👻THE ILLINOIZE:👻 Monday Free for All...Spooky election season edition
October 31, 2022 🎃
Good morning, boys and ghouls.👻
The rhetoric ramps up over the next week, so take shelter.
Today marks 8 days to Election Day. Governor JB Pritzker campaigns with legislative candidates in Arlington Heights and Des Plaines this afternoon. Darren Bailey holds a rally with former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard in suburban Glen Ellyn at 7.
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YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
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After a tumultuous first term, Gov. J.B. Pritzker spends big and plays it safe in reelection bid (Chicago Tribune)
As he seeks a second term, [Governor JB] Pritzker, who’s spent much of his adult life nursing political ambitions, is casting a wide net for support, an effort aided by a personal fortune that can underwrite months’ worth of TV ads and a robust campaign operation.
Four years ago, in a campaign that ended with a historic 16-point victory over one-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, Pritzker encouraged voters to “think big” about the many challenges facing Illinois.
This time, his mantra could well be “play it safe and leave nothing to chance.”
Pritzker has poured $152 million of his own money into his reelection campaign, and millions more in an effort to influence the Republican primary on behalf of his preferred general election opponent, Bailey.
Rather than laying out the specifics of a second-term agenda for opponents to pick apart, Pritzker has largely promoted his first-term record — leading the state through a deadly pandemic, raising the minimum wage, balancing budgets, legalizing recreational marijuana, and approving the largest infrastructure program in state history.
He’s also issued dire warnings about the potential consequences if a Republican retakes the governor’s office, particularly in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning federal protections for abortion rights.
Pritzker’s victory in 2018, the first time he was elected to public office, was the culmination of a lifetime of political striving.
Related: Gabbard will appear at Glen Ellyn event for Bailey (Daily Herald)
Pritzker, Democratic 17th Congressional District candidate Eric Sorensen advocate for abortion rights (Quad-City Times)
Can Bailey win over suburban voters to become governor as Republicans have in the past? (Daily Herald)
Opinion: Gubernatorial candidates offer vastly different visions for future of Illinois (Rockford Register Star)
Pritzker’s ex-tollway chairman accused in lawsuit of trying to steer contracts, hire pals at agency (Chicago Sun-Times)
Tom Cullen, longtime brain in Madigan political operation, provided testimony for feds (Chicago Tribune)
When federal prosecutors tied former House Speaker Michael Madigan into a conspiracy case involving AT&T this month, they included an insider at the heart of the scandal with an overarching view of Madigan’s once-vaunted statewide Democratic organization and his secretive moves at the Capitol.
That insider is Tom Cullen.
Now, the Tribune has learned that Cullen, a lobbyist who played political point man for years on Madigan’s government staff, has testified before the ongoing federal grand jury looking into broad aspects of Madigan’s political world, which prosecutors allege included a criminal enterprise aimed at providing personal financial rewards for Madigan and his associates.
Any details Cullen offered in his testimony about Madigan and his former associates are still secret, but the blanks he could have filled in as part of Madigan’s famously tight inner circle are manifold.
Cullen has not been charged in the case, even though his firm allegedly served as the go-between for the secret payments.
Related: Former Teamsters boss John Coli gets 19 months in prison for illegal payments from Cinespace Studios (Chicago Sun-Times)
Editorial: Alleged misconduct gives voters something new to think about (Champaign News-Gazette)
Illinois student test scores are in. They remain far below pre-pandemic levels in reading and math. (WBEZ)
Illinois students continue to perform far below pre-pandemic levels on state reading and math exams for a second year, test results released Thursday show, offering another sign of the ongoing toll of COVID-19 and remote learning. Students performed at roughly the same level as last year, which is well below the last round of testing before the pandemic in 2019.
Students in all racial and ethnic groups saw their scores drop since 2019, exacerbating historic achievement gaps between white and Asian students and students of color.
