THE ILLINOIZE: Guest hosted by Jim Leach of WMAY-AM...High noon for redistricting suit in federal court...FOID backlog being reduced...Get COVID and pay for your own health care?
December 7, 2021
Good morning.
Our guest host today is Jim Leach, a longtime fixture in Springfield media and current host of the afternoon slot on WMAY-AM. You can follow him on Twitter here and can listen to his show each day from 3-6 P.M. here. Thanks to Jim for taking the time to contribute.
Let’s get to it.
It is indeed an honor to be among those chosen to fill in while Patrick, Katie, and Will properly focus their attention on each other and their wonderful new life together. Hats off in particular to young Will, who had the foresight to be born on a date when his future birthdays are unlikely to face conflicts from either fall veto session or candidate petition filing. Wise beyond his years, that lad.
And how do I find myself in the esteemed company of The Illinoize guest roster? Simple longevity, I suppose. I’ve had a 35-year career covering state and local government and politics in Springfield. That included a short stint at WICS in Springfield, six years on the dark side as a spokesman for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, and then a return to broadcasting, serving as news and program director and a talk show host at WMAY Radio in Springfield (for you younger readers, radio is like YouTube without pictures, or a podcast that doesn’t require a wi-fi password).
In that time, I’ve covered, interviewed, and/or commented upon seven U.S. Presidents, seven Illinois governors, and seven Springfield mayors (although one of them was the same guy, with a 24-year gap between his second and third terms). Not to mention a seemingly endless line of members of Congress, state lawmakers, local elected officials, and heaven only knows how many unsuccessful contenders for those positions.
I’d like to tell you that all those years, and all those interactions, have imbued me with some great insight into our politics and governance. But, if anything, the last few years in Illinois and nationally have served only to show us that pretty much all bets are off. Political winds have shifted so dramatically, and positions that would have seemed like political suicide a few years ago are now just “playing to the base.” Anyone who claims they know how 2022, and 2024, are going to play out are either deluding you, or themselves.
So rather than offer predictions for the coming election year, I would like to, in the spirit of the season, offer a holiday wish list of the gifts that I hope Illinois voters will receive between now and next November. It may be hopeless idealism, but I think these gift sare indeed attainable – if we the people set sufficiently high standards for our candidates, and hold them to those standards.
REAL ISSUES, NOT HYSTERIA. Illinois has serious problems that merit serious discussion of reasonable, realistic solutions. They include our pension liability (where we are making modest, but not yet adequate, gains); the shortage of teachers and other qualified personnel in our school system; crime and its inextricable companion issue, the lack of economic opportunity in some neighborhoods and census tracts in our state (and discussion of the crime issue must include a discussion about how stunningly easy it is for guns to make their way into hands of people who have no business possessing them).
We will be much better served if we are talking, thoughtfully, about those issues. Unfortunately, there are already signs that a lot of the oxygen in the political arena next year may be consumed by buzzwords like “socialism,” “critical race theory,” or “dictatorship” (as it pertains to state COVID restrictions). It’s meaningless jargon that has no relation to the real issues impacting Illinoisans, but we can expect to hear a lot of it unless we demand more.
RECOGNITION THAT COVID IS REAL, AND SERIOUS. It’s not just the recent graduates of Facebook University Medical School who are driving the notion that the nearly two-year pandemic has been overblown, or that governmental and public health professionals have overreacted to it. It’s a notion that’s also being pushed for political gain, and the politicians pushing that narrative are abetting irresponsible actions that have prolonged the danger and complicated efforts to finally wrestle COVID to the ground once and for all.
His announced opponents have all criticized Governor JB Pritzker to one degree or another for “one man rule” in his imposition of COVID mitigation measures. Pritzker could certainly have done more to secure a legislative rubber stamp for his rules and restrictions (even though it’s highly unlikely that endorsement from the Democratic supermajority would have silenced his critics). In reality, the legislature has had every opportunity to rein in Pritzker. By choosing not to do so, the people’s representatives have had their say.
The voters should not confuse the issue of Pritzker’s style – how he imposed the restrictions – with the far more important issue of substance – whether he should have imposed them at all. On that issue, the governor has the backing of most federal, state, and local public health professionals. Critics – from the Internet to the 2022 primary ballot – would have you believe that the governor simply wants to impose autocratic control over the state, in a plot that also takes in most of the American medical establishment. COVID should be a major issue in next year’s election, but the debate should begin with the acknowledgement that it’s real, it’s deadly, and doing nothing was never an option.
REAL CANDIDATES AND REAL CAMPAIGNS, REGARDLESS OF GERRYMANDERING. The complaints about this year’s mapmaking process, and the maps it produced, are valid. The tortured bending of maps for partisan purposes does not serve the interest of voters nor does it promote the sort of serious, issues-based campaigns I wished for above. But absent a surprising level of judicial intervention in hearings this week, these are most likely the maps we’ll be voting under for the next decade.
The good news is maps don’t vote, people do. And that means even gerrymandered districts can, and do, produce surprises. But that can only happen if candidates are willing to put themselves out there, even against long odds, to run meaningful campaigns. Far too many times over the past 35 years, I’ve seen candidates hold an announcement news conference and then do virtually nothing of significance until their concession speech. Every voter in this state deserves competitive races, whether for Congress or the Statehouse. My Christmas wish is that people of good conscience and serious ideas will step up to provide that, even in districts that seemed designed to thwart them.
