THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...Mapes trial begins...47,000 lose Medicaid benefits...Electing J6 Republicans
August 7, 2023
Governor Pritzker vetoed a bill Friday, but not because he wanted to pick a fight with the General Assembly, but because lawmakers asked him to. Pritzker vetoed SB1515 that dealt with E-Verify for employers. I’m told the bill violated federal law, so Democrats asked the Governor to stop the bill in its tracks.
We hope you had a good weekend. The state fair kicks off Thursday. Governor’s Day and Republican Day are next week.
There is nothing on the Governor’s public schedule today.
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YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
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Michael Madigan’s ex-chief of staff once seemed to know everything, except on the witness stand — now, he’s headed to trial for perjury (Chicago Sun-Times)
Tim Mapes once seemed to be the guy who knew everything in Springfield.
He spent two decades as Michael Madigan’s chief of staff and was widely viewed as the only person with direct access to the Illinois House speaker.
But Mapes also was seen as threatening and controlling. His tenure ended with harassment and bullying accusations in 2018.
Then, three years later, Mapes found himself in front of a federal grand jury. That’s when prosecutors say he offered “blatantly false” testimony — suddenly saying he knew nothing.
Now, Mapes is set to stand trial starting Monday in Chicago on federal charges of perjury and attempted obstruction of justice for an alleged bid to block prosecutors’ investigation of Madigan, who forced Mapes to resign in 2018, and Michael McClain, another Springfield insider.
Corruption investigations have led to trials and convictions of six people in Chicago so far this year. Jurors hearing these cases have been vocal in rejecting defense arguments.
Now, a new panel could hear dozens of recordings that prosecutors say undermine Mapes’ 2021 testimony that he didn’t know — or couldn’t recall — work McClain did for Madigan.
In court, they have argued that questions posed to him before the grand jury were vague. They’ve said his answers to others — “I don’t recall” — were “literally true.” And they’ve said they might try to have Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu, the lead prosecutor in the Madigan investigation, testify. Bhachu helped question Mapes before the grand jury, his colleagues have said in court.
Related: The seven alleged lies that could send Michael Madigan’s ex-chief of staff Tim Mapes to prison (Chicago Sun-Times)
Former Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes heading to trial on charges he lied to federal grand jury investigating his boss (Chicago Tribune)
Thousands of Illinois residents get kicked off Medicaid plans (WBEZ)
More than 47,000 Illinois residents have been kicked off their Medicaid insurance plans as of Aug. 1 – that’s nearly a quarter of the population that was up for renewal starting May 1. According to data from the state department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), most of them were dropped because they didn’t submit their eligibility information on time.
Medicaid is a government-funded, public health insurance program for qualifying, low-income people. The state had begun asking residents to prove their eligibility June 1, the first time since the federal government suspended that requirement in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leading up to the June 1 deadline, state officials, healthcare providers and advocacy groups have been working to get the word out about the post-COVID change. HFS kicked off a “Ready to Renew” outreach campaign in March of this year, which included paid advertisements in print and on broadcast channels, as well as an online “toolkit” available in multiple languages.
And the Illinois Association of Medicaid Health Plans has been working with insurance providers to send patients text alerts, emails, mailers, knocking on their doors and anything else they can think of, according to CEO Samantha Olds Frey. She says while they were able to get about 75 percent of recipients to re-enroll on time, that 47,000 figure is still too high.
“We could do better,” Olds Frey said. “What’s driving the percentage of members that aren’t returning paperwork? That’s a gap I think we all agree we can close.”
A Jan. 6 attendee’s election speaks to Illinois GOP’s last stand in Will County (Chicago Tribune)
When the Will County Board decided to send four of its members to the National Association of Counties’ legislative conference in Washington this past February, the contingent included new Republican board member Daniel Butler of Frankfort.
The taxpayer-funded trip for the conference, which featured panels on federal policy headlined by a speech from President Joe Biden, wasn’t Butler’s first time to the nation’s capital.
Little more than two years earlier, prior to being elected to office, Butler was in Washington attending then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally. Butler joined the march to the U.S. Capitol but he was not charged and he said he did not enter the building as insurgents staged a deadly insurrection in a failed attempt to stop the counting of Electoral College votes that made Biden the nation’s president.
Displaying a long history on social media of propagating elaborate and widely debunked conspiracy theories — ranging from pandemic vaccines linked with computer chip technology to a QAnon-backed tale contending Italian satellites were used in 2020 to switch votes from Trump to Biden — Butler won a seat on the Will County Board on Nov. 8.
Butler’s election was assisted by more than $3,300 worth of campaign mailings paid by the Illinois Republican Party, campaign records show. The Illinois GOP did not respond to a request for comment.
Butler, a Republican precinct committeeman who owns a general contractor business, a martial arts studio and a cabinet distributorship, also chairs the conservative Lincoln-Way Area Freedom Coalition. He listed his campaign priorities as “freedom of speech, 2nd Amendment, Constitutionalist, Fiscal conservatism and Right to Life.”
He won the second of two seats in the newly drawn 3rd County Board district with 9,623 votes, representing Frankfort, Crete, Monee, Park Forest, Steger and University Park.
I don’t understand the point of this story, especially considering two Republican members of the General Assembly were in DC on January 6. It seems like the Trib is trying to pick on a county board member for being a little out there, but as someone who has covered other county governments, there are lots of them who are a little out there.
LAST WEEK ON THEILLINOIZE.COM
Marron Won't Seek Re-Election, Creating Prime Dem Pickup Opportunity
Sources: Appointed Rep. John Egofske Won't Run in 2024, Egofske says "Still Undecided"
Opinion: Is JB Pritzker's Poll Strength a Green Light for Democrats?
POLITICAL POTPOURRI
Federal judge blocks new Illinois law allowing state to penalize anti-abortion counseling centers (Associated Press)
Illinois will seek to address student trauma under measure signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker (Chicago Tribune)
Pritzker signs bill to expand airport authority, tax base to all of McLean County (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Poshard shares love of poetry, battle with depression in new biography (Journal Gazette-Times Courier)
Democratic leaders seek $837 million in federal funding to revamp Chicago’s Union Station (Chicago Sun-Times)
U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood talks social security, healthcare, student debt in DeKalb (Shaw Media)
More evidence that car insurance pricing in Illinois is biased against the poor (Chicago Sun-Times)
Residents, activists ask state regulators to reject utilities’ rate increases (Capitol News Illinois)
Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant calls out lawmakers, governor after water tower overflows (Chicago Tribune)
FOP’s John Catanzara blasts Brandon Johnson for calling teen looting a ‘trend’: ‘That means, do whatever the hell you want apparently.’ (Chicago Sun-Times)
Editorial: What mayors say matters. In more ways than one. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Bryant: The SAFE-T Act leaves victim resources from bond revenue in limbo (Chicago Tribune)
Cabello: Can we have confidence in the Illinois Supreme Court? (Rockford Register Star)
Opinion: Finding candor, compassion and fun in politics (Quad-City Times)
Opinion: All-day Kindergarten on the way for the last 20% of state’s school districts (Shaw Media)
Opinion: Are taxpayers getting their money's worth on pensions? (Crain’s Chicago Business)
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