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Editorial: Illinois and Donald Trump are no match made in heaven. But they’ll have to work together.

Posted in Chicago Tribune, Commodius Maximus, Elections, Fat Bastard, Girlie man, OP/Ed, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Scott Stantis on November 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Scott Stantis/For the Chicago Tribune

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | Chicago Tribune

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker played the role of designated attack dog within the failed Kamala Harris presidential campaign and he played it with rhetorical flourish. At the Democratic National Convention, where (unlike most others) he used almost his entire speech to criticize Trump, Pritzker called Trump “weird,” “dangerous” and said he was “rich in only one thing: stupidity.”

“He’s a racist, sexist, misogynistic narcissist who wants to use the levers of power to enrich himself and punish anyone who dares speak a word against him,” Pritzker said of Trump on June 9, while President Joe Biden still was the presumptive Democratic nominee.

And that’s among the more polite things the Illinois governor said about the man the nation just elected for a second term as president. He also has described him as “a convicted felon, an adjudicated rapist and a congenital liar.”

Trump, of course, has responded in kind. To wit, also in June, on Truth Social: “Sloppy JB Pritzker, the Rotund Governor from the once great State of Illinois, who makes Chris Christie look like a male model, and whose family wanted him out of the business because he was so pathetic at helping them run it, has presided over the destruction and disintegration of Illinois,” Trump wrote.

Now an inconvenient truth. Trump is to be the next president of the United States with a mandate from the American people and more likely than not sufficient majorities to push through whatever he wishes to enact. Many of those policies will have profound impacts on the people of Illinois.

Now another inconvenient truth. Trump did very well this past election in Illinois.

When all is buttoned up, Harris will almost certainly have beaten Trump in the Land of Lincoln by less than 9 points.

In 2020, by contrast, Biden won Illinois with 58% of the vote to Trump’s 41%, a 17-point margin. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won Illinois with 56% to Trump’s 39%, also roughly a 17-point margin. Illinois remains a reliably blue state, but with a margin now only in the single digits. Trump sliced away nearly half of the prior Democratic presidential candidate’s advantage even though we, like many others, stated many times that his personal behavior and convictions meant that he was no longer qualified to be president.

Read more here.

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Pritzker’s new budgets forecast $3 billion to $5 billion deficits, make property tax relief from millionaire-tax ballot referendum unlikely

Posted in 220, BOHICA, Clown Car, Commodius Maximus, Deception, Elections, Ethics, Fat Bastard, Girlie man, Immigration, Look For The Union Label, News Media, OP/Ed, Organizations, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, The Chicago Way, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)?, Wirepoints on November 4, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Photo courtesy Maria for 52 Facebook page

By Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner | Wirepoints

On Tuesday’s Nov. 5 ballot there’s a nonbinding referendum that asks voters if they want the state to tax millionaires a 3% surcharge on the money they make over and above $1 million. In exchange for agreeing to target millionaires, Illinois voters can expect property tax relief, the referendum reads, though the referendum is noncommittal as to how much relief, if any, it would actually provide. The state says the 3% surcharge on millionaires will give the government about $4.5 billion in new revenues.

For the state to provide property tax relief, however, it would have to actually take some of those new tax revenues and commit them to property tax relief. And that’s where Illinoisans should be highly skeptical, we warned a week ago: “Given the upcoming budget deficits…there won’t be any money left over for tax relief.”

Sure enough, it only took a few days for Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his budget office to announce that billion-dollar deficits are on their way.

Pritzker’s team on Friday released its five-year budget forecast and said it expects a whopping $3.2 billion deficit for next fiscal year (2025-2026), a $4.3 billion deficit for the following year, and $5 billion-plus deficits in each of the years 2028 through 2030.

Those deficits effectively swallow up the revenues of the “millionaire’s tax,” leaving little to nothing for property tax relief. The administration would have to raise income taxes by another $4 billion-plus to provide both property tax relief and cover the deficits. How far down into middle-income brackets would Illinois politicians have to hike income tax rates to get that all money?

