THE ILLINOIZE: What the legislature did in the dead of night...Michael Madigan's complicated legacy...Speaker Welch's problem with women...Restaurants to reopen soon?
THE ILLINOIZE: What the legislature did in the dead of night...Michael Madigan's complicated legacy...Speaker Welch's problem with women...Restaurants to reopen soon?
January 15, 2021
Good morning. Welcome to the last day of a week that has felt more like a month.
I was a (sleepy) guest on The Michael Koolidge Show yesterday morning. Call it the side effect of staying up past 3 A.M. four days in a row. You can hear our chat here.
The Illinois House went home yesterday morning after a short session. The Senate went home Wednesday afternoon. As of now, the Senate is scheduled to come back to Springfield January 26th. The House will come back February 2nd. There’s no word yet on if the House will meet at the BoS Center again (which isn’t cheap) or if they’ll try to meet at the Statehouse.
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We’ve been told to quarantine for two weeks after a couple of positive tests at the Statehouse and BoS Center this week. So, I’m basically risking my life for you guys. That’s worth a share, isn’t it?
Let’s get to it.
DEAD OF NIGHT
There was a sitcom a few years ago that often used the phrase “nothing good happens after 2 A.M.”
Republicans in the General Assembly think a lot of bad things happened after 2, 3, 4, or 5 in the morning as Tuesday gave way to Wednesday.
In the waning hours of the 101st General Assembly, before the new legislature was constitutionally mandated to start the 102nd General Assembly at noon Wednesday, each chamber pulled marathon overnight sessions. The House was in past 4 A.M. and the Senate until almost 6:30 A.M.
“They combined two major bills and it was brought to us at 9 o’clock [Wednesday] morning that the police certification and criminal justice reform pillar were combined without knowing exactly what had been redacted and what had been added,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs).
Durkin was further enraged when Democrats cut off debate to get a vote done before noon. Durkin could be seen shouting at Rep. Kelly Burke (D-Evergreen Park), who was overseeing the floor action.
“Quite frankly, it was a very bad moment when the Democrats cut [off] the debate and subverted an open process, a fair process, to have a discussion and for us to have the ability to ask questions on a very serious public policy change in Illinois,” said Durkin.
Sen. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago), who sponsored the bill in the Senate, disagreed with characterizations the bill would negatively impact police.
“I believe it is the first step to transforming criminal justice in Illinois in a way that will uplift our communities and support our law enforcement professionals,” Sims said in a statement issued after the Senate vote. “This increases accountability and transparency in law enforcement, modernizes our bail and sentencing systems, and provides for greater protections and more humane treatment of those who have been arrested and accused of crime.”
Read more on this hot button discussion here.
MADIGAN’S COMPLICATED LEGACY
He may no longer be Speaker of the House and probably won’t be a State Representative much longer, but the long arms and lasting legacy of Rep. Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) will likely be felt for years to come.
And the legacy is complicated, especially for Democrats.
“We have to thank and acknowledge that our state would not be where it is today without Speaker Madigan. We have to acknowledge that fact,” new House Speaker Chris Welch said. “While our state has many problems, our schools are better, more children have access to health care, and our working-class families can more easily live the American dream.”
But Republicans have always looked at Madigan as a sort of supernatural “boogeyman” figure, skirting the rules, profiting off of state business, and being the stereotypical political party “boss” in the vein of an Anton Cermack or Richard J. Daley.
Then there’s the multimillion-dollar Commonwealth Edison bribery scheme that may have been Madigan’s ultimate undoing.
In a federal deferred prosecution agreement, ComEd agreed that it conspired with a close Madigan ally, former State Representative, and now retired lobbyist Mike McClain, to steer jobs and contracts to Madigan insiders for favorable legislation.
“I don’t have anything positive to say,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), who has battled with Madigan since becoming GOP Leader in 2013. “The institution is better off with him leaving and his record speaks for itself. We have budgets that are grossly unbalanced, pension systems that are wildly out of control, we have corruption at the worst level that is occurring with him regarding actions taking place within the House of Representatives. I can’t say the Speaker has served this state well.”
Andy Shaw, the longtime Chicago journalist and former head of the Better Government Association, agreed that many Democrats would be happy with the results Madigan produced.
“Madigan can take a large amount of credit for everything Democratic voters support in Illinois: Ending the death penalty; approving same-sex marriage and marijuana legalization; raising the minimum wage; protecting trial lawyers and public employees; keeping the Sox and Bears happy with new stadiums, and providing government jobs and contracts to political allies,” Shaw said.
