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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
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.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, May 21, 18 @ 9:43 am
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=== … but good politics isn’t necessarily good government. ===
I think we are seeing significant evidence that good politics makes bad government. With “good” being defined as what helps your party win no matter the consequences.
Comment by Norseman Monday, May 21, 18 @ 9:47 am
How many murders per day did Chicago have 15 years ago and how many now? That is a serious question. I don’t know the numbers and I think they are germane.
Sixty years ago I used to ride the Lake Street El from Oak Park to the Loop to go see the museums. Today, I fear taking the train to the Loop for business.
Has eliminating the death penalty helped or hurt?
Comment by Streamwood Retiree Monday, May 21, 18 @ 10:04 am
–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.–
That is the question. I wonder if BTIA(TM) thought it through.
I don’t see a good way to spin vetoing those very popular measures. Not when there’s a billionaire waiting to pounce with negative spots if you do.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, May 21, 18 @ 10:07 am
===Has eliminating the death penalty helped or hurt? ===
Well, even death penalty advocate House GOP Leader Jim Durkin admits it’s not a deterrence. I’m not sure that any scientific study refutes Durkin’s belief. But, of course, your irrational fear of riding the train absolutely proves everything you want it to prove.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 21, 18 @ 10:15 am
The death penalty was halted by George Ryan in 1999. Thereafter, murders in Chicago fell to an alltime low.
They spiked in 2016, five years after the death penalty was legally abolished.
As for safety on the train…there are very few homicides there. However, the number of guns in the US has doubled and annual gun sales have quintupled since the 60’s, while the percent of US homes with guns has fallen by about 1/3.
More and more guns are getting concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people.
And again, appears to be no correlation between homicide rates and death penalty in Illinois.
But don’t take my word for it, ask John Maki, who was appointed bu Governor Rauner to head the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.
John will tell you the same thing. I am surprised Amanda Vinicky hasn’t booked him yet for Chicago Tonight.
Wassup Amanda, you need John’s cell phone?
Comment by Juvenal Monday, May 21, 18 @ 10:35 am
Words–splashy AV, lots of good press, something newer to talk about
Deeds–most likely unconstitutional AV. Why start now respecting and complying w the legislative process?
Comment by Langhorne Monday, May 21, 18 @ 10:42 am
==How many murders per day did Chicago have 15 years ago and how many now? That is a serious question. I don’t know the numbers and I think they are germane.==
It’s worth being hotly skeptical of whether the death penalty has any effect on crime, and there are just too many variables that go into the Chicago homicide count to think that we can isolate any of them (consider, for example, the effect that better medical care has had for gunshot victims, the fact that expressway killings aren’t counted, or how much a year’s weather seems to matter). The answer to this question, though, is that Chicago had about 650 homicides in 2002 and very nearly the same number in 2016.
Comment by Chris Widger Monday, May 21, 18 @ 10:43 am
There were 664 murders in Chicago in 2017.
Fifteen years earlier, in 2002, there were 645.
I doubt the elimination of the death penalty accounts for that difference.
Comment by Juice Monday, May 21, 18 @ 10:44 am
===A cynic would say that the governor probably prefers no real legislative results===
,including a Budget agreement.
Comment by PublicServant Monday, May 21, 18 @ 10:48 am
My only fear of riding the L Train has everything to do with hygiene issues. It’s always been a little germy. Now it’s downright dirty on those train cars. Uber share rides have benefited from this ick factor.
Comment by A guy Monday, May 21, 18 @ 10:49 am
Good politics has given us the horrible government we have. Thirty years of high quality public services with low taxes created the financial mess that we’ll be paying off for the next thirty years while cutting those very same services.
The right thing is always the right thing, even when it isn’t politically popular. Ending the death penalty in Illinois was the right thing. Bringing it back, even in a limited way, might gain Rauner and some others a few votes, but it will not move Illinois closer to solvency or decency.
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, May 21, 18 @ 10:51 am
@Rich Miller
You misunderstand me sir. I’m not trying to prove anything. My question was not rhetorical. I’m honestly looking for data.
Is my fear irrational when WGN-TV news at 10:00 daily recounts horrible and irrational crimes that seem more fitted to Ruanda or Cambodia than the USA? I don’t conceal carry like another blog poster. I don’t own a gun or a knife other than a utility knife. I have nothing but my frail septuagenarian body to defend myself with.
Friends warn me not to go to the Loop because of daylight armed robberies. I see armed carjackings at Oak Brook Mall on TV and my fears are irrational?
Comment by Streamwood Retiree Monday, May 21, 18 @ 11:21 am
Yes, your fear is irrational.
Comment by LXB Monday, May 21, 18 @ 11:34 am
Even as the violent crime rate has been in a longterm decline, public fears of crime have increased. Media coverage may be one factor.
Comment by anon2 Monday, May 21, 18 @ 11:37 am
30 years of low taxes and high quality public services in Illinois?
How can you say that with a straight face 47th ward?