Proficiency rates for Illinois elementary students followed the trend of results on a national test known as the Nation’s Report Card released earlier this week. Statewide, about 20% fewer students who were tested met standards in English compared to 2019, and 2% fewer than 2021. About 19% fewer students who were tested met math standards compared to 2019, but remained level with 2021. There was no federally-mandated testing in 2020 at the start of the pandemic.
State education officials believe 2021 performance is actually worse than the official results show, which would suggest some improvement this year. That’s because of lower participation rates than normal and an overrepresentation of white students and an underrepresentation of students of color, they said.
Scores for students in Chicago Public Schools, the state’s largest district, mirror statewide trends, with proficiency rates far below 2019 levels. English pass rates for third grade, a crucial year for reading proficiency, only reached 17% on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) test given to Illinois third to eighth graders.
Related: Schools, students still recovering from pandemic learning loss, state report card shows (Capitol News Illinois)
Pritzker, Ayala point to positive trends in report card, acknowledge pandemic’s toll (Capitol News Illinois)
Where are central Illinois students recovering fastest from COVID-19 learning loss? (Illinois Public Media)
Editorial: Don’t panic over the latest student test scores (Chicago Sun-Times)
House candidates in south, southwest suburbs differ on benefits, drawbacks of SAFE-T law (Daily Southtown)
On one of the most politically and emotionally charged issues of the campaign, candidates for House districts in the south and southwest suburbs have mixed views on whether the aspirations of a sweeping criminal justice reform law will meet reality.
Some candidates say the law has provisions that will do more to keep alleged violent suspects locked up pending trial, while others see it as potentially boosting crime rates.
Proponents say elimination of cash bail addresses a long-standing problem that keeps poorer defendants, primarily people of color, locked up while awaiting trial because they don’t have the means to post bond.
State’s attorneys in Kankakee and Will counties have filed lawsuits, contending Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other top state Democrats violated the state constitution in pushing through the SAFE-T Act, which Pritzker signed into law in February 2021.
Changes to the law could be considered by the General Assembly when it convenes for the fall veto session Nov. 15, after the Nov. 8 General Election.
Democrat Fran Hurley, whose 35th District is home to many Chicago police officers, said the law is in need of many alterations, and said she is “working with law enforcement, legislators and community stakeholders to enact those changes.”
Incumbent Republican Rep. Jackie Haas said enactment of the law “will have a dangerous effect in all Illinois communities.”
“We should restore judicial discretion and not handcuff our police and judges to keep residents safe,” Haas wrote.
Related: Illinois SAFE-T Act: New law is a 'get out of jail free card,' former prosecutor says (FOX 32 Chicago)
Opinion: For safety with the SAFE-T Act, there has to be a support system (Crain’s Chicago Business)
POLITICAL POTPOURRI
Labor vs. big business(man)? Most corporate interests AWOL in battle with unions over workers rights amendment (Chicago Sun-Times)
Both sides debate the Worker’s Rights Amendment (The Illinoize Podcast)
Tammy Duckworth, Kathy Salvi Spar in Only Joint Forum in Illinois US Senate Race (WTTW)
Resumes, hometowns, politics vary more than 3 secretary of state candidates’ plans for job-rich office (Chicago Sun-Times)
Illinois Secretary of State candidates tout experience in bids to replace Jesse White (Illinois Public Media)
Little common ground between Attorney General Kwame Raoul and challenger Tom DeVore (Chicago Sun-Times)
Judge allows GOP AG candidate Thomas DeVore’s defamation lawsuit against girlfriend’s mom to proceed (Chicago Tribune)
Senate candidates McConchie, Peterson debate SAFE-T Act, abortion at Palatine forum (Daily Herald)
48th state House candidates find some common ground on migrant busing (Daily Herald)
That cardboard box in your home is fueling election denial (WBEZ)
Federal lawsuit threatens validity of potentially tens of thousands of Illinois mail-in, military ballots (Chicago Tribune)
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