* You can continue commenting on the Golden Horseshoe Awards post throughout the weekend. I can still see what you write.
We did some good this week, campers. We raised $22,400 as of this writing to help Lutheran Social Services of Illinois buy Christmas presents for foster kids. I’d hug each and every one of you if I could. Thanks!
Jesse Sullivan: Yeah, yeah, let me share. It’s almost laughable because because because I feel like…people in Illinois, these political operative types, they know, they’re scared, because I’m not beholden to them. So I’m not a politician. I know that Illinois is corrupt, and this den of vipers. And so you know what? One of those high and mighty types of this political machine, they showed up at my door before I even decided to run. This political backroom dealing class, they wanted me to be a part of this. And I’m not here to line their pockets. And so you know what? They decided they’re going to come after me. And they’re going to go and try to find, create all these lies. That’s what they do. That’s how these people work, and they’re going to keep at it. And you know what? Donald Trump, he didn’t pay them off, he didn’t bend his knee to the establishment. And I’m not going to either. And so I’m here to fight corruption, not to be a part of it. But I’ll share what I was doing in college…
Dan Proft: Just before we get to that, who was the high and mighty type that showed up at your doorstep?
Jesse Sullivan: So all of this I’m going to share. It’s all going to come out because we need sunshine and bleach on the whole system. And so I am…I’m going to be sharing everything with everybody along the way. And I don’t think you’ll be surprised by it.
Dan Proft/Amy Jacobson: Can you share with us now? Who is it?
Jesse Sullivan: And I don’t think you’ll be surprised by it.
Dan Proft: I’m sure I wont be but I still want a name.
Jesse Sullivan: Well, I’m preparing it with my whole team. And we’re going to share with the people of Illinois what this whole system is like.
Dan Proft: Alright, I want to get to St. Louis University and this, this paper you started, but I would just say this, I would just say this, and I’ll take you to word, and we’ll see what happens. But if if you’re unwilling to name names, and this goes for anybody, if you’re unwilling to name names, including within the Republican ranks, then that tells me it’s going to be more of the same that tells me this is…
Jesse Sullivan: Oh, I will, I will. I promise. Trust me. I will. I’m going to.
Not sure what the holdup is. Spilling to Proft would’ve been a big get for the show.
* OK, now some additional background on that magazine Sullivan started at SLU. This is from the university’s student paper back in 2006…
A group of socially conscious Saint Louis University students will launch a new campus publication early next month. Dubbed One World, the magazine will focus on global issues and promote social justice. Organizers hope that One World will inspire students to take action and to fight poverty and oppression throughout the world.
“[The magazine] is a call to action. It is centered on the notion that every person, regardless of national boundaries or cultural or religious differences, is linked together by our common humanity,” said Jesse Sullivan, the founder of One World.
Sullivan, a junior majoring in theology and international studies, first thought of starting a social justice magazine after returning from a semester abroad in El Salvador last year. Sullivan said that the poverty he witnessed there inspired him to raise awareness about social justice issues once he returned to SLU. […]
“Based on the Jesuit ideal of ‘men and women for others,’ we must take a stand and side with the suffering and the oppressed. We have a responsibility to hear the cries [of the suffering], to let them resonate with us and echo in our lives. Raising awareness on international issues is a necessary first step in taking action to help,” Sullivan said.
Jesse Sullivan: Yeah, so here, here’s what I was doing at St. Louis University. I was working in campus ministry, I was traveling out to Washington, DC to go on right to life marches. And I created an organization and a magazine, largely driven by my faith to focus on global poverty. So I can’t tell you what the magazine has done since then, and what articles they’ve published or haven’t published, because I’ve been living my life since then past college. And so, so if they want to go, that’s the most they can find to try to ruin my good name is that they’re going to say, Oh, this, this magazine that he got started back when he was a college student, has since then wrote articles where I have no oversight or control over what’s said. And, you know, from what the reporting, I would disagree with many of those articles, obviously. And so if that’s the best they can do, it’s pretty sad. And they see me as a threat to this system. And so that’s why they’re coming after me.
Dan Proft: That’s fair. But I want to be a little bit more clear on this then. So you didn’t found this magazine as a social justice outlet?
Jesse Sullivan: Yeah
Dan Proft: You did not?
Jesse Sullivan: So I, No, no, I did not. So social justice. Listen to me on this, I say the Pledge of Allegiance in the morning, and I talk about justice. And for me, this notion of justice, for me was talking about people living in poverty, and how we can use our faith to help them that we have an obligation to remove obstacles to opportunity. And so that’s what I’ve always meant in my life and how I’ve always tried to approach things.
In context, that’s actually a fairly decent explanation, although a bit too earnest. Thoughts?
