* I saw on Twitter that today’s episode of Jeopardy! served up a category called “Illinois at 200.” So I fast-forwarded through the first half so you don’t have to! (Spoiler: they were quite easy, so I was a little disappointed)…
$200 question:
Illinois has 63 miles of coastline along this great lake.
- What is Lake Michigan?
$400 question:
Completed in 1973, it was the world’s tallest building until 1996.
- What is the Sears Tower?
$600 question (and the Daily Double):
This official slogan of Illinois honors a man who moved there at age 21.
- What is the “Land of Lincoln?”
$800 question:
Nauvoo briefly became Illinois’ largest city after this Mormon leader and his followers began settling there in 1839.
- Who is “Joseph Smith?”
$1,000 question:
In 1942 at the University of Chicago, this Italian-American achieved the first controlled nuclear chain reaction.
- Who is Enrico Fermi?
[Cara Smith at the Cook County Sheriff’s office] said she also talked to [Rep. Bob Rita], who told her that Cassidy’s opposition was a key hurdle to passing the bill. Smith said Rita commented that if he worked for a politician but didn’t support their initiatives, “I probably wouldn’t have a job.” Smith said she viewed it as Rita “stating his experience.”
I spoke to Smith today and she confirmed what she said to Monique.
Monique Garcia: When I talked to Cara Smith, she said that you had also raised the idea of, “I don’t know how you could oppose your boss’ bill.”
Rep. Rita: With Cara Smith and her conversations with her and Kelly, I can’t comment on that. We strictly were looking at how…
Monique: Well, Cara said you said that to her.
Rita: …How do we get through a committee to get the votes to get to the House floor? Kelly being the vice chair of the committee has a strong voice in that committee and her opposition and learning that she’s working for the Sheriff and it being his top legislative priority really surprised me. Figuring, now how do we move froward, which I’ve explained to Cara, we need to get past this because we’re not going to be able to get this out of committee. We’re going to call it and it’s not going to be a vote. We’re not going to get an outcome.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Rita denied raising Cassidy’s employment during discussions [with Cassidy] about the bill.
“I never had those conversations, what she is saying. It was all limited to how do we get (the bill) through the criminal justice committee,” Rita said.
The full exchange between reporters and Rita is here. The transcript on this particular topic is here. Many, many thanks to Hannah Meisel for doing these transcripts today.
I saw the letter [from Speaker Madigan denying any attempt at intimidation] and it really misses the forest through the trees.
You know, just as when Jack Hynes went after Alaina Hampton and was digging up dirt on her, the Speaker called me and there were several conversations during that period of time when it was event-reaction-event-reaction-event-reaction, and in that sequence he called me to warn me about the Jack Hynes story, and was really adamant that I understand that I hadn’t done this, that he hadn’t ordered this effort. And I stopped him and said, ‘I one hundred percent believe you. You didn’t order him to do it because you didn’t have to.
‘This is the way the operation works, and I know that you believe that the one-step removal is enough, but it isn’t enough anymore and you own this.’ And in that moment, he agreed that he did. In fact, his statements right after that used those exact words: ‘And I own this.’
And he owns this, too.
The message is very clear: Speak out against the Speaker and people loyal to him will come after you.”
* And, finally, from Sen. Sam McCann…
It is with a heavy heart I offer my sympathy to Rep. Cassidy. The reports of her retaliation from Speaker Madigan are disturbing. There are few legislators that I differ more with ideologically than Rep. Cassidy, but I cannot watch the retaliation of the political ruling class go unchecked. For too long men, like Speaker Madigan and Governor Rauner, won’t take no for an answer when legislators have our own beliefs. Our beliefs should be respected and allowed to have their veracity assessed by the voters, not bullies. Furthermore, Pritzker’s calls for an investigation without criticizing Madigan amount to cowardice and lend refuge to bullies like him and Rauner. I am the only candidate for Governor who will stand up against these travesties.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** State account…
This kind of corruption is what I fight every day. Retaliation against Rep. Kelly Cassidy for standing with a victim of sexual harassment is unacceptable.
I'm so grateful that the IL House Women's Caucus and the IL Senate Women's Caucus are supporting @RepKellyCassidy the way they haven't supported me. Many thanks to Kelly for standing with me when no one else would - I'm standing with you too. https://t.co/ZBd3u0I4Zy
* Smart move. Click the pic for the full letter with attachments…
…Adding… You may recall that Speaker Madigan did something very similar back in 2013 when he asked the Legislative Inspector General to investigate his involvement in a Metra scandal. While Madigan’s office claimed in 2014 that the LIG “found no violation of any law,” the report was later leaked and it wasn’t very flattering, to say the least.
* The governor’s amendatory veto was basically just for show and yesterday’s House hearing was still more Hollywood. But let’s take a quick look…
Many were surprised by the governor’s suggestions – especially when the governor’s own public safety working group has been meeting regularly to discuss different solutions. Some members say they wonder why the governor did not discuss the capital punishment plan with them first.
State Rep. Kathleen Willis, an Addison Democrat, is part of the group and called Rauner’s death penalty suggestion a “poison pill”. She asked David Risley, director of criminal justice and public safety policy for the Governor’s Office if Rauner intended to run the show himself after bypassing the group. “So in other words, he puts no value behind the public safety working group, that we have no input on the things that he wants to work on?”
Risley said the governor didn’t want to interfere with the working group’s own ideas. “What he wanted to do was lay these things on the table, instead of sitting back and being like a punching bag for critics. He wanted to lay on the table what he was for, affirmatively, instead of just playing defense.”
Lawmakers pushed Risley to be more specific in the definition of “beyond all doubt” and to provide examples of where that standard would be met. He said those like Saddam Hussein, Timothy McVeigh or John Wayne Gacy would meet such a bar.
At the hearing, Illinois State Police Director Leo Schmitz said they support the death penalty for cop killers and mass murderers as a way to deter criminals from targeting police officers or committing mass murder.
“I believe that anything that we can do to help stop that, whether it’s this bill or some other bills, it’s something that we should work on and strive for,” Schmitz said.
State Rep. Kathleen Willis, D-Addison, said everyone should support law enforcement, but she has a question of prioritizing one life over another.
“I certainly do say, ‘yes we should have your back’,” Willis said. “But what makes your life more valuable than my husband’s life, or my daughter’s life, or my mother’s life?”
So, our state police director believes the death penalty is a deterrent. Even House GOP Leader Jim Durkin doesn’t go that far.
And as I’ve pointed out before, when you start applying the death penalty to one or two crimes, people will always wonder why any number of other crimes weren’t also included. Then-Sen. Kirk Dillard ran into those same problems when he tried a limited reinstatement of the death penalty.
Rob Warden, who has spent years exposing wrongful convictions as a journalist and academic, noted that while Rauner might call his idea on capital punishment “limited,” it’s easy for lawmakers to expand.
When Illinois restored capital punishment in 1977, there were six “aggravating factors,” or legal determinations that, if met, could warrant a death sentence, Warden said. When it was abolished, there were 20.
* Sen. Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake) and a coalition of female lawmakers plan to call for Legislative Inspector General Julie Porter to investigate Rep. Kelly Cassidy’s allegations that Speaker Madigan interfered with her employment with Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.
“I’m asking other members to call for an investigation, to call for our Legislative Inspector General to immediately investigate Representative Kelly Cassidy’s allegations,” Bush told me this afternoon. “We really believe that there should be an immediate investigation by our Legislative Inspector General. Part of our responsibility as Senators if we hear or or know of something that we believe is an ethics violation, we are also required to report.”
I also showed Sen. Bush the letter that Speaker Madigan wrote to Cassidy this morning on my phone (read the letter here) and she said it’s all the more reason for Porter to step in.
“If what the Speaker is saying is true, then that’s what an investigation would find,” Bush said.
