THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All...Pritzker attacks Republicans...Mapes trial gets tricky...Ameren bill vetoed
August 17, 2023
Good morning, Illinois.
Democrats had their day at the Illinois State Fair yesterday. You can read more about it below. Today is Republican Day, where the GOP will try to put on a good face for the potential beating they’re looking at across the state next year, especially if (when) Donald Trump is the nominee for President.
I’ll have a rundown on highlights from both days for subscribers tomorrow.
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YOUR THURSDAY FREE FOR ALL
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Amid livestock shows, corn dog stands, Pritzker blasts Republican ‘bull - -t’ as Democrats rally at Illinois State Fair (Chicago Sun-Times)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday told the state’s largest annual gathering of Illinois Democrats that “Republicans demagogue, Democrats deliver” as U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin warned that the latest indictment against former President Donald Trump should not be viewed as “just another political wrinkle.”
Trump has created a “party of fear and hate,” and a Republican Party that is “dividing America, dividing our states, dividing our counties and our school boards,” Durbin told the party faithful.
The state’s top Democrats gathered in Springfield for Governor’s Day — although the day’s events packed a little less punch in a nonelection year.
Illinois is seen nationally as a blue haven in a sea of red Midwestern states, as state legislators have enacted progressive policies with the help of Democratic supermajorities and Pritzker’s pen. The Democratic governor vowed that Illinois will remain a firewall against red states — “a fortress for all around reproductive rights.”
“Together, we built a blue wave — a tsunami that has swept away the red wall of Uihleins and Griffins and Rauners and Trumps,” Pritzker said to cheers at the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association Brunch.
Pritzker ousted Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2018 and went on to resoundingly defeat GOP state senator and downstate farmer Darren Bailey last year.
The country’s wealthiest politician, Pritzker spent $167 million to defeat Bailey last year, and $171 million to beat Rauner in 2018.
On Wednesday, the second-term governor railed against Republicans for supporting the Jan. 6 insurrection, defending Trump’s latest indictment and lecturing about personal responsibility while GOP legislators vote no on state budgets.
“Republicans think that if they lie about something often enough, if they deny the truth long enough, maybe we will start to believe their lies,” Pritzker said. “The problem is that here in Illinois, we have a low tolerance for bull---t.”
Related: Gov. J.B. Pritzker and fellow Democrats use their day at state fair to blast Trump, GOP ‘conspiracy theories’ (Chicago Tribune)
Pritzker blasts Republicans, Trump at Democrats' annual day at Illinois State Fair (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Illinois Democrats unify around Biden for re-election, slam Trump during Governor's Day (State Journal-Register)
Trump, Rauner, policy wins on Democrats’ minds during State Fair’s political festivities (Capitol News Illinois)
‘I don’t recall’: Prosecutors reach heart of allegations in intrigue-filled perjury trial of Tim Mapes, longtime Madigan aide (Chicago Tribune)
After five days of testimony featuring multiple layers of political intrigue, the perjury trial of Tim Mapes on Wednesday finally got to the rather simple allegations at the heart of the case: his alleged lies to a federal grand jury investigating his former boss, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.
In a nearly 90-minute segment of Mapes’ grand jury testimony played in court, Mapes repeatedly claimed to have no recollection of “assignments” or other roles that the speaker’s longtime confidant, Michael McClain, played in the organization.
Even though Mapes, who served as Madigan’s chief of staff and executive director of the state Democratic Party, was known for his meticulous, details-driven style, he couldn’t remember talking to McClain about the transfer of a parcel of land in Chinatown at the heart of the investigation.
He seemed clueless as to how his name came up for a potential lobbying job with ComEd. And he had only a vague recollection of whom he may have talked to about a bizarre coffee klatch with the FBI at a Springfield cafe in January 2019.
Proving someone is lying about their memory can be tricky. In Mapes’ case, however, prosecutors followed up the grand jury statements with wiretapped recordings of Mapes talking directly with McClain about assignments he’d received from the speaker — including Chinatown — as well as how he’d talked directly to Madigan’s chief criminal defense attorney about the encounter with the FBI.
