant drops in proficiency in math and reading” in both NAEP and state tests results. The declines are consistent with results from other school districts across the country, he said.
“This is data that is very sobering,” Martinez said, calling it “a reflection of the pandemic,” not of students’ abilities or the hard work of faculty.
The Tribune has some great background if you want data visualizations broken down by county.
While eight elementary schools in School District 186 moved into the “commendable” category, the district lags behind the state in graduation rates and chronic absenteeism, according to the 2022 Illinois State Board of Education report card, released Thursday.[…]
“Not having test scores for two full years has left a big gap in us being able to look at trend data or anything else,” [Superintendent Jennifer Gill] said. “We were so used to looking at three years to five years to seven years of trend data. Now, it really needs to be a start over and use this data as a kickoff to our next three- to five-year look.” […]
Much like initiatives started in the district, Gill projected it would be an overall “three- to five-year recovery” for the district from the effects of the pandemic, including students who engaged in online learning or who were otherwise affected by COVID. […]
Before the pandemic, 14 schools were in the “improvement” category, including eight “targeted” and six “comprehensive,” Gill said.
Test scores continued to decline in Lake Forest High School during the 2021-22 school year, newly released data from state education officials shows. […]
From 2021 to 2022, the percentage of Lake Forest High School 11th graders scoring at or above state standards on the test declined by 8 points to 60.6 percent in English language arts and fell by 2.6 points in math.
Back in 2017, more than 80 percent of LFHS juniors were scoring at or above state standards in English, with nearly 73 percent meeting math standards.
Test scores at Lake Forest High School are still better than the state average. Last year, just 29.8 percent of students met or exceeded English standards and just 28.8 percent met math proficiency standards statewide.
The 2022 Illinois State School Report Card indicated that every demographic in Illinois experienced accelerated growth in both English language arts and math, outpacing pre-pandemic levels. Children in grades 4 and 8 scored above the national average in reading and math, and high schoolers showed the highest graduation rate in over a decade.
“Illinois has taken monumental steps in ensuring that all children receive quality education that prioritizes their needs,” said Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Maywood). “Today’s news is a positive step toward making education equitable and no longer letting ZIP codes determine the quality of a student’s education.”
The 2022 State School Report Card also showed an increase in teachers in Illinois. More than 2,500 full-time teachers joined the workforce, including more than 500 Black and Hispanic teachers. Teacher retention also hit a nine-year high with 87% of current teachers returning to the same school year to year.
Some highlights of the 2022 state report card include increased student growth in English language arts and math across all demographics, exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
Illinois students also recorded an 87.3 graduation rate, the highest in 12 years. “Largely driven by black and Hispanic students,” Pritzker said. […]
While Illinois still faces challenges, Pritzker said the state is heading in the right direction.
“Nobody is suggesting the report card is perfect, it is not. But it is an indicator of directionally, things are getting better and accelerating in a way that I think is unexpected as compared to many other states,” Pritzker said.
[State Superintendent of Education Carmen Ayala] identified student absenteeism as one area of focus for the state. The state report card shows 30% of students statewide as chronically absent — meaning they missed 17 or more days of school last year.
Absentee rates were higher across the state for students of color, low-income students and English language learners. Ayala noted states across the country saw similar absentee rates.
The Illinois State Board of Education has earmarked $12 million to help combat chronic absenteeism. Each of the state’s Regional Offices of Education received from $180,000 to $1.2 million this fall to address absenteeism through truancy intervention services, including counseling, home visits, transportation and mentoring.
“This school year we have an opportunity and obligation to work toward addressing those challenges,” Ayala said.
* More…
* McLean County districts react to 2022 Illinois Report Card: The 2022 Illinois Report Card is the first since 2019 to include summative designations, though some administrators say schools have not yet recovered enough from the pandemic for those to be fair measures, if they ever can be.
* Report card designates four area schools as ‘targeted’: The report card, released Thursday, designates Iles Elementary and Lincoln-Douglas Elementary as “targeted” schools along with Hamilton Elementary based on performance of children with disabilities. LaHarpe Elementary was designated as “targeted” due to performance of low-income students, while other schools across Adams, Brown, Hancock and Pike counties were designated “commendable.”
* State identifies Sauk Valley’s Exemplary, Targeted schools in latest report card: Six schools in the Sauk Valley region were categorized as Exemplary by the 2022 Illinois Report Card, the Illinois State Board of Education released Thursday morning. Another four schools carried the Targeted tag, requiring them to develop a four-year action plan to address a specific need; in their cases, how they can improve education for children with disabilities.
* River Trails District 26 schools receive ‘commendable’ designations in state report card: Euclid Elementary School, Indian Grove Elementary School and River Trails Middle School were placed into the second tier of summative designations. The district’s fourth school, Prairie Trails, did not receive a designation based on its status as an early learning center. “The report card results support what we already knew - River Trails’s students and staff are impressive,” Superintendent Dr. Jodi Megerle said. “I could not be prouder of what the district has accomplished in the past year or more eager to see what we can accomplish moving forward.”
One surprising finding coming out of our research on Illinois’ implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act—which, among other big changes, will eliminate the use of cash bail when it goes into effect next year—is that the current cash bail system results in much less pretrial detention than is generally assumed. This is true even when the charges are serious. Statewide, on any given day, almost two-thirds of those with pending felony charges are not in jail custody or under any kind of supervision or monitoring.
This finding casts doubt on a central assumption behind much of the current criticism of the PFA—that the cash bail system protects the community by keeping dangerous people behind bars until their cases are resolved. What we’ve found is that, while it’s true that many people are jailed under the current cash bail system, most jail stays are brief. Most people pass through jails, being held for relatively short periods before bonding out—and that includes people charged with the kinds of serious offenses that are designated “detainable” under the PFA.
We don’t have statewide numbers for this. But data from a range of urban, suburban, and rural counties we’ve examined so far suggest that, under current practice, the majority of those charged with detainable offenses are released within a week.
More Americans say crime is up in their area than at any point over the last five decades, according to new polling from Gallup.
The survey, conducted in October, found 56% of respondents reported crime has increased over the last year in their neighborhood, up from 51% in 2021, and just 38% in 2020. 78% say there’s more crime in the country overall, similar to last year.
Public safety is playing a starring role in the midterms as Republicans highlight crime in campaigns and promising a tougher approach.
Not coincidentally, Gallup found the increase in perceived crime was driven by a major shift among Republicans —73% said local crime was up last year, versus 51% of independents and 42% of Democrats, whose views have barely moved over the last two years. […]
Philip Bump of the Washington Post tracked a massive explosion in crime coverage over the Fall led by Fox News, but followed by other networks, as Republican campaigns pivoted to the issue in ads and messaging. A story in Bloomberg earlier this year documented a similar phenomenon in New York City, where media coverage and voter fears surged alongside high-profile attacks in subways and a crime-focused campaign by eventual Mayor Eric Adams — even as murders hovered around 2009 levels, a time when the city was widely hailed as a national model for crimefighting.
To give you an example of how intense the media coverage is, check out this story from WBBM Radio…
A man was robbed Wednesday night while dining at a restaurant in Streeterville, Chicago police said.
The man, 52, was sitting inside a restaurant in the 500 block of North Michigan Avenue about 7:30 p.m. when another man walked inside and approached his table from where he grabbed the 52-year-old’s cell phone and personal items, then fled the area, police said.
No injuries or arrests were reported.
I was in Paris many years ago and was sitting at a cafe. I put my mobile phone on the table and the waiter advised me to put it away because of the danger of theft. It’s just kinda crazy to me that something like that is elevated to a news story. Fear sells, I guess.
Pritzker: “Opponents of this law don’t want any change…and are preying upon fear of change to lie and fear monger in defense of the status quo.”
“Fearmongers and liars.” That’s what JB Pritzker called the opponents of his Purge Law.
Among the opponents are 100 of Illinois’ 102 county state’s attorneys, Democrats and Republicans alike.
Pritzker has claimed, “there is no such thing as non-detainable offenses.”
Adding, “No one gets out…if they do that’s on prosecutors.”
“Well obviously that’s not the truth,” said fellow Democrat and Will County State’s Attorney Jim Glasgow “for the vast majority of these people committing forcible felonies, they can’t be detained.”
Here’s what will happen in Will County to the 500 prison inmates with pending cases according to Glasgow: “About half of them would walk out on day one and that’s not on the prosecutor, that’s on the statute…It’s the most lenient criminal law in the country.”
When it comes to your personal safety, who do you believe? Punish Pritzker. Purge him from Illinois Politics.
Paid for by People Who Play By The Rules PAC.
* More…
* Civic Federation demands more transparency in Chicago Police Department spending: Civic Federation President Laurence Msall said it is “very difficult to track how much is going into policing,” how much is tied to complying with a federal consent decree and where exactly the nearly $100 million increase in the Chicago Police Department’s $1.87 billion budget is going. … “There’s just a lack of transparency and a lack of data on how the police department allocates staff, whether we have adequate staff and what we need to do to make sure we have adequate staff in the future. … We urge the city to conduct and publish an independent workforce allocation study of the police department.”
* Sheriff Tom Dart wants more restrictions for people on electronic monitoring: Electronic monitors can track where defendants are located, and Dart told county commissioners during yearly budget hearings on Wednesday that he has to “literally shut their machine off” during those 48 hours of “essential movement.” There is nothing in the SAFE-T Act that mandates Dart turn off machines or stop surveillance — the law only requires that people on EM have the ability to leave their house for essential tasks.
* Little common ground between Attorney General Kwame Raoul and challenger Tom DeVore - The incumbent and his Republican opponent on the November ballot are on opposite ends of, among other things, the fight over a major criminal justice reform signed into law last year: “Everywhere you go, people are wanting to talk about crime,” DeVore said.
* GOP candidates: SAFE-T Act will only cause new problems
* Senate candidates McConchie, Peterson debate SAFE-T Act, abortion at Palatine forum: “(The Act addresses) the chaotic situation that we have in the criminal justice system, where dangerous criminals can pay their way out back onto the street, even before a police officer has an opportunity to finish the paperwork,” the North Barrington resident said. But McConchie, the Republican leader in the state senate, said the legislation makes Illinois less safe. “It ties the hands of judges who are working to try to keep us safe” and keep the most dangerous people in jail, the Hawthorn Woods resident said.
* Beyond the heated rhetoric about bail, what else is in the SAFE-T Act? The massive criminal justice bill that ends cash bail in Illinois also supports crime victims and increases police oversight: 1. Expands services for victims of crime … 2. Increases police oversight and accountability … 3. Ends so-called “prison gerrymandering” … 4. Narrows the felony murder law … 5. Requires documentation of deaths in custody
Today, Nikki Budzinski, Democratic candidate for Congress in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, released her 4th and final TV spot of the campaign.
Titled, “Work for a Living”, the spot focuses on Republican Regan Deering’s recent announcement of support for making cuts to social security and Medicare. The TV and matching digital ads will run on broadcast television in the St. Louis, and Springfield, Decatur, and Champaign markets. Budzinski was the first candidate in the race to begin paid communications and has significantly out-communicated Deering in every platform. The ad can be viewed here.
Nikki Budzinski made the following statement: “I am proud of the issue-focused campaign that we have run. I want to go to Congress to fight for working families and protect them from people like Regan Deering that would cut Social Security and Medicare. We cannot afford to send Regan Deering to Congress.”