Bush said she didn’t yet know which of her fellow lawmakers would officially be in on the statement, but said it’s currently being drafted.
* I had been looking to speak with Sen. Bush because she’s one of the three women heading up the sexual harassment panel that’s supposed to provide independent oversight for allegations of sexual harassment in the Democratic Party of Illinois.
Bush said the panel won’t weigh in. I also spoke with Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana) and Comptroller Mendoza’s spokesman, who said the same. The panel, which hasn’t been terribly active yet but has events planned this summer, is focused on campaign-related issues, not government.
This post will be updated when the letter is distributed.
*** UPDATE *** Here it is…
Members of the Illinois State Senate Women’s Caucus stand in support of an immediate independent investigation by the Legislative Inspector General into the public allegations of retaliation leveled by Rep. Kelly Cassidy.
Rep. Cassidy had the courage to come forward and discuss her experiences. We stand in support of Cassidy. The Capitol must not be a place for retaliation, harassment or intimidation of any kind.
It is important that an independent investigation by the Legislative Inspector General be carried out in order to restore public confidence in the system. It’s time to stand together to address any culture of fear and intimidation that may exist.
I’m writing today to share that after several conversations with JB Pritzker’s staff and Mr. Pritzker himself, I have decided to officially endorse JB in the race for governor of the state of Illinois. As many of you know, I’ve spent the last several years of my life fighting against an administration that seems hell-bent on destroying our government. Our government is needed by all of the citizens of our state but I have been especially vocal about the needs of our most vulnerable citizens.
I have worked alongside our veterans, our seniors, as well as the differently-abled and I have uplifted the voices of children. Within each of those populations and the Illinois citizenry at large, I have worked to make sure that racial and ethnic minorities as well as women have their voices heard.
Working to amplify the voices of those communities has been one of the most difficult tasks of my career but it is a task that I have been honored to be able to perform. Know that I am going to be with JB and Juliana as they continue to send the message to the current administration that it does not get to ignore or willfully hurt individuals, families, businesses and our great state.
I ran for Lt. Governor to echo the voices of the citizens who need their government the most and to stand with the working poor and middle class families trying to reach economic security. I’ve gone across the state listening to mothers trying to balance work and school while looking for affordable child care. I heard from fathers worried about being laid off work.
It is because of my personal commitment to Racial and Social justice, which are rooted in Economic Justice, that I am standing with JB Pritzker and Juliana Stratton as we move toward November. I know they will champion policies that lift everyone up and will help create a sound economy in our state. Moreover, we must work together to send the message that failed leadership will not be given a pass in our state. I hope that you will join me as I support JB and Juliana in their efforts to defeat Bruce Rauner.
Former House Republican leader Tom Cross moderates a City Club of Chicago panel featuring former state GOP chairman Pat Brady and conservative radio host Dan Proft.
Those two guys really do not like each other.
…Adding… House Republican Leader Jim Durkin is listed as an event sponsor. You’ll recall that Proft spent a fortune against Durkin in the March primary.
…Adding… The Pritzker campaign sent this out shortly before the program began…
Today, the JB Pritzker campaign released a new digital video, “Governor Without a Party,” highlighting Bruce Rauner’s fractured Republican party.
Months after barely winning the Republican primary, Rauner has stumbled from crisis to crisis, failing to unite his party behind his failed agenda. The new video features Rauner’s primary challenger, Jeanne Ives, attacking the governor for his failed leadership and reporters discussing the ongoing party rift.
“Bruce Rauner’s party is fractured beyond repair as he stumbles into a general election running on a record of crisis and damage,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “It is clear to Illinoisans of all political stripes that Bruce Rauner is a failure, and it will take a lot more than desperate attempts to dodge accountability and shallow gestures towards unity to bring his party back together.”
JB believes there should be zero tolerance for harassment and retaliation of any kind and he has built a campaign and will build an administration that reflects those values.
Rep. Kelly Cassidy bravely came forward with her story today, and JB believes she must be heard and that there should immediately be an independent investigation.
Women should never be forced to accept sexual harassment as the price of admission to a career in politics and JB stands with women like Rep. Kelly Cassidy who are leading the charge to change that culture.
*** UPDATE *** From Will Allison at the Rauner campaign…
Once again, Pritzker will not criticize Mike Madigan despite clear cases of sexual harassment and retaliation. It’s time for Pritzker to break his pattern of silence on Madigan and call him out for his corruption.
Galia Slayen, spokeswoman for Pritzker, said that this week, Pritzker will provide $1 million each to funds that help elect Senate Democrats and House Democrats; and another $1 million to the Rock Island County Democratic Party, which is chaired by Doug House. House is also president of the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association. Other Democratic candidates will also get funds, including $50,000 that will go to state Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, who is the party’s nominee for attorney general. […]
“Not only has Doug House worked on the county level as a chair, but he is someone that we have worked with in his capacity as president of the IDCCA and we are confident in his ability to build a statewide, grassroots infrastructure that invests in counties across the state so we can beat Bruce Rauner and win campaigns up and down the ticket,” Slayen said. […]
Slayen also said Blue Wave Illinois will not take money from corporations or their political action committees.
“We’re happy to have that support, and support from thousands of other people from all over the country,” said Steve Brown, spokesman for Madigan, of the Blue Wave effort. He characterized Rauner and the GOP as “a well-financed negative message machine.”
Pritzker has long talked about using his campaign and personal wealth to help build up a Democratic political apparatus in the way the governor used his money to rebuild the Illinois Republican Party. For Democrats, the political system has normally been centered upon state party chairman Michael Madigan, the veteran House speaker.
On Twitter, Republican state Rep. Grant Wehrli of Naperville wasn’t impressed, posting a video of blue-colored water swirling down a toilet.
* Rauner campaign…
Pritzker Bankrolling the Madigan Machine
JB Pritzker has once again made his alliance with Mike Madigan clear by stating that he’ll be fundraising for the Speaker’s candidates. Pritzker sent out an email touting his “Blue Wave” program that he hopes will keep Madigan in the majority and the corrupt machine humming right along.
“Pritzker refuses to be seen with Mike Madigan but he has no problem bankrolling his political machine. This is just another example of the Pritzker-Madigan ticket working hand-in-hand to keep Illinois corrupt.” -Alex Browning, Rauner campaign spokesman
* The Pritzker campaign’s Galia Slayen responds…
Glad to see the Rauner team can still find the copy and paste feature on their computer. Perhaps they should be more focused on passing a budget – it seems to be difficult for them.
The people of Illinois owe @RepKellyCassidy a huge debt of gratitude for having the guts and integrity to speak out. The only way things will change is if people start telling these stories. https://t.co/o7jc0ZkYA1
Look at Madigan's "denial" letter and pay special attention to where he writes "I have never" and where he writes "no one in my office". That distinction explains much of what's going on here, and it matches Kelly's allegations perfectly.https://t.co/H0IQAQGBTI
Cassidy called [Speaker Madigan’s] denial the “discredit-the-target portion of the program.”
She said the letter is “missing the forest for the trees.”
“The point is not my opposition to the bill, which was no secret to them and certainly wasn’t a problem for them until Bob Rita did this,” Cassidy said .”He took the bill to come after me. He doesn’t care about the sheriff or this bill. He doesn’t work in that arena. He doesn’t do criminal justice stuff. I think the more we focus on that, the more we miss the reality.”
Cassidy said it doesn’t matter whether the speaker directed actions, but it is representative of a culture within his organization.
In February, a lawyer for political consultant Alaina Hampton sent a “cease and desist” letter to a man whom the believed was trying to find “dirt” on Hampton — the woman whose sexual harassment allegations led Madigan to fire a longtime aide who is the brother of the ward’s alderman. Jack Hynes, the man in question, called it a “casual conversation” and denied that he acted on behalf of anyone, especially the speaker or his staff.
