A former business partner of Gov. Bruce Rauner is suing Rauner, but all court records in the case are being kept secret — allegedly at the governor’s request.
The lawsuit against Rauner was filed last week by Harreld “Kip” Kirkpatrick III and the Kirkpatrick Capital Partners Fund, according to Cook County Circuit Court records. […]
He said the lawsuit was filed as a “result of a dispute with a former partner” — namely Rauner, according to a memo that Kirkpatrick sent to Vistria employees. […]
“In consultation with our legal counsel, we do not believe the lawsuit should be sealed and we are hopeful that a judge will deny Gov. Rauner’s attempt to keep it from public view,” Kirkpatrick added.
While the exact allegations remain unclear, the lawsuit against Rauner is tied to how settlement proceeds from a Michigan lawsuit were divvied up.
Kirkpatrick Capital Partners paid $10 million in 2011 for a 20 percent stake in what’s now Troy, Mich.-based United Shore Financial Services, according to the Michigan lawsuit.
Kirkpatrick served as the firm’s CEO from 2011 to 2013, but relations between him and the company’s founding family soured.
In 2015, Kirkpatrick Capital sued United Shore and Jeffrey and Mathew Ishbia, members of the founding family that remains the majority owner. The Ishbias, the lawsuit claimed, pulled the plug on Kirkpatrick’s efforts to sell the company — which by then was valued by Raymond James Financial Services at $400 million to $525 million. At least four firms expressed interest in buying the company in early 2013, but the Ishbia family suspended the sales process because it “did not want to give away so much of this newly created value to” Kirkpatrick Capital, the lawsuit says.
This morning the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times both wrote stories about Governor Bruce Rauner’s involvement in a lawsuit that he’s requesting to stay secret. Rauner is being sued by Kirkpatrick Capital, a firm he was still invested in 2016. From what little is known, the story feels familiar – Rauner and the other Kirkpatrick Capital investors intended to invest in an existing company quickly sell if off at profit while undercutting the owners.
“In 2015, Kirkpatrick Capital sued United Shore and Jeffrey and Mathew Ishbia, members of the founding family that remains the majority owner. The Ishbias, the lawsuit claimed, pulled the plug on Kirkpatrick’s efforts to sell the company — which by then was valued by Raymond James Financial Services at $400 million to $525 million. At least four firms expressed interest in buying the company in early 2013, but the Ishbia family suspended the sales process because it ‘did not want to give away so much of this newly created value to’ Kirkpatrick Capital, the lawsuit says.
‘The parties understood that Kirkpatrick Capital was not making a long-term investment in Shore,’ Kirkpatrick’s lawsuit against United Shore said. ‘Kirkpatrick was investing in Shore with the understanding that Shore would be marketed for sale in the near term.’”
Bruce Rauner leaned on his business acumen during the 2014 campaign, but investigative reports found that companies Rauner invested in were pushed into bankruptcy or stripped down for profits. Flash forward three years to when Governor Rauner called on the legislature to sustain his budget veto even though it would push the state into junk bond status, and a pattern emerges.
“Bruce Rauner sold voters a bill of goods when he said as a businessman he would turn the state around,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Just like he did in business, Rauner racked up Illinois’ debt and was pushed the state towards a fiscal cliff all for political profit. Now he wants to hide his true record from the public but it’s too late. Voters know they are worse off under three years of Rauner’s failed leadership in action.”
Today, the Illinois Republican Party launched the 2018 Madigan Retirement Plan. The initiative will specifically target members of the Illinois House and Senate who empower their political boss, Mike Madigan. Through the 2018 Madigan Retirement Plan, the Illinois Republican Party will also offer unprecedented support to local GOP organizations by providing innovative grassroots tools, enhanced digital and data integration, and targeted support for local Republican candidates in an effort to defeat Democrats at every level who empower their party leader, Mike Madigan.
The longest serving House speaker in United States history, Mike Madigan was first elected to the Illinois House in 1970 and rose to the speakership in 1983. In 1998, Madigan was elected Chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois. At the end of his current term in the House, Madigan will have been a member of the Illinois General Assembly for 48 years, speaker of the House for 34 years, and chairman of the Democratic Party for 21 years.
Today, the Illinois Republican Party received a $4,450,000 contribution from Governor Rauner’s campaign to launch the 2018 Madigan Retirement Plan. In total, the Illinois Republican Party has received $6.6 million from Governor Rauner’s campaign this year.
Below is a statement from Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider on the 2018 Madigan Retirement Plan:
“Four decades in power is long enough, and with Governor Rauner’s support, Illinois Republicans can ensure 2018 is Mike Madigan’s last year as Speaker. Governor Rauner has shown time and time again that he is committed to revitalizing the Republican Party in the state of Illinois. Thanks to Gov. Rauner’s unprecedented commitment, we are now closer than ever to retiring Speaker Mike Madigan once and for all.”
* Meanwhile, a DuPage County Board member running for retiring GOP Rep. Mike Fortner’s seat launched on Rauner today…
Tonia Khouri, candidate for State Representative in the 49th District releases the following statement:
I consider myself a free-market conservative and pro-life.
Being a loyal Republican for 30 years makes this decision difficult and sad. However, I cannot in good conscience support our current governor, Bruce Rauner. He has made decisions that financially hurt our state like the Chicago school “bailout” and the expensive “sanctuary state” bill. However, the final straw was allowing taxpayer-funded abortions on demand. The financial and moral consequences of HB40 will haunt this state for years to come.
If we continue down this path, not only will Illinois be financially bankrupt, it will be morally bankrupt as well.
Therefore, I stand in unity with conservatives, with pro-lifers, and those who feel betrayed by our governor’s recent actions and will not be supporting Bruce Rauner for Governor.
It’s not too late to save our state - we just need the right people in Springfield to do it.
* As Mark Brown rightly notes, most of these inmates will eventually be released, so it’s in all of our interest to make things better…
On Tuesday, lawyers representing 12,000 mentally ill prisoners in Illinois asked a federal judge in Peoria to force the state to meet its agreed obligations to provide them with adequate mental health care.
The state’s “deliberate indifference to serious medical need” constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, the inmates’ lawyers argue.
The filing comes a week after a court-appointed federal monitor advised state corrections officials by letter that poor psychiatric care continues to create a “state of emergency” in Illinois prisons.
The lawyers want U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm to enforce a settlement agreement reached in May 2016 with Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration promising to overhaul mental health care in the prisons.
The court monitor, Dr. Pablo Stewart, a psychiatric consultant from San Francisco, credits the state Department of Corrections with making “substantial improvements” to its mental health care delivery system during that time.
But Stewart said those improvements have been undermined by the department’s “grossly insufficient and extremely poor quality of psychiatric services.”
Those services are “exceedingly poor and often times dangerous,” Stewart wrote.
Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle predicted “painful” budget cuts and forecast a rough budget battle ahead as she suffered her biggest public defeat yet: Wednesday’s repeal of the much-maligned sweetened beverage tax.
“I’ve been in public life for almost 30 years,” Preckwinkle, a former Chicago alderman, told reporters. “I know that if you’re in public life, you need to make difficult choices.”
The Chicago Democrat, who is seeking a third term, blamed Wednesday’s 15-2 vote by commissioners to repeal the penny-per-ounce tax on “tax fatigue,” and said the effort “bore the brunt” of other recent tax increases both in the county and state. Only Commissioner Larry Suffredin of Evanston and Jerry Butler of Chicago voted to keep the tax in place. […]
Describing a nationwide “anti-government sentiment,” Preckwinkle said it makes it difficult for governments to raise the revenues they need to deliver services.
“I think people understand what their city, town and village does. It’s police and fire and garbage,” she said. “We need to help residents understand we’re the basic social safety net.”
Some pretty darned liberal Democrats were up in arms about that tax, so I don’t think the backlash was about an “anti-government sentiment” in general.
* Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) had been one of just two three out of 15 House Republicans who either retired or attracted a primary opponent after voting for the income tax hike. Hammond got a primary opponent today. Two guesses who’s backing him…
Joshua L. Griffith has announced his Republican candidacy for State Representative of the 93rd House District pledging to oppose the political classes’ tax hikes.
Born and raised in Knox County, Joshua Griffith joined the Army at 17 and served for 11 years before retiring as a Sergeant First Class and returning home.
“Illinois has the highest taxes in the nation and the politicians only plan is force us to pay more,” said Griffith. “Families are fleeing Illinois because they can’t afford to stay. We need a State Representative who will stand up for our interests, not do the bidding of Mike Madigan and the Chicago Democrats.”
Griffith is running to replace incumbent Norine Hammond, who was hand picked to join the General Assembly and appointed to the seat in 2010.
After seven years in office, and another decade as legislative aide, Hammond is most famous for joining with Mike Madigan and Chicago Democrats to pass a 32% income tax hike earlier this year.
Rep. Mike Unes (R-East Peoria) is the last one standing, in case you were wondering. ADDING: Rep. Charles Meier also doesn’t have an opponent.
Donald Moore, a retired U. S. Marine and current Madison County Board member, today announced his campaign for State Representative in the 108th district to strengthen conservative leadership and conservative convictions in Springfield.
Moore is running to provide voters with a principled and fiscally conservative alternative to incumbent Representative Charlie Meier. Moore said Meier, a registered Republican, joined the ranks of Speaker Mike Madigan and Chicago Democrats to pass a 32 percent income tax hike built into a budget that does not recognize that Illinois continues to spend more money than you already send them in taxes.
