A Madison County election judge is facing felony charges of voter fraud, only days before the election.
Audrey R. Cook, 88, of Alton is accused of sending in an absentee ballot in her late husband’s name. According to law enforcement, she said she did it because she believed it’s what he would have wanted.
Cook is a Republican election judge in Madison County, according to Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons. She was charged Friday with two felony election-fraud counts. […]
Gibbons said the county clerk’s office carefully examines every absentee ballot at multiple levels, including checking the names against the death records. The ballot was never opened or submitted, after a clerk found it had been submitted in the name of a deceased person, Gibbons said.
“The good thing is that it shows that we catch these things,” Gibbons said.
Campaign advertising that depicts Fifth District Appellate Court candidates John Barberis and James “Randy” Moore as judicial “activists” in flyers sent to Republican households and as “judicial bobbleheads for Bruce Rauner” in flyers sent to Democratic households have infuriated supporters of the judges.
The direct mail pieces were produced by the political action committee Fair Courts Now, a group funded primarily by asbestos lawyers who practice in Madison County - the nation’s busiest asbestos court. The group formed in mid-October and has raised and spent more than $1 million in negative advertising.
“Fair Courts Now has nothing to do with fairness and everything to do with keeping Illinois’ status quo as one of the worst states in the nation for legal fairness,” said Travis Akin, executive director of Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch. […]
The ad going to Republican households says: “Republican voter alert. ‘Not qualified’ and ‘not recommended’ activist judges don’t deserve our vote.”
The ad going to Democratic households is more descriptive: “Election alert for Democrats. John Barberis and James Moore. Bobbleheads for Bruce Rauner…Barberis and Moore support Bruce Rauner’s cuts to schools, child care, senior services and women’s health care.”
Illinois State Board of Elections official Tom Newman said that nothing in state disclosure law speaks to what a PAC can or cannot say. He said that there is no “party prohibition.”
In 2015, Illinois generated 41 percent more electricity than we need, even as power demand shrunk 3.8 percent since 2011
Sierra Club and NRDC have joined forces with coal-plant operator Dynegy and nuke-plant and ComEd owner Exelon for a monster bill to bailout both unneeded nukes and unneeded coal plants
The energy bill would subsidize unnecessary nukes, meaning Illinois ratepayers will effectively be paying more so ratepayers in other states who use our surplus power will pay less
“…that’s just another incentive for commercial and industrial consumers – and employers – to jump the border”
Social services have been devastated, the state is now two years without a budget, but Exelon would have you believe our top legislative priority is passing a $16 BILLION RATE HIKE for a company that just announced quarterly PROFITS of $841 MILLION to prop up power plants that cannot compete in the Illinois energy market.
JUST SAY NO TO THE EXELON BAILOUT
BEST Coalition is a 501C4 nonprofit group of dozens of business, consumer and government groups, as well as large and small businesses. Visit www.noexelonbailout.com.
* I’ve been watching Twitter today because Mayor Emanuel and Gov. Rauner were on the same bus together during the Cubs victory parade and I wanted to find a photo of the two of them together. Doing so was difficult…
Rauner and Rahm playing the "we can't be seen in the same shot together" game at this rally #FlyTheW#CubsParade
* I told subscribers about this the other day, but thought you might like to see it too. From WSIL TV in Carterville, the home of several contested legislative races…
Just during the month of October, 75% of WSIL’s advertising has been geared towards state and local politics.
U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos is among female athletes featured in Sports Illustrated’s Campus Rush in a story examining the correlation between women who left the playing field for the political arena.
Bustos, a Democrat who represents the 17th Congressional District in the state’s northwestern corner, played volleyball and basketball while attending Illinois College in Jacksonville. Now she’s the shortstop for the Congressional Women’s Softball Team.
The women in the story said sports taught them to be competitive, show teamwork and not to stew after defeat.
Another Illinoisan in the piece: Susana Mendoza, a Democrat running for Illinois comptroller who was all-conference in soccer at what’s now known as Truman State University in Missouri. She’s now Chicago city clerk.
In the past, SI says, women were left on the sidelines in politics and sports. The magazine noted that in 1961, the Amateur Athletic Union barred women from road races after “fringe opponents” worried “that a woman might run so hard, and so fast, her uterus could just fall out.”
* From the story, a version of which also ran in the magazine…
A 2013 study from the Women & Politics Institute found that women who played sports were 25% more likely to express political aspirations than those who did not. It certainly made a difference for Cheri Bustos (D., Ill.), who has been in the House of Representatives since 2013 and is currently seeking reelection. Bustos grew up in an “incredibly competitive neighborhood” with siblings who each received offers to play Division I sports: basketball for her sister, Lynn, and baseball for her brother, Dan. (Her father, Gene Callahan, was the lobbyist for Major League Baseball when Congress threatened to strip the league of its anti-trust exemption.) To earn a spot in pickup games, “you had to prove yourself, every single day,” Bustos says. That competitiveness fueled her at Illinois College, a Division III school in Jacksonville, where she played volleyball and basketball, and propelled her into politics—another competitive arena.
Bustos isn’t the only female former athlete on the campaign trail. Susana Mendoza, who was all-conference in soccer at Northeast Missouri State, is running for Illinois comptroller. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.), who’s up for reelection, was on the ski team at Penn State, while her colleague Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) played tennis and squash at Dartmouth. Gillibrand told The Times that sports “took the fear out of losing.”
Gillibrand and Bustos formed a friendship through the Congressional Women’s Softball Team, which plays the Washington Women’s Press Corps every June in a game benefitting the Young Survival Coalition. (Gillibrand is one of the team’s pitchers; Bustos plays shortstop.) They are also tennis partners, often playing singles matches in the morning before work. It was during that time, in multiple conversations over the net, that Gillibrand, a passionate advocate of sexual assault prevention and education, persuaded Bustos to join her in working to address campus sexual assault. They’ve both been vocal supporters of the Campus Accountability and Safety Act.
“At practice, you’re talking about everything: Your family, your kids, legislation,” Bustos says. “I’ve built close enough relationships with people there that it’s led to me to crossing the aisle legislatively and do things that were good for our country.”
The goal all along for Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Illinois Republican Party has been to chip away at House Speaker Michael Madigan’s veto-proof majority.
Right now Democrats outnumber Republicans 71-47 in the House. But since at least 71 votes are required to override a veto, losing even one seat would erode some of the Democrats’ power to buck the governor.
So, while the amounts both parties are spending on targeted legislative races number in the millions, the real magic number for Republicans is simple: one.
Just one Republican win in an Illinois House election in a seat currently held by a Democrat will help make a difference, according to a top Republican strategist.
“A pick-up breaking their super majority in a presidential year when the Democrats drew the maps, it would be a very good thing,” the strategist said. […]
“That was their goal two years ago, and now they’re going to pay $40 million and they still only want to get one?” Brown said. “I’m not sure what they hope to portray that as, because as anybody who has been around the Legislature knows, there really isn’t a working 3/5ths [majority],” Brown said. “It sounds like they’re trying to lower expectations.”
* If not for Rauner, Illinois Republicans would be cowering in fetal positions right now preparing for a massive blowout. Their presidential and US Senate candidates are trailing by double-digits, creating hurricane-force headwinds. The comptroller’s race would be another under-funded massacre. The House and Senate Democrats have recruited strong candidates in GOP-held districts (McAuliffe, Kay, Bourne, Jesiel, McConchie, Rezin, Luechtefeld, to name just a few) and would be poised to add to their considerable majorities against Republican incumbents who would once again not have much money or troops and would be fighting for their political lives under a Democratic-drawn district map.