Sullivan, a political neophyte who ran a San Francisco-based nonprofit before launching his gubernatorial bid in early September, founded the magazine One World in 2006 while a student at St. Louis University. The publication had financial support from left-wing groups like the Center for American Progress, whose Goal Was To “counter the growing influence of right-wing groups on campus.”
If you look at page two of this issue of his magazine, it says it’s funded by Center for American Progress’ campus arm. And click here and scroll down and you’ll see that his magazine was listed as one of the 51 progressive journalism outlets funded by Campus Progress while he was still on the masthead.
Reporter: Do you have any plans to institute any kind of further mitigations [and] if I can double up the question, Dr. Arwady said yesterday that Chicago was looking at maybe requiring COVID vaccination proof for restaurants or other large gatherings. Is the state looking at further mitigations and perhaps any kind of vaccine passport?
Pritzker: Well, throughout this pandemic I’ve said that local governments county governments should certainly look at stricter mitigations if they feel that in their area that is warranted.
Let me say specifically about Winnebago County in Rockford. This morning, I spoke with the mayor of Rockford and our IDPH has been in regular contact with the hospitals and the local public health department to make sure that we’re providing what they need. That means help with staffing. For example, they have access to our staff in contract at the state level. And then add to that monoclonal antibodies that we’ve been distributing across the state but now specifically focused on Winnebago County where this morning they declared a disaster in the county.
Reporter: [off mic, so no transcript]
Pritzker: Again, we’re looking at everything that has been done, you know, over the last two years, always. But what we’re really focused on is making sure that people are following the masking requirements indoors. Thank you to all of you who are doing that here. And making sure that we’re providing vaccines everywhere in the state. Please, if you’re not vaccinated, get vaccinated and get your booster. It gives you multiple times the protection than even the first two shots did, so I want everybody to listen and go immediately to their pharmacy or their doctor if they can
Please pardon any transcription errors.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Meanwhile, the current Republican frontrunner is holding an event in Rockford, the site of a local disaster declaration…
*** UPDATE 2 *** Might as well put this here…
.@GovPritzker has extended the Illinois COVID-19 public health emergency through January 8. You can see his latest executive order here. #twillhttps://t.co/ZgPYegvY7Z
* Lobbyist extraordinaire Dave Sullivan was elected Speaker of the Third House at the group’s annual luncheon yesterday. Let’s welcome him with a caption contest, shall we?…
* The 2021 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best House Republican Campaign Staffer goes to Ryan Tozer…
He is a behind-the-scenes staffer whose fingerprints are on everything that comes out of the HGOP shop. The dude learned from the tutelage of Nick Bellini. Which means he can win races without plutocrat money.
* The 2021 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Senate Republican Campaign Staffer goes to Roxanne Owens…
(P)rofessional, upbeat, and able to do the work and do it well. That’s not easy when you’re in the super minority, and is harder still when you’re responsible for the reporting and organizing.
Congrats!
* On to today’s categories…
* Best Senate Democratic Non-Campaign Staffer
* Best House Democratic Non-Campaign Staffer
As always, make sure to explain your votes or they won’t count and please do your utmost to nominate in both categories. Thanks!
Also, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois is getting an offline contribution of $1,000 from a buddy of mine. Our total is now above $22,000 to help LSSI buy Christmas presents for foster kids. Please, click here to contribute (also a shout-out to my mom and dad for donating 50 bucks). Thanks.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 49,668 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including an increase of 266 deaths since December 3, 2021.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,884,744 cases, including 26,801 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Since Friday, December 3, 2021, laboratories have reported 1,160,624 specimens for a total of 40,810,633. As of last night, 3,257 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 662 patients were in the ICU and 299 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from December 3-9, 2021 is 4.3%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from December 3-9, 2021 is 5.8%.
A total of 18,007,906 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 72,775 doses. Since Friday, December 3, 2021, 509,428 doses were reported administered in Illinois. Of Illinois’ total population, approximately 70% has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and more than 62% of Illinois’ total population is fully vaccinated according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Approximately 41% of Illinois’ eligible adults have received a booster dose of vaccine.
Monoclonal antibodies therapy is a prevention as well as treatment option for COVID-19 illness for non-hospitalized people and is a way to lower the chance of progression to severe illness or hospitalization. An estimated 235 or more hospitalizations were avoided over a 4-week time period due to monoclonal antibody treatment. IDPH continues to encourage health care providers, including primary care offices, outpatient clinics, urgent care centers, infusion centers, dialysis centers, home health services, and hospitals to assess their capabilities to provide this treatment to their patients quickly after they have been identified as having COVID-19 and are determined to be at risk for severe illness or hospitalization.
All data are provisional and will change. Additional information and COVID-19 data can be found at https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19.html.
Vaccination is the key to ending this pandemic. To find a COVID-19 vaccination location near you, go to www.vaccines.gov.