“I’m running for office to bring our conservative values and principles to state government,” said Don Moore. “Our families deserve to be represented by a leader who will stand up and not waiver when it comes to seeking a fiscally conservative approach to solving Illinois’ debt problem.”
Charlie Meier voted in opposition to Governor Rauner and with Speaker Madigan to pass a 32 percent tax hike that will cost the families of Madison County an additional $70 million in higher taxes. It will cost the families of Clinton County $9.6 million, St. Clair County $56.5 million, and Washington County $3.8 million in more taxes.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Speaking of which…
Potential gubernatorial challenger Jeanne Ives adds $10K from Illinois Liberty PAC, currently chaired by Pat Hughes.https://t.co/08dmki1YEt
* Let’s do some other campaign stuff while we’re at it. BND…
St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly’s first quarter as a congressional candidate has garnered more than $350,000 in campaign contributions, including some from a top Democrat.
The campaign also said it’s the best off-year quarter by a challenger, according to its research.
Kelly, a Democrat hoping to unseat U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, in the 12th congressional district in the 2018 election, has received more than 900 individual contributions. […]
According to Federal Elections Commission data, Kelly’s first quarter of fundraising on the campaign trail was better than any quarter by C.J. Baricevic, who was the Democratic nominee for the 12th district in 2016.
The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) released the following statement following Sharon Fairley’s announcement that she would be running for Illinois Attorney General. Fairley most recently served as the chief administrator of the Chicago Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
“Sharon Fairley was recently appointed as Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s police oversight chief, but is already looking for a promotion. The Civilian Office of Policy Accountability was literally open ten days before rumors began circulating the she was likely to leave,” said RAGA Executive Director Scott Will. “Not exactly the qualities you look for in a leader of a critical law enforcement agency, let alone the top law enforcement officer of an entire state. Illinois needs an attorney general that actually wants to do the job.”
When it came Madigan’s control as [Illinois] Democratic Party Chair, will candidates work with the Speaker of the House in their bid for the governor’s seat? Ahern states, “some people say he has more power than the governor.” She asked about the candidates’ relationships with him.
Tio Hardiman rebukes Madigan:
“We need a governor who will stand up to Mike Madigan and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. We don’t get a governor to stand up to politics as usual in Illinois, it’s the same powers over and over,” he continues. “Once I become Governor, I believe Mike Madigan will retire because I don’t believe he wants to deal with me.”
Biss adds, “Mike Madigan has been the Speaker for way too long and it’s held us back. It’s held the Democratic party back.”
As one of the hundreds in attendance, community activist Wallace ‘Gator’ Bradley was miffed at the ant-Madigan comments. “I don’t think anyone should be afraid to stand with anyone who stands with them and what they feel is better for Illinois. That was a question in the debate. In the end, whoever becomes the nominee, they’re not going to turn away Madigan or Berrios’ support,” says Bradley, who is a supporter of Pritzker.
So, Gator Bradley defended… Madigan and Pritzker? Yep.
There was a time not long ago when Gator Bradley was considered pretty darned controversial. I asked the Pritzker folks today if Bradley had a role in the campaign and was told “Nope.”
As nationwide reports of dicamba-related damage to soybeans and other crops continue to climb, the American Soybean Association reiterates its commitment to find a solution to the issue.
This issue isn’t going away — in fact, it’s only getting worse. There are now a reported 2,242 complaints affecting 3.1 million acres of soybeans in 21 of our 30 soybean-growing states, and we expect that number to continue to rise.
Lawsuits against Monsanto continue to pile up pushing state agriculture boards to look into new regulations for next year that include cut off dates for application and strict times during the day for spraying.
Among the dozens of lawsuits against Monsanto, a large class action suit involving farmers from ten states including Illinois.
New versions of the herbicide dicamba developed by Monsanto and BASF, according to farmers, have drifted across fields to crops unable to withstand it, a charge authorities are investigating.
As the crisis intensifies, new details provided to Reuters by independent researchers and regulators, and previously unreported testimony by a company employee, demonstrate the unusual way Monsanto introduced its product. The approach, in which Monsanto prevented key independent testing of its product, went unchallenged by the Environmental Protection Agency and nearly every state regulator. […]
In this case, Monsanto denied requests by university researchers to study its XtendiMax with VaporGrip for volatility — a measure of its tendency to vaporize and drift across fields.
The researchers interviewed by Reuters — Jason Norsworthy at the University of Arkansas, Kevin Bradley at the University of Missouri and Aaron Hager at the University of Illinois — said Monsanto provided samples of XtendiMax before it was approved by the EPA. However, the samples came with contracts that explicitly forbade volatility testing. [Emphasis added.]
In Illinois, retired biologist Lou Nelms who operated a prairie seed nursey and was a researcher at the University of Illinois, has documented damage to oak trees across the state from dicamba and filed numerous complaints with Illinois Department of Agriculture and Department of Natural Resources. […]
But, in the cases of oak tree damage, internal Monsanto emails indicate that the company has tried to shift blame away from dicamba to other pesticides.
The emails were written by company lobbyists who shared them with the Illinois agriculture department. The emails were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Nelms filed more complaints in August about damage at the Sandra Miller Bellrose Nature Preserve, an area officially recognized by the Illinois Natural Preserve Commission, and at the 412.7 acre Revis Hill Prairie, an official state natural area.
The Monsanto correspondence followed Nelms filing complaints with the department.
Nelms filed one of his complaints, on the morning of August 16, with the Department of Natural Resources about dicamba damage to oak trees at the state nature preserve Funk’s Grove.
Funk’s Grove, about 10 miles south of Bloomington, Illinois, is one of just 654 undisturbed natural areas in the state of Illinois. The 25-acre forest is famed for its sugar maples and the syrup they produce. The nature preserve, a popular destination along the famed Route 66, is also home to oak trees hundreds of years old.
But this year, the leaves on the historic oak trees “cupped” and died, exhibiting clear signs of harm from either 2,4-D or dicamba, which is the most widely used weed killer of this type, Nelms said.
Just one hour later after Nelms’ August 16 complaint, Jeff Williams, a Monsanto lobbyist based in Springfield, Illinois, sent an email to Dave Tierney, the regional director governmental affairs in Des Moines, Iowa.
In the email, Williams wrote he had talked with Warren Goetsch, deputy director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, and Wayne Rosenthal, the director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources the night before.
With the landmark education funding legislation that Governor Rauner signed into law, Illinois has its first-ever scholarship tax credit program to help children receive a better education, in addition to the highest level of public education funding ever.
The scholarship program is specifically designed to help Illinois’ neediest children. Only students whose families earn less than 300% of the poverty level are elligible for the scholarships. Programs such as this have been praised by education advocates as empowering for low-income children.
The Democrats running for governor, however, all opposed the scholarship program. And the candidates spoke out in opposition to the compromise bill that passed the legislature and was signed by Governor Rauner.
J.B. Pritzker promised to do away with this program, taking away school choice from the thousands of low-income children it is designed to help. He continues to tout his opposition as well as his running mate’s ‘no’ vote on the compromise.
Chris Kennedy and Ameya Pawar also oppose providing low-income children with the opportunity to choose what educational opportunities are best for them. According to them, providing Illinois’ neediest families with the ability to choose the best education for their children is “wrong.”
State Sen. Daniel Biss not only voiced his opposition, but cast his vote against the compromise bill. Biss called it “absurd” to include a program that directly benefits needy communities in the state.
Time after time, the Democrat gubernatorial candidates have shown that they do not stand on the side of the people. Their united opposition to historic reform is a clear example that their policies are wrong for our children and wrong for Illinois.
Andy Manar sold out to Chicago politicians when he proposed a new school funding formula this year. Manar actually proposed cutting numerous school districts that Manar represents. Carlinville, Staunton, and Hillsboro would have seen cuts of about half a million dollars. Taylorville would have seen nearly a million dollars less in funding from Manar. In fact, Manar wanted to give Chicago Public Schools a 500 million dollar bailout.
Those district figures McMillan mentions are apparently the same ones that Gov. Rauner used to tout his own school funding proposal which went absolutely nowhere…
* Rep. Avery Bourne, a Republican who represents half of Sen. Manar’s district (and would usually therefore be considered a McMillan ally), penned this op-ed with Manar in September…
One main Republican concern under the previous version of school funding reform was that Chicago would have received its pension payment through the school funding formula, skewing education dollars to Chicago Public Schools first. Under this compromise, Chicago still does well — like all other underfunded school districts. The bipartisan agreement pays downstate teacher pensions in full and moves Chicago’s pension costs out of the school funding formula, treating that district like every other school district in the state. Chicago also is given the ability to raise its property taxes so that it will support its own schools locally, just like every other district in the state.
One main Democratic concern under the governor’s amendatory veto of the previous version of school funding reform was his move to strike several provisions that protected underfunded schools in future years from potential cuts. The bipartisan agreement keeps these provisions intact, ensuring that the state continues to make underfunded schools its highest priority with the goal of eliminating our worst-in-the-nation inequity gap.
In short, this compromise treats all 852 Illinois school districts the same and will benefit every school district and every student in the state.
Changing that pension language as the Republicans demanded actually increased the amount of money going to CPS.
* McMillan got his $500 million number from the ILGOP…
Mike Madigan and his political allies are trying to hold schoolchildren hostage in order to force through a $500 million Chicago bailout without reform.
And that brings us to the top of this post, which has the ILGOP praising the new law (which gives CPS more than the Democrats asked for) and bashing the Democrats for opposing it.