Times are tough. Especially if you work for a living.
But Regan Deering – the wealthy heiress who inherited millions – doesn’t get it…
Deering wants to slash the Social Security and Medicare you paid into.
Cutting the retirement benefits you earned.
Regan Deering’s not for us.
Nikki:
I’m Nikki Budzinski. I grew up middle class and the only thing I inherited was my mom’s common sense.
I approve this message because I’ve spent my life fighting for working people.
…Adding… Whitney Barnes…
Hey, Rich. I wanted to personally respond to the most recent hypocritical, sexist (and boringly unoriginal) campaign ad from the Budzinski camp.
Regan was adopted into a loving family and is proud of her career giving back to her community as a science teacher, small business owner and advocate.
Nikki Budzinski campaigned and worked for heir to the Hyatt fortune Gov. JB Prtizker and now, in an overwhelming display of sexism and hypocrisy, she’s spending millions of her special interest dollars painting Regan as an ‘heiress’ because apparently to Nikki, inherited wealth is only ok if you’re a man.
She’s desperately trying to use Regan’s finances to distract from a week of bad press around the fact that she can’t answer simple questions like, “What services did you provide as a consultant to lobbyists and special interest groups to earn half a million dollars?”
‘Working people’ in the 13th District can generally say what they do for a living, and I assure you their response is never, ‘I followed all ethics laws.’
Nikki is out-of-touch and out of time and the people of the 13th Congressional District are not going to be fooled by her sexism or lies.
The IL Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in Illinois with respect to employment, financial credit, public accommodations, housing and sexual harassment, as well as sexual harassment in education.
Sec. 2-101. Definitions. The following definitions are applicable strictly in the context of this Article.
(A) Employee.
(1) “Employee” includes:
(a) Any individual performing services for remuneration within this State for an employer […]
“Employee” does not include: […]
Elected public officials or the members of their immediate personal staffs
* Sen. Melinda Bush introduced Amendment 1 to SB576 in February of 2017. It passed the Senate 56-0, but went nowhere in the House because Speaker Madigan bricked it…
Amends the Illinois Human Rights Act. Deletes language providing that “employee” does not include members of the immediate personal staffs of elected public officials. Effective immediately.
Bush introduced the bill again in 2019 and it went nowhere.
* Whether you believe Elly Fawcett-Neal’s story about Rep. Jonathan Carroll or not, it just seems obvious to me, at least, that elected officials’ personal staffs should not be specifically exempted from the Illinois Human Rights Act.
Your thoughts?
…Adding… Press release…
Today, Jack Vrett, candidate for State Representative in the 53rd district, called on State Representative Mark Walker to donate $21,250 in tainted funds from accused abuser, State Representative Jonathan Carroll.
Carroll is accused of firing a staffer who refused to have an abortion, subjecting her to a toxic and abusive work environment where she endured the type of harassment, intimidation, and retaliation known to occur in state government under Democratic rule.
“Mark Walker continues to benefit from Springfield’s most corrupt politicians,” said Vrett. “Whether it is Mike Madigan, Kim Foxx, or Jonathan Carroll, we must turn the page on corruption and purge Illinois of self-dealers and unethical politicians who put families at risk.”
In taking funds from Carroll, Walker continues his pattern of funding his campaign with donations taken from questionable sources. Walker previously accepted $1,924,914 from indicted former Speaker Michael Madigan, even after investigations, indictments, and arrests of Madigan’s closest allies.
…Adding… Press release…
Today, Rich Janor, candidate for State Representative in the 41st district, called on Rep. Janet Yang Rohr to donate $35,800 in tainted funds from accused abuser, State Representative Jonathan Carroll.
Carroll is accused of firing a staffer who refused to have an abortion, subjecting her to a toxic and abusive work environment where she endured the type of harassment, intimidation, and retaliation known to occur in state government under Democratic rule.
“After taking over a million dollars from Mike Madigan, Janet Yang Rohr continues to fund her campaign with donations from men who do not respect women,” said Janor. “While Springfield corruption continues unchecked, Yang Rohr not only stands by silently, but is part of the financial ecosystem that allows these men to stay in positions of power.”
Yang Rohr previously accepted over $1 million from indicted former Speaker Michael Madigan, even after allegations swirled around Madigan and his closest allies, including a rape cover-up and allegations of sexual harassment in Madigan’s 13th Ward office.
We looked at presentation, too: Duckworth, who’s been senator six years and was in Congress two terms before that, focused on her experience. Salvi was in challenger mode, mostly on the attack, calling the senator a “radical extremist” on abortion rights and a “rubber stamp” to President Joe Biden.
Here’s the video of the forum, which was moderated by WTTW’s Paris Schutz and Sun-Times’ Tina Sfondeles. WBEZ also was a sponsor.
Zinger of the night: Salvi tried to pin crime problems in Chicago on Duckworth, who pushed back, saying: “I think she’s running for mayor of Chicago in the municipal elections next year, not for Senate. We’re here to talk about November.”
It was testy. But … Duckworth and Salvi found one area of agreement. They both support the Bears moving from Chicago to the suburbs.
Duckworth: “I do think they should go to Arlington Heights with a new stadium because more people will get to it, and I think there’s a greater chance of having greater growth out there.”
Salvi: “I’d love to see the Chicago Bears in the Arlington Heights area, too, but don’t you love Soldier Field? It’s an iconic place, a lot of history.”
With the nation’s ongoing gun violence epidemic, the sitting senator said “we need to pass an assault weapons ban and a high-capacity magazine ban that will get those guns off the streets.”
Duckworth went after Salvi for her “A” rating from the National Rifle Association.
“She’s never going to vote for an assault weapons ban,” Duckworth said of Salvi, who said the emphasis should be on treating mental illness rather than restricting firearms.
Asked if they own guns, both candidates said no. Salvi said some of her adult children own firearms with concealed carry licenses, for “target practice and for protection.”
Duckworth defended Biden’s one-time student-loan forgiveness program, which has been put on hold by a judge, from Salvi’s criticism by noting that the Mundelein lawyer took a $200,000 Paycheck Protection Program loan during the COVID-19 pandemic — and then took advantage of a provision allowing it to be forgiven.
“I do think it is hypocritical to ask for loan forgiveness for yourself and your law firm but not for students,” Duckworth said.
Salvi did not answer a number of questions, including whether she would support a proposal to ban assault weapons; vote to support the bill proposed by Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham from South Carolina that would ban abortions after 15 weeks or vote to allow participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program permanent. DACA prevents the deportation of immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children.
Salvi also did not answer what her first piece of legislation would be if elected, and did not name a living Republican on the national stage she admires. After naming Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant and Ronald Regan, Salvi when pressed mentioned the two U.S. senators from Iowa “to our east” but did not name them. Iowa is west of Illinois.
* Pritzker: ‘SAFE-T Act is to keep our neighborhoods safe,’ needs changed: Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who signed the act in 2021, was campaigning in Lake County this week. When asked about the controversy around the measure, Pritzker said there needs to be changes to clear up what he calls misinformation regarding the measure. “So let us amend the act to make it very explicit,” Pritzker said. “That violent criminals that are in jail awaiting trial, that Jan. 1 is not some deadline to let people out.”
* Meet the 6 Latina GOP Candidates That Are Driving Democrats Nuts: Running to flip a seat in America’s heartland is Catalina Lauf, who is up against longtime Democratic Rep. Bill Foster, who was first elected to Congress in 2012. Lauf is a second-generation Latin American and was one of the youngest presidential appointees at the United States Department of Commerce.
* Federal lawsuit threatens validity of potentially tens of thousands of Illinois mail-in, military ballots: The lawsuit, led by four-term U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro echoes some of the rejected court challenges filed by former President Donald Trump in other states in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election that he falsely contends was stolen. Bost is being assisted in the suit by a nonprofit conservative advocacy organization that has backed a number of Trump’s efforts.
* Illinois Chamber of Commerce backs Demmer for Treasurer: The Chamber appreciated that Demmer has been able to work across the aisle to get proposals passed even though he is in the minority party. Kaericher said Demmer can also serve as a bipartisan check on uniparty control in Springfield.
The Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index enables business leaders, government policymakers, and taxpayers to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare. While there are many ways to show how much is collected in taxes by state governments, the Index is designed to show how well states structure their tax systems and provides a road map for improvement. […]
The absence of a major tax is a common factor among many of the top 10 states. Property taxes and unemployment insurance taxes are levied in every state, but there are several states that do without one or more of the major taxes: the corporate income tax, the individual income tax, or the sales tax. Nevada, South Dakota, and Wyoming have no corporate or individual income tax (though Nevada imposes gross receipts taxes); Alaska has no individual income or state-level sales tax; Florida has no individual income tax; and New Hampshire and Montana have no sales tax.
This does not mean, however, that a state cannot rank in the top 10 while still levying all the major taxes. Indiana and Utah, for example, levy all the major tax types but do so with low rates on broad bases.
“If your daughter, at age 13, had become pregnant, would you not have wanted to be notified of it, so you could process it with her and work through this with her?” Craig Wall asked Pritzker.
“Sure, but my daughters’ going to come talk to me if that happens and most daughters will,” he answered. “It is those under threat by family; victims of incest are a perfect example of that.” […]
“I do make the exception, always, when the life of the mother is at stake,” Bailey admitted, but he wouldn’t say the same for cases of rape or incest. “Personally, in my heart, I don’t. But regardless of what I think, nothing is going to change in Illinois because of the makeup of the legislature.” […]
“Amendment One is a hostile, liberal, it’s a takeover by special interests, because now, teachers unions, instead of bargaining just for wages and benefits, see, that’s not under threat in Illinois, but teachers unions now can begin to bargain for curriculum,” Bailey said.
* I cannot believe they let Bailey get away with saying this without so much as a mention that he pledged to “roll out the red carpet” for Trump in 2024 earlier this year…
Bailey, who appeared with Trump at a rally prior to the June primary, says he is proud of the endorsement, but does not know whom he’ll support in the 2024 election.
Friends, I’ve made a promise to President Trump that in 2024 Illinois will roll out the red carpet for him because Illinois will be ready for President Trump.
He locked himself in. But, down the memory hole it goes since the candidate doesn’t wanna talk about it.
Recently, the Pritzker campaign has paid for yard signs noting former President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Bailey in the primary.
“Are they embarrassed because Darren Bailey is supporting Donald Trump?,” [Pritzker] asked.
* Dan Proft-funded yard sign…
* Going strong in DuPage…
DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek announces a record-breaking start to voter turnout for the Nov. 8th election, with 2022 nearly doubling 2018 so far. At the start of today, voter turnout was 49,177 voters out of 615,626 registered voters for a turnout percentage of 8.0 percent. At the same point in 2018, two weeks out from the General Election, total voter turnout stood at 27,915 voters out of 639,752 registered voters for a turnout percentage of 4.4 percent. Total voter turnout in 2018 ended up at nearly 58 percent; turnout in 2014 was 49 percent.
The expansion of mail voting has made a significant difference. So far, 82,060 voters have requested mail ballots.
Of those who have voted so far in the 2022 election, 12,370 voters have voted early in-person and 36,807 vote-by-mail ballots have been returned. At the same point in 2018, 15,986 voters had voted early in-person and 11,929 vote-by-mail ballots had been returned.
