State Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago) and State Rep. Barbara Wheeler (R-Crystal Lake) invited every single member of the General Assembly to join a conference call Friday morning to discuss a strategy for combating gun violence in Chicago.

Ford and Wheeler, who announced last summer she would not seek re-election, said they plan to orchestrate a news conference on Chicago’s West side Wednesday, which will kick off a 30-day period in which lawmakers will demand city and state officials coordinate a plan to stem gun violence.

Lawmakers said they will insist the plan include elements meant to end the flow of illegal guns and drugs into Chicago’s South and West sides, along with asking for the direct infusion of resources from the state, city and Cook County to violence-affected communities.

During the call, one suburban Democrat suggested that lawmakers push for Gov. Bruce Rauner to reconsider his March veto of the Gun Dealer Licensing Act, though it’s unclear if that suggestion will end up in the effort’s final plan.

Resources for both the Illinois Department of Corrections and inmates themselves also may end up on lawmakers’ list of demands. One downstate Republican criticized legislation passed earlier this year aimed at reducing the state’s prison population, calling the levels to which the population would fall “arbitrary,” and saying the efforts were “designed solely for saving money within the department.”

“If we are pushing inmates out the door, it is working to the detriment of local communities,” the Republican said.

Other IDOC-centric ideas that may show up in the final demand list are job training programs and more resources for a group within the Department of Corrections focused on identifying gang leaders.

One thing that likely will not be brought up again is sending in the Illinois National Guard, which Rauner was rumored to have been considering last week until he categorically denied it. When a suburban Republican asked on Friday’s call if that was on the table, the resounding answer was no.

Though the effort is meant to be bipartisan, the press conference is set for Wednesday — Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair — meaning many Republicans may opt for Springfield instead of Chicago.

As far back as his 2014 gubernatorial campaign, Gov. Bruce Rauner lamented his immediate predecessors’ habit of dropping by Springfield but living in Chicago, and treating the state’s largest city as the de facto state capital.

Then-candidate Rauner promised to live in the Governor’s Mansion, which he largely has, minus the time he spent living on the State Fairgrounds while the mansion was being renovated with funds donated by and raised by the governor and first lady Diana Rauner.

Rauner criticized the amount of money the state was spending on travel for both Governors Pat Quinn and Rod Blagojevich, both Democrats, and said he’d like to bring more state jobs back to Springfield. On Thursday, three-and-a-half years into his term in office, Rauner got his wish — sort of.

Flanked by a few local legislators and other area officials, Rauner signed HB 4295, which will require the Department of Central Management Services to default state agency jobs as located in Sangamon County, where Springfield is the county seat, unless it can be proven the jobs need to be elsewhere within the state.

The law will not force any current state employees to relocate to Springfield, but also does not provide guidelines for how a job can be moved from Springfield to somewhere else within the state.

Bill sponsor State Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez (R-Springfield) cited a 2016 study that found in-state travel by state agency employees had cost the state $126 million over a five-year period. The report found that nearly 400 state agency jobs currently located outside of Springfield could come back to Sangamon County, which Wojcicki Jimenez said could be a boon to the local economy.

“Ever since I became a representative and growing up in Springfield as a journalist, there’s been a lot of concern among people who live in Sangamon County about where the state capital actually is,” Wojcicki Jimenez said.

The bill, which passed unanimously in the state Senate and overwhelmingly in the House, will also help the state prepare for the much-vaunted sale of the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago, which has been a priority for Rauner for the last few years. The state’s current budget relies on savings from the sale, but not much progress has been made on the issue.

Past coverage:
State Budget Relies On $270M From Sale Of Thompson Center — But Mayor’s Office Says No New Proposal On Tap

Ald. Reilly: ‘No One Has Come To Talk To Me’ About A New Plan To Replace Thompson Center

“This is the state capital by law, by tradition, by history and by pride,” Rauner said Thursday. We should make sure that our government is run in a way that’s good for taxpayers and good for the state by making sure this is the capital, and that we don’t divide it, waste money and play politics with how government’s run.”

However, the bill contains an exemption for any agencies not under the control of the governor, along with legislative and judicial staff jobs and any staff directly hired by the governor’s office. Wojcicki Jiminez said this carve-out was made because the study she relied upon when crafting the bill did only studied agency jobs.

Those exemptions will contain most Rutan-exempt positions — jobs in which political affiliation can be taken into account in the hiring process.

Blagojevich was widely panned, and even called “cruel” in 2008 when he announced a plan to move 140 government jobs to Harrisburg in deep southern Illinois. A little over five months after introducing the idea to move the Traffic Safety Division of the Illinois Department of Transportation out of Springfield, Blagojevich was arrested on corruption charges outside of his Chicago home.