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
On May 10th, Midwest Members Credit Union presented the Tri-City Baseball/Softball League with a $5,000 donation to help subsidize youth athletic programs in the communities of East Alton, Roxana, Wood River, and Bethalto. The credit union has donated a total of $30,000 to the Tri-City Baseball/Softball League over the last three years, allowing the program to maintain the lowest registration fees in the area, make upgrades to uniforms and safety equipment, and make sure that anyone who wants to play baseball or softball in the summer has that chance. “We are proud of our sponsorship and relationship with the Tri-City organization and are happy to be able to make an impact with the families in the community. This is just another educational experience for them and gives them the chance to bond and create lasting relationships. Keeping active in a team-oriented environment, learning how to win and lose is something every child should have the chance to experience,” said Greg Lyons, President Midwest Members Credit Union.
[Cara Smith, Cassidy’s former supervisor in Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s office] said she also talked to [Rep. Bob Rita], who told her that Cassidy’s opposition was a key hurdle to passing the bill. Smith said Rita commented that if he worked for a politician but didn’t support their initiatives, “I probably wouldn’t have a job.” Smith said she viewed it as Rita “stating his experience.”
“I can’t speak to what Kelly thinks,” Smith said. “I can speak to the fact that she opposes the bill and her opposition was a problem. She has a philosophical difference to the sheriff’s office and a chief sponsor, who was raising that as a significant problem.”
Cassidy worked on social justice initiatives for the office, which were aimed at creating new policies for how detainees were treated. […]
“While I am certain that my role in the office is not the reason the bill is not being advanced, it is very clear that my role has created a handy excuse and weapon to use against both of us,” Cassidy wrote [in her resignation letter]. “I can not bear the idea that my presence in the office might distract from that mission.”
Um, wait. Rep. Cassidy’s opposition was a “key hurdle” to passing the sheriff’s bill? Really?
* The legislation in question would apply the state’s “public indecency” laws to county jails. Sheriff Dart’s jail has had a big problem with inmates exposing themselves in shockingly lewd ways to public defenders, particularly women. So, he turned to the General Assembly for help instead of just fixing the problem himself.
The bill flew out of the Senate, but it was then assigned to the House Judiciary - Criminal Committee.
* As just about everyone at the Statehouse knows, that particular House committee has been a no-fly zone for all penalty enhancement bills this year. Chairman Art Turner has blocked every such bill that’s been assigned to his committee.
Now, think about this for a second. While Rep. Cassidy does oppose Sheriff Dart’s bill, who actually assigned that piece of legislation to Rep. Turner’s committee? Why, House Speaker Michael Madigan, of course. If Madigan wanted the bill to pass, he’d have put it in a different committee, like he did with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s carjacking bill.
And Rep. Turner is no ordinary committee chairman. He’s Madigan’s Deputy Majority Leader.
So, the House Speaker deliberately assigns a bill to a hostile committee where he knows it will die and yet Rep. Cassidy - one of eight Democrats on that panel (including JB Pritzker’s running mate) - is somehow the “key hurdle” here?
Wrong.
If Rep. Cassidy completely flipped and took over sponsorship of that bill today it would still not have a chance in Hades of getting out of Rep. Turner’s committee.
* The sheriff has a real problem at the county jail. He should fix the problem. Blaming others may help him sleep at night, but it doesn’t solve anything - particularly when the blame is so misdirected. If he ever stands up and demands that Speaker Madigan reassign the bill to another committee, well, then maybe he’ll have a point.
Total enrollment on both campuses is projected to decline about 14% from fall of last year, down to 8,088 students from 9,441, according to total enrollment numbers on the WIU website. The totals include currently enrolled students and graduate students, plus incoming freshmen and transfer students, who make up the fresh inflow of students to the university. […]
The 815 projection [in freshman enrollment] is a decrease of 32.4 percent from the fall 2017 freshman class of 1,206 students. in addition to a decline in Freshmen students, there is an anticipated decline in transfer students of just below 12 percent, down to 725 students compared with 823 in 2017. […]
[State appropriations] went from a high of $64.3 million in FY02 to $46.3 million in 2018, a decline of 28 percent. During the budget impasse in FY16, the university only received $14.9 million of its appropriated funds. In FY17 WIU received stopgap and other funds totaling $59.8 million.
“Some may look at this and think that FY17 made up FY16, but it didn’t. So that’s where we had to use $30 million of our own money to get us through that. It ate through quite a bit of our reserve,” [Budget Director Letisha K. Trepac] said. […]
”(For) FY19, $7.6 million in deficit spending is the current projection,” [Trepac] said. “I also want to point out that this doesn’t include any reinvestment in any areas.” […]
“If we deficit spend at the current rate next year, we will not have a reserve at the end of next year.”
Illinois citizens seeking to utilize the State’s Election Day Registration process to vote in the 2018 general election can do so without further interruption from an ideologically-driven group. The victory for access to the ballot comes after a court earlier this month closed Harlan v. Scholtz following an agreed dismissal. The challenge to Illinois’ Election Day Registration (EDR) law was filed just two months before the November 2016 general election by the Illinois Policy Institute’s legal affiliate, creating havoc and uncertainty about whether EDR would be available for that election.
“We are pleased that this attempt at voter disenfranchisement has been sent to the dustbin,” said the ACLU of Illinois’ Director of Communications and Public Policy Edwin C. Yohnka. “Election Day Registration is a critical tool for civic empowerment and access to the vote that benefits voters of every stripe. In these times we must all work to protect rather than abridge access to democracy.”
Ami Gandhi of Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights said: “It makes perfect sense to us that this case has been dropped, especially after it failed in its goal to limit voters’ access to the ballot in the 2016 election. We are grateful for this dismissal and eager to turn our attention to other pressing challenges to voting rights in Illinois, such as the implementation of Automatic Voter Registration.”
In August 2016, the Liberty Justice Center, the legal arm of the Illinois Policy Institute, filed suit against the state’s EDR law, requesting that all precinct-level EDR systems be blocked because while large counties must provide EDR in every polling place, smaller counties are only required to provide it at a central location. Notably, the law doesn’t forbid those counties from offering EDR at all precincts, and indeed election officials in small counties themselves lobbied for the exemption from in-precinct EDR.
In response to the lawsuit, the ACLU of IL and Chicago Lawyers’ Committee together with Better Government Association, League of Women Voters of Illinois, and the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform filed an an amicus brief urging the court to preserve EDR and, if anything, extend it in smaller counties. Although U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan granted the motion to block EDR just six weeks before the November general election, a three-judge panel from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals stayed and then vacated that decision. Illinois voters from every county used EDR during the 2016 general election.
Illinois rolled out Election Day Registration with a 2014 pilot program. Around 9,000 voters took advantage that year, and in 2015 lawmakers expanded it and made it permanent. Around 121,000 eligible persons registered and voted using EDR during the 2016 general election. Thousands of voters across the state have used EDR so far in 2018.
Democratic State Rep. Cassidy Retaliated Against For Speaking Out On Madigan’s Mishandling Of Sexual Harassment Allegations
Madigan Chief of Staff and DPI Exec. Director Tim Mapes made “chilling” phone call concerning Rep. Cassidy’s employment
“This is how Mike Madigan operates: he will use the levers of power to retaliate against those who oppose him. The ‘chilling’ phone call Madigan Chief of Staff and DPI Executive Director Tim Mapes made concerning Rep. Cassidy’s employment in the Cook County Sheriff’s Office was a shameless attempt to silence those speaking out against Madigan’s corruption and stonewall any efforts to move an independent investigation against Madigan’s DPI forward.” - Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Aaron DeGroot
Democratic State Representative Kelly Cassidy is saying that she’s faced retaliation for speaking out against House Speaker Mike Madigan’s mishandling of sexual harassment allegations from within his political organization. Cassidy called for an independent investigation into the Democratic Party of Illinois and Friends of Michael J. Madigan to review harassment policies and responses to complaints.
