The centennial DuQuoin State Fair kicks off today.
Illinois Director of Agriculture Jerry Costello tells Brownfield the department is celebrating 100 years in several ways throughout the fair, but he will personally celebrate the same way he has every year since he was a kid.
“My great-grandmother would always get Malone’s Taffy and she passed away over a decade ago. So, every year that I am at the DuQuoin State Fair I buy Malone’s Taffy and put a piece on her grave after the fair, because that is something we always did together.”
Costello says the fair is a great economic driver for southern Illinois and another exhibition opportunity for ag youth.
* Press Release…
The Du Quoin State Fair along with Governor JB Pritzker announced today that members of the Hayes family will serve as the Grand Marshals for the Du Quoin State Fair Twilight Parade. Carole Hayes Hill and Jane Hayes Rader will represent the family.
The Fair started back in the spring of 1923 when a group of successful and ambitious Du Quoin business leaders under the leadership of horse breeder William R. Hayes came up with an idea to sponsor an event that would attract people from all over Southern Illinois. Several of the business leaders also owned horses and needed a convenient place for them to compete. Not shy about making big claims even from the very start, the group called it “The Du Quoin State Fair” because they wanted it to become as nice, as attractive, and as well accepted in the area as the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. And that happened quickly — crowds were estimated at 50,000 to 60,000 in the first few years of the Fair during the 1920s.
“Southern Illinois has a long history of visionaries marketing the uniqueness of the region,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “In celebrating 100 years of the Du Quoin State Fair, we are recognizing the foresight of William R. Hayes in the creation of these historic grounds. I’m proud to continue investing in this Southern Illinois treasure.”
“We are thrilled to highlight 100 years of the Du Quoin State Fair,” said Josh Gross, Du Quoin State Fair Manager. “Without the initial support and investment by the Hayes family, we would not be Celebrating a Century today.”
The Grandstand entertainment this year features several well-known names in country music headlining shows, as well as the “I Love The 90’s Tour” featuring Montell Jordan, Tone Loc, Young MC and Rob Base. Jeff Foxworthy is also scheduled to appear and there will be two nights of dirtcar racing.
Other special events include the queen contest, lip sync battle, beard contest, washer and cornhole tournaments, not-so-newlywed show, backseat driving contest, and much more.
A variety of other attractions include the twilight parade, high school marching band contest, various carnival rides, craft vendors and food vendors.
* The Question: Have you ever been to the Du Quoin State Fair? If so, tell us about it. If not, maybe tell us why.
* Last week, Darren Bailey reported raising just $1,000. This week, he’s reported $26,000 in contributions, including $1K from state GOP Chair Don Tracy and his spouse. If Bailey keeps up that blistering pace, he’ll raise another $300,000 by election day. By contrast, state House Democratic candidate Sharon Chung reported $119,800 in cash receipts this week.
Republican Mark Curran faces Democratic Judge Elizabeth Rochford in the race. As you know, a lawsuit has been filed to strike down the Illinois statute barring out of state and dark money contributions to judicial races. But it’s always possible, I guess, that Leonard Leo could take some of that $1.6 billion from Chicago businessperson Barre Seid and spend it on independent expenditures here. Leo has displayed a keen interest in state court races.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker visited Charleston on Thursday at the Charleston Carnegie Public Library on his way down to the DuQuoin State Fair.
While Pritzker was at the library, an event hosted by the Coles County Democrats, Pritzker urged Democrats in Coles County to vote in the upcoming general election because of what the future may look like for Democrats following the election.
“I’m so excited for this election because I know we can win, but it’s going to be a fight,” Pritzker said. “… Hate is on the ballot in Illinois this year. Hate has no place in Illinois.”
Charleston native Kim Miller, who was among the Bailey supporters, said she was motivated to turn out in protest by several concerns, including her opposition to abortion and to school sex education programs that promote gender transition medical measures to students. She added, “Those young people are vulnerable at that stage in life.”
Miller said she also has safety concerns about the criminal justice reform SAFE-T Act, particularly a provision that limits officers responding to criminal trespass incidents to issuing citations instead of being able to remove the trespasser. In addition, Miller said she disagrees with Pritzker’s COVID-19 closures of schools and the subsequent masking requirements for returning students.
“If we don’t stand up for our kids, what kind of nation are we leaving them,” Miller said.
Frustration with the state’s COVID-19 response was also voiced by The Body Club owner James Di Naso from Charleston when he stood up from his chair inside the banquet hall and shouted, “You shut down my gym during COVID,” as Pritzker began his remarks at the Coles County Democrats gathering. Di Naso was then removed from the banquet hall by some of the attendees around him.
* From Dan Proft’s PAC…
IL State Rep. La Shawn Ford (D) joined Dan & Amy’s Chicago radio show this morning with an interesting perspective on the People Who Play By The Rules PAC “Summer Of Joy” ad controversy: the most offensive thing of all was Lightfoot’s comments on the ad, specifically regarding “darker” skin being somehow “bad.”
..
Transcript beginning at ~8:43AM CST 8/25/2022 on AM 560 WIND Chicago:
Proft: “So what about that, what about the assertion that Lightfoot made?”
Ford: “Well I mean of course we live in America, people can make assertions all they want. I’ve been in politics for over 15 years and it’s the job of the opponent to put out ads that they see and as a candidate, I mean, you have to have tough skin if you’re in politics especially if you’re playing at the level of mayor. And I really really think that you have to pick your battles and this is not the battle that I think we need to be focusing on as a negative. I don’t need anybody saying the darker you look, the more dangerous you are. That’s bad. And so I find it offensive that we focus on saying that that’s an ugly vision of a person because that person is darker.
Proft: That’s what Lori Lightfoot said.
Ford: ”Yeah, that’s what I mean. I find…it takes us back. You know, in America where you have images of black people that have, you know…people have been discriminated because of darker skin, and so even if you had intentions on whatever, you pick your battles, and to say that because you made me [Lightfoot] darker, that means ‘I’m scary to white people.’ That’s not right. And so what we need to do is embrace all colors.
