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Campaign roundup: Davis, Kinzinger vote to remove Confederate statues; Laborers’ Union backs Giannoulias; Mazzochi gearing up

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Illinois GOP Reps. Rodney Davis and Adam Kinzinger — both being mentioned as potential 2022 governor candidates — joined with Democrats on Tuesday to approve a measure to remove statues of Confederate leaders from the U.S. Capitol.

The move would, among other things, take down a bust of Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, who in 1857 authored the Supreme Court Dred Scott decision that said people of African descent brought to the U.S. were not citizens. The plan is to install a bust of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice, in his place.

The measure passed the House on a 285 to 120 roll call. A similar piece of legislation was advanced last by the Democratic-controlled House only to stall in what then was a GOP-run Senate. Now the Democrats run the Senate.

Kinzinger and Davis were among the 67 Republicans joining Democrats in backing the measure. Freshman Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., did not vote.

Rep. Miller did vote “No” on ordering the previous question before she took a walk on the actual vote.

* Rachel Hinton…

Democratic Illinois secretary of state candidate Alexi Giannoulias added another union to his growing list of supporters, garnering the endorsement of the Laborers’ International Union of North America a little less than a year before the June primary.

That endorsement spans the union’s 15 locals and nearly 23,000 members as part of the labor organization’s Cook County base as well as an additional 26 local chapters and 17,000 members downstate.

A spokeswoman for Giannoulias’ campaign said employees from 16 different unions, including the laborers, work in the secretary of state’s office.

* I told subscribers about this development last week. Notice that Rep. Mazzochi doesn’t say what office she is running for…

Illinois Democrats targeted Republican state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi for termination with extreme prejudice — in other words, political oblivion.

But the Elmhurst Republican has decided she won’t retire quietly to the sidelines. In fact, once she makes up her mind which direction she’ll go, Mazzochi said she plans to fight hard to maintain her place in the political arena.

“I certainly will be a candidate in the 2022 elections,” said Mazzochi, an Illinois House member since 2018. […]

Regardless of what happens, however, Mazzochi is running — for something. Although she recently contributed $150,000 to her campaign fund, Mazzochi said she doesn’t have “an established timeline” to make a decision on how or where to proceed because the situation is so fluid.

…Adding… Young Democrats of Illinois…

On June 26th, with a keynote from Dr. Robin Kelly the Young Democrats of Illinois held their convention to elect the new Executive Board. Quinne Welter will succeed Arielle Maffei as President, Saghi Sandra Hosseini will step in as the Executive Vice President with Dan Asonye, 1st Vice President, Bobby Mannis, 2nd Vice President, and Akanksha Balekai, 3rd Vice President. Followed by Marla Johnson as Secretary, Anthony Vega as Treasurer, and Izzy Dobbel and Thomas Maillard as the National Committeepeople. They will expand on the groundwork laid by the previous Executive Board, grow the organization, and represent Illinois at the Young Democrats of America convention in August.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 10:57 am

Comments

Not in Lynn Sweet’s piece… Mike Bost flipflopped from voting to remove the statues in 2020 to vote to protect the Confederacy in 2021.

LaHood was wrong on this in 2020 and is still wrong on it now.

Would like to see them explain this vote to disrespect the Land of Lincoln.

Comment by hisgirlfriday Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 11:04 am
Are you a “R_N_” if you don’t support keeping confederate statues?

That’s interesting.

Bost and LaHood supporting Confederates whose goal was to separate from the union, form their own country, keep their slaves, and defeat Lincoln as well as America

And Minority Leader McCarthy wanted folks to be reminded that Confederates were “Democrats” as Republicans only voted to keep the statues?

“Ok”

Congrats to the Illinois members who support the recognition of Confederates.

Mary Miller? I’m not surprised she walked.

Mary Miller is more national socialist than confederate. Miller’s choice of quotes tell me so.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 11:18 am
LaHood continues his embrace of the extreme. He and Bost are a disgrace to the memory of Lincoln in this Land of Lincoln.

Comment by Norseman Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 11:22 am
Absolute disgrace that any lawmaker from the home of the Great Emancipator would not support removing statues that celebrate those who directly opposed Lincoln’s work to save the Union.

In fact those statues celebrate individuals who took up arms against, fired on and killed American Soldiers.

