THE ILLINOIZE: Burke and O'Brien showdown looms for Supreme Court...Democrats caught maskless at soiree...Niemerg and Miller headed for showdown?...Cyril Nichols...Ask me anything

September 28, 2021

Good morning. It’s 66 hours to the end of the quarter (expect lots of fundraising emails), 21 days to the start of the fall veto session, 406 days to the General Election and 292 days since Governor Pritzker’s press office has responded to one of our questions.

What’s on your mind?

I’m planning to drop a Q&A/Ask me anything video later on in the week, so I want to give you a chance to send questions, comments, etc. to me to kick around. Drop me a note at patrick@theillinoize.com. I’ll always keep your identity protected.

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Let’s get to it.

BURKE/O’BRIEN COULD BE MOST EXPENSIVE COURT RACE EVER

The 2020 Supreme Court retention race of Justice Tom Kilbride goes down as the most expensive Supreme Court race in state history, with around $10.5 million spent between the candidate and outside groups. The most expensive head-to-head race remains the 2004 race between Lloyd Karmeier and Gordon Maag in southern Illinois, clocking in around $9.5 million.

With redistricting and high profile candidates entering the new 3rd District race, the previous record is likely to be surpassed.

Republican incumbent Justice Michael Burke of Elmhurst, who was appointed to the high court in 2020, announced his campaign for the new 3rd District Monday. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with him yesterday afternoon, speaking about a wide range of topics.

Burke understands politics have played a role in the court in the past, but says he wants the court to stay nonpartisan.

“We judges have to rise above the politics,” Burke said. “I’m not a politician, I’m a judge. I’ve been a judge for 29 years. I’ve served at every level of the judiciary [in this state]. I’ve seen politics creep its way into what appears to be every aspect of our lives lately, and that’s one thing that should never inform judges when they make decisions.”

As judicial candidates aren’t technically allowed to directly raise money, Burke says he hasn’t even discussed how much he’ll need to win with his fundraising committee.

Burke only retains one county in his current 2nd District, his home county of DuPage, which is home to about a million people and the largest in the new 3rd District. Will, Kankakee, LaSalle, Bureau, and Iroquois counties make up the new district.

Burke will likely face Democrat Appellate Judge and former State Representative Mary K. O’Brien, who is actively raising money, but has yet to formally announce her campaign.

We reached out to O’Brien yesterday and a spokesperson replied to say she was unavailable.

Check out our full story with more of Burke’s comments on the website.

NUMEROUS DEMS UNMASKED AT EVENT

These photos have been making their rounds among Republicans and GOP organizations all weekend, and I’m not going to make a mountain out of this. I will say this: for so many top Democrats to spend so much time preaching about wearing masks indoors, they open themselves up to this kind of criticism when they go smiling for the cameras indoors without a mask on.

The event was apparently held for the Cook County Democrats last week, and you can just count the number of Democratic elected officials and candidates smiling maskless.

Yes, they open themselves up to hypocrisy charges. That’s on them. But, even with the Delta variant out there, this room probably had a vaccination rate in the 90-100% range. Does it mean everyone is perfectly safe? No, it doesn’t. But the chances of someone in that room getting hooked up to a ventilator are a lot lower than in many situations you run into downstate.

The only unmasked photo I saw of Governor Pritzker was while he was speaking, and there was a photo of House Speaker Chris Welch on stage without a mask. His spokesperson sent me photos from the event where he was masked.

Is this some giant super spreader event? No. Does it look hypocritical? Absolutely.

NIEMERG/MILLER FACEOFF?

I’ve been asking around for a couple of weeks on the re-election statuses of Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) and Rep. Chris Miller (R-Oakland). Nobody is saying much on or off the record, so my spidey sense is tingling.

Here’s what I’ve been able to piece together: Niemerg is almost certainly running for re-election in the new 102nd District. He’s hitting parades and all over that new district, which stretches from south of Danville all the way to Lawrenceville along the Indiana line.

Miller is a more complicated question. He was originally drawn into the new 101st District in the May version of the map, which ran from Coles County to around Mahomet around Champaign. When the maps were revised late last month, Miller ended up drawn into the 102nd with Niemerg.

If Miller wants to run in a safe Republican district, that would mean moving from their family farm near Oakland closer to Charleston-Mattoon, but that could also impact the situation of Miller’s wife, Congresswoman Mary Miller (R-Oakland). Also, I don’t know a lot of 67-year-old farmers who want to move away from their cattle and crops.

It’s not a surprise Democrats stuck it to Miller in the final version of the legislative map. They don’t like him, constantly chiding him for refusing to wear a mask on the House floor and censuring him for some comments and his presence at the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. They don’t like Congresswoman Miller, either, who made some weird Hitler comparisons on her third day in Congress. And, paling around with Marjorie Taylor-Greene probably doesn’t help.

Anyway, we’ll keep poking around on this. If Miller doesn’t run in the new 101st for some reason, expect a dozen or so names to potentially be thrown around.

Niemerg hasn’t returned my phone call and Miller didn’t respond to an e-mail.

IN THE “I MISSED THAT ONE” DEPARTMENT…

It appears appointed Rep. Cyril Nichols (D-Chicago) who replaced Rep. Andre Thapedi earlier this year will be seeking a full term. Nichols (finally) organized a campaign committee last week after being appointed to the seat in late March. Nichols is the Associate Director of Athletics at the City Colleges of Chicago.

The other Democrat who waited quite a while to form a committee was the eventual replacement for former House Speaker Michael Madigan. Rep. Angelica Guerrero-Cuellar (D-Chicago) formed her campaign committee in June. But she had said publicly she was planning to run, so the timing was of less interest there. By the way, her campaign Treasurer? Madigan confidante Michael Kasper, who also happens to be the attorney defending the Democrat-drawn redistricting plan in federal court.

Apples and trees or something.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS

Today: former Rep. Naomi Jakobsson (I never give away a lady’s age, but this one starts with an 8)…

Tomorrow: former Sen. Bill Marovitz, U of I Trustee Dr. Stuart King

Thursday: Attorney General Kwame Raoul

Friday: former Rep. David McSweeney, Senate Republican staffer and southern Illinois campaign guru Jesse Johnson

Saturday: Rep. Bob Rita

Monday: Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, former Rep. Jeanne Ives, our friend Ben Garbarek, who left us for full time employment at Edelman. Jerk.

BEFORE WE GO…

That’s all we have for now. As I mentioned, shoot over your questions, comments, theories, etc for a Q&A video this week to patrick@theillinoize.com.

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We’re back with a subscriber-only edition tomorrow.