Latest news with #IllinoisHouse
Chicago Tribune
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Afternoon Briefing: Fisher House opens to serve families of veterans and active military
Good afternoon, Chicago. For the third time in little more than a decade, a bipartisan group is being formed to launch a voter initiative aimed at amending the Illinois Constitution to try to remove the heavy partisan influence of lawmakers in the once-per-decade redrawing of state legislative boundaries. Unlike the current controversy in Texas, where Republicans are looking to redraw congressional boundaries to maximize GOP seats in the U.S. House for the 2026 midterm elections, the Illinois effort is aimed solely at Illinois House and state Senate boundaries. And unlike two earlier efforts, in 2014 and 2016, that were struck down by the courts, the current proposal is more streamlined and designed to fit through the very narrow window that previous Illinois Supreme Court rulings have left for a constitutional amendment by citizens' petition to appear on the ballot. Here's what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices. Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History The second-in-command of the Chicago Police Department appears to have been stripped of virtually all of her duties related to the department's daily operations, according to a new organizational chart sent today to CPD personnel. Read more here. More top news stories: Upward of 300 veterans, active service members and associates gathered at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago yesterday for the opening and dedication ceremony of the 100th Fisher House. Read more here. More top business stories: Starting guard Ariel Atkins is sidelined indefinitely. Star Angel Reese is battling through minor injuries. With fewer than 20 games left in the regular season, the playoffs are a far-off dream. Read more here. More top sports stories: The reboot of 'The Naked Gun' tosses off a few sharp and/or stupidly effective gags of the hit-and-run variety, nice and quick. Sample exchange: 'I guess you can't fight City Hall.' 'No. It's a building.' Read more here. More top Eat. Watch. Do. stories: One of this century's most powerful earthquakes struck off the coast of Russia and generated tsunami warnings and advisories for a broad section of the Pacific, including Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast and as far south as New Zealand. Read more here. More top stories from around the world:
Chicago Tribune
a day ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Bipartisan group launches latest effort to remove partisanship from how Illinois legislative boundaries are drawn
For the third time in little more than a decade, a bipartisan group is being formed to launch a voter initiative aimed at amending the Illinois Constitution to try to remove the heavy partisan influence of lawmakers in the once-per-decade redrawing of state legislative boundaries. Unlike the current controversy in Texas, where Republicans are looking to redraw congressional boundaries to maximize GOP seats in the U.S. House for the 2026 midterm elections, the Illinois effort is aimed solely at Illinois House and state Senate boundaries. And unlike two earlier efforts, in 2014 and 2016, that were struck down by the courts, the current proposal is more streamlined and designed to fit through the very narrow window that previous Illinois Supreme Court rulings have left for a constitutional amendment by citizens' petition to appear on the ballot. The formal unveiling of the effort is set for Aug. 19, when the Lincoln Forum and the Union League Club of Chicago will host a discussion with the movement's leaders, former White House chief of staff William Daley and former congressman and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the co-chairs of Fair Maps Illinois. Daley is a longtime Democrat who is the brother and son of Chicago's two longest-serving mayors, while LaHood was a Republican congressman from Peoria who served in President Barack Obama's cabinet. He's the father of current GOP U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood. Co-counsels for the effort are veteran election attorney Michael Dorf, a former general counsel for the state Democratic Party, and former GOP state election board member and chairman William Cadigan. The latest effort comes as the current process for redrawing Illinois House and Senate boundaries has received serious scrutiny and follows years of criticism after its adoption as part of the state's 1970 Constitution. Its reliance on the legislature to formulate and adopt a map has been described as lawmakers choosing their voters rather than voters selecting their representatives in Springfield, resulting in sharp, partisan gerrymandered lines that have produced few contested general election contests as primaries have become the de facto elections. 'We are in such a situation now, partly because of the way things are redistricted, where every seat is safe, members don't have to ever attempt to reach a constituency other than their core supporters,' Dorf told the Tribune. 