Pursuant to House Rule XI, clause 3(b)(8)(A), and Committee Rules 17A(b)(1)(A) and 17A(c)(1), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Ethics have jointly decided to extend the matter regarding Representative Marie Newman, which was transmitted to the Committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics on October 25, 2021.
The Committee notes that the mere fact of a referral or an extension, and the mandatory disclosure of such an extension and the name of the subject of the matter, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee.
The Committee will announce its course of action in this matter on or before Monday, January 24, 2022.
Rep. Marie Newman has agreed to settle a lawsuit alleging she bribed a potential primary opponent not to run against her, putting to rest a bizarre episode in Illinois Democratic politics.
Iymen Chehade had alleged that he and Newman entered into an employment contract in December 2018 that said if Newman won the congressional race in Illinois’ 3rd District in 2020, Chehade would be hired in her office and paid between $135,000 and $140,000 annually.
“In an effort to induce Chehade not to run against her in the primary, Newman offered Chehade employment as Foreign Policy Advisor and Legislative or District Director,” the lawsuit said. […]
In a May filing, Newman’s lawyer in her official capacity as a member of Congress, House General Counsel Douglas Letter, acknowledged that the contract was signed by Newman but she did so as a private citizen, not as a member of Congress. The reasoning that follows is that Newman in her private capacity could not bind Newman in her public capacity.
“Although the agreement was signed by Congresswoman Newman in her personal capacity (because she had no official capacity in which to act before her election), it purports to bind her in her official capacity to hire Mr. Chehade in her Congressional office,” Letter said in the filing.
Click here to see the lawsuit, and click here to see the Federal Election Commission disclosure by Marie Newman for Congress of about $29K in payments to Chehade this year.
* Meanwhile, in other news, I told subscribers about this the other day…
Springfield Republican seeks House appointment as springboard to Senate
Springfield resident Kelly Thompson, a project manager for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce-affiliated Illinois Environmental Regulatory Group, confirmed Wednesday that she plans to seek appointment to [former Rep. Mike] Murphy’s seat. […]
Though she did not address a possible Senate bid, the Herald & Review has confirmed that Thompson plans to run against [appointed Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield] in 2022. In that contest, she will have the backing of the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus’ campaign arm.
Regardless of Thompson’s campaign plans, her appointment to the House seat is not a certainty. In a Tuesday email to committeepersons, county party chair Dianne Barghouti Hardwick said there would be an open application process.
— Jonathan Logemann has been endorsed by Democrats Serve PAC in his run for the 17th Congressional District. The political action committee supports Democrats running for office with public service backgrounds. In making the endorsement Brett Broesder, the PAC’s executive director, highlighted Logemann’s experience as a teacher, veteran, and alderman.
— Congressman Darin LaHood (R-Dunlap) has been endorsed by all the Republican state senators and representatives in the newly redrawn 16th District. “Coming together as a party is critical in the 2022 election cycle,” LaHood said in a statement. List of endorsements
— Congresswoman Marie Newman has received an endorsement from the Transportation Communications Union/IAM, which represents more than 44,000 active and retired members across the country, including Metra and Amtrak employees in Illinois.
— Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi has been endorsed by six Chicago aldermen and state Sen. Sara Feigenholtz in his reelection campaign. Along with Feigenholtz, the council members endorsing are Alds. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), Rosanna Rodríguez Sanchez (33rd), Nicholas Sposato (38th), Andre Vasquez (40th), James Cappleman (46th), and Maria Hadden (49th).
After months of warnings that vaccinations would ward off a COVID-19 disaster, the U.S. is sailing toward a holiday crisis.
Cases and hospital admissions are rising amid a season of family gatherings. Most victims have shunned inoculations. The situation is especially dire in the chilly Northeastern states, but doctors in many places report a grimly repetitive cycle of admission, intensive care and death. There are shortages of beds and staff to care for the suffering.
“We’re in desperate shape,” said Brian Weis, chief medical officer at Northwest Texas Healthcare System in Amarillo, the state’s worst hot spot.
In 12 states and the nation’s capital, the seven-day average of admissions with confirmed Covid-19 has climbed at least 50% from two weeks earlier, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data. The areas with the largest percentage upticks were Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Vermont and Rhode Island. […]
Illinois had 3,178 Covid hospitalizations as of Wednesday, the highest since January, according to the state health department. Six of the state’s 11 regions had 20 or fewer intensive-care beds available.
All 102 counties in the state of Illinois are currently experiencing “high transmission” levels of COVID-19, while many are also experiencing dramatic growth in other metrics designed to illustrate how rapidly the virus is spreading.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers a county to have a “high transmission” rate of COVID if 100 or more residents per 100,000 individuals have contracted the virus in a given week.
Currently, all 102 of Illinois’ counties have hit that threshold, according to the latest data from IDPH and the CDC, and no state is currently lower than 208 cases per 100,000 residents.