One great irony of Illinois’s gerrymandering is that one of its fiercest critics may be one of its biggest beneficiaries. Republican Congressman Rodney Davis has harshly condemned the state’s partisan map process – even though there’s no indication he’s done anything on Capitol Hill to pass laws that would ban the tactic in every state, including those where the same tactics benefit his party. The congressman had toyed with the idea of running for governor next year; had he run and won, he could have had a bully pulpit to change the Illinois process for good. Instead, he will take that gerrymandered map for what he believes will be an easy ticket back to Capitol Hill.
[On a personal note, I have one other Christmas wish – for Congressman Davis to come back onto my show to answer questions about that and other big issues. But for now he’s boycotting, because I have been critical of him on-air and online. For more on this recent impasse, click here. To hear the Congressman discuss his refusal to come on my show, while appearing on a different show, click here.]
I’m sure this all seems hopelessly idealistic, even naïve. And as a longtime paid professional cynic, I agree. But it’s the most wonderful time of the year, the season of miracles. And a new year is always a chance for a fresh start.
Thanks again to Patrick for letting me take his sweet, sweet ride out for a spin, and thank you for coming along on the journey. [For more of my musings, visit the WMAY website] May your holiday be bright, and may your 2022 election cycle be substantive.
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REDISTRICTING SUIT ARGUMENTS TODAY
The final step to determine whether the Democrat-drawn state legislative map is constitutional begins this morning in federal court in Chicago.
From Capitol News Illinois:
A three-judge federal court panel in Chicago will begin hearing oral arguments Tuesday in three cases that could determine the makeup of state legislative maps in the Chicago area and Metro East region for the next 10 years.
The panel announced during a status hearing Friday that it will go ahead with in-person oral arguments, even though two sets of plaintiffs had said earlier in the week that the case could be decided solely on the briefs and written testimony that have already been filed.
Since the cases were filed in October, all of the parties have filed thousands of pages of briefs, depositions from expert witnesses and other documents to bolster their cases. The court has put the cases on an expedited schedule in hopes of resolving the issues in time for candidates to begin circulating nominating petitions in mid-January.
On Monday, Nov. 29, attorneys for MALDEF and the Republican leaders told the court that they believed the judges could decide the case on the information already on file, while the NAACP plaintiffs said they only needed a brief hearing for oral arguments.
On Thursday, though, attorneys for Harmon and Welch said they believed a full in-person hearing was needed, and the judges allowed that request.
Freelance journalist Rebecca Holland will be covering the hearing for The Illinoize today. Give her a follow (and be nice.)
STATE POLICE REDUCING FOID BACKLOG
The state police backlog on FOID cards leaves a lot of legal gun owners in peril if their FOID renewal isn’t processed in time. State Police say they’re making progress.
More from the Belleville News-Democrat’s Kelsey Landis:
As of Monday, the renewal backlog was down to 7,800 from 138,722 in November 2020, according to state police. The agency was processing renewal applications in 38 days. They have 60 days to approve or deny them.
State police updated the FOID renewal process and hired additional staff, helping reduce the backlog. “We continue to improve our workflow and these updated numbers show we are definitely headed in the right direction,” Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said in a prepared statement.
The agency didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on how many pending new applications remain in the backlog. New applications must be either approved or denied within 30 days.
Meanwhile, Republicans will keep arguing to abolish the FOID, but don’t expect that argument to gain any traction.
UNVACCINATED AND GET HOSPITALIZED WITH COVID? UH OH.
From Rachel Hinton of the Sun-Times:
State Rep. Jonathan Carroll’s bill is likely to face legal challenges and political pushback, but the Northbrook Democrat downplayed those concerns, saying it all boils down to frustration between those who have “been following the science and ... trying to do the right thing” and those who are “choosing not to get vaccinated, who are able to, for whatever they choose.”
“I think it’s time that we say ‘You choose not to get vaccinated, then you’re also going to assume the risk that if you do catch COVID, and you get sick, the responsibility is on you,’” Carroll said.
Carroll’s legislation would amend the state’s insurance code so that “a person who is eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and chooses not to be vaccinated shall pay for health care expenses out-of-pocket if the person becomes hospitalized because of COVID-19 symptoms.”
That update would affect individual health or accident insurance policies issued or renewed on or after Jan. 1, 2023.
“This is becoming a disease now of the unvaccinated,” Carroll said.
If the bill became law, which it probably won’t, it has little chance of standing up to constitutional muster as the Affordable Care Act prevents health insurance companies from denying claims for pre-existing conditions or diseases.
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations are in order for State Treasurer Mike Frerichs, who announced he and girlfriend Erica Baker are engaged. The bride-to-be works with the Kellogg company in Chicago. A birdie tells us she also has a great dog.
Congratulations to Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) on the birth of his son, Kastillo. Strong.
And best wishes to Greg Kelley, who has been named the new President of SEIU of Illinois. He’s the first African American to hold that position.
BEFORE WE GO…