At the very least, Rauner might have stopped that pulverization from happening this year - although national headwinds are extremely tough to overcome, even with money. Some of that could still happen. That’s one reason why I love politics at this level. There’s real mystery to it.
* But tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions and a unified anti-Madigan theme has naturally and justifiably raised expectations. You can’t just dump all this cash and then say, meh, no biggie. It may not be a lot of money to Rauner and Ken Griffin, but it’s almost an obscene number to most others.
And, seriously, they’re likely gonna pick up one seat anyway with Rep. Jack Franks’ departure. That bar is too low.
* The Republicans need to prove that they can hold their incumbents and pick up seats during presidential years.
If they can’t do that after all this effort, then any seats they gain in the 2018 off-year (assuming Clinton wins) could conceivably be lost in the next presidential in 2020 - or, at least that’s what the Dems will surely say.
* I have my own thoughts that I haven’t yet shared publicly about where the bar should be this year. What are yours?
* The Daily Show took a look at US Senate races last night, including our own…
Oof.
* Related…
* Kirk, Duckworth in final debate tonight: The debate will be held at 7 p.m. at the studios of WLS-Ch. 7 and is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Illinois and Univision Chicago. It will air live on the station’s digital channel, 7.2, and be streamed. It will be broadcast later that night on ABC-Ch. 7 at 10:35 and will be replayed Sunday at 10 a.m. on WGBO-Ch. 66 and Univision America-AM 1200.
Story No. 1 concerns the big super PAC that state Sen. Dan Biss put together, the one no one had heard of until a couple of weeks ago, when it suddenly started spending big money—now $10 million or so—on ads tying Gov. Rauner to the GOP presidential nominee, who may be popular in some places but not in most of Illinois.
Biss says he was just engaging in “an act of citizenship. . . .I wanted to be involved” in educating voters in an uncommonly important election.
But the fact is, the ads will mostly help not candidates for the chamber in which Biss serves but the far more numerous contests for the House, where Madigan’s long reign as speaker is being challenged.
So, is there something more afoot? Perhaps a good old fashioned deal in which Biss last year abruptly dropped out of the race for Illinois comptroller, clearing the field for Madigan-backed Susana Mendoza, and in exchange got certain, um, future considerations. Like maybe Madigan’s backing for his new super PAC, which might help Biss establish his name and run for governor in 2018.
Biss denies that. “There was no deal,” he says. Madigan might like what the super PAC is doing, but that’s it.
However, Biss concedes he spoke with Madigan before dropping out of the comptroller race. And the biggest donor to Biss’ TV campaign—Chicago financier Michael Sacks, who has given at least $2.5 million—says little about political chatter that Madigan encouraged him to write the big check. He only says, in an email: “Democratic values have been under attack for two years. We all have a responsibility to defend our values.”
For the record, Biss says he “very much doubt(s)” he will run for governor and is “not thinking about it.” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown says he doesn’t offhand know whether and when his boss and Biss spoke, and put it all down to Rauner troublemakers.
I kinda doubt that Madigan would want Biss to run for governor. Not exactly his kind of guy. And talking to the powerful state party chairman before dropping out or starting a new super PAC is standard procedure here. A professional courtesy, if you will.
Either way, I was most skeptical of the Sacks stuff. Madigan always wants money for his own campaigns, which is why people haven’t trusted him in the past to fairly run coordinated state campaigns. “We’ve got a million federal bucks for statewide voter registration? Let’s send it to Kankakee.”
OK, that was an exaggeration, but not by much.
* In checking around, however, I think Madigan probably wanted the Biss PAC to move forward and succeed. It was likely his way of striking back (without direct fingerprints) at Rauner for all those anti-Madigan ads the governor has funded. And he appears to have as much cash as he needs for his legislative races, although Sacks has been weighing in on those lately, too.
* Sen. Dick Durbin has sent a letter to the US Attorney General asking her to look into vote-by-mail problems in Rock Island County…
Dear Attorney General Lynch:
I write to urge the Department of Justice to look into reports of a troubling incident involving unprocessed absentee ballot requests in Illinois.
Last week, more than 1,500 absentee ballot requests were discovered in a Rock Island post office box. News reports indicate that a third party group solicited these ballot requests from voters, but delayed submission of the requests to the Rock Island County Clerk’s office for processing. The ballot requests accumulated for several days, and they were found at the post office after voters contacted the County Clerk, asking when they would receive their absentee ballots. Officials have indicated that similar incidents may have also occurred in other Illinois counties.
Thankfully, following the discovery, the absentee ballot requests in Rock Island were forwarded on to the County Clerk, who has indicated that all of the applicants will be mailed absentee ballots. Local law enforcement and the Illinois Attorney General are reportedly now investigating the incident to determine if it involved a criminal effort to suppress the vote.
Voting is, as the Supreme Court has said, a right “preservative of all rights.” Efforts to suppress this fundamental right should be promptly investigated, remedied, and, if appropriate, prosecuted. In light of the troubling nature of this incident, I urge the Department to examine this case, provide assistance to local and state law enforcement officials as they investigate the case, and, if warranted, pursue a Federal investigation of the incident.
There’s a ton of paranoia out there that the group was sitting on Democratic applications. But the local county clerk told me yesterday that the apps also came from Republicans, and some top Republicans told me yesterday they were not pleased at all with the way that process was handled by the Illinois Opportunity Project because some of their voters were in that undelivered stack, too.
The Illinois Opportunity Project on Wednesday said Rock Island County Democrats and the Illinois Attorney General’s office are suppressing voter turnout and harassing people involved in its vote-by-mail program.
“This is a clear case of powerful politicians, including and especially Attorney General Lisa Madigan, using their offices to harass their political opponents,” said Pat Hughes, co-founder of the conservative group. “In doing so, they are denying numerous Illinoisans one of their most basic civil liberties: the right to vote.”
On Friday, Rock Island County Clerk Karen Kinney said she thought the Chicago-based nonprofit group cofounded by radio host Dan Proft might be part of a voter suppression scheme. Her comments came after more than 1,500 Rock Island County absentee ballot applications were found in a Rock Island post office box rented by the organization. […]
“How am I suppressing anything?” [Kinney] asked. “I want to be able to administer a fair process here for the voters. I don’t care what party you’re with.
“Here’s my fear,” she said. “I want my applications. What if someone shows up on Monday and dumps a bunch of applications on me that I can’t process?”
The clerk is right. She’s just trying to get the ballot applications into her office on time. Hughes is upset because the clerk, the attorney general and others have been on his case to process his group’s applications. But, that’s what they do, particularly when the apps aren’t being delivered on a regular basis.
Governor Bruce Rauner has proclaimed Friday, November 4, 2016, as World Champion Chicago Cubs Day across Illinois in celebration of the Cubs’ historic World Series win over the Cleveland Indians.
“The Cubs winning the World Series is bigger than baseball. It is especially meaningful for the generations of Cubs fans who have stood by this team, through thick and thin, for the last 108 years,” said Governor Rauner. “I’m a North Sider. I was born a few blocks from Wrigley Field, and I remember watching the Cubs every summer on Channel 9. We have been through every emotion with this team. To see this historic win, to see the players lift the Commissioner’s Trophy, that’s a moment for all of us. This is a celebration for past and present fans along with all the Cubs’ legends who never gave up hope.”
Below is the language of the official proclamation. A copy of the signed proclamation is attached.
