THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All
August 19, 2021
Good morning and welcome to our Thursday Free for All. In its coverage of Governor’s Day at the State Fair yesterday, Chicago media sure tried to play up the rift between Governor JB Pritzker and Illinois Democratic Party Chair (and Congresswoman) Robin Kelly. In turn, they really mean the rift between Pritzker and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, who, we’re told, don’t like each other very much at all.
Today is Republican Day, where the party will hold a rally at noon. It will likely be met with a big shrug from Chicago media. That, or they’re just going to take the opportunity to smack around wingnut “Freedom Caucus” Congresswoman Mary Miller. All she really needs to do is read aloud this tweet, this tweet, this tweet, this tweet, this tweet…you get the picture.
This week, we’ve told subscribers about two potential Republican candidates for Governor and a major name running for Illinois Supreme Court. We’re doing this to make sure you know who’s in, who’s out, what’s going on, and why. Won’t you join us?
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Let’s get to it.
COMING TOMORROW
Governor JB Pritzker says local communities should cut or freeze property taxes. Is it a smart idea? We’re investigating.
YOUR THURSDAY FREE FOR ALL
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Democrats tout unity at State Fair — but Pritzker and state party chair Kelly stay way more than six feet apart (Chicago Sun-Times)
“Whatever you may read in the press, Democrats in Illinois are united,” said Kristina Zahorik, the president of the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association. “There’s too much at stake to be divided.”
U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, the chair of the Illinois Democratic Party, stumped for the entire Democratic ticket — including herself, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other elected Democrats — during the brunch.
Kelly, who beat out Pritzker’s chosen candidate to take the state party reins, downplayed the governor’s absence, even though the Chicago Democrat hosted his own event later in the day.
“That’s Pritzker’s choice,” the south suburban congresswoman said. “Everybody makes their own decisions on what they want to do.”
Pritzker chose to skip the morning’s events in favor of family plans in Chicago, but made it back to Springfield to throw his own rally on the Director’s Lawn on the fairgrounds Wednesday afternoon. His event featured the state’s constitutional officers and was largely a reprisal of the morning’s events — but with Pritzker in attendance.
Also, keep your eye on Kristina Zahorik. Of maybe any politician that spoke, she was one person on the stage who had a heck of what people like me would call “raw talent.”
It also didn’t seem like the fairgrounds crowd was quite as fired up for Pritzker and crew as one may have expected. He’ll have to do a lot of party building between now and the fall campaign next year.
Why the state pension gap keeps growing (Crain’s Chicago Business)
There's no question that insufficient contributions help explain the $144 billion funding shortfall reported last week for fiscal 2020 by the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. Last year's increase in the gap also owes something to poor investment performance at the five state employee pension plans, which all fell short of the 6.5 percent to 7 percent returns they assume.
If Illinois had contributed more to the pension plans over the years, and if the plans had gotten better investment returns, their collective funding ratio would be higher than the dismal 39 percent COGFA reported.
Illinois' public pension liabilities now stand at $236.5 billion, an increase of 433 percent since 1996. Over the same quarter-century, pension assets rose just 278 percent to $92.3 billion.
It’s not an easy read, but an important one.
Struggling Kankakee believes it got undercounted in the census (Daily-Journal)
If Kankakee is going to move in the direction of a U.S. Census recount to deal with what officials believe is an undercount, that won’t be happening anytime soon.
Kristina Barrett, a Census Bureau public affairs specialist, said Tuesday that any community which questions the census figures can request a Census Bureau Count Question Resolution program, beginning in January 2022.
Kankakee is in an uncomfortable position. First, 2020 census data showed the city has lost 12.6 percent of its population, dropping its population from 27,537 in 2010 to 24,052 in the 2020 count.
Secondly, the fact the city has fallen below the 25,000 threshold could lead to a challenge of the city’s Home Rule authority, which severely could hamper its ability to raise money through taxes or bond sales to fund the government.
Related: Elgin now the sixth largest city in Illinois. (Daily Herald)
Aurora Mayor wants “deeper dive” into population decline (Aurora Beacon News)
Naperville remains fourth largest city in state (Chicago Tribune)
Danville trying to figure out why it lost 9% of its population (Commercial News)
Classes begin in Quincy with masks, without controversy (Quincy Herald Whig)
Despite controversy surrounding indoor mask requirements, classes got underway in Quincy Public Schools on Wednesday with no confrontations.
“It’s been really good. No problems,” QPS Chief of Security Dan Arns said. “That’s exactly what we want and hope it stays that way.”
Nearly all students heading into Quincy Junior High School already wore a mask or gaiter. The handful who didn’t were quickly offered a mask by QJHS staff members — and just as quickly put it on with no arguments.
“Masks don’t bother me. I’m OK with it,” sixth-grader Gabrielle Kuhlmeier said.
“It’s annoying, but I deal with it,” eighth-grader Jayden Heberlein said.
“The kids are awesome. They’ve been great already,” Quincy Junior High Assistant Principal Brenda Fleer said as she greeted students heading into the school. “If this is any indication of what the year is going to be like, we’ll take it.”
Staff members shared hellos and hugs, ensured students knew where to go to advisory classes and reminded one or two to pull a mask up over their nose — just as they had to do last school year.
Is this really so hard?
Related: 26 School districts being penalized by the state for defying mask order
Some of our top links from the week:
Illinois GOP State Central Committee member lives in Indiana
Environmentalists: next two weeks “critical” for energy bill (with video)
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