Not only do the above deficits make the referendum a farce, but they are a major contradiction to the praise the governor has heaped on himself for managing the state’s finances over the last few years, in particular during COVID.

How can the wheels be coming off the bus now, when the national economy is humming along, interest rates are going down, and the governor has managed to “balance budgets”?

There are two big answers to that question. The first one is that Pritzker never actually fixed any problems. No spending reforms. No pension reforms. No tax relief. None.

The second answer to that question is that the governor and his Democratic supermajority used the windfall revenues from the covid bailouts to pay down the state’s bills, and then poured the rest into new spending (more on that below).

The covid bailouts were massive. More than $70 billion was given in loans and grants to businesses. Illinoisans got $30 billion in stimulus checks. State and local governments received more than $30 billion. Billions more went to health care and a host of other programs. All that money also had the knock-on effect of supercharging the state’s tax revenues.

It was all that money, and not Pritzker’s efforts, that covered up all of Illinois’ structural spending problems. Now the covid money is gone and reality is back.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Read more here.

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Illinois House races to watch, where suburban challenges could affect Springfield power balance

Posted in Elections, Girlie man, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Resident Spotlights, Springfield on October 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

State Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills (left) and Democratic nominee Maria Peterson. | Sun-Times file and provided

Democrats are spending big to hold onto one northwest suburban seat and potentially flip another, while Republicans will need to protect a south suburban seat to have any chance of chipping away at Democratic super-majorities in Springfield.

By  Mitchell Armentrout | Chicago Sun*Times

Republicans hope to chip away next month at super-majorities in the Illinois General Assembly held by Democrats, who are aiming to strengthen their iron grip on the state Capitol.

Leaders on both sides of the aisle in the Illinois House say they can flip five or more seats in the chamber, where Dems hold a commanding 78-40 edge.

Here’s a look at three Chicago area races in the Nov. 5 election that could tip the balance — or imbalance — of power in Springfield.

52nd District: McLaughlin vs. Peterson

State Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills, faces a deep-pocketed challenge from Democratic nominee Maria Peterson as he vies for a third term at the helm of this far northwest suburban district that stretches north to Wauconda.

McLaughlin, the former village president of Barrington Hills who owns an investment advisory firm, had about $100,000 in his campaign account at the end of June and raised about $73,000 over the summer. That included support from the Realtor Political Action Committee, the Chicagoland Operators Joint Labor-Management PAC and the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police.

Peterson, of North Barrington, is a retired attorney for the U.S. Dept. of Labor who lost her 2022 state Senate run against former Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie by fewer than 400 votes. She’s raised more than $560,000 for this campaign, much of that coming from funds controlled by Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside.

McLaughlin says he approaches issues as a businessman instead of as a politician, pointing to bipartisan legislation he championed to lower construction costs on engineering projects.

He won reelection by almost five points in 2022 in the once solidly Republican district, which went to President Joe Biden in 2020.

McLaughlin slammed suburban Democrats for campaigning as moderates and then “going to Springfield and voting like hair-on-fire California progressives.” He told the Sun-Times he thinks Peterson “would fit that same mold.”

Read more here.

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Gov. Pritzker polls last among swing-state Democrats as Harris VP choice

Posted in Commodius Maximus, Deception, Elections, Ethics, Girlie man, Immigration, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Taxes, The Hill, Unions, Wirepoints on July 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a rally to support Illinois Democrats with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on the campus of University of Illinois Chicago in 2022. | Scott Olson/Getty Images-file

By Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner | Wirepoints

In what’s surely a painful, if only temporary, blow to his political ambitions, polls in the five major swing states show Gov. J.B. Pritzker ranks last as a VP choice for Kamala Harris.

Emerson College Polling/The Hill surveyed likely voters in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan on July 22-23, with one of the questions being who should be considered for VP.

First, look at what registered Democrats had to say. In Arizona, Pritzker got just 0.2% of the vote. In Pennsylvania it was only slightly higher, at 0.5%. In Michigan, 1.1% and in Georgia, 2.4%.

Even in Wisconsin, where Gov. Pritzker has a vacation home and has spent millions on political campaigns, he still finished last with just 4.1% of the votes.