WHEREAS, on Wednesday, November 2, 2016, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, beating the Cleveland Indians in Game Seven, by a score of eight to seven in extra innings; and
WHEREAS, the 2016 World Series win is the first world championship for the Cubs in 108 years; the team last won the World Series in 1908; and,
WHEREAS, during the regular season, the 2016 Chicago Cubs won 103 games, the most wins for the franchise since 1910; and,
WHEREAS, on their run to the World Series, the Cubs defeated the San Francisco Giants in the National League Division Series in four games and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series in six games; and,
WHEREAS, a true team effort all season led to the Cubs’ stunning and momentous World Series victory, and this achievement is proof of their commitment to baseball excellence; and,
WHEREAS, the historic accomplishment also honors Cubs’ greats like Ron Santo, “Sweet-Swinging” Billy Williams, and “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks, who never had the opportunity to hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy, as well as other Cubs legends like Harry Caray; and,
WHEREAS, the World Series is especially meaningful for the generations of Cubs fans who have stood by the team, through thick and thin, over the last 108 years; and,
WHEREAS, the State of Illinois could not be prouder of all the Cubs players, along with Chairman Tom Ricketts, President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein, Manager Joe Maddon, and all the coaches and staff, for winning the 2016 World Series;
THEREFORE, I, Bruce Rauner, Governor of the State of Illinois, do hereby proclaim November 4, 2016, as WORLD CHAMPION CHICAGO CUBS DAY in Illinois in celebration of the Cubs’ historic World Series win, and join the City of Chicago and the rest of the State of Illinois in congratulating the Cubs on their remarkable championship season.
Why no mention of the players’ union? /snark
* The Question: Your all-time favorite Cubs player? Don’t forget to explain your pick.
The backlash against Kirk was swift, after he said “I’d forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington” in response to his Democratic opponent, Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (who is of mixed heritage) saying her family members have worn miliary uniforms since the American Revolution.
Critics say the comment was at least offensive and ignorant; at most, racist.
Kirk says it was meant as “a snarky remark.”
“I have been known for being too quick to turn a phrase,” he said. “Which of us in the last six years would have never said anything that anybody was not offended by?”
* She also asked him about the decision by the Human Rights Campaign and Gabby Gifford’s gun control group to pull their endorsements after the debate…
“Those organizations tend to be pretty supportive of the Democratic party,” he said. “I’m sure the DNC brought pressure to bear. And that was effective. So kinda disappointing to me because I have a great record on supporting gay rights and marriage equality.”
Subject: AFSCME Informational Picketing
Importance: High
Hello,
As you are aware, AFSCME has indicated they will be conducting an informational picket on November 17th in reaction to the expected Labor Board ruling due on November 15th.
As a result, I wanted to resend an email I sent to you last year regarding information on our recommended response.
I would ask each of you to keep your agencies informed that we need to be calm throughout this process. Please share this with your respective agency principals and management supervisory staff.
My advice to you is simple. Keep calm and do not overreact. The unions have used this tactic over the years with very mixed success. They may get some media coverage, they may get some employees revved up but in the overall scheme - the public pays little attention to their antics.
The union’s intent is to draw attention to their rally. Don’t be a part of that attention. Heavy handed management responses will serve to turn a demonstration (however small or large) into a union rallying cry. Remain calm and keep your CMS Labor Relations liaison informed. […]
In the meantime, if you have any reason to believe that any other labor organization may be conducting an informational picket at your agency, please immediately report this to your liaison at CMS Labor Relations.
* I asked AFSCME for a response…
State employees are making plans for a statewide day of action on the theme “Don’t Dictate, Negotiate,” to urge the Rauner administration to return to the negotiations they broke off 10 months ago.
Many of those actions are likely to be “speak-outs” where employees talk about the important public services they provide. Others may involve community outreach. Some may be informational pickets. Each local union is planning action that works best for them and their particular worksites.
Fall is here and the time of year when motorists need to be especially vigilant watching for deer on roads throughout the state, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). The reason: Autumn coincides with the mating season and increased deer movement, especially at dusk and dawn.
“Deer have other things on their minds at this time of year. They aren’t looking out for motorists, so motorists need to be looking out for them,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Randy Blankenhorn. “If you are in areas where you know deer to be active, please pay special attention to avoid putting yourself and other drivers at risk.”
Approximately 40 to 45 percent of crashes in Illinois involving deer in 2015 occurred in October, November, and December – with November being the highest-risk month. Almost 80 percent happened in rural environments, with nearly 75 percent of all crashes taking place at twilight or nighttime.
Last year, there were 15,754 vehicle-deer crashes in Illinois, an increase of 2.5 percent from 2014. There were 15,206 crashes that resulted in damage to property or vehicles, up from the 14,854 in 2014. Injuries resulting from such crashes tallied 628 in 2015 versus 505 in 2014. The number of fatalities doubled, from four in 2014 to eight in 2015.
The top 10 Illinois counties for crashes involving deer in 2015:
1. Madison 440
2. Cook 431
3. Will 408
4. Fulton 376
5. Sangamon 359
6. Rock Island 322
7. Williamson 304
8. Peoria 297
9. Lake 290
10. Pike 289
Our campaign has recently become aware of a lewd, fake photo of Rep. Bourne being mailed to voters in the area. We take this disgusting threat and act of intimidation very seriously and are working with state and local law enforcement to investigate. If anyone has information about who is behind this sickening stunt, we ask that they call 217-836-2177.
I’ve been trying to get a copy of the mailer, which I’m told photoshops her head onto another woman’s body, which, I’m told, isn’t clothed.
* The pic came in a manila envelope with first class postage…
More info as it comes in. But whoever did it is supremely stupid and evil.
…Adding… From her Democratic opponent…
State Representative candidate Mike Mathis issued the following statement Thursday condemning an offensive postcard sent to some area residents:
“Late last night, some local residents brought to my attention an offensive postcard found in their mailboxes that had been manipulated to embarrass State Representative Avery Bourne.
“I denounce this offensive piece in no uncertain terms. This goes beyond a late campaign dirty trick. It degrades and insults all women and is an insult to Representative Bourne, our families and our values.
“I have a daughter. The thought of someone using her image and degrading her in this way for any reason at all, let alone for a political purpose, turns my stomach and, as a father, makes me furious.
“I’m angry for Representative Bourne, and I’m outraged and truly saddened that politics in our own small towns have come to this. I urge any law enforcement and local, state and federal agency with any jurisdiction over this incident to investigate the matter and severely punish whomever is responsible for this offensive and degrading material.”
Needless to say, the Republicans ain’t buying it.
…Adding More… For those of you who are claiming without evidence in comments that Bourne must’ve done this to herself, just stop it now. Her grandmother and her great-grandmother both received copies of this mailer.
Again, stop it. Banishments will commence henceforth.
…Adding Still More… From all House Republican women…
We have recently become aware of a lewd, fabricated photo of State Representative Avery Bourne being mailed to individuals across Central Illinois. The contents of the doctored photo are designed to intimidate Rep. Bourne and alter the outcome of the upcoming General Election on November 8th.
As women dedicated to serving the people of Illinois, we find these sexist tactics on a fellow woman legislator disgusting and appalling. We are all keenly aware that politics and campaigns can be rough at times, but these sickening attacks are an affront to our democratic process and strongly discourage women, whether intentionally or not, from stepping up and serving their communities in an elected capacity.