Gov. Bruce Rauner criticized Mayor Rahm Emanuel Thursday after more than 70 people were shot and 12 killed last weekend in Chicago, taking credit for directing the Illinois State Police to assist the Chicago Police Department.

Rauner was rumored to have considered sending in the National Guard, but told reporters at a Peoria event Wednesday that there was “no truth” to that report.

But when asked again Thursday what he planned to do to respond to a spike in violence in Chicago, Rauner blamed Emanuel for not properly resourcing and staffing the Chicago Police Department and for failing to improve the economies of Chicago’s South and West sides, where most of the violence took place.

Rauner said the “primary responsibility” to stem violence in the city lies with leaders in Chicago, but said his administration has been “proactive” by sending the Illinois State Police into the city.

“We weren’t asked to — in fact, there was resistance — but I said, ‘You know what? We’re going to have State Police go into the neighborhoods in Chicago,’” Rauner said Thursday. “That’s not their primary jurisdiction, but we pushed it, CPD accepted it and we now have State Police and have confiscated a lot of illegal guns, we’ve arrested a lot of gang members and the State Police are making a difference.”

The governor pointed to the State Police’s presence on expressways in the city — which is within the normal jurisdiction of the agency — as shootings on the highways increased dramatically in recent years.

State Police spokesman Lt. Matt Boerwinkle told The Daily Line on Thursday officials believe extra patrols by state police officers helped to reduce the number of shootings on expressways significantly, as compared with last year.

“[The State Police is] actively involved in enforcement efforts, particularly targeting gun violence on Chicago expressways, particularly 290 and 94,” Boerwinkle said. “This year we’re starting to see a real impact.”

Number of shootings on Chicago-area expressways by year:

2013 — 13

2014 — 19

2015 — 37

2016 — 53

2017 — 51

2018 — 24

* Source: Illinois State Police

Since 2016, the Illinois State Police has been operating three distinct patrol units within the Chicago area, which Boerwinkle said has resulted in 201 gun arrests and the seizure of 2,013 illegal guns.

The program Rauner explicitly took credit for on Thursday is called the Illinois State Police Gang Violence Prevention Task Force, a small unit of 24 to 25 officers that specifically patrols neighborhoods where gang violence is prevalent.

Between the expressway patrol, the gang violence task force and another Illinois State Police initiative within the city,  Boerwinkle said the agency is responsible for 233 criminal charges in 2018 alone.

Arrests and gun seizures attributable to ISP

2016 — 73 gun arrests and 76 illegal guns seized

2017 — 74 gun arrests and 92 illegal guns seized

2018 — 54 gun arrests and 45 illegal guns seized

* Source: Illinois State Police

Despite touting the ISP’s efforts, Rauner maintained that Democrats in both city and state government should share the blame for gun violence, as he claimed they were responsible for blocking pro-business reforms the governor said would help the neighborhoods most affected by gun violence.

“The real answer longterm is economic opportunity,” Rauner said. “The unemployment rate on the South Side of Chicago, on the West Side of Chicago is stunning. We have vital people in their 20s, 30s without jobs. It’s unconscionable.”

Illinois’ First District Appellate Court ruled Wednesday that de facto life sentences for those with intellectual disabilities is a violation of the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Illinois proportionate penalties clause.

The appellate panel found that a 50-year sentence handed down to Illinois resident William Coty, who had been convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault of a minor in 2004, was too harsh. Because Coty had a prior conviction for aggravated criminal sexual assault, a Cook County trial court had no choice but to sentence him to mandatory natural life in prison without the possibility of parole. After an appeal, the sentence was shortened to 50 years, which was still a de facto life sentence for the 58-year-old Coty.

But on this new appeal, the First District Court was asked for the first time to examine whether a de facto life sentence was imposed in a manner inconsistent with the 8th Amendment and the state’s proportionate penalties clause. The panel found that those with intellectual disabilities should be treated the same in sentencing as juveniles.

“Intellectually disabled individuals, just like juveniles, are less culpable, where the deficiencies associated with intellectual disability diminish their personal culpability,” wrote Justice James Fitzgerald Smith, who delivered the opinion for the panel.

The justices also pointed to other challenges defendants with intellectual disabilities face when put into a court system that normally deals with typically functioning adults.  

“Additional risks accompanying the unique characteristics of the intellectually disabled are the possibility that they will unwittingly confess to crimes they did not commit, their lesser ability to give their counsel meaningful assistance, and the fact that they are typically poor witnesses, and their demeanor may create an unwarranted impression of lack of remorse for their crimes,” the opinion said.