“I’m pleased with the numbers, but not surprised,” Kaczmarek says. “My top priority as county clerk was to increase voter turnout. To achieve this goal, I had to increase voter access. Promoting mail voting and doubling the number of Early Voting locations has us off to a strong start, and voters also will have the option to Vote Anywhere on Election Day.”
Voters who have applied for a mail ballot are urged to complete it and return it via mail or drop box as soon as possible.
“Voters who have not yet applied for a mail ballot can still do so, but should not wait until the last minute,” Kaczmarek says. “It takes times for a mail ballot to be processed, printed and delivered to a home. After this week, voters should instead consider voting in-person at one of our 22 Early Voting locations or any of our 269 polling locations on Election Day.”
* By comparison, Chicago’s vote totals are abysmal…
The most up-to-date Early Vote and Vote By Mail totals in Chicago, night of Wednesday, October 26, 2022.
The Early Vote total stands at 25,829 ballots cast.
Additionally, 44,142 Vote By Mail ballots have been returned to the Board – total VBM applications stands at 196,958.
The grand total is 69,971 ballots cast so far in Chicago for the November 8th General Election.
And then on election day, most Chicago voters are gonna have to deal with the fact that the board just recently moved their polling places.
…Adding… Statewide…
The @illinoissbe has updated early vote totals (10/27/22): Total VBM requested: 826,189 Total VBM returned: 336,511 Total VBM outstanding: 489,678 Return Rate: 41% Total Early Vote: 182,316 Total Grace Period: 2,588 Total Already Voted: 521,415https://t.co/44ga6AxRbY
* Candidates will often go to train stops during busy times to show their faces to as many people as possible…
This morning we had an awesome, early stop at the Fullerton CTA station meeting with voters on their commute alongside Tommy Hanson! Friends, I promise you we are working hard every dayto meet new people no matter where they are at. We will #firepritzker on November 8th! pic.twitter.com/hiBCpsCXRc
* Can Bailey win over suburban voters to become governor as Republicans have in the past?: Suburban Cook and collar county voters were crucial when the governor’s mansion flipped in elections won by GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2014 and Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2018. And there’s no doubt the suburbs loom large in the Nov. 8 throwdown between Pritzker and Republican challenger Darren Bailey.
* Labor vs. big business(man)? Most corporate interests AWOL in battle with unions over workers rights amendment: Business lobbying groups have declined to spend money against the proposal, leaving the fight to a conservative policy group and megadonor Richard Uihlein. Other major donors spent heavily during the primary and expect more funding requests from mayoral candidates. “It comes down to donor fatigue,” a political consultant said.
* Pritzker gives state Dems another $2 million as campaigns hit the home stretch: For the third time this month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s campaign gave $2 million to the Democratic Party of Illinois, an infusion of cash as candidates up and down the ballot enter the home stretch of the election cycle. According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, JB for Governor made the transfer on Oct. 24. This follows contributions made by Pritzker’s campaign of $2 million each on Oct. 20 and Oct. 14.
Newly released court records show the ex-wife of powerful Illinois State Sen. Michael Hastings accused him last year of elbowing her in the face in the presence of their small children and harassing, intimidating and threatening her in a series of text messages during their highly contentious divorce. […]
In the newly unsealed divorce files, Kathleen Hastings provided further details regarding that alleged incident two years ago. Her lawyer wrote that Michael Hastings “slammed Kate’s head against the door leading to the garage multiple times and put her in a choke hold — all because she asked Mike where he was working that day,” according to a filing in the divorce case in October 2021.
Kathleen Hastings alleged the assault took place at about 7 a.m. on Nov. 9, 2020, “in front of” one of their children and woke up their other child, according to the filing.
“Not wishing to disrupt Mike’s political and social image, and frankly not knowing what to do, Kate did not report the abuse to the authorities at the time,” wrote Kathleen Hastings’s lawyer Brett Buckley.
In the same court filing, Kathleen Hastings alleged that “Michael cannot control his anger in front of the children,” and the lawyer wrote that the senator “elbowed Kate in the face in front of the children.”
I’ve asked the Senate President’s office for comment.
“Sen. Michael Hastings has been on the receiving end of every type of personal and political attack and misrepresentation throughout this divorce, and each of the accusations are inherently false and just not true,” Hanania told WBEZ. “To use a family’s divorce in a political manner as it has been, to influence an election, is reprehensible.
“Sen. Hastings continues to work tirelessly for his constituents throughout the South suburbs and will continue to defend his family and reputation from these baseless personal and political attacks.”
Illinois Senator Michael Hastings lost his battle to keep his court records sealed and it only took moments to reveal serious problems. Within those records is a document that reflects Hastings earned $108,901.00 in 2020 from Geld Solutions, LLC, a company for which he is listed as the Agent of Record and Manager. Hastings did not disclose these earnings on his 2020 or 2021 required Statement of Economic Interest Documents.
That failure is part of an OIG complaint filed against Hastings last week.
Hastings’ spokesman told WBEZ that “Everything was done by the book,” on that topic. He didn’t explain what the company did or why Hastings didn’t disclose any income from it.
* On the campaign front, Hastings is busily sending out negative mailers against his opponent. Just FYI, a court overturned that IG finding against Don Tracy. Click here to read it…
…Adding… ILGOP…
“This is yet more behavior unbecoming of a State Senator. Our legislators are supposed to exemplify the very best of Illinois. Senator Hastings has repeatedly demonstrated behavior this year that shows he is unfit to hold public office.
He should do the honorable thing and resign to save South Suburban voters the trouble of throwing him out of office in disgrace. However, as Hastings’ past behavior has proven, doing the right thing seems to be something he is not capable of doing.
Further, Governor Pritzker has already done the right thing and called on Senator Hastings to resign. It’s a partisan sham that Senate President Don Harmon continues to stay silent regarding whether or not he feels Senator Hastings is still fit to serve in his caucus and hold public office.”
Harmon said of Hastings in July of 2021 after Hastings dropped out of the race for Secretary of State, “Though I am saddened the people of Illinois won’t benefit from the leadership and dedication to working families Senator Mike Hastings would bring to the office of Secretary of State, I’m happy that the people of the 19th District and our colleagues in the Senate Democratic Caucus will continue to have him fighting for Democratic values in the General Assembly.”
Harmon kicked Hastings out of leadership, so it’s not like he’s done nothing.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Senate President Don Harmon…
“There have been a series of troubling elements brought light by Senator Hastings’ ongoing personal divorce case.
Accusations of domestic violence are to be taken seriously. I took immediate action to remove him from Senate leadership given the circumstances. The situation remains under review.
This week, I asked my staff to reach out to Senator Hastings regarding his ethical disclosure filings and to recommend he update them if needed. At first glance, it appears this situation may very well highlight how ineffective the previous forms were and why Illinois Senate Democrats led efforts to update them and make them relevant.
Good government practices built around meaningful ethical disclosure and a safe workplace are necessary steps toward rebuilding public trust in state government.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Leader McConchie…
In light of new allegations found in recently unsealed court documents obtained by WBEZ, Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) has made the following statement:
“These new troubling and disturbing allegations against Senator Michael Hastings further prove why he should step down from office—just as he should have weeks ago. Even Governor Pritzker has called for his resignation, but instead, Sen. Hastings has put his ego over what is best for his constituents. These allegations are so beneath the office he holds, and the people of the South Suburban district deserve representation that is beyond reproach.”
Claims data from State Farm, the largest insurer of automobiles in the U.S., shows that between July 2021 and June 2022 catalytic converter theft has grown 109% nationally, in terms of the number of claims filed, compared to the previous 12 months. During this recent period more than 43,219 of these parts were stolen and reported by State Farm customers compared to just above 20,600 in the previous 12 months (July 1, 2020 - June 30, 2021).
In the first half of 2022 State Farm has received over 23,000 catalytic converter theft claims. The data from the most recent 12-month period indicates that the ranking of the top 5 states in catalytic converter theft is currently led by California - with more than 2 out of 10 (24.5%) claims being filed in the Golden State- followed by Texas -with roughly 1 out of 10 (13.58%) of these claims- Illinois (3rd), Washington (4th) and Minnesota (5th).
- In 2019, State Farm paid $651,000 for just over 480 catalytic converter theft claims in Illinois.
- In 2020, State Farm paid over $1.1M for 740 catalytic converter theft claims in Illinois.
- In 2021, State Farm paid $3.1M for 1,985 catalytic converter theft claims in Illinois.
- In the first eight months of 2022 (January – August), State Farm alone has paid $5.3M for 2,770 catalytic converter theft claims in Illinois.
National Date:
- In 2019, State Farm paid $4.6M for 2,535 catalytic converter theft claims nationally.
- In 2020, State Farm paid $20M for 10,265 catalytic converter theft claims nationally.
- In 2021, State Farm paid $62.6M for 32,265 catalytic converter theft claims nationally.
- In the first eight months of 2022 (January – August), State Farm alone has paid $70.6M for 31,835 catalytic converter theft claims nationally.
Summit Processors, a scrap metal business in East Alton, Illinois, now has a large sign posted at its gates which reads, “Party over – CLOSED – for retirement.”
The scrapyard was the target of a police sting operation, which resulted in the seizure of all 287 of the catalytic converters on site. […]
Summit Processors routinely bought converters but failed to have sellers fill out paperwork and show photo ID as required by state law, authorities said. […]
The Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office has now filed for permanent forfeiture of all 287 converters, saying the scrapyard did not buy any of them legally.
State Representative Amy Elik filed legislation aimed at reducing the theft of catalytic converters following a recent letter from Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine suggesting that lawmakers amend the Recyclable Metal Purchase Registration Law to make it a felony to stockpile multiple catalytic converters. […]
The legislation filed by Representative Amy Elik (HB 5828) on October 26 provides that any recyclable metal dealer or other person who knowingly fails to record the purchase of 100 or more catalytic converters is guilty of a Class 4 felony.
Rep. Elik’s legislation is co-sponsored by lawmakers representing Madison County which include State Representatives CD Davidsmeyer and Charlie Meier. Madison County area lawmakers want to see the legislature take action on this important legislation in the upcoming veto session scheduled to begin on Tuesday, November 15.
Have you or someone you know had their catalytic converter stolen? I know a few myself.
* I told subscribers more than a month ago about the possibility that Darren Bailey could run for Mike Bost’s congressional seat in 2024. Bost has a nothing-burger race, but he’s up on broadcast TV and his campaign told me they’ve also made “hundreds of thousands of grassroots voter contacts to ensure folks understand all Mike Bost is doing to fight for our conservative values in Congress.”
Even so, this looks more like Democratic shenanigans to my eyes than something from Bost. But, hey, who really knows with this stuff. Here’s Brenden Moore…
It’s just under two weeks until the votes are counted in the race for Illinois governor. But could Republican nominee Darren Bailey already be looking past it and toward the next election in 2024?
That’s apparently the thought of some supporters of U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, in Southern Illinois, who have distributed a flyer accusing Bailey of a “plan” to accumulate as many votes in Illinois’ 12th Congressional District and use that as a springboard for a primary challenge of Bost in 2024. Bost faces Democrat Homer “Chip” Markel in the current election cycle.
