THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All: Democrats hog the pork...McCann in custody...CTU wins the Chicago School Board battle
February 12, 2024
Good morning, Illinois.
I hope you enjoyed your nachos and pizza last night. What an incredible finish.
FYI, today is a state holiday for Lincoln’s Birthday (happy 215 to the big guy). So, for those of you who get the post-Super Bowl day off, congratulations.
I’m filling in again this morning on WMAY in Springfield from 6am-9am. Should be fun. Listen live here.
The General Assembly is out this week. There is nothing on Governor JB Pritzker’s public schedule today.
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Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
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Democrats flexed muscles in passing out pork in Springfield (Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his fellow Illinois Democrats approved more than $150 million in the current state budget for local projects hand-picked by their party, a power play over Republicans that is unusual in scope and secrecy even in the history of Springfield’s chronic partisan gamesmanship.
In a state known for negotiating local pork-barrel project funds in at least somewhat of a bipartisan fashion, the maneuver illustrated how Democrats enjoying extraordinary House and Senate majorities flexed their dominance and left minority party Republican legislators wanting.
They authorized a range of spending for items such as a pickleball court in far North Shore Winthrop Harbor, a skate park in Chicago and a more comfortable home at the downstate Decatur zoo for two camels, Jack and Finnegan.
The ruling Democrats, with a modern record 78-40 House majority and an even higher percentage in the Senate with a 40-19 edge, dipped into multiple old and newly designated pools of cash for projects in their legislative districts.
State budget records and interviews with rank-and-file lawmakers point to breakdowns of roughly $1 million for each House Democrat and $2 million for each Senate Democrat drawn from two pools of cash totaling nearly $156 million.
Many Democrats interviewed by the Tribune unabashedly defended carving the pork in a partisan fashion, saying Republicans didn’t deserve the extra dollars for their districts because they refused to support the state’s annual budget.
“They didn’t vote for the final budget,” said Deputy Gov. Andy Manar, Pritzker’s budget point person and a former downstate Democratic state senator. “I could point to any number of things that were very good for districts that are represented by Republicans across the state that they ended up voting against.”
House Republican leader Tony McCombie of Savanna said she was “shocked” at the extent of the partisan breakdown in the current budget.
Even when approached at the Capitol last week, Welch directed questions to his spokeswoman, Jaclyn Driscoll, who had previously said answering such questions would be little more than “responding to Republican talking points.”
“You cannot be the party of voting ‘no’ on a budget, refusing to work with the majority party and simultaneously complaining about a lack of public dollars going to your community, while overlooking the hundreds of millions of dollars that actually are,” Driscoll wrote in an email.
McCombie called the Democratic position “absolutely ridiculous.”
“For them to say that we were not wanting to be a part of the process, it’s a lie,” McCombie said. “That’s not true.”
It’s completely comical that Driscoll, Welch, and Andy Manar are blaming Republicans for not voting for the budget that they were completely shut out of the negotiating process for. “Hey, vote for this budget you disagree with and maybe we’ll give you some scraps next year,” is a crap governing strategy.
They should be ashamed by their hubris.
Former lawmaker taken into custody amid delays to his corruption trial after sudden hospitalization (Capitol News Illinois)
Former Republican State Sen. Sam McCann, a onetime third-party candidate for governor, was taken into custody Friday morning ahead of his federal corruption trial on charges he misused campaign funds.
The arrest caps a bizarre week that was supposed to have seen his corruption trial begin and end – until a last-minute hospitalization forced its postponement until Monday.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Lawless had ordered McCann to communicate with the federal probation office upon his discharge from Missouri Baptist Hospital in St. Louis, where he’d checked himself in after a weekend of feeling unwell.
But McCann was only able to prove he’d emailed his probation officer on Wednesday, when he was told he’d be discharged from the hospital later in the day. But he couldn’t find anything in his sent email folder.
Another probation officer told the judge that the office had called McCann and his wife multiple times and sent multiple texts but hadn’t heard anything back from them. McCann also claimed he didn’t see any of the missed calls or texts on his phone.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Bass wondered aloud how McCann had known about Friday morning’s hearing, which had been scheduled the prior afternoon, if he was having so much trouble with his phone.
McCann replied that his standby attorney had emailed him about it.
Lawless said McCann’s behavior was the “continuation of a pattern” and that she couldn’t conclude anything other than that he’d “violated (his) conditions of release,” and said he’d be taken into custody with the U.S. marshals “immediately” until his trial commences Monday morning.
“There seems to be an excuse every time,” Lawless said. “There are no more excuses, sir.”
Related: Former state Sen. Sam McCann taken into police custody (Illinois Times)
Former state senator McCann taken into custody after violation of pre-trial release order (State Journal-Register)
After mayoral letter, state Senate president files ‘Mayor Johnson’s plan’ to elect 10 school board members this year (Chicago Sun-Times)
A week after Mayor Brandon Johnson sent Illinois Senate President Don Harmon a letter urging him to support the election of only 10 of 21 school board seats this November, the Oak Park Democrat on Friday filed legislation with the mayor’s preferred plan.
The new Senate measure, sponsored by Harmon, includes ethics provisions the Senate president requested last year, including who can serve as a board member. Harmon had publicly said he looked forward to getting “clear direction” from Johnson after an unresolved dispute over how many seats would be elected this fall.
That direction came last week in a letter Johnson sent to Harmon — putting his full support behind the Chicago Teachers Union-backed plan of electing 10 seats in November and letting the mayor appoint the other 11. That would leave Johnson in control of Chicago Public Schools nearly through the end of his term.
“I appreciate Mayor Johnson’s clear direction as to his vision for an elected, representative school board for Chicago,” Harmon said in a statement. “We have drafted and now filed Mayor Johnson’s plan so that it can be reviewed by lawmakers and the public in the weeks ahead.”
Related: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s sprint to remake Chicago’s public schools (WBEZ)
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POLITICAL POTPOURRI
For Pritzker, the DNC could be a dress rehearsal for a presidential run (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Should Illinois become 11th state to adopt ‘right-to-die’ legislation? (Chicago Sun-Times)
Misdeeds by Carlinville funeral home director spur legislative proposals (Capitol News Illinois)
Proposal in Springfield seeks to stop evictions spurred by police calls (Chicago Sun-Times)
Illinois Arts Council reorganizes in effort to expand reach across state (Chicago Tribune)
In crisis, she went to an Illinois facility. Two years later, she still isn’t able to leave (Capitol News Illinois)
Feds say ex-lawmaker found job selling insurance — where she was caught submitting bogus policies (Chicago Sun-Times)
Democratic Party of Illinois launches new fundraising push (Crain’s Chicago Business)
NRA endorses Bost over Bailey (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Underwood outpacing GOP rivals in fundraising for 14th Congressional race (Daily Herald)
Justice Joy Cunningham runs to keep seat on Illinois Supreme Court, facing primary challenge from Judge Jesse Reyes (Chicago Sun-Times)
On her way out, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel urges crowd in Rosemont to vote early (Chicago Tribune)
Who will replace Kim Foxx as Cook County’s top prosecutor? (Chicago Sun-Times)
An in-depth look inside the campaigns for and against a tax to pay for homelessness prevention (WBEZ)
Mayor Johnson hasn’t acted on Lightfoot order aimed at aldermanic ward power (Chicago Tribune)
See what the White Sox have in mind for The 78 (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Editorial: For voters’ sake, draw the line and end gerrymandering (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: The CTA asks Springfield for help — but it needs to help itself, too (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Opinion: Too many people can’t afford their medication. A proposal in Illinois could help lower drug prices. (Chicago Sun-Times)
Martire: Revenue reform would help take sting out of migrant dilemma (Champaign News-Gazette) [note: In Matire’s world, “revenue reform” = raising taxes]
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