It may be the last big gush of money before the numbers shift, but state of Illinois tax revenues absolutely soared last month compared to a year ago.
Personal income tax receipts in April, still the state’s largest tax-paying month, hit $5.440 billion, up 99.9% from the $2.721 billion collected in April 2021.
Corporate income tax growth was also peppy, soaring 63.5%, up from $1.13 billion a year ago to $1.847 billion now.
For the year to date—Illinois’ fiscal year ends June 30—individual income tax receipts are up $3.91 billion, or 18.8%, and corporate income taxes are up $1.973 billion, or 56.5%.
The negative aspect of this robust performance of income tax receipts in FY 2022 is that it will be extremely difficult to repeat. Furthermore, there are several factors that could potentially limit income tax revenue growth entering into FY 2023, including the impact of rising inflation on the economic activity; the lack of repeated federal stimulus dollars; the potential economic impact of additional COVID-19 variants; and the possible fallout of continued geopolitical uncertainty involving Russia and the Ukraine. The Commission has kept these potential mitigating factors in mind when projecting next fiscal year’s revenue estimates. This is why stagnant to negative growth is expected in FY 2023 from income tax related sources, despite the sensational performance of tax receipts in FY 2022. For these reasons, it would not be surprising to see another swing in April receipts in 2023, this time in the negative direction, especially when considering the extraordinary base to which it will be compared.
With two months of the fiscal year remaining, overall base receipts are up an astonishing $5.965 billion. Much of this growth is due to personal income taxes being up $3.910 billion, or $3.284 billion on a net basis. However, because next month’s personal income tax revenues will be compared to May 2021 figures containing delayed final payments, a notable revenue reduction in May 2022 revenues should be anticipated. Therefore, it will not be until May’s revenues are included that a more “apples to apples” comparison of year-to-date fiscal year totals of personal tax receipts can be made. Last year’s April to May tax deadline delay did not impact corporate income tax receipts. This makes the corporate income tax growth of $1.973 billion (or $1.529 billion net) thru April even more impressive, especially when considering FY 2022 totals are being compared to FY 2021 receipts that benefitted from two sets of final tax payments.
Sales tax receipts continue to improve on its stellar year, now up $852 million on a net basis. The remaining State tax revenue sources are down a combined $22 million thru April. Overall transfers continue to rise above last year’s levels and are now up $472 million. A $39 million reduction in refund fund transfers has been offset by increases in other areas, including $354 million in gains from miscellaneous transfers; $121 million from the return of casino transfers and related proceeds; and $36 million in lottery transfer increases.
Federal sources, when not including the revenues from the ARPA Reimbursement for Essential Government Services, are $150 million below last year’s levels with two months of the fiscal year remaining. [If the $439 million of ARPA money that has been receipted in FY 2022 is included, total federal sources are up $289 million].
Attorney General Kwame Raoul today joined a multistate coalition of eight attorneys general urging President Biden to fully cancel federal student loan debt owed by every federal student loan borrower in the country. The coalition urges the president to immediately exercise his authority under the Higher Education Act to cancel the more than $1.7 trillion owed to the federal government by student borrowers.
“Without action, the student loan crisis will continue to get worse, stifling economic activity and weighing down families with mountains of debt that they cannot afford to repay,” Raoul said. “While long-term reforms to the student loan system are desperately needed, I urge the Biden administration to take action that will provide immediate relief to student loan borrowers.”
In their letter, Raoul and the coalition argue that a full cancelation of student debt is necessary to address the sheer enormity of debts owed, systemically flawed repayment and forgiveness systems and the disproportionate impact of the debt burden on millions of borrowers. While Raoul and other state attorneys general have taken key actions to ease debt burdens wherever possible, the coalition contends that only permanent action by the Biden administration can provide the widespread relief that is needed by millions of federal student loan borrowers.
The coalition further argues that the cancelation of federal student loan debts will reduce stress and mental fatigue and provide countless opportunities for borrowers, such as saving for retirement and purchasing new homes. Additionally, the attorneys general argue that canceling federal student loan debt can substantially help close the racial wealth gap.
Today’s comment letter builds off recent action taken by the Illinois Attorney General’s office to protect student loan borrowers. In 2021, Raoul’s Know Before You Owe legislation was enacted to address the lack of publicly-available data about private student loans in several ways, ensuring student borrowers have information about their federal aid eligibility before they turn to more costly private loans.