* But it’s not just the Republicans. From the Pritzker campaign’s response to Rauner’s new TV ad…
According to Bruce Rauner, Illinois is a pile of dirty socks and pizza and he is the parent cleaning up after Illinois families. We get that it’s hard to run a campaign without accomplishments, but it’s generally best not to both lie and insult voters in a single ad. The truth is, Bruce Rauner pitted communities against each other, vetoed the school funding formula, and then forced other leaders to clean up his mess
Except, as noted above, Pritzker didn’t support the final bill. He did support an earlier version of the bill, however and got blasted for it…
“J.B. Pritzker’s support for SB1 in its current form is all about politics, not the children. He knows that a Chicago bailout hurts children across Illinois by redistributing their tax dollars towards a broken pension system without reform, but he doesn’t care. Pritzker is willing to hurt children in order to maintain his good favor with Mike Madigan’s Chicago machine.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
In advance of tomorrow’s sentencing for Patrick Edwards, who along with a group of nine others, has been convicted of robbing more than 100 guns from an unsecure Chicago train line, Chris Kennedy and Ra Joy will speak about the violence that plagues our communities and the access to guns that pass through Chicago’s rail yards.
They will be joined by Cook County Commissioner Jesús “Chuy” García, anti-violence advocates and families that have been affected by gun violence.
I’ve heard him talk about this before, but this event will put the issue in focus.
A federal judge today sentenced a convicted felon to ten years in prison for stealing hundreds of firearms from a cargo train on the South Side of Chicago and selling more than a dozen of them.
On April 12, 2015, ANDREW SHELTON and several acquaintances burglarized the cargo train while it was parked overnight in a railyard in Chicago’s Avalon Park neighborhood. The cargo train was en route from a Ruger factory in New Hampshire to Spokane, Wash. The thieves broke locks on a train car and walked off with approximately 111 firearms, with Shelton keeping 13 guns for himself. He quickly sold the 13 firearms on the black market.
To date, law enforcement has recovered 19 of the 111 stolen firearms at various locations and crime scenes in Chicago and the surrounding area.
A suburban Chicago mother of seven is accused of urging Facebook followers to kill a gang member-turned-FBI mole for his role in a sting that put an associate of hers behind bars on charges he tried to sell semi-automatic rifles stolen from a freight train, court documents show.
Iesha Stanciel, 38, faces federal cyberstalking charges for the threats, as well as a gun charge after she was arrested carrying a bag containing one of the brand new AR 15-type assault rifles stolen from the Chicago train that had stopped overnight at a Norfolk Southern yard on Sept. 18, 2016, according to a federal complaint examined by The Associated Press this week. […]
That 2016 theft angered residents near the South Side rail yard because it came a year after the theft of 104 Sturm, Ruger & Co. guns, which quickly fell into the hands of gangs. After the 2015 heist, aldermen sought assurances from Norfolk Southern that such thefts wouldn’t happen again.
At a sentencing hearing last week in that 2015 case, Judge John Tharp said criminals prize new guns because they’re hard to trace and he said their theft contributed to “an epidemic of violence” in Chicago. A prosecutor told the court there’s a little-known “subculture” of thieves who regularly rob trains in the nation’s busiest rail hub.
It was Stafford’s arrest that led Stanciel, just days later, to start posting the Facebook threats that included the informant’s name, court papers said.
Whew.
* These train burglaries have long been a problem. A small sampling..
* May 2014: I-Team: Assault rifles stolen from freight train in Englewood
* November 2016: 2 Investigators: Gun Thefts Continue At Chicago Railyards: Chicago Ald. Pat Dowell was so concerned about railyard gun heists that last year she wanted to hold a public hearing to question railway representatives. But she tells the 2 Investigators the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and railyard giant Norfolk Southern “strongly encouraged” her not to go public for fear she would expose serious security deficiencies. Dowell held off. Now, it’s happened again.
* January 2017: How modern day train robberies are bringing more guns to Chicago
* March 2017: Railroad thefts and guns: A deadly mix in Chicago
* March 2017: Gang Thieves Use Rail Yards As Shopping Malls, Steal Scores Of Guns
Come out and help protect your second amendment rights and maybe even win a gun. By supporting this event you are helping to support and elect candidates that realize your constitutional rights are not a gift from the government.
We will be starting the night off at 5:30pm with appetizers at 6:00pm.
Dinner will be served at 7:00pm with gun raffle ticket sales being sold from 5:30 until after dinner when the drawings will start.
A $2,000 check makes you a “2nd Amendment Sponsor” and gets you 10 dinner tickets, a full-page ad in the program, 10 dinner raffle tickets for a Mossberg shotgun, 6 raffle tickets with the chance to win one of three 22 rifles. You’ll also get a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 SPTII 223…
Lake County Republicans are moving ahead with a fundraiser where at least a dozen firearms will be given out to donors Friday night, less than two weeks after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history in Las Vegas. […]
Mark Shaw, the Lake County GOP chairman, said the first-of-its-kind event for local Republicans would proceed as scheduled because it had long been in the planning stages. The Oct. 1 shooting of concertgoers in Las Vegas by a sniper at the Mandalay Bay hotel killed 58 people and wounded hundreds of others.
“Unfortunately, obviously, the tragic events in Las Vegas happened and the fact that we had a dinner scheduled for the 13th of October, that’s been something that’s been in the works for over a year,” Shaw told the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday. […]
“Only the right-wing Republicans would be having something like this at this time. If you truly believe in the 2nd Amendment and that it was a terrible situation in Las Vegas, you probably could easily cancel something and nobody would think bad of you,” said [Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan, the Lake County Democratic chairman], who had been unaware of the fundraiser until asked about it by the Tribune.
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Las Vegas Law Enforcement Assistance Fund, according to the Tribune.
*** UPDATE 1 *** The governor has been dodging reporters’ questions on gun control since the Las Vegas shootings. This, however, gives the issue a state angle for reporters to pursue…
Bruce Rauner has donated $16,000 to the Lake County Republican group hosting this gun giveaway https://t.co/7vpe7tf6GV
*** UPDATE 2 *** More fodder for Rauner questions…
Earlier today, State Representative Scott Drury (D-Highwood) introduced legislation to ban the sale, manufacture, possession, transfer or importation of bump stock devices – firearm equipment that essentially converts a semi-automatic weapon into a machine gun. The shooter responsible for the recent devastation in Las Vegas, Nevada used bump stock devices to fire his ammunition at a much more rapid pace than would otherwise have been possible. The devices allow a shooter to increase his firing rate from between 45 and 60 rounds per minute to between 400 and 800 rounds per minute.
“Machine guns are illegal in Illinois,” said Drury. “Common sense dictates that a device that essentially converts firearms into machine guns should also be illegal.”
Since the Las Vegas massacre, there have been bi-partisan calls for a ban on bump stock devices. Drury says his proposal answers those calls. According to Drury, he intentionally limited the scope of the proposed legislation to bump stock devices to allow the public to see which legislators truly support a bump stock ban. “There is nowhere to hide,” said Drury.
Drury has long advocated for more responsible gun laws, and currently is a co-sponsor of legislation requiring the licensing of gun dealers. In 2013, Drury successfully raced to make sure towns throughout a major part of his legislative district imposed assault weapons bans and regulations notwithstanding an NRA-backed law that sought to eliminate towns’ abilities to exercise local control on the issue. “The NRA’s legislation gave towns 10 days to implement assault bans or forever lose the right,” said Drury. “In that short timeframe, we accomplished what the NRA thought would be impossible – we acted quickly and won, preserving local control in the process.”
Drury says it is again time to act swiftly. “Illinois has the opportunity to take the lead on a national issue of critical importance and help save lives.”
Drury’s legislation is House Bill 4112.
*** UPDATE 3 *** This was sent a couple of hours ago, but I never got it…
In the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in American history, Lake County Republicans are moving forward with a party fundraiser that hopes to draw crowds by raffling off a host of firearms. But Bruce Rauner has been silent on his own party’s controversial fundraising tactic.
If history is any indication, Rauner will likely have nothing to say. Two days ago, Rauner refused to speak out about mass shootings, saying he has “no obligation to comment” on national issues. Last week, Rauner dodged reporters’ questions for days on his position on gun legislation and what he would do to keep Illinoisans safe.
“While Bruce Rauner refuses to tell Illinoisans how he will prevent mass shootings in our state, his party is raffling off guns just weeks after the tragedy in Las Vegas,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This is a shameful insult to American families still mourning and should be immediately condemned by Rauner, the top Republican in our state.”
* Chris Kennedy spoke at the Mom+Baby governors candidate meet and greet yesterday. I didn’t see anything on his Twitter page about it, but I’m told about 30 moms and 10 kids had to wait at least half an hour for him to arrive. And it went downhill from there. From a few text messages that were forwarded to me…
He was a hot mess. Shirt barely tucked in. He had on biking shoes. He spoke about Trump the entire time. Crazy!
It was embarrassing. He misquoted stats that our members corrected him on. He got called out on lack of supporting single payer and marijuana legalization
He also starting talking education inequity and misspoke on the cps funding. It was nuts.
* Well, it came up again during the recent gubernatorial forum hosted by Our Revolution Illinois…
Mary Ann Ahern: Mr. Kennedy, you had received criticism after an event Downstate called Mom and Baby. You were late to the event, some of them felt, some of the moms there at the event felt you disrespected them. You’ve also been somewhat reluctant to take reporter’s questions unless it’s a one on one setting. Do you have what it takes for a high-profile governor’s race?
