THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...Congressional confusion...Census...Greg Harris...Ken Griffin...Criminal justice reform
May 23, 2022
Good morning, Illinois. Happy Monday.
You may have seen in Friday’s subscriber post that I’m making my return to the radio airwaves just a few…years…after leaving WDWS in Champaign. I’ll be filling in for Jim Leach on WMAY in Springfield on his show from 4-6pm this Friday and again next Tuesday, May 31. Looking forward to it. You can catch my visit with Jim from last week here.
Going to be another busy week around the state and we’ll do our best to keep you up to date with the best perspective we can provide.
We’d appreciate it if you supported our newsletter by becoming a paid subscriber. Subscriptions are just $99 per year or $9.99 per month. Subscribers get lots of exclusive content, including two subscriber-only newsletters each week. We can’t do it without you. Just click below.
As always, drop me a note at patrick@theillinoize.com if you have questions, comments, or snide remarks.
Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets)
Early vote kickoff spotlights voter confusion in new Illinois congressional districts (Chicago Sun-Times)
The kickoff of early voting for the June 28 Illinois primary is spotlighting some voter confusion in redrawn Chicago area congressional districts as candidates scramble to lock in their votes.
Ald. Gil Villegas (36th) is running for Congress in the newly created 3rd Congressional District, where there is no incumbent. When his canvassers knocked on doors, they found some folks insisting he was running against Democrats, Rep. Sean Casten or Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi.
“We just educate them” and say “you’re in a new district now,” said Villegas, whose main competition in the June 28 Democratic primary is state Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago — not Casten or Krishnamoorthi.
Still, “some will argue,” Villegas said, convinced only when shown an interactive map on an iPhone. “We open it up to their street level and show them, this is your home, you’re in a new district.”
In the 1st Congressional District, the confusion factor is different. “You’d be surprised how many people don’t know Bobby Rush isn’t running again,” said Ron Holmes, an adviser for state Sen. Jacqueline Collins, D-Chicago, one of 17 Democrats in the primary to replace Rush, who is retiring after 15 terms.
While in-person early voting is for every race on the ballot, there are particular challenges for congressional contenders because some voters, under the remap following the 2020 census, are still unaware of their new political address.
Related: New Illinois maps are creating challenges for women seeking reelection (WBEZ)
Barbs started early in Rodney Davis, Mary Miller's race and aren't expected to end soon (State Journal-Register)
Candidate survey: Congressman Rodney Davis (State Journal-Register)
Candidate survey: Congresswoman Mary Miller (State Journal-Register)
Gov. Pritzker, Illinois delegation scrambling to grab federal dollars ‘owed’ due to census goof (Chicago Sun-Times)
Within minutes of learning the 2020 census undercounted Illinois – a mistake left uncorrected, shortchanging state and local governments of millions of dollars of federal cash — Gov. J. B. Pritzker talked to Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth plus Reps. Danny Davis, Jan Schakowsky and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia to start mapping strategy to recoup.
The undercount in Illinois the Census Bureau announced on Thursday — off by 1.97% — means Illinois did not lose population, but instead gained about 250,000 residents between 2010 and 2020.
In the coming days, Pritzker will likely touch base with all the Democrats in the delegation to deal with the Census bungle, which has the collateral impact of depriving Republicans of one of their main attack lines: blaming Pritzker and Democrats for Illinois population loss.
The census error has a big impact on federal dollars flowing to Illinois. That’s because a vast amount of federal dollars are allocated according to a formula based on population — it does not matter if leaders are Democrats, Republicans or nonpartisans.
Pritzker’s chief of staff and four deputy governors were in D.C. this week. Fortuitous timing. They were here fortifying relationships with members of the congressional delegation and their staffs as well as in agencies and the White House.
Related: Opinion: Lesson learned about overreacting to Census figures? (Shaw Media)
Longtime lawmaker reflects on time in General Assembly, calls it ‘honor of lifetime’ (Capitol News Illinois)
House Majority Leader Greg Harris, the number two Democrat in the Illinois House of Representatives, never imagined landing the role of state representative – or that he would leave office feeling that he has been successful at it.
The first openly LGTBQ leader in Illinois History, Harris, 66, of Chicago, has served eight terms in the Illinois House. He currently represents the 13th District encompassing parts of Uptown, Ravenswood, Lincoln Square, North Center, West Ridge and Bowmanville.
