THE ILLINOIZE: Memorial Day Monday Free for All...
May 30, 2022
Good Monday morning. It’s Memorial Day, so we’ll keep it short, but remember the meaning of the day from Illinois native Gen. John A. Logan, who proclaimed the first “Decoration Day” in 1868.
The 30th day of May, 1868 is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land.
We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of a free and undivided republic.
Governor JB Pritzker will be at the Mt. Prospect Memorial Day Parade & Ceremony. He speaks at the ceremony after the 9:40 parade. Richard Irvin will be in the Wood Dale Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony at 11. Jesse Sullivan will be in the Arlington Heights parade at 9:30 and the Wood Dale parade at 11. Darren Bailey will be in the Bloomington Memorial Day parade. Gary Rabine will join retired Gen. John Borling for a ceremony at the John A. Logan statue in Grant Park (9th & Michigan) in Chicago.
I’m going to try to get to Mt. Prospect and Wood Dale this morning, but you never know exactly how those things go, especially with an anti-nap six month old in the house. We’ll try to have a short newsletter for you in the morning.
If you’re not already a paid subscriber, I hope you will consider joining us. It’s just $99 per year or $9.99 per month. Subscribers get exclusive newsletters on Wednesday and Friday each week. There are also a bunch of things we update subscribers on throughout the week. I hope you can join us.
As always, drop me a note if you have any questions at patrick@theillinoize.com. Always happy to chat.
Let’s get to it!
YOUR MONDAYFREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets)
Are Chicago’s gun laws the strictest in the United States? Not anymore. (Chicago Tribune)
Chicago’s gun violence and restrictive gun laws were thrust into the national conversation Wednesday, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott referenced the city in arguing against stricter measures following the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting that left 19 students and two adults dead.
Chicago’s gun laws are among the most restrictive in the United States, although some have loosened as they’ve been overturned in the past decade. And while the city is frequently used as an example of why such regulations don’t work, the truth is far murkier.
Chicago endured one of its deadliest years in at least the last quarter-century in 2021. More than 1,000 homicides here were gun-related, the medical examiner’s office said. The overwhelming majority of slayings in the city — more than 90% — were a result of gun violence, statistics show. All told, there were at least 4,300 gunshot victims, including those who suffered both fatal and nonfatal injuries, according to CPD data. The number is a significant increase from 2018, when 2,800 people were shot.
Related: What is and isn’t allowed by Illinois’ gun laws (WBEZ)
Doctors, Durbin call for action in wake of mass shootings (Chicago Tribune)
Sen. Durbin on gun violence legislation: ‘I sense a change in the conversation’ (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: Time to play hardball on guns (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Opinion: This holiday, there’s no panacea for Chicago’s gun violence. Let’s find real solutions. (Chicago Tribune)
‘Kids shouldn’t worry about being target practice for someone’s anger:’ Crowd rallies against gun violence in Geneva (Shaw Media)
Why will J.B. Pritzker likely be reelected governor? Because he’s neither corrupt nor a screwup. (Chicago Magazine)
Illinois just can’t keep a governor. In the 21st Century, we’re the only state that hasn’t had one who served two full terms (except Virginia, which limits its chief executive to one at a time). First, George Ryan declined to run for a second term because of the licenses-for-bribes scandal that eventually landed him in prison. Rod Blagojevich was impeached. Pat Quinn fumbled away his shot at a second full term to Bruce Rauner, whose refusal to sign a budget led to his landslide defeat in his own second time around.
Governor J.B. Pritzker, though, looks ready to break that streak. Unlike most of his recent predecessors, Pritzker is neither corrupt nor incompetent. Those sound like obvious qualifications for a governor, but in modern-day Illinois, they’re almost as rare as unicorn sightings.
Pritzker is best known to Illinoisans for his daily press conferences during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the billionaire heir with no prior experience in elective office suddenly grew into the powers of the governorship, shutting down the state’s schools and banning sit-down meals in bars and restaurants. He came across as a calming and decisive leader during a time of fear and upheaval.
Pritzker’s most significant display of competence, though, has been in an area less visible in voters’ daily lives: his management of the state’s finances. Four years ago, when Pritzker was running for his first term, Politico called the Illinois governorship “the worst job in American politics.” Why? Because the state was “on the edge of financial collapse,” with its bonds at near-junk status and its pension system “in worse shape than that of almost any other state.” Illinois, experts say, is more difficult to govern than other states because it must satisfy a large industrial state’s demand for services with the revenue structure of a rural, conservative state: a flat tax, no sales tax on services, and no lucrative signature industry, such as Texas’s oil or New York’s Wall Street.
This piece is clearly written by a liberal columnist with a pro-Pritzker position and no clue of downstate voter trends, but it is an interesting take on the sense of the left today.
Related: Republican Bailey’s forecast for ‘political climate’ of Illinois: A ‘storm’ is coming (Chicago Sun-Times)
Aurora Pride Parade officials say they invite law enforcement participation, but not in uniform (Aurora Beacon News)
One GOP governor candidate is mum on if he voted for Trump. Will it matter in the election? (Belleville News-Democrat)
Daily Herald endorses Irvin and Pritzker in primary (Daily Herald)
Paul Vallas to run for mayor, sources say (Chicago Sun-Times)
The race to unseat Mayor Lori Lightfoot is heating up.
Sneed has learned former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas plans to officially enter Chicago’s mayoral election next Wednesday.
Vallas, the city budget director under former mayor Richard M. Daley who has a government service resume a mile long, lost his bid for mayor in 2019, placing ninth out of 14 candidates with just over 5% of the vote.
A familiar voice in Illinois politics, Vallas also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for governor of Illinois in 2002. He was CEO of CPS from 1995-2001 and later took top positions with school districts in Philadelphia and New Orleans.
Related: The Illinois State Bar Association rates ShawnTe Raines-Welch, House Speaker’s wife, “not qualified” for judge (WBEZ)
Illinois' 36th state Senate District sees matchup between familiar names (Quad City Times)
Democrat candidates in 13th Congressional District face off (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Survey: Nikki Budzinski for 13th Congressional District (State Journal-Register)
Survey: David Palmer for 13th Congressional District (State Journal-Register)
Survey: Regan Deering for 13th Congressional District (State Journal-Register)
Survey: Matt Hausman for 13th Congressional District (State Journal-Register)
Survey: Terry Martin for 13th Congressional District (State Journal-Register)
Survey: Jesse Reising for 13th Congressional District (State Journal-Register)
Lawsuit seeks to block Illinois from counting mail-in ballots post-election (Chicago Tribune)
A lawsuit filed Wednesday by three Illinois Republicans argues that the state should not count mail-in ballots that arrive after the date of an election.
The suit was filed in federal court in Chicago on behalf of Rep. Michael Bost from Carbondale, a state GOP committeeperson Laura Pollastrini and Susan Sweeney who was one of the state’s Republican presidential electors in 2020.
The suit asks a judge to prevent election authorities from counting mail-in ballots that arrive in the days following in-person voting, arguing that a ballot “is not a legal vote unless it is received by Election Day.”
Bonkers.
Related: Ameren Illinois customers may see $600 increase in their annual electric bill. Here's why (State Journal-Register)
SOME TOP LINKS FROM LAST WEEK
JOIN US