THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...School boards become political battlegrounds...A key Madigan aide takes the stand...The bathroom bill everyone is going crazy about passes
March 27, 2023
Good morning, Illinois.
How’s your bracket?
I had Texas winning the whole thing, so I was let down (and out a few bucks) last night.
Busy week ahead. The House and Senate are in tomorrow. The Governor does not have anything on his public schedule.
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Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
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Conservatives are targeting suburban school boards. And the elections are becoming political battlegrounds (Chicago Tribune)
Two years ago, at the urging of her teenage daughter, clinical psychologist Donna Marino ran for school board in far west suburban Oswego, thinking her background in mental health could help students recover from the isolation, stress and trauma brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the actions taken to slow its spread.
But less than a year after winning election and being selected by her peers to chair the board, Marino abruptly quit. She said she feared for her and her family’s mental and physical health following threats from some parents opposed to the district’s continued masking mandates as well as how culture, race and sex education were being addressed in the classroom and in books in Oswego’s elementary and high schools.
“I was excited to be able to contribute that mental health lens after all our children have been through. I wanted to be a catalyst for rebuilding our community and crossing that divide. I had high hopes. But I underestimated the severity of that fracture,” Marino wrote in her resignation letter when she stepped down from the board of Oswego Community Unit School District 308, recounting how she’d been called a “coward,” “F----n scum,” a “low IQ knuckle dragger and worse.”
“Unfortunately, the vitriol, politics and threats on myself and my family have taken its toll and is just not something I am willing to live with,” she wrote. “I know that bullies will feel they have won, but they lost big time by not having me on the board to defend their children. The only way they do win is if I allow them to take away my joy, the safety of my family, and allow their abuse into my life.”
Marino’s experience reflects how, at one of the most divided times in recent history, school boards across the country have become targets of both the ire and political ambitions of conservatives and far-right groups as they argue schools have been overtaken by teachers unions and other forces pushing liberal agendas.
In my opinion, the story doesn’t give nearly enough column inches to the piles of money Democrats are coordinating (see below) to keep control of school boards.
Related: Illinois Democrats spending big to combat ‘extremist conservatives’ in school board races (WBEZ)
Elusive former top aide offers inside look at how Michael Madigan wielded power — and helped muster votes on bill pushed by ComEd (Chicago Sun-Times)
Jurors in the ComEd bribery trial on Thursday heard the rare testimony of a former top staffer to onetime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan — who like his boss was often seen but not heard in public as crucial decisions were made in Springfield.
Will Cousineau took the witness stand after securing letters from the feds granting him immunity and making clear he’s not a target of an investigation.
Then he listened as prosecutors played a December 2018 call he’d participated in and which was secretly recorded by the FBI. Madigan could be heard in one of his so-called “Sunday morning” meetings seeking strategic advice about who should serve on his upcoming leadership team in the Illinois General Assembly.
It showed that Madigan not only included his longtime friend and confidant, Michael McClain, in high-level decisions affecting Illinois House Democrats — but he actively sought McClain’s advice even after McClain retired as a ComEd lobbyist in 2016.
Cousineau had served as Madigan’s issues director and political director of the Democratic Party of Illinois before becoming a lobbyist himself by the time of the call.
“I understand we have a lot of people walking around trying to find things to complain about,” Madigan is heard saying in the Dec. 9, 2018 chat with his inner circle, which also included his chief of staff, general counsel and issues director.
“Every once in a while, the speaker gets to do what he wants to do,” he said.
Only McClain pipes up to offer Madigan advice. He suggested the speaker develop committees with strong chairs who could withstand political attacks.
“You don’t have to kill a bill or, or an amendment in Rules,” McClain said. The reference was to the House Rules Committee — where bills often died if they weren’t assigned out.
Rather, McClain said, Madigan could find committee chairs “strong enough” to put bills in a “working subcommittee” — where they would apparently die instead.
The elusive Cousineau, who spoke softly and was often told to raise his voice, took his star turn in the trial of McClain and three other former political power players: Former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker, and onetime City Club President Jay Doherty.
Related: ‘ComEd Four’ trial offering a fascinating and unprecedented look into the inner workings of Michael Madigan’s political power (Chicago Tribune)
Former senior Madigan aide offers behind-the-scenes look at speaker's operation (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Former Madigan political director details push by speaker’s office for key ComEd bill (Capitol News Illinois)
Former House Speaker Michael Madigan claims he can ‘do what he wants’ in secret recording (Chicago Sun-Times)
House narrowly passes bill allowing all-gender bathrooms (Capitol News Illinois)
The Illinois House narrowly passed a bill Thursday that would allow businesses, universities and other building owners to designate multi-occupancy all-gender bathrooms if they choose to do so.
The bill passed on a vote of 60-40, the bare minimum number of “yes” votes needed for passage in the 118-member House, after the presiding officer held the roll open for several seconds waiting for the 60th vote to be recorded.
State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, who sponsored the bill, said the language of House Bill 1286 is identical to an earlier bill that passed 63-43 in the House in 2021 but was never taken up in the Senate.
Illinois law already allows for single-occupancy bathrooms to be designated for all genders, but Stuart’s bill would allow an all-gender designation for bathrooms that accommodate two or more people.
The bill sets out standards that all-gender bathrooms would have to meet, such as “inclusive signage” that does not indicate any specific gender; stall dividers with functioning locks controlled by the user; and partitions for each urinal, if urinals are present.
In addition, if such bathrooms are part of a newly constructed building or a building undergoing major renovation, they would have to comply with requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the Illinois Accessibility Code. Each toilet stall would have to include a small trash receptacle, and it would have to have at least one vending machine for menstruation supplies and one baby diaper changing station.
The bill also provides that any multi-occupancy restroom could be converted to an all-gender restroom. But if another single-gender multi-occupancy restroom is located adjacent to or near the all-gender restroom, both would have to be designated as all-gender facilities.
Related: Bill allowing multi-occupancy bathrooms to be gender neutral passes Illinois House (Chicago Tribune)
POLITICAL POTPOURRI
$141 million in Pritzker projects have close ties to governor’s allies but face serious questions (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Lawmakers approve mandated full day kindergarten (Capitol News Illinois)
Spurred by heat deaths of seniors in Rogers Park, Illinois Senate passes measure requiring AC at state-funded affordable housing (Chicago Tribune)
Springfield senators split on new state flag bill (State Journal-Register)
$21 million in grants targets carjacking surge in Illinois (Chicago Sun-Times)
State awards $20 million to upgrade security at religious and cultural institutions deemed at risk for terrorism (Chicago Tribune)
Black Illinois Tollway employees outraged over rope hung in locker room (Chicago Sun-Times)
Brandon Johnson: From church youth group leader to teacher on a path ‘to do better for others’ (Chicago Sun-Times)
Paul Vallas: From playing with ‘imaginary friends’ to tackling ‘big, nearly impossible tasks’ (Chicago Sun-Times)
Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas picks up backing from US Sen. Dick Durbin (Chicago Tribune)
Watch Paul Vallas meet with Crain's editorial board (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Editorial: Next mayor must take police reform seriously — here’s how (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: Chicago’s 21-member school board is too large. Springfield should shrink it. (Chicago Tribune)
Editorial: Gun data needs central point (Decatur Herald & Review)
Opinion: How a controversial law allows local governments to recapture refunded property taxes (Daily Herald)
Opinion: When the claws come out (Illinois Times)
Opinion: Legislative action doesn’t always represent the finish line (Shaw Media)
Opinion: Sen. Rose grills UI administrators over lack of action on professor (Champaign News-Gazette)
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