The flyer, obtained by Lee Enterprises, says that “Bailey knows he cannot win the governors (sic) election because of liberal votes in crooked Chicago. So the plan is for Bailey to campaign as much as possible in Mike Bost’s district and secure as many supporters and votes as possible so he can challenge Mike Bost in 2024.
“Mike has always been a friend of ours ever since he was a state representative,” the letter continues. Though not encouraging a vote for Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the flyer explicitly asks voters not to vote for Bailey. “Keep Bailey’s vote totals down in Mike’s district,” it concludes.
* I’m not sure what poll Mr. DeVore is looking at, but the Emerson poll doesn’t have Raoul up by 6 with 10 percent undecided as he claims. The poll says Raoul is up by eight with nine percent undecided…
Elly Fawcett-Neal, a former staffer to Democratic state Rep. Jonathan Carroll, says she was wrongly fired in June after getting pregnant.
In an interview with Playbook: Fawcett-Neal, who now lives in the United Kingdom, said she filed a complaint with the Legislative Inspector General earlier this month.
“It was awful,” she said of working in Carroll’s office. Before she was fired, Fawcett-Neal said Carroll’s chief of staff, Michael Amarilio, urged her to get an abortion.
Carroll denied the accusations, telling Playbook, “I want an investigation. Full stop.” Amarilio didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
To be clear: In a separate statement, Carroll said, “I take these allegations very seriously and I believe they should be reviewed by the Legislative Inspector General. While I have not been informed of any official complaint, I plan to request such an investigation myself. My office and I will cooperate fully, and the investigation will guide further actions.”
Timing of Fawcett-Neal’s story is curious, given the approaching elections, but the former legislative aide said that’s coincidence. She told Playbook she had been pursuing different avenues to complain and turned to the “Dear White Staffer” anonymous Instagram account to see if someone could guide her.
How it became public: A person with the account asked if her emailed message could be posted. Fawcett-Neal said she agreed. Her story first appeared in Rich Miller’s newsletter, Capitol Fax.
* From Fawcett-Neal’s Instagram post…
Amarilio told me “I dispute these allegations,” and pledged to cooperate with any LIG probe.
Also, Rep. Carroll does not have a significant opponent. The dude running against him only raised five grand in the third quarter and the HGOP did one mailer for him a couple of weeks ago. The 57th District is pretty solidly Democratic, so the timing is basically irrelevant.
* House Speaker Chris Welch released this statement yesterday…
“I take all allegations very seriously and I want to encourage Ms. Fawcett-Neal to file a report with our Legislative Inspector General, if she hasn’t done so already, so a full, fair, and thorough investigation can occur.
“I want to be clear that those involved in these allegations are not employees of the Office of the Speaker and no employee of my office was made aware of these allegations against Representative Carroll or his Chief of Staff prior to them being made public. Representative Carroll has expressed how seriously he takes these matters, and he is prepared to cooperate fully with the Legislative Inspector General.
“Restoring trust in Springfield and in the Illinois House of Representatives has been one of my top priorities since I was elected Speaker. In addition to passing a comprehensive ethics package, we’ve appointed a well-respected judge with a reputation for fairness and accountability to fill that role as LIG and provided his office with the resources it needs to do this important work. Restoring trust in government is a continuous effort and I don’t take that responsibility lightly.
“In the coming weeks my staff will conduct additional ethics and workplace harassment trainings for all members and their staffs. As always, my office, our HR Department, and our Ethics Officer are at the disposal of the LIG as he thoroughly investigates these allegations.”
* The House Republicans released this statement today…
Illinois State Representatives Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) and Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) respond to the revelations of harassment and emotional abuse at State Representative Jonathan Carroll’s office after a victim came forward who detailed harassment, sexism, and pressure by office staff to have a medical procedure against her wishes.
“The toxic and hostile work environment that Ms. Fawcett-Neal was subjected to by Rep. Jonathan Carroll and his staff is unacceptable and we wish her the best as she deals with the hurt and pain this experience has caused her,” said State Rep. Tony McCombie. “This situation amplifies the culture of harassment, intimidation, and retaliation that we have seen permeate state government for decades under Democratic majority rule. We are hopeful the Legislative Inspector General will be swift in their investigation, and we urge anyone with additional information or knowledge of this to please put their loyalties aside and share the information with LIG. Representative Carroll and his staff who were complicit in this untenable situation should consider resigning immediately.”
“We seem to have yet another example of how Springfield Democrats’ supposed political principles end once political insider power begins,” said State Rep. Deanne Mazzochi. “Ms. Fawcett-Neal has alleged horrible experiences involving Representative Carroll and his staff. She claims that she could not get meaningful relief because his political allies would protect him. But is anyone surprised that Springfield’s culture of corruption constantly creates fresh stories of victims who feel knocked down, locked out and hopeless? To protect their corrupt practices from real oversight, Democrats rendered the Legislative Inspector General toothless. As we saw with the Special Investigating Committee involving Mike Madigan, they refuse to call out their own. With no accountability, it is inevitable that abusive practices will continue go unchecked.”
* NASW-IL has withdrawn its endorsement…
The Illinois Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW-IL) was dismayed to hear of the allocations against Representative Johnathan Carroll this week. The NASW-IL Political Action Committee (PAC) has publicly endorsed Representative Carroll for the 2022 election, the serious public accusations have resulted in the PAC questioning the candidate’s alignment with social work values and, as such, feel it is important to rescind the endorsement. The representative has been notified of this action.
NASW-IL PAC supports women in sexual harassment allocations and women’s rights in the workplace. The endorsements of the PAC reflect those values.
…Adding… A question was raised in comments about Fawcett-Neal’s employment status when she left for the UK. She saw the comment and then reached out to confirm she “was still completing all my work while in the UK and was working 14 hour days in some cases due to time zones.” She also attached an email as an example.
These allegations are very troubling and the behaviors alleged are unacceptable. The Governor urges that these allegations be fully and quickly investigated. Anyone who has committed any wrongdoing should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
Thursday, Oct 27, 2022 - Posted by Advertising Department
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* Bailey references ‘transphobic’, ‘antisemitic’ conspiracy theory at debate: During the second Governor’s debate, Darren Bailey deflected when asked about how he would change Illinois’ abortion laws. Instead of answering the question, Bailey changed the subject, referencing a conspiracy theory about current Governor J.B. Pritzker and his family foundation’s investments in healthcare.
* Race Between Pritzker, Bailey May be Tightening as Voting Turnout Remains Sluggish: Early voting in Chicago is also off to a sluggish start compared to the 2018 election. At this point four years ago, there were 29,000 residents who had cast early ballots, compared to 19,000 this year, according to the Chicago Board of Elections. “I don’t see a lot of voter enthusiasm,” political strategist Thom Serafin told NBC 5.
* We Asked Every Republican in a Tight Race Whether They’d Denounce Alex Jones: More than 70 Republican candidates in competitive congressional and gubernatorial races across the country declined to denounce Alex Jones for popularizing the myth that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting never happened.
* Walker, Vrett Square Off In 53rd House District Forum: Discussing gun violence, both Walker and Vrett harkened back to their experiences in the military. Both men were Army soldiers. Vrett served in Afghanistan and Walker in Vietnam. Vrett said education about guns needs to be brought back to schools so students can learn to respect weapons and rules, such as keeping them under lock and key.
Announcer: This was a crime against democracy. But to Catalina Lauf, it’s legitimate political discourse. asa a Trump loyalist, Lauf is all-in on the MAGA agenda. She supports banning abortion without exception, spouts conspiracy theories and opposes gun safety.
Foster: MAGA extremists are tearing this country apart, turning neighbors against each other and putting women in danger. I’m Bill Foster. I approved this message and I’m using facts and science to bring us back together.
* Related…
* ‘They should be banned’: Foster calls for restrictions on military-style firearms: Lauf’s campaign website once included text about gun rights. In a section labeled “Protect Our Individual Liberties,” Lauf assailed the erosion of gun rights and other rights, saying “governments at all levels (are) trying to take away the 2nd Amendment rights of its lawful citizens.” “We must be tough against the attack on Free Speech, 2A, and all individual liberties,” Lauf said on the site. But after winning the 11th District GOP primary in June, Lauf removed the references to the Second Amendment from those statements. The missing text can be found on the nonpartisan Ballotpedia website.
* Foster, Lauf on opposite sides of abortion debate: During her first bid for Congress in 2020, when she unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination in the 14th District, Lauf said she was against “any legislation that would be proposed on a federal level for funding contraception or abortion measures.” Additionally, Lauf’s campaign website for her current race once proclaimed she was a “vocal opponent of the Left’s radical position in support of late-term abortion, partial-birth abortion, and infanticide.” But after winning the 11th District GOP primary in June, Lauf removed a section about her stance on abortion from the site.
This report contains the results of a Civiqs survey of 659 likely voters in Illinois from October 22-25, 2022.
The survey was conducted online, among selected members of the Civiqs research panel. Sampled individuals were emailed by Civiqs and responded using a personalized link to the survey at civiqs.com. The survey results are weighted by age, race, gender, education, and party identification to be representative of the population of likely voters in Illinois. The general design effect due to weighting is 1.26. The survey has a margin of error of ± 4.3% at the 95% confidence level, accounting for the design effect.
In the race for the U.S. Senate in Illinois, incumbent Democrat Tammy Duckworth leads Republican Kathy Salvi by a substantial margin, 56% to 40%. Duckworth has a positive favorability rating, 51% favorable to 43% unfavorable. Salvi is both less popular and less well known among likely Illinois voters, with a 28% favorable rating, 36% unfavorable rating, and 36% who are unsure about her.
Democrat JB Pritzker holds a 17 percentage point lead over Republican Darren Bailey in the election for Governor of Illinois, 56% to 39%. Pritzker is viewed favorably by 50% of Illinois likely voters, and unfavorably by 45%. Likely voters have a negative opinion of Bailey, who gets a 29% favorable rating and a 56% unfavorable rating, with 16% unsure.
Likely voters in Illinois give President Joe Biden a 46% favorable rating, with 49% viewing him unfavorably.
* During last night’s attorney general debate, Tom DeVore claimed that AG Kwame Raoul’s negotiations over police certification “abruptly stopped” when the language was folded into the SAFE-T Act. He said the FOP was upset about it. Amanda Vinicky asked Raoul if that’s how it went down…
Raoul: No, we had, in fact, in my direct conversations with the state FOP, they thanked me for for engaging them.
DeVore: Chris Southwood would probably disagree with him.
DeVore made an accurate prediction for a change…
Illinois Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) State Lodge President Chris Southwood and Chicago FOP Lodge 7 President John Catanzara issued the following statements regarding Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s assertion that the FOP “thanked” him for including the organization in discussions while the SAFE-T Act was making its way through the Illinois General Assembly in 2021. Raoul made the assertion during the Attorney General debate on October 25 with Republican candidate Tom Devore:
Illinois FOP State Lodge President Chris Southwood: “Mr. Raoul needs to get his facts straight. Why would we thank him for promising to include us in those fateful discussions, only to have him ‘ghost’ us at the most crucial time in the negotiations and let the bill’s supporters completely exclude us from providing any input whatsoever? All you need to do is look at the SAFE-T Act to know that Mr. Raoul didn’t keep his pledge to us, and caved in to the pressure from his own political party.”