As the youngest member of the General Assembly, Rep. Bourne has worked tirelessly to shatter any preconceived notions about her age or gender and her capacity to serve her constituents of the 95th House District. Voters in Central Illinois should be honored to have a State Representative as dedicated and committed to them as Rep. Bourne, especially as she undergoes such nasty and vile attacks from her detractors.
We look forward to her returning to the General Assembly and stand with her during this time of adversity. Those responsible for creating this repulsive mailer must be held accountable and punished to the fullest extent of the law.
* National liberal pundits have mostly ignored Illinois’ political war, which is kind of odd since Illinois is such a large and important state. They write about Kansas all the time, yet haven’t taken notice of a similar economic fight here, even though that little state means far less to the nation as a whole than Illinois.
But our comptroller’s race and the implications for the economic/budget battle did get some pixels in Esquire this week…
So this is an obvious proxy war, but it’s an obvious proxy war in a state in which the entire state government is engaged in an ongoing rockfight over its budget—not simply over the budget itself but, apparently, over whether to have a budget at all. Inspired by success stories like Sam Brownback’s Kansas and Scott Walker’s Wisconsin, Illinois’ Tea Party plutocrat governor, Bruce Rauner, has tried to create a similar dark miracle in Illinois, only to be thwarted by the Democrats in the state legislature, especially Madigan.
The result has been political bloodletting remarkable even by the standards of Illinois politics, which are considerable, and policy wreckage better suited to a failed state. So maybe Rauner’s producing the Kansas he wanted after all. […]
There seems to be little doubt that both sides see this race as a possible break in the logjam over the state budget. It can be argued that the difference is that only one of the two sides—the Democrats in the state legislature—see a break in the logjam as a good thing. Right now, with a governor and the comptroller both being Republicans, the Democrats have fought Rauner to a standstill. With a Democratic comptroller, they could force a settlement on their terms.
And the people who finance both sides have backed their cash barges up the Sangamon River to Springfield. […]
This is the kind of race that is just obscure enough to hide real and important issues and Illinois is a helluva big and important state. Keep an eye on this. It’s going to matter.
Over-heated rhetoric, for sure, but at least it’s something.
The [University of Illinois] has lost more than $750 million in state funding over the last two years, UI President Tim Killeen noted during his annual meeting with the faculty Monday.
“That’s three-quarters of a billion dollars. That’s a lot,” Killeen told a couple of faculty members lamenting cuts in their units. “We are under huge stress, and Rome is burning around us. These are not normal times.”
At the UI Board of Trustees’ meeting on Nov. 10, officials will roll out the proposed new contract with the state, which has been rechristened the Investment Performance and Accountability Initiative, Killeen said. Members of the UI’s bipartisan legislative caucus will be on hand.
In exchange for meeting specific benchmarks — such as limiting tuition to the rate of inflation, providing adequate financial aid or achieving certain graduation rates — the UI would receive guaranteed funding for five years, regulatory relief and procurement reform, which faculty have pushed to speed up the process of purchasing research equipment and other materials.
“Imagine what we could do if we had that kind of predictable environment,” Killeen said.
Sounds like an interesting concept. Slimming its bureaucratic bloat ought to be a part of it, however.
The Bureau County Sheriff’s Department is investigating cannabis-laced candy given out Sunday night during trick-or-treat in this town of 350 people.
According to a sheriff’s department news release, parents provided officers with candy labeled Crunch Choco Bar, with cannabis leaves on the packages, that were given out Sunday night in the village about 40 miles east of the Quad-Cities.
Bureau County Sheriff Jim Reed said the candy was tested and found positive for cannabis.
But, wait. Marijuana edibles aren’t cheap enough to be giving them to trick-or-treaters. And handing out a unique piece of candy makes it pretty easy to trace back to the source. You’d have to be a really weird person to do that. Then again, weird people abound.
First of all, the report claims it was one candy bar, but the picture showed four. Google image search of the candy pic turned up only articles related to the Bureau Sheriff’s claims. I could find no candy listed by that name, either. Odd.
So I looked closer. Turns out, I didn’t even need to look that close. There are clearly Japanese characters printed on the candies. Japan is even more strict about marijuana and other drugs than America, so there is almost no chance whatsoever that some Japanese cannabis candy made its way to rural Illinois and into trick or treat bags. The marijuana leaves on them? Those are Japanese maple leaves. They are a popular design image, and do rather look like marijuana leaves.
A sheriff’s department in Illinois is being mocked after warning that children may have received pot-infused Halloween candy with cannabis leaf wrappers. The suspicious trick-or-treat candy apparently is Japanese and marketed with a maple leaf.
Sgt. Gary Becket of the Bureau County Sheriff’s Office in north-central Illinois would not say Wednesday that the Crunch Choco Bar candies were subject to mistaken identification but suggested cautious reporting on the matter.
“I’m not making any official statement right now. A follow-up press release will be sent out once the final lab testing has been done,” Becket told U.S. News after the blog Dankspace and Jacob Sullum of Reason reported the apparent mix-up.
Becket said an initial press release, posted on Facebook with a warning to parents, “was an immediate alert sent out because of the nature of the day, which was Halloween.”
On Tuesday, Bureau County Sheriff Jim Reed admits there is room for error in the field test, however, he said he’s never seen a false positive test for cannabis throughout his time with the force.
Reed said the candy has been sent into a laboratory, where it will be confirmed 100 percent whether or not it does contain cannabis.
Wednesday afternoon, Reed sent out a press release stating results from the Illinois State Crime Lab in Morton confirmed the candy did not contain THC and was safe for consumption.
The sheriff is living in a fantasy world. As we’ve discussed before, there’s plenty of evidence that these field tests routinely produce false positive results.
So, yeah, better safe than sorry, I suppose. But it’s time that law enforcement fesses up to a very real problem with these $2 field test kits.
Gov. Bruce Rauner gave a Halloween treat to state Comptroller Leslie Munger, sweetening her campaign coffers to the tune of $1 million.
The governor and his wife, Diana, made the campaign contribution to Munger on Monday, bringing the total Rauner has personally given to Republican funds, including his own, in the past month to $15,010,800.
Munger received an additional $1 million from the governor’s Citizens for Rauner political fund last month. And she took in $5 million from hedge fund manager Ken Griffin and $2 million from packaging magnate Richard Uihlein since late September.
Election officials say early voting is increasingly popular. Illinois has expanded its early voting period.
Daily pre-election early voting totals weren’t available for previous years.
Officials say during 2012’s general election, nearly 16 percent of registered voters voted early at polls, representing 22 percent of the nearly 5.3 million votes.
Newly filed campaign finance paperwork shows Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk raised less than $300,000 during the first 19 days of October, leaving him with $576,279 for his re-election effort’s final push.
That contrasts with the Democratic challenger, two-term U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates. Duckworth’s pre-election report for the same time period showed her raising $860,559, with $2.5 million left ahead of Tuesday’s election.
That comes after the two candidates released third-quarter fundraising numbers last month. Kirk reported raising nearly $1.2 million for his re-election bid from July through September, compared with $4.1 million for Duckworth during the same time period.
Kirk had more than $3.1 million in July but spent almost $3 million during the third quarter, leaving him with nearly $1.4 million to start October. Duckworth had more than three times that amount at $4.3 million.
Ouch.
There are rank and file Illinois state legislators and challengers who raised way more money than Kirk last month. Quite a lot of them, in fact.
* Scott Reeder: Kirk’s comment about Duckworth’s mother all about race: The parents in question weren’t of immediate European descent, leaving Trump, Kirk and others of their ilk free to attack their children’s patriotism. Don’t believe me? Well, how often have you heard anyone attack Trump for having a mother born in Scotland?