“You can’t expect your opponent to put you in the best light when they’re trying to defeat you. I know this. You know, so you’re not going to give her best image for ads that you’re trying to convey a message. Now, if you’re trying to convey a message that she’s darker than she is, and that makes her bad, then that’s your prerogative, but I don’t see how being darker makes the Mayor of the city of Chicago threatening to white suburbia.”
Proft: “It’s also so ridiculous because it’s like, everybody knows who she is and what her skin color is, this is not like a controversy, it’s not the topic of discussion which is why I can never even conceive of this allegation being made. This is like JB Pritzker arguing about being presented as ‘fat’ on screen, like ‘Oh no you know you got me from the wrong angle, you made me look fat’ I mean it’s just…everybody knows the physical characteristics of people who have been omnipresent in our lives particularly because of the every other day press conferences we had for two years during the pandemic, so it’s just silliness to suggest that I’m now I’m introducing a figure that people don’t know anything about in order to ’scare’ people.”
Ford: “Right. Let me tell you, and this is the truth, whether you’re a white person or black person, when you go into your Secretary of State office, go take a passport picture, and go do anything, everyone wants their picture to look pretty accurate and even in hands to make them look better. But you don’t come out against the color of your skin when it could really make a person that color be offended. I mean, the color you had her in, is just a little shade darker than me, and so we cannot play…even if you are offended you have to have thicker skin to avoid that issue, I mean, you just can’t do it.”
Amy: “Do you think the black community is upset at all with this ad?”
Ford: “You know, I don’t think so. So I don’t think the black community is upset, I mean we’ve seen, when I think about ads that have been put forth, I’ve seen ads of white people darkened too…I’ve seen it happen. Now, we know that there is such thing as racism, and there’s such thing as you know in society that you want to make people look scary…you know I mean just gotta have tough skin and pick your battles and this is not one that you go into to highlight, to make it you [Lightfoot] as a person confirming that ‘because I’m darker, I’m scarier’…that’s her confirming that because she’s darker, she’s scarier. She validated…even if you had intentions on making that assumption, she validated it. And that’s offensive.”
…
They went on to debate the merits of the highly controversial SAFE-T Act through the top of the hour.
* The Daily Herald looks at campaign contributions made by Richard Uihlein this cycle…
• State Sen. Dan McConchie of Hawthorn Woods, whose campaign received $277,137.
• Kane County treasurer candidate Chris Lauzen of Aurora, who received $15,000.
• DuPage County Board candidate Annette Corrigan of Wheaton, whose campaign received $2,500.
• Lake County sheriff candidate Mark Vice II of Round Lake, who got $3,000.
A recent audit of the Illinois Treasurer’s office shows several accounts understated $1.6 billion.
The report from the Auditor General for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2021, said testing of financial statements show uncorrected duplicate deposits between the treasurer’s office and the office of the Illinois Comptroller.
“It was determined only the duplicate deposit portion of the reconciling items would have been double counted in the available cash balance reported by the [comptroller],” the report said.
The report was released in June and said state law requires financial reporting to be “properly recorded and accounted for to permit the preparation of accounts and reliable financial and statistical reports to maintain accountability over the State’s resources.” […]
State Rep. Tom Demmer, R-Dixon, who is challenging Frerichs in the November election, advocates to combine the treasurer and comptroller offices.
“But one thing that’s concerning with this I think is that after the auditor general has laid out, again, a repeat audit finding, repeated from last year, we only get a cursory explanation,” Demmer told The Center Square.
* Ma’am, it’s Du Quoin, not DeQuoin….
Illinois Republican U.S. Senate nominee Kathy Salvi will attend the following upcoming public events as she campaigns throughout Illinois. […]
Tuesday, August 30:
12:00pm CT: Kathy Salvi will participate in Republican Day at the DeQuoin State Fair.
Location:
DeQuoin State Fairgrounds
655 Executive Drive
DeQuoin, IL
…Adding… MISO says there have been no brownouts anywhere in its territory this summer, contrary to Darren Bailey’s claims of a brownout in his district…
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, is the federally-regulated regional transmission organization that serves 15 states including most of Illinois outside of the Chicago area.
The grid operator told me they had no knowledge of any “brownouts,” which is a term it does not use.
“As of Friday, August 26, MISO has been in normal operating conditions for the entire month,” a spokesperson said. “None of our emergency operating conditions this summer have resulted in power interruptions.”
* More…
* Pritzker preaches policy priorities to packed UI crowd: “They want to distract us into believing that gay marriage, and Black history, Disney World, and library books are somehow more of a threat to our lives than AR-15s and ghost guns,” Pritzker said. “We are not going to let anyone put the LGBTQ+ community back into a closet. We won’t let anyone take away the civil rights and economic rights owed to our Black and Brown citizens. And we are never, ever going back on a woman’s right to choose.”
* The Sun-Times has been constantly hyping tiny increases in hospitalizations and ignoring smallish dips during a long and relatively flat period, but now they’re clearly down, so we’ll see what the paper does with this…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 24,297 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 82 deaths since August 19, 2022.
According to the CDC, 33 counties are now rated at High Community Level for COVID-19. An additional 48 counties in Illinois are now rated at Medium Community Level.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 3,670,258 cases, including 34,677 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois since the beginning of the pandemic.
As of last night, 1,310 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19 [1,434 reported last Friday]. Of those, 158 patients were in the ICU and 59 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators. The preliminary seven-day statewide case rate is 191 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 Illinoisans.
IDPH Director Sameer Vohra is urging all Illinoisans to get up to date on vaccinations and booster shots as the best defense against hospitalization and more serious outcomes from COVID-19. A second booster shot is recommended for all individuals over the age of 50 four months after they have received their first booster. In addition, he is reminding parents and guardians to get children vaccinated. IDPH is supporting an education and outreach campaign by the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics to educate healthcare providers and parents about the effectiveness and safety of the newly authorized vaccines for children under 5. Click HERE to view the resources for families
The counties in Illinois listed at High Community Level are Adams, Boone, Carroll, Champaign, Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Franklin, Gallatin, Hardin, Henderson, Jackson, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Lawrence, Lee, Marion, Marshall, Massac, Perry, Pike, Pope, Saline, Stephenson, Vermilion, Wabash, Washington, Whiteside, Williamson, and Winnebago.