Chicago FOP Lodge 7 President John Canzara: “Thank Mr. Raoul? For what? For promising one thing to our faces and then breaking off the knife he stabbed us in the back with? You’d have to be crazy to think that there was any FOP input in the monstrosity that should be called the UN-SAFE-T Act by any Illinoisan who is sick of coddling criminals and punishing the police.”
According to Mark Maxwell of KSDK, Budzinski lists her assets and investment portfolio in the ballpark of $700,000 and $1.9 million.
Meanwhile, Budzinski’s opponent, Regan Deering, lists her net worth between $35 million and $142 million. Deering is the granddaughter of Dwayne Andreas, former chairman and CEO of Archer-Daniels-Midland.
* Illinois early vote totals…
The @illinoissbe has updated early vote totals (10/26/22): Total VBM requested: 817,276 Total VBM returned: 307,512 Total VBM outstanding: 509,764 Return Rate: 38% Total Early Vote: 122,827 Total Grace Period: 2,046 Total Already Voted: 432,385https://t.co/44ga6Axjmq
The most up-to-date Early Vote and Vote By Mail totals in Chicago, night of Tuesday, October 25, 2022.
The Early Vote total stands at 18,724 ballots cast.
Additionally, 38,672 Vote By Mail ballots have been returned to the Board – total VBM applications stands at 195,203.
The grand total is 57,396 ballots cast so far in Chicago for the November 8th General Election.
* Isabel’s roundup…
* GOP eyes Indiana upset amid national push to diversify party : Democrats have represented this industrial, union-friendly corner of northwest Indiana in Congress for nearly a century. But Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan’s reelection bid is in question as the party faces headwinds around the U.S. this year, buffeted by President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings and high inflation. The contours of this district, encompassing Gary, have been redrawn to be slightly more friendly to Republicans.
* Your vote on workers’ rights, Illinois Supreme Court can help improve the lives of working families: The other two races, at the end of the ballot, are just as important. Maintaining a worker-friendly majority on the state Supreme Court will assure that the Workers’ Rights Amendment, if passed, will be upheld. Indeed, it will do more than that. The two Supreme Court vacancies are arguably the most significant races on the ballot; the justices who sit on our state’s highest court are the ultimate arbiters of Illinois law. The seats at stake are for the 2nd judicial district, which includes Kane and Lake counties; and the 3rd district, which includes DuPage and Will counties.
* Candidates for Illinois treasurer take different approaches in campaigning: Demmer has done a series of Facebook videos and has hosted news conferences to share ideas. Recently, Demmer was on PBS and explained why should be elected. … Earlier this week, Frerichs, seeking a second term, released his first TV ad, calling himself the watchdog and touting things he says are accomplishments since being elected.
* How votes are cast and counted is increasingly decided in courtrooms: In the United States, election season has turned into lawsuit season. One legal challenge in Michigan seeks to remove thousands from the voter rolls. Two lawsuits in Wisconsin seek to have more absentee ballots counted, even if they are missing some information. In Arizona, a judge is reviewing a new law requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote. And in Pennsylvania, lawsuits challenge the state’s no-excuse absentee voting law, as well as the policy to count undated mail-in ballots.
As families across the nation prepare for festive Halloween fun, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is reminding consumers to focus on safety when selecting and creating costumes and home decorations.
Over the past three years, CPSC estimates that an annual average of 3,200 Halloween-related injuries were treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments.
Here’s how the injuries break down:
• 55% were related to pumpkin carving;
• 25% were due to falls while putting up or taking down decorations, tripping on costumes or walking while trick-or-treating;
• 20% of the injuries included lacerations, ingestions and other injuries associated with costumes, pumpkins or decorations, and allergic reactions or rashes.
Among the injured, 54 percent were adults 18 years and over, 46 percent were under 18 years old, and about 10 percent of all injuries were to children 6 years old or younger.
Fire safety is important year-round, with special awareness during holiday seasons. A new CPSC report estimates that candles and electrical cords/plugs were associated with an annual average of 5,600 and 1,600 fires, respectively, from 2017 through 2019.
* The Question: Your favorite Halloween memory? Bonus points if you can connect it to Illinois politics.
“[The] total investment going into K-12 Education is $3.7 billion less than what the evidence indicates is needed for every school district to have the resources it requires to educate the students it serves,” [Ralph Martire, the executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability] said.
Martire co-wrote the evidence based funding model which is designed to use certain metrics to determine the amount of money schools need to give students a proper education. Those metrics include total enrollment, and the number of English learners, low income students and students with disabilities. It passed in 2018 under Republican Governor Bruce Rauner. […]
The model is supposed to be fully funded by 2028 but he said now, it won’t reach that until 2040.
“We’re very far away from fully funding the model, and you skip another year, skip another two, that means another generation of kids has to go through a K-12 education system that doesn’t have adequate resources to implement the evidence based practices that have been shown to allow every student to receive the kind of education they need to achieve academically,” Martire said.
* I asked Martire for an explanation of that evidence-based funding ramp…
The EBF establishes two ongoing funding metrics for state-level investments in K-12 Education. First, the EBF sets a target of having state-level formula funding for K-12 Education increase on a year-to-year basis by at least $300 million (the “Minimum Target Level”). Note that is $50 million less than the $350 million amount actually specified in Section (g) of the EBF. The reason for this is the Property Tax Relief Grant or “PTRG” established in paragraph 9.5 of Section (g) of the legislation. Under the statute, the dollar amount of any year-to-year increase in funding the state appropriates to the EBF in a given fiscal year that is in excess of $300 million, up to and including $350 million, is dedicated to the PTRG—not to formula funding.
In addition to creating the aforesaid target for increasing K-12 funding on a year-to-year basis, the EBF also committed the state to fund the formula fully within 10 years of its initial implementation, which would be June 30, 2027. According to ISBE, at the start of FY 2023, the EBF was underfunded statewide by some $3.68 billion. At its current rate of increasing EBF funding, the state is not close to being on track for satisfying the obligation to fund the EBF fully by 2027.
Figure 1 shows that if the state continues the practice of increasing year-to-year funding for the EBF at the Minimum Target Level, the legislation will not be fully funded in real, inflation adjusted terms, until FY 2038, which is 20 years after the EBF was first implemented—or double what is required in statute.
To meet the statutory deadline of fully funding the EBF in real, inflation adjusted terms by 2027, starting in the 2023-2024 school year and continuing thereafter, Illinois would have to increase K-12 funding by $912 million each year—or more than triple the current Minimum Target Level—as shown in Figure 2.
Unfortunately, according to the Illinois State Board of Education, the current amount of K-12 funding in Illinois is some $3.7 billion less than what the evidence indicates is needed for each school to have the resources to educate the children it serves. And Bailey wants to cut school funding?
Even more curious is Bailey’s head-scratcher of a rationale for reducing state spending on education. According to Bailey, the high-quality academic programming offered in excellent schools like New Trier — you know curriculum designed to ensure students who graduate high school are college and career ready — isn’t needed in downstate communities like Clay County, because “Most, many of our children, some of our children are going to the military. They’re going right into the workforce,” where they get employed as ‘pipe fitters,’ ‘welders,’ and ‘linemen.’”
Wait, what? There’s so much wrong with that thinking it’s impossible to unpack it all in one column.
When Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s campaign bus came to town recently, the local conservative talk radio station covered the event, dutifully informing its audience on social media that “counter protesters were in attendance.”
The “counter protesters” were the radio station’s employees. They mugged for photos in front of the governor’s bus, held up signs that said, “Fire Pritzker” — then turned around and covered the Democrat’s event.
Since President Biden’s election, the talk radio station Cities 92.9 has upended the traditional media ecosystem in this part of Central Illinois with an unusual mix of hyperlocal news coverage — crime, weather and the like — and election misinformation. Replying on Facebook to a social media post about the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, the station turned its focus to the 2020 election results: “What about the insurrection on Nov. 3?”
Cities 92.9 organized a sold-out bus trip to the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, supported a man accused of making a Nazi salute at a school board meeting and co-hosted a fall “freedom” festival during which a former Marine and Jan. 6 attendee called for revolution, saying, “Violence is always the answer.” […]
[Catrina Petersen, the station’s program manager] posted a photo of herself on her personal Facebook page last year posing before a banner that said, “Q Sent Me,” writing, “Yeah I’m ‘Q’ what of it.” Asked whether she was an adherent to the extremist ideology embraced by many on the far right, she responded, “As much as you are BlueAnon, I suppose.”
Gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey hired David Paul Blumenshine, who hosts a talk show on Cities on weekends, as his election integrity program director. Back to the WaPo story…
Blumenshine, too, soon had a different story [about January 6], spinning tales of mysterious tour buses arriving and claiming he saw a weak security perimeter at the Capitol — assertions he has repeated to this day. In the interview, he dismissed the police officers who were assaulted by rioters during the attack — more than 140, some who suffered traumatic injuries such as brain damage and crushed spinal disks — as “political theater.”
* WMBD reported on the group’s return from the rally on Jan 7, 2021…
Trump supporters from the Twin Cities returned home Thursday afternoon after participating in the “Stop the Steal” Rally.
The group of 49 said the thousands of supporters were “reminiscent of Dr. Martin Luther King” and said they didn’t see any violence or rioting first hand. Group organizer David Paul Blumenshine said the mood was celebratory and the president promoted peace during his speech.
“There were other speakers that day, but the president was just magnificent, he also continued to preach peace and a peaceful protest,” Blumenshine said. “Upon delivering his message, along Constitution Ave and Pennsylvania Ave, people marched, reminiscent of Dr. Martin Luther King.”
Blumenshine said the group from Normal did not participate in the “small group” that breached the Capitol Building and condemned the group that turned the event into a deadly tragedy. He said all forms of political violence should be prosecuted.
* Legacy media giving up on endorsements could cede public opinion to these kinds of “alt” outlets. The AP…
Some readers have difficulty distinguishing between news and opinion, or flat-out don’t believe that a paper’s editorial stance doesn’t affect its news coverage, said Hunter, whose Iowa newspaper is owned by Gannett.
Gannett didn’t ban political endorsements, but strongly advised its more than 220 newspapers to cut back on national opinion and focus on local issues. The Des Moines Register’s opinion pages, for example, now run twice a week. The Register is being selective in its choices this fall, weighing in on the Iowa governor’s race and a referendum on guns. But the state’s top newspaper won’t endorse in federal races, including U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley’s bid for an eighth term. […]
Many politicians view the dwindling state of endorsements with a collective shrug. News organizations were once seen as objective, but Republican consultant Alex Conant said many voters his candidates are trying to reach consider newspapers as partisan as politicians. […]
Advertisements — often filled with disinformation — become the primary source of information, she said. By contrast, American Presidency Project co-director John Woolley said, newspaper endorsements “are a good thing in that they model how to think, and clarify to people what the big issues are.”
…Adding…[From Rich] Speaking of news vacuums, here’s the Tribune…
No part of the Lincolnwood Public Library’s collection will be moved or restricted after a heated group of public commenters forced an abrupt end to an Oct. 24 meeting of the library’s board of trustees.
Library Director Josephine Tucci said more than 60 members of the public attended Monday night’s meeting, where videos show conflict erupted in the audience over the library’s collection and programming.