Piatt County, located just to the west of Champaign County, is reporting one of the state’s highest totals, with 881.06 cases per 100,000 residents in the last week. That is nearly nine times more than the CDC’s “high transmission” threshold, and the county’s positivity rate is also above 10%, according to IDPH data. […]
Cook County has one of the lowest positivity rates in the state, currently sitting at 4.15% in the last week. The county has reported 14,878 new COVID cases in the last week, averaging 288.88 new cases per 100,000 residents. That mark is nearly three times higher than the “high transmission” threshold from the CDC, but is also one of the lowest rates in the state.
* Via the BN-D, our southwestern neighbor has gone plum crazy…
Although COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in the St. Louis area and in the metro-east, St. Louis County rescinded its mask mandate on Thursday based on a judge’s ruling.
The Illinois mask mandate remains in effect in the metro-east. Herb Simmons, director of the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency, said he “can’t say for sure” whether St. Louis County’s decision would affect infection rates in the metro-east but he noted “that’s a possibility.” […]
The St. Louis Pandemic Task Force, which has 24 hospitals, including three in the metro-east, said the seven-day average of COVID patients has doubled over the past month. This number stood at 440 on Wednesday and 454 on Thursday.
Hospitals in central Illinois are filling up as a post-Thanksgiving surge leaves many with severe cases of COVID-19.
In Region 6, which includes Macon and Champaign counties, there are just 20 ICU beds available.
“A lot of patients are dying. We are not in good shape nowadays, it’s really bad,” said Dr. Imtiaz Bangash, who has been working in the COVID-19 unit of St. Mary’s Hospital throughout the pandemic.
He’s treated hundreds of patients over the past 20 months, but some faces he’ll never forget.
“The patient was young, and he died actually, and I took care of that patient for almost 7 to 10 days,” Bangash said as he described a COVID-19 patient that passed away just a few days ago.
In the past two weeks, Bangash said he’s started treating more young COVID-19 patients with more severe symptoms.
Though [St. John’s registered nurse Ashley Rodrick] said she tried to tell one patient that there was no need to fear COVID-19 vaccines, which has been proven more than 90% effective at preventing severe illness and death, the patient told her, “I don’t want it messing with my DNA.”
Rodrick said she witnessed one COVID-19 patient argue with a doctor over whether St. John’s medical equipment confirming the patient’s reduced blood-oxygen level related to COVID-19 was accurate.
The patient asked the doctor, “How do you know the machine’s not lying?” according to Rodrick.
Some unvaccinated patients have refused antiviral medicines such as remdesivir, which are accepted treatments to help COVID-19 patients recover, she said.
The patients viewed the treatment as a conspiracy by the medical establishment, Rodrick said. “They really want to believe there’s someone to blame,” she said.
Chicago officials are considering requiring those who gather in “high-risk settings” where masks cannot be worn to offer proof that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have tested negative for the virus, Chicago’s top doctor said Thursday.
Several members of the Chicago City Council’s Health and Human Relations Committee urged Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, to put those requirements in place quickly as the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Chicago reached the highest level since January 2021, according to city data.
“We have to do more if we want to get past this economically,” said Ald. Michele Smith (43rd Ward).
Arwady said “preliminary conversations” were taking place with representatives of business groups about requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test for diners or revelers, but no decision had been made.
The rules may be necessary “while we are in a big surge like this,” especially in places where people cannot keep their masks on, Arwady said, telling alderpeople that there was no timeline for a decision to be made.
The Chicago Bulls are down to 11 players as they travel to Florida for Saturday’s game against the Miami Heat after Derrick Jones Jr. on Thursday became the fifth player to enter the NBA’s COVID-19 protocol in the last nine days.
The Bulls have not gone more than two days in nearly two weeks without a player entering the COVID-19 protocol — Coby White (Dec. 1), Javonte Green (Friday), DeMar DeRozan (Sunday), Matt Thomas (Tuesday) and now Jones.
“What we see is lines drawn where Latinos and Anglos are moved in and out … in a way that makes it so two incumbents are prevented from a Latino challenge,” said MALDEF attorney Ernest Herrera.
Civil rights attorney Ami Gandhi, on behalf of the NAACP, said Black voters in a House district in East St. Louis that has been represented by a Black legislator since 1975 have been dispersed into adjoining districts in an effort to shore up white Democratic incumbents by “using Black population to offset Republican rural voters.”
The challengers also argued that the large numbers of minority officeholders in the General Assembly was largely due to appointments to fill vacancies, rather than the will of the voters. Of the legislature’s 16 Latino members, nine gained office through appointment.
Democrats sought to discount those arguments by noting that appointments are made by local party leaders who reflect the areas where they serve, and that most appointees are subsequently elected and reelected.