The Illinois Attorney General’s office has long been a national leader in investigating and enforcing consumer protection violations in the higher education field. Raoul’s office has secured more than $160 million in relief for Illinois consumers defrauded by their schools, lenders, or servicers since 2019. Earlier this year, Raoul’s office announced a $1.85 billion national settlement with Navient that includes nearly $5 million in restitution payments and more than $133 million in debt cancelation for Illinois borrowers. In addition, Illinois will receive a direct payment under that settlement of more than $7 million.
Student borrowers who have questions or are in need of assistance can call the Attorney General’s Student Loan Helpline at (800) 455-2456. Borrowers can also file complaints on the Attorney General’s website.
Joining Raoul in sending today’s comment letter are the attorneys general of Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Puerto Rico and Washington.
Chilly, wet and dreary — that’s how weather experts are describing the extreme bummer that has been spring in Chicago.
The National Weather Service categorized just one day in April as “clear and sunny,” said Kevin Donofrio, science and operations officer. NBC 5 meteorologist Paul Deanno said Tuesday just one of the past 42 days saw significant sunshine. That report was followed by another dark and soggy day.
Though still gloomy, there were seven sunny days recorded in April 2021. It’s been colder than usual, too.
“This year, we’re stuck with heavier spring jackets, maybe one that has rainproof on it with a fleece underneath,” Donofrio said. “It’s been much cloudier than usual.”
Democratic Secretary of State candidate Anna Valencia announced today, during National Teacher Appreciation Week, that she has earned the endorsement of the Illinois Education Association (IEA). IEA, an affiliate of the National Education Association, is the largest union in the state, with 135,000 members who work as teachers and educators in elementary, secondary and higher education.
“We are proud to recommend Anna Valencia for Secretary of State. Anna grew up in a union household and is the product of Illinois public schools. We know Anna will stand with our public educators and our students,” said IEA President Kathi Griffin. “Her track record as Chicago’s City Clerk has shown us she understands the needs of the working class. During her tenure with the city, she helped reform the ticketing process in Chicago. Anna also worked to pass the License to Work Act (SB 1786), which ends driver’s license suspension for not paying nonmoving vehicle tickets, like parking tickets, so people can still travel to work and pay their tickets. We believe Anna has the skillset to be Secretary of State and her deep understanding of the middle class will be an asset to our great state.”
The endorsement comes as Valencia continues to build momentum and a broad coalition of support from across Illinois. Earlier this week, Planned Parenthood of Illinois Action endorsed Valencia.
“I am humbled and proud to have earned the endorsement of the Illinois Education Association,” said Valencia. “I know the incredible impact that teachers have on our children’s lives because it was with the support and encouragement of my own public school teachers that I became the first in my family to graduate from college. I thank the IEA and their members for joining us in our campaign. I promise that when elected, teachers and educators will have a strong supporter and ally in the Secretary of State’s office.”
Since entering the race in June 2021, Valencia has built a strong statewide coalition of support from a robust slate of highly-respected elected officials, business leaders, political groups and labor unions—including the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois (AFFI) and Illinois Nurses Association-The Nurses Union (INA). Both of Illinois’ US senators, Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, current Secretary of State Jesse White, Governor JB Pritzker and Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton have endorsed Valencia. She has also secured support from the national Latino Victory Fund, EMILY’s List and other influential organizations and leaders from across the state and nation.
* Casten…
Today, U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) announced the endorsements of 12 local elected officials & community leaders for his re-election campaign. From former primary opponents to local Mayors to county-wide elected officials, these endorsements add to a list of over 60 local elected officials & prominent community activists from every township in IL-06 who are backing Rep. Casten’s re-election.
“Government works best when we are all working together,” said Rep. Sean Casten. “I’ve worked hand-in-hand with these dedicated public servants to deliver real results for families in the 6th District. I look forward to continuing to fight for our shared values - like lowering costs for families, combatting the climate crisis, and protecting a woman’s right to choose.”