But a new crop of Democrats has gained more power in recent years, less focused on back-slapping southwest side machine politics and more toward progressive, reform-oriented legislation.
One of those progressives, Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago) wrote in an e-mail to constituents this week about Madigan’s complicated legacy.
“Michael Madigan's imprint on this state is profoundly indelible,” Guzzardi wrote. “He leaves in his wake a long list of legislative achievements I prize greatly, and a long shadow of corruption and impropriety that will cloud our party and our chamber for years to come.”
ALLEGATIONS HANG OVER WELCH
As Rep. Chris Welch’s (D-Hillside) campaign for House Speaker heated up late Tuesday into early Wednesday, disturbing past allegations of violence against and harassment of women were brought back into the public arena.
A 20-year-old police report says an ex-girlfriend told officers Welch slammed her head into a kitchen countertop numerous times in an argument. The woman did not ask prosecutors to file charges.
Welch was also sued in 2010 for sexual harassment and retaliation when another woman alleged she lost her job at the Proviso Township High School District because she broke up with him while he was president of the school board. The woman reportedly also received a restraining order against Welch for a time.
Welch told the Chicago Tribune Wednesday he believed Republicans were behind the attacks.
“At no other occasion have these events been brought up and I firmly believe my Republican colleagues are threatened by the potential growth of my profile,” he told the paper.
Republican sources say they believe neither the House Republicans or the Illinois Republican Party were behind the opposition research being released.
“I think you have to recognize that one incident was over 20 years ago. 20 years ago in my lifetime, that was a long time ago,” Welch told media Wednesday. “People mature, they look back and would do things differently, handle situations differently. I think my life’s work here in the legislature shows my respect of women and how I’ve treated women.”
“While I have always had a strong relationship with and a great deal of respect for Speaker Welch and believe him to be a good man, I reserved my vote and recorded myself as ‘present’ in the Speaker’s election,” she said in a statement. “I did so because, at the same time that we’re ending years of scandal over allegations of sexual harassment and corruption, we have also just been made aware of troubling allegations from Speaker Welch’s past. He has denied each allegation, and we certainly have seen plenty of examples of Black men being wrongfully accused. I feel strongly that I have been too outspoken on issues of sexual harassment and domestic violence to simply ignore these questions.”
It’s a tough spot for many Democrats who have often proclaimed publicly they believe women who come forward with allegations of this nature.
The question is, how does it impact your decision when 70 Democrats just put their name next to Welch for Speaker when it could be used against them in a primary or general election in two years?
GOV TO LOOSEN RESTRICTIONS TODAY?
Governor JB Pritzker is expected to rescind some of his statewide mitigations later today, but it doesn’t appear as if he will allow bars and restaurants to begin indoor service anytime soon.
In response, the Illinois Restaurant Association is calling for Pritzker to reconsider the policy closing restaurants and bars for indoor service.
“Eating and drinking places in Illinois lost 31,000 jobs in November alone,” said IRA President and CEO Sam Toia. “This is the highest rate of hospitality job loss in the entire country, and three times as many as the next closest state. We are also one of only three states with a complete statewide shutdown of indoor dining. Restaurants are out of time, and they need a more reasonable – and immediate – path forward to save the industry. This is the reckoning.”
Pritzker’s mitigations would require a positivity rate to drop below 6.5% to re-open bars and restaurants. The lowest reported region Thursday was Region 3, which covers west-central and western Illinois, including Springfield, Jacksonville, and Quincy. It has a positivty rate of 6.9% and is the only region in the state below 8%.
The Governor holds a news conference at noon today.
CONGRATS IN ORDER
Congratulations to my good friend Josh St. Peters, who has been named the new Executive Vice President of the Illinois Beef Association. The IBA has 2,000 members and lobbies for cattle farmers and also runs the state’s beef checkoff.
Josh and I have known each other since high school.
He starts the new gig March 1.
Congratulations!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Some Chicago lawyer named Michelle Robinson turns 57 Sunday. You may know her as Michelle Obama. Anybody know whatever happened to her?
AND FINALLY…
I think very highly of House Republican Leader Jim Durkin. He was on a bit of a tear Wednesday and was pretty critical of both former Speaker Madigan and new Speaker Welch.
During Thursday morning’s session, I caught Durkin walking up to the Speaker’s rostrum, shake hands with Speaker Welch, and have what looked like a very good conversation for a few minutes. He spoke on the floor a few minutes later and said “the reset button had been pushed.”
Durkin and Welch live just 5 miles and about 10 minutes from each other. Their districts border each other and they’ve known each other for a long time. Hopefully a positive relationship can help state government get things done.
Have a great weekend.