The justices said they looked to contemporary understandings of what qualifies as “cruel and unusual punishment,” but said the standards were difficult to pin down. However, they said, it’s clear that they are ever-evolving, and that it’s important to look at what might “shock the moral sense of the community.”

“Accordingly, as of today, our community’s standards of decency appear to have evolved to prohibit the imposition of de jure and de facto mandatory and discretionary life sentences for juveniles, where procedurally the court fails to consider the attendant characteristics of youth,” the panel wrote.

While cases involving those with intellectual disabilities are rare, juvenile sentencing has been a recent issue in Illinois. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling striking down the sentences of juveniles who were given life without parole. A subsequent Illinois Supreme Court ruling gave inmates the chance for resentencing hearings, though many of those juveniles still sit behind bars waiting for their court dates.

Sentencing reform has not yet made a major appearance in the Attorney General race, but both State Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) and Republican Erika Harold are expected to push the issue. Raoul is a former Cook County prosecutor and has served as the vice chair of the Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council and on the Illinois State Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform.

In an email Wednesday, Raoul spokeswoman Aviva Bowen pointed to more than a dozen bills the Democrat has sponsored dealing with sentencing reform and juvenile justice.

"Influenced by his experience as a prosecutor and his concern for neighborhoods plagued by crime and mass incarceration, Kwame has made criminal justice reform a focus of his career — and his volume of work is expansive," she said.

Harold has long been involved in prison ministry, and serves on the national board of directors for the faith-based organization Prison Fellowship. A Harold spokesman described the Republican as "very passionate" about sentencing reform.

Democrats pushing a bill that would prohibit employers from asking about a job candidate’s previous salary finally sent the legislation to the governor’s desk on Wednesday. Meanwhile, an LGBT-focused independent expenditure committee filed paperwork with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

An Illinois House panel on Tuesday heard from education officials, parents and technologists at a committee hearing set up in response to a data breach at Chicago Public Schools earlier this summer. Meanwhile, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a new bill aimed at more detailed background checks on Lyft and Uber drivers.

ProPublica Illinois reporter Mick Dumke looks at the state’s political issues and personalities in this occasional column.



Amanda Biela was campaigning door to door in north suburban Glenview one afternoon last week when she stopped to talk with a senior watering his front lawn.

“I’m running for 15th District state rep,” Biela told him, “and I’m basically running against the Madigan machine.”

Biela explained that she’s challenging incumbent Rep. John D’Amico, which means she’s also taking on his ally Michael Madigan, the long-serving state House Speaker and Democratic Party leader. Biela, a former Chicago Public Schools teacher and mother of three, added that her top priority is lowering property taxes.

She didn’t mention that she’s a Republican. Why bring it up right away in a Democrat-dominated district?

It didn’t matter. The man remained focused on his grass. “All politicians are crooks,” he told Biela.

She smiled and went with it. “That’s why I’m running!” She offered him a flier. “Please, just think about it in November.”

The man accepted the flier, glanced at it, and stuffed it into the mailbox on this porch. Then he went back to his lawn.

Voters are angry — some to the point that they’ve tuned out politics — as I saw when I walked a few neighborhoods with Biela recently.

In most places, that could spell doom for an entrenched incumbent. But in the 15th District, made up of parts of the city’s Northwest Side and adjacent suburbs, Democratic Party insiders have triumphed for years, often without viable challengers. It’s a story that’s repeated in districts around Chicago every election cycle.

To add to her challenge, Biela has been forced to navigate a civil war within her own party as she tries to line up resources for a serious campaign.

In short, her race offers a snapshot of the Democratic political dynasties, Republican infighting and incompetence, and influence of big campaign money that have long defined Illinois and frustrated its voters.

And yet Biela argues, “I think this district can be flipped.”

It would be a huge upset. She’s taking on not just an incumbent with clout but a history of family and party domination.

D’Amico took office in 2004, but members of his family have run Chicago’s 39th Ward, which makes up a large chunk of the 15th District, for more than a half century. His grandfather, Anthony Laurino, became the ward’s alderman in 1965. When Laurino stepped down after 29 years in office, his daughter, Margaret Laurino— D’Amico’s aunt — succeeded him. She’s now been in office for 24 years.

In 1995, the elder Laurino was indicted by federal prosecutors for allegedly helping family members and allies get no-show city jobs. He died before his case was resolved, but both of D’Amico’s parents were convicted and sentenced to prison for their roles in the ghost payrolling system.

D’Amico is paid about $78,000 a year as a member of the Illinois House, but that’s his part-time job. He’s worked for the City of Chicago since 1981, and now makes about $107,000 a year as an assistant district superintendent in the water department, according to city payroll records.