The following people endorsed Rep. Casten today:
Maria Pappas, Cook County Treasurer
Justin Slaughter, Illinois State Representative (27th District)
Deb Conroy, Illinois State Representative (46th District)
Vernard Alsberry, Mayor of Hazel Crest & Bremen Township Democratic Committeeman
Mike Glotz, Mayor of Tinley Park
Dennis MaGee, Former Mayor of Merrionette Park & Former Worth Township Democratic Committeeman
Kenneth Nolan, Palos Hills Treasurer
Autumn Geist, Lisle Township Trustee
Jane Nolan, Palos Township Clerk
The Proviso Township Democratic Organization
Nancy Sheperdson, State Central Committeewoman for IL-06
Jennifer Zordani, Community Activist and Former Candidate for IL-06
You can find the full list of Rep. Casten’s endorsements here.
* GOP SoS primary…
From day one, Dan Brady, a Bloomington Republican, has made the fight against distracted driving in Illinois a key part of his campaign for Secretary of State. That battle is even more crucial now, with a new study listing Illinois as one of the deadliest states in the country for distracted driving.
“Anyone who has seen another driver looking at their phone, eating, putting on makeup, or other activities instead of focusing on the two-ton piece of metal they are driving knows what I am talking about,” Brady said. “My goal as Secretary of State is to make Illinois the safest state in the nation the next time this distracted driving study comes out.”
The company MoneyGeek, in an analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, ranks Illinois as the eighth deadliest state in the country for distracted driving with 1.6 deaths per billion miles driven.
Brady will have the Secretary of State’s office work with organizations such as the Tire Rack Street Survival, a tire and auto industry-sponsored program that graphically teaches teenagers the physics behind driving their own cars in real-world situations. As students learn what it takes to safely move more than a ton of motor vehicle on the street, they learn more focus and concentration and why they should take fewer risks themselves, such as distracted driving.
“I am passionate about reducing vehicle accidents related to distracted driving and developing better ways to teach our young drivers behind the wheel,” Brady said. “I have already worked closely with the Secretary of State’s Office on initiatives that will make Illinois roadways safer and to better train Illinois drivers, and I plan to use the resources of the Secretary of State’s office to greatly expand that effort.”
Brady is also active on other issues related to driver safety. He recently worked with the National Safety Council and advocates for older adults on a law that will help make driving safer for older residents.
“I recently passed legislation that was signed into law regarding E-learning defensive driver courses for mature drivers that will potentially lower their insurance premiums while providing enhanced technology options for training,” Brady said.
Abortion seeps into state House race: Rep. Mike Zalewski (23rd) is being taken to task for voting against a bill that repealed a state law requiring minors to notify their parents before pursuing an abortion. Democratic challenger Abdelnasser Rashid says Zlewski “put the health and lives of young women at risk,” according to a statement.
That vote kept Zalewski from being endorsed by Planned Parenthood or Personal PAC, which advocates for abortion rights. Zalewski “is not a pro-choice incumbent,” Personal PAC’s Terry Cosgrove claims in the statement from Rashid.
Zalewski defends his record, describing himself as a pro-choice Democrat who voted for the Reproductive Health Act that keeps abortion safe and legal in Illinois, as well as HB40, which allows abortions to be covered by Medicaid. It’s only the parental notification bill that gave him pause, though Zalewski says he’s glad it ultimately passed. This week, he called on Congress to codify Roe v. Wade. […]
— Ad buy: United Association of Union Plumbers & Pipefitters has bought airtime on broadcast and cable TV for Republican Rep. Rodney Davis in his race for the 15th Congressional District. The ad buy is $380,684 and starts next week. A digital component will be roughly $85,000. […]
— La’Mont Williams’ campaign for state Senate in the 16th District has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, Ald. Jeanette Taylor and Cook County Commissioner Dennis Deer.
* CD1…
Latino Leaders to Endorse Karin Norington-Reaves
WHO: Karin Norington-Reaves
Former Rep. Luis Gutiérrez
Emma and Tanya Lozano
WHAT: Endorsements in her race for Congress, IL-01
WHEN: Thursday, May 5 at 2:00 PM CT
WHERE: Blue Island Public Library, 2433 York St, Blue Island, IL 60406
* CD17…
Today, Jonathan Logemann, Democratic candidate for Illinois’ 17th Congressional District, announced the endorsement of Elect Educators Everywhere, a national education-focused organization dedicated to electing more teachers and education professionals to public office. Elect Educators Everywhere has played a substantial role this cycle at the local and federal level supporting educators running for public office to make a difference in their communities.
