THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All...Bailey's tax returns...More on Chicago crime...Pritzker's migrant emergency

Sep 15, 2022

September 15, 2022

Good morning, Illinois.

I’ll be hosting the morning show on WMAY in Springfield again from 6am-9am this morning. I’ll spend the 7am hour hosting a guest on either side of Amendment 1, the “worker’s rights amendment” on the November ballot. AFL-CIO President and amendment supporter Tim Drea joins me around 7:10. Mailee Smith from the Illinois Policy Institute, which opposes the amendment, joins me at 7:40. Tune in now at www.wmay.com.

We hosted our Livestream and podcast yesterday and we had a lot of great discussion with Rep. Maurice West (D-Rockford) on crime and criminal justice reform. Watch the video here. If you’d prefer the podcast version, you can subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or Amazon.

We’re thankful for all of your support, and we hope you’ll help us continue to grow. Please consider sharing the newsletter to your friends, family, and colleagues. Just click below to share.

Share The Illinoize

Drop me a note with any questions or comments at patrick@theillinoize.com.

Let’s get to it.

YOUR THURSDAY FREE FOR ALL

(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets)

Bailey tax returns show multiple years of farm losses (The Illinoize)

GOP gubernatorial nominee Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) lost six figures in farm income twice in the past five years, but made six figures in two other years, according to five years of federal tax returns shared with The Illinoize.
Bailey’s campaign provided tax years 2017-2021 Wednesday evening:
2017: Reported $86,000 in personal income and $67,000 in farm losses and net operating losses for a total income of $18,710. The form shows they paid around $25,000 in federal income taxes. Total adjusted income was $1,776.
2018: Income of $240,000 ($132,000 taxable). Paid $44,000 in federal income taxes.
2019: Income of $217,000 ($111,500 taxable). Paid $24,000 in federal income taxes.
2020: About $70,000 in personal income, $231,000 in losses in business or farm income. Total income was $-165,000, and federal tax was $0.
2021: About $81,000 in personal income and around $168,000 in losses. Total income was $-90,000. He paid about $18,000 in federal income taxes.

Essentially, these returns show Bailey is just another run-of-the-mill downstate farmer. They aren’t exciting or particularly revealing. Not like he’s stored away a bunch of money offshore or anything.

Bailey visits Washington Park mass shooting scene: ‘It breaks my heart...to see what’s happening across Chicago’ (Chicago Sun-Times)

Republican gubernatorial nominee and recent Chicago arrival Darren Bailey traveled to the South Side Wednesday to bemoan rising crime under Democratic leadership in the wake of Chicago’s latest mass shooting, this time in the Washington Park neighborhood.
“It breaks my heart as well to see what’s happening across Chicago, and especially what happened near here last night,” Bailey said during a brief news conference near the scene of a shooting that left two people dead and seven wounded Tuesday evening.
“Those affected by the senseless shootings in Washington Park, Garfield Park and the families of the more than the 500 people that have been killed in Chicago this year — I want you to know that I am fighting to end this bloodshed,” Bailey said.

And, yes, Bailey called Chicago a hellhole again. Sigh.

Related: Opinion: Welcome to Chicago, Darren; let me show you around (Chicago Sun-Times)

Federal 15-week abortion ban proposal puts Illinois Republicans on spot (Bloomington Pantagraph)

In a virtual press conference touting 13th Congressional District Democratic nominee Nikki Budzinski last week, representatives from two national abortion rights organizations spoke in plain terms over what's at stake in this year's midterm elections.
"If they win Congress, we will see a national abortion ban," said Angela Vasquez-Giroux, [of] NARAL Pro-Choice America, speaking of Republicans. "That's a fact. They're ramping up efforts to strip us of our fundamental rights."

Related: Opinion: 13th District candidates slugging it out on abortion (Champaign News-Gazette)

Governor signs disaster declaration, calls up National Guard to assist with migrants bused from Texas (Chicago Tribune)

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is signing a disaster proclamation to secure resources for the asylum-seekers bused to Illinois from Texas and has deployed 75 National Guard members to assist with the logistics of receiving the migrants, he announced Wednesday.
Speaking at a news conference, Pritzker again criticized his Texas counterpart, Gov. Greg Abbott, for failing to coordinate or communicate with Illinois and Chicago officials and derided his actions as a “stunt.”
”I’m not going to mince words here: The governor of Texas is forcing on New York and (Washington) D.C. and Chicago and potentially other places a needlessly last minute and complex process that is a heartless display of politics over people,” Pritzker said. “Why not give reasonable notice? Why send these folks only to blue cities or blue states? Why isn’t Abbott sending refugees to Mississippi or Oklahoma or Idaho? This is about politics for him.”

Related: Burr Ridge mayor says migrant issue is more about politics, not people (Chicago Tribune)

Durbin: In Chicago and beyond, we are long overdue for a fair, humane immigration system (Chicago Tribune)