Days after calling for that investigation, Speaker Madigan’s Chief of Staff, Tim Mapes, who also serves as the Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Illinois, called the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, where Cassidy held a part-time position, to confirm that Cassidy was still employed there. Cassidy said Mapes’ phone call was “a little chilling” and “felt like a warning.” DPI is a defendant in the sexual harassment lawsuit brought forward by Alaina Hampton.
Cassidy also said that she has attempted to communicate with Speaker Madigan concerning pending legislation, but her requests have been ignored thus far. Additionally, Democratic State Rep. Bob Rita confronted Cassidy on the House floor concerning legislation she opposes, but her former boss, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, supports. Rita told Cassidy that he would “expect to be fired” if he did what she did.
Cassidy eventually resigned her position in the Cook County Sheriff’s Office because she believes she was facing “retribution” over the matter.
This is how Mike Madigan operates: he will use the levers of power to retaliate against those who oppose him.
Thoughts?
*** UPDATE *** Rauner campaign…
JB Pritzker says he will put ‘people over politics,’ but his past actions prove that he will put himself before everyone else.
Pritzker is outspoken in his campaign ads that victims of sexual harassment need to be believed: “[when] women everywhere need me to say ‘we believe you,’ you will find me standing right there next to you.”
Now is his chance. Yesterday, Rep. Kelly Cassidy came forward to tell her story of being pushed out of her job with the Cook County Sheriff’s office in retaliation for speaking out about harassment allegations in Madigan’s political organization.
Pritzker has a history of being unable to criticize Madigan, particularly on this issue.
Chicago Tribune: “’I think people like J.B. Pritzker who can’t criticize him (Madigan), that makes it very difficult to win the general election,’ Kennedy said. ‘It makes him almost unelectable in a general election. We need to have that freedom, the space to be critical of our own party. Unless we have that freedom, then the leadership is, in fact, toxic.’”
WMBD: “In four minutes and 25 seconds of discussing the sexual harassment scandal, Pritzker did not once say ‘Madigan.’ Madigan on Friday sent a letter to lawmakers saying it’s time to ‘rethink the culture of politics.’”
State Journal-Register: “‘It took J.B. Pritzker a week to get permission from Mike Madigan to even name him in talking about the sexual harassment coverup,’ Biss said. ‘We need someone with independence…’”
WCIA: Biss continues calling Pritzker, “Madigan’s candidate” after debate wraps up.
Chicago Tribune: “Pritzker, who has successfully coalesced support from the Democratic Party establishment, has repeatedly declined to say if he thought Madigan should step down as party chairman, House speaker, or both. He declined to say so again on Thursday.”
So does Pritzker stand with Kelly Cassidy and Alaina Hampton or Mike Madigan?
An Illinois lawmaker said Monday she was forced out of her job with the Cook County Sheriff’s office, given no choice other than to resign from her part-time position after speaking publicly against powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan.
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Democrat who represents portions of Chicago’s North Side, was the lead voice calling for an independent investigation after allegations of sexual harassment first surfaced within Madigan’s political staff. […]
Days after she publicly called for a review of harassment policies and past responses to complaints, Cassidy said she was told by Sheriff Tom Dart’s spokeswoman Cara Smith that Madigan’s chief of staff Tim Mapes had called “to confirm that I was still employed,” adding, “that call from Mapes felt like a warning, it was a little chilling.” […]
Last week, Cassidy said state Rep. Bob Rita “summoned” her over to discuss Dart’s bill and said, “I really just can’t get over the fact that you’re opposed to your boss’ bill.” […]
That conversation with Rita led Cassidy to speak to Smith once again. Cassidy said Smith told her that Rita had reached out to tell her, “when I worked for a politician, when I opposed him, I expect to be fired.”
“My blood ran cold at that,” Cassidy said. “It was very, very clear at that point, the combination of the call in February and this action by Rep. Rita, that this job was their point of leverage to use against me.” […]
Cassidy said she did not link Dart to the retaliation and chose to resign from her position. […]
“This is retribution, there is zero doubt in my mind,” she added. “This is about me having the gall to speak out.”
“It was clear to me that this would be the first of an unlimited number of shots at me, and I respect the sheriff [Tom Dart] too much and the work they do. But I felt like the only way that I could bring an end to this is to come out,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy said she resigned, but believes what happened is a clear form of “retaliation.”
“My speaking out is about wanting to be safe from retaliation in this workplace, and I believe that the only way to do it is to take this public,” Cassidy said. “What kind of an example am I setting for my kids if I allow myself to be silenced in this way?”
“You don’t get to get to sit on the executive committee without being loyal,” Cassidy said of Rita’s allegiance to the speaker.
* For a 94-page document, a report from the Office of the Executive Inspector General really didn’t find all that much…just seven jobs within CMS that should not have been classified as ones that could be filled from political consideration. The jobs had been filled with names recommended to CMS by the governor’s office, and the employees were hired in the year or so after Gov. Rauner was sworn into office.
The OEIG did a two-year investigation into seven jobs called “Regional Client Managers” and found that the jobs, originally created in 2004, should no longer be considered “4d(3) exempt,” which is similar to the “Rutan exempt” classification of state employee jobs. Like Rutan exempt jobs, positions classified as 4d(3) exempt can be filled using political consideration.
* When conceived of during the Blagojevich era, the Regional Client Managers were imagined as people who would oversee a bunch of state properties and make sure they were well-functioning. The original job descriptions, and even updated job descriptions years later, envisioned the managers to be fairly independent, create programming, have employees who reported to them, etc. Two examples, which explain why the positions might have been classified as exempt…
“This Client Manager works in concert with the Deputy Director on policy formulating, planning, directing, implementing and administering all property management operations for the client agencies in partnership with the agencies’ Directors.” […]
“This position serves as official agency spokesperson on behalf of the Deputy Director to all internal and external entities such as vendors, contractors, the public, and private and federal officials in the development of initiatives and the resolution of issues associated with client agencies’ property management.”
* Years later, as the OEIG investigated the seven Regional Client Manager positions, it seems most of the jobs turned into kind of glorified custodial managers. One of the people in the jobs said his duties consisted of…
- Setting up tables and chairs for special events
- Reporting the condition of conference rooms to his supervisor; and
- Monitoring inventory inside shared spaces in the Thompson Center.
A far cry from the dozens of bullet points’ worth of responsibilities the jobs were supposed to have. The annual salaries for the seven positions ranged from $51,540 to $75,000.
Does it look flattering for the governor’s office that these employees can be considered “patronage?” No. They were costing the state money, especially as the state went through a two-year budget crisis.
* But I talked to former CMS Director Mike Hoffman this afternoon, who pointed to the 2,500 former patronage jobs he and his team were able to eliminate from the state payroll and the others they reclassified to merit-based hiring. Hoffman was put in charge of efforts to help the Quincy Veterans Home in March.
“It’s frustrating to be called out for mismanagement when you’ve spent the past two years cleaning up,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman said he ultimately accepted responsibility as CMS director, and pointed out that he eliminated the positions on January 1. Also starting in January, CMS has put in place an affidavit process when supervisors do performance reviews — they’ll also have to do more consistent position description reviews so situations like these don’t happen in the future.
A lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, Dolores French had been a resident of the Illinois Veterans Home for six weeks when she was found dead in her independent-living unit on Aug. 29, 2015. She was one of 13 elderly residents at the facility to die from Legionnaires’ since that first outbreak. […]
Last December, WBEZ reported French may have laid dead in her room for two days before anyone found her.
State officials have ruled out that possibility categorically.
“What we know to be sure, she was not dead in her room for two days with nobody knowing about it,” then-state Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries told reporters after a January legislative hearing into the outbreaks.