The polling outcome is brutal for the Illinois governor.

(Click on graphic to enlarge)

When polling results from all registered voters are analyzed, Pritzker fared about the same, though he didn’t finish last in Wisconsin, where North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper did slightly worse. The table for all registered voters in the five swing states is in the appendix.

Of course, national figures like Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders performed well based on name recognition alone. And swing state politicians took the top spots in their home states. Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly scored highest in Arizona, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Sharpiro pulled 57% of Pennsylvania Dems, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was most popular in Michigan.

But a lack of home-field advantage doesn’t explain why Pritzker still ended up last in all five states.

Read more here.

Related: “Kamala Harris campaign considering J.B. Pritzker for vice presidential candidate”

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Gov. Pritzker tells CNN that jobs are coming back to Illinois. The number of people employed in Illinois under his watch says the opposite.

Posted in Deception, Elections, Ethics, Girlie man, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Springfield, Taxes, Unions, Wirepoints on July 8, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By Ted Dabrowski and Nick Binotti | Wirepoints

Gov. J.B. Pritzker told America last week on a CNN interview that President Biden has “…done a lot to revive American manufacturing. In my state, you know, we’ve seen jobs and companies coming back to the United States and to Illinois.”

But the governor’s comment about Illinois is simply not true – not when you measure it by the number of Illinoisans who are actually employed. Fewer people are on Illinois’ employment rolls today than when Pritzker took office.*

Back then, in 2019, Illinois employed 6,273,060 workers, according to the BLS’ Local Area Unemployment Statistics Program. Based on the latest numbers, only 6,193,823 are employed today. That’s a loss of 80,000 working Illinoisans during the governor’s tenure.

It’s also the nation’s 3rd-worst performance over that 5-year span. Only California and New York suffered bigger losses in employment than Illinois did.

In contrast, many states’ employment rolls boomed over the same period. The number of Texans employed is up by over 1.3 million people since January 2019. Florida employment is up by over 900,000.

And states like Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia have all added more than 200,000 to their employment rolls. Below, we show the nation’s top ten leaders in employment creation, as well as the bottom ten. (An appendix with data on all 50 states, for both total employment and manufacturing employment.

(Click to enlarge)

Illinois manufacturing employment is down as well. Since January 2019, Illinois manufacturing employment is down 12,800, the nation’s 7th-worst performance, according to the BLS’ Current Employment Statistics Program.

And as with overall employment, Texas and Florida crushed the rest of the nation in manufacturing employment. Since 2019, Texas has increased its employment by 73,600, Florida by 44,100. Georgia is up 29,000. Again, we show below the top and bottom 10 performers nationally.

Read more here.

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Pritzker’s whopper during the presidential debate should tell us something about him and so many others

Posted in Commodius Maximus, Deception, Ethics, Girlie man, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order on June 30, 2024| 1 Comment »

By: Mark Glennon* | Wirepoints

There’s something telling about what Gov. JB Pritzker wrote during Thursday’s presidential debate that’s utterly disheartening, and it’s about more than Pritzker.

Instead of criticizing Donald Trump with honesty and facts — material for which is abundant — Pritzker chose to repeat a lie. More importantly, it’s a lie widely known and easily shown to be a lie, as Pritzker surely knows.

Pritzker wrote on X, “When neo Nazis marched on Charlottesville chanting ‘Jews will not replace us’, Donald Trump called them very fine people. And now he says it’s all a lie. It’s not a lie, Donald Trump is just a liar.”

That claim has been thoroughly debunked over and over again by sources on both the left and right. When Trump said “very fine people on both sides” he specifically noted that he was not talking about neo-Nazis and white supremacists and said they should be “condemned totally.”

Here’s the video. It can’t be more clear that he wasn’t talking about neo-Nazis.

Left-leaning Snopes is among the latest to debunk Pritzker’s claim. Its conclusion: “In sum, while Trump did say that there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ he also specifically noted that he was not talking about neo-Nazis and white supremacists and said they should be condemned totally. Therefore, we have rated this claim ‘False.’”  Snopes included both the video and a transcript. See it yourself.