'This is the first step to finding a way to create, not politics-free redistricting, but at least more rational redistricting where there is a chance that members of the General Assembly will have to talk to the other side, will have to reach constituents who don't necessarily agree 100% with them, and it's a first step,' he said. Under one-party rule in the last two redistricting years of 2011 and 2021, Democratic majorities in the House and Senate passed and sent to Democratic Govs. Pat Quinn and JB Pritzker map lines designed to favor the election of Democratic candidates and reduce Republican representation. As a first-time candidate for governor, Pritzker said he supported an independent mapmaking commission to curb partisan gerrymandering, but he signed the 2021 remap passed by Democrats. Last week at an unrelated news conference, the governor said he was still in favor of a commission but said, 'It's not like I can force the legislature to do something like that.' The current map adopted after the 2020 federal census has led to the election of overwhelming Democratic legislative majorities — 78 in the 118-member House and 40 state senators in the 59-member chamber. Under the state constitution, when the legislature and governor are unable to implement a map into law — which has occurred during periods of partisanly divided governance — an eight-member redistricting commission is formed with the four legislative leaders each naming a member of their caucus and a non-member of the General Assembly. If the commission deadlocks, the Supreme Court submits two names, and the Secretary of State conducts a random draw for the crucial ninth partisan tiebreaking member. The state constitution's authors thought the threat of a random draw would be so severe it would force Democrats and Republicans to compromise. But the winner-takes-all aspect of redistricting has proven too strong. Other than the initial 1971 map, commissions went to tiebreakers in 1981, 1991 and 2001. Democrats won the draw in 1981 and 2001, while Republicans won it in 1991. Under the latest commission proposal, the legislature would no longer be able to approve its own map and send it to the governor. Instead, the mapmaking process would go directly to a 12-member commission with the four legislative leaders each appointing one member of their caucus and two non-members of the General Assembly. If the commission were to deadlock, the same tiebreaking drawing method would be used, according to the proposal. But unlike the way maps are currently drawn, commissioners could not consider voters' past voting history in which they vote in Republican or Democratic primaries in configuring the map lines. 'Specific people' also could not be considered, except to adhere to federal laws, such as Voting Rights Act protections for racial and ethnic groups. Instead, districts would be based more on geographic lines in which an emphasis would be placed on compactness. According to the proposal, county, municipal and township boundaries would be followed to the 'greatest extent possible,' with an emphasis on smaller counties being contained in a single district. The state Supreme Court has previously limited citizen-initiated changes to the state Constitution to issues that both affect the structure and procedure of the legislature. To comply with that restriction, the size of the General Assembly would be determined by a formula that divides the state's federal census population by 215,000 and would reduce the result to the nearest odd whole number. As is currently the case, each state Senate district's boundaries would include two House districts. Under the state's 2020 census, the formula would leave the current number of 59 state Senate districts and 118 House districts — but the size of the two chambers could change in future decades based on population changes. To get on the ballot, the proposition would need at least 328,171 valid signatures from registered voters by May 2026. Traditionally, supporters try to seek double the minimum number of signatures. The previous attempts to change the Constitution's redistricting provisions were cumbersome and involved a multi-step process to choose commission members — factors the courts decided went beyond the limited scope of structural and procedural changes in the legislative process. Those rulings also came in court challenges mounted by allies of former Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. Madigan, who served as speaker from 1983 to 2021, fiercely opposed efforts that would have taken the power of drawing the districts out of his hands. He was sentenced to 7 ½ years in prison in June on federal corruption charges related to a scheme that helped utility giant Commonwealth Edison. Demonstrating Madigan's close relationship with the utility, the plaintiffs recruited to fight the redistricting proposals in court were Frank Clark, former president and CEO of ComEd, in 2014 and John Hooker, the company's executive vice president of legislative and external affairs and later a lobbyist, in 2016. Hooker was among the 'ComEd Four' who were convicted of conspiring to bribe Madigan to ensure his support for utility initiatives. Hooker was sentenced to 18 months in prison and a $500,000 fine. .