But in his first interview about French’s case, the local coroner who delivered the sobering news to Steve French about his mother’s condition has a very different take. He tells WBEZ that she could have been dead between 36 and 48 hours before she was found.
And newly obtained health documents related to her case demonstrate a litany of questionable procedural and record-keeping practices at Illinois’ largest state-run veterans’ home, which takes in residents from across the state, including the Chicago area.
“Once again, Bruce Rauner’s administration proved they’re more interested in dodging blame than accepting responsibility for their mismanagement at the Quincy Veterans’ Home,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “In their enduring quest to avoid admitting fault, Rauner’s administration will not even give one family the dignity of telling the truth about their loss.”
Today, drinking a beer at a public park or beach in Chicago is an ordinance violation carrying a fine of up to $500. But what if starting tomorrow it became a felony offense instead of a ticket, just because the city of Chicago argued that sending all those beer drinkers to prison was the only way the Chicago Police Department could crack down on drunk driving?
Sounds ridiculous, right? It is, but this is precisely the reasoning that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Police Department are using to persuade legislators to increase penalties for criminal trespass and possession of a stolen motor vehicle. Emanuel’s little-understood bill pending in Springfield is being touted by city officials as a “carjacking” bill, but in reality it achieves a completely different objective.
Senate Bill 2339 proposes to raise a nonviolent misdemeanor charge (trespass to a vehicle) up three full felony classes to a Class 2 offense (possession of a stolen motor vehicle) for anyone who is in a car (or a truck, golf cart, or ATV) without the owner’s permission, regardless of whether the person charged knew the car was stolen and regardless of whether it was taken hours, months or years ago. By the way, all of this applies to merely possessing just an “essential part” of a car, too — a transmission, a muffler, a trunk lid.
Worst yet, the bill creates a blanket presumption that youth will be held in detention and undergo a psychological evaluation, which could take weeks or longer.
As currently written, the bill “will not have a significant impact on preserving public safety,” Preckwinkle said. “Rather, it will perpetuate Illinois’ longstanding trend of unnecessarily incarcerating young black and brown youth for nonviolent acts.”
The real problem is with police, she went on to add. “This bill doesn’t hold police accountable for their lack of arrests for violent crimes. Similar to the low clearance rate in Chicago for shootings, 9 out of 10 carjacking offenses in Chicago do not result in an arrest,” she said. “Incarceration, even for a short period of time, is extremely harmful to young people and increases the likelihood that they will reoffend in the future and be incarcerated as adults.” […]
The sponsor of the Senate bill, state Sen. Tony Munoz, who is Latino and represents a heavily Latino West Side district, strongly disputes that.
In a phone interview, Munoz insisted that his bill “isn’t an enhancement” of existing penalties in law, but merely an attempt to make sure those who break the law are held accountable.
Munoz says police are right when they argue there’s a loophole in the existing law in which a group of young adults riding around in, say, a $100,000 Mercedes, all insist they had absolutely no idea it was stolen and end up getting off with little if any penalty because police can’t prove they did know. “I don’t agree with that,” Munoz said, referring to Preckwinkle’s argument. “We do have a problem. . . .I don’t want to lock up anybody who doesn’t deserve it.”
Steve Brown, a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, tells CBS 2 News, “The Black Caucus’ issue with the legislation is the enhanced penalty and its effect on juveniles.”
Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was confident the bill would pass.
“We’ll work through the issues, but I believe at the end of the day, since it affects every part of the city it will get a lot of support” said Emanuel. […]
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and others supporting the legislation say juveniles in possession of a stolen vehicle would get help, while in detention, after a psychological evaluation.
Opponents say that could take weeks in custody.
* Other bills…
* Illinois mayors say don’t balance state budget on the backs of their residents: On Friday, Gov. Bruce Rauner, talking to reporters after meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda in the city, was asked about the concerns of the Illinois mayors. Rauner didn’t directly answer the question, saying only that budget negotiations are ongoing.
* Yingling wants voters to elect Lake County assessment chief: Currently, the position is appointed by the county board chairman and approved by the county board. But Yingling plans to introduce legislation this week that would let voters decide if the post should be filled via an election in the future.
* Hospitals push back against timeline to train more nurses in sexual assault care: The bill, which passed the House in April and is being considered by the Senate, would require hospitals to have a provider trained to treat assault victims present within 90 minutes of a patient’s arrival in an emergency room by 2021. “We’re still concerned that there won’t be enough time,” David Gross, senior vice president of government relations for the Illinois Health and Hospital Association, said Thursday.
* Back in March, Gov. Rauner talked about one reason why property taxes are so high in Illinois…
(W)e have more bureaucracy, we have more government than any other state in America. We have seven thousand local units of government in Illinois. Two thousand more units than the number two state. Thousands and thousands.
And these are small, you know, mosquito abatement districts and water reclamation districts, and – we have dozens. And you’re paying taxes on all of those. And they’re redundant. No other state has as many as we do.
They overlap with each other and each one is a little fiefdom, a little kingdom for a politician. Where they have their buddies, and their cronies, and they do their – we’ve got to get rid of those. And we need to free it up, so your local community, you can get rid of some of these layers, so we can bring down your property taxes. That’s what we’re working to, advocating for every day.
Cook County Commissioner Tim Schneider, a close ally of Gov. Bruce Rauner, was unanimously re-elected chairman of the Illinois Republican Party in Springfield Saturday morning.
The result was a show of unity for a party that needed it following the bruising gubernatorial primary that saw Gov. Bruce Rauner almost upset by the more conservative state Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, who tapped into grassroots anger over Rauner’s more liberal positions on social issues like abortion and immigration.
“It’s been a long road, but we’re finally home,” Schneider said during a meeting at the Illinois Realtor’s headquarters, 522 S. Fifth St. “And hopefully when we leave this room today, it will be together.” […]
Nominating Schneider for the post was Lake County GOP chairman Mark Shaw, who up until a few days ago — with the backing of Ives and the conservative grassroots — was running to unseat him. […]
“As a party united now, we have a lot of work to do — pulling together to fight, take back our beloved Illinois, and get rid of Mike Madigan and the evil Democrats that infect Chicago, Cook County and the rest of the state,” Shaw said.
A veteran Illinois GOP official who says Gov. Bruce Rauner’s allies rigged a vote last month to unseat him will fight in court to get his job back.
Bob Winchester of Rosiclare, who has long represented most of Southern Illinois on the Illinois Republican State Central Committee, filed suit in Hardin County last Thursday, claiming he won re-election to his post, but party officials loyal to Rauner manipulated the results in favor of his challenger, State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet).
At a meeting in Springfield on Saturday, the State Central Committee, as expected, officially seated Rose and not Winchester.
“The evidence we have collected by affidavit makes it plain that Bob Winchester won this election,” said Steve Boulton, Winchester’s attorney. “It was reported by the party differently. We will be taking that in justice to court.” […]
Sources tell Prairie State Wire that Shaw tried furiously last week to strike a deal with Winchester to get him to drop his lawsuit, offering to give his deputy a high-ranking party position and to “find a job” for a family member in state government.
But Winchester refused.
Overtures were also made to Winchester’s lawyers, who were asked if a deal could be made to get them to withdraw from the case.
Dave Donahue, a one-time aide to House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D-Chicago) and former Chicago Alderman “Fast Eddie” Vrdolyak turned strip club impresario, was even enlisted to help broker a detente, sources said, asking what it would take to “buy Winchester out of his complaint.” […]
“If the story is true that Rauner allies promised jobs in exchange for Bob Winchester withdrawing his lawsuit against the party, then everyone in our party leadership who knew about it should resign immediately,” said [Rep. Jeanne Ives]. “They have been lying to the grassroots long enough. If party leadership thinks we will now turn a blind eye to corruption, then it just goes to show you how out of touch they are.
“We won’t win if we can’t be honest, and we don’t deserve to win if we can’t be honest. Republicans need to lead by example, not play the same political games that the Democrats do,” she said.
* The Pritzker campaign’s first ever fundraising appeal…
Hi there–
Throughout this campaign we’ve asked Illinoisans for your ideas about how to best improve our state, your voices calling for change, and your time, which you’ve given generously, knocking doors, making phone calls, and getting out the vote. I feel so grateful and lucky for all the time and energy so many of you have given to this campaign.
Now that we’ve won the primary, I know how important it is that we don’t just beat Bruce Rauner, but that up and down the ticket Democrats have the resources they need to win. That’s why I’m excited to tell you about Blue Wave Illinois 2018, a new project within my campaign we’re launching to make sure Democrats win this November.
And I’m asking for your help. Your contributions to Blue Wave Illinois 2018 will go towards efforts that will not just help elect amazing Democratic candidates across the state, but will make sure we have the field, digital, and messaging training and capacity to win. I’ll be supporting Blue Wave Illinois 2018 and I hope you do too.
Can you chip in today?
I am going to fight for Illinois every day in Springfield. But the more Democrats we have at every level of government, the more we can do to put Illinois back on the side of working families.
Donate to Blue Wave Illinois 2018 today and make sure Illinois works for everyone.
In an interview Wednesday with Chicago Tonight, Pritkzer wouldn’t share whether he’s set a personal spending cap on his campaign, which he’s committed to entirely self-funding.
So, did Pritzker break his word? I don’t think so because he’ll still be responsible for his own campaign funding. Others may differ. From the linked Pritzker fundraising page…
Blue Wave Illinois 2018 is a grassroots fundraising project of JB for Governor that is fighting to elect Democrats up and down the ballot across Illinois. Your contribution will help Democrats across the state run competitive races and have the resources to win – and win big. Every contribution, no matter how large or how small, will help fight for a better future for Illinois. Together, we can not only beat Bruce Rauner, but take back all the seats that have allowed him to push his destructive, failed agenda in Springfield. […]
Blue Wave Illinois 2018 is a project of JB for Governor and exists as a separate account within JB for Governor. Contributions made here will be placed in the Blue Wave Illinois 2018 account.
We also propose new funding sources that allow schools to hire mental health professionals and school resource officers to prevent tragedies from happening in the future.
As we’ve already discussed, that “new” funding source is an old funding source: Local sales taxes designated exclusively for school infrastructure spending.
The school district had an active-shooter plan, and two armed police officers walked the halls of the high school. School district leaders had even agreed last fall to eventually arm teachers and staff under the state’s school marshal program, one of the country’s most aggressive and controversial policies intended to get more guns into classrooms.
They thought they were a hardened target, part of what’s expected today of the American public high school in an age when school shootings occur with alarming frequency. And so a death toll of 10 was a tragic sign of failure and needing to do more, but also a sign, to some, that it could have been much worse.
“My first indication is that our policies and procedures worked,” J.R. “Rusty” Norman, president of the school district’s board of trustees, said Saturday, standing exhausted at his front door. “Having said that, the way things are, if someone wants to get into a school to create havoc, they can do it.”
The House Judiciary - Criminal Committee will meet this afternoon to hear testimony on the governor’s amendatory veto language. Hannah Meisel will be live-tweeting, so you can monitor the action on our live coverage post.
* More background…
* With his death-penalty ploy, Rauner uses an old trick he learned from his enemy: Mike Madigan: C’mon, we all know Rauner’s veto wasn’t about passing the bill so much as putting Democrats in an embarrassing position on the eve of November’s election. Vote with the governor’s veto and the Dems violate their anti-death penalty principles. Vote against it, and they expose themselves to weak-on-crime mailings, financed by Rauner, that they’re probably going to get anyway. Ironically, it’s a trick-bag strategy straight out of house speaker Michael Madigan’s playbook. Madigan essentially did the same thing to Rauner with the HB 40 abortion rights bill, eventually forcing the governor to choose between right-wingers or suburban swing voters.
* Madigan sets up vote on Rauner death penalty plan, creating political minefield: The move provides some political insulation for Madigan, the chief political nemesis of the re-election-seeking governor. It prevents the governor from attacking the veteran House speaker for defending the lives of cop killers by blocking a vote on Rauner’s crime-fighting initiative. … The bill is more complex for Republicans. While reinstating the death penalty has its appeal to Republican voters, Rauner’s plan also would create a 72-hour waiting period for all guns, not just military-style firearms contained in the original bill. An expansion of the waiting period is opposed by the politically powerful National Rifle Association and is at odds with many voters in rural Illinois legislative districts represented by Republicans who champion their support for gun rights.
* Rauner has a new campaign issue — reinstating the death penalty: The real question becomes what the governor will do if he receives a stand-alone bump-stock ban, or a bill requiring a 72-hour waiting period to buy any gun, or a “gun violence restraining order” bill, or legislation to put more mental health workers in schools, or measures to counter interstate gun trafficking. All of those proposals and more were also in the governor’s sweepingly broad and likely unconstitutional amendatory veto. Will Rauner accept half a loaf – or even a couple of slices? Or will he go with his usual all or nothing approach by demanding a “comprehensive” solution and then wind up yet again with nothing except his rhetoric?
* Gov. Bruce Rauner: Comprehensive gun bill would make our schools, cities safer: We call on the General Assembly to act quickly and approve this comprehensive package that tackles gun violence head-on, protects Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners, and empowers communities to keep students safe. We can’t let politics get in the way of good policy. For the safety of all Illinoisans, let’s show that we’re capable of working together and enact these important public safety solutions.
* Rauner dismisses bipartisan gun bill compromise as ‘political grandstanding’: Even after the Democratic sponsor of a gun dealer oversight measure made changes and brought in bipartisan support, Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday called a revamped effort “political grandstanding” while also blaming a familiar foe: Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan.
* Sun-Times Editorial: One way to crack down on shops that sell guns used in crimes: Most gun shops in Illinois sell few or no guns that eventually turn up at crime scenes in Chicago. But a handful of shops sold hundreds of such “crime guns” from 2013 through 2016. Why should we let them sell hundreds more? … We can only assume the governor has never read a city of Chicago report released last year showing that just two suburban gun shops sold 1,673 of the guns used in crimes in Chicago from 2013 through 2016. Or, to look at it another way, each of those two shops sells a future crime gun, on average, almost every day and half that they’re open for business.
Elizabeth, the singer’s third-eldest daughter, is a model, actress and activist who has traveled the country pushing for state legislatures to pass the amendment to codify equal rights for women into the U.S. Constitution. She stopped by Springfield last week to attend a rally in support of the Illinois bill, according to Rep. Lou Lang, the House sponsor of the amendment.
“She asked her father to send a letter and he did,” the Skokie Democrat said. Lang saw a draft of the letter but said he wasn’t sure if it had been distributed directly to members yet. […]
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, said that with a boost from the superstar, this could be the last time lawmakers have to settle the issue.
“We’ve got to get to 71 votes, and if Mick gets us to 71, I’ll be an even bigger fan,” she said.
Lang — admittedly “more of a Sinatra fan” — said Jagger’s letter “adds some flavor” to the Illinois ERA effort, but he doubted it would draw much sympathy for the devil.
* The governor and Mrs. Rauner moved back into the governor’s mansion today…
Great to be home. Three and a half years ago, @ILFirstLady and I made a promise to renovate and restore the @ILMansion. Proud to say it is happening on time, on budget and with private dollars. pic.twitter.com/ImPpu0ZO7N
This renovation is a metaphor for Illinois. The state is in need of repair. If we can unite on a plan to fix it, Illinois will be stronger, and people and businesses will want to stay. pic.twitter.com/8xmf4P014F
* Most people remember how Rep. Ken Dunkin’s strategic absence helped kill the AFSCME bill override motion…
ILGov Bruce Rauner in WSJ says about Democrat Ken Dunkin, seeking to return to the legislature, about his absence on a failed Democrat-backed labor veto override: “Boy, did we work our tails off. We got one Democrat to stay in New York at the U.S. Open during the vote override.”