Chris Kennedy: I hope so. [Laughter]. Um, as for the Mom and Babies interaction, I’d say that the people in Vernon Hills would be shocked to know that they now live in Downstate.
Ahern: Sorry. Correction.
Kennedy: That’s OK. I mean, truthfully, they were, a number of them were interviewing for jobs with JB Pritzker and a lot of the criticism came out of that job application process [Pritzker shakes head “No”].
I go to multiple events every day. I’ve had enormous amounts of press exposure, I grew up in a very exposed family, and I’m very comfortable with other people. I don’t know what you’re looking for in terms of an answer but I’ll take you all on one at a time or all at once, either way I’m prepared, so thank you.
Hey Rich! How are you? My org Mom+Baby was slammed again by Chris Kennedy. See this link for the video and check out the 30 seconds starting at an hour into the video. He is blaming our org and the moms for his campaign issues.
Below is the statement that I made on FB in response and the comments. I also showed some additional posts our members put out too.
Facebook friends as you know I am the founder and President of Mom+Baby, a non profit organization that is non-partisan and helps women get involved in the legislative process. Yesterday at a Gubernatorial Forum that we sponsored Chris Kennedy stated that we were being paid by JB to ruin his campaign. These are lies!
We have taken the time to meet with all the candidates through our programming called Legislative Coffee Dates. We met with Chris on July 18th for a Legislative Coffee Date. He showed up over 30 minutes late, was disheveled, spoke poorly and did not share key democratic values like taxing and regulating marijuana. Had he shown up on time he would have known he was in a room of power house women and not at a playgroup meetup. The majority of our members are business owners. During the forum he stated that our members tried to get jobs from JB’s campaign. This is not true! Our members have full plates of their own and love volunteering on campaigns but none attempted a job on a gubernatorial campaign.
Chris would have understood the issues that mattered to our members but he neglected to listen. He was disrespectful to our members and assumed because we are women we were not educated on the issues at hand in our state. He treated us like we were ignorant and his continual lack of care and respect for women and moms disgusts me and our members.
I support JB for Governor. I am not paid by JB, I do not work for JB’s campaign. I support the rights of women and children. Mom+Baby has not endorsed any candidate for governor and we will not be endorsing anyone. If you have questions on my stances, the board’s stances or want to get involved more in our politically active organization let us know. Women matter and we will not allow any candidate or legislator to mistreat us! Www.mombabychicago.org #WeAreTheStorm #MomPlusBaby#WSWConference
Kennedy seemed genuinely perplexed about why this ever became a story in the first place. He said members of the group posed for photos with him for 20 minutes after the July event. He apparently thought it went well.
As noted above, one of his critics mentioned that he wore “biking shoes,” which seemed like a show of disrespect. Kennedy said, however, that an attendee had spoken about her work to expand biking and he showed her his shoes and told her he’d biked to work that very day.
He said he was told that one of the women at the event was interviewing with JB Pritzker’s campaign.
“The truth is some people have disrupted my events who were interviewing with JB,” Kennedy said.
* I checked with the Pritzker folks and they confirmed that no one from the group had applied for a job or had been interviewed about a job with the campaign.
* Last year it was President Obama endorsing Juliana Stratton over Rep. Ken Dunkin. This year it’s Keith Ellison. From a press release…
U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, who also serves as the Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee attended the campaign launch of Dilara Sayeed, candidate for State Representative of the 5th District.
Sayeed is running for the 5th District seat to be vacated by Lieutenant Governor candidate Juliana Stratton. Sayeed is a community leader and former Chief Education Officer of the Golden Apple Foundation. She would be the first Muslim to be elected to the Illinois state legislature, and only the third in the country.
“You need to have state legislators willing to stand up for public education, to stand up for key issues,” Ellison said. “We’ve got to have state legislators who can be unrelenting and not back down. Dilara is stepping into [this work]. Step into it with her, because you are rolling with the right person.“
Ellison praised her efforts. “She’s reaching out to people, to communities, and we have to be there. Not for her sake, but for all of ours. Dilara, I’m very proud of you.”
“I’m blessed to be able to call Congressman Keith Ellison my friend,” Sayeed said.
Sayeed’s campaign is off to a fast start, raising $50,000 in two weeks from over 60 contributors.
“She’s the real deal,” said Reverend Leslie Sanders, senior pastor of Hope Presbyterian Church. “She has the knowledge, the political skills, and what matters most is that she cares.”
Pastor Joaquin Barry led the guests in prayer. He called on the community to work together and asked for God’s Grace to carve a path to victory.
The campaign launch was held at Sunshine Enterprises, a community incubator in the district that trains and equips local entrepreneurs. One of Sayeed’s key campaign issues is a focus on bringing business and economic revitalization to communities and supporting talent in the 5th District.
“One of the platforms of our campaign is that we shouldn’t call it the American Dream, it should be the American Promise,” Sayeed said. “If people work hard, if we try and are persistent, and if we follow the rules - then we should be able to build a life. My husband and I have been fortunate to build a life…and my career has been about being a bridge so that others can build that life too.
50 grand? Not bad. She may need it. Tregg Duerson, the son of the late Chicago Bears great Dave Duerson, has loaned his campaign $51,000 so far.
The economic lifeblood of this rural whiz-by of a town is frozen French fries. And bacon. And fabricated steel, ethanol, hydroponic tomatoes, the production of passenger cars for METRA.
About 16,000 freight cars roll through each year, picking up and delivering grain and other goods. Soon, boutique whiskey distilled in a onetime downtown theater will also be added to the local gross domestic product.
And just maybe, someday in the not too distant future gleaming new Toyotas and Mazdas could come rolling off a production line that Illinois hopes will be built on what is now 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans.
Tiny Rochelle, 80 miles west of Chicago at the intersection of Interstates 88 and 39, is on an industrial roll, blissfully ignoring a common narrative among political and business elites that economically maligned Illinois is circling the toilet bowl. […]
Jason Anderson, who heads Rochelle’s business development agency, says the supposed bad rep of Illinois hasn’t hobbled recruitment efforts a bit.
“No one we’ve dealt with has ever brought that up,” said Jason Anderson, who leads the Greater Rochelle Economic Development Corporation (GREDCO), which has attracted companies like Nippon Sharyo, Boise Cascade, Tyson Foods, and Hormel. The town is also home to a 1,200 acre intermodal rail park run by Union Pacific, a shipping point that often sends goods to the Pacific Rim.
Establishment Republicans are getting squeezed to death from within. In what should be nirvana — all-party control of Washington — they instead are jammed daily between a president who routinely ridicules them for ineptitude — and Steve Bannon, who’s recruiting hardliners to extinguish their very existence.
Why this matters: The Breitbart News chairman and former White House chief strategist is building a nationwide coalition that — in the words of a former Trump White House official — could “wreak havoc” across the map “if Bannon is even halfways successful.” […]
Bannon is also exploring gubernatorial and House races.
As Bannon told Fox’s Sean Hannity this week: “Nobody’s safe. We’re coming after all of them.”
One can’t help but wonder whether any disaffected Republicans in Illinois have reached out to him yet.
CME Group Inc. has a message for Illinois legislators who see the $47 billion global derivatives trading giant as a piggy bank to help solve the state’s fiscal woes.
Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy said that the exchange is less rooted in its historical home of Chicago because it now barely relies on face-to-face dealing in trading pits. CME has no plans to leave the city, he said in an interview Tuesday.
“If you were to whiteboard it today, you probably wouldn’t pick Chicago, and it’s nothing against the city,” he said. “We’re here for legacy reasons, and now that we are here for legacy reasons, it makes complete sense” to stay.
Just last year, politicians went searching for new revenue to fix a budget crisis, with some floating the idea of taxing trades on CME’s exchange. It wasn’t adopted. […]
Enough lawmakers in Illinois — which has the lowest credit rating of any U.S. state — get that taxing CME isn’t the solution, he said. And those who don’t should remember the company isn’t tied down: It’s pared back real estate holdings in the area and the shift to electronic trading means CME could move anywhere. The exchange, more than ever, is a virtual operation currently based in a data center in Aurora, Illinois, just outside Chicago.
The whole interview is worth a read, so click here.
Today, the JB Pritzker campaign released a new TV ad, “Commitment.” The ad shows Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White talking about his support for JB for governor.
“JB has spent his life standing up for what’s right, fighting against discrimination, working for criminal justice reform, and being a national leader for early childhood education,” said Secretary of State Jesse White in the ad. “JB’s the one I trust for governor.”
“I’ve known Jesse for more than a quarter century, and I count myself among the many he inspires,” said JB Pritzker. “Together, we’re going to fight to put Springfield back on the side of working families and get Illinois children the education they deserve. Jesse White is the very definition of a public servant and I am so proud to have standing with me in this campaign.”
The governor worked to cut through decades of delay and gridlock to sign a compromise bill that results in record levels of public education funding, a first of its kind tax credit scholarship program for low income students, and more funding for school districts that need it most.
Improving education was a major reason why Bruce ran for governor. Years before running for governor, Bruce and his wife, Diana, had spent years working to improving education in Illinois schools by supporting early childhood development, charter and choice schools, better teacher training and merit pay.
Now, Bruce is fighting for reform throughout Illinois, working to clean up the mess the Madigan Machine created, one step at a time. It won’t be easy, but Illinois is home — and home is worth fighting for.
