THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...Bailey (finally) up on Chicago TV...Speaker Welch brings in big bucks for wife's campaign...Energy shortages coming?
May 16, 2022
Good morning, Illinois.
I’ll be on WDWS-AM in Champaign this morning around 10:10 with my old friend and “Voice of the Illini” Brian Barnhart on the legendary ‘Penny for Your Thoughts’ show. We’ll talk about the race for Governor, how Champaign and much of downstate was split in the congressional maps, and other things impacting the primary. You can listen online here.
I can’t be the only one who feels so weird having two weeks left in May with no legislative session taking place. I can’t say I miss them, but it is different.
If you’re new here, welcome. Monday and Thursday we put out these “Free for All” emails where I get to highlight good journalism and talk about stories I may not have had the time to get to over the past couple of weeks. I also weigh in with some opinions or give some context on them at the same time. Tomorrow will be our big, free weekly newsletter that we hope gives the public a better understanding of what’s happening and why in state government and politics. Wednesday and Friday e-mails are reserved for paid subscribers. They get behind the scenes stories, rumor, innuendo, commentary, and some scrutiny. Paid subscriptions are just $99 per year or $9.99 per month. It’s the best way to support what we’re doing here and to help us continue providing great information for you. I don’t have any corporate or political benefactors, I’m just a guy out here trying to tell the truth.
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Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
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Bailey to hit Chicago TV screens after billionaire Uihlein pumps $2.5 million more into GOP campaign for governor (Chicago Sun-Times)
Warning they are “turning up the heat,” Republican Darren Bailey’s campaign for governor is planning to begin airing TV ads in Chicago and the rest of the state next week, thanks to another seven-figure infusion of cash from conservative billionaire Dick Uihlein.
The $2.5 million that the Lake Forest GOP megadonor dropped into Bailey’s war chest on Friday comes just days after a poll showed the gap between the downstate state senator and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin has narrowed in the wide-open GOP primary race for governor.
“We have strong grassroots support across the state and polling shows we are positioned to win this election,” Bailey campaign spokesman Joe DeBose told the Sun-Times in a text message late Friday.
“Darren Bailey is the true conservative in this race and we are focused on fighting for working families who are in desperate need of tax relief, safer communities, stronger schools, and a leader like Darren who will continue standing up for them and their freedoms against the political elites.”
The $1.8 million ad buy set to begin across Illinois on Monday will mark the first TV commercials that Bailey has aired in the Chicago area.
Bailey has been getting crushed in TV and direct mail here in the suburbs to this point. I’ve received no fewer than 8 Irvin mailers, most of which are Bailey and Sullivan hit pieces, and none from Bailey or Sullivan. Add the fact that the DGA is pulling the Todd Akin/Jeanne Ives move to boost Bailey, and he could have himself a really good couple of weeks.
If you’re keeping track at home, Irvin is still the favorite, but Bailey is just a furlong back as we head toward the homestretch.
Related: Opinion: What does bankrolling billionaire Griffin want from Illinois politics? (Champaign News-Gazette)
Republican governor candidates gathered in Belleville. Here are the promises they made. (Belleville News-Democrat) [ed. note: you’ll be shocked to learn Richard Irvin wasn’t there.]
GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Richard Irvin Called Donald Trump ‘Idiot,’ ‘Bigoted Racist,’ Text Messages Show (WTTW)
Opinion: Campaign contributions to Welch’s wife raise question: Is Madigan era truly over? (Chicago Sun-Times)
Is it a new day or the same old, same old?
Since he was elected Illinois House speaker last year, Emanuel “Chris” Welch has pledged to banish the self-interest, clout and corruption that has dominated our politics for decades.
But recent campaign contributions to Welch’s wife are raising questions about whether the bad old days of Michael Madigan are truly gone. Madigan stepped down as Illinois House speaker in January 2021. In March 2022, he was indicted on 22 counts of racketeering and bribery charges. Madigan maintains his innocence.
ShawnTe Raines-Welch, who is running for Cook County judge in the June 28 Democratic primary, “has received more than $200,000 from the campaign funds of current state lawmakers and from one retired lawmaker,” WTTW News reported last week.
“House Speaker Welch personally asked some of the state representatives if they would donate to his wife’s campaign,” according to WTTW. “They delivered in a big way.”
The Speaker was VERY defensive when asked about this Friday morning. Though, he managed to stick to his talking points referring to his wife as a “highly qualified black woman” multiple times in a 90 second answer.
There has been some grumbling among House Democrats that with a national mood that has been (prior to the leaked Roe opinion) bad for their party, if they were comfortable blowing a couple of hundred thousand dollars on a judicial subcircuit race.
What the Speaker wants, the Speaker gets.
Related: Illinois May Be The Worst Democratic Gerrymander In The Country (Five Thirty Eight)
High electric bills, blackout risks here to stay downstate without new gas plants (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Get used to these extremely high electricity prices downstate and the risk of rolling blackouts in the summer unless more power plants are built.
That was the message representatives of the grid operator for multiple Midwestern states—including central and southern Illinois—delivered to the Illinois Commerce Commission at a hearing [Friday].
The blunt communication may put pressure on the Pritzker administration and state lawmakers to revisit parts of last year’s landmark Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, the centerpiece of which is the elimination by 2045 of power plants fueled by fossil fuels.
Power generators have told state officials they won’t plan new natural gas-fired plants because that time frame is too short to procure financing.
For now, downstate Illinoisans beginning in June will see a monthly increase in their electric bills approaching $40 on average thanks to skyrocketing costs to compensate power generators for their promise to deliver during peak periods. The price shock is confined to downstate because a separate part of the CEJA law for now protects households and businesses in the northern part of the state from sharply rising natural gas and power prices.
CEJA supporters apparently didn’t know or didn’t care there wouldn’t be enough wind or solar capacity to replace losses in existing capacity. It’s frustrating, because there was room to meet in the middle.
State Rep. Delia Ramirez and Chicago Ald. Gilbert Villegas emerge as frontrunners for 3rd Congressional (WBEZ)
On a recent Saturday in Chicago’s Belmont Cragin neighborhood on the West Side, State Rep. and congressional candidate Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago, posed a question to a room of her supporters.
“What kind of Democrat are we going to send to Congress?” Ramirez asked. “The status quo, machine politician that uses bullying and waving dollars to try to get votes, or what you and I are building?”
The question is not dissimilar from the one her main opponent, Chicago Alderman Gilbert Villegas, is asking on the campaign trail, too.
“We have been talking to voters to make sure that they understand they have an opportunity to elect a Democrat that’s pragmatic and progressive,” Villegas said. “This district is going to elect a Democrat. The question is, what type of Democrat do they want to elect?”
With name recognition and funding, Ramirez and Villegas have emerged as the frontrunners in a heated, four-candidate Democratic primary to represent Illinois’ newly-created 3rd Congressional district. Both Ramirez and Villegas currently hold elected office and have raised $414,817 and $781,978 for their Congressional campaigns, respectively.
Related: GOP candidates in 14th Congressional race to meet in online forum next week (Daily Herald)
GOP primaries could signal direction of party’s earmarks stance (Roll Call)
SOME TOP LINKS FROM THE WEEK THAT WAS
Democratic Governors Association Boosting Bailey in New Ad Campaign
Kane County Judge, Supreme Court Candidate, Defends Party Switching
Opinion: Richard Irvin Doesn't Appear to Be Up to the Challenge
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