There was a reason why state Rep. Esther Golar, D-Chicago, showed up late for the legislative session last Wednesday. She has been quite ill.
Unbeknownst to many of her colleagues, Golar was brought into the Statehouse Wednesday afternoon via wheelchair. With a weak and halting voice, Golar asked for assistance putting on a light jacket while chatting with a smattering of well-wishers before bravely walking to her seat on the House floor.
She told friends that she hadn’t eaten solid food in three weeks, although she didn’t say what had made her so ill. In desperate need of intravenous fluid, Golar eventually had to be taken to a Springfield hospital.
Golar had cancer, but in one of the gutsiest things I’ve ever seen a legislator do, she checked herself out of a Chicago hospital against her doctor’s advice mainly to vote on a measure to reverse Gov. Rauner’s massive cuts to the state’s childcare assistance program. Dunkin’s US Open absence killed that bill. Rep. Golar died a few weeks later.
So, when you see stories about how Speaker Madigan went after Ken Dunkin over AFSCME’s bill to force stalled contract negotiations into binding arbitration, keep Esther Golar in your thoughts. The simple fact is Madigan’s members wanted revenge for Esther, and they got it when Dunkin got creamed by Juliana Stratton.
Rauner’s organization helped Dunkin fight back with huge amounts of money washed through various committees, including the Illinois Chamber’s.
* Multiple sources have said since Dunkin’s 2016 loss that the Rauner loyalist wanted a seat on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. In the meantime, Dunkin tried and failed to make a House comeback in the March primary, placing a distant third while receiving assistance yet again from the Illinois Chamber.
Dunkin ally Maze Jackson has been giving Gov. Rauner a bit of a rough time lately. Jackson is an opponent of the death penalty, even labeling Susana Mendoza as “hostile” to the black community for “voting to expand the death penalty.”
So, I suppose it’s possible that tamping down criticism of his amendatory veto played in to Rauner’s decision to finally put Dunkin on the MWRD…
A former House Democrat who spurned powerful Speaker Michael Madigan in favor of his nemesis, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, has been appointed by Rauner to a $70,000-a-year political post.
Secretary of State records released Friday indicate that Rauner tabbed Chicago Democrat Ken Dunkin for a vacant post on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. […]
Dunkin takes a post on the board that manages Chicago’s sewage and storm water runoff from David Walsh. Rauner appointed Walsh in March to fill a vacancy left by a board member’s December death. It was unclear Friday night why Walsh left.
“There’s no payback. There’s no such thing,” Dunkin told The Associated Press on Friday. “My history of serving speaks for itself. I wanted to serve as I have in the past and this is another opportunity.”
Walsh didn’t leave the MWRD, by the way. Walsh was appointed to the MWRD in 2015 when Patrick Daley Thompson left to join the Chicago City Council. He held that MWRD seat through December of 2016, when Rauner appointed Cynthia Santos to the Illinois Pollution Control Board and Walsh was moved over. Walsh then resigned the Santos seat before the primary and was appointed to the seat left vacant after Tim Bradford died last December. That appointment is now the subject of a lawsuit. Dunkin is getting the Santos seat, which means he can serve on the MWRD until this December.
The notion that you’re going to come in here and that you’re going to hit a three-run home run without the votes, that’s highly unlikely to happen. Here’s how it works in the minority: You’re gonna beat out an infield hit, you’re gonna bunt the guy to second, you’re gonna steal third and you’re gonna score on a wild pitch and you’re gonna plant your flag in the ground and you’re gonna live to fight another day. And if you don’t understand that that’s the reality, you need to ask someone who’s been here for 30 seconds.
Heh. Three and a half years too late for a certain somebody, but good advice nonetheless.
Rep. Hays went on to say he wasn’t suggesting that people “check their values at the door.” Instead, he said, they should ask “Where are areas where we can make progress?”
Illinois on Friday said it won’t get in the way of an 11-year-old girl whose parents want her to be allowed to use medical marijuana at school to regulate seizures, despite state laws that prohibit the use of prescription cannabis on public school grounds. […]
[Ashley Surin] has suffered from seizures for years. She was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 2, and subsequent chemotherapy triggered debilitating seizures and brain trauma that she continues to experience as an adolescent, said her father Jim Surin. For months last year, Ashley had to use a wheelchair after hitting her head during a particularly bad seizure.
Traditional medicines had limited success in helping Ashley with the seizures — she would suffer one to three seizures per day. Late last year, a physician prescribed a ketogenic (high fat, low carbohydrate) diet and medical marijuana for Ashley — what her parents say is proving to be a “golden cure.”
Legislation was introduced this year to protect Ashley and people like her. It passed the House 99-1 and cleared the Senate last week 50-2.
Ashley has been wearing a patch and using lotion containing cannabidiol, or CBD oil, with a small amount of THC, the psychoactive element in cannabis, since December. It does not get her high, but has eliminated her seizures, her parents said.
“We feel like we’re watching a miracle happen,” Maureen Surin said. “She thinks better, she talks better. She used to do one- and two-word sentences. Now she speaks in run-on sentences. Her life has been given back to her.”
Illinois law allows children under 18 to take medical marijuana if two doctors certify that they have a medical condition that qualifies. But the new proposal would change current law, which prohibits possessing marijuana on school grounds.
* I have a regular feature on this blog called “It’s just a bill.” But, sometimes, legislation can be absolutely life-changing. Ashley and her parents were in the Senate gallery when the bill passed and their reaction speaks louder than a million blog posts ever could…
Gov. Rauner is not a marijuana fan, but I hope he watches that video clip before he decides what to do about this legislation. Frankly, everyone should watch it.
Today, the Champaign News-Gazette published an editorial criticizing JB Pritzker and Mike Madigan for failing to release specifics on their graduated income tax hike. The News-Gazette forecasted that raising the overall rate from 4.95 to 5.95 seems likely, which would mean a 20 percent income tax hike on every single hardworking taxpayer in Illinois.
Robert Martwick is the only elected Democrat to release a tax plan with specifics, and his proposal would significantly raise taxes on everyone making more than $17,300 a year. Between that plan and this forecasted 20% tax hike, it’s clear that Pritzker and Madigan are committed to raising taxes on Illinois families.
But as bold as he has been in announcing his general intentions, the billionaire businessman continues to shy away from the specifics voters need in order to judge his candidacy.
Pritzker, who is running on a costly platform that includes universal health insurance, has forthrightly suggested a two-tiered approach to income taxes in Illinois.
Legislators increased the state’s income tax to 4.95 percent last year, overriding Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of the measure. But Pritzker has indicated that the state needs even more revenue.
So he has said that, if elected, he’ll concentrate first on increasing the 4.95 percent rate, although he has not said how much he would increase it. It probably would be in the area of 1 percent, lifting the state rate by another 20 percent to 5.95 percent.
So, the ed board takes a guess at the new rate (without noting that Pritzker also wants to boost exemptions to make the new rate more progressivey) and the Rauner campaign pounces.
* DGA…
Over the weekend, the Champaign News-Gazette Editorial Board sounded the alarm on Republicans’ disunity after a close and heated primary battle that nearly cost failed Governor Bruce Rauner his party’s nomination. Two months after the election, Rauner’s primary opponent still regularly attacks him and the Governor was forced to cede control of his party.
“[O]ne of Pritzker’s greatest strengths is that the Democratic Party is united behind his candidacy…
“Conversely, Republican Rauner is trying to put his fractured party back together after a bitter primary election he almost lost to state Rep. Jeanne Ives.
