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Harmon wants Sen. Jones to resign from leadership, chairmanship

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* Senate President Don Harmon on the bribery charges against Deputy Majority Leader Emil Jones III…

“I have asked for and expect to receive Senator Jones’ resignation from his leadership post and committee chairmanship.”

“These are grave allegations. Members of the Senate and all public officials need to hold themselves to a high ethical standard for the public to have trust and faith in our work.”

Thoughts?

…Adding… I’m told that there’s no “want,” by the Senate President. Jones is out. But he’s being given the chance to step aside.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 3:28 pm

Comments

So Harmon…what about Hastings’ chairmanship…ok, got it, until proven guilty?

Comment by Pizza Man Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 3:31 pm
Damage Control.

Comment by Donnie Elgin Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 3:33 pm
So Senator Harmon pays the legal bills for Senator Hastings but not Senator Jones?

Comment by Lucky Pierre Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 3:33 pm
–what about Hastings’ chairmanship…ok, got it, until proven guilty?–

Uh, Hastings has not been indicted. Big diff.

Comment by King Louis XVI Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 3:38 pm
Wildly insufficient, same as he’s done with Hastings. Harmon is establishing a pattern of tolerating severe misconduct.

Comment by vern Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 3:45 pm
News reports indicate that Jones, charged with an Information, may plead guilty. Hastings is fighting the charges. That’s one difference.

Comment by Socially DIstant Watcher Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 3:50 pm
Harmon isn’t surrounding himself with winners.

Maybe someone else should take a go at Senate President in January.

Comment by twowaystreet Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 3:51 pm
The swing vote on the president race. Not a good look at all.

Comment by Second Chance Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 3:51 pm
The Arroyo Rule, in full effect, in the House, would solve a bit here in the Senate

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 3:53 pm
===tolerating severe misconduct===

I mean, is he supposed to kick Treemil out of the Senate or something? MJM woulda loved those powers.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 3:54 pm
This is the Senate President that’s chosen to sabotage multiple appointments by the democratic Governor… yet look what he has within his own leadership team. Not a good look Senator Harmon, not a good look.

Comment by Lincoln Lad Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 3:56 pm
At a minimum this shows poor judgement on Harmon’s end. His leadership team is crumbling.

Comment by Close Observer Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 3:58 pm
He can’t kick him out of the Senate but he sure could call for Emil’s resignation. But I guess we saw already that Harmon is not willing to ask the guy who has a problem with the way he treats women to resign either. The lack of courage coming from the leadership of the upper chamber is both maddening and disheartening.

Comment by DePaul Alum Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 4:00 pm
== yet look what he has within his own leadership team. Not a good look Senator Harmon, not a good look.==

Grow up. Had Jones supported Lightford, he would have still ended up in leadership.

==sabotaged==

Not a fan of separation of powers, eh? It is no more on Harmon to rubber stamp JBs appointments just as it is not on JB to rubber stamp any bills that come from the senate.

But hey, I hear the GOP have a solution for all this messy “democracy” stuff.

Comment by MG85 Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 4:02 pm
We done now?

Comment by Walker Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 4:07 pm
I wouldn’t have given him the option. Would have just removed him. Why be polite about it?

Comment by Just Me 2 Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 4:13 pm
===I mean, is he supposed to kick Treemil out of the Senate===

He could certainly call for his resignation, as has been done many times before following corruption indictments.

Or he could do whatever it is he did when he won the Senate President race. Or was it a coincidence that Manar, Steans and Hutchinson all left the Senate shortly after backing Lightford?

Comment by vern Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 4:18 pm
==It is no more on Harmon to rubber stamp JBs appointments just as it is not on JB to rubber stamp any bills that come from the senate.==

It’s not, but the Senate has moved unnecessarily slow on executive appointments.

Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 4:22 pm
“Or was it a coincidence that Manar, Steans and Hutchinson all left the Senate shortly after backing Lightford?”

Oh for God sakes. Manar and Steans thought they could be either Senate President or at the top of the leadership food chain. They teamed up with Lightford and they lost. So they left rather than be on the outs. That was their choice. Hutchinson got a dream gig being the pot czar so she took it. Or are you suggesting that Harmon magically forced them to resign and get better jobs outside the Senate?

Seriously, MG85 had it right. Grow up, people. In politics you take certain calculated risks. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don’t.

Comment by New Day Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 4:28 pm
@vern

Toi Hutchinson left senate prior to Prez Cullerton’s retirement.

Comment by Anon404 Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 5:00 pm
===Toi Hutchinson left senate prior to Prez Cullerton’s retirement.===

Oops, you’re right about that, my bad.

===In politics you take certain calculated risks. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don’t.===

I agree with this. Sometimes those risks include things like “adding Mike Hastings to your leadership team” and “adding Emil Jones III to your leadership team.” Harmon wanted the big chair, so he’s gotta take responsibility for the messes in his caucus. And in general, he needs to start expressing some thoughts in public. This silence habit isn’t making him look like Madigan, it’s making him look scared to lead.

Comment by vern Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 5:13 pm
All of the trolls better be prepared to eat crow. “If Hastings wins” …

Comment by Watchman Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 5:17 pm
I am shocked , corruption in the senate?