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: About your complaints on Trumpian gerrymandering, Gov. Pritzker
Gov. JB Pritzker's beating the drum on legislative maps again. No, he's not attending to our egregiously gerrymandered state. He's riled up about mapmaking drama in Texas. Right now, like other Democratic governors such as Gavin Newsom of California, Pritzker is focused on President Donald Trump's push to get Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and GOP lawmakers to redraw the congressional maps in that state before the 2026 midterm elections. Trump & Co. think they can flip several Democratic seats and give themselves a better chance to keep the GOP's tenuous hold on the U.S. House. 'We have to see what they decide to do about Texas, but I think the president of the United States encouraging Texas — Texas being willing to do this — should be an indicator to the rest of us that if they're going to cheat, that that's not a proper way to act … I think cheating the way the president wants to is improper,' Pritzker said Tuesday at a news conference at Union Station. 'We all ought to stand up against it.' Yes, good. Indeed we should. But if Pritzker is making a moral case, he should look at his own backyard. Texas, like Illinois, has maps drawn to favor one political party over the other, except that in the Lone Star State, it's Republicans who have the advantage. Choosing to focus only on Trump and Texas' midterm mapmaking gambit overlooks Illinois' own failures. Earlier this year, we urged the Illinois Supreme Court to hear a Republican lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state's 2021 political maps affecting state legislative districts. The court declined to weigh in, and that was shameful. Illinois Republicans were quick to seize on Pritzker's appeal to morality and fair play when it comes to another state's gerrymandering efforts while he says nothing about the indefensible gerrymandering in his own state. When he first ran for governor, Pritzker, of course, expressed support for an independent commission to redraw our legislative districts and vowed to veto any partisan map. He quickly broke that promise. 'It's rich that the governor now claims to support playing by the rules after he enthusiastically signed into law the most gerrymandered maps in the nation,' House GOP Leader Tony McCombie said Tuesday. She's right, of course. Back in March, McCombie and several of her Republican colleagues shared details showing how our skewed maps alter electoral outcomes. In November 2024, Republicans nationwide saw huge gains, which extended to Illinois. Here, for the Illinois House, Republicans received a total of 45% statewide, a much better showing than in 2020, when the GOP got just 39% of the Illinois House vote. You'd think those improved numbers would've led to gains in the statehouse, but then you'd be wrong. Nothing changed. Not a single district went from blue to red — or vice versa. If Pritzker is going to join in with other Democratic governors in midcycle redistricting to respond to Trump's audacious Texas maneuvering, he should spare us the high-minded rhetoric. The redistricting wars are nothing but partisan brawling. In the meantime, at the state legislative level, Pritzker and his fellow Democrats can claim no moral high ground whatsoever. Our state has a hope deficit that rigged maps make worse. If the governor is going to respond to Texas by redrawing Illinois' congressional districts, he ought to redraw our state lines as well. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@
Chicago Tribune
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Why have Illinois and Chicago not yet clamped down on unregulated intoxicating hemp?
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has vetoed legislation that would have banned intoxicating hemp products in the nation's second-largest state. The veto — unusually issued last Sunday evening, a time seemingly designed to draw as little attention as possible — nonetheless caused a stir in the Lone Star State, as the bill was a pet initiative of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a fellow conservative Republican who at times has differed with Abbott on policy. Abbott justified his move by saying an outright ban could violate federal law. But Abbott didn't want to be portrayed as a proponent of the absurd reality that exists today — virtually unfettered availability via ordinary retail outlets like gas stations and convenience stores of potent gummies and other ingestants infused with synthetic THC, the intoxicant present in marijuana. He called for a special legislative session less than a month from now to enact a regulatory regime tightly restricting access to the products. We note the hemp news more than 1,000 miles away from here because Illinois (and Chicago) began this year with Gov. JB Pritzker pushing hard for an effective ban on intoxicating hemp products, only to be stymied by Illinois House Speaker Emanuel 'Chris' Welch, who refused to call the bill in his chamber due to objections from some in his Democratic caucus as well as Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. The loss was one of the most embarrassing in Springfield for Pritzker since first becoming governor in 2019. Welch and Johnson pledged after killing Pritzker's initiative to work on a regulatory framework that would strive to keep these potentially dangerous consumables away from teenagers and would impose packaging and production standards on the industry. Since then? If any significant progress has been made, it's not evident to us. Springfield's spring session came and went with no action and little news even on the state of negotiations. In Chicago, a City Council subcommittee held a hearing soon after the January blowup in the capital, with Johnson ally Ald. William Hall, 6th, promising to take action at the city level. Since then, Johnson and Hall have said little about hemp and done even less than that. With the state and city both apparently paralyzed on the issue, a hodgepodge of municipalities throughout the state — and individual wards within Chicago — have taken it upon themselves to ban intoxicating hemp products like delta-8 within their borders. The approach is less than ideal. The public health threat remains; those elected officials who have instituted local bans mainly have shielded themselves and their municipalities from liability. Meanwhile, an unacceptable state of affairs persists. We argued late last year in favor of the effective ban on delta-8 and its ilk for the purpose of ensuring teens and other vulnerable populations are safe while lobbyists representing the unregulated hemp and highly regulated cannabis industries work with policymakers to negotiate a reasonable regulatory scheme. Hemp lobbyists prevailed, forestalling action, and we see little evidence the industry wouldn't be quite content to see this Wild West approach to its business continue for the foreseeable future. Indeed, one takeaway from more recent events in Texas is that these hemp lobbyists are remarkably effective, since they seem to hold sway over both liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. Pritzker was highly annoyed, rightly so in our view, when Welch tanked the governor's bill at the eleventh hour in January. But that shouldn't mean Pritzker washes his hands of the issue. The governor ought to keep pressing the matter. And where is Welch after he played the central role in preserving the outlandish status quo? Likewise, Mayor Johnson should be pressured to hold true to his own promises within Chicago city limits. If Texas does indeed act next month on the issue, hopefully our politicians will be embarrassed into finally doing the right thing.
