THE ILLINOIZE: Football coaches and players to rally for season kickoff...blame on Pritzker "he's the head coach"...Election safety disinformation...An ode to Carol Marin

September 15, 2020

WELCOME

We’ve had a lot of new subscribers since last Friday. I don’t know if someone added a bunch of their contacts or not, but we’re happy to have you! If you’re new here, this is The Illinoize. We’re taking a look at news and politics in the state with a closer look at details and context of what’s happening. We hope you like what you read. You can like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to keep up. We also hope you’ll share this newsletter with your friends!

HS COACHES & PLAYERS TO RALLY FOR SPORTS

High School coaches, players, and parents from across the state plan two rallies Saturday urging Governor JB Pritzker to reverse course and allow the start of the high school sports season, specifically, high school football. The “Let Us Play” rally is scheduled for 10am Monday in front of the Thompson Center in Chicago and for 1pm in front of the Lincoln Statue at the State Capitol building.

The Illinois High School Association, the non-government body which oversees high school sports in the state, postponed fall sports to winter or spring after Pritzker announced metrics that practically banned play this fall.

We spoke to Derek Leonard, Head Football Coach of Rochester High School just outside of Springfield, who has won state championships 8 of the last 10 seasons. He says, in the minds of many coaches and parents, Pritzker holds much of the blame for postponing the season.

“[He’s] like the Head Coach,” says Leonard.

SOME PERSPECTIVE

When football season was postponed at the end of July, many of my downstate friends immediately threw the blame at Pritzker. Many are upset at the IHSA for ceding the decision to the Governor, but they’re still upset with the Governor. There’s no telling how much of that appears to be a natural disposition of rural downstaters to dislike a Chicago Democrat, or if their beef is truly based on policy.

It’s hard to tell how quickly football could get rolling, but, even if the Governor reverses course today, it’s hard to imagine the season starting before October 2 or 3. A full 9 game season means playoffs would start in December. That’s some chilly football.

The question Pritzker will come back to is “is it safe?” The answer to that may question may depend on who is asked. By the way, the Governor’s office did not respond to our request for comment yesterday.

TWITTER POST QUESTIONS ELECTION SAFETY

You know the old Churchill quote, right? “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” Here’s one.

We reported yesterday that a so-called “election integrity advocate” had posted a video to Twitter Friday saying Illinois voting machines or ballot tabulators aren’t safe because they connect to the internet. The video had about 500,000 views before Illinois officials could put their pants on, figuratively, of course.

Matt Dietrich from the Illinois State Board of Elections called the claim “incorrect and irresponsible.” A spokesman for Cook County Clerk Karen Yarorough says the tweet is “totally false.”

Some vote tabulators (the boxes you slide your ballot into) contain a modem that can be used to send a one way cellular signal back to the Clerk’s office to help provide unofficial results on election night. Republicans and Democrats alike say these machines never, ever, ever, ever (get my drift?) connect to the internet and can’t be hacked.

Adding doubt into the safety of Illinois elections doesn’t help when Russians hacked the State Board of Elections prior to the 2016 elections, and were able to access some voter data, but no votes.

30 FOR 30th?

We reported Friday afternoon that indicted Sen. Terry Link resigned his seat effective Saturday morning (exactly the deadline to prevent a special election, by the way). Link is indicted for tax fraud and had largely been implicated in wearing a wire to take down then-Rep. Luis Arroyo (D-Chicago).

Here’s what I can tell you on the record about Link’s replacement: nothing.

Logic tells you that freshman State Representative Daniel Didech (D-Buffalo Grove) is the best fit for the seat. He was Assistant Legal Counsel in the Senate for former Senate President John Cullerton. He was also legal counsel to the Senate Judiciary and Executive Appointments Committees. It’s safe to say he probably knows more about the Senate than a lot of Senators. Rep. Rita Mayfield (D-Waukegan) represents the other half of the Senate district. As of July 1, Didech had around $215,000 in the bank while Mayfield had around $75,000. We also can’t discount the politics involved. Didech would be a white man replacing a white man. Mayfield is an African-American woman.

I’ve reached out to Didech, Mayfield, and incoming Lake County Chair Lauren Beth Gash, but none have returned our calls.

CAROL MARIN TO RETIRE

Legendary Chicago political reporter Carol Marin has announced she’ll retire shortly after the November election. Marin is the gold standard of political reporters in the city and state, as a political reporter for NBC 5 and a contributor/anchor of Chicago Tonight on WTTW.

I’ve only met Carol a couple of times, but each time she was kind and gracious to me. Pretty much every young reporter I know says the same thing. She’s a gem.

Here’s a toast to Carol Marin.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday to former Congressman and U.S. Senator for Illinois Mark Kirk. He is 61 today.

HOW ARE WE DOING?

We’re just in the start of our third week of this new little venture, but we want to know what you think so far. What do you think of the news, the opinion, the style, my snarky demeanor (sorry, not sorry)? What should we do more of? What should we do less of? What should we be looking into?

I want to hear it all. Email me at patrick@theillinoize.com.

Have a great day.