The CDC recommends the following measures for people in areas that are rated at High Community Level for COVID-19 transmission:
• Wear a well-fitting mask indoors in public, regardless of vaccination status (including in K-12 schools and other indoor community settings)
• If you are immunocompromised or high risk for severe disease
o Wear a mask or respirator that provides you with greater protection
o Consider avoiding non-essential indoor activities in public where you could be exposed
o Talk to your healthcare provider about whether you need to take other precautions
o Have a plan for rapid testing if needed (e.g., having home tests or access to testing)
o IF YOU TEST POSITIVE: Talk to your healthcare provider about whether you are a candidate for treatments like oral antivirals, and monoclonal antibodies
• If you have household or social contact with someone at high risk for severe disease
o consider self-testing to detect infection before contact
o consider wearing a mask when indoors with them
• Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters
• Maintain improved ventilation throughout indoor spaces when possible
• Follow CDC recommendations for isolation and quarantine, including getting tested if you are exposed to COVID-19 or have symptoms of COVID-19
At the Medium Community Level, persons who are elderly or immunocompromised (at risk of severe outcomes) are advised to wear a mask in indoor public places. In addition, they should make sure to get up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines or get their 2nd booster, if eligible.
IDPH has been supporting pharmacies and healthcare providers in efforts to increase their inventories of the various FDA-authorized treatments. There are over 1,200 treatment locations in Illinois - including all the major retail pharmacies. More than 96.7% of the state’s population is within a 10-mile radius of one of these locations.
A total of 23,213,858 vaccines have been administered in Illinois. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 6,728 doses. Since August 19, 47,094 doses were reported administered in Illinois. Of Illinois’ total population, more than 77% has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, more than 69% of Illinois’ total population is fully vaccinated, and more than 54% of the vaccinated population has an initial booster according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data indicates that the risk of hospitalization and severe outcomes from COVID-19 is much higher for unvaccinated people than for those who are up to date on their vaccinations. All data are provisional and are subject to 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. The federal government has established a new website that provides an all-purpose toolkit with information on how to obtain masks, treatment, vaccines and testing resources for all areas of the country at: https://www.covid.gov/.
The median U.S. pension fund lost 9.7% in the second quarter, according to the Pensions & Investments trade book, and the first quarter was weak as well. Though markets have staged a modest summer comeback, 2022 is shaping up as a reminder of the time bomb embedded in state finances.
The bottom line: Illinois’ major pension systems have nowhere near the money needed to pay promised benefits, despite booking a decade of positive investment results. […]
Governor, where is your grand plan to fix this slow-motion [pension] disaster? As of now, nowhere.
Frank Manzo III had a sound response to the editorial. Click here. And Crain’s has a piece up this week about how to improve the state’s investment returns. Click here.
The State of Illinois HAS taken action to address the state’s pension funding challenges. In 1994, the State passed a 50 year funding plan to bring the systems to 90% funded by 2045, and it has stuck to this plan. There have been steadily increasing payments to the system as Illinois moved further into the plan, adjusting to market swings and actuarial assumption changes by the boards of the systems. Gov. Pritzker also worked with the General Assembly to ensure the state used part of the surplus to pay an additional $500 million into the pension system. Meanwhile, there have been essentially no increases in benefits affecting the liability of the five systems since fiscal year 2003, and payroll costs have fallen far below actuarial expectations. At this point in the funding plan, the state’s annual pension contribution to follow the 1994 plan is expected to remain flat as a percent of the State’s budget before falling off drastically in 2046. The pension payment, while it is a significant percent of the state’s budget, is not expected to grow faster than the rest of the budget. Below from last year’s budget book
* More…
In 2010, the State reduced the pension package offered to new hires. The creation of Tier 2, modifying pension benefits for public employees hired January 1, 2011, and after, significantly lowered the baseline costs of the pensions offered to employees. As of today, nearly HALF of active state employees are Tier 2. Tier 2 also impacted other public sector employees in Illinois, bringing cost savings to local governments as well. Also of note — The ‘normal cost’ for Tier 2 is significantly lower than for Tier 1 employees and is lower than the cost the state would incur to move teachers and university staff into Social Security.
* More…
The Pritzker administration continues to take additional steps to address the State’s unfunded pension liabilities. The State budget committed an additional $300 million to the systems in fiscal year 2022 and another $200 million in fiscal year 2023 in addition to the systems’ certified amounts. This will be the first time since the 1994 funding plan was implemented that additional state revenues will be provided above the certified amounts. These contributions will help pay down the state’s pension debt more quickly and will save taxpayers an estimated $1.8 billion by fiscal year 2045.
In fiscal year 2018, the General Assembly authorized a then three-year plan to reduce the liabilities of the systems by allowing retiring members to sell a portion of the value of their post-retirement cost of living adjustments and allowing inactive employees to buy out of the systems. In 2019, the Governor and the General Assembly extended the sunset date of the program to fiscal year 2024 and extended it again to 2026 in this past spring session. Significant interest in the pilot program has already led to some liability reductions and reductions in needed annual contributions to the systems. The estimated value of the liability reductions for the retirement systems totals $1.4 billion already.
Looking at one quarter of investment returns and declaring ‘the good times are over’ doesn’t make sense. We know markets go up and go down and fluctuations are normal. We have adapted and made our payments. See below for year by year for 10 years of data. A one-quarter low return is hardly a ‘time bomb’
* More…
The State of Illinois retirement systems have more conservative rate of return assumptions than most public pension systems – with rates of return as of the end of FY21 assumed between 6.5%-7%. The systems have moved towards a more conservative portfolio as well to reduce the volatility in the systems’ rates of returns when the market underperforms. Again, one quarter of poor broad market performance is hardly a ‘time bomb’.
* More…
As for the already debunked point that public employees are not part of the Social Security system, for the three major state systems (SERS, SURS and TRS), most SERS employees DO participate in Social Security. However, teachers and university staff do not participate in Social Security. Which means that not only are these employees not paying the 6.2% from their paychecks into Social Security (and in fact, are paying a higher number directly to TRS or SURS), the state/employer is not making the employer contribution of 6.2% to Social Security either. The cost to the state/school districts/universities to have Tier 2 employees join Social Security would be a cost greater than the normal cost of a year of service for these employees (the marginal value of an extra year of service). Together employees and employers would have to contribute 12.4% of salary to Social Security, payments that are not being paid now.