New Jersey became the state with the worst-funded public pension system in the U.S. in 2015, followed closely by Kentucky and Illinois.
The Garden State had $135.7 billion less than it needs to cover all the benefits that have been promised, a $22.6 billion increase over the prior year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Illinois’s unfunded pension liabilities rose to $119.1 billion from $111.5 billion.
The two were among states whose retirement systems slipped further behind as rock-bottom bond yields and lackluster stock-market gains caused investment returns to fall short of targets. The median state pension had 74.5 percent of assets needed to meet promised benefits, down from 75.6 percent the prior year. The decline followed two years of gains. The shortfall for states overall was $1.1 trillion in 2015.[…]
While New Jersey only has 37.5 cents available to pay each $1 of benefits, South Dakota, the state with the best-funded pension, had $1.04, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Kentucky, the state with the second-worst funded retirement system, had a ratio of assets to liabilities of 37.8 percent, followed by Illinois at 40.2 percent.
So, New Jersey and Illinois together make up about 23 percent of the combined unfunded liability of all states in the nation.
Lovely.
* Related…
* Illinois gets more awful news from its largest pension fund: On Oct. 28, TRS’ board of trustees voted to seek a state contribution in fiscal 2018 of $4.56 billion—up a whopping $561 million, or 14.5 percent, over this year’s $3.99 billion.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown says the speaker “complies with all of the applicable law. If someone wants to change (the law), file a bill and we’ll have a debate.”
But shouldn’t the speaker disclose his taxes voluntarily if the governor is doing so?
No. “There’s a vast difference in the powers” of the offices of speaker and governor, Brown replied. And besides, “the governor has a practice” of releasing his taxes and ought to stick with it. Madigan has a different practice.
* The Question: Should Speaker Madigan release his income tax returns? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* Possible gubernatorial candidate Chris Kennedy lambasted Gov. Rauner in Crain’s for staying mostly mum on Donald Trump…
In the face of this very partial accounting of Trump’s misdeeds, Rauner’s silence must be called what it is: complicity with Trump’s hate.
Does Rauner remain quiet because he’s not a woman, Latino, African American, Jewish, Muslim, LGTBQ, or a veteran? Does Rauner not understand he is the governor of a state whose citizens are numerously represented among those groups? Does he not appreciate Illinois’ diversity is its strength and a reason businesses locate here? Does he not recognize his duty as his party’s leader to take a stand on behalf of Republicans (and everyone in our state) against Trump’s ugly words? Does he agree with what Trump says?
We are left to wonder. Rauner’s haughty dismissals of questions about his Trump support, as if Illinoisans don’t deserve to know why, is especially unfortunate considering how many Republican officials have spoken out against their nominee.
Whether it’s because he is afraid of the electorate, deliberately malicious, or incompetent, Rauner’s defective moral compass is an embarrassment to the Land of Lincoln, named for our greatest president who gave his life to defend the democratic values Trump would destroy. Illinoisans will not forget Rauner chose to remain mute in the face of Trump’s demagoguery, unwilling to be counted when it mattered by saying what all decent people know is true: Donald Trump is unfit for the presidency and a danger to our republic.
I dunno. People have pretty short memories. We’ll see.
The truth is that the governor is focused on one thing: fixing Illinois. Taking his milquetoast statement supporting the future Republican presidential nominee as proof of Rauner’s true intentions is an insult to the intelligence of the electorate. People subjected to those misguided and inane ads will remember that—both on November 8th and into the future.
I think the “people” Gidwitz is talking about mostly reside in the governor’s orbit. But, maybe not.
* Which threat do you think is more credible? Or is neither threat credible?
Seth Lewis, a Republican who has benefited from Rauner’s generosity, is running for the state Senate in Chicago’s western suburbs, including Villa Park and Bartlett. He has raised $1.7 million in the last three months. […]
Lewis, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, is spending much of this money on sending mailers to voters and airing expensive TV ads.
“Has (the money) had an impact? Absolutely,” Lewis said. “But in my particular case, I think it’s just been able to keep us even with our opponent.”
Lewis claims all that money from Rauner is helping Republicans stay even with the Democrats’ fundraising. Over the last three months, Cullerton raised about $1.5 million from labor unions, attorneys — traditional Democratic funders — along with Democratic leaders.
Cullerton said it’s the Democrats who are trying to keep up with the Republicans. He won the Senate seat four years ago with a fraction of the cash he’s spent this year.
“With the amount of money the governor has put in, I don’t know if anybody can keep up with the kind of money that he’s got and the kind of money he’s moving around the state,” Cullerton said.
* And speaking of money, the Tribune has a much better piece today on spending than you’ll normally find in a mainstream media outlet. Click here to read it. And click here for some very handy charts that show money raised by each legislative candidate.
Unions and trial lawyers largely are funding Madigan’s troops, while Rauner and wealthy allies are bankrolling the Republican efforts. One longtime Illinois campaign finance expert questions whether the influx of all that campaign cash is good for either side or for the state’s politics.
“If having someone who is, or appears to be, a wholly owned subsidiary of the speaker is bad for representative democracy and local control, then replacing them with someone who is, or appears to be, a wholly owned subsidiary of the governor — I don’t think that gets us any closer to democracy and local control,” said Kent Redfield, emeritus professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
“If we were keeping score and asking if it is now a more balanced fight, that begs the real question of whether this is how we really ought to be electing people and making decisions and representing local legislative districts and communities. That’s the big picture part of it. It’s not healthy for the political system on either side,” he added.
Yeah, well, this is nothing compared to what will likely happen in 2018.
Total spending has topped $2 million in 16 state legislative races this year, including a dozen that have gone above $3 million and six that have surpassed $4 million through Oct. 31, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Two years ago, just one Illinois Senate race topped $4 million while one House contest exceeded $2 million, a sign of how the current battle has intensified between Rauner and Democrats, especially House Speaker Michael Madigan.
* From an October 28th e-mail from Veritone, a company I’d never heard of until last week…
Hi Rich,
I saw your Madigan post and wanted to provide you some insight that you may find helpful.
We track local news talk radio within the state of Illinois. Within the past week “Madigan” was mentioned over 180 times. Here is a brief collection of advertisements from radio in the state of Illinois to include an interview with Jason Gonzales. Can I provide you any additional information that may be helpful for you?
Best regards,
Elisa Henry
The link she provided is here. It even has that new Jim Durkin radio ad paid for by Gov. Rauner’s Turnaround Illinois PAC - the independent expenditure which broke the contribution caps and allowed Durkin to collect unlimited contributions from Rauner and Ken Griffin.
Not every reference will be about Speaker Madigan, but it’s close enough.
* Here’s what Ms. Henry says the data covers…
Local news talk radio information that consists of
What hosts are saying
Interviews
Constituent call-in conversations
Advertisements
Transcription Engines convert spoken audio recordings into readable text. They are built and trained to recognize different languages, dialects, and topics, even in the presence of background music or noise. Veritone utilizes a continuous machine-learning combination of several transcription engines to provide the best possible transcription of audio recordings. For those occasions where 100% accuracy is required, the request can be routed to human transcription professionals as well.