Chicago Tribune
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Matt Paprocki: Michael Madigan has left Illinoisans with a corrupt political system he refined
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was sentenced Friday to 71/2 years in federal prison and fined $2.5 million after being convicted on 10 counts of bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud. While Illinoisans finally see some justice, they also see Madigan's corrupt political legacy still hurting them. Madigan was the longest-serving statehouse speaker in U.S. history. Under his reign, Illinois achieved the nation's lowest credit rating and ranked as the second-most indebted and corrupt state. On average, more than one Illinois public servant per week — for 40 years between 1983 and 2023 — was convicted of corruption just in federal court, not including local prosecutions. High taxes, the pension crisis, massive debt and corruption have driven residents to better-governed states. Much of it can be traced to Madigan and how he pulled the levers. The structure Madigan built concentrated power in ways exclusive to Illinois. He crafted rules that continue to give Illinois House speakers unparalleled power to control which bills become law, he is responsible for the state's extreme gerrymandering and he nurtured the culture of corruption that continues to plague Illinois. Lawmakers must unravel Madigan's influence and the control he built through little-known rules of procedure. Madigan rewrote these to gather power and co-opt the legislature, effectively silencing voters' voices when in conflict with leadership's agenda. Through these House rules, the speaker wields nearly absolute control over the legislative process. The most troubling of which allows the speaker to effectively control which bills, amendments and motions even make out of the Rules Committee. Madigan designed the process so everything must first pass through this committee, so that the speaker hand-picks the majority and bills opposed by leadership can simply die there through inaction. Getting a bill out of the Rules Committee requires either unanimous consent — virtually impossible — or three-fifths support from both parties' caucuses, with each supporter required to sponsor the bill. That's an extraordinarily high barrier found in no other state. The Rules Committee has rarely voted contrary to the speaker's wishes. Madigan's successor, Speaker Emanuel 'Chris' Welch, has adopted a similar rule by which only bills with 60 Democratic sponsors get called for a vote on the House floor. That makes it very difficult for bills without a large, progressive-leaning caucus to emerge. Additionally, Madigan championed the state's extreme gerrymandering by drawing the maps during the 1980s, 2000s and 2010s, plus influenced the 2020s effort. It was how he first started gathering power, saving Chicago Democrats' seats in the state legislature by nipping off just enough of the growing suburbs to dilute their voting power. By doing so, he exacerbated Illinois' uncompetitive elections in the following decades, leaving voters without choices and little reason to go to the polls. When more than 560,000 registered voters in 2016 tried to stop him and ensure legislative maps were independently drawn, he used one of his ComEd cronies to sue and kill the effort. That decision still thwarts any reforms unless state lawmakers initiate them. Illinois lawmakers should make that break with Madigan's corruption by adopting an independent political mapmaking process for the people's representatives in Springfield and in Washington, D.C. There's little they could do of greater significance than giving voters back their power. In addition to the elimination of Madigan's rules and creating independently drawn political maps, the state needs comprehensive ethics reforms. Those reforms must go beyond the toothless package the legislature passed after his indictment. They include: Until Illinois reforms gerrymandering, ethics laws and House rules to better reflect democratic principles seen in other state legislatures, Madigan will continue controlling us. The power to make law will remain concentrated in the hands of a few. Madigan's punishment should include sitting in his cell knowing his machine is being dismantled. That would be full justice for Illinoisans. Matt Paprocki is president and CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute
