THE ILLINOIZE: The patchwork of rules to get a COVID vaccine...The Loretto disaster...Shortcomings in criminal justice reform law?....Gov's money splash...Pass ethics reform now!
March 23, 2021
Good morning.
I’m not talking about basketball. Except to congratulate former Sen. Mike Connelly, who has already properly talked trash to me on social media.
I’ll be wallowing in my sorrows over in the corner for a while.
Anyway…
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Let’s get to it.
RAOUL’S PHOTO OP EXPOSES ELIGIBILITY FRUSTRATIONS
Attorney General Kwame Raoul had a pretty laudable photo op Friday. He got the COVID-19 vaccine to help establish trust in the vaccine in African American and Latino communities.
But, it got me thinking- Raoul lives in the city of Chicago, his office confirmed he’s in the 1B plus category, but the city isn’t vaccinating 1B plus.
Raoul visited an Advocate Health site, which is vaccinating anyone over 55, so he didn’t skip the line, but he sure helped show the problem that is giving so many around the state fits as they try to schedule an appointment.
For instance: Cook County’s suburbs outside of city limits opened to 1B plus yesterday. But, the city of Chicago has only reached 1B. The rest of the state? It has been 1B plus since February.
“This all speaks to confusion and lack of planning,” said Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet). “This is planning that lands at Governor Pritzker’s doorstep. Whether the vaccine came in December or February, it was going to come. They should have been prepared for it.”
Pritzker admitted to confusion about eligibility Friday, but claimed opening the vaccine to more people will make the process easier.
“There are people who are at the edges of qualifying for one of those phases that are especially frustrated,” he said at a news conference. “That’s one of the reasons that I’m really glad we can move away from this idea of taking sections of the population, because I think there’s some confusion out there. So, I want people not to be confused. I think because the supplies are ramping up at a good clip, we believe we can take away that confusion and allow people to get an appointment relatively fast after we start [opening to everyone] April 12.”
Read our story here.
Meanwhile…there are seemingly nefarious actions out there.
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES
If you haven’t been keeping up on the great work that Kelly Bauer of Chicago-centric online newspaper “Block Club" has been doing, you’re missing out. She’s a great follow on Twitter and has broken the stories of executives at Loretto Hospital on Chicago’s west side that have used vaccination doses meant for the impoverished neighborhood for staff at Trump Tower (where one executive lives), an actual Trump, members of the CEO’s suburban church, and a luxury watch shop where another executive shops.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has stopped the hospital from receiving any vaccine doses for the time being.
The executives haven’t been fired, by the way. They’ve been “reprimanded.”
FLAWS IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE BILL
A man waves a gun at you and shouts threatening statements at you. Clearly, you view it as a threat on your life.
He should be in county jail until trial, right?
This incident happened to Sen. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago) last week. He also happens to be the author of a sweeping criminal justice reform bill that passed in mid-January.
The defendant posted bond, but under Sims’ bill, he wouldn’t have had to pay a dime to get out of jail.
DOES PRITZKER CASH STASH MEAN HE’S RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION?
Yes, he’s running for re-election.
While Governor Pritzker tried to deflect Monday that a $35 million cash infusion into his campaign account didn’t necessarily mean he’s running for re-election, well, we still have eyes and competent thoughts.
“Any of that support for my committee is really designed as a preventive measure in the event that Republicans continue in any more public way to try to attack the Democratic agenda of standing up for working people or to frankly lie about the Democratic agenda,” Pritzker said to my guy Rick Pearson of the Chicago Tribune.
Meanwhile, Republican candidate Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) reported Monday he had loaned his fledgling campaign $150,000. Likely GOP candidate Gary Rabine, a suburban businessman, has recently contributed $110,000 to his campaign account.
Read more here.
MEANWHILE: Potential GOP candidate for Governor and Illinois GOP National Committeeman Richard Porter penned an op-ed for Real Clear Politics titled “Illinois Can Change, But Only With a Change of Leadership.”
PASS ETHICS REFORM…NOW
What does the legislature have to do to show us, the people of Illinois they’re serious about ethics reform?
How about doing something…anything.
In an opinion piece up this morning, I’ve identified three bills the legislature should pass right away to show they’re serious about meaningful ethics reform in Illinois.
One would force legislators to wait two years after leaving office before they could register as a lobbyist. Another would change the inane Economic Interest Statements to show exactly how legislators (and constitutional officers) make their money and who they owe money to. A third bans a legislator’s spouse from holding a paid appointment to a state board or commission.
It doesn’t fix all of the problems in state government. It doesn’t eliminate all of the “bad apples,” but it would show the legislature gives a crap about changing the way things work in Springfield.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Former State Comptroller Michael Bakalis turns 84 today.
Former State Senators Dan Kotowski and Tom Rooney as well as former Congressman Don Manzullo celebrate tomorrow.
Former Congressman Terry Bruce celebrates Thursday.
BEFORE WE GO…
I love political ads. I love the trends, I love the messaging, I love to see what people are doing in a snapshot in time to reach voters.
So, it should come as no surprise to you that political ads pop up in my YouTube suggestions all the time. I wanted to share this 1978 ad for then-Governor Jim Thompson. It’s amazing how simple it was, and I remember (not from memory, I wasn’t born until ‘83), that they used such a simple slogan: “A Good Governor.”
Imagine some high dollar consultant letting you use that today.
THANK YOU
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Have a great week.