* Anyway, I asked Elisa how far back she could search for “Madigan” in Illinois and she sent me this report…
2015
July - 108
August - 31
September - 19
October - 160
November - 75
December - 149
2016
January - 114
Feb. - 96
March - 105
April - 24
May - 159
June 1 -30 - 225
July - 371
August - 121
September - 34
October - 498
* If you click here you’ll see the latest TV ads for Dan Proft’s Liberty Principles PAC. There’s quite a lot of them. And almost all the recent ones (at least 30 of them) feature a woman speaking to the camera identified as “Kathleen, single mom.” The woman is actually the Illinois Opportunity Project’s Director of Communication Kathleen Murphy. That group was co-founded by Proft.
State and federal authorities are trying to find out why 1,500 absentee ballot applications were left in a Rock Island post office box for three weeks. Michelle O’Neill reports.
Rock Island County Clerk, Karen Kinney, says one of the first tips about a potential problem with absentee ballot applications came from her own mother. Voters also started to call her office asking, “Where’s my ballot?” Kinney called the sheriff, state’s attorney, and the Illinois Attorney General for help. She learned that a Dekalb woman from the Illinois Opportunity Project rented the Post Office box. The project is a Chicago-based non-profit, co-founded by Dan Proft who’s a radio host and former Republican candidate for governor. [Emphasis added]
Co-founder Pat Hughes said his organization has done nothing wrong.
“We’re doing a vote-by-mail program,” Mr. Hughes said. “We’ve delivered thousands of applications in Rock Island County and throughout the state.”
While Ms. Kinney said the 1,500 absentee applications were piled up at the Rock Island Post Office on 11th Street before being delivered last Thursday and Friday by a man, Mr. Hughes refutes there was any voter suppression on behalf of his organization.
“They’re (applications) being picked up and delivered every single day,” Mr. Hughes said. “Any comments on voter suppression are false. If those statements are coming from the Rock Island County clerk or any other Democratic elected official, they are politically motivated.”
Mr. Hughes said the Illinois Attorney General’s Office has made many inquiries and demands over the last week of his organization related to Rock Island County and other counties, but he said it has done nothing wrong.
Hughes said the Illinois Opportunity Project mailed applications to voters on Oct. 11, and picked up the returned applications from the Rock Island Post Office on Oct. 26, after receiving inquiries from law enforcement. Hughes says the group didn’t break any laws by not grabbing the applications sooner. He also says that because the group distributed applications on the 11th and collected them on the 26th, it disproves the Democratic clerk’s claim that the applications languished for three weeks.
Mark Curley, postmaster for the Rock Island Post Office, corroborated Hughes’ timeline.
“There was no three weeks,” Curley said. “They didn’t languish.”
* Ron Gidwitz, chairman of Trump-Pence Victory Illinois, writes in Crain’s…
Two things are guaranteed out of every political campaign season:
• We all get tired of the rhetoric and non-stop campaign ads; and . . .
• Outlandish accusations will describe mole hills as mountains.
That second point may best be illustrated by Illinois Democrats’ piercing shrieks about Governor Bruce Rauner’s support for Donald Trump. Unless you’re wise enough to take an extended vacation off the planet during election season, you’ve undoubtedly seen the breathless accusations splashed across the airwaves that Governor Rauner deeply and profoundly supports Donald Trump—punctuated with one single damning phrase: “I will support the Republican Party’s nominee.”
Be still my heart! A half-hearted phrase muttered demurely and without mentioning He Whose Name Will Not Be Spoken suddenly has become video proof that Rauner will go to the ends of the Earth to get Trump elected so he can steal from the poor and give to the wealthy. Clearly, Rauner’s terse phraseology can be interpreted as a sign of complicity and access to the pots of gold the governor has in his possession!
So, lemme get this straight. The Illinois chairman of Donald Trump’s campaign has now stridently come to the defense of his party’s governor for not explicitly by name endorsing… Donald Trump.
The Illinois Republican Party on Tuesday called on Chicago City Clerk and Illinois State Comptroller candidate Susana Mendoza to explain why she was sued by national electronics retailer Best Buy for unpaid personal bills after months of non-payment.
Cook County Sheriff’s Deputies served Mendoza with a summons to appear before a Cook County Judge to answer allegations that she opened a Best Buy credit account and ran up charges, but then failed to pay her bill. Mendoza later reached a settlement agreement with the retailer.
“It is concerning that anyone running for elected office would have to be sued to pay their bills,” said Nick Klitzing, Illinois Republican Party Executive Director. “But when that candidate is asking to serve as the state’s Chief Fiscal Officer, such an incident is disqualifying. If she can’t take care of her own finances, how can she be trusted to manage the state’s checkbook?”
Mendoza was personally served with papers requiring her to appear in Cook County Circuit Court on the morning of December 28, 2000. In the lawsuit, Best Buy maintained that Mendoza failed to make monthly payments as required in the credit agreement she signed. The retailer asked that Mendoza be required to pay a debt of $1,561.32.
“Susana Mendoza disqualified herself for this office by spending 10 years in Springfield voting at the behest of Mike Madigan for the very unbalanced budgets, tax increases and pension holidays that have landed our state in fiscal crisis, but this revelation is even more alarming,” Klitzing said. “Human services, small businesses, hospitals, schools and others depend on the Comptroller to swiftly process state payments – they simply can’t afford to take chances on someone that doesn’t even pay her own bills.”
Mendoza was 27 at the time of the purchase, and was elected to the Illinois General Assembly as a state representative in November 2000, at the age of 28. […]
Mendoza’s campaign dismissed the allegations, saying Mendoza bought a Best Buy laptop with an agreement that she’d have a year to make a payment, and no interest charges. After a year passed, she didn’t receive a bill. She was later sent a letter from a collection agency demanding the amount owed, plus a fee from the agency. Mendoza took Best Buy to court to prove that she did not receive a bill, and the case was settled with Mendoza paying what she owed for the laptop, her campaign said.
In a statement, Mendoza’s campaign manager Lauren Peters called the information release from the GOP a “desperate attempt to distract voters” from issues Munger wants to “run away from,” including her role in late payments for court-ordered disability payments during the budget impasse.
“The state of Illinois has never been worse off than it has been under the Rauner/Munger team,” Peters said. “And they will say or do anything to distract the voters of Illinois from the truth, including a decades old dispute, in order to avoid explaining how they managed to push the state further into debt while slashing social service.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner, who once described himself as part of the “point-zero-one percent” of wealthy Americans, is holding back on releasing his personal income taxes this year — a departure from past practice for the wealthy Republican. The Rauner Family Foundation also has not filed its papers this year.
Since Oct. 20, Rauner’s office did not respond to questions about why the governor hadn’t released his 2015 taxes and whether he planned to do so. Informed today that POLITICO was poised to publish a story, the governor’s office released this statement.
“Governor Rauner will release his tax returns, as he has done in the past, when additional filings are completed, including the filings for the Rauner Family Foundation,” said the text-message statement from spokeswoman Catherine Kelly. […]
“We’ve not seen those returns,” Illinois Democratic Party spokesman Steve Brown told POLITICO Illinois. “It certainly is another example of making him look more Trump-like. A very curious development.” […]
“Is it about not wanting to be transparent or not wanting to draw contrasts between yourself and the presidential nominee?” said Kent Redfield, professor emeritus at University of Illinois at Springfield. “Those are the two most reasonable explanations: ‘I don’t have to do it’ and ‘it’s not going to hurt me.’ Or we’re kind of slow-walking it because we don’t want to draw contracts between his behavior and Trump’s.”
He released his returns last year in mid-October. The grapevine has it that the new returns will show a large increase in income.
WTAX has asked the offices of the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate what plans there are to release those legislative leaders’ 2015 returns.