* The Illinois Public Safety and Violence Prevention task force met yesterday to share information and discuss strategies to prevent hate crimes. State Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) said the meeting comes after many of those groups requested help from the state. WGEM…
The Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes is looking into the possibility of creating a statewide hate crimes and bias incident hotline. Illinois Human Rights Director Jim Bennett said Thursday that the hotline would be separate from reporting to law enforcement.
Bennett explained the new hotline could help victims of hate crimes and bias incidents talk with an expert on the other phone line. He also believes it could be a great opportunity to get people connected with agencies and local groups that people turn to when they are facing a crisis. […]
The commission is also recommending that the state create a grant program to help organizations connect with the helpline and develop more services to assist victims of hate crimes. They would also like to educate law enforcement about how to respond to hate crimes and create a continuing education course for state attorneys, public defenders, and judges.
Bennett told the Illinois House Public Safety and Violence Prevention Task Force that commission members would like to see a data collection and analysis hub for hate crimes and bias incidents. Experts across the country know hate crimes are underreported, even in Illinois.
* Anti-Defamation League Director David Goldenberg told lawmakers antisemitic incidents in Illinois have increased by 430 percent since 2016…
* Equality Illinois’ Director of Public Policy Mike Ziri said there has been an increase of Illinois LGBTQ students reporting harassment in school over the past year…
State Rep. Patrick Windhorst, R-Metropolis, a member of the task force, told The Center Square that the state needs to address past policies and reforms and increase the penalties on offenders if they hope to stop hate crimes.
“I believe if we are determined to deter these types of crimes, we need to make sure there are significant consequences for those who engage in this type of activity,” Windhorst said.
Windhorst said that the SAFE-T Act and eliminating cash bail will not help the issues.
“With the SAFE-T Act and the Pre Trial Fairness Act, it appears to me that the offense of hate crime is not a detainable offense through trial,” Windhorst said. “If an individual is arrested for a hate crime, they will be released within 48 hours.”
[Added by Rich Miller: Rep. Windhorst did not make his comments during the hearing, when they could have been rebutted.]
* Ryan Green and Austin Berg talk about the messaging behind efforts to stop Gov. Pritzker’s 2020 graduated income tax constitutional amendment…
“What we found was that framing the progressive tax as an attack on retirement incomes — which it would allow for — really moved voters across age demographics and across both political spectrums,” Green says.
“Politicians we don’t trust are going to get this new power. And what are they going to do with it? They might come after your retirement income. That unlocked a very powerful aspect of certainty which combated the fairness message,” Berg says.
Legislators could tax retirement incomes right now if they wanted, so that’s an expectedly disingenuous statement, but it (and other things) worked. And Treasurer Frerichs’ infamous comment surely didn’t help matters much.
On Sunday, Bailey appeared on stage during a service with Pastor Brian Phillips at his church, the Grove Fellowship in Poplar Grove.
“We have officially worshipped with you as much as we’ve worshipped at our home church,” Bailey told Phillips in front of his congregation.
Above the pulpit was a graphic on a screen featuring a line from the Old Testament of the Bible saying “The Lord is a Man of War,” next to a symbol of “The Punisher” — a popular Marvel Comics character that has been appropriated by far-right militia groups like the Proud Boys.
“The Lord is a man of war but he deals with the spirits of evil in heavenly places,” Phillips said during the service, standing next to both Darren Bailey and his wife, Cindy Bailey.
Bailey has appeared at multiple campaign events with Phillips. He sounded similar ominous tones during his presentation Aug. 21.
“We’re at war,” Bailey told the congregants. “But we have everything we need to win, and it’s up to what we say, what we do, where we go, how we interact.”
Phillips was at former President Donald Trump’s [Stop the Steal] rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. He is seen in Facebook Live video shot by fellow Rockford-area Pastor Steve Cassell. Both Baileys have also campaigned with Cassell and have delivered a guest sermon at Cassell’s church, called Beloved Church, in Lena, Illinois.
In a statement to Playbook, Bailey said: “I’ve said that Jan. 6 was a dark day for America. It was extremely upsetting and those who broke the law should be held accountable. But questions about it are an effort to inject national politics into a race that should be all about fixing Illinois.”
A person close to Bailey’s campaign said neither of the pastors is employed by the campaign and they weren’t part of the attack, just the protest.
It’s been two steps forward, one step back for Bailey. Like Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican in a Blue state who snagged a Donald Trump endorsement, Bailey has focused his energy on talking about kitchen table issues and not the former president. That proved a winning strategy for Youngkin, who was elected in 2021.
What Youngkin didn’t do was hang out with Jan. 6 minions. Meanwhile, Bailey has more than once aligned himself with “stop-the-steal” acolytes.
I don’t think I agree with the claim that Bailey has focused his energy on kitchen table issues.
Billionaire Ken Griffin revealed in these pages that he pitched Pritzker with a plan to move public employees into the federal Social Security system (they currently don’t participate).
Teachers and university employees don’t participate in Social Security, but most other public employees do, including state employees. We covered this a couple weeks ago.
We’ll have more on this goofy editorial later today.
…Adding… Frank Manzo III in comments…
Problems with the Editorial:
1. Only certain public employees in Illinois don’t receive Social Security, as Rich mentioned.
2. The Editorial Board says the state’s five pension funds “have just 42.4% of the needed funds” but, as the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability notes, “a more realistic valuation of the true financial position of the State retirement systems would be based upon the market value of the assets” and that was at 46.5%. Not a huge difference, but still a more accurate number which an Editorial Board may be better off using.
https://cgfa.ilga.gov/Upload/1121%20SPECIAL%20PENSION%20BRIEFING.pdf
3. It’s a little shortsighted. The Editorial acknowledges that pensions produced a 7.8% annualized gain from 2011 through 2021. Do they think the market was positive every single year in there? Because the stock market declined in calendar year 2018. It also fell very far in 2020, as we may remember. Then something crazy happened both times: it rebounded. The Editorial’s doom-and-gloom almost acts as if this year’s dip is here to stay forever. But the market will rebound. (If it doesn’t, we have far bigger problems than just public pensions.) And there is no real reason to assume that the long-term annualized rate of return from 2022-2032 will be dramatically lower than the 2011-2021 rate of 7.8%.
