THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All...Is Madigan getting off?...Credit card controversy...Welch and the union
June 27, 2024
Good morning, Illinois.
We’re recording our podcast today. We’re scheduled to be joined by Congressman Darin LaHood (R-Peoria)..and it could get feisty. We’ll also talk polling with former Rep. Mark Batinick, who now works with a GOP polling outfit. We’ll have some notes for subscribers in the morning and they’ll get the full podcast later tomorrow. Subscribe to our YouTube page to get the video version.
Just another reason to become a paid subscriber to get the latest news first!
I’m also recording the “Smoke Filled Room” podcast with our friend Collin Corbett today where I’ll likely make even more Republicans hate my guts. You can watch that tomorrow morning on their channel.
For those of you asking- I don’t really have thoughts on the presidential debate tonight. I don’t have a lot of interest in two old men yelling at each other that won’t really change any minds. But that’s my take.
Governor Pritzker’s office has not released a public schedule for today.
Let’s get to it.
YOUR THURSDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets, because good journalism isn’t free)
Madigan, ComEd bribery cases could be upended by U.S. Supreme Court ruling, defense attorneys say (Chicago Sun-Times)
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling threatened Wednesday to roil major public corruption cases in Chicago, prompting bold predictions from defense attorneys amid what seems to be an ongoing reversal of fortunes for federal prosecutors.
The Supreme Court found that a crucial federal bribery law aimed at state and local officials does not also criminalize after-the-fact rewards known as “gratuities.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who authored the majority opinion, accused prosecutors of trying to turn the law into “a vague and unfair trap for 19 million state and local officials.”
The 6-3 ruling came in the appeal of former Portage, Indiana, Mayor James Snyder and has threatened corruption cases in Chicago for months, including the case against ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan. Now, defense attorneys for four Madigan allies convicted last year of a lengthy conspiracy to bribe Madigan to benefit ComEd say the high court’s decision is very good news for their clients.
“I believe ComEd is going to trial again,” said defense attorney Gabrielle Sansonetti.
Sansonetti represents former City Club President Jay Doherty, one of the defendants in last year’s ComEd bribery trial. Convicted in that case along with Doherty were Madigan confidant Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker.
Pramaggiore’s attorney, Scott Lassar, said the Supreme Court ruling makes clear that “what Anne Pramaggiore was charged with is not a crime.”
“I don’t think the entire case would be dismissed,” Lassar said. “But we will argue — I think successfully — that all of the convictions have to be reversed. And so, if that’s the case, the government would have to make a choice about whether they want to retry the case.”
Madigan’s attorneys did not comment on Wednesday.
But they have previously said seven of the 23 counts he faces in his indictment are tied to the law in question. It’s also involved in five of the counts in the ComEd bribery case.
Related: Madigan, ComEd Four cases imperiled by U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakening public corruption law (Chicago Tribune)
SCOTUS ruling could upend federal corruption cases for Madigan, allies (Capitol News Illinois)
SCOTUS accuses feds of 'vague and unfair trap' in ruling with implications for Madigan (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Illinois’ landmark credit card fee law prompting strong opposition (Chicago Tribune)
Illinois lawmakers in the closing hours of the General Assembly’s spring session last month became the first in the nation to ban banks and credit card companies from charging retailers a seemingly small fee on sales taxes and tips.
But since Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the ban into law, financial institutions that opposed the measure have ratcheted up their opposition and amplified their rhetoric, saying the move isn’t just bad for them but will also cause headaches for consumers.
Just last week a trade association representing credit card companies and banks began running online ads in Illinois declaring the ban “MAY FORCE YOU TO PAY FOR PARTS OF PURCHASE IN CASH,” and print ads saying, “Tipping on your credit card is closed to Illinoisans.”
While some supporters — which include many Democrats and Illinois’ main association for retailers — say those claims are hyperbolic, the new law is setting up what could be a yearslong fight between the state and financial institutions that argue the overhaul is not only a bad idea but is unrealistic because it calls for implementation in a little more than a year.
At issue are fees charged to retailers, restaurants and other businesses when they accept credit or debit card payments.
Credit card companies and financial institutions currently charge the retailers and restaurants a fee when consumers use cards, based on the total transaction amount of the goods, tax and any tip. The new law would bar the financial institutions from charging the so-called interchange fees on the tax or gratuity portions of customers’ bills, with the goal being to lower the amount that credit card companies can charge retailers.
Speaker Welch rebuffs lawsuit from would-be staff union as ‘forum shopping’ (Capitol News Illinois)
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch is urging a Cook County judge to dismiss a lawsuit members of his staff filed against him last month seeking to force recognition of their union.
In a new filing Monday, attorneys for Welch argued the Illinois Legislative Staff Association has no standing to sue over the speaker’s refusal to engage in collective bargaining with the would-be union’s members. Welch’s attorneys reiterated an argument the speaker has been making for nearly a year: Illinois law doesn’t currently allow legislative staffers to unionize.
Although Welch last fall introduced and passed legislation through the House that would explicitly allow his employees to unionize, the bill has not advanced in the Senate. The ILSA last month accused Welch of feigning solidarity in public while privately colluding with Democratic Senate President Don Harmon to ensure the bill died in his chamber. And a few days after the General Assembly’s spring session concluded, the staffers sued Welch.
The speaker’s attorneys pointed to the ILSA’s “failure to appeal” the Illinois Labor Relations Board’s decision to not certify the union in March 2023, which found legislative staffers are specifically excluded from being able to form a union.
Monday’s filing accused the staffers of “forum shopping” because they “merely did not like” the ILRB’s decision.
“Through this suit, Plaintiffs are attempting to bypass the carefully crafted labor representation process set forth in (state labor law) and 40 years of case law,” the filing said.
The ILSA quietly formed in the fall of 2022, held a union election and went to the ILRB for certification of their 33-person bargaining unit in January of 2023. After the ILRB dismissed its petition, the staffers went public with their unionization efforts in May of last year.
The association then spent the summer accusing Welch of stonewalling its efforts for recognition.
But in September, the speaker announced House Bill 4148, which would explicitly allow legislative staff to unionize – something labor experts warn may not be possible under existing Illinois law. The following month, Welch sat side by side with would-be union members to testify in favor of the bill during the General Assembly’s fall veto session, celebrating the bill’s passage in the full House.
Since then, however, relations have once again soured. In a scathing statement the ILSA publicized before suing Welch last month, the staffers accused the speaker of undermining their efforts to organize, all the while “scor(ing) political points” in passing the bill to allow them to unionize.
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