An e-mail from Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago), says, As soon as law changes or Speaker makes same same decisions as governor’s.
Why he decided to jump into the fray considering his boss has never released his own tax returns is puzzling, to say the least.
Duckworth has a commanding edge over Kirk within the City of Chicago (62 percent to 17 percent), while the two draw even in the Chicago suburbs 38 percent each, and Kirk holds a slim lead in the rest of the state 38 percent to 36 percent.
Turning to the question of favorability ratings for the U.S. Senate, Tammy Duckworth enjoys a +13 net favorability, while Senator Kirk has a +1 favorability.
Other noteworthy results from the poll
54 percent of likely voters in Illinois approve of President Barack Obama’s job performance, while 41 percent disapprove.
53 percent of Illinois likely voters see the country headed in the wrong direction, while 76 percent say the state of Illinois is headed in the wrong direction. Only 14 percent of those polled indicated that the state was headed on the right track.
Kirk remains a relatively unknown quantity even after almost 6 years in the Senate. According to the toplines, Kirk’s total favorables (32 percent) and his total unfavorables (28 percent) add up to just 60 percent who can rate him. That total is 70 percent for Duckworth (41-29).
The Loras College Poll surveyed 600 likely voters in Illinois. The survey was conducted Oct. 26-27. Margin of error for full sample is +/- 4 percent. Results calculated at a 95 percent confidence interval.
45 percent of the respondents were contacted via their mobile phones.
Tax revenue has recovered slowly and unevenly after falling in every state during the Great Recession. By the first quarter of 2016, tax collections had bounced back in 31 states after accounting for inflation. But amid inconsistent growth, receipts had slumped in 17 states at the start of the year
* Sen. Bertino-Tarrant wasn’t expecting to have such a spirited reelection bid, but she’s most definitely got a barn-burner on her hands. So, this press release will help, but there are two odd things about it…
Barack Obama today announced his endorsement of Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant’s campaign for State Senate, 49th District.
“I am very honored to receive the endorsement of Obama,” said Bertino-Tarrant, a first-term legislator from Shorewood. “I am proud to have the support of our president who is working tirelessly to invest more in our schools, create better paying-jobs, and reform the status quo.”
Bertino-Tarrant is now the first candidate for state Senate to receive the Obama’s endorsement in Illinois. Her campaign is now endorsed by organizations that represent teachers, police-officers, fire-fighters, small business owners, retirees, responsible gun-owners and working families.
“What drives me every day is the desire to provide a better future for our District,” said Bertino-Tarrant. “As a fourth-generation Will County resident and life-long educator, I am running to give the 49th District a voice they can count on to champion common sense legislation and promote bipartisan reform in Springfield.”
Until this year, Obama has not endorsed in state legislature races. Prior to serving in the White House and U.S. Senate, Obama served in the Illinois Senate representing Chicago’s Hyde-Park neighborhood.
1) No actual statement from the President? What’s up with that?
2) I was also told there will be no accompanying TV ad, which is odd, right?
* Meanwhile, speaking of national politics, this is from a reader…
Hi Rich,
Thought I would pass this along to you. I took this outside an early voting site in Park Ridge this morning.
* The pic…
Yeah, somehow I don’t think Michael paid for that truck.
…Adding… From a GOP friend…
That McAuliffe ad truck is owned by a hardcore GOP guy named Brian Younker. Maybe friendly fire?
Our analysis divides all elementary schools in the state into 10 tiers based on the percentage of low-income students a school serves. The zero to 9.9 percent tier includes schools serving the fewest low-income students, while those in the 90 percent to 100 percent range covers schools with the highest percentage of low-income students.
We then calculate the average percent met/exceeds for each tier. As in past years, our analysis shows how deeply stratified Illinois schools are by income, with no income tier performing better than any other tier with fewer low-income students.
The message parents should take from Monday’s newly released state report card data is that despite Illinois’ financial difficulties, school performance is steady — for the most part, according to state officials.
John Barker, the state’s new chief of performance, pointed out that overall graduation rates, attendance rates and ACT scores are either the same or up a little compared with last year.
Two areas of concern: Chronic truancy rates, which look at students who missed 5 percent or more days without a valid excuse, increased from 8.7 percent to 9.8 percent. Also, the number of students in preschool went down by more than 12,000 children.
Preschool education is this governor’s specialty. He knows a lot about it, including the theories about how and why it works. So, it’s weird that the number of preschool kids dropped.
* More from the ISBE…
Students enrolled in Pre-K-12 education – more than two million students (2,041,779) at the beginning of 2015-16, 12,777 fewer than the previous year; percentage of Hispanic students increased slightly (25.1% to 25.5%), while percentage declined slightly for White (49.3% to 48.8%) and African-American (17.5% to 17.3%) students
*** UPDATE *** It looks like WBEZ and I both misread the ISBE numbers. Those are for all students, not just Pre-K.
Chicago’s only Illinois House Republican is taking advantage of a historic World Series run — printing out a “W” poster in campaign mail ads that when placed on a window show the grinning faces of Michael McAuliffe and his family decked out in Cubs gear.
The Cubs last year filed applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to expand its trademark of the “W” sign — which flies above Wrigley Field after victories and is a staple at Cubs fans’ homes.
McAuliffe’s campaign said the political mailer isn’t selling a product, and isn’t causing confusion in the marketplace, which would mean a trademark infringement. […]
Also of note, a misspelling of legendary broadcaster Harry Caray’s name: “History is in the making, and so for Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, Jack Brickhouse, Harry Carey, and all the other Cub players and announcers who never got to drink from the sweet cup of victory . . . let’s go Cubs!”
* Meanwhile, from a press release…
The Village of Rosemont today charged the political campaign of Merry Marwig with releasing deliberately false and misleading information that infringes on the village’s trademarked “Rose” and intentionally and deceptively implies that a political advertisement is from Mayor Brad Stephens. In a letter to Marwig, Rosemont attorneys called for her campaign to cease and desist the use of the village’s iconic trademarked “Rose” and demanded that Marwig renounce a political mailer sent to village residents which falsely and deceptively implies that Mayor Brad Stephens is endorsing Marwig for political office.
Mayor Stephens said Marwig’s campaign had devolved from political chicanery to outright illegality by using Rosemont’s trademark on a political letter that bears Rosemont’s seal and then signing it with the initial “B’, deceptively implying that Mayor Stephens had authored it. In the handwritten note, Marwig is endorsed for state representative. While trademarks are often borrowed for clever non-harmful reasons, Marwig’s campaign has engaged in outright deception.
“This is political dirty trickery at its worst and I am sickened that Merry Marwig, a candidate for state representative would condone it,” Mayor Stephens said. “We are today demanding that Marwig repudiate this false and deceptive ad and that she identify all persons involved in its production or dissemination so appropriate legal action can be taken.”
Rosemont said it would take whatever actions were lawful and appropriate to protect its rights including filing a complaint with the Illinois State Board of Elections. The Village also indicated it would ask the U.S. Attorney and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to investigate the matter for possible mail fraud and other illegalities.
I doubt they have a federal case, but messing with Rosemont is never advisable.
*** UPDATE *** From Merry Marwig…
“I have spoken with and received great support from Rosemont residents, but I don’t know who sent this letter.
“Earlier this year, Michael McAuliffe admitted to calling me a ‘girl’ when talking about me to voters. He looks down on women, has a shameful record on women’s issues and has now convinced Mayor Bradley Stephens to join him in his crusade to keep women from holding elected office.