4. The Editorial doesn’t mention the $500 million in supplemental contributions that the State is making to pensions. Why? Maybe mention it as a good example of paying down debt and encourage more of it every year after.
5. The point that a “federal bailout” would be “unfair to the rest of the country”… First, there’s no serious proposal to do this as far as I am aware, so it is a canard. Second, our neighbor Kentucky (as an example) has a similar pension problem too, so it’s not like Illinois would be the only state to gain if something like that ever did happen. Third, smaller states like Virginia, Maryland, and Arizona get billions more in Department of Defense spending annually than Illinois. Illinois is the 5th largest economy but gets the 19th most military spending. Does the Tribune think that is “unfair” to its home state? Obviously, that’s just one example, but the “unfair” claim can be made about a lot (but not all) federal policies from which Illinois benefits far less.
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2819472/dod-releases-report-on-defense-spending-by-state-in-fiscal-year-2020/
Look, the median age of an Illinois resident is about 38 years old. That means the typical person living in the state was 10 years old when the Pension Ramp was passed in 1994. The majority of people living in the state (and a huge chunk of voters) were either not alive or not old enough to vote back then. We didn’t create the Ramp or the underfunded pensions, but we are the ones who are going to make full pension payments and solve this problem so it doesn’t carry on to our children.
* More about the Farm Bureau’s candidate forum from Mike Miletich…
Senate candidates also had their chance to speak with farmers about their plans to improve the quality of life and business for farm families. Republican Kathy Salvi told farmers that she wants to be the go-to person in the Senate for agribusiness. Salvi claimed that Democratic policies like the Inflation Reduction Act will devastate farms and small businesses in Illinois. She also argued the country needs to stop having a top-down government model that intrudes on families and farmers.
“We just want to be free to be able to run our homes, and our businesses, and our farms ourselves,” Salvi said. “We don’t need Big Brother telling us how to do it, to overregulate our small businesses and our farms.”
However, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) explained she personally fought to include $500 million in the Inflation Reduction Act for biofuel production. Duckworth feels the country should continue to lead by using cleaner fuel that comes from corn and soybeans grown in the Midwest. […]
Duckworth said she is optimistic about the 2023 farm bill, partially because of work done for the Inflation Reduction Act.
“We put a lot of environmental stuff in there, so the environmental groups are really pretty happy with us right now,” Duckworth said. “I think that takes the pressure off trying to make the farm bill an environmental bill when it shouldn’t be. It should be an ag bill.”
Agricultural groups are closely watching a U.S. Supreme Court case involving Waters of the U.S., or WOTUS.
The case centers on homeowners who were ordered to stop building on a piece of property they owned in Idaho because the wetlands on the property were determined to fall under waters of the U.S. and were protected by the Clean Water Act.
Duckworth urged protecting the environment from farm chemical runoff, but she said there must be trust in farmers.
“Half of them use well water for their own homes, if they poison the ground, they are poisoning their own water. They’re not going to do that,” Duckworth said.
Salvi said water does not need to fall under federal regulation.
“To expand the definition of a field that can be EPA regulated to that particular farm parcel, it puts a vice over that farmer’s ability to run their business,” Salvi said.
As Granite City residents prepare for a pending plan to end steel production in the city, which will cost the area nearly 1,000 jobs, officials are making contingency plans. One such plan is to work toward bringing new businesses to Granite City, and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said in a press conference Monday she has spoken with global appliance company LG Corp. about establishing itself in the region. “I recently was in Taiwan and South Korea where I had conversations with Samsung and LG and S.K. and one of those organizations, LG, has been really interested in coming to Illinois, especially this part of Illinois, because of our proximity to the Mississippi and the availability of sending goods and services down the Mississippi, where they like the fact that Illinois can be carbon neutral in terms of the energy that we have,” Duckworth said.
Former Vice President Mike Pence was in Chicago on Wednesday to headline a fundraiser for Illinois House Republican leader Jim Durkin.
It was exclusive: The event was hosted by DRW trading firm’s Don Wilson and drew a small group of high-level GOP donors, according to a person in the room. […]
Durkin has headed House Republicans for nearly a decade and is expected to run again for the post in January.
Still, there’s already been some angling to find a challenger to head the party. The thinking is that it’s time to think for a successor.
Sharks in the water. There’s talk that someone could challenge Durkin. One name that’s popped up is Republican state Rep. Tim Ozinga. Asked by Playbook if he’s running, Ozinga hedged: “Right now, all of my energy is focused on getting Republicans in the state legislature out of the super minority.”
* Press release…
Today, the Human Rights Campaign PAC (HRC PAC) announced its endorsement of nine additional pro-equality candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives running for election in 2022.
U.S. House Candidates Endorsed by HRC Today:
Jevin Hodge (AZ-1)
Delia Ramirez (IL-3)
Nikki Budzinski (IL-13)
Eric Sorensen (IL-17) […]
Human Rights Campaign Interim President Joni Madison released the following statement:
“The Human Rights Campaign is proud to endorse pro-equality candidates who will promote and defend LGBTQ+ equality in the U.S. House of Representatives. At a time when the LGBTQ+ community faces relentless attacks from extremist elected officials across the country, we know that this diverse group of candidates will be champions for equality and freedom.”
“These leaders have continuously expressed their commitment to standing up for equality. Once elected, we are confident that they will stand up for their constituents, and all Americans.”
Today, on Ukrainian Independence Day, numerous individual leaders within the Ukrainian American diaspora in Illinois announced their strong support for Congressman Krishnamoorthi, thanking him for his work to bolster Ukraine’s defenses in the U.S. Congress and for his strong presence in the Ukrainian American community throughout the City of Chicago and Illinois.