The theater continued Wednesday as prosecutors, in an effort to prove that Mapes was lying about his lack of recall, took the jury on a deep dive into a series of secretly recorded phone calls and meetings between Madigan and members of his inner circle.
In one call from June 21, 2018, McClain worried aloud of a “Keystone Cops” atmosphere in the Madigan-run state Democratic Party given Mapes’ sudden ouster that month from Madigan’s political and government operations over sexual harassment and bullying allegations made by a staffer.
Late Wednesday, the prosecution called former state Rep. Lou Lang, a longtime member of Madigan’s leadership team who knew all three men.
“It was fairly well known around the Capitol that Mr. McClain, aside from his lobbying duties, because he was a professional lobbyist, contacted people on the speaker’s behalf,” said Lang, who was given a “non-target” letter by prosecutors in advance of his testimony.
Lang also said the speaker “relied on Mr. Mapes for all things.”
Related: Jurors hear secret FBI recordings of ex-top aide to Madigan, then hear him allegedly lying to a grand jury (Chicago Sun-Times)
‘The feds are still after me and our Friend:’ jury sees email exchanges between Madigan confidants (Capitol News Illinois)
Listen to Tim Mapes’ grand jury testimony in Michael Madigan probe (Chicago Tribune)
Opinion: Master of detail on trial for conveniently forgetting details (Champaign News-Gazette)
Pritzker vetoes measure granting Ameren authority over transmission line construction (Capitol News Illinois)
Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday vetoed a measure that would have granted existing utilities in downstate Illinois, notably Ameren Illinois, the “right of first refusal” for transmission line construction.
This would have given Ameren, the electric utility that serves much of downstate Illinois, authority to build new transmission lines without going through a competitive bidding process under federal regulations for any projects approved by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, before the end of 2024.
The governor issued what’s called an amendatory veto, striking only the portion of House Bill 3445 that deals with the right of first refusal. He left the rest of the bill, which modifies a state grant program and requires several policy studies, untouched.
As the country moves toward carbon-free energy transmission, billions of dollars of construction will be required to transport the electricity from new, renewable sources.
Pritzker wrote in a letter to lawmakers explaining his veto that the proposal puts “corporate profits over consumers.”
“Without competition, Ameren ratepayers will pay for these transmission projects at a much higher cost,” Pritzker wrote. “Competitively bidding transmission construction, instead of giving the utility a monopoly, has been shown to lower costs significantly.”
Lawmakers will have the option of accepting the governor’s changes, overriding the veto so that the bill becomes law as passed, or letting it die due to the veto.
The bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Larry Walsh, D-Elwood, told Capitol News Illinois that he stands by the policy and will try to pass the bill over the governor’s objection during the legislature’s veto session, which begins in October.
“I’m gonna work my bill. I know how the vote went, I know the nuts and bolts of it,” Walsh said.
“I’m filing for an override. I went down there to protect Illinois workers. That’s what I’m going to do.”
SO FAR THIS WEEK ON THEILLINOIZE.COM
POLITICAL POTPOURRI
Gun industry group challenges new firearms marketing restrictions (Capitol News Illinois)
Over free speech objections from ACLU, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs measure that targets doxxing (Chicago Tribune)
A planned Illinois bill would require lawyers for kids in police interrogations (WBEZ)
Choate director replaced as new report says abuse at the facility hasn’t stopped (Capitol News Illinois)
Civil rights lawyers call on Illinois to fire private prison health care company (WBEZ)
Illinois cannabis sales rose last year, but taxes fell. How come? (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Editorial: Can ranked choice voting promote collaboration? (Daily Herald)
Opinion: ‘Trump fever needs to be broken,’ says rare Republican willing to take on former president (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: Republicans’ miscalculations on abortion will give Democrats an edge in 2024 (Chicago Tribune)
Opinion: Pritzker was right to keep moratorium on new Illinois nuclear plants (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: Navigating nuclear future remains politically challenging for governor (Shaw Media)
Opinion: Straight from the Blagojevich playbook (Chicago Sun-Times)
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Good morning Patrick! WooHoo! It was great to see The Illinoize back in my inbox today. THANK YOU for whatever you did to "fix" the problem, and have a good day at the fair! Norm Evans