THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...Madigan trial gets a jury (almost)...Southern Illinois prison guards picket...Pritzker cash for the DNC
October 21, 2024
Good morning, Illinois.
15 days.
We have a ton of stuff planned for the final two weeks of this campaign and hope you’ll join us as a paid subscriber to help us get across the finish line.
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Governor Pritzker speaks at the Chicago Quantum Exchange Summit at the University of Chicago this morning.
Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets, because good journalism isn’t free)
Michael Madigan's 12 jurors are chosen and openings are on the horizon — but what took so long? (Chicago Sun-Times)
Finding a jury to hear the case against former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan took as long as some trials do from start to finish.
After seven days and scores of interviews, eight women and four men have been chosen to decide if Madigan is guilty of a racketeering conspiracy. Two of six alternate jurors are still needed, but the judge is aiming for opening statements to begin Monday afternoon.
So what took so long?
U.S. District Judge John Blakey seemed to blame the amount of time lawyers spent questioning the many candidates over the last two weeks. In fact, the judge said Thursday he’d no longer take the lawyers at their word when it comes to estimating the trial’s length.
He asked them to predict how long they expect each witness to testify once the trial gets rolling, and he told them to deliver their conclusions to him Friday. For now, each side is calling it an “11-week trial,” putting it on track to end in mid-December.
Blakey seems particularly concerned with the jurors’ schedules over the lengthy trial.
The panel includes a nurse who enjoys Marvel movies, a woman who works at a Goodwill donation center, and another woman who has worked in catering — including for an event tied to the recent Democratic National Convention.
There is also a painter who works in acrylics and lives in the 19th Ward but hopes to move to Ireland in the next five years, and a woman whose favorite TV shows include “The Office” and “Game of Thrones.”
One juror said her friend, “Becky,” correctly surmised that the juror had likely been summoned for jury duty in Madigan’s trial. She said Becky told her, “If you get on the jury, vote guilty.”
That juror described her friend as a “Trumper” who hates all Democrats, though, “except me, maybe.”
Madigan is accused of leading a criminal enterprise designed to enhance his political power and enrich his allies and associates. His longtime friend and confidant, Michael McClain, is accused of acting as Madigan’s agent, passing along his instructions and shielding him from liability.
Related: 4 decades after rising to power and nearly 4 years since his fall, former Speaker Madigan goes to trial (Capitol News Illinois)
Local Illinois State Prison employees picket over unsafe work conditions (The Southern Illinoisan)
Picketers at over 20 lines outside Illinois State Prisons and correctional facilities, including the Vienna Correctional Center, outcried low staffing and dangerous work conditions in state prisons Thursday.
Union members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees organized the more than 20 picket lines, including in Pinckeyville as reported in the weekend edition of The Southern, and Vienna.
Employees from both the Vienna Correctional Center and the Shawnee Correctional Center protesting and people honking in support Thursday evening.
“Well, look, it’s, it’s scary. A lot of our employees are scared,” said Local 415 Brett Oxford from the Vienna Correctional Center.
He said in the last three weeks, 11 employees have been taken to the hospital due to suspected drug exposure from things sent in the mail.
”It’s a sad day whenever we have to find Narcan to send home with our people for their families to make sure that they don’t get exposed to something. That’s how scared some of these people are. The administration should be ashamed and embarrassed that this is where we’re at,” he said.
Oxford said employee attacks and inmate drug usage have been at their highest in 20 years at his facility — and the administration has known about safety issues in state correction centers for years.
“We had an older gentleman that everybody loves in the sound by ambulance the other day that really hit home... He’s a great employee, great guy. He doesn’t deserve this. His family doesn’t deserve it,” he said.
Oxford said the union has solutions.
“We have segregation. Our administration refuses to use it. We have what’s called ‘good time’. If you’re a good offender, you get to go home sooner. If you’re not, they take that time from you, but we don’t do that anymore. They automatically get their good time regardless of how they were when they were incarcerated. We should go back to how it was several years ago, and if you’re not a good offender, you don’t get good time,” he said.
Reporters reached out to the Illinois Department of Corrections for a comment, but remained on hold for more than an hour and without a response.
DOC leaving a media call on hold for more than an hour is a really bad move.
Related: Sen. Bryant continues to speak out against IDOC (The Southern Illinoisan)
Menard finds Fentanyl, synthetic cannabinoids as more officers hospitalized (The Southern Illinoisan)
Gov. JB Pritzker and wife gave big for DNC, which raised $97M in all (Chicago Tribune)
When Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker helped land the 2024 Democratic National Convention for Chicago, he vowed city and state taxpayers wouldn’t be left with the bill and that he wouldn’t pick up the whole tab himself.
While federal campaign finance disclosures filed this week show Pritzker was correct on those counts, the billionaire governor and first lady MK Pritzker were still the largest individual contributors to the event. The couple, through their trust fund, shelled out $5.6 million — nearly 6% of the $97 million raised by the convention’s local host committee.
The committee, Development Now for Chicago, reported spending about $83 million in the lead-up to, during and in the month following the four-day August convention at the United Center, where Vice President Kamala Harris made history as the first Black and Asian American woman to accept a major party’s presidential nomination.
In comparison, the host committee for July’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where former President Donald Trump accepted the GOP nomination for the third straight election, reported raising $92 million while spending $88 million, according to its federal filing.
“From day one, Gov. Pritzker was fully committed to making sure the 2024 DNC was a success both in the convention hall and across our entire city. And it was,” Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Christina Amestoy wrote in an email. “The 2024 Democratic National Convention not only showcased how Democrats are delivering but showed Chicago off to the world as well — bringing visitors, investments and attention across neighborhoods. Thanks to the hard work of so many to deliver a successful 2024 DNC, Chicago will benefit for years to come.”
The spending on the DNC resulted in an economic impact to the city of $371.4 million that produced $34.9 million in federal tax dollars and $28.7 million in state and local taxes, according to a report released Thursday by the host committee and the city’s tourism arm, Choose Chicago.
Related: Host committee for Chicago's DNC spent $89 million on convention, raised $97 million (Chicago Sun-Times)
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