The law does not require that districts be created with a majority of minority voters, they said, but only that minorities are allowed to elect a candidate of their choice.
As local hospitals are overwhelmed with the highest number of Covid-19 patients they’ve seen since the beginning of the pandemic, healthcare professionals say suiting up is like walking through the five stages of grief.
“I say you go through those cycles probably 20 times in a shift,” says UW Health SwedishAmerican critical care unit nurse Emily O’Brien, “It hits you in different ways.”
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance becoming all too common feelings amongst nurses and doctors as they continue to fight Covid-19.
“I think there will be a lot that have PTSD after this,” says O’Brien. “I know a lot of people are seeking counseling, we’ve lost a lot of nurses. I don’t think anyone is emotional equipped to watch so many people suffer day in and day out.”
According to UW Health SwedishAmerican surgeon in chief Dr. James Cole, the health system has seen a 30% increase in need, but a reduction in staff. He says this has set up the system to operate in crisis mode.
“We have people quitting because they just can’t do this anymore,” says Dr. Cole, “they’re tired of all these sick patients with Covid, some are burned out, some truly have PTSD because of Covid and it’s lead to a massive staffing crisis.”
Winnebago County Board Chairman Joe Chiarelli is seeking to have the county declared a disaster in response to a rising rate of people being admitted into area hospitals with COVID-19.
The disaster would be over a seven-day period, effective Dec. 8.
The declaration is pending county board approval.
According to the Winnebago County Health Department, the County is now seeing 620 cases of the virus per 100,000 people and a test-positivity rate of 10.4%, an indication of another winter surge.
Chiarelli said declaring a disaster supports the efforts of the county health department and the local Emergency Management Agencies for the county and the City of Rockford to coordinate resources and activates the Emergency Operations Center. It will also make state and federal resources available to the county.
Chiarelli tested positive for the life-threatening virus on Nov. 3 and a week later he was hospitalized before being released on Nov. 13.
Just one day after the 16-team bracket was released, the annual Forreston holiday boys basketball tournament was canceled when the high school went to remote learning following a COVID-19 outbreak.
According to Forreston athletic director Kyle Zick, there were 19 positive COVID-19 cases traced back to the high school, and they were looking at quarantining 105 students, which was more than 40% of the school’s population. So instead, in conjunction with health department protocol, the school went into an adaptive pause expected to last from Dec. 7-17.
* Great news! Our fundraiser to help Lutheran Social Services of Illinois buy Christmas presents for foster kids hit $20,000 this morning. Thanks! If you haven’t donated yet, please click here.
* If you’ve contributed to Lutheran Social Services of Illinois during our December fundraising drive, thanks. If not, please click here. Follow along with ScribbleLive…
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot privately called an official a “dumb, dumb person of color.”
Ald. Jason Ervin, she texted, was “full of crap.” She told Ald. Brendan Reilly he was “bush league,” and referred to Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez as a “jackass” in a text to another council member.
Lightfoot’s brusque style is no secret. But a trove of text messages, recently obtained by the Tribune, further reveals the extent to which the mayor — who campaigned as a reformer aiming to unite the city — at times resorts to name-calling and shaming of her perceived enemies as she governs the city.
The Tribune obtained more than 2½ years of Lightfoot’s text messages with aldermen through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests with which her staff failed to comply until the state attorney general admonished them and the Tribune threatened a lawsuit.
Latest data show exhaust from cars, trucks and planes has overtaken coal plants as Illinois’ single-biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions, the largest contributing factor to climate change.
* With that in mind…
Two tweets hours apart that show why electing Democrats is not enough to fight climate change. pic.twitter.com/lXvU67UHgE
* Rob Karr, like his predecessor, is about the chillest person in this business. He’s got the skills and demeanor of a seasoned diplomat. So, seeing these quotes was a surprise and should be a wake-up call for everyone. Here’s Fran Spielman…
Mayor Lori Lightfoot was accused Thursday of abdicating responsibility for the retail crime wave sweeping Chicago and, instead, pressuring merchants to implement their own costly and unworkable security measures.
Twice in the last month — and as recently as this week — Lightfoot urged Magnificent Mile merchants victimized repeatedly by smash-and-grab robberies to follow the lead of their counterparts in Milan, London, Paris, Rome and along Hollywood’s Rodeo Drive.
She specifically mentioned security guards at the door, entrance cameras, merchandise “either chained and roped or put behind glass” and customers being “buzzed into” stores.
On Thursday, Illinois Retail Merchants Association President Rob Karr flatly rejected all of the mayor’s ideas.
He branded the suggestions “extraordinarily disheartening,” “misinformed” and “false”—yet another example of how Lightfoot “continues to point fingers and play the blame game.”
…Adding… Ken Griffin has been complaining loudly about the city’s crime…
The head of President Joe Biden’s security detail is retiring and taking a job with Citadel, billionaire Ken Griffin’s hedge fund.