Tucci said some of the commenters were misinformed about a program they thought the library had held but which had not taken place — “something to do with a drag queen storytime where the drag queen conducted the program, and that never happened,” she said.
Tucci said other commenters were objecting to a book called The Bare Naked Book that the library does not have in its collection. […]
Eventually, the meeting was dismissed by the board and police came onto the scene at the request of library officials. Officers dispersed the attendees from the room immediately upon adjournment, according to Lincolnwood Police Chief Jay Parrott.
* That Cardboard Box in Your Home Is Fueling Election Denial: Flush with profits from their shipping supply company, the Uihleins have emerged as the No. 1 federal campaign donors for Republicans ahead of the November elections, and the No. 2 donors overall behind liberal financier George Soros. The couple has spent at least $121 million on state and federal politics in the last two years alone, fighting taxes, unions, abortion rights and marijuana legalization.
* How ‘pink slime’ journalism exploits our faith in local news: As local outlets have disappeared, many have been replaced by algorithmically managed pink-slime outlets that use the good will earned by news institutions of yore to help push political agendas from outside those communities. […] Poorly paid freelancers replaced staff reporters who had made living wages at newspapers like the Chicago Tribune. Part of my job was to write local news stories for the Houston Chronicle — even though I lived in Chicago — and select fake American-sounding bylines for stories written in virtual sweatshops in the Philippines. A Filipino writer named Junbe, for instance, might be renamed Jimmy Finkel, thanks to a built-in drop-down menu, and Gisele Bautista could instantly become Jenni Cox. These “reporters” earned pennies per story, and much of the content was plagiarized. “It would pay off to have you both write and edit these stories only if you could write the stories in about 90 seconds,” my remote supervisor told me.
* Why false claims about Brazil’s election are spreading in far-right U.S. circles: It’s the latest example of how debunked election fraud narratives are going international. In many cases, the false claims about Brazil are being pushed in English to American audiences by right-wing influencers and conservative media sites who falsely assert that Donald Trump won the 2020 U.S. presidential election and appear to be planting the idea that similar fraud will occur in the upcoming midterms.
* ‘They’re not newspapers’: The not-so-mysterious publications in your mailbox: Before reading the articles published in the paper, Yamshon thought it looked like a normal local news operation, with typical advertisements and a back page featuring the names and photos of former high school football players from the area now playing in college. But then, she started to read. A box in the top left corner of the front page read, “Special Sex Education Edition: What are they teaching your child in 2022?” Below that was a reference to an article on page 2 about a Naperville elementary school teacher, with the phrase “Teaching boys to be girls.”
With two weeks to go until the November election, the Democratic Party of Illinois (DPI) this week launched a new ad campaign focused on reproductive choice. The campaign includes ads in both Spanish and English, and will reach Latino, Black, and downstate communities in over 230 zip codes across the state.
“Abortion is on the ballot this November. While Republicans are committed to turning back the clock on reproductive rights, we’re working hard to make sure voters know that the Democratic Party is the party of reproductive freedom,” said DPI Chair Lisa Hernandez. “We’re sharing our message with underrepresented communities in over 230 zip codes to make sure they know that with Democrats in office, Illinois will remain a safe haven for women everywhere.”
The ad campaign consists of two 15-second digital videos entitled “Saw This Coming” and “Ready” (“Listo”).
The new ads follow the launch of DPI’s first ever Spanish-language ads last month. With this critical initiative, DPI is continuing its work to reach and mobilize traditionally underrepresented voters in the home stretch leading up to the November election.
…Adding… I do not think this is on TV…
As your next Attorney General, I will fight like hell to end the NO BOND SAFE T Act. pic.twitter.com/ubASLytAUO
Woman 1: For 50 years, Illinois women have had freedom over their own bodies.
Woman 2: Those rights are under attack.
Woman 3: With the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade,
Woman 4: Extremists are trying to take us backward, ban abortions, criminalize women.
Woman 1: We need Kwame Raoul now more than ever.
Woman 3: He’s fighting for our freedoms in the court and on the frontlines.
Woman 2: Standing up to the extremists, fighting back.
Kwame Raoul: This extremist attack on women’s freedoms — not in Illinois, not while I’m Attorney General. I’m Kwame Raoul. This is the work of my life, and there’s so much more to do.
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Global Strategy Group
DATE: October 25, 2022
RE: NEW POLL: Making Significant Gains Since Summer, Rochford Even Better Positioned to Win
Survey results from Global Strategy Group’s recent research show an electorate focused on electing a candidate who is highly qualified and will protect abortion rights in our state’s highest court – and that candidate is Democrat Elizabeth Rochford. With voters getting to know her in the last few months, Rochford now enjoys positive personal ratings and a 6-point lead against Republican Mark Curran, of whom voters now have mixed opinions. Still, there is room to consolidate key voting blocs further in the next two weeks. And with so many voters unfamiliar with the candidates, the race is still wide open. Should Rochford be able to stay in front of voters, push back on misleading attacks, and communicate her experience and support from pro-choice groups, she has a path to victory. Takeaways from a survey of 500 likely 2022 generical election voters are as follows.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
• After learning more about her this fall, voters like and support Elizabeth Rochford. While there is still work to do to educate voters on the candidates for Illinois Supreme Court Justice, Rochford has significantly increased her name ID so that now 41% of voters can rate her (up from less than a third in August). Those voters who know her like her by a 7-point margin (24% favorable/17% unfavorable). Still, more than half of the electorate needs to learn about Rochford’s background and qualifications.
• While Mark Curran remains the better-known candidate, voters have mixed opinions. Over half of voters are familiar with Curran. But given that a plurality of the electorate is hearing something negative about him (33% positive/39% negative), his ratings have now weakened to a draw (27% favorable/27% unfavorable).
• As a result of communications on behalf of Rochford up to this point, she now leads Curran just under 50%. Voters now choose Rochford over Curran by a 6-point margin – Rochford 49%/Curran 43%. Between our first poll in August and now, Rochford has successfully consolidated key groups like Democrats, especially women Democrats; women over 55; college women; and voters in Lake County.
ABOUT THIS RESEARCH
Global Strategy Group conducted a survey of 500 likely 2022 general election voters in Illinois Supreme Court District 2 between October 18 and October 23, 2022. Interviews were conducted via live telephone as well as a text invitation to a web-based survey. Care has been taken to ensure the geographic and demographic divisions of the population of likely 202 2 general election voters are properly represented.
Justice Mary Jane Theis was selected for the office of Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court at the Court’s November 2022 Term. She will serve a three-year term commencing today, October 26, 2022, succeeding Anne M. Burke, whose tenure as Chief Justice ended on Oct. 25, 2022.
Justice Theis will be the fourth woman to serve as Chief Justice following the late Justice Mary Ann McMorrow, Justice Rita B. Garman, and Justice Burke. She will be the 122nd Chief Justice in Illinois history.
“I would like to thank my colleagues for giving me this opportunity to serve the people of Illinois as Chief Justice. I also would like to congratulate Justice Burke for her successful term as Chief and her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Justice Theis said. “I look forward to working with the bench, bar and community at large to further the Court’s mission of providing access to equal justice, ensuring judicial integrity and upholding the rule of law. Our goal continues to be increasing public trust and confidence in the courts.”
As Chief Justice, Justice Theis will serve as the chief administrative officer of the Supreme Court, which is constitutionally vested with general administrative and supervisory authority over the more than 900 judges in the statewide judicial system.
Among other duties, the Chief Justice selects the items to be placed on the Supreme Court’s agenda for the Court’s consideration during its constitutionally-mandated five terms each year; supervises all appointments to Supreme Court committees, serves as chairperson of the Executive Committee of the constitutionally-mandated Illinois Judicial Conference and presents the Court’s annual budget request to the General Assembly.
…Adding… ILGOP…
With Election Day drawing near, Democrat Elizabeth Rochford’s campaign for Illinois Supreme Court is showing signs of desperation. This morning, Rochford’s campaign released a polling memo in an attempt to signal to her Madigan Machine donors and backers that she’s in desperate need of additional millions.
Rochford’s call for help comes even after she’s raised $3.5 million for her campaign, and the so-called “All for Justice” group has raised nearly $6.8 million, spending much of it on Rochford. Illinois Republican Party Executive Director Shaun McCabe released the following statement in response:
“Elizabeth Rochford and her Madigan Machine allies are desperate, even after spending millions of dollars on her failing campaign. Rochford knows if voters learn about her Machine ties and record, she will lose her election and the Madigan Machine will lose a vote on the Supreme Court. Mark Curran is in a strong position to win because he’s an independent outsider with extensive law enforcement experience who will uphold the rule of law, not the rule of Madigan.”
Madden Mental Health employees to demonstrate over lack of staff
Frontline employees who support individuals with mental illness at Madden Mental Health Center in west suburban Hines, Ill., are raising awareness of a severe staff shortage at the state-operated facility and throughout state government.
Members of the Illinois Nurses Association (INA) and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31 will hold an informational picket outside Madden MHC TOMORROW (Wednesday) morning, Oct. 26.
AFSCME and INA members say the lack of staff threatens to erode the quality of care for patients at Madden, poses a safety risk to employees, and is driving out-of-control overtime—including mandatory overtime—that is leading to burnout among workers.
* Background from AFSCME…
Madden MHC is a short-term psychiatric hospital treating people who are acutely mentally ill. The average length of stay is about three weeks.
In the first quarter of calendar 2022, Madden had 96 staff (monthly average) at any given time. Five years ago the facility had an average 138 staff; 10 years ago 168. (Although the average patient census has also declined, it has not dropped as steeply—to 92 patients today from 114 five years ago and 139 ten years ago.)
The staffing shortage is driving excessive overtime:
• The latest available is from July, when 91 AFSCME members at Madden worked nearly 2,000 hours of overtime.
• There were only 36 mental health technicians on staff (the largest direct-care job title) who worked nearly 1,000 overtime hours in the month. 983 hours.
• The 25 support service workers (housekeeping and dietary) worked more than 600 overtime hours in the month
• Even doctors and social workers were doing overtime, as were employees represented by other unions, including a substantial number of registered nurses, security employees and tradespeople.
Lack of staff has also led to:
• The closure of one of Madden’s five units
• The use of more than 20 expensive agency nurses while trying to hire RNs.
• Sometimes no security staff on site, or just one, during weekend shifts. At other times, mental health technicians are made to cover security officer vacancies.
Keeping new hires is a problem, too: Of a recent class of 11 mental health technicians, four alreafy left. Five new support service/housekeepers were promised in the spring; only two were hired and both quit. So far only one has been replaced.
It’s a difficult work environment and short-staffing makes it much worse.
* Illinois governor race: Where JB Pritzker, Darren Bailey stand on immigration, guns, crime: “So let’s explicitly put into the Safe-T Act with an amendment saying that we’re not going to let anybody out, any of the violent criminals out on January 1,” Pritzker said. […] “He’s thinking about amending it because he’s finally learning what it actually says, otherwise why on earth did the man sign it if he knew what it said?” Bailey accused. “So, I know, I completely believe that public sentiment has shifted and turned.”
