THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All
February 21, 2022
Good morning, friends.
It’s President’s Day, so enjoy your day off if you work for the state, at a bank, or a school. Back in my newsroom days, these are the kinds of holidays we referred to as “Monday.”
But, a related trivia question for you. You all know the three presidents who were Illinois residents at the time they were elected: Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, and Barack Obama. And you know Ronald Reagan was born in Illinois. Not counting Obama, who is the last Illinois resident (at the time of the election) to win a vote in the Electoral College? Winner gets a t-shirt (more on those soon!)
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YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
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Richard Irvin’s tough-on-crime campaign for governor ignores his years as criminal defense attorney (Chicago Tribune)
As a Republican candidate for governor, Richard Irvin has promoted himself as a no-nonsense, law-and-order candidate who as a onetime prosecutor put “gangsters, drug dealers and wife beaters” in jail.
Irvin was a prosecutor in Cook and Kane counties from 1998, shortly after getting his law license, until 2003. But he then worked for almost 15 years as a criminal defense attorney, specializing in defending people accused of the same types of crime he rails against in his campaign ads.
Shortly before becoming mayor of Aurora in 2017 and stepping away from his law practice, for example, he represented a man accused of attacking a police officer. He’s also represented clients accused of kidnapping, domestic violence and sexual assault.
It’s a significant but unmentioned part of his resume as he follows a tough-on-crime Republican script to go after Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his fellow Democrats.
The crime issue has been pushed by billionaire businessman Ken Griffin, whose long-anticipated support of Irvin was formally announced last week and whose money is seen as critical to the GOP candidate’s success. Griffin, who has promised to go “all-in” to defeat Pritzker, made an initial contribution of $20 million to Irvin’s campaign.
The Law Office of Richard C. Irvin & Associates merged with another attorney’s firm in 2017 when Irvin took office as Aurora’s first Black mayor. His original firm’s website said 90% of Irvin’s focus as an attorney was on criminal defense, and that the firm handled drug cases and an array of felony cases ranging from robbery and burglary to home invasion and reckless homicide.
The site explained how a domestic battery charge can be “successfully defended” in court: “If the victim is the only other person present when the battery occurs, and the victim does not appear in court, the state cannot prevail in the case.”
Irvin’s website went dark just last week, which quickly became political fodder for Democrats.
This is the story the Irvin campaign tried so hard to kill last week basically calling the Tribune a rag with no editorial standards. The actual meat of the story doesn’t really do much to hurt Irvin, in my opinion.
Also, to criticize a defense attorney for being a defense attorney is a rather silly argument. The cornerstone of our judicial system is that someone accused of a crime is entitled to a full defense without being presumed guilty. Does it make famed Chicago attorney Dan Webb a bad guy for defending George Ryan? No.
In 1770, five colonists were killed by British soldiers in a protest-turned-riot. Who defended those soldiers in court? John Adams, who signed the Declaration of Independence and later became President.
Related: Opinion: Richard Irvin’s campaign for governor helping put Aurora on the map (Aurora Beacon-News)
Fact-check: Downstate Republican masking the truth in claim about face coverings for school kids (Chicago Sun-Times)
Several states across the nation are announcing the end of mask mandates for most public places. But in some states, the debate continues over the need for masks in schools.
Downstate Illinois Republican lawmakers earlier this month criticized Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s decision to exclude schools from his plan to end indoor mask mandates for most public places by the end of the month.
GOP state Rep. Blaine Wilhour of downstate Beecher City joined state Sen. Darren Bailey of Xenia, who is running for governor, and state Rep. Adam Niemerg of Dietrich for a news conference in mid-February in which they called on Pritzker to drop mask mandates in public schools.
“For the last year at least, I contend two years, the observed science, scores of studies, real world observations have told us there is absolutely no observed or clinical data that indicates any benefit whatsoever to masking K-12 students in schools,” Wilhour said.
The claim follows a downstate judge’s recent order that said Pritzker’s school mask requirements and other restrictions went too far. Pritkzer’s appeal of the ruling was dismissed Thursday by an Illinois appellate court.
We decided to investigate Wilhour’s claim that “there is absolutely no observed or clinical data that indicates any benefit whatsoever to masking K-12 students in schools.”
Asked for evidence underpinning his claim, Wilhour provided various links to studies and articles and said there are over 150 studies that have found no benefit of masks in schools.
There is plenty of observational evidence that masks work, so we turned to Wilhour’s assertion about a lack of clinical data.
One epidemiology expert we talked to said such an assertion ignores the fact that clinical trials exposing unprotected children to COVID-19 would be patently unethical. A clinical trial would involve exposing a control group of unprotected children to the deadly virus, the expert said.
“We will not get clinical trials on this because it is unethical to randomize kids to not use masks given overwhelming evidence of the risks based on observational studies,” said Dr. Mercedes Carnethon of Northwestern University.
Wilhour said there is absolutely no observed or clinical data that indicates any benefit whatsoever to masking K-12 students in schools.
Clinical studies cannot be conducted on this issue because of the risk they would pose to unprotected children, but observational data shows masks are beneficial in reducing transmissions in schools.
We rate this claim Mostly False.
I got into a bit of an argument with a Republican lawmaker last week who tried to pull the “masks don’t work” nonsense on me last week. The lawmaker tried to say the CDC now says cloth masks “don’t work,” without the caveat it was related to the highly transmissible Omicron variant, and not a blanket situation. I go back to Bill Nye.
I will absolutely accept the argument that because cases have dropped off so significantly that a mask requirement isn’t needed right now. I mostly agree with that. But to try to tell me masks don’t work just isn’t true.
Related: Wilhour sues Welch over mask requirements at Illinois Capitol (State Journal-Register)
Pritzker taking school mask fight to Illinois Supreme Court (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Was Capitol riot 'legitimate political discourse'? Suburban GOP congressional candidates divided (Daily Herald)
Of the more than 20 Republicans running for Congress in the North, Northwest and Western suburbs, just four said they agree with the Republican National Committee's description of last year's deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol as "ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."
Only one candidate outright rejected the RNC's characterization.
Five candidates denounced the rioters but wouldn't say if they agreed or disagreed with the RNC's statement. Others refused to answer questions about the historic event or couldn't be reached.
The controversial line appeared in a Feb. 4 RNC resolution censuring U.S. Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon and Liz Cheney of Wyoming for serving on the House committee investigating the violence that occurred Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress met to certify Joe Biden's presidential victory over Donald Trump.
Eleventh District candidate Catalina Lauf of Woodstock said she agreed with the RNC's statement. There are "widespread, absurd mischaracterizations of that day," said Lauf, who is among five Republicans vying to face Democratic incumbent Bill Foster of Naperville.
Sixth District candidate Rob Cruz of Oak Lawn also agreed with the RNC's assessment.
"There are several reports stating that most of the people who stormed the Capitol were middle-class people -- plumbers, realtors, union workers," said Cruz, one of six Republicans seeking the seat held by Democrat Sean Casten of Downers Grove. "So I believe we would describe these as 'ordinary people.'"
Fourteenth District candidate Mike Koolidge of Rochelle agreed with the RNC's statement, too. Noting that the freedom to assemble is guaranteed by the First Amendment, he said the "vast majority" of protesters gathered peacefully "and freely expressed themselves."
Those who committed crimes should be prosecuted, said Koolidge, who's among five Republicans running to face Democratic incumbent Lauren Underwood of Naperville in the 14th District.
Gary Grasso, a GOP candidate in the 6th District, disagreed with the RNC's description.
"The storming of the Capitol by force was not legitimate political discourse," Grasso said. "It was a riot causing significant injuries and death, with deliberate destruction of sacred national ground."
It is baffling to me how the national GOP, which thinks a “law and order” message will work in November, thinks defending people who violently attacked police and ransacked the Capitol are a-ok.
Related: This Republican candidate for the 13th District says southwestern Illinois is ‘fed up’ (Belleville News-Democrat)
Lawmakers raise concerns about inmate transfers from prisons in Pontiac and Vandalia (Illinois Public Radio)
State lawmakers are going public with concerns about the future of the prison in Pontiac and another in Vandalia in southern Illinois.
Bloomington-Normal Rep. Dan Brady is among several who have co-signed an open letter to the state Department of Corrections asking for clarification on the reasons for transfers of prisoners from Pontiac and Vandalia correctional centers. Brady said quiet questions beforehand received conflicting responses.
“Everything from there has been mechanical issues, whether it’s heat or other types of facility issues at the prison to the fact that it’s a planned scenario of moving prisoners,” said Brady.
Brady said there are reports more than 100 inmates have been transferred out of the correctional center in Livingston County alone. The rated capacity at the prison is 1,255.
The most recent failed attempt to close the prison came in 2008 during the Blagojevich administration. The prison opened in 1871.
Brady, a Republican, said it’s not clear whether this is another such attempt to close the correctional center.
“I don’t think anything should be ruled out, but we have to start with answers to the questions. When you start moving inmates with no clarification, no notification, and more or less no knowledge of what’s going on in the department about it, that raises red flags and concerns,” said Brady.
“As both of these correctional centers serve as some of the largest employers in their respective regions, any changes to staffing or inmate population levels would have a major impact on the economic health of those areas,” wrote the lawmakers in the letter.
The lawmakers acknowledge significant deferred maintenance needs at both facilities and that some reshuffling of the inmate population may be needed temporarily to make repairs, but they still have concerns over the future of those prisons.
Related: IDOC makes plan to close units at Vandalia, Pontiac prisons (Capitol News Illinois)
If the Pritzker administration plans to close the facilities, they need to say so publicly.
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