David Cho has been with the United States Secret Service for more than 25 years and is the first Korean American to become special agent in charge of the service’s Presidential Protective Division. He’ll start at $43 billion Citadel on Jan. 3 as deputy head of security, according to a spokesman for the firm.
Due to the unintended divisive nature of HB4259, I’ve decided not to pursue this legislation. Based on feedback and further reflection, we need to heal as a country and work together on common-sense solutions to put the pandemic behind us. Since taking office, I’ve always tried to have civil discourse with those who’ve disagreed with me. However, violent threats made against me, my family and my staff are reprehensible. I hope we can return to a more positive discourse on public health, especially when it comes to this pandemic that has tired us all.
Carroll said they received “several” threats. As we have discussed before, the bill would’ve violated federal law.
…Adding… Rep. Carroll is saying now that he didn’t intend to be divisive, but here’s what he told the Sun-Times…
(I)t all boils down to frustration between those who have “been following the science and … trying to do the right thing” and those who are “choosing not to get vaccinated, who are able to, for whatever they choose.”
“I think it’s time that we say ‘You choose not to get vaccinated, then you’re also going to assume the risk that if you do catch COVID, and you get sick, the responsibility is on you,’” Carroll said.
* We had nearly unanimous winners this year. The 2021 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best House Democratic Campaign Staffer goes to Jon Maxson…
He is a tireless worker and an excellent example of a legislative staffer. This year Jon not only was the leader for the House redistricting effort, but also was one of the people who helped transition the House Dem political operation to Speaker Welch. No matter what you think of redistricting, an honest person will admit that it is a difficult, complex process that involves high stakes and a lot of competing personalities and interests. Jon, with a calm but direct demeanor, managed the incredibly difficult task of getting not one, but two legislative maps passed in the midst of a pandemic in which the Census itself was mismanaged and delayed by the previous administration in Washington. Let’s not forget that this cycle is just the second time in the modern era that the legislature has passed a legislative redistricting map that has been enacted by a governor. That’s no small feat.
Prior to redistricting, Jon led the House Dem communications team, helping shape not only talking points and issue messaging, but also helping newer staffers develop and improve their writing skills and better understand the members they work with. On the campaign side, Jon has led opposition research and direct mail. Campaigns are zero sum and Jon is not afraid to throw the punches necessary for a point to make an impact with voters. He also worked with lots of candidates, many of them first time candidates, to develop their skills talking to the media and talking to voters.
* The 2021 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Senate Democratic Campaign Staffer goes to Magen Ryan…
Magen Ryan is the rockstar of the Senate’s campaign operation. She guided them through a very difficult redistricting and oversaw the efforts to begin preparations for 2022. Her year may not have been as traumatic as Mary’s, but a redistricting year is never easy for the campaign people who have to deal with the legislative side of the shop.
Congrats to both.
* On to today’s categories…
* Best House Republican Campaign Staffer
* Best Senate Republican Campaign Staffer
Make sure to explain your votes or they won’t count. And, please, do your best to nominate in both categories. Thanks.
Also, the good folks at Lutheran Social Services of Illinois told me that they’re trying to raise $60,000 to buy Christmas presents for foster kids plus gift cards for the urgent needs of foster families. We’re at about $19,000 right now, and I think it would be great if we could push that to $20K and account for a third of LSSI’s fundraising goal. So, if you haven’t yet, please click here and donate. Thanks!
* Dan Petrella has a long and quite good story about the new state law banning dark and out of state money from judicial campaigns…
While he isn’t aware of other states having attempted an outright ban on dark money contributions to judicial candidates, [Douglas Keith, counsel for the Brennan Center’s democracy program] said some recent court decisions have cast doubt on a state’s ability to limit campaign contributions from outside its borders.
For example, a federal appeals court earlier this year struck down a prohibition on candidates in Alaska accepting more than $3,000 in out-of-state contributions in a year.
But the U.S. Supreme Court appears to have left some room for states to treat those seeking a seat on the bench differently than candidates for other offices.
In 2015, the court upheld a Florida law prohibiting judges and judicial candidates from soliciting campaign contributions.
When dealing with campaign finance laws, the court generally weighs First Amendment rights against a state’s interest in combating corruption, Keith said.
As an example of that alleged corruption, the article points to the lawsuit charging State Farm with funneling money to Lloyd Karmeier’s Supreme Court bid ahead of the company’s appeal of a $1 billion judgment. It’s a good read.
Alexi Giannoulias, in a four-way Democratic primary for secretary of state, picked up the endorsement of Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., on Wednesday, the second member of the House delegation to support his bid. […]
Earlier, Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill., and former Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., announced endorsements for Giannoulias. […]
“This election is critically important as Republican Secretaries of States across the country are implementing extreme right-wing policies that amount to the worst voter suppression effort since Jim Crow,” Schakowsky said in a statement.
“These underhanded tactics are solely aimed at suppressing the vote, particularly among voters of color, and restricting access to the ballot box.”
The only connection the SoS has to voting is the motor voter program.
— Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) announced the endorsements of 40-plus Illinois elected officials and community leaders for his re-election campaign. This slate of endorsements includes state senators, state representatives, county elected officials, school board members, village trustees, mayors, and community activists. […]
— Anna Valencia has been endorsed by the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 1 in her bid for secretary of state.
Cook County sheriff’s official Becky Levin plans to kick off her campaign to seek the Illinois House seat of outgoing Majority Leader Greg Harris on Thursday, calling herself “a crime fighter and a public health expert, who has a proven record of results.”
The first candidate to officially enter next year’s race to fill the North Side Democrat’s House seat, Levin grew up in northwest suburban Des Plaines and has lived in Uptown for the last 10 years, describing herself as a “proud” policy wonk and nerd.
After more than two decades in health care, she has served as the executive director of public policy for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart since January 2020. Levin pointed to her background and “breadth of experience” as the main reasons why she should succeed Harris.
This person as well…
Apparently word is getting out there that my dear friend Mike Ziri is considering a run for the IL House! All I can say at this point is there is no one I know in IL politics who is kinder, harder working, and has a bigger heart than Mike Ziri. Plus, he's damn smart. pic.twitter.com/jYYUxYdfhD
Candidate for State Representative in Illinois’s 51st House District, Nabeela Syed, announced this morning she has been endorsed by State Representative Theresa Mah.
Rep. Mah shared the following statement with her endorsement: “Nabeela is a driven community organizer who has helped shape winning movements for progressive issues on local and national scales. She has a track record of mobilizing voters, especially young voters and voters of color, which will be critical for our party in 2022. I am proud to give her my endorsement.”
“Representative Mah is a tireless advocate for Illinois families in Springfield and has been a champion on issues including education, economic opportunity, and immigrant rights,” said Syed. “I’m proud and honored to have her support.”
Rep. Mah joins Sen. Ram Villivalam in endorsing Nabeela Syed’s campaign for State House.
*** UPDATE *** Not unexpected…
The Illinois AFL-CIO, representing nearly 900,000 workers and their families across the state, today has thrown its political support behind Nikki Budzinski for Congress in the 2022 election.
The AFL-CIO’s Executive Board voted today to strongly support Budzinski, who has announced her intention to run for the Democratic nomination for the 13th District seat in Congress stretching across central and southern Illinois earlier this summer.
Budzinski, a native of Peoria, has devoted her professional life to fighting for working families and the middle class since graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her grandfather was a union painter, and her grandmother was a public school teacher. She interned for former Congressman Dick Gephardt, former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, and for Planned Parenthood.
Budzinski has served as Political Representative for the International Association of Fire Fighters, Associate Director for Legislative and Political Action for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and as senior advisor to Gov. J.B. Pritzker on labor issues. She left her role as chief of staff to President Joe Biden’s budget office earlier this year to run for Congress.
She has lined up an impressive list of endorsements for the 13th District seat in short order, from unions representing electrical and communications workers, transit workers and firefighters to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, and a number of Illinois federal and state elected officials.
Budzinski promises to put working families first in Congress, through a $15 an hour federal minimum wage, a federal tax credit for families with children, and stronger health care, prescription drug and job training programs.
The new 13th District, reconstructed after the 2020 Census and recently approved by the state Legislature, is expected to stretch from the Metro East near St. Louis along Interstate 55 through parts of Springfield, then east through Decatur and to Champaign in central Illinois.
“This was an easy decision for our board because Nikki Budzinski is a true, proven champion for working families,” said Tim Drea, Illinois AFL-CIO President. “At a time when our nation’s politics are so polarized, we know Nikki will put working and middle-class families first and always be a voice for investing in the workforce that drives our country’s success. We look forward to supporting her candidacy in 2022 and working closely with her to put Illinois on the right track in Washington.”
Budzinski said the AFL-CIO endorsement is a major boost to her efforts to put working families first in Congress.
“I am truly honored to be endorsed by the Illinois AFL-CIO in my campaign for Illinois’ 13th Congressional district. I am proud to have spent my career working on behalf of working people; fighting for a $15 minimum wage, paid sick time, safe working conditions and retirement security. The labor movement built the middle class and that is why in Congress I will proudly support the Pro Act, to strengthen a worker’s right to have a voice in the workplace. I look forward to partnering with the Illinois AFL-CIO to deliver results for working families when I am elected to Congress,” Budzinski said.