* How the abortion ruling transformed midterm political advertising: In terms of spending on abortion-related ads, Democrats ($21.7 million) and Republicans ($20.9 million) had near-parity in the pre-Dobbs period. Post-Dobbs, Democrats’ spending on abortion-related ads surged (to $57.9 million) while Republicans’ spending on abortion-related ads plunged (to $5.7 million).
* Rashid, Schultz spar at 21st District candidate forum: The candidates also had different views about banning the sale of automatic weapons. Schultz said he would consider such a ban as a last resort but said that prohibitions usually don’t work, and the more immediate problem is a shortage of police. […]“The issue in Highland Park on July 4 was not ‘not enough police.’ The issue in Uvalde, Texas, was not ‘not enough police,’ the issue at Sandy Hook was not ‘not enough police.’ The issue is guns getting in the hands of the wrong people and we absolutely do need to ban assault rifles,” Rashid said.
* State House District 62 candidates spar over guns, criminal justice and abortion rights: Though Dias and Shores are far apart on the SAFE-T Act, their views on a woman’s right to decide to terminate a pregnancy are closer together, though not aligned. Shores said he opposes late-term abortion and would reinstate parental notification for women under 18. “Personal health care decisions are unique to every woman, and they should be between the woman and her doctor,” Shores said, though he would still require parental notification and a late-term ban if he could.
From: Liz Uihlein
Date: March 13, 2020 at 12:22:09 PM CDT
Subject: The Media is Overblowing COVID-19
Dear Members of the Illinois Legislature:
There were 1,701 cases in the U.S. of which there were 41 deaths; whereas an overwhelming number of people have been infected with and died from the flu this season.
While you may think the government enforced closing of events, schools, etc. is helping prevent the spread of this infection, you are impacting local, state and national economies and adding unnecessary panic and fear in the American people.
What happens in 2 weeks? Are you willing to indefinitely close institutions? At what point do we go back to our normal lives? This has been a huge disruption.
Sincerely,
Liz Uihlein
President, Uline
* Well, legislators received two emailed letters from Ms. Uihlein today. The first brings up some canards about vote by mail…
Members of the Illinois House and Senate –
The Permanent Vote by Mail program makes Illinois elections less secure and offers more opportunity for fraud.
First, per the application, a voter can have the ballot mailed to any address. No safeguards are offered to ensure the voter actually resides at that location.
Second, per our local County Clerk’s notice, the voter must request to be removed from the Vote by Mail program, unless the clerk receives confirmation the voter registered to vote in another county. There is no indication that if a voter moves out of state and fails to provide notice, the address on file will stop receiving a ballot.
Lastly, missing from our local County Clerk’s notice, there is no indication of automatic removal for deceased voters. How and when would a deceased voter be removed from receiving automatic ballots?
Ensuring democracy means having a secure election. Having citizens complete a ballot application for each election, is a minimal ask for the integrity of the vote.
I call on the legislature to pass election reform removing the Permanent Vote by Mail program.
Liz Uihlein
COO
12575 Uline Drive
Pleasant Prairie, WI 53158
* Second email…
Members of the Illinois House and Senate –
It is unfathomable that any elected official that cares about their community would vote to approve the SAFE-T Act. Much like we’ve seen in Washington, D.C. with passage of The Inflation Reduction Act, the SAFE-T Act offers the exact opposite of public safety.
Abolishing cash bail and not requiring pretrial detention for heinous crimes is completely irresponsible. Second-degree murder, arson, and aggravated battery are just a few examples of crimes the SAFE-T Act would allow defendants to freely roam our city streets.
We can look to our neighboring state to the north, Wisconsin, and see how a soft-on-crime approach to the justice system ruins communities. The Waukesha Parade tragedy was horrific and completely preventable if the suspect wasn’t free on low bail.
Illinois is already dealing with rising crime, emboldened career-criminals, and apathetic State’s Attorneys. Releasing individuals already apprehended will only make the matter worse.
I strongly urge you to repeal the SAFE-T Act before these individuals are released into our communities.
* Let’s start with some mailers. All for Justice PAC…
* DPI…
* Speaking of mailers, Dan Proft appears to be moving into the judicial realm in the Metro East…
But the best of the bunch of negative direct mail is paid for by “People Who Play by The Rules PAC” whoever they are. They attack judicial candidate Barry Julian asking in a blood red headline whether judicial seats in Madison County should be for sale and warning that Julian seems to think so.
Julian, a Democrat who is funding his campaign out of his personal resources, also is attacked on his age. Hypocrisy dripping from a flyer obviously funded by a Republican organization out of Florida, that backs someone who will be 78 years old when he runs for President of the United States in 2024.
* Press release…
Elections officials from three Illinois counties met last Saturday with voters from across Central Illinois concerned about the safety and security of our elections to “gain back confidence and trust that your vote is being counted fairly and accurately” said Elizabeth Gannon, Director of the Peoria County Election Commission. The 90 minute event, organized by Illinois People’s Action, also featured Tazewell County Clerk, John Ackerman; and Knox County Clerk, Scott Erickson. The Peoria event followed a similar public meeting held in Bloomington, IL.
Nationally, voters have indicated that they believe democracy is in danger and both Democrats and Republicans identify the other party as the major enemy of democracy, according to a recent New York Times/Siena Poll (10/18/2022). Illinois People’s Action’s nonpartisan Defending Democracy campaign believes that all Americans should be encouraged to participate in our democracy; and first and foremost is exercising our right to vote with confidence that our vote will be fairly counted.
“The event held at the Peoria County Election Commission on October 22, 2022, was an important educational opportunity to learn about how Illinois elections are conducted in a safe and secure manner. I left this event feeling grateful that we have dedicated and knowledgeable individuals safeguarding our elections and that we as citizens can benefit from getting factual information directly from those who work in the elections process and not count on social media or hearsay for such information.” Joyce Rosenberger, IPA Leader & Peoria County Resident
“Many people don’t know how our local and state elections work. The question and answer event with our elections officials was an invaluable way to have a direct conversation with leaders from multiple counties. The officials also demonstrated their dedication to our democratic process.” Reverend Jennifer Innis, Minister, Universalist Unitarian Church of Peoria
“One way to rebuild trust, is for local Election Officials, in each state, to review the election process, the security of the equipment being used to register and count the votes, security of drop boxes, and the safeguards to guarantee one vote per registered, living person for early, drop box, mail in, and election day voting, including the time frame for accepting and counting mail in votes, dated by election day, but received after.” Susan Latta, IPA Leader and Peoria County Resident
* Press release…
October 25, 2022 – The WTTW, WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times newsrooms will jointly present a candidate forum with Democrat incumbent Senator Tammy Duckworth and Republican challenger Kathy Salvi leading up to the November 8 midterm election.
The live forum will premiere on WTTW on Thursday, October 27 at 7:00 pm CT. It will stream live and on-demand on wttw.com, Facebook and YouTube, and will broadcast live on WBEZ on 91.5FM in Chicago and on wbez.org. Chicago Tonight co-anchor Paris Schutz and Chicago Sun-Times chief political reporter Tina Sfondeles will moderate the discussion with the candidates in WTTW’s Chicago Tonight studio. They will also take questions live from community members on location at WILL public television station in Champaign, Illinois with WILL’s Tinisha Spain and at La Villita Community Church in Chicago’s Little Village community with WBEZ reporter Michael Puente. Viewers in the region can watch and listen on public television and radio stations across Illinois. Check local listings.
“This election will have a significant impact on residents across our city and state,” said Jay Smith, News Director for WTTW. “We are proud to partner with fellow public media organization WBEZ and with the Chicago Sun-Times to provide voters with trusted, essential coverage and candidates with a forum for civil discourse.”
“Voters have important choices to make this election season,” said WBEZ politics editor Angela Rozas O’Toole. “With this collaboration with WTTW and our sister organization, the Chicago Sun-Times, the public will have the opportunity to hear directly from these U.S. Senate candidates about a number of important issues. We are excited to bring that service to our listeners and viewers.”
“The results of this year’s elections will affect many aspects of our daily lives,” Sfondeles said. “We’re happy to partner with WTTW and WBEZ to help voters comb through key issues in an important Senate race.”
The Congressional Progressive Caucus has withdrawn a letter, signed by 30 House liberals and sent to the White House Monday, that urged President Biden to negotiate directly with Russia to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
The withdrawal comes a day after the letter, led by Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), triggered fierce pushback from many Democrats, as well as from Ukrainian officials, who argued it was unrealistic to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Chicago has a lot of residents with Ukrainian heritage. That flag is everywhere. Just a dumb move on the potential mayoral candidate’s part.
Democrats and their allies have spent a staggering $103 million nationwide on ads about abortion since Labor Day. While Democrats have also spent tens of millions on Medicare and character-related attacks on their opponents, abortion remains the issue they’ve spent the most money on by far. […]
With an unpopular president and record-high inflation, it wasn’t obvious that Republicans needed another line of attack against Democrats this midterms cycle, yet they’ve poured millions into ad buys that paint Democrats as soft on crime. In total, Republicans have spent nearly $50 million on ads focused on crime since Labor Day, making it one of their top issues nationally, per AdImpact’s data. […]
Democrats have focused most of their character ad buys on individuals, especially in Senate races where questions of candidate quality have dominated. Democrats have spent $32 million on character ads compared to $21 million spent by Republicans.
* As of Sunday night, early voting in Chicago stood at 5,220 ballots cast. The jump was caused by early voting being available Monday for all 50 wards…
The most up-to-date Early Vote and Vote By Mail totals in Chicago, night of Monday, October 24, 2022.
The Early Vote total stands at 13,383 ballots cast.
Additionally, 33,909 Vote By Mail ballots have been returned to the Board – total VBM applications stands at 193,376.
The grand total is 47,292 ballots cast so far in Chicago for the November 8th General Election.
* Isabel’s roundup…
* With coaxing from former City Council colleague Mell, Tunney warms to joining crowded race for mayor: With behind-the-scenes encouragement from perennial political power player Richard Mell, retiring Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) is warming to the possibility of joining the crowded field of candidates vying to replace Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “He thinks I would be a good mayor. That’s all I can say,” Tunney, 67, said Monday.“He’s worked with me for years.”
* America’s ‘most dangerous’ law? Illinois candidate warns of ‘anarchy’ after criminal justice overhaul: Crime in Illinois could “spiral out of control” after a new law overhauling the state’s criminal justice system goes into effect in January, the mayor of a Chicago suburb said. “When I said that this is the most dangerous law I’ve ever seen, I believe that,” said Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau, who is running for Congress in Illinois’ 6th District.
* Here’s how much it really costs to get on the Chicago mayoral ballot : One rumor out there is that Lori Lightfoot’s campaign has had to double its payments to these workers, shelling out as much as $9 per valid signature. Lightfoot’s campaign denies paying that much but confirms that, after surveying the market, it upped its figure from $4 per valid signature to $6. One top Democratic strategist says they know of campaigns that have paid as much as $16 a signature.
* Where Illinois attorney general stands on SAFE-T Act and COVID-19 restrictions: Raoul backed the law, and said that it would “begin to put a system of accountability and professionalism forth, and hopefully begin to rebuild the trust in law enforcement.” More recently, however, the Attorney General has expressed reservations about the legislation’s impact. At a Sept. 20 campaign event, Raoul said that the law might need revising, telling supporters that ambiguities around whether a defendant poses a threat will require an “ongoing conversation” on where the threshold should be set.