Here’s CNN’s Jake Tapper on video saying Trump condemned Neo-Nazis and white supremecists, and that Trump was not including them in his “very fine people” remark.

Pritzker’s comment on X has over 420 replies, almost all of which say that Pritzker was lying.

The question therefore becomes: Why would Pritzker use a claim that’s so widely known to be a lie?

Read on here.

*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.

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Illinois lawmaker seeks to criminalize flying American flag upside down

Posted in Girlie man, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Springfield on June 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By Catrina Petersen | The Center Square

A veteran Illinois lawmaker is in opposition to recently introduced legislation that would make it a crime for government officials to knowingly fly an upside down flag on government property.

State Rep. Harry Benton (Democrat) has introduced legislation that would prohibit politically motivated efforts that disrespect the flag.

“The flag of the United States is an enduring symbol of our national spirit and pride, and of the sacrifices made by every generation of Americans,” said Benton.

Steve Balich, supervisor of Homer Township in Will County, reportedly ordered the national flag outside the Homer Township offices to be flown upside down after the conviction of former President Donald Trump.

The Center Square attempted to reach Balich for comment but he didn’t immediately respond.

“The public official who made this sad choice – to disrespect our nation’s flag and everything it stands for – may be disappointed in the outcome of a certain criminal trial, but that is no excuse,” said Benton. “That he then attempted to deflect rising outrage by draping himself in the very same flag he’d just finished spitting on makes his actions all the more pathetic.”

State Rep. David Friess, an air force veteran, said he believes if an individual feels the country is in a time of distress, he or she should be able to fly the flag upside down.

“Even as a veteran, I don’t lose my cool … I understand that one of the greatest freedoms we have is free speech and I may not agree with an individual if he or she flies the flag upside down, but I absolutely respect your right to do that,” said Friess.

Benton’s House Bill 5860 would make it a crime for a government official to knowingly cause the national flag to be displayed upside down on government property.

More here.

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Slated candidates get win after Pritzker-signed election law deemed unconstitutional

Posted in Commodius Maximus, Deception, Elections, Ethics, Girlie man, Illinois State Board of Elections, Look For The Union Label, Organizations, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Springfield, Unions on June 5, 2024| 1 Comment »

By Catrina Petersen | The Center Square

A Sangamon County Circuit Court judge made a temporary injunction permanent, finding that enforcing a recently signed law that eliminates “slating” for General Assembly races in the 2024 election is unconstitutional.

Last month, the Illinois General Assembly gutted and replaced a child welfare bill with changes to election law. They prohibited the slating of candidates for the November general election ballot if that candidate did not run in the March primary. Within three days of the idea surfacing and passing both chambers, Gov. J.B. Pritzker enacted the measure.

Some candidates looking for ballot access in November didn’t run in the primary for their district. Leslie Collazo, seeking to take on incumbent state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, said she didn’t realize there wasn’t a Republican running the in primary until it was too late. When Pritzker enacted the law while she was preparing to file her petitions to be slated, she said she felt “cheated.”

Candidates then sued and a Sangamon County judge issued a preliminary injunction pending final judgement. A hearing in the case was held Monday, the same day candidates had as a deadline to file petitions to be slated for the November ballot. Wednesday, final judgement was issued for the plaintiffs.

“The General Assembly could make the revisions effective for the next election, rather than in the midst of the current election,” said Judge Gail Noll. “Everyone would then be on notice that, in General Assembly races, when there was no candidate for the nomination of the party in the primary, no candidate of that party for that office can be listed on the ballot at the general election.”

Noll further said: “The revisions to [state law] are unconstitutional as applied to Plaintiffs in the November 2024 general election because the application of the amendment to Plaintiffs during the 2024 election cycle impermissibly burdens their right to vote and to have their names placed on the November ballot.”

Read more here.