(A) significant drop in unfunded liability was recorded in FY 2021, largely thanks to exceptionally strong investment performances by all the five systems. This allowed the combined unfunded liability to decrease by $14.3 billion, a 9.9% decline from the previous year, to $130.0 billion. During the recent 15- year period, there were only three times that the unfunded liability decreased from the previous year: in FY 2011 (-2.9%), FY 2017 (-0.5%) and FY 2021.
One, the COGFA figures are based on the market value of pension-fund assets. In other words, they’re not blended or otherwise averaged over five years, as often is the case with such reporting.
Caveat two is that, just like almost any other investor with half a brain, the state funds enjoyed “exceptional” returns on invested capital in fiscal 2021, earning 22.9% to 25.2%. That’s way, way above their assumed rate or return of 6.5% to 7%.
Beyond that, some years in the recent past had unusual bumps, making the new figures look relatively good in comparison. And even with the booming return on investment, the state still is contributing roughly $2 billion a year less than the amount it is actuarially required to reach its eventual full funding.
Ergo, concludes Civic Federation President Lauarence Msall, the new COGFA figures “are not a trend. It’s a data point in the market.”
He continues, “It’s not bad news. But it’s only one data point.”
It may not be a trend, it may be just one data point, it may be a complete fluke, but you gotta take what you can get in this world, so I’ll take it.
* Publications like the Free Beacon are known for taking oppo that others probably don’t want. But considering the claims made by Darren Bailey this week more than just implying that Jesse Sullivan is a Democratic plant, well, it’s at least worth a look before it becomes a regular primary campaign talking point…
A venture capitalist running in Illinois’s Republican gubernatorial primary is a relative newcomer to the right. Fifteen years ago, Jesse Sullivan founded a self-described “social justice” magazine that has defended riots and abortion.
Sullivan, a political neophyte who ran a San Francisco-based nonprofit before launching his gubernatorial bid in early September, founded the magazine One World in 2006 while a student at St. Louis University. The publication had financial support from left-wing groups like the Center for American Progress, whose Goal Was To “counter the growing influence of right-wing groups on campus.” In the years that followed, One World published articles Dismissing riots in Ferguson, Mo., as the work of “a few troublemakers” amid “an entire crowd.” Four years later, in 2018, the magazine Expressed Support for the “legal right to choose” to have an abortion. […]
A Sullivan campaign spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon that the Illinois Republican founded the publication “when he was in college doing humanitarian work,” though Sullivan remained on One World‘s masthead as the magazine’s “visionary” long after his graduation. His campaign says that role came with “zero involvement or editorial oversight.” At the same time, Sullivan appears to have remained involved with the magazine, headlining its 10-year anniversary celebration in 2016. A campaign spokesman said he spoke at the event “as a courtesy.”
“The suggestion that Jesse agrees with the viewpoints of a magazine he has had nothing to do with, is laughable,” Sullivan’s campaign said in a statement. “Let’s get back to the issues at hand and leave the cancel culture to the liberals and political hacks.”
His problem is he’s an unknown quantity who kicked off his campaign by fudging his “military” background. I dunno what to believe now. Also, there’s this from Sullivan’s LinkedIn page…
So, he claims to have been the CEO for five years. Yeah, OK, but he was in college when he founded it and it’s been ten years since he left the group. I dunno.
Who is Jesse Sullivan? A guy I went to college with wants to become Governor of Illinois. He’s got the look. He’s got money from the tech bros. But what he doesn’t have is a pedigree in being a Republican.
It’s like he was kidnapped and transformed into a GOP Manchurian candidate out of central casting in Ripon, Wisconsin.
Thankfully, those of us who knew him back when aren’t alone. Jesse Sullivan, social justice warrior king of St. Louis U. as a Republican? I would have known him if he were a Republican. I helped run the College Republicans on campus and in the state. This transformation is about as legitimate if Shoeless Joe Jackson walked out of a [expletive deleted] cornfield wearing a Red Sox uniform.
Maybe tech money does corrupt. Ask JD Vance.
Perhaps somebody in Illinois should ask him about his views on Donald Trump? Or Mitt Romney? Or John McCain?
Beware of posers. Jesse Sullivan is a poser.
…Adding… Gary Rabine…
Republican Governor candidate Jesse Sullivan needs to answer the growing number of questions about his Republican credentials as he seeks to be head of the Illinois Republican Party. In the last several days it has surfaced that until recently he has been aligned a with far-left publication, politically active in Democratic campaigns and has not voted or supported the Party’s presidential nominee since at least 2004. (voted for Obama, but not Trump). Crashing your parent’s car is something you can blame on youth–aligning with the socialist elements of the Democratic Party until right before you decide to run for the Republican nomination for Governor is something else. We don’t need a fake Republican as our nominee.
* If you’ve contributed to Lutheran Social Services of Illinois during our December fundraising drive, thanks. If not, please click here. Follow along with ScribbleLive…