Though he’s well aware Madigan is deeply unpopular across much of Illinois — and widely blamed for the state’s dire financial condition — D’Amico remains a steadfast ally, arguing the speaker has fended off a right-wing push by Gov. Bruce Rauner, a relentless Madigan critic.

Since taking office, D’Amico has only faced three election opponents. He beat them all by at least 19 points. His top campaign donor is Democratic Majority, a political action committee Madigan controls.

D’Amico rejects Biela’s charge that he’s a machine guy in lockstep with the speaker. He told me he’s repeatedly voted for property tax relief, as well as for investments in schools, parks and libraries.

“My campaign is based on volunteers and people based in the communities — people who believe in what I believe in,” he said.

Clearly, a lot would have to go Biela’s way for her to win. It doesn’t help that Republicans don’t have a functioning campaign operation in Chicago or Cook County.

Biela was recruited to run last year by fellow Republicans in the Northwest Side GOP Club, a group trying to build a presence in that corner of the city and nearby suburbs — including by playing off fears of an affordable housing proposal.

The Illinois Opportunity Project, a nonprofit organization that advocates for smaller government and limits on union rights, stepped in to pay for Biela’s campaign legal fees, phone banking and consulting, records show.

But Biela said she was uncomfortable with how closely the IOP people and their ally Dan Proft, a well-known conservative activist, wanted to control her message.

Proft and IOP leaders have waged political war on Rauner and other Republicans they believe have betrayed the right on abortion, among other issues. During the primaries last winter, Proft served as an adviser to Rauner’s opponent, state Rep. Jeanne Ives, while a super PAC he runs, Liberty Principles, backed a challenge against House Republican Leader Jim Durkin. Proft’s candidates lost both races.

But even after the primaries, Biela said Proft told her she couldn’t work with Durkin or his House Republican Organization, saying, “It’s black or white — you have to pick a team.”

The conversation left her wondering how the GOP could beat Madigan and the Democrats if its factions are fighting with each other.

Proft didn’t dispute Biela’s account.

“We support candidates committed to the economic liberty policy agenda who want to bring policy revolution to Springfield,” he said in an email. “The Rauner-financed House Republicans support surrender Republicans who raise taxes and fold in with Chicago Democrat Socialists and their big government, cultural Marxist, status quo agenda. The two visions are mutually exclusive.”

Proft characterized Biela as naive. “Unfortunately, like so many first-time candidates, Amanda doesn’t know what she doesn’t know,” he said. “Amanda will lose badly.”

After their conversation, Biela said, she broke with Proft and began working with the House Republican Organization, which has helped her with promotional materials and volunteers. In June, Durkin’s campaign fund transferred $250 to Biela’s.

That’s not much money. Even after Rauner’s campaign gave the House Republican Organization $2 million a few weeks ago — he’s the group’s top financial backer — the HRO has to focus on districts that the GOP might be able to take from Democrats. Biela, who’s hoping for more support, said she has to prove her district is one of them.

She also knows she can’t afford to blanket the district with mailings or put ads on TV, as more flush campaigns are able to do. At the end of June, when quarterly reports were last filed, her campaign fund had about $6,100 on hand. D’Amico’s had $369,000, much of it from Madigan’s organizations and various unions.

In spite of the financial and organizational mismatch, Beila argues she could pull off an upset. Biela said a lot of people, including some Democrats, are tired of being overtaxed and ruled by political families like D’Amico’s and Madigan’s. So she’s walking the district and talking about the machine and high taxes — and mostly avoiding subjects like abortion, immigration and President Trump.

“I talk about things that have an appeal to everyone,” she said.

She’s often rebuffed — sometimes even before she speaks. But at some homes she’s been greeted with enthusiasm. When Glenview resident Christopher Kellogg opened his door last week, Biela made her usual declaration that she was taking on the Madigan machine.

“Oh, thank God,” Kellogg told her. “I’m fed up with it.”

Republicans are pushing for three downstate counties to include a referendum question on the November ballot asking whether voters support the General Assembly’s efforts to pass additional gun control legislation. Meanwhile, Illinois and Chicago are among the signees of a formal complaint against the U.S. Census Bureau for its decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census.

A Friday ruling issued by a federal judge in Washington, D.C. undoes a Federal Election Commission regulation that has allowed donors to so-called “dark money” organizations to remain anonymous — though the ruling is likely to be appealed.

All campaign contributions reported by Republicans (or Democrats) last week looked diminutive in comparison to the $3.5 million the Liberty Principles PAC banked from Wisconsin billionaire