“As a High School teacher who’s taught in public schools my entire career, I am honored to receive the endorsement of Elect Educators Everywhere,” said Jonathan Logemann. “During the course of my time as a teacher, I have witnessed the impact that educators throughout our public schools have on students, parents, and their local communities. From inspiring a lifelong love of learning to preparing our young people for the workforce to involving parents and our local community in the education of our kids, I’m proud of the work I have done as a teacher, and I am excited to continue this public service out in Congress.”
* Cook County Assessor…
The reelection campaign of Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi released its first television ad on Wednesday, ahead of the June 28 Democratic primary.
The ad, titled “Hot Dog,” lays out the inequities in the broken property tax assessment system that for too long favored clouted property tax attorneys, big corporations and the very wealthy, and left middle-class families and small businesses with an unfair burden.
“I ran for Cook County Assessor because I wanted to bring equity and transparency to our broken property tax system. I am leading with fairness and for the first time in a long time, large wealthy corporations are paying their fair share,” Assessor Kaegi says in the ad.
The ad will air on broadcast, cable and streaming networks beginning Wednesday. View the ad here.
The full script of the ad is as follows:
I’m Fritz Kaegi, and this is John. John treats all of his customers the same.
That’s not how the assessor used to work. Corrupt politicians shifted the tax burden away from wealthy downtown landlords on to middle class families, drenching you with sky high property taxes.
As a Democrat, that left a bad taste in my mouth.
So that’s why I’m reforming the system, and expanding protections for seniors, veterans and people with disabilities.
If only paying taxes were this good.
Also in that race…
Kari Steel has loaned herself $100,001, enough to lift the caps in the Cook County Assessor's race.https://t.co/mkzwBRDBmF
* The two Democratic candidates competing to be the underdog against GOP Rep. Chris Bos continue racking up the endorsements. Chelsea Laliberte Barnes just scored US Sen. Richard Durbin. Nabeela Syed is the other Dem.
* CD13…
Access to safe, legal abortion in America took a devastating blow this week with POLITICO reporting on a leaked draft Supreme Court majority opinion that would strike down Roe v. Wade and open the door for 26 states to immediately move to ban the right to abortion.
Republicans Jesse Reising and Regan Deering are complicit in this all-out assault on women’s freedoms. Already, both Reising and Deering are lining up to support this attack on Illinoisans’ freedoms to make their own health care decisions.
Make no mistake – access to abortion is on the line this November and hinges on control of Congress. Just hours before the draft Supreme Court opinion was leaked, the Washington Post reported that congressional Republicans are working on a “push for a strict nationwide ban on the procedure if Republicans retake power in Washington.”
DCCC Spokesperson Elena Kuhn:
“The stakes in this election could not be higher: Electing either Jesse Reising or Regan Deering would put House Republicans one step closer to achieving their decades-long dream of ripping away women’s freedom to make their own decisions about their bodies.”
* Lake County Democrats vow to protect abortion rights: State Rep. Daniel Didech painted a grim picture of a post-Roe V. Wade future. “In states that outlaw abortion, it means that we will see criminal investigations of miscarriages,” he said. “It means that women with nonviable pregnancies and ectopic pregnancies will be forced to risk their lives to carry those pregnancies to term. It means the criminalization of doctors and nurses who provide critical OB-GYN services. It means that in states that go backwards on reproductive rights, rapists will have more rights than women.”
* Meet the six Democrats who hope to keep the 17th Congressional District blue in November: “We as women and people who can become pregnant in our country, are facing an existential crisis right now,” Litesa Wallace said. “And it really isn’t limited to just us.” A former Illinois state representative from Rockford, Wallace said her work in the Illinois General Assembly helped Illinois become the “safe haven” that it is for those seeking abortions.
671 responses were gathered by Victory Geek for Cor Strategies from Friday, April 29th, though Monday, May 2nd, with 1/3 of those responses collected live over cell phones. The poll’s margin of error is ±3.78%.
Last week one of the questions from an internal poll we had conducted for a client got leaked, showing tracking numbers for the Illinois Governor’s race. The problem is this poll was never intended for public consumption—it was a quick and dirty automated tracking poll testing something else entirely. The data gave our client what they needed, but these results never should’ve been taken as an accurate snapshot of the governor’s race.
To say we were horrified to have our name tied to those results as an official public tracking poll would be an understatement, so we commissioned an actual poll that we could release. Here are those results.
Richard Irvin has taken a commanding lead in the Illinois governor’s race, with 33% support. Bailey is still in striking distance at 21%, but quickly running out of time. Sullivan has faded to 10%, and the rest of the candidates are in single digits (Rabine 7%, Solomon 3%, Schimpf 2%). With only 25% of likely Republican primary voters undecided, Irvin’s challengers either need to unite or individually dominate the remainder of this race if they are to have any hope of overcoming his lead.
Irvin’s support is statewide but strongest in the suburbs, where he has lapped the field with 38% of the vote compared to just 13% for Bailey. Meanwhile, Bailey polls significantly better outside the suburbs at 27%, but even there he still trails Irvin who has 31%. Sullivan’s support is fairly consistent throughout the state, while Rabine is significantly stronger in Cook County (14%) and the suburbs (11%) than the rest of Illinois (2%).
An interesting note is Irvin’s attacks on Bailey and Sullivan have increased their negatives but both candidates are still “above water.” In fact, Bailey’s net favorability is the same as Irvin’s (+12%). The key difference is overall name recognition: Irvin has achieved an extremely strong 71% name recognition while Bailey is at a relatively weaker 50%. The difference is glaring in the suburbs, where Irvin’s name recognition is 73% compared to just 38% for Bailey.
These results back up what many of us in the industry have observed:
• Irvin has dominated the space for months and used that to build his lead. If all voters hear is what Irvin is putting in front of them, can you blame them for voting for the one candidate they know?
• Bailey has done very little paid voter outreach to everyday Republicans, focusing almost exclusively on grassroots campaigning. This has given him extremely strong support among politically active conservatives, but he has a math problem because that is a small segment of the overall Republican voter population.
• Sullivan impressed early and earned a surprising level of support, but since has inexplicably been almost radio silent other than his one (excellent) video ad on socials and targeted tv.
• Rabine has built some support in Cook County and the suburbs but is likely fighting for 3rd in the race at this point. Interestingly, you combine his support in Chicagoland with Bailey’s support in the rest of the state and you almost have a candidate who can beat Irvin.
It’s important to point out that Bailey’s supporters are much more active and dedicated than Irvin’s, so he is likely to overperform any poll. The exact impact is dependent on voter turnout, but we’d estimate his overperformance to end up around 3%, though it could be as much as 5-7% if his team’s claims of their success with “silent voters” is to be believed.
So Bailey isn’t out of this race yet. But if he continues to ignore regular Republican voters, especially in Chicagoland, Irvin’s lead will just keep growing.
* Again, 25 percent of Republican primary voters are reported to be undecided statewide…
* Springfield’s Bishop Paprocki connected the Janus v. AFCSME and Roe v. Wade decisions four years ago…
It is encouraging that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFCSME upholds the right to be free from coercion in speech. No longer will public sector employees be required pay dues to support unions that promote abortion and other political issues with which they disagree.
* But Bloomberg political reporter Gregory Korte saw something else back then: A preview. Korte laid it out last night in a Twitter thread…
It was the last day of the term, and the first case was Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The issue was whether public employees could be compelled to join a union.
Justice Alito presented the opinion of the court.
The first issue that Alito had to confront was that the court previously decided in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education that these “agency fees” were constitutional. There was no question the precedent was directly on point.
But Alito outlined why stare decisis did not apply.
Alito: “The State’s extraction of agency fees from nonconsenting public sector employees violates the First Amendment. Abood erred in concluding otherwise, and stare decisis cannot support it. Abood is therefore overruled.”
Alito laid out four factors that he justified overruling precedent:
(1) “Abood was poorly reasoned, and those arguing for retaining it have recast its reasoning.”
(2) “Abood’s lack of workability also weighs against it.”
(3) “Developments since Abood, both factual and legal, have ‘eroded’ the decision’s ‘underpinnings’…”
(4) “Reliance on Abood does not carry decisive weight. The uncertain status of Abood, known to unions for years; the lack of clarity it provides…”
And so at this point I started thinking what you might be thinking: These are all, to a greater or lesser extent, conservative critiques of Roe over the years.
Justice O’Connor, e.g., famously said in 1983 that Roe’s trimester framework “was on a collision course with itself.”