*** UPDATE *** Galia Slayen at the Pritzker campaign…
According to Bruce Rauner, Illinois is a pile of dirty socks and pizza and he is the parent cleaning up after Illinois families. We get that it’s hard to run a campaign without accomplishments, but it’s generally best not to both lie and insult voters in a single ad. The truth is, Bruce Rauner pitted communities against each other, vetoed the school funding formula, and then forced other leaders to clean up his mess
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
Cook County’s penny-per-ounce sugary drink tax is one final step away from being repealed.
Despite threats from County Board President Toni Preckwinkle that a repeal would leave the county without enough money to pay for basic services, the County Board’s Finance Committee, which is made up of all 17 board members, voted overwhelmingly – 15-1 – Tuesday to recommend eliminating the tax, with one member absent. Commissioner Larry Suffredin was the sole vote to keep the tax. The full County Board is expected to formalize the repeal with a vote during its meeting Wednesday. […]
Some commissioners pushed back against all the dire warnings.
“The sky is not falling,” Commissioner Richard Boykin said, adding that there are places in the county budget that can be reasonably cut, including not filling hundreds of vacant positions that have been budgeted for. […]
Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski said Tuesday that taxpayers have made it clear they can’t take more tax hikes.
“People are tired of it,” he said. “They are literally being taxed out of their shoes. … We’re really going to need to retool the way we think.”
That includes addressing what he called Cadillac pension and other benefit plans that workers in the private sector don’t receive.
All commissioners sit on that committee, so tomorrow’s final repeal vote will be similar. The tax will be eliminated December 1st.
“This is great news for consumers and retailers throughout Cook County. Since its inception, this tax was poorly devised, placed an enormous operational and financial burden on retailers and saddled consumers with the responsibility to pick up the tab. We thank Commissioners Morrison and Boykin for leading the charge for repeal and all of the County Board members that have signed on to the repeal,” said Rob Karr, president & CEO, IRMA.
…Adding… From Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle…
Today the board exercised its collective will and set in motion a repeal of the sweetened beverage tax we approved last year. As I outlined last week, it is up to the commissioners to choose our direction on revenue, and I respect their authority to do so. Now, together, we must chart a new course toward the eighth consecutive balanced budget of my tenure as board president.
While I am disappointed in today’s outcome, I am grateful to the dedicated public health advocates at the American Heart Association and the Illinois Public Health Institute who have supported us every step of the way. And I am thankful for the talented professionals at the Cook County Health and Hospitals System who are committed to promoting better health outcomes for residents across the County, especially in our vulnerable communities.
As I noted last month, the difficult fight for this revenue has focused me on what matters most: doing the hard work necessary to build a healthier, safer and more efficient Cook County.
A reporter pointed out that a lot of Republican legislators are grumbling these days about how Gov. Rauner has been “dictating how they vote.” He also noted that some Democrats are worried that having a billionaire leading their party may not be a good thing. “Will you pledge to allow Democrats to vote their conscience, vote their district?” Pritzker was asked.
“Of course,” Pritzker said.
The candidate referenced the old Will Rogers quote “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” And then said…
I believe that people ought to vote their conscience. Always. Always vote their conscience. I also believe we ought to elect progressive Democrats to the Legislature. But I also believe that we have a big tent in this party. That this party always has been about three really core issues: Jobs, healthcare, education. And we need to stick to that, we need to win this election based upon plans for making working families’ lives better.
Democrat Chris Kennedy isn’t saying directly whether he would support an assault weapons ban proposed by several Democratic lawmakers. In an interview for the WMAY News Feed, Kennedy was asked multiple times if he supported the ban on certain types of firearms.
He would only say that the issue of gun violence needs more study but federal regulations limit the ability to conduct such studies.
*** UPDATE *** Kennedy just called to say he fully supports an assault weapons ban and wasn’t trying to get around the topic.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Meanwhile, despite the delay, the Bustos endorsement did receive a lot of news coverage…
Illinois’ 17th District Congresswoman Cheri Bustos endorsed Democratic candidate JB Pritzker in his run for Governor, Mon. His appearance at the AFL-CIO Labor Temple started 90 minutes later than scheduled, due to unfavorable flight conditions.
Dense fog enveloped Peoria Monday morning. A member of Pritzker’s campaign team says his plane circled the area for 30 minutes, then rerouted to Galesburg. Pritzker apologized for the delay and said the flight was “a lil’ dicey.”
About 20 people, mostly with labor union ties, stuck around to hear the endorsement from Rep. Bustos. The Congresswoman says JB Pritzker is taking a different approach, by focusing on downstate Illinois.
“This is a guy who’s going to be our next governor, who’s not going to have to understand how you get to Peoria, how you get to Pekin, how you get to Monmouth,” Bustos said. “He’s going to know the way, and that was a critical part of my decision making as to who I was going to endorse in this race.”
U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, endorsed gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker when he opened his Quad-Cities campaign office — his eighth in the state — Monday afternoon.
Rep. Bustos said voters should vote for Mr. Pritzker for governor because he will represent working families across the entire state, not just in Chicago and Cook County.
“He understands that the state of Illinois has 102 counties, with 101 of them outside Cook County,” Rep. Bustos said. “When we elect our next governor, we want to make sure they know how to find a place like the Quad-Cities.”
* DGA…
On Friday, Governor Bruce Rauner’s habit of dodging questions relating to federal matters came under tough scrutiny from the Chicago Tribune’s Rick Pearson. Rauner was questioned why he had not spoken in “specifics” on matters like tax reform, mass shootings, and Obamacare. Rauner ended up saying that he, as the state’s highest elected executive, had “no obligation” to weigh in on federal matters:
Chicago Tribune’s Rick Pearson: “Don’t you owe the public and voters an obligation to say where you stand on these things? Where do you stand on eliminating the state and local tax deduction with Peter Roskam, your Republican colleague, and Republicans in Washington?
Governor Bruce Rauner: “I have no obligation to comment on every possible policy change in Washington DC. I never have and never will. So, I appreciate your advocacy on that.”
Rauner has been inexplicably silent on President Trump’s decision to end DACA, which puts at least 42,000 children and young adults at risk of deportation. Just a few years ago, candidate Bruce Rauner indeed felt an obligation to speak out in support of these children. This morning, Bruce Rauner attended the Hispanic Heritage Month Breakfast and again refused to stand up for DACA beneficiaries.
“Watch out Illinois – Bruce Rauner does not have your back,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Illinois voters elected Rauner to be a leader but he admitted that felt no obligation to protect them against the bad ideas coming out of Washington. Instead, Rauner said he was focused on his political ambitions. This is just another example of Rauner’s failed leadership in action.”
* In other news, Jack Franks won’t run for AG…
Last November, McHenry County’s voters gave me the great honor of becoming the first popularly elected County Board chairman. I have been an outspoken advocate for government reform and tax cuts during my entire political career. Since voters elected me in 1998 to my first of nine terms in the Illinois House of Representatives, I have given my all to help those most in need while always putting the financial interests of the taxpayers first.
My experience as a lawyer, businessman and reform-minded lawmaker makes me uniquely qualified to be a candidate for the office of Illinois attorney general. I am grateful and humbled by the outpouring of support for this possibility, and I was very tempted to enter the race.
But something really special is beginning to happen in McHenry County. In a bipartisan manner, we are reducing the tax levy and bringing substantial reform and efficiency to government. The tax reductions are real but they are not complete. I have therefore decided to pass on the opportunity to run for attorney general in favor of fulfilling my commitment to the taxpayers of McHenry County to reduce their property taxes and reform county government.
Democrats can reduce taxes and reform government, and I am proving that in McHenry County. Working together with my Republican colleagues, we can make McHenry County the best run, most efficient and transparent county in the nation. This battle is too important to stop.
We hosted a community meeting on property taxes this evening in Harvey, which is one of the most overassessed communities in the state. pic.twitter.com/6qV7mzZpRZ
* A different sort of gerrymandering. From the Chicago Reporter…
In Illinois, about 90 percent of the prison population of 50,000 is incarcerated outside of Cook County, even though Cook County accounts for three out of every five prisoners. This spatial mismatch is a consequence of political decisions about prison growth. All of the state’s prisons built after 1941 are located at least 100 miles from Chicago, and the average distance between Chicago and a state prison is more than 200 miles.
This is the spatial story of Chicago and Illinois. And this story is a racial one as well. While seven out of 10 incarcerated by the state identify as black or Latinx, about 95 percent of the prison population is located in counties that are overwhelmingly white. Of the 10 counties with the highest percentage of prison residents, for example, eight of them had general populations that were at least 85 percent white.
When lawmakers use census counts like these to draw electoral districts without regard for prison gerrymandering, the effects are clear. White votes in downstate Illinois are inflated at the disproportionate expense of folks of color in the Chicago area.
These political decisions don’t just punish individual voters convicted of crime. They punish whole communities, even those innocent of any wrongdoing. Crime victims who disproportionately reside in urban areas are more likely to have their collective political power deflated from diminished voting blocs as a result of prison gerrymandering — adding not only insult to injury but injury to injury.
There’s a simple solution to the problem of prison gerrymandering: Count inmates as residents of their home communities, not their prison cells. But this methodological flaw is unlikely to be corrected prior to the 2020 Census. And no other federal action can be expected at the current political moment. Therefore, the onus is on state and local governments to make change.