If Illinois lawmakers can’t oppose celebrating those people, they have no business being in office. None

Comment by Give Me A Break Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 11:28 am
I guess Bost decided he’s never going to run for statewide office. The Confederacy isn’t popular with the vast majority of Illinois voters.

Comment by Keyrock Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 11:28 am
Would Kinzinger even crack 5% of the vote in a primary? I doubt it. His own party is censuring him at every opportunity, and the informed left knows that he still voted with Trump something like 93% of the time.

He tries to put on the appearance of a moderate, with his criticisms of Trump and frequent appearances on CNN & MSNBC, but his voting record is the only thing people should care about, and in that regard he’s just as pro-Trump as the rest of them.

Really his only constituency I can think of are the centrist liberals who were duped into giving Republican donors their money through that scam of the Lincoln Project. Those people got (more) rich and all they actually accomplished was getting a few cognitive bias affirming ads on tv.

Comment by Commissar Gritty Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 12:05 pm
=== Would Kinzinger even crack 5% of the vote in a primary? I doubt it.===

I’ll take the “over” on that. Get 5%? Yep, I’ll take the over.

===Really his only constituency I can think of are…===

Actual Republicans who’s don’t dismiss his voting record, are more than disappointed by it, but *know* the imperative need for those like Kinzinger, Cheney, Romney… to be “vocally loud” while part of the elected party dynamics.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 12:19 pm
“I guess Bost decided”

Bost doesn’t decide which socks to wear.

I’ve known him since his first run in the 90’s. He’s as intellectually deep as a puddle in August.

It’s a sin the Dems gave him so many passes.

Comment by Flying Elvis'-Utah Chapter Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 12:38 pm
==Rep. Miller did vote “No” on ordering the previous question before she took a walk on the actual vote.==

Miller is actually listed as a no on both votes.

Comment by Shield Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 12:54 pm
Not that I’m a huge fan of Taney, but since his Dred Scott taint is apparently catching, will they be acting to overturn the contract clause principles from Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge? Perhaps casting the decision in Amistad into doubt? Will they discard as well the Licensure Cases from which the very concept of state police powers (and the quarantine powers so recently exercised by the States) derived?

Taney was a complicated jurist. I disagree with many of his opinions, and indeed many of the outcomes of cases he presided over. That being said, his pen was crucial to the development of constitutional federalism principles which guided the development of our constitutional republic. Indeed, he is responsible for such modernizations of the court like requiring justices to wear plain clothing under their robes (what they wore before is a subject I would hazard to explore at my own peril perhaps) and assigning the writing of opinions to associate justices. As the first catholic member of the court, he remains an important symbol for catholic jurists. I also find it interesting that his statuary form is being removed along with Calhoun, Webster, and Clay, considering that they were his greatest foes in his confirmation process.

Comment by Just Another Anon Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 1:10 pm
===he is responsible for such modernizations of the court like requiring justices to wear plain clothing under their robes===

Sometimes it’s better not to defend someone if this is the beat ya got.

My goodness gracious. #Sad

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 1:14 pm
=== Taney was a complicated jurist===

Defending racism is like that, but it’s not really once you realize racism is bad.

No complications.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 1:15 pm
== As the first catholic member of the court, he remains an important symbol for catholic jurists.==

You have to be kidding me. Seriously??

Comment by low level Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 2:05 pm
Yes, Taney was involved in some important cases, BUT he will always be known for Dred Scott, in which he opined that African Americans were not people.

I hope you don’t buy into the Mary Miller defense: well the guy did one thing right, so he can’t be that bad. /s

Comment by Steve Rogers Wednesday, Jun 30, 21 @ 2:53 pm
And yet, in Amistad, he joined the Court in finding that the prisoners on the Amistad had been unlawfully transported and held as slaves, finding that their uprising was not piracy but self defense.

At the same time, I hope you don’t buy into the concept that one wrong thing, in hindsight, makes a man a monster.

History is a complicated thing.

Comment by Just Another Anon Thursday, Jul 1, 21 @ 12:02 am
=== History is a complicated thing.===

It’s really not.

Dred Scott and his opinion as written says it quite plain

It’s only complicated if you are trying to defend racism.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jul 1, 21 @ 5:32 am
=== Amistad===

In 1841.

In 1857, the Dred Scott ruling that African Americans were not and could not be citizens isn’t merely a “bad decision”…

Not complicated.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jul 1, 21 @ 5:57 am