I’m convinced that Justice Kagan also saw Alito’s opinion as laying the groundwork to overrule Roe. She delivered a vigorous dissent:
Rarely if ever has the Court overruled a decision - let alone one of this import - with so little regard for the usual principles of stare decisis. There are no special justifications for reversing Abood. It has proved workable. No recent developments have eroded its underpinnings. And it is deeply entrenched, in both the law and the real world. More than 20 States have statutory schemes built on the decision. Those laws underpin thousands of ongoing contracts involving millions of employees. Reliance interests do not come any stronger than those surrounding Abood. And likewise, judicial disruption does not get any greater than what the Court does today. I respectfully dissent.
Again, it was easy to see Janus as a proxy fight for Roe in Kagan’s dissent:
“Abood is not just any precedent: It is embedded in the law … in a way not many decisions are.”
More Kagan: “There is no sugarcoating today’s opinion. The majority overthrows a decision entrenched in this Nation’s law — and in its economic life — for over 40 years.”
Fast forward to 2022. Politico’s @joshgerstein gets a tremendous scoop with an almost unheard of leak of a draft opinion that would overrule Roe.
Alito is the author. On page 39 of the draft, Alito cites Janus as precedent (!) for overruling Roe, for many of the same reasons.
No Justice of this Court has ever argued that the Court should never overrule a constitutional decision, but overruling a precedent is a serious matter. It is not a step that should be taken lightly. Our cases have attempted to provide a framework for deciding when a precedent should be overruled, and they have identified factors that should be considered in making such a decision. Janus v. State, County, and Municipal Employees, 585 U. S. (2018) (slip op., at 34-35); Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 U.S. (2020) (KAVANAUGH, J., concurring in part) (slip op., at 7-9).
In this case, five factors weigh strongly in favor of over- ruling Roe and Casey: the nature of their error, the quality of their reasoning, the “workability of the rules they imposed on the country, their disruptive effect on other areas of the law, and the absence of concrete reliance.
Again, I’m no constitutional lawyer, but it was clear even to me that the conservatives on the court were engaged in a long-term effort to dismantle Roe and have been laying bread crumbs for years.
Again, the draft is here. The Janus decision is referenced five times.
Chicago unveiled its pitch to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention Tuesday morning, releasing a slickly produced video narrated by favorite son Common that showcases Chicago as the “heartland of Democracy” and the best place to launch the party’s pitch to voters.
Chicago is one of at least seven cities to be asked by the Democratic National Committee to bid for the convention to be held in the summer of 2024, officials said. […]
Illinois’ top Democrats joined forces with labor and business leaders to announce the bid, with Gov. J.B. Pritzker saying the convention would infuse $150 million into Illinois’ economy and boost Chicago’s flagging tourism and hospitality industries, which have been slow to recover amid the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.
A convention hosted in Chicago would “invite the nation to explore the Land of Lincoln and Obama,” Pritzker said in a statement.
The last Democratic convention in Chicago was in 1996 and propelled President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore on to reelection. Before that, there was the tumultuous 1968 convention, which is often best remembered for anti-Vietnam protests and violence.
Much of Chicago’s current image around the country is focused on crime - and leaders say this would be an opportunity to change that.
“This is a really important economic development and branding tool for Chicago,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.
“We have the right leadership, the right infrastructure,” said Senator Cristina Castro, a convention delegate. “The city of Chicago is the perfect location to host this.”
It would either be an opportunity to help change the city’s image or reinforce that image if something really bad happens.
Last month, the DNC sent out formal letters to eight cities, including Chicago, Houston and Atlanta, asking city officials to submit bids for holding the quadrennial nominating convention. Organizers said that cities have until May 27 to submit their proposals to the DNC in order to be considered. The financial commitments are expected in the city’s formal response to the DNC’s request for proposals later this month.
As expected, the video submission for Chicago did not touch on outbreaks of violent crime in the city, something Republicans seeking to challenge Pritzker in the November general election and opponents of Lightfoot have noted as she faces reelection next year.
The announcement also did not include a dollar amount of prospective city, state and private financial inducements to lure the DNC to Chicago. […]
But hospitality industry officials said they were hopeful of winning the 2024 event to provide an influx of as many as 50,000 people to the city and inject revenue into hotels and restaurants that were severely hurt by pandemic closures and restrictions.