“It was an honor of a lifetime to get elected and serve,” Harris said. “Even more to be able to serve in a leadership role and help the state get through multiple challenges.”
In November 2021, Harris, who has become a lead Democratic voice on budget issues and countless others, announced he would not seek reelection after completing his term.
Harris said he was stepping down because he achieved most of his priorities over the years and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, discussion grew about the need to change the system and let new, younger voices take control.
“It just seemed like a logical time to leave and let a whole new generation of leaders take charge in the House,” Harris said.
A Colorado native, Harris moved to Chicago in 1977 with a journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder that he would instead use in marketing and governmental relations at the National Home Furnishings Association.
The association eventually left Chicago in 1988, but Harris stayed and helped organize a program that delivered home-cooked meals to AIDS patients. He co-founded that program, Open Hands Chicago, replicating a similar program in San Francisco. It was the city’s first in-home meals program targeted to people living with HIV and AIDS and has become Chicago’s largest food provider with that purpose.
“At the time, we were just groups of people sitting around our kitchen tables, figuring out how do we get food to people or how do we get health care for people,” Harris said.
Harris, who has lived with HIV for more than three decades, recalled at the time that there were no similar services offered by the federal government. As Harris and the organizers continued to watch people they knew getting sick and dying from the virus, they decided to be proactive with the meal program.
Billionaire Ken Griffin’s dollars move to other candidates on GOP slate via Richard Irvin’s campaign (Chicago Tribune)
Republican candidate for governor Richard Irvin has shifted $800,000 from his Ken Griffin-funded campaign to two members of his slate of GOP candidates a little more than one month before the June 28 primary.
Secretary of state candidate John Milhiser received $500,000 from the Irvin for Illinois Fund on Friday, while Steve Kim, a candidate for attorney general, got $300,000 from the Irvin fund, state campaign records show. Both men are part of a slate of Republicans seeking statewide offices put together by Irvin’s campaign and backed by Griffin, Illinois’ wealthiest individual and the billionaire founder and CEO of the Citadel hedge fund.
Griffin has already given Irvin, who is mayor of Aurora, $45 million to help Irvin secure the Republican nomination for governor and challenge Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in November.
Irvin, during a campaign stop on Saturday, said more money would be coming for Milhiser, Kim and other members of the Griffin-backed slate.
“From the very beginning we said that our campaign is going to be about supporting not just myself and (running mate) Avery Bourne, and our slate of candidates,” Irvin said. “We’re going to be supporting candidates up and down the ballot, so this is the beginning of our show of support for folks to make sure we can get many Republicans across the finish line.”
Related: Despite courting GOP voters in Springfield stop, Irvin still won't say if he voted for Trump (Herald & Review)
Richard Irvin brings Republican state candidates to Marion on early voting tour (The Southern Illinoisan)
Opinion: Ken Griffin should aim higher than holding office (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Kane, Kendall, DuPage state’s attorneys voice concerns about Illinois crime law (Shaw Media)
State’s attorneys from Kane, Kendall and DuPage counties are voicing concerns the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act signed into law last year by Gov. JB Pritzker could result in more violent criminals roaming free.
They talked about their concerns during a forum Thursday night at the Eola Community Center in Aurora. The forum was hosted by State Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora.
Their concerns center around the elimination of the state’s cash bail system effective Jan. 1, 2023. They are worried the way the new law is written, prosecutors have little say in who can be kept in custody.
Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser was elected in the fall of 2020, a few months before the SAFE-T Act was passed by the Illinois General Assembly in January 2021.
“I was one of the opponents to it when it came out,” she said. “I am very much in favor of criminal justice reform, but I’m in favor of criminal justice reform as guided by public safety.”
She has been working with other state’s attorney’s and state legislators to fix aspects of the SAFE–T Act. Mosser said she is in favor of abolishing cash bail, although she said the legislation needs to be rewritten to prevent violent offenders from being released.
“I believe that if you are a danger to our community, you should be held in jail,” she said. “And just because you have money doesn’t mean you should be able to bond out. But if you are not a danger and you’re being told that you have to post money and you don’t have that, keeping you in jail is not fair either. So there is a way to do this the right way.”
SOME TOP LINKS FROM LAST WEEK
JOIN US
Money does not make a good governor as been seeing. Out of touch with our state.