* Democratic Rep. La Shawn Ford and Republican Reps. Dan Brady and Christine Winger are sponsoring a bill to stop this…
Creates the No Representation Without Population Act. Provides that the Department of Corrections shall collect and maintain an electronic record of the legal residence, outside of any correctional facility, and other demographic data for each person entering its custody after January 1, 2017. Provides for the minimum records that the Department shall maintain. Requires the Department to provide certain information to the Secretary of State after the decennial census. Requires the Secretary of State to request similar information from agencies that operate federal incarceration facilities. Requires the Secretary of State to prepare redistricting data to reflect the incarcerated persons at their residential address, rather than the address of the facility in which the person is incarcerated. Provides that for persons form whom a legal residence is unknown or not in the State, and for all persons reported in the census as residing in a federal correctional facility for whom a report was not provided, the Secretary of State to allocate the person to a State unit not tied to a specific determined geographic location, as other residents with unknown addresses are allocated. Requires the data collected to only be used as a basis for determining Legislative and Representative Districts. Prohibits the use of the data for the distribution of State or federal aid. Contains severability provisions. Effective immediately.
* The Question: Should prisoners be counted as residents of the legislative districts where they lived before incarceration or where their prisons are? Click here to take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
But the Reader’s Ben Joravsky has surveyed the rest of the godawful field and found a reformer: Andrea Raila, a former aide to Pat Quinn when he was on the property tax review board in the 1980s. Raila now runs a tax-appeal consulting business.
“The woman’s a true tax geek,” Joravsky writes.
* And…
NGP software fails another Illinois campaign committee, Lisa Madigan filed A-1 on paper due to software problem.https://t.co/ZnucLT5bx4
Last April, Rauner publicly promised he would veto a bill that would force taxpayers to pay for abortions through all nine months of pregnancy. He lied. He signed the bill with a shrug of his shoulders, stating “I have always been pro-choice and I always will be.” […]
The cost of this law could approach $20 million. In a state with presumptive eligibility for pregnant women to receive Medicaid, there is also a real possibility that Illinois taxpayers will pay for abortions of women from surrounding states who falsely claim to be residents. The state has had enormous problems in the past with high numbers of ineligible folks on Medicaid.
In all this drama, the families of Illinois are forgotten and left to pick up the tab. Already on the hook for the highest property taxes in the nation, many families face unemployment as businesses bleed into more friendly states. Other families are trying to keep their heads above water, having seen needed social services reduced or eliminated over the past three years. So, as pundits and pols rant and rave in the papers and on social media, too many families quietly pack up and leave. Even those who are doing well look at state politics and wonder why they would entrust their family’s future to these “leaders.”
Here is what Illinois families should know: While the concentrated power in Springfield seems daunting, the people have the collective numbers, resources, and values to end Illinois’ rigged political culture. Illinoisans deserve bold leaders, and in 2018, they can pick those leaders willing to fight for them to own a home in a safe community, to have access to quality schools, to be able to count on basic services when they are in need, and to have the opportunity to build their lives and pursue happiness.
The estimated annual cost for abortion services resulting from House Bill 40 is approximately $1.8 million, which would be 100% GRF funded. There may be other budgetary impacts that are not quantifiable.
Some supporters of HB40 fear the harsh conservative backlash — a steady drumbeat of disapproval against Gov. Bruce Rauner’s signature on the bill expanding public funding of abortion in Illinois — has eclipsed any talk of what they view as a victory for low-income women.
“I feel like the conversation around this is all focused on politics instead of on the women,” Lori Chaiten, ACLU’s Director of the Reproductive Rights Project told POLITICO. “This was a huge step forward for women and communities in Illinois. It is getting drowned out by the negative statements and the politics in this state.”
Opponents will quickly point out that it wasn’t just Rauner’s signature that was the problem — it was that he had promised abortion opponents in his party that he would veto the bill. Rauner said he came to the decision after meeting with groups of women across the state who told him they didn’t have access to abortion because of finances.
“Unfortunately, I do believe we’ve become incredibly polarized, not just in Illinois but across the country,” Chaiten said. “I do think it’s really important to stop for a minute. I think this is what the governor did. He stopped and listened to the experiences of the women of this state and to women who needed access to health care. It was a brave and bold move on his part.”
Bruce Rauner said his signing of a controversial abortion bill was consistent with his pro-choice principles and that he had never presented himself as anything but pro-choice.
We looked through numerous campaign appearance videos, ads and news stories and found no evidence that Rauner ever tried to hide or downplay his pro-choice beliefs. In fact, his campaign touted the Rauners’ support of abortion rights groups to rebut the charge that he was not pro-choice.
Rauner sought anti-abortion voters by assuring them that, as governor, he had no social agenda and that “the right for a woman to choose is the national law and… that ain’t gonna change in Illinois.” Politically, it proved to be a smart strategy that helped gain him election in 2014. By 2017, however, it became impossible to continue finessing the issue.
In picking a side, Rauner declared that he has been consistent in declaring his pro-choice beliefs. We rate that statement True.
* Related…
* Kadner: Too busy spurning Rauner, GOP fails to make Dems pay for taxes: If Republicans have a difficult time uniting behind Rauner, I can’t see how they will run effective campaigns for countywide office or ever mount a serious challenge to Michael Madigan’s control of the Illinois House.
* Anti-abortion groups dump Rauner for 2018: Meanwhile, Rep. Jeanne Ives, a DuPage County Republican, told me in a phone interview that she’s “much closer” to deciding whether to run after getting expressions of support from “all over the state.”
* Knox County Right to Life leaders say Rauner’s re-election chances are now dim: “We’re going to lose the election. I don’t think Rauner can win, and I think if Rauner wins – what have we won? We’ve basically got a Democrat in Republican clothing.” He added, “So I don’t see the Republican party or Pro-Lifers losing by running another candidate.”
Former federal prosecutor and criminal justice reform expert Sharon Fairley announced her candidacy for Attorney General of Illinois on Tuesday, launching her campaign in the March 2018 Democratic primary.
Fairley is seeking the position after incumbent Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced last month she would not run again for the seat, which she has held since 2003.
Fairley spent eight years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois under the leadership of former U.S. Attorneys Patrick Fitzgerald and Zach Fardon. Most recently, she served as Chief Administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, an agency which she designed and built from the ground up in the aftermath of the release of video of the death of Laquan McDonald in 2015. Prior to her work at COPA, Fairley served as First Deputy and General Counsel to the City of Chicago Office of the Inspector General.
“My experience–as a former federal prosecutor, and as a leader in criminal justice reform here in the City of Chicago–will allow me to provide that leadership as we work for progressive change in our justice system and in our communities,” said Fairley at a press conference announcing her campaign launch on Tuesday.
Fairley said, as Attorney General, she’d focus on combating the unconstitutional attacks on civil rights, voting rights, immigrant communities and religious freedoms, among other areas.
“Here in Illinois, our Attorney General must stand up against corruption and oppose the eroding of consumer protection and government accountability,” she added.
Fairley earned her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School. She graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a BS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and holds an MBA in Marketing from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Fairley, who grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, lives in Chicago’s Garfield Ridge community on the Southwest Side. She is the mother of two adult children.
If elected, Fairley would be the first African American woman to hold the Attorney General’s seat in Illinois history.
* See if you can spot the news item announced by JB Pritzker during the weekend gubernatorial forum…
Mary Ann: Do you believe it’s appropriate to disconnect the plumbing from what many people would consider a mansion, to receive a $230,000 tax break?
JB: Thank you for asking that question. Here is the truth of that. And that is, that we began a renovation project on a home, and we decided to stop that project, and at some point in the future after that, like 50,000 other people in Cook County every single day–like Chris Kennedy, like Gov. Rauner and others–asked for a reassessment of the property’s value. Not because of that, but just that it was a point in which, as you know, we have a very unfair assessment process. We need, and I’ve discovered how flawed it really is. That in fact is why we need to get rid of that system, make sure that we’ve got a formula that really works for assessing properties, and make sure that people are paying their fair share for their properties. That’s what happened in that situation.
Mary Ann: If there need to be a change in the assessment, does that also mean a change of the assessor? Where do you stand on Mr. Berrios?
JB: Yeah, well things have not been going that well recently, let’s all face it. And across the state, this is not just an issue in Cook County by the way. All across the state, we have got the problem of in poor communities, they are paying the very highest rates, the very highest rates, that is very unfair. I am in favor of more progressive taxes, less regressive taxes, and unfortunately, our property tax system is quite regressive in this state.
Mary Ann: So Mr. Kennedy, he brought your name up. You have received a tax break at Wolf Point, and you have apparently also received a tax break on your home, where do you stand?
Chris: Well what Mr. Pritzker did and what everybody else who has ever appealed taxes did, are two radically different things. We appealed our taxes, he had his house reclassified as uninhabitable. That’s a different thing. I’ve never even heard of it. I’ve been in real estate 30 years in Chicago, I never knew you could do that thing. [Laughter] I’m serious, that’s like a whole other game.
Mary Ann: But you also did receive a tax break…
Chris: Let me just finish. He did that, then he says he’s in the house next door and he appeals that tax, and he says “Look, I’m living next to an uninhabitable home.” [Laughter] Don’t put me in that bucket, I never did either of those things. [Applause]
I have the courage to stand here and tell you that Joe Berrios’ system is a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and he should be taken out of office. [Applause]
JB: I need to respond to that, I’m sorry. I must say that millions of dollars of tax breaks at Wolf Point taken by Mr. Kennedy do qualify in fact as tax breaks. And to be clear, our property, by the way, is no longer on that roll. It was a temporary situation that we in fact were doing renovations to stop that, and are beginning to do those renovations again.
Mary Ann: But you do support Mr. Berrios?