“Today marks the 31st anniversary of Ukrainian Independence from Soviet Union oppression,” said Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (U.S. House Intelligence Committee, Congressional Ukrainian Caucus). “But this year, we celebrate with a heavy heart as our friends and allies in Ukraine continue to battle against Russia’s vicious, imperialistic invasion. I remain committed to standing with Ukraine, supporting the Ukrainian American diaspora in Illinois, and am honored to be declared the preferred candidate in this race based on my track record of advocacy to bolster Ukraine’s defenses during this immense time of need.”
“Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has been a strong supporter of US assistance to Ukraine in the brutal, unprovoked war with Russia,” said Marta Farion, Vice President of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), Illinois Division, member of national board of UCCA, and President of the Kyiv Mohyla University Foundation of America. “Ukrainian Americans appreciate all that he has been doing in Congress to ensure Ukraine has the means to defend herself from the aggressor.”
“Congressman Krishnamoorthi must be given recognition for his outspoken position regarding the unprecedented and continuous Russian attacks on Ukraine,” said Maria Korkatsch-Groszko, Ph.D., UCCA treasurer, Professor Emerita, Northeastern Illinois University; and Commissioner, Illinois Holocaust & Genocide Commission. “He has openly characterized the targeted killing of Ukrainian civilians, elected leaders and the mass assassination of political dissidents as criminal and in violation of international law. He is firm in his conviction that, those engaged in these genocidal acts must be accountable for their atrocities. His continued efforts on different levels of support of President Zelensky and his democratically-elected government and the people of Ukraine is much appreciated.”
“I had the pleasure of meeting Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi several times at various functions held by the Ukrainian Community,” said Peggy Chryssikos, Community Advocate. “I was touched by his care and concern for the Ukrainian people. I highly endorse Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi on his bid for re-election to Congress in the 8th District.”
* Sen. Darren Bailey at yesterday’s Farm Bureau candidate forum…
But here’s the topic especially on my mind: Skyrocketing energy costs and the fear of brownouts. Illinois [garbled video transmission] but with our power situation the way it is, it’s starting to look like that. I had several counties in my district two weeks ago that went through a three-hour brownout. First time ever. It’s coming. It’s preventable. And it’s got to be addressed.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey slammed Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his allies for laughing off the idea that residents of Illinois might experience brownouts.
On Saturday afternoon, this is exactly what residents of rural Wayne and White Counties had to deal with as they endured a three-hour brownout on July 30.
Brownouts are described as “a period of reduced voltage of electricity caused especially by high demand and resulting in reduced illumination.”
“We were warned brownouts could be a possibility this summer and those warnings have come true,” Bailey, a state senator from Xenia, said.
Bailey said what is happening is a failure of leadership.
“These brownouts are the direct result of poor leadership and bad policies. JB Pritzker has prioritized his far-Left agenda over the energy needs of Illinois residents. Because of the policies at the federal level and radical initiatives in states like Illinois, there is no incentive for investments in existing power plants and this has resulted in the early closure of power plants, which in turn has resulted in a strain on the power grid. There simply is more demand for power than the amount of power available,” he said.
* So, I asked my associate Isabel Miller to go through the Wayne-White Counties Electric Cooperative’s Facebook page and look for any posts about brownouts. She scrolled back to June and found nothing. Isabel then called the electric coop and spoke to Kandras Kunkel, who said the two counties have not experienced any brownouts this year. Kunkel attributed any power outages to storms or falling trees.
Kunkel also said that the Bailey campaign had called earlier today to ask the very same question.
Bailey said that [CEJA] has led to a threat of brownouts in areas of downstate Illinois that are part of the MISO regional transmission organization that purchases energy capacity for 15 states. MISO representatives, however, testified at a committee hearing earlier this year that the early retirement of out-of-state fossil fuel plants, not the passage of CEJA, led to higher downstate energy prices and warnings of potential brownouts. [Emphasis added]
Sigh.
* Natalie Edelstein at the Pritzker campaign…
From claiming we don’t need any more laws, to falsely hypothesizing about an apocalyptic transition to green energy, it is abundantly clear Darren Bailey lacks the policy knowledge to lead this state. In addition to incorrectly suggesting there were brownouts occurring across the state, Bailey also repeatedly disparaged the city of Chicago, and misquoted Abraham Lincoln. This is not someone who can lead Illinois. Period.
Abraham Lincoln told us that If we ever falter and lose our freedoms, it won’t be from outside forces, it’d be cause we allowed it to happen from within.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
Close enough.
…Adding… Bailey campaign…
We all want a cleaner planet but not at the cost of unaffordable utility bills for families and wrecking our energy grid. Pritzker’s plan is too extreme and is putting communities at risk for brown and blackouts.
For the first time this election season, the two main candidates for Illinois governor Wednesday appeared back-to-back at a downstate agriculture forum, where Republican Darren Bailey still highlighted crime in Chicago and Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker tried to demonstrate he could still connect with farmers despite lacking a rural background.
Amid a backdrop of cornfields and wind turbines on a farm 120 miles south of Chicago, Bailey slammed violence in the city as he has repeatedly done throughout the campaign.
“The things that need to change are the fact that the city of Chicago has become the O.K. Corral with shootouts and homicides every night because people don’t feel safe,” Bailey told a crowd of about 100 people, many of them farmers during the forum in rural McLean County. “It’s real. Especially on the South Side where they’re being ignored.”
Bailey said Illinois has one of the highest estate taxes in the country at a time when some blue states are eliminating it. If elected governor, the millionaire farmer said he would work hard to repeal the estate tax and help farms write off investment costs.
“They steal the sweat equity that we farmers and business people spend a lifetime building,” Bailey said. “The government steals it from our families just to give to Springfield.”
Pritzker’s response to the same question about the state’s $4 million estate tax threshold…
I think it’s totally reasonable for us to have a conversation, especially in light of inflation, about lifting the cap on that so that the exemption is higher than where it is today. It is important that we maintain maintain family farms in our state. This is part of the legacy and history and important future of our state.
Q: With California on the verge of passing a law that would mandate all electric electrical vehicles by 2035 and multiple states are possibly ready to follow, can we have your commitment to ensure that Illinois consumers have the choice in what type of vehicles we drive and we do not follow California’s lead?