Related: “‘Anti-democracy’ law blocked: GOP candidates win court order stopping Dems from using new law to keep them off ballot,” “Editorial: State lawmakers in Springfield pass bill to cut off competition in 78 races,” “Candidates feel ‘cheated, violated, robbed’ after Pritzker enacts law ending slating,” “Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs election bill that would favor Democrats in November,” “(With cheshire grins) Democrats muscle through changes to ballot access, advisory questions”

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Lawmakers take all 3 advisory question spots on November ballot

Posted in Clown Car, Deception, Elections, Ethics, Girlie man, Illinois Policy Institute, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Springfield, Taxes, Unions on May 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Illinois lawmakers gave voters three issues on which they can offer opinions during the November election. They filled all the available ballot spots, leading a group with their own advisory question to cry ‘foul.’ (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)

By Dylan Sharkey | Illinois Policy Institute

Illinois lawmakers put a trio of advisory questions about election workers, property taxes and insurance for fertility treatments on the Nov. 5 ballot.

That’s it. The ballot is full. Which leaves out a question about parental notification that a group was collecting voters’ signatures to include on the ballot.

While advisory questions don’t directly change laws, the results could impact how lawmakers choose to pursue policies in the future based on documented public opinion. Senate Bill 2412, which was signed into law May 3, filled the three available spots with questions Democratic state lawmakers want answered.

The questions are also seen as an attempt to turn out more Democratic voters in November.

Lawmakers’ questions:

  • Election Worker Protection and Candidate Accountability Referendum Act: “Should any candidate appearing on the Illinois ballot for federal, State, or local office be subject to civil penalties if the candidate interferes or attempts to interfere with an election worker’s official duties?”
  • Property Tax Relief and Fairness Referendum Act: “Should the Illinois Constitution be amended to create an additional 3% tax on income greater than $1,000,000 for the purpose of dedicating funds raised to property tax relief?”
  • Assisted Reproductive Health Referendum Act: “Should all medically appropriate assisted reproductive treatments, including, but not limited to, in vitro fertilization, be covered by any health insurance plan in Illinois that provides coverage for pregnancy benefits, without limitation on the number of treatments?”

Only three nonbinding proposals are allowed on one ballot, meaning voters won’t see any other advisory questions on Nov. 5.  The Parents Matter Coalition was collecting signatures to get advisory questions on the ballot regarding parental rights.

Read more here.

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Brazen election interference: Illinois Democrats retroactively change law to knock out Republican challengers. Surely, lawsuits must follow.

Posted in BOHICA, DARCHED, Deception, Ethics, Girlie man, One Barrington Hills, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Springfield, Taxes, Unions, Wirepoints, WTF on May 8, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By Mark Glennon, founder of Wirepoints

As an alternative to a primary election, Illinois law allowed for a party to get its candidates on the ballot for General Assembly spots by party slating procedure, along with collection of a requisite number of public signatures on nominating positions. A number of Republican challengers have been proceeding accordingly.

But over the course of just 30 hours on the first days of this month, the Democratic supermajority changed the law to retroactively disallow that procedure, thereby barring challengers from the November ballot as Republican party candidates.

The new law almost certainly gives Democrats a win in races in which Republicans did not run a candidate in the primary and could result in dozens of unopposed races.

Gov. JB signed the new law the day after it was passed, hours after telling reporters he didn’t know all the details. He also claimed it was an “ethics” bill. “It really does make sure that we don’t have backroom deals to put people on the ballot and run as a result of some small group of people in a smoke-filled room making the choice,” Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference in Bloomington. “So I think to me, more transparency is better.” It’s not like Illinois Democrats ever line up their chosen candidates to run for the party, right?

“This is nothing more than a brazen attempt by Illinois Democrats to disenfranchise voters and eliminate political competition. To hide behind the guise of ‘ethics,’ is laughable,” said Sean M. Morrison, Chairman of the Cook County GOP.

The new law originated as a “shell bill” – one on an entirely different subject with a different label, before being changed in the 30-hour cram-through.

Read more here.

Related: “Editorial: State lawmakers in Springfield pass bill to cut off competition in 78 races,” “Candidates feel ‘cheated, violated, robbed’ after Pritzker enacts law ending slating,” “Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs election bill that would favor Democrats in November,” “(With cheshire grins) Democrats muscle through changes to ballot access, advisory questions”

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