JB: No, what I’m suggesting is I’m running for governor and I believe the people of Cook County ought to make the decision about who the assessor is of Cook County. I must say though things are not going well in terms of assessment of properties and people who are poor are paying the highest taxes.
Mary Ann: And Mr. Kennedy, could you clarify, you did receive a tax break at Wolf Point
Chris: That’s not true. When Wolf Point was a parking lot, it was assessed as a parking lot. When Wolf Point was a development site, it was assessed as a development site. When Wolf Point was an apartment building, it was assessed as an apartment building. All of those assessments were within the range of their peers. There’s no evidence that I got a break outside of what everyone else got. There’s no evidence that the taxes paid there were different than any other taxes paid by a similar building, development or lot anywhere else in the city. It’s just not true.
Did you spot it? He’s apparently no longer claiming that his next door mansion is uninhabitable.
Pritzker Still Claiming “Uninhabitable” Tax Break On $2.5 Million Mansion
At The October 8 Democratic Candidate Forum, JB Pritzker Told The Audience That He Is No Longer Claiming That His Second Mansion At 1431 N. Astor Street In Chicago Is Uninhabitable In Order To Claim A Massive Property Tax Break: PRITZKER: “To be clear, our property, by the way, is no longer on that roll. It was a temporary situation that we, in fact, were doing renovations. We stopped that, and are beginning to do those renovations again.” (Our Revolution Illinois Candidate Forum, 10/8/17, 55:18)
Pritzker’s Lawyers Applied To Have The Mansion Declared Uninhabitable Again This Year
According To The Cook County Assessor’s Database, Pritzker’s Lawyers Applied For And Received A Vacancy Reduction For The 2016 Tax Year On Pritzker’s 1431 N Astor Street Mansion. (Cook County Assessor, Accessed 10/9/17)… Pritzker’s 2016 Valuation Is Identical To The One That He Initially Received For The 2015 Tax Year. (Cook County Assessor, Accessed 10/9/17)
*** UPDATE 2 *** Pritzker campaign…
Both of these reductions were already public knowledge. JB was referencing the status for the current year. Opposition research generally works better when the facts are correct.
* Pritzker, by the way, shot back at Sen. Daniel Biss for the latter’s repeated references to the former’s wealth…
Thank you for referring to me once again as wealthy. I want to be clear about something and that’s that no one here on stage wears any kind of halo. And Daniel, while I appreciate you calling that out, you’ve accepted PAC money, you’ve accepted money from special interests, you’ve accepted money from banking [Applause]. And I want to be clear though that I do not believe that they’re buying you in any way whatsoever. I believe that they believe in you and that’s why they wrote checks. I’m standing up here telling you exactly what it is that I believe in. The one thing you will know about me is that if you elect me, everything that I have told that I will do is exactly what I will do. There’s nobody calling me in the middle of the night telling me I can’t do it. There’s no special interests that will have funded me who will call me in the middle of the night and say ‘I’m sorry we’re not funding you for the next election.’
* And Kennedy kinda mansplained Mary Ann Ahern…
Mary Ann: Mr. Kennedy where are you on the LaSalle street tax?
Kennedy: Well I’d point out that most of the trading is done on Wacker Drive and not LaSalle Street. Let’s just start there.
Mary Ann: Wherever it’s done, should we have a tax?
Kennedy: Well it matters if you are going to regulate it, you oughta know what you’re talking about. [Audible gasps from crowd]
Mary Ann: We’ll let Mr. Pritzker respond to that then.
Kennedy: I would say this. You know, I’d like to promise everybody rainbows and swing sets in their back yard and they’re not going to have to pay for any of it. The idea that we’re going to go after LaSalle Street and somehow tax all of them, is just a fallacy. They’ll move that money around faster than we can regulate it. Fact is you could order from Amazon Prime they know, they know the router in your apartment or your office, they know your address, and then they’re delivering it to your address. If you live in Cook County you don’t have to pay Cook County taxes. We can’t friggin’ find a way to tax Amazon we’re never going to tax the mercantile board.
So, he corrects the moderator about LaSalle Street and then uses the exact same LaSalle Street name in his own response.
I got some clarification on how much sales tax Amazon is supposed to collect in Cook County, which was the example Kennedy cited. It’s complicated.
The company clearly is supposed to collect the 6.25 percent state sales tax everywhere in Illinois. But local sales taxes are different. If the product involved in a transaction was stored in a warehouse in Cook County and shipped to a county resident, the tax is supposed to be collected. But if it was shipped from out of state, no. If it was stored in Kankakee, a Cook County resident would not have to pay, but some in Kankakee would.
That’s the word from Laurence Msall over at the Civic Federation.
So, bottom line: It looks like Kennedy is partially right, in some cases. But misleading, at least as he phrased it.
* If you click the link on this tweet, you’ll see that 77 percent of the money Ameya Pawar raised during the third quarter came from one person: The wealthy father of Pawar’s campaign manager…
A week ahead of deadline: Ameya Pawar for Governor 09/30/17 Raised: $335,980.33 Spent: $260,625.45 CoH: $304,788.56https://t.co/EFOj0qvm3b
That’s not a ding on his campaign manager at all. Sam Hobert won our 2016 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best campaign staffer - Senate Democrats. It just is what it is.
Pawar reported a ton of small contributions. But, outside of that one $250,00 contribution, he only raised $85,980.
* Meanwhile, Pawar had a couple of awkward moments during the Democratic candidate forum over the weekend…
During police brutality discussion, protester shouts @Ameya_Pawar_IL down, calling him "just another one of Rahm Emanuel's puppets."
AHERN: As a progressive candidate, why are you not a member of the Progressive Caucus for the Chicago City Council?
PAWAR: Love that question. So, I think I’ve been able to get a lot done on City Council, work on progressive issues. Truthfully, I know what my faults are. I tend to work alone. I don’t always build coalitions. But I think that’s always been able to afford me the ability to actually pass legislation. I think there has been a lot of personality conflicts between me and the Progressive Caucus and I own that. Some of it’s started by me, and some things that are internal. I don’t think that makes sense to air that. I respect them. And I’ll tell you one thing. I worked on the task force to pass $13 minimum wage and I led the effort on paid sick leave but they were also the ones leading out there and organizing around it. So, I think we’ve all played our roles, I’m proud of the work that I’ve done and I’m proud of my record. There have been some personality issues that came up. And I don’t think it makes sense to air that in a public setting, other than to say I respect them. I think they respect me. I’ll leave it at that.
AHERN: How do you work, then, with the state? If you are someone who likes to work alone, how will you expand that role from being a city council member to the head of Illinois?
PAWAR: I mean by working alone is I’ve always been able to cobble together the votes to pass things like an independent budget office or paid sick leave. I got here on my own. I knocked on doors, I knocked on doors with my wife. I have volunteers that help me. I’ve never been a part of any club and no establishment figure has ever helped me. The party’s never given me a dime and I’ve never asked them for a dime. I got here on my own grit and sh – sweat equity – Now I own my weaknesses, I always have. But I’ve been diplomatic. I’ve always worked hard. And I’ve outworked people and that’s how I’ll work as governor.
Her “summer”? She was on staff for six weeks. And she wasn’t fired? Yeah, OK…
A day after crafting a controversial statement citing Gov. Bruce Rauner’s position as a “white male,” the governor’s new communications staff has been ousted — with more exits on the way.
The staffers — hired in July after a staff purge and series of protest resignations — were asked to resign; one was asked to stay but chose to resign.
A lot of people have asked why I took the role, considering I have spent the bulk of my career railing against the government.
It came down to this: If I declined the job, I’d watch Illinois’ problems go unfixed and wonder if I could have made a difference. Or, I could enter the nucleus of state government and attempt to change the system from within.
The experience was eye-opening, but after six weeks I decided to leave the position. It was a dysfunctional workplace in a flailing administration. The bad I saw far outweighed any good I could do.
But perhaps worst of all is that I learned early on that there would be no fixing the system from within, especially from my role; this is a state government that has been broken for decades. It is designed to reject improvement in every form, at every level.
It’s always somebody else’s fault. Always. The only real surprise is that the word “Madigan” doesn’t appear anywhere in the piece.
…Adding… An affiliate of the Illinois Policy Institute…
News that will surprise *literally nobody* - Diana Rickert is now a Vice President at the Liberty Justice Center, according to her Linkedin pic.twitter.com/gSF8gGrL0a
* Parts of the Democratic gubernatorial forum over the weekend were tough to watch. We’re going to discuss other aspects, but let’s start with this one…
The question that seemed to draw the most heated response launched a back and forth between Biss and Pritzker. Ahern asked about candidates’ relationships with Michael Madigan, speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. […]
Biss said Madigan is too powerful.
Pritzker said Madigan has just become a GOP “talking point.”
When asked if Madigan supports him, Pritzker added that he is an independent who won’t be influenced, and called Biss out for voting for the speaker. Biss then responded that Pritzker should be more honest about the speaker’s support.
* ILGOP…
Democrat Audience Laughs At Pritzker’s Claim of ‘Independence’ from Madigan
As Pritzker tries to distance himself from Madigan, the Democrat audience responds with laughter and groans
“On Sunday, the Democrats running for governor were abundantly clear: Mike Madigan is for J.B. Pritzker. It makes sense, since Pritzker and Madigan both share a history of corrupt deal-making and gaming the system for their own personal gain. Pritzker’s attempts to distance himself from Madigan were literally laughable - so laughable that an audience of Democrats and progressives wren’t buying the malarkey he was peddling.” - Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Aaron DeGroot
On Sunday, the Democratic candidates for governor held a forum at the Chicago Teacher’s Union headquarters, and though they may disagree on exactly how high they will raise taxes, they all came together on one topic: Mike Madigan’s support for J.B. Pritzker.