* Rather than focus on the video, the Sun-Times reported out some substance…
The Request for Proposal the Democratic National Committee sent to Chicago said the city would need to accommodate 50,000 participants — with the DNC alone needing a block of 15,000 hotel rooms for delegates, party officials, high-end donors and President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Cabinet members, Secret Service and White House staff. […]
The bid will also stress how accessible Chicago — in the center of the nation — is by car, plane and train. A very strong selling point of Chicago — with 50,000 hotel rooms within the city — is unlike other convention cities — where participants may face horrendous commutes from hotels to convention events — the event venues, restaurants, tourist attractions, even the Cubs and Sox stadiums are all close to downtown. […]
The bid will provide the DNC with menus of multiple options for using not only the United Center but — and this is not the complete list — McCormick Place, the Wintrust Arena, Navy Pier, Soldier Field and the Museum Campus. […]
The DNC will require an extensive financial package from the host city to cover a variety of costs — from festivities connected to a political convention to paying for the venue itself, to covering costs for a visit from the DNC site selection team. […]
Pritzker, asked about taxpayer expenses, said, “We have a lot of conventions as you know that come to the city of Chicago. We’ve had major gatherings, international and national, in the city of Chicago, and I wouldn’t expect that the expenditure by the city would be any more than any of those.”
Abortion prohibitions were common throughout the U.S. until Jan. 22, 1973, when the court, in a 7-2 ruling in Roe v. Wade, declared that access to abortion during the first two trimesters of pregnancy was protected as part of a fundamental right to privacy and that states had only limited authority to regulate the procedure.
For a time after that, Illinois was among a handful of states to enact so-called “trigger laws” that would reinstate the ban on abortion if Roe v. Wade was overturned.
A 1975 “trigger law” remained on the books in Illinois until 2017 when then-Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, signed House Bill 40 to repeal the trigger law and allow abortions to be covered under the state’s medical assistance program and the state employee’s health insurance system.
Prior to that law, Illinois had only covered abortion services in cases of rape or incest, or when there was a threat to the life or health of the mother. The new law, however, extended that to anyone who was covered by the state’s Medicaid program.
But because federal Medicaid rules do not allow public funding of abortion, the services in Illinois are paid for entirely with state funds.
An April 2021 survey by Public Policy Polling concluded 73% of respondents agreed abortion “should remain legal in Illinois as a private decision between a woman and her doctor, not politicians.”
As an accessible region to conservative Midwest and southern states, the metro-east is at the center of the preparation for more patients to seek care in Illinois. If Roe is reversed, Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis region expects upwards of 14,000 patients from Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee, to travel to southern Illinois for abortions. The organization’s analysis estimates all the states bordering Illinois would move quickly to ban it. Two metro-east clinics that offer abortions announced in January a service to help pay travel costs for out-of-state patients coming to Illinois. Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, which has a clinic in Fairview Heights, and the Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City will operate the Regional Logistics Center located in the Planned Parenthood’s center in Fairview Heights.
The logistics center is being billed as a “travel agency,” where women can get assistance in arranging and funding travel to the metro-east. This help includes covering the cost of plane tickets and lodging. There are no income limits for participants. Yamelsie Rodríguez, president and CEO, Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, said the draft “previews what we’ve long been preparing for.” She said patients should continue to go to their appointments.
“We knew this opinion was coming and while it’s not official, it brings us one step closer to an impending public health crisis,” Rodríguez said. “Abortion remains legal today. No matter what, with our partners, we will fight for what little is left of abortion access in Missouri and push forward to expand in Illinois where abortion access is protected beyond Roe.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 7,534 nonresidents received abortions in Illinois in 2019, compared with 5,529 in 2017 and 2,970 in 2014.
[Planned Parenthood of Illinois President and CEO Jennifer Welch] predicted that anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 additional patients could travel to Illinois each year to terminate a pregnancy if abortion rights are overturned.
This is on top of the ever-increasing number of patients who already cross state lines to come here for the procedure. Nearly 10,000 people came from out of state to have an abortion in Illinois in 2020, according to the latest data available from the Illinois Department of Public Health. This was a 29% increase over the previous year, when about 7,500 patients traveled here for the procedure from another state.
The number of abortions here for out-of-state women has risen every year since 2014, according to state health data.