Illinois is the 5th highest taxed state in America. We have the second highest property taxes. What we do have is an extremely inefficient, bloated government with more local government bodies than California and Texas.
Illinois has 6,963 local government agencies.
The state with the next highest number of local governments is Texas, at 5,143
Florida has 6 million more residents than Illinois, but has just 1,650 units of government. Taxes in Florida also are lower.
What you really mean is 30 years not paying for unsustainable, gold plated pension benefits will be payed for by the next generation with at least 25% of tax revenue for the state
Explain why that is a fair deal for the next generation and the beneficiaries/ retirees shouldn’t pay their fair share with a retirement income tax?
Comment by Lucky Pierre Monday, May 21, 18 @ 11:39 am
===How can you say that with a straight face 47th ward?===
I said it with a grimace. And you’re a moron if you don’t understand that what I wrote is the truth.
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, May 21, 18 @ 11:42 am
“horrible and irrational crimes that seem more fitted to Ruanda or Cambodia than the USA?”
Oh.
I think we all now understand the nature of your concerns.
– MrJM
Comment by @misterjayem Monday, May 21, 18 @ 11:49 am
==Friends warn me not to go to the Loop because of daylight armed robberies. I see armed carjackings at Oak Brook Mall on TV and my fears are irrational?==
It can both be true that crime is a problem and that your fears are irrational. No one here (or anywhere) is going to attack you because you don’t want to take the L–the issue arises when you use that fear to implicitly argue that the death penalty (which will never be passed in Illinois, and if it did pass, would not even be used in the downtown robberies or civilian homicides you’re describing) should be reinstated.
Chicago has serious problems, exacerbated by a long history of political corruption, segregation and redlining, and voters’ unwillingness to consider politicians who might offer long-term stability. The safety of visitors to the Loop in the daytime, while important, is not one of them.
Comment by Chris Widger Monday, May 21, 18 @ 11:50 am
There’s an excellent overview of murder numbers in Chicago at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-history-of-chicago-homicides-htmlstory.html. In several years in the 1968-1995 time frame, there were more murders than the 2016 spike. The 2002-2015 time frame had notably low murder rates.
Comment by IllinoisBoi Monday, May 21, 18 @ 12:30 pm
==consider, for example, the effect that better medical care has had for gunshot victims==
Consider for example that 20 years ago we didn’t have smart phones and people didn’t commit homicide by running over pedestrians texting each other.
Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Monday, May 21, 18 @ 12:58 pm
==Consider for example that 20 years ago we didn’t have smart phones and people didn’t commit homicide by running over pedestrians texting each other.==
The low point for pedestrian deaths in Chicago caused by car accidents over the past 13 years was in 2013, when 27 pedestrians were killed. We’re living in the high point, as 44 died in 2016 and 27 died in the first half of 2017. The iPhone debuted in 2007 and ownership of smartphones began to spike in the early 2010s (46% of Americans owned smartphones in 2012 and 59% did the following year, and we’re leveling off now around 75%). Given these facts–and the relatively low number of these deaths in general compared to homicides–it’s hard to imagine that there’s much of a correlation, not to mention causation, here. All numbers are from the Chicago Tribune and Pew, which have their own agendas, but it’s hard to find good data here.
Comment by Chris Widger Monday, May 21, 18 @ 1:08 pm
My main point was that this type of homicide didn’t exist 20 years ago. Pedestrians aren’t the only people who are victims of vehicular homicide caused by texting and driving. 37,000 people in the US die in auto crashes. 1 out of 4 are caused by texting. https://www.icebike.org/texting-and-driving/
That means 9250 die from texting related crashes. There were roughly 17,793 homicides in the US (Center for Disease Control). 9250 divided by 17793 is 52%. I don’t have statistics on how many people are charged with vehicular homicide due to texting. I assume some of the texters died as well.
Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Monday, May 21, 18 @ 1:54 pm
17,793 is from 2015.
Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Monday, May 21, 18 @ 1:56 pm
Streamwood, crime is significantly lower than it was 15 years ago. You are much safer now. Not that you weren’t safe then.
The death penalty is just thay, a penalty. Society is not obligated to feed and house dangerous, degenerate criminals.
Comment by Ron Monday, May 21, 18 @ 9:46 pm
Odd, after several decades of riding CTA trains, I do t think they’ve ever been cleaner.
Comment by Ron Monday, May 21, 18 @ 9:48 pm
–The death penalty is just thay, a penalty. Society is not obligated to feed and house dangerous, degenerate criminals.–
But, comrade from island of misfit bots, society is obligated to get it right.
And in Illinois, we lined up more than a dozen who had been indicted, tried, convicted and sentenced to death for crimes they could not have committed.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, May 21, 18 @ 10:38 pm
Sure, and society has been executing criminals since the dawn of civilization.
Comment by Ron Tuesday, May 22, 18 @ 8:46 am
==Sure, and society has been executing criminals since the dawn of civilization.==
In some cases, for witchcraft.
Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 6:54 am