“Voters are outraged. They’re outraged by Michael McAuliffe’s shameful record on women’s issues, and they’re outraged that Mayor Stephens is in line to receive a $260,000 taxpayer-funded salary when most other mayors in the suburbs receive a fraction of that obscene amount, while his family members are appointed to six-figure patronage jobs.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee is on the airwaves today with a new ad outlining the important differences between predictable partisan Brad Schneider and Bob Dold, one of the most independent members of Congress. Whether it is his support for the dangerous deal with Iran or billions in higher taxes, Brad Schneider has proven he can’t be trusted to do what is right for Illinois. Luckily, Bob Dold is one of the most bipartisan members of Congress, opposes the Iran Deal, and has consistently looked out for hardworking taxpayers.
Two candidates. Important differences. Brad Schneider supports the dangerous deal with Iran. Bob Dold opposes it.
Dold fights for Illinois taxpayers. Schneider has supported billions in higher taxes.
Dold is an independent leader – one of the most bipartisan members of Congress. Schneider voted the party line nearly 90%.
Bob Dold – the proven independent choice for Illinois.
* Press release…
Tammy Duckworth’s campaign for U.S. Senate today released its closing argument ad, entitled “Simple.” The 30-second, direct-to-camera positive spot, which will run in every Illinois market, highlights the core of Duckworth’s mission as a public servant: to help Illinois working families achieve economic security and opportunity. Duckworth concludes the ad by asking Illinoisans for their vote.
Over the last week, Duckworth has picked up key endorsements from newspapers around the state, including the State Journal-Register, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Quad-City Times, the Southern Illinoisan, the Chicago Defender, and the Daily Illini, adding to endorsements from the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, and Rockford Register-Star. These endorsements will be featured in regional variations of this ad.
“This ad is the essence of why Tammy is running for Senate and the connection she has made with Illinois voters — and speaks for itself,” Tammy for Illinois campaign manager Kaitlin Fahey said. “We’re thrilled that our campaign has the resources to run this spot statewide, and we’re gratified to have secured so many key endorsements just as Illinoisans are starting to go to the polls. With one week to go, our grassroots campaign will be working around the clock to to fight for every vote across every part of this state.”
Tammy Duckworth: I know what it’s like to fight for your life behind enemy lines and I know what it’s like to not be left behind. If you elect me to the Senate I’ll be guided by the simple notion that if you don’t give up on yourself, America won’t give up on you. I will fight for every kid trying to pay for college, for every small business trying to grow, and for every family working hard just trying to catch a break. I’m Tammy Duckworth, I approve this message and I’m asking for your vote. Thank You.
* And, finally…
A new video, available at fairgame.fairelectionsil.org, tells the story of a game that feels all too familiar: It’s election season in Illinois, once again, and Governor Bruce Rauner and his billionaire cronies play a game of basketball against Democracy (youth activist Asean Johnson). As the announcer highlights how the Billionaires United have used their money to block popular reform efforts, it seems that our hero, Democracy, can’t buy a shot. By the end of the game, the Billionaires won’t even let Democracy touch the ball. It is clear that the Billionaires are playing by a different set of rules.
That’s the message in the first salvo of a social media campaign that was launched today by the Fair Elections Illinois coalition in response to the rising influence of money in Chicago politics and Illinois State House and Senate campaigns. As the reform groups’ website notes, this is a game that is being played by elected officials on both sides of the aisle, with politicians like Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and Governor Rauner reaping huge benefits.
The Fair Elections Illinois video helps to educate the public on exactly how their elected officials and big donors use loopholes in the campaign finance system to dramatically alter current policies and to push alternative candidates out of contention. “We are living in unprecedented times,” said Amanda Weaver, Executive Director of Reclaim Chicago. “Billionaires and well-funded special interest groups have never been as powerful as they are today, and we believe that the public deserves to know how a handful of individual donors are reshaping the political landscape in this state.”
This ad campaign comes at a time when huge amounts of money are being moved around by big donors. In just the last couple of weeks, Governor Rauner and his friend, hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin, transferred $5 million to Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin’s campaign. Then Durkin turned around and transferred over $3 million to the House Republican Organization.
Sadly, the story is no different here in Chicago. In February 2015, 79% of Chicago voters supported a ballot question to limit the influence of special interest money by instituting a public campaign financing system.
New York, though, is still the nation’s food-truck and food-cart capital, with 3,100 legally licensed vendors selling everything from classic hot dogs to small-batch popcorn on almost every corner of the city’s densest areas. (Many more vendors operate illegally.)
And while many cities confine their food trucks and carts to certain main thoroughfares and parks at certain times, New York, with a few exceptions, lets them operate wherever their proprietors like.
Now, New York City Council wants to double the number of food-truck and -cart permits it awards. The permits are good for both carts, which operate on sidewalks and trucks, which operate on streets, whichever the vendor prefers.
And I don’t mean to just pick on Chicago. We could use lots more food trucks and carts everywhere here. It allows people to more easily break into the food business and allows existing restaurants to cheaply test new products.
By all means, responsibly and reasonably regulate their safety and quality, but stop focusing so darned much on quantity.
* Last week, 1,500 absentee ballot requests were found in a Rock Island post office box and they had apparently been sitting there for weeks. Local officials initially thought the PO box was owned by the Democrats, but now Rock Island County Clerk Karen Kinney says it’s owned by the Illinois Opportunity Project, co-founded by Dan Proft and Pat Hughes…
Ms. Kinney said that, after investigators looked into the postal box, a man brought the ballot applications to her office Thursday and Friday but gave few details on why submitting the applications took weeks. All those applications, she said, will be mailed ballots.
Ms. Kinney has asked Rock Island County State’s Attorney John McGehee, Sheriff Gerry Bustos and the Illinois Attorney General’s office to look into the matter. […]
Pat Hughes, co-founder of the Illinois Opportunity Project, confirmed his group rents a Rock Island postal box for absentee ballot applications. But he said he was unsure if it was the same box, and he will determine if it was. […]
“In Rock Island County, we sent out thousands of applications, and received a little over 1,500 applications in that P.O. box,” he said. “Every single one has been delivered to the clerk.”
With less than a week until Election Day and nearly four in 10 voters in states with no voter-ID requirements falsely believing they must present identification in order to vote, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s Most & Least Politically Engaged States.
In order to determine where Americans are most involved in politics, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across seven key indicators of political engagement. They range from “percentage of registered voters in the 2012 presidential election” to “total political contributions per adult population.”
Political Engagement in Illinois (1=Most; 25=Avg.)
28th – % of Registered Voters in 2012 Presidential Election
34th – % of Electorate Who Voted in 2014 Midterm Elections
34th – % of Electorate Who Voted in 2012 Presidential Election
23rd – Change in % of Electorate Who Actually Voted in 2012 Elections vs. 2008 Elections
11th – Total Political Contributions per Adult Population
9th – Civic Education Engagement
1st – Voter Accessibility Policies
Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to schedule a phone, Skype or in-studio interview with one of our experts. Full data sets for specific states and the District are also available upon request.
Methodology is here. According to Popa, voter accessibility is defined by laws governing things like early voting, no-excuse absentee voting, online voter registration and same-day registration.
* We looked at one of Sen. Daniel Biss’ new anti-Rauner super PAC ads yesterday. Here’s the other ad, which, unlike yesterday’s spot, doesn’t mention Donald Trump. Because of that, I assumed it was only meant for Downstate voters, but a pal told me he saw it on Chicago TV this morning…