While the news of Roe’s potential demise was shocking, Welch said her agency has been preparing for this possibility for the past five years by increasing the number of health centers, expanding access at facilities, creating a new telehealth program and launching the biggest fundraising campaign in the agency’s history. […]
In 2018, the [Chicago Abortion Fund,] provided funds for roughly 180 people seeking an abortion; in 2022, more than 500 people on average are calling for financial assistance each month, she said.
For too long, Illinois has been known as a haven for Democrat corruptocrats and wannabe communists. But it wasn’t always this way. Our state gave the country the leader who won the Civil War, and the leader who won the Cold War. I’m running for governor to be the leader that helps us win the culture war. Our kids aren’t racists. Boys aren’t girls. And we’re never allowing our kids to be used as political pawns ever again. If you agree with this kind of good old America First common sense and want a leader who can’t be bought, then please vote for me.
I still have trouble grasping why Pat Brady, who for decades billed himself as a moderate Republican and as the go-to GOP guy for Chicago political (especially TV) reporters, is working to nominate Rabine. But, hey, it’s a free country.
With Chicago-area homicides, carjackings and expressway shootings up in 2021, billionaire investment tycoon Kenneth Griffin minced no words last fall when he singled out one man, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, for not confronting the crime scourge terrorizing the region.
But as Griffin characterized Pritzker’s response as a “disgrace,” Griffin’s $46 billion hedge fund — Citadel — and its corporate cousin had investments and holdings in gun and ammunition makers, federal securities records show.
In fact, Chicago police data analyzed by WBEZ show nearly one of every four guns recovered from city homicides since 2017 came off assembly lines of firearms companies in Citadel’s stock portfolio — weapons involved in the same crime wave Griffin blames on the governor. […]
Citadel’s hedge fund and its related, Griffin-owned market-maker firm, Citadel Securities, reported combined investments and holdings in gun and ammunition makers exceeding $86 million last December, according to federal securities disclosures.
But a company spokesperson told WBEZ that Griffin doesn’t choose Citadel’s stock holdings, and they have no correlation to Chicago’s crime wave.
“These investments make up less than .01% of our portfolio,” Citadel spokesperson Zia Ahmed said, calling any links between the companies’ stocks and violent crime in Chicago “quite a stretch.”
Ahmed said the vast majority of Citadel’s positions in gun and ammunition companies are held by Citadel Securities, which he said does not make direct investments but instead owns stocks investors buy and sell through third-party brokerages.
Formerly a prominent skeptic–he once called crypto “a jihadist call” against the dollar–Griffin backtracked in March, saying that “the crypto market today has a market capitalization of about $2 trillion in round numbers, which tells you that I haven’t been right on this call.” He said his Citadel Securities would likely move into market making in crypto in the coming months.
How’s it going?
“You’ve found the great hotspot topic of debate within my firm,” Griffin told Schatzke on Monday. “All my colleagues who are younger than I am probably think I’m a dinosaur on this issue. They’re big believers. They believe that cryptocurrency has an important role in the global economy as a means of facilitating payment in a web3 world.” Griffin is coming around–at least to the profit potential of it all. “I have to live with the reality that an asset’s worth what people perceive it to be worth,” he admitted, so it’s “reasonable to expect to see us be more involved in the crypto space, providing liquidity to institutional, and potentially retail, investors.”
Still, he isn’t exactly rushing in: “It’s difficult to build to the level of rigor that we would want to build to. Things like ensuring that we’re not a party to a transaction with North Korea are really important to us–it may not be to our competitors, but I’m not gonna help fund the North Koreans with their various ventures by mistakenly buying their cryptocurrency.”
So, there is a “level of vigor” that he’s involved with after all.
The annual Paul Simon-Jim Edgar Statesmanship Award is presented to a former or current state or local government official in Illinois who has demonstrated a pattern of public service characterized by vision, courage, compassion, effectiveness, civility, and bipartisanship.
Former Governor Jim Edgar and the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute invite you to nominate an Illinois elected official who has displayed this kind of exceptional leadership.
We created the Simon-Edgar Statesmanship Award to shine a spotlight on remarkable public service that is taking place in our state and local communities. Please join us as we celebrate the Prairie State’s best traditions. Nominate an Illinois statesperson by June 1.