Comment by Early Wynn Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 5:20 pm
===All of the…===

Ald. Ed Burke won, under indictment

Voters vote. Voters make choices that are bad. It’s still our system.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 5:20 pm
Adding Mike Hastings to your leadership team brought several votes of the X caucus. Adding Threemil brought as I recall three votes. Politics ain’t beanbag and so sometimes that means you wind up making deals with people you wish were different but their votes count the same. You don’t get anything if you don’t get the gavel. That’s just how it works and Lightford would have gladly taken those as part of leadership if she could have gotten their votes. It goes with the territory.

The question of what we do now is just sticky, moreso with Hastings than Threemil.

Comment by New Day Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 5:26 pm
== He could certainly call for his resignation ==

Remember, legislative leaders answer to no one but the caucus members who elected them. Unless a big number of Senate Dems pressure Harmon to call for a resignation, it’s not going to happen.

Comment by Mellon Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 5:48 pm
==Ald. Ed Burke won, under indictment==

Chicago city council members also play a much more central role in ward day-to-day quality of life for voters. State lawmakers are much more abstract so it’s a little apples to oranges to try to compare winning a state election to city election under indictment.

You aren’t wrong that voters make mad decisions. Guess we will see what happens.

Comment by twowaystreet Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 5:56 pm
The tale of two state Senators:

Senator Jones flipped on Senator Lightford at the last minute. Total amount of votes = 1. His compensation — Deputy Majority Leader.

Hastings & the X Caucus went with Harmon. Total amount of votes = 10-12. His penance, Majority Caucus Whip.

Comment by Forgetful Faithful Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 6:00 pm
===State lawmakers are much more abstract so it’s a little apples to oranges to try to compare winning a state election===

Aldermen “make” state legislators, if at least they did not too long ago.

===You aren’t wrong that voters make bad (sic) decisions. Guess we will see what happens.===

Elections are decided by voters. We will know soon enough.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 6:05 pm
== He could certainly call for his resignation ==

Jones could say that’s a double standard, and he’d have a valid point.

Tom Cullerton was charged with federal crimes in August 2019 but did not depart the Senate until February 2022 – a month before pleading guilty.

Comment by Bud's Bar Stool Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 6:39 pm
I’m old enough to remember way back before 2016, when the justice department had a black out rule 60 days before an election. Then again, Emil doesn’t have an opponent, so I guess they’re not interfering so much.

Comment by Telly Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 6:52 pm
===That’s just how it works===
===legislative leaders answer to no one but the caucus members who elected them===

I know it’s late enough that most folks aren’t following the thread anymore, so I’ll just shout into the void a little here. I really do understand that politics is a messy business, full of ideological and moral compromises. But that doesn’t necessarily require bargaining ourselves down to those compromises immediately on hearing a piece of news.

The comments I quoted aren’t incorrect. They just skip the step I’m still on. The first order question here is “should Emil Jones III still be a Senator?” The answer is clearly no. I doubt there’s much disagreement on that point. I doubt Don Harmon disagrees with it.

The second-order questions are all strategy-related. But here’s the thing: I don’t work for Don Harmon. It’s not my job, nor anyone else’s outside of his office, to view the world exclusively through his strategic lens. Is it bad caucus politics to call for Jones’ resignation? Probably. Is it thus unlikely to happen? Also likely. But *I do not care.* If Harmon, as one of the most powerful people in the state, won’t do the obviously right thing, it’s not my job to cover for that. As an observer, a voter and a citizen, I have no responsibility to care about Don Harmon’s personal ambition.

If Harmon wants to mount the defenses being advanced for him here, he can do that. He knows where the microphones are. But if he’s going to sit in silence while his leadership team spirals out of control, it’s ok to criticize that on a first-order basis without inside baseball rationalizations.

Comment by vern Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 7:53 pm
**Hastings & the X Caucus went with Harmon. Total amount of votes = 10-12.**

This is false. The X Caucus absolutely did not deliver 10-12 votes for Harmon.

Comment by SaulGoodman Tuesday, Sep 20, 22 @ 9:34 pm
WoW, Not Senator Jones

Comment by Not A Fam Wednesday, Sep 21, 22 @ 7:23 am
A black out rule? Seriously?

Comment by rtov Wednesday, Sep 21, 22 @ 8:11 am
===A black out rule? Seriously?===

Yep. Google is your friend.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Sep 21, 22 @ 8:12 am
Wouldn’t be a day that ends in Y without a little snark from our buddy OW.

Comment by rtov Wednesday, Sep 21, 22 @ 8:38 am
===our buddy===

I’m guessing that’s snark too.

:)

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Sep 21, 22 @ 8:51 am
Couple of thoughts

Hastings brought his vote to the Senate President’s race, nothing more. The members of the X Caucus did not give their proxies to him. Also, I believe he was playing both sides for the best deal and even putting himself out there as a “compromise” candidate. As I recall, when the news broke about 3mil supporting Harmon, it was big news and I think some other Senators needed that cover. Now the Hastings walkers can go back to canvassing.

Comment by Revisionist History Wednesday, Sep 21, 22 @ 9:01 am