“For Rauner to have any kind of chance, he has to make peace with GOP dissenters angered by, among other things, the governor’s decision to sign legislation authorizing taxpayer-funded abortions.
“Complete unity may not be possible with GOP conservatives, many of whom would rather Democrat Pritzker win as a means of ideologically cleansing the GOP…
“The GOP dilemma cannot be understated.
“Just as family fights are the worst — leaving deep scars and long memories — so, too, are intra-party battles. Democrats and Republicans can fight ferociously over the issues, and it hardly matters because that’s what they are supposed to do. It’s different within a political party, where personal and political differences generate bitterness that only dissipates with time and sometimes not at all.
Last week’s press conference announcing his latest amendatory veto was, without a doubt, the best press pop Gov. Bruce Rauner has had since he fired his top staff last July and brought in that Illinois Policy Institute crowd (which he also fired).
The governor developed an unexpected and dramatic message and then stayed relentlessly on-message during his press conference at an Illinois State Police facility that featured plenty of law enforcement types by his side. Not a word leaked out in advance, either.
The result: Newspaper headlines and TV news lead-ins essentially copied and pasted Rauner’s press release headline: “Gov. Rauner proposes death penalty for mass murderers and killers of law enforcement officers.”
The event demonstrated a level of skill not seen in the governor’s office in a good long while.
Also, the governor clearly has a new campaign issue. And the strength of that issue could be seen in the lack of almost any immediate press releases from legislative Democrats criticizing Rauner’s announcement.
Abolition of the death penalty has been mostly a settled matter here, starting when Gov. George Ryan halted executions and then cleared out death row more than 15 years ago. But the public hasn’t lost its appetite for the blood of the guilty, so members generally kept their heads down.
What comes next is far more important than everybody eagerly chasing Gov. Rauner’s bright, shiny bouncing ball down a dead-end street. But first, a little bit of recent history.
The governor complained in late February that the General Assembly’s majority Democrats were not negotiating with either him or Republican legislators about criminal justice matters.
In March, the governor sent a letter to the four legislative leaders asking them to set aside the “weapons-focused legislative responses to violence,” and instead work with him to come up with better ideas. “Collaboration is our best hope of finding common sense solutions to gun violence,” Gov. Rauner wrote.
Rauner’s letter also asked the leaders to appoint members to a new task force. Senate President Cullerton penned a blistering response. Cullerton demanded the governor sign the bills sitting on his desk and help pass other bills in the legislative hopper before he’d even consider appointing anyone to yet another blue-ribbon panel. As the governor might say, Cullerton has always had a “weapons-focused legislative response to violence.”
Speaker Madigan complied, however, and Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) agreed to serve on the governor’s new task force, which he says has met twice a week since its inception.
“It seemed like we were making progress,” Rep. Ford told me, adding the task force members were receiving “great research from experts.”
Ford complained that Rauner’s AV was “contrary to the agreement made between members and the governor’s team,” but also said he believed the group could still “meet and continue to work on meaningful legislation.” Ford insisted that the governor’s amendatory veto shouldn’t have an impact on the group’s work.
But will it? The amendatory veto can easily be seen as a defensive shield against any gun control measures that arrive on his desk. Rauner vetoed the gun dealer licensing bill in March because he said (about 20 times) he wanted a “comprehensive” solution. He has now proposed his own comprehensive solution.
The governor is also constantly asked about specific gun issues, like school shootings. Last week, Rauner started pointing to his amendatory veto. He wants to allow schools to use highly restricted local infrastructure sales tax money to pay for guards and counselors.
The real question becomes what the governor will do if he receives a stand-alone bump-stock ban, or a bill requiring a 72-hour waiting period to buy any gun, or a “gun violence restraining order” bill, or legislation to put more mental health workers in schools, or measures to counter interstate gun trafficking. All of those proposals and more were also in the governor’s sweepingly broad and likely unconstitutional amendatory veto.
Will Rauner accept half a loaf – or even a couple of slices? Or will he go with his usual all or nothing approach by demanding a “comprehensive” solution and then wind up yet again with nothing except his rhetoric?
A cynic would say that the governor probably prefers no real legislative results. He can run on the death penalty reinstatement when and where it suits him and use those other proposals to help him pivot to the center.
Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley once said, “Good government is good politics.” But way too many politicians get that quote bass-ackwards. Make no mistake, last week was good politics for the governor, but good politics isn’t necessarily good government.
TUES, 9:30AM: Ex-Madigan aide Alaina Hampton’s federal suit against Democratic Party begins court process
WHO: Attorneys Shelly B. Kulwin and Rachel Katz of Kulwin, Masciopinto & Kulwin, LLP
WHERE: Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, 219 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60604
WHEN: Tuesday, May 22, 2018, 9:30AM
WHAT: Attorneys for Alaina Hampton will appear in federal court on her behalf regarding a suit filed against the Democratic Party of Illinois, Friends of Michael J. Madigan, the 13th Ward Democratic Organization and Democratic Majority, the political action committees associated with Madigan’s organization. Hampton brings the suit after filing a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in February 2018. Attorneys for Hampton will be available for comment.
On Friday, Judge Andrea Wood cited Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady’s legislative immunity in her dismissal of gubernatorial candidate Sam McCann’s motion for a temporary restraining order in his lawsuit against Brady and the Senate Minority Caucus.
Judge Wood did not discuss the lawsuit, which was filed after McCann was denied access to various legislative support services on April 19, when he announced his intention to run for Governor in the new Conservative Party.
McCann issued the following statement:
Bruce Rauner and his Republican Party are hiding behind immunity to try to silence me, but every attempt to weaken me and attack my constituents shows the Party’s need to resort to desperate tactics to protect its dwindling hope in November’s election.
The truth is that Illinois has lost faith in Bruce Rauner and the Republican Party that he has purchased and poisoned. We stood witness to his weakness in the March Primary Election, but instead of allowing another candidate a fair chance to right the ship in Illinois, his allies are carrying out a war against many of the Conservatives who elected him, to the detriment of the constituents who are watching in disgust. More recently, the creation of a co-chairmanship of the Rauner Republican Party is yer another shameful backroom deal designed to silence those that disagree with his liberal positions.
Rauner’s allies are relying upon immunity to wage a civil war because he has no true interest in defeating Madigan and the Chicago liberals whose agenda he has helped to advance in the past three and a half years.
Conservatives who love Illinois won’t be fooled. It is time to rise up and fight back for the future of our great state. Rauner and his allies can attack me, but they won’t stop me, and every attack only solidifies Conservative voters against him and coalesces voters behind me.
But back to the Girl Scouts and window dressing. The House on Wednesday met in session for one hour. It spent that time passing a resolution honoring U.S. Sen. John McCain and introducing friends and visitors observing from the House gallery. That was it.
Yes, it’s an election year. Lawmakers and, frankly, voters are accustomed to the derelict tradition of doing nothing in an election year — nothing transformative or controversial that could pinch them at the ballot box, that is. News flash: Illinois lawmakers don’t do much transformative or controversial in a non-election year either. They tinker. That’s all you can expect.
This year, they’ve hardly met at all. The House and Senate calendars for January, February and March were mostly blank this year. Legislators weren’t even required to report to Springfield except for a handful of days.
Um, last Friday was the House’s deadline to move Senate bills out of committee. Typically, they don’t do much work on the floor during committee deadline weeks because they spend so much time in hearings.
But the Tribsters are correct that the General Assembly’s session schedule is super light during election years. So far, the House has officially met just 33 days this spring session. Everything has been back-loaded.
* The Senate convenes this afternoon at 2:30. The House convenes at 4. The House Judiciary - Criminal Committee meets at 2 to take testimony on a legislative replica of Gov. Rauner’s recent amendatory veto. Follow along with ScribbleLive…