When asked about his relationship with Mike Madigan, Pritzker repeatedly dodged the question, fumbling over his inability to change the subject. His discomfort was so plain that after being challenged on the issue by moderator Mary Ann Ahern, Pritzker’s non-answers were met with laughter from the crowd of Democrat activists. […]
The Democrats may not always agree on how big government should be, but they all came together on one topic: J.B. Pritzker is Mike Madigan’s candidate for governor.
Biss definitely took it to the guy. But here’s Pritzker’s retort…
I do need to respond to that. Senator Biss, you ran Mike Madigan’s PAC last year. You ran his Super PAC, millions of dollars. C’mon, there is no halo here, we all are Democrats, we don’t get to choose who the Speaker is. He is the Speaker of the House, There’s nothing that any of us can do about it except to support leadership term limits which I do.
* Chris Kennedy’s response…
Mary Ann Ahern: Mr. Kennedy, what’s your relationship like with Speaker Madigan?
Kennedy: I think we should give [Madigan] a choice. I think he should have the choice between being a property tax appeals lawyer or a state Representative. I don’t think we have to accept the current situation. I don’t think it has to be like this in Illinois. He’s a property tax appeals lawyer, he’s appealing the property taxes to Joe Berrios. One is head of the state Democratic Party, one is head of the Cook County Democratic Party. The scale of this thing is incredible. The Sears Tower sells for a billion, two hundred million dollars. It gets a billion dollar mortgage on it. They’re recorded at Cook County. They’re reported in the Tribune and Crain’s. The assessor says “oh no,” he has alternative facts, it’s only worth $579 million. We need to prevent our elected officials from having outside jobs that are adverse to the interests of the body they were elected to serve.
Illinois is chasing a moving target as it tries to dig out of the nation’s worst budget crisis, and a review obtained by The Associated Press shows $7.5 billion worth of unpaid bills — as much as half the total — hadn’t been sent to the official who writes the checks by the end of June.
Although many of those IOUs have since been paid, a similar amount in unprocessed bills has replaced them in the last three months, Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office said Monday. That’s in addition to $9 billion worth of checks that are at the office but being delayed because the state lacks the money to pay them.
The mound of past-due bills tripled over the two years Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the General Assembly were locked in a budget stalemate, which ended in July when lawmakers hiked income taxes over Rauner’s vetoes.
In some cases, agencies were waiting to send their receipts to Mendoza because lawmakers haven’t approved the spending. For example, the Department of Corrections had $471 million in unpaid bills on hand as of June 30 largely for that reason.
Wait. What?
* The comptroller sent a letter to legislators this morning. From that letter…
• What amount of bills held at the agencies lack appropriation authority?
Agencies cannot send the Comptroller vouchers to pay for expenditures that lack an appropriation. If services are being rendered without a sufficient appropriation, then those bills sit at the agency until an appropriation is ultimately made. All the while, these unappropriated expenditures may accrue late payment interest penalties, and the vendors providing those services suffer as they await payment. As evidenced by the report, the information disclosed does not reveal any status relative to appropriation authority or if sufficient authority even exists.
A breakdown of appropriated versus unappropriated liabilities gives lawmakers, the public and the Comptroller an idea of what can actually be paid and where appropriations are not covering the services being delivered.
* From Rep. Dave McSweeney…
As of June 30th, Governor Rauner’s Administration has been holding about $7.5 billion of bills at state agencies, which is making our fiscal problems worse as late payment interest penalties continue to accrue. Also, it appears that the Rauner Administration is holding bills for Fiscal Year 17 that have not been appropriated. For example, a significant portion of the Department of Corrections $471,821,889 liability appears to be unappropriated.
The Rauner Administration needs to immediately provide the General Assembly with a full accounting of unappropriated Fiscal Year 17 bills, which appear to be substantial. With approximately $16 billion of unpaid bills, Governor Rauner’s fiscal record is abysmal.
We need more transparency in state Government. As a strong fiscal conservative, I will be voting to override Governor Rauner’s veto of Comptroller Mendoza’s HB 3649. HB 3649 is a common sense bill that will require monthly reporting of all bills being held by state agencies. I’m also a recently added Chief Co-Sponsor of that legislation.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, despite buckets of campaign cash, may be in for a primary fight in his 2018 re-election battle for governor.
Suburban Republican lawmaker Jeanne Ives (Wheaton) is considering getting in the race, citing her frustration with the governor’s signing of HB40, a law that will increase access to abortion for state Medicaid recipients and would continue to make abortion legal in Illinois should the U.S. Supreme Court choose to overturn it.
“Our team is having important conversations around the state about challenging the unprincipled and morally bankrupt politicians who have failed to deliver reforms demanded by taxpayers, businesses and ordinary citizens that have played by the rules and yet, find themselves ignored by both parties,” Ives said.
Rauner is facing a revolt from the grassroots of his party, with several Republican lawmakers saying they can’t support him for re-election and are actively looking for an alternative. Former ally John Tillman, head of the libertarian think tank The Illinois Policy Institute, referred to him as “Benedict Rauner” for allegedly “going back on his word” and signing HB40.
Ives would appear to be at a significant financial disadvantage, but could level the playing field if she garners the support of political operatives like Dan Proft and uber-funder Dick Uihlein.
“Certainly, the party’s fractured, but when I talk to my colleagues, they’re not supporting Rauner, not passing his petitions,” Ives says. “We actually seem to be uniting against the signing of this bill.”
If it seems to you that more legislators are announcing their retirements than in the past, you’re right, at least about the House.
With the recent retirement announcement by Rep. David Harris (R-Arlington Heights), a total of 24 House members have either resigned or announced that they weren’t running for reelection.
That compares to 16 state representatives who retired or resigned during the 99th General Assembly, a two-year period which ended this past January.
Seventeen House members retired or resigned during the 98th General Assembly. Sixteen retired or resigned during the 97th, and 17 resigned during the 96th. Members who lost reelection races and those who died aren’t included in these figures.
So, that’s an average of 16.5 retirements/resignations every two years. And we’re already at 24 after only nine months of the 100th General Assembly.
Now, there are some caveats here. Two House members (Juliana Stratton and Litesa Wallace) are leaving to run for lieutenant governor, but that’s unusual because they’re really just beginning their legislative service. Another, Scott Drury, is running for attorney general, but he’s clearly dissatisfied with the House.
Even so, statewide bids by House members are pretty rare, mainly because their two-year terms requires giving up their seats. If House members do run statewide, it’s usually because they’re nearing the end of their careers.
So, I think it’s pretty safe to say that the Statehouse’s toxic atmosphere and the political exhaustion it has caused are the main reasons why we’ve seen so many House retirements.
But that hasn’t necessarily been the case in the Senate, which has so far seen 7 retirements/resignations since January. Nine Senators retired or resigned during the 99th General Assembly. Then again, just one retired during the 98th. And 12 retired or resigned during the 97th, while 6 did so during the 96th GA. Unlike the House, the Senate’s retirement rate has been all over the place.
The House has twice as many members as the Senate, but more than three times as many House members have resigned or retired so far. What gives? Senators have longer, staggered terms, so that may be part of it.
The one Senator we know for sure who quit because of the dysfunction was also the most high-profile resignation of the year: Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno. Leader Radogno sparred with the governor’s campaign apparatus during the 2016 campaign season and then was repeatedly undercut by the governor and his team during her ultimately unsuccessful “grand bargain” negotiations with the Senate Democrats.
Just one Senate Republican, Dale Righter, voted for the income tax hike, and he is in the middle of a four-year term. But 15 House Republicans voted for that bill, although some didn’t vote for the veto override. All of those Republicans were immediately denounced as essentially being Speaker Michael Madigan-supporting traitors by the Illinois Republican Party. Gov. Bruce Rauner has since said that support for the education funding reform bill would cause him to forget the tax hike vote, but the damage was already done. The blowback from the folks back home was horrific.
Nine of the eleven House Republicans who’ve so far said they’re not running again voted for the income tax hike.
Rauner has been focused like a laser on defeating as many of Speaker Madigan’s House Democrats as possible. But he’s also said publicly that he doesn’t really care if the Senate Democrats retain their majority as long as he can topple Madigan.
Twelve House Democrats have so far either quit or announced they aren’t running again. Several of those faced tough general election races next year if they ran again. Others said they’d just had enough of the war and wanted the heck out.
Now, I’m an agnostic when it comes to term limits. I can see the good and the bad either way. Fresh ideas and a clean slate would be welcomed in this state. But some fresh ideas can also be stupid ideas. And term limits on legislators make governors more powerful — and that may not be a good thing when you look at Illinois’ history of gubernatorial elections.
But this sort of turnover (on top of any electoral losses next year) means that a higher percentage of House members will be newbies. So, remaining legislators with more experience (along with lobbyists and staff) will gain even more influence and power, unless those who are elected next year take much more independent stances — and that doesn’t seem all that likely to me.
* The list…
GOP State Rep. David Harris the latest to announce retirement
* Walker to run for his former House seat: Former Democratic state Rep. Mark Walker of Arlington Heights said Monday he plans to make a bid for his old House seat that’s being vacated by Republican David Harris. The Wheeling Township Democratic committeeman says he knows the difficulty of finding candidates interested in the role, given ongoing gridlock in Springfield.
