THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...Our "culture of corruption"...Illinois Dems to focus on...Wisconsin?..."Katie Stuart Protection Act" officially dead for November
August 26, 2024
Good morning, Illinois.
I’m very happy last week is over. Thanks to our friend Tom LoBianco for handling the Illinois delegation last week. You should go follow his 24Sight newsletter here.
We’ll be narrowing our focus back on Illinois politics this week after everyone got so distracted last week. We sure could use your support. Click below to become a paid subscriber.
The Governor’s office has not released a public schedule for today as of this writing.
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)
Our culture of corruption: Dishonest politicians at all levels of Illinois government make a mockery of public service (Chicago Tribune)
Illinois nurtured the nation’s greatest president in Abraham Lincoln. It is the birthplace of iconic Republican President Ronald Reagan and the state where Democrat Barack Obama, the country’s first Black president, developed his political chops.
But Illinois is far better known for a more notorious political legacy: constant and persistent corruption. Four of its last 11 governors went to prison. Chicago, its largest city, is home to sweeping federal sting operations that put busloads of judges, aldermen, state lawmakers and other officials behind bars.
Even the state auditor — Illinois government’s financial watchdog — was once caught looting and squandering $2.5 million in public funds. One secretary of state famously amassed more than $750,000, including a shoebox stuffed with cash, that was found stashed in a hotel room after his death. The largest municipal fraud in U.S. history is credited to a small-town treasurer in Illinois who embezzled $54 million.
It is a list that goes on and on, with no end in sight. This fall, former House Speaker Michael Madigan — long the state’s most powerful politician — faces trial on racketeering and bribery charges. And the dean of the Chicago City Council, Ed Burke, is due to report to prison for shaking down business owners and developers.
Undoubtedly corruption isn’t unique to just Illinois or Chicago. But the depth of it, and its consistency, are. As Democrats this past week wrapped up their national presidential nominating convention in Chicago, perhaps no place was more appropriate than Illinois to witness the launching of a presidential contest between a former prosecutor and a convicted felon.
What makes Illinois so corrupt? In the coming weeks and months, the Tribune will explore and attempt to explain why corruption continues to poison virtually every level of government in our state, draining off tax dollars and robbing public service of its meaning.
The reasons are many, the Tribune found, beginning with the ambition and greed brought here by many of Illinois’ first European settlers.
In reporting a series we’re calling “Culture of Corruption,” the Tribune found numerous other factors contributing to Illinois’ shameful record: Loosely regulated big-money campaigns. Domineering mayors letting shifty aldermen run amok. Cozy interactions between lobbyists and public officials. A ballot process power brokers often use to exclude newcomers. The largest number of governmental bodies in the nation, offering endless opportunities for graft amid little oversight.
Of course, not all of the state’s politicians have been crooks, with many seeing government service as an honorable profession and a way to address society’s problems. But even they are tarnished by the misdeeds of those who view corruption as the end to their personal means.
Federal prosecutors have kept busy for decades putting Illinois officials on trial, sometimes after lengthy investigations with names like “Operation Haunted Hall,” “Operation Silver Shovel,” “Operation Board Games” and “Operation Greylord.” A federal prison in nearby Oxford, Wisconsin, has become such a regular destination for convicted Illinois politicians that, at one point, it housed four Chicago aldermen, a Metropolitan Water Reclamation District board member and a state representative. When they bumped into one another, the six men would jokingly yell “quorum call!”
This is so good. Read it all.
Related: Exploring Illinois’ notorious political legacy (Chicago Tribune)
Boodlers, bandits and notorious politicians (Chicago Tribune)
Meet the public officials who helped build Illinois’ culture of corruption (Chicago Tribune)
For Illinois Dems, the party's over, but the phone calls are just getting started (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Soon after red, white and blue balloons blanketed cheering delegates inside a packed United Center last night, Chicago’s official role in rallying the Democratic Party around their nominee ended. But Illinois will continue to loom large in the presidential election.
There’s little doubt the state will cast its electoral votes for Vice President Kamala Harris in November. But organizations here, especially within labor, plan to ride a wave of energy from the DNC to flood residents in Wisconsin and Michigan with postcards, phone calls and volunteers at their doors for the remaining 73 days until the election.
While some of those efforts are tightly coordinated, others are a simple cocktail of enthusiasm mixed with the need — as former first lady and Chicagoan Michelle Obama told the United Center — to "do something."
Those coordinating the effort said Harris’ ascension to the top of the ticket led to a dramatic uptick in interest from volunteers to go door-knocking out of state on their weekends. Despite being happy with President Joe Biden’s labor record, unions still may have had to pay staffers to organize their members. Now, the rank and file are seeking the work themselves.
David Axelrod, who ran former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, said these out-of-state efforts are usually coordinated between local state parties, but are always welcome by the presidential campaign.
“The more troops you have on the ground the better,” he said.
With so few competitive races in Illinois in November, Wisconsin could have more Illinoisans in October than a July weekend in Lake Geneva.
Related: Illinois Democrats look to invest resources in swing states (Capitol News Illinois)
'History in the making': Illinois Democrats reflect on 'electrifying' nomination of Harris (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Illinois delegate voted 'present' in roll call but says he's still on Team Kamala come November (Chicago Sun-Times)
The DNC put Chicago in the limelight, but it also emptied the Loop of office workers, hurting some restaurants. ‘It was mostly a bad week.’ (Chicago Tribune)
Johnson takes victory lap as DNC ends without major incident (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Illinois first lady MK Pritzker revels in Chicago DNC vibe: 'The whole place just feels of feminine energy!' (Chicago Sun-Times)
‘She is my wildest dreams’: DNC women delegates envision female president (Daily Herald)
Adam Kinzinger urges fellow Republicans to 'put country first' and vote for Kamala Harris (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Editorial: Chicago and the Democrats both rebranded together in a dazzling show of DNC strength (Chicago Tribune)
Editorial: Chicago comes out a winner after hosting DNC (Chicago Sun-Times)
No ‘slated’ GOP candidates will be kept off ballot after rulings from Supreme Court, elections board (Capitol News Illinois)
A law banning political parties from waiting until after the primary election to place a state legislative candidate on the general election ballot won’t keep any Republicans from running this November.
The Illinois Supreme Court and State Board of Elections each made rulings Friday ensuring that a law rushed through by Democrats in May wouldn’t throw a wrench into the filing process for the current election cycle.
The decisions pertain to “candidate slating,” a process through which party insiders can name a candidate to the general election ballot for their party, even if no candidate ran in the party’s primary. The law – which is now officially on hold for 2024 – still allows parties to replace withdrawals but prevents slating in cases where the party didn’t run anyone in the primary.
The elections board ruled Friday morning that slated Republican candidate Jay Keeven may appear on the November ballot, throwing out challenges against him and other candidates that would have been affected by the law.
Hours later, the high court issued what’s known as a “Perlman order,” affirming a lower court’s decision to temporarily halt the law for the current cycle without setting a precedent in future cases. That ruling doesn’t void the law in its entirety, but rather blocks it only for this year’s general election for the 14 plaintiffs – all slated Republican candidates – that sued the state after the law’s passage.
Democrats introduced the bill in May, then passed it and sent it to the governor for a signature within 48 hours.
Related: Illinois Supreme Court upholds unconstitutionality of Democrats’ law banning slating of candidates (Associated Press)
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POLITICAL POTPOURRI
An enrollment cliff has Illinois' public universities seeing red (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Opinion: Illinois now has a road map to better funding for public universities (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: Seeking a third term just one of Pritzker's political options (Champaign News-Gazette)
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