A: I had the opportunity to sign on to that pact and didn’t. So that should give you some indicator. Look, do I think we ought to see electrification? Yes, of course, I’ve encouraged that I think it’s a good thing for us to electrify. But it is going to be gradual, it is going to take time. Illinois is not going to snap its fingers and require you to go buy an electric vehicle tomorrow. […]
Q: As Governor, would you support legislation to create statewide controls over the siting of wind or solar projects?
A: No, in fact, I’ve specifically avoided that. I don’t think that’s the way. We’ve got to have a continuous conversation, the one that we’ve been having for years now, between the state and local governments and local control, so that we decide together about siting.
Even when they agreed, though, the two didn’t always play nice. Bailey implied Pritzker would do away with the sales tax exemptions and incentives on seed, feed, fertilizer, and agriculture equipment. He said that would decimate family farms, which already have razor-thin profit margins.
“My opinion is it needs to stay as it is. We feed the world any kind of production business. That’s the way it’s been. That’s the way it needs to stay. But I want to tell you it is under threat. So I hope you ask our governor that exact same question,” said Bailey.
The roundtable did, in fact, ask it.
“I preserved the state tax exemption on agricultural equipment. And as long as I’m governor, no one is going to repeal it,” said Pritzker.
Pritzker continued to tout the $45 billion capital infrastructure bill that includes money for broadband infrastructure and all modes of transportation. It’s a program Bailey opposed while in the General Assembly.
“We’re going to be building our roads and our bridges, and our airports, and our ports all across the state of Illinois so you can more easily get your goods to market across the board,” Pritzker said. “Take note that the majority of the dollars that we’re putting into infrastructure are invested downstate.”
Bailey, meanwhile, continued to assert that state finances can be improved with “zero-based budgeting,” a concept of justifying every dollar spent up front rather than carrying over costs from a previous budget year.
* Claim…
The trust fund billionaire who removed his toilets to avoid paying taxes is now picking up a campaign bus in Tennessee to avoid paying higher taxes and fees. Don’t worry, @JBPritzker, I’ll fight to lower costs so you can support Illinois businesses again. #twill#illinoisfirstpic.twitter.com/YxHnzgjnYh
— Darren Bailey for Governor (@DarrenBaileyIL) August 24, 2022
“It’s an apportioned plate. The state of Illinois collects fees on every mile driven in the state. Bailey should know that if he’s seeking the state’s highest office.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker used the suburbs and a major trade union Wednesday as backdrops to tout his labor-friendly platform and poke his gubernatorial rival, Republican state Sen. Darren Bailey.
“Thanks to your support we’ve transformed Illinois into the most pro-labor state in the nation,” Pritzker told a crowd of workers at the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council offices in Elk Grove Village. It was the Chicago Democrat’s first stop on a statewide “Working Families” five-day bus tour.
Pritzker credited the state’s $45 billion capital plan, which includes tax incentives for data centers, for stimulating the economy and creating jobs in locations like Elk Grove Village.
“But there’s still more to do. This November, a Workers Rights Amendment is on the ballot that would make union organizing a constitutional right and stop Republican efforts to eliminate collective bargaining,” he said.
The unofficial start to campaign season is less than two weeks away, and Illinois’ candidates for governor are starting to ramp up their campaign appearances and, inevitably, their fundraising.
As CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov reported Wednesday, the campaign war chests for Gov. JB Pritzker and state Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) are pretty lopsided right now.
* Bharat Express News…
The unofficial start of the campaign season is less than two weeks away and the candidates for Illinois governor are beginning to ramp up their campaign appearances and, inevitably, their fundraising.
As TBEN 2 political researcher Dana Kozlov reported Wednesday, the campaign war chests for government JB Pritzker and state senator Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) are pretty skewed right now.
Google really needs to do a better job.
…Adding… From some bizarre bot rewrite site called HindiAble…
American politician Darren Bailey is a Republican senator from Illinois’ fifty fifth district. His first day in workplace as president was January 13, 2021, and his closing day will likely be January 11, 2023.
Previous to becoming a member of the Senate, the 109th District Consultant served as Illinois’ consultant within the Illinois Home for one time period. He spent 17 years, the final 12 of which he presided over, on the North Clay college board earlier than changing into a senator.
Bailey is vying for the job of governor of Illinois. He will likely be up for election within the Republican major on June 28, 2022. There are six contenders within the Republican major for governor of Illinois; Darren and Richard Irvin have dominated fundraising and media consideration.
When serving within the state senate, he has additionally burdened his favor for Donald Trump, his help for police enforcement, and his opposition to Governor J.B. Pritzker. Moreover, he has advocated for tax cuts and decrease authorities spending.
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White tested positive for the COVID-19 virus yesterday.
Secretary White has mild symptoms and is conducting work from home while in quarantine. White is double vaccinated and twice boosted. He is following appropriate CDC and IDPH quarantine guidelines.
Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s Department of Public Health Commissioner, has tested positive for COVID, a statement from the department said Thursday.
“Last night, for the first time in the pandemic, I tested positive for COVID-19,” the statement read. “I am experiencing some cold-like symptoms and fever but am otherwise well, which I credit to the fact that I’m fully vaccinated and boosted. I will continue to work from home while following the CDC guidelines for isolation.”
A jury of six women and six men deliberated for about three hours on Tuesday afternoon before finding a former lieutenant at the Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling guilty on five counts in connection with the 2018 death of a 65-year-old inmate.
Todd Sheffler, 54, of Mendon was stoic as he listened to Judge Sue Myerscough read the verdicts in a courtroom inside the U.S. District Courthouse in the Paul Findley Federal Building in downtown Springfield. Two United States Marshals escorted Sheffler from the courtroom and took him to the Sangamon County Jail. He now could face life in prison. […]
Three jurors said it didn’t take long to reach a verdict after hearing three weeks of testimony.
“There was overwhelming evidence that (Earvin) was beaten and that Sheffler was in the room where it happened, whether he did anything or not,” juror Patricia Finnigan of Atlanta, Ill., told John O’Connor of the Associated Press. “He could have stopped it. He was a supervisor. So there was no question.”
