THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All...Tracy resigns as Illinois GOP Chairman...Conflict of interest for a State Senator?...Proft/Bailey coordination complaint dismissed
June 20, 2024
Good morning, Illinois.
I was on WDWS in Champaign Tuesday talking a lot of state and national politics. You can hear it here. I jump in around the 44-minute mark.
Lots of new drama in the Illinois Republican Party, which you can read about below. Subscribers got the breaking news last night and I’m working on some more on the future of the GOP for paid subscribers tomorrow morning.
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There’s nothing on Governor Pritzker’s public schedule today.
Let’s get to it.
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TRACY RESIGNS AS ILLINOIS GOP CHAIRMAN (The Illinoize)
With fewer than five months before the November election and serious political headwinds facing the party, the Illinois GOP was struck another blow Wednesday as party infighting led to the resignation of its chairman, Springfield attorney Don Tracy.
Tracy had come under fire most recently for his handling of a delegate scandal involving now-former Party Vice Chair Mark Shaw at last month’s state GOP convention and contention from his detractors that there would be a likely vote to remove him as chair in the coming weeks. He had already survived a challenge to his chairmanship last year.
Tracy instead announced in a letter to party officials Wednesday afternoon that he would step aside after 3 1/2 years as party chairman.
“When I took on this full-time volunteer job in February 2021, I thought I would be spending most of my time fighting Democrats, helping elect Republicans, raising money to pay for more Party infrastructure, and advocating for Party unity,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, however, I have had to spend far too much time dealing with intra-party power struggles, and local intra-party animosities that continued after primaries and county chair elections.”
In his letter, Tracy called the state central committee’s handling of Shaw’s situation “a direction of the state party I am not comfortable with.”
Related: Illinois Republican Chairman Don Tracy resigns just weeks before RNC in Milwaukee (Chicago Tribune)
State Sen. Harris chairs insurance committee, invests in insurance brokers; How isn't that a conflict? (Chicago Sun-Times)
As chairman of the Illinois Senate’s Insurance Committee, state Sen. Napoleon Harris III is a gatekeeper on legislation affecting the multibillion-dollar insurance industry.
Now the Flossmoor Democrat, a former NFL player, has joined the industry he’s helping to regulate — partnering with two men who run an insurance brokerage called the Maxx Group in the southwest suburbs, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
Even though Harris’ chairman role can affect industry profits and regulations — and consumer pocketbooks — Harris insists there’s no conflict of interest with what he calls his “new business venture.”
“This was an opportunity to support a local business run by two area guys with longstanding impeccable credentials in the field,” Harris said via text message. “These are people I’ve known for years. They’ve helped me out with my own insurance needs well before I arrived in the Senate.
“My role is that of an investor. None of this bears any relationship to my work in Springfield.
“If you look at the results, it is clear the Insurance Committee has been about improving the industry for consumers.”
Based in Crestwood, the Maxx Group helps clients procure business, personal and life insurance, and advertises various types of insurance coverage for public agencies including municipal governments and park districts — agencies that often rely on state legislators for funding.
Like other state officials, Harris must file an economic interest statement each year showing outside income and financial investments. The paperwork he filed in May mentioned for the first time Maxx Group Plus, which shares the same executives and address with the Maxx Group.
John Patterson, a spokesman for Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat, says Harris “has shown himself to be a knowledgeable, independent voice and has fostered conversations in the Insurance Committee that have led to pragmatic solutions that work.”
Just a couple of thoughts: 1. Every bill of consequence goes through the Senate President’s office. You’re giving a committee chairman a lot of credit. 2. Working in the industry is not an automatic conflict of interest. Nobody complains if a farmer is chair of the Agriculture committee or a trial lawyer is chair of the Judiciary committee.
Elections board dismisses illegal campaign coordination complaint, declines to clarify law (Capitol News Illinois)
State elections officials on Tuesday indicated they were unlikely to step in to clarify what constitutes illegal campaign coordination after voting to dismiss a complaint alleging such coordination in the 2022 campaign for governor.
At their monthly meeting in Chicago, Illinois State Board of Elections members voted 7-1 to adopt a hearing officer’s recommendation to dismiss a complaint filed by a Democratic party official in the waning days of the 2022 election cycle. The complaint alleged conservative radio host and political operative Dan Proft illegally coordinated with former Republican state Sen. Darren Bailey during his 2022 campaign for governor.
The hearing officer’s recommendation, which was made public last week ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, agreed with Proft and Bailey’s contention that state law was not specific enough to find a violation had occurred. He found there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that ads Proft produced during Bailey’s general election challenge to Gov. JB Pritzker amounted to illegal coordination.
However, the hearing officer recommended the General Assembly update existing law or the Board of Elections adopt rules to clarify what is and isn’t allowed by independent expenditure committees like the one Proft was operating, dubbed the People Who Play by the Rules PAC.
Other than allowing attorneys for Proft, Bailey and the Democratic Party of Illinois’ executive director to recap the case, board members didn’t ask any questions about the dispute. That disappointed Ed Mullen, a Democratic election law attorney who often advises candidates and represents them in front of the board.
During the board’s public comment period at Tuesday’s meeting, Mullen said that just the day before, a client asked him what is and isn’t allowed when it comes to interacting with independent expenditure committees.
“I just couldn't answer that question,” he said. “And I just encourage you to look further into that and give us some more guidance.”
But board co-chair Laura Kent Donahue, a former GOP state senator who spent 22 years in the legislature, told Mullen the board would likely not intervene, and would leave it to the General Assembly.
“Sometimes it's a little dicey when you get to spelling it out,” she said. “Because then you might leave something out and...it gets – it's tricky. So I understand. We hear you, but it's gotta come from another source and not necessarily from us.”
Not sure I’m in love with the idea of letting the legislature figure it out.
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Here is the question I have about Sun Times conflict story. Is it conflict lawyers serve on Judiciary committee? How about Farmers on Ag committee? Or those working for hospitals serving on Health Committee and/or Medicaid Working Group? And I could name many other so called conflicts.
Here is the interring part Sun Times missed, And for the record I am in the industry myself. By definition a Insurance Broker works for client not carrier. Most of our job is fighting carriers to get rates down, claims paid, and policies issued. In addition, Senator Harris passed bills this session the industry opposed. You don't ever see that in Judiciary or Ag. I may be in other party but those who know Senator Harris know he can’t be bought.
Syverson