* Rockford’s Maurice West faces challenge from GOP candidate Glen Oland in Illinois 67th West: I will tackle crime by investing in our youth. Since 2021, my office has sponsored READY events (Reaching, Exposing, and Developing Youth), where we take our kids to local places to expose them to what we have in our community. For example, taking students to a farm outside of the city limits to understand the importance of farming, or taking a tour of Severson Dells to learn and appreciate nature. Planting a seed to help them understand their potential. […] Oland: One thing I will do when elected is work to completely repeal the Safe-T Act. It is a 750-page bill that eliminates bail for major criminals and is loaded with pork. I would then put forth a bill to do the cameras for the police and the few things that were ok with the bill.
* Illinois state comptroller: Money among differences between Mendoza and Teresi: Both candidates ran uncontested in their primaries June 28 and got 100% of their party’s votes. Mendoza received 838,155 votes. Teresi received 666,835 votes. […] As with the campaign finance, a look at contributors differentiates the two candidates for comptroller. Teresi had five contributions and only one of those was larger than $1,000. Teresi had a $20,000 contribution from P.O. Box 284 (Aurora). Mendoza, on the other hand, had 13 contributions of more than $10,000 each. Most of those were tied to unions and political action committees.
For the second straight year, the long-term funded ratio of Teachers’ Retirement System has improved, reaching 43.8% at the end of fiscal year 2022. That is a positive increase of 1.3% over the previous year’s funded status.
The TRS Board of Trustees gave preliminary approval to a $6.04 billion state government contribution for the System in FY 2024. That is a 2.5% increase over the state’s $5.89 billion contribution for the current fiscal year.
The increase in the funded ratio came last year despite very volatile investment markets and uncertainty in the world economy. Most large institutional investors like TRS lost money during FY 2022. TRS recorded an investment return rate of -1.17%. Nonetheless, the TRS rate compared favorably to the median return of -7.6% by large pension systems according to RVK, Inc., of Portland, Oregon, the TRS general investment consultant.
“The System’s improved funded ratio is a bright spot in a challenging investment year,” said Stan Rupnik, executive director and chief investment officer of TRS. “The TRS funded ratio improved this year primarily because of consistently positive investment returns over the last five years combined with steady state funding that for two years exceeded the statutory minimum.
“The System’s five-year annualized TRS investment return exceeds 7%, and those gains outweigh the small negative return in FY 2022,” he added. “Increased funding from state contributions and strong investment returns slows the growth of the unfunded liability and over the last two years has slightly improved the funded ratio.”
The total unfunded liability of TRS at the end of FY 2022 was $80.6 billion; a 0.85% increase over the $79.9 billion unfunded liability recorded in FY 2021, according to the System’s annual actuarial valuation, compiled by Segal Consultants, of Chicago.
In the last decade, the TRS funded ratio averaged 40.7 percent. Projections by Segal show slow but steady improvements in the funded ratio between FY 2022 and FY 2045, when state law requires TRS to have a funded ratio of 90 percent. The funded ratio at the end of FY 2021 was 42.5%. During the last two years, the TRS funded ratio has improved by 3.3%.
The funded ratio reflects the difference in the amount of money TRS has in assets against the amount of money the System needs to immediately pay all members the full amounts of benefits they are owed for the rest of time. Altogether, the System’s total long-term liability at the end of FY 2022 was $143.5 billion, a 3.3 percent increase over the previous year.
While the funded ratio is important as an official measure of the System’s long-term fiscal health, it is not a reflection of the System’s current financial ability to pay benefits. In any given year, TRS only is obligated under state law to pay out the amount of money owed annually to eligible retired members and other beneficiaries. During FY 2022, paid benefits totaled $7.6 billion. TRS was more than able to pay all benefits for the year on time and in full. In fact, for 83 years TRS has paid all benefits in full and on time.
* That 2.5 percent increase works out to $150 million. These are fiscal year over fiscal year state funding increases for TRS via COGFA…
Tuesday, Oct 25, 2022 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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Ask any of the candidates running for the Illinois Supreme Court if politics will guide their rulings and you’ll get the same answer.
“My commitment is to be impartial and unbiased and to hear the entirety of cases,” said Lake County Judge Elizabeth Rochford, a Democrat.
“I have no political goals,” said her opponent, Mark Curran, an attorney who was formerly Lake County sheriff and the unsuccessful Republican challenger to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in 2020. “I don’t have anything like that. The job is to rule fairly and to look at facts and the law and apply them.”
Right. Yeah. Isn’t it time that the candidates just drop this impartiality bit? Because it is a bit.
* I mean, no political goals? C’mon, man. You just admitted the other day that you’re a partisan…
Curran spoke more directly to the role of partisanship on the high court, stating that while he wouldn’t rule in a partisan manner, he’d rule in a manner “that is a balance to the governor.”
“Let’s say Darren Bailey wins – he is behind in the polls and everything but, you know, I hope Darren Bailey wins,” Curran said when asked what’s at stake in the Supreme Court election. “Even if he wins, chances are he’s going to be totally ineffective in many regards, because of the fact that the General Assembly has enough votes to override any veto by the governor. So the state will continue to be run by one party, that party being the Democrats. And there’s no check and balance or anything in the state.”
It’s fine to have these positions. It’s OK by me if Justice Rochford flat-out admitted that she’s pro-choice and would rule that way. And it’s OK for Curran to admit that he’s a party-first kind of dude. What’s not fine is to insist you don’t have positions when you clearly do. We act like our top judges are high priests, or something. They aren’t. And this dance we force on them is really getting tiring.
* Related…
* Pivotal Illinois Supreme Court elections, fueled by Big Money, are on the docket: In 2017, Illinois repealed a 1975 “trigger law” that would have banned abortion in Illinois should Roe v. Wade be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. That should have settled the matter. But a lawsuit has been brought to reinstate the Illinois trigger law, and a newly constituted Supreme Court could do so, as Ramos, a former state legislator and former head of the Illinois Department of Heath Care and Family Services, points out. If that happens, Illinois law would prohibit abortions unless necessary for the preservation of the mother’s life.
* Mark Brown: Democrats and Republicans wage high-stakes battle for control of state Supreme Court: Republicans are rerunning the anti-Madigan playbook that worked against Kilbride, portraying Rochford and O’Brien as “cronies” of the unpopular former speaker. Just before he forsook Illinois for Florida, billionaire Ken Griffin made a parting gift of $6.25 million to Citizens for Judicial Fairness, which is paying for the attack ads.
* Ken Griffin’s millions could flip Illinois Supreme Court on abortion and unions: In the second district, Democrats have spent $2.6 million, including $1.8 million by political expenditure committee All for Justice and $848,800 by Rochford’s campaign, according to AdImpact, which tracks election spending. On the Republican side, Griffin-backed Citizens for Judicial Fairness is spending $1 million. In the third district, Democrats have spent $1.6 million and Republicans have shelled out $1.1 million, almost all booked by Citizens for Judicial Fairness. O’Brien has booked $281,000, with $1.2 million additional in support from All For Justice.
The race to succeed DuPage County Board Chair Dan Cronin is one of the most closely watched in Illinois, with both candidates raking in large donations for the final leg of the campaign.
State Rep. Deb Conroy is trying to become the first Democrat and the first woman to take the county board gavel. Her opponent, Greg Hart, has positioned himself as a rising star in county Republican politics.
The pricey contest will be key to determining whether Democrats can expand their influence in a county that was considered reliably Republican even a decade ago.
“DuPage County has been shifting Democrat for a long time, but it’s still pretty purple,” said Melissa Mouritsen, a political science professor at the College of DuPage.
* With that in mind, here’s a press release…
Greg Hart, candidate for DuPage County Board Chairman, today hit the airwaves with a broadcast buy and a brand new campaign ad.
The ad points to Deb Conroy’s “secret agenda” of raising our taxes, including doubling the gas tax. It also ties Conroy and her tax-raising votes to Mike Madigan.
Illinoisans know Madigan as the corrupt former House Speaker who was indicted for schemes that padded his own pockets and that of his associates. Hart’s ad ties Conroy with Madigan saying she conspired with him to raise income taxes four times, as well as raising her own pay.
“DuPage deserves better than a tax-and-spend Springfield politician,” said Hart. “On the ballot for County Board Chairman, there’s an extreme choice in Deb Conroy, or there’s a candidate who has already consistently worked with other board members to lower taxes and keep government ethics above board. I think the voters will go with the moderate, common-sense choice who will protect their tax dollars at the end of the day.”
Deb Conroy has a secret agenda.
Raising your taxes.
Conroy voted to double the gas tax, tying it to inflation.
You pay more as prices go up.
Deb Conroy partnered with corrupt Mike Madigan to raise income taxes four times, and raise her own pay.
And just like the Springfield politician she is, Deb Conroy wants to increase DuPage taxes.
Greg Hart - a true independent, a socially moderate outsider.
Hart won’t raise taxes on DuPage families.
* For context, Rep. Conroy issued this press release the day that Madigan was indicted in the AT&T probe…
Mike Madigan’s Leadership Betrayed Our Trust
VILLA PARK, Ill – Representative Deb Conroy, D-Elmhurst, “Mike Madigan’s leadership betrayed our trust and cost Illinois taxpayers millions of dollars,” Conroy said. “This indictment shows once again how Madigan’s entrenched power undermined our government.”
“I am proud that I stood firm with 18 of my Democratic colleagues in demanding Mike Madigan’s resignation as Speaker and calling for new, transparent, honest leadership in Springfield. Our courage and determination brought an end to a painful era in our state history.”
“Together, we are committed to building a state government that will work for everyone in Illinois – not just the chosen and well-connected few. With Madigan’s reign over at last, we are bringing Illinois toward a brighter, more prosperous future.”
* Statewide candidates make pitches across Illinois with two weeks before election: Incumbent Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has made several stops around the state in recent days in his reelection bid. At a church in Chicago Monday, he said his Republican opponent Darren Bailey is too extreme for Illinois. […] Bailey, who says Pritzker is the one who is too extreme, wrapped up a four-day southern Illinois bus tour this weekend.
* Bos, Syed disagree on bill hiking penalties for fentanyl crimes: While some state lawmakers are backing legislation that would make possession of small amounts of fentanyl a misdemeanor, state Rep. Chris Bos is co-sponsoring a bill that instead would stiffen penalties for crimes involving the powerful synthetic opioid. But his opponent in the race for the 51st state House District seat says increasing punishment is not the solution to the fentanyl crisis.
* Deering calls out Budzinski over money she made as a consultant: This came after the Better Government Association reported that Budzinski received more than $500,000 from a lobbyist and progressive organizations that don’t disclose where their money comes from, often referred to as “dark money.” “While there may not be any official laws broken yet, she always seems to be just outside the door of corruption,” Deering said during a news conference Monday.
* Political newcomer vying to be the voice in Springfield for growing Latino population in northern Illinois: Campaign leaflets, cookies, and even a baby for Juan Reyes, 50, to pose with were at hand at a recent fundraising event in Rockford for his candidacy. He’s running for Illinois Senate in the 34th District as a Republican against Democrat Steve Stadelman. “When they asked me what is my platform, I say three things: God, family and country,” Reyes said.
* More to come!
[Links are all fixed now, sorry about that folks! -Isabel]