A federal grand jury had previously returned an indictment against Sheffler, 54, of Mendon, Ill.; Willie Hedden, 43, of Mt. Sterling, Ill.; and Alex Banta, 31, of Quincy, Ill., in December 2019, charging them with civil rights resulting in bodily injury and death and obstruction charges.
During the jury trial before U.S. District Judge Sue E. Myerscough, the government presented evidence that Sheffler; Hedden, who was a sergeant at the facility; and Banta, who was a correctional officer, participated in the May 17, 2018, assault of Mr. Earvin, 65, during their forcible escort of Mr. Earvin from the residential housing unit of the prison to the segregation housing unit while he was restrained and handcuffed behind his back and while he posed no physical threat to the defendants or other correctional officers. The assault resulted in serious bodily injury to Mr. Earvin, including multiple broken ribs, a punctured mesentery, and other serious internal injuries, and resulted in Mr. Earvin’s death in June 2018. After the assault, all three defendants falsified incident reports that they filed with prison officials and lied to the Illinois State Police by denying any knowledge of or participation in the assault.
Following the trial, Sheffler was convicted of all five charges in the indictment: conspiracy to deprive civil rights and deprivation of civil rights under color of law resulting in bodily injury and death; conspiracy to engage in misleading conduct; obstruction – falsification of a document; and obstruction – misleading conduct.
Sheffler is the second ex-guard convicted in the death of Larry Earvin in May 2018. A separate jury convicted Alex Banta, 31, of similar charges in April. That jury could not reach a verdict on Sheffler, so the government tried him again.
“The defense made a statement about the long, cruel arm of government,” assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene Miller said in his closing statement. “Todd Sheffler violated his training, violated the U.S. Constitution and allowed, participated in and covered up the brutal beating of a 65-year-old man, defenseless, a fellow citizen, handcuffed behind his back and lying on the cold, hard concrete floor. He was the long, cruel arm of government.” […]
“There was overwhelming evidence that he was beaten and that Sheffler was in the room where it happened, whether he did anything or not,” said juror Patricia Finnigan, 60, of Atlanta. “He could have stopped it. He was a supervisor. So there was no question.”
Serving a sentence for theft, Earvin was eligible for parole in four months when he allegedly became belligerent in disobeying a guard’s order to return to his cell at Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling, 249 miles (400 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.
Earvin was just months from his release after serving about three years on a theft charge. His hands were cuffed behind his back when he was beaten by as many as 13 guards in a part of the prison where there were no surveillance cameras, according to court documents.
Earvin, 65, died nearly six weeks after the May 17, 2018, attack in which he was punched, kicked, stomped and jumped on, court records said. […]
The assault resulted in injuries prosecutors said were similar to those resulting from a high-speed car crash. Earvin suffered hemorrhages, lacerations, more than two dozen abrasions, and 15 fractures to his ribs. The injuries resulted in surgeons having to remove part of his colon.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene Miller told the court in April that guards were upset because Earvin was “being difficult” while being returned to a cell.
Darren Bailey is lying to you about a few things. There’s nothing in the [Climate and Equitable Jobs Act] that makes it easier to impose eminent domain. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Q: In the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, there was a provision that would allow the use of eminent domain to take private property for a project that is not a public utility. Do you support giving private companies that are not a public utility the right to use or to take private property?
Bailey: I do not. I have two counties in my Senate district that are affected by that. And I stood on the Senate floor and I said there was a lot of things wrong with this bill. Number one, it forces coal out too early. And number two, it forces natural gas out too early. And number four, it makes our dependency on wind and solar too soon. But I said all that aside, if there’s one reason and one reason alone why I would vote no on this bill, it would be because of the eminent domain clause.
* Pritzker was asked a similar question during the Farm Bureau event yesterday…
Q: In the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, there was a provision that would allow the use of eminent domain to take private property for a project that is not a public utility. Why do you feel that this project, that is not a public utility, should have the right to take private property?
Pritzker: That provision was removed from the bill before it passed. There is not an eminent domain provision in the bill that allows the state to take property under an eminent domain, any more than there was before there was a Climate and Equitable Jobs Act.
Democratic lawmakers at the time said the language, included on page 673 of the public act, applies to the Grain Belt Express, a transmission line owned by the private company Invenergy. The language in the bill states that a project of Grain Belt’s magnitude “shall be deemed” a public use line, giving the company the ability to invoke eminent domain if needed. […]
Pritzker, in his discussion at the forum, incorrectly claimed any eminent domain language was stricken from the bill. Asked by a reporter after the forum about the Grain Belt Express provision, Pritzker said he was “talking about eminent domain broadly.”
“What I heard was eminent domain, and that really got taken out of the CEJA at the very last day,” he said.
Invenergy, meanwhile, has held town halls and said eminent domain would be a last resort with the vast majority of their interactions with property owners ending amicably.
He may have just heard the phrase “eminent domain,” but the question included another part about giving the private project the same status as a public utility.
A new Illinois law could bring the Grain Belt Express project one step closer to construction, according to parent company Invenergy.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed off on a decarbonization and energy regulation bill last week aiming to bring the state’s energy sector to 50 percent renewable by 2040 and carbon-free by 2050. Part of the bill will allow Invenergy to invoke eminent domain for its project and reapply for regulatory approval in the state.
The project was granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity by the Illinois Commerce Commission in 2016, but the order was reversed two years later when an appellate court concluded the commission had erred in approving a non-public utility.
The new bill allows “qualifying direct current projects” delivering clean energy across the state to apply for the same certificate through the end of 2023, a designation Invenergy said the project falls into.
[Many thanks to Isabel for putting much of this post together.]
…Adding… Pritzker campaign…
There was no language in the CEJA that allowed for eminent domain in wind and solar. There was one transmission related project in the bill, but nothing statewide and nothing that allowed for eminent domain in wind and solar projects.
Um, wind and solar projects weren’t mentioned in the question to Pritzker.
* Eric Stock interviewed new Legislative Inspector General Mike McCuskey…
McCuskey said his office has received complaints against 40 state lawmakers and their staffers during his first six months on the job. He said many complaints are so vague there’s nothing to investigate, or they appear to stem from election-year politics. He said none showed wrongdoing.
