THE ILLINOIZE: Bailey announces...GOP insiders say "he ensures Pritzker gets another four years"...Pritzker signs controversial police reform bill...Madigan resigns as DPI Chair...who replaces him?
February 23, 2021
Good morning.
Did you know it’s Election Day?
It is. Today is the primary date for contested partisan races around the state. And, really, there are only a handful.
In Cook County, there are Democratic primaries for mayors of Berwyn, Calumet City (which includes Rep. Thaddeus Jones), Dolton, Lynwood, and Riverdale.
In Lake County, there are Democratic primaries for Mayor of North Chicago and Waukegan.
In Kankakee, there’s a Democratic primary for Mayor.
There’s a five-way Democratic primary for Mayor of Peoria.
There’s a Democratic primary for Mayor of Urbana (Disclosure: I’ve long worked with Mayor Diane Marlin, and agreed to help her one last time.)
Republicans have a primary in the city of Lincoln for Mayor.
In Decatur, there’s a 12-person nonpartisan race for 3 city council seats.
That’s not an exhaustive list, as you can imagine, but it’s a great reminder of our mish mash of off-year municipal elections.
Let’s get into it.
BAILEY RUNNING
State Senator Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) kicked off his long anticipated campaign for Governor last night in front of what appeared to be a couple of hundred mostly unmasked people.
Interestingly enough, a WCIA reporter tweeted before the event that volunteers conducting temperature checks at the door weren’t wearing masks. It’s the sole reason I didn’t drive down to Effingham last night. I’m not down for hanging out at potential super spreader events.
Anyway, Bailey entered to the opening theme of the 1995 Jock Jams compilation album, and focused very little on policy in a 12 minute, 46 second speech.
The one piece of policy Bailey did speak to was pledging to freeze spending and taxes and move to zero-based budgeting. He also promised to CUT taxes by the end of his second term.
No mention of restoring the economy post-COVID, getting restaurants, hotels, and schools, safely reopened, or really any mention of COVID at all. (Just one, as I look at my notes, discussing how the state was “in trouble” before the COVID crisis.)
Also receiving zero mentions? Pensions or Medicaid, two big drains on the state’s general revenue fund.
Who else did he fail to mention one time? Donald Trump.
Interesting.
Here’s my write up on his announcement last night.
IS HE FOR REAL?
Bailey has become one of the highest-profile Republican critics of Governor JB Pritzker, and he has certainly gained a bit of a following for it downstate.
He sued Governor JB Pritzker over his executive actions. With the exception of a friendly judge in his home county, he has lost each judicial ruling.
His near-daily livestreams on Facebook have received between 5,000 and 9,000 views on a page that has grown to around 45,000 followers.
Much of that support centers downstate, and I talked to more than a dozen Republican operatives, party officials, and current and former elected officials yesterday. To be fair, there aren’t a lot of Bailey “fans” in the crowd, but they brought up some good points.
How does he perform in the suburbs? They won’t vote for someone they’ve never heard of and his…folksy…quality probably doesn’t play as well up there as it does down in the sticks.
Can he raise any money to get on TV? Bailey filed with $189,000 in the bank at the end of 2020 and has never been known as a prolific fundraiser.
What if he manages to win the primary? Republican operatives I talked to, in general, think its not good for the GOP. “If Bailey wins the primary, it will be quite an historic bloodbath,” said one operative. “Can a candidate get negative votes in the swing suburbs?”
Ouch.
By the way…Bailey has six campaign stops scheduled today and tomorrow. None of them are in Cook County, where roughly 167,000 primary votes were cast in the GOP primary for Governor in 2014.
MADIGAN RESIGNS AS PARTY CHAIR
Former House Speaker Michael Madigan, who resigned his House seat and replaced himself as quickly as he eats an apple, resigned yesterday as Chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
Maybe its just me, but I can’t say I’m surprised he’s stepping away from the role. For many years, the state party was simply used as a pass-through postage savings for his Democratic Majority House Democrat campaign committee.
As soon as the announcement hit, the scramble to replace him as chair began. Congresswoman Robin Kelly (D-Matteson) is in, as is Chicago Alderwoman Michelle Harris.
Here’s the dig: Sen. Dick Durbin is supporting Kelly while Governor JB Pritzker and Sen. Tammy Duckworth are supporting Harris.
There will be some intrigue over the next few weeks, campers.
PRITZKER SIGNS CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
In a surprise to nobody, Governor JB Pritzker signed a 764-page criminal justice reform bill championed by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus and passed in the final hours of the previous General Assembly last month. In fact, the Senate vote on the bill came around 4am the last morning of the lame duck session.
You know the drill by now. The law eliminates cash bail, requires body cameras, and sets up new standards for policing and police licensing. Cops and Republicans are screaming bloody murder, African Americans and liberals are calling it a first step in ending systemic racism.
A couple of notes, though. Pritzker, the legislative sponsors, and Attorney General Kwame Raoul all indicated the law would likely require a “clean up” bill, meaning separate legislation to fix errors in the bill. It also sounds like police groups are considering questioning the legality of the new law in court.
By the way, I’m a big supporter of every police officer in the state wearing a body camera, as this law phases in. I had a good friend who helped implement body cameras and was able to get great feedback and actually showed him how often officers did their job right. Bring on transparency! But you need the funding for it. Hopefully that makes it way into forthcoming budgets.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
First, an omission. I missed former Congressman John Shimkus’ birthday Sunday. Happy Birthday, Congressman.
Former Governor George Ryan turns 87 tomorrow.
Former Senator turned Cook County Circuit Clerk Iris Martinez and current Senator Napoleon Harris both celebrate birthdays Thursday.
ONE LAST THING
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And, if you need a little pick-me-up with all the snow on the ground, note that my perfectly healthy, normal, and not at all weird man crush, Cubs First Baseman Anthony Vincent Rizzo, reported to spring training yesterday. Baseball, guys!
Have a great week.