THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All...Madigan jury selection stalls...What's the point of advisory referenda?...Downstate wants its piece of transit funding
October 17, 2024
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The politics of picking a Madigan jury: Prospects asked how they view 'politicians for life' (Chicago Sun-Times)
For several days over the past few weeks, dozens of people have been led into a room in Chicago’s Loop, where they’ve been asked whether they opposed people being “politicians for life.”
Many of them did. They either raised their hands or argued that career politicians “lose touch with reality” and lack fresh perspectives demanded by changing times. Occasionally, their answers seemed to reference President Joe Biden. At others, the U.S. Supreme Court.
This was not some political focus group, even though the presidential election is less than a month away. Rather, it was jury selection in the racketeering conspiracy trial of ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, one of the most powerful Democrats in Illinois history.
Opening statements in Madigan’s federal trial are likely to begin next week — jury selection is crawling along, with one more juror needed to fill out a 12-member panel, and six alternates still to be chosen. The trial will then be ongoing as Americans head out to vote either for former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris.
That timing has led to an interesting, if imperfect, snapshot of the electorate as attorneys search for jurors. None of the evidence in the case relates to present-day politics, but Madigan’s attorneys want to know how people might react to Madigan’s own political biography — including his record-setting 36 years as speaker of the Illinois House.
Hence the question, should someone be a “politician for life?”
“Sometimes it appears that the people that are in office for a long time lose touch with reality,” said one woman, who identified herself as a teacher with grandchildren and aging parents. “And they don’t always look at the viewpoint of everyone. They look at the viewpoint of ‘I want to stay in this office.’”
A man who spends his weekdays teaching at Ball State University in Indiana but calls Chicago’s 48th Ward his home, said the question sent his mind straight to “the issue of Supreme Court justices,” who serve for life.
He said there’s “just a lot of negative energy around Supreme Court appointments in recent years. And it’s very stressful just hearing about it.”
Another man, who served six years in the Air Force, said, “I think with time, views change. Age definitely changes people. Everything’s changing around us. It’s good to have fresh people in higher power.”
The man said he held that opinion even though he doesn’t follow politics closely enough to name Illinois’ governor or its senators.
But many potential jurors said they barely follow the news. The assistant professor at Ball State said he reads the news but not every day. The teacher with grandchildren and aging parents acknowledged seeing news about Madigan but said she didn’t necessarily trust it.
“Why would I believe that somebody portrayed on the news is dishonest because they say so?” she said.
One particularly unusual trait stood out among members of the jury pool, though. Many said they wanted to serve on Madigan’s jury, because jury duty is an “honor.”
One woman with a doctorate in human physiology from the University of Calcutta in India called it “an opportunity of a lifetime.”
Related: Jury selection for Madigan trial slows further with no one chosen for second straight day (Chicago Tribune)
Illinois voters asked to weigh in on IVF coverage, taxing high-earners in statewide ballot questions (Chicago Tribune)
Illinois residents heading to the polls in November to register their choices for president and a host of lower offices will also have the option to weigh in directly on three policy issues.
Voters will be asked if millionaires should help fund property tax relief, whether insurance should cover in vitro fertilization and if there should be civil penalties for candidates who interfere with election workers.
“All three of the issues that we’re talking about have been at the forefront of political discourse and discussion,” said Democratic state Rep. Jay Hoffman of Swansea, who sponsored the legislation to get the advisory questions on the ballot.
The results of the three referendums are nonbinding and do not carry the power of law. But, in addition to potentially driving election turnout, they could show district-by-district support for specific policies and, if passed overwhelmingly, provide more firepower behind policies promoted by the General Assembly’s Democratic supermajority. A 2014 ballot question on minimum wage, for example, preceded 2019 legislation that ramped up the rate and will bring it to $15 an hour at the start of next year.
“We’re really testing what the voters believe, and whether or not they believe that the legislature and the governor should address issues that are contained in the advisory referendum,” Hoffman said.
Democratic lawmakers quickly passed a mini election omnibus bill this spring that included the three questions, precluding the possibility of any petition-driven issues appearing on the ballot because state law allows only three statewide referendums.
Related: Nov. 5 referendums in Chicago’s suburbs: School building projects, backyard chickens and even a roundabout (Chicago Tribune)
In final public transit hearing, downstate operators join chorus for more state funding (Capitol News Illinois)
Public transit agencies in downstate Illinois are joining Chicagoland rail and bus operators in asking the state for help balancing their budgets.
A state committee met with leaders from a half dozen downstate agencies on Tuesday – the sixth and final scheduled hearing on the subject since lawmakers began a series of workshops on transit in July.
The Senate Transportation Committee hearings were meant to host conversations about public transit as lawmakers and advocates work on proposals that could yield sweeping reform to how public transit is financed and governed.
Funding for public transportation has become a top priority for some lawmakers over the past two years as transit agencies in Chicagoland have sounded alarm bells on a looming financial crisis.
The Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra commuter rail service and Pace suburban buses, forecasts a $730 million gap in its 2026 budget – roughly 20% of RTA’s annual operating costs. That gap could widen to more than $1 billion by 2030.
But transit systems serving riders outside of the Chicago area said Tuesday they could also use the state’s help in balancing their finances.
“We are approaching a similar fiscal cliff to the northeast region,” Karl Gnadt, managing director of the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, said.
Gnadt said CUMTD is expanding to a point where the state may not be able to cover necessary costs.
The state funds up to 65% of downstate transit agencies’ yearly costs through the “Downstate Operating Assistance Program,” but transit agency heads say the program is underfunded and can’t keep up with planned expansions.
TOP STORIES SO FAR THIS WEEK ON THEILLINOIZE.COM
POLITICAL POTPOURRI
Illinois lawmakers pushing for more stringent gun storage laws. (State Journal-Register)
Bally’s Chicago casino enters 2nd year on the rise, but behind projections in loaded Illinois market (Chicago Sun-Times)
Illinois officials battle misinformation to protect integrity of November election (WBEZ)
Brother of convicted businessman James Weiss gets 60 days in prison for lying to FBI, IRS (Chicago Sun-Times)
Ex-Argonne National Laboratory employee gets 18 months for assaulting officers during Capitol riot (Chicago Sun-Times)
Deere announces more layoffs in Illinois amid farm slump (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Leaking Chicago Bears Arlington Heights tax appeal information earns Cook County official a slap on the wrist (Chicago Tribune)
Casten, Conforti strongly disagree on presidential immunity ruling (Daily Herald)
House Speaker Mike Johnson to headline Peoria fundraiser for Joe McGraw (Bloomington Pantagraph)
House 52nd candidates debate immigration, state finances (Daily Herald)
Editorial: Our endorsements for the US House, Part 1 (Chicago Tribune)
Editorial: Our endorsements for the US House Part 2 (Chicago Tribune)
Endorsement: Walker for Illinois Senate Dist. 27 (Daily Herald)
Endorsement: Grant for Illinois House District 47 (Daily Herald)
Endorsement: Sanalitro for Illinois House District 48 (Daily Herald)
Endorsement: Katz Muhl in Illinois House District 57 (Daily Herald)
Endorsement: Ugaste for Illinois House District 65 (Daily Herald)
Endorsement: Ness for Illinois House District 66 (Daily Herald)
Vallas: Gov. JB Pritzker must take bold action in CPS financial crisis (Chicago Tribune)
Sen. Seth Lewis: Suburban and downstate taxpayers are not Mayor Brandon Johnson’s piggy bank (Chicago Tribune)
Opinion: The mayor says he 'has the power' — but does he have the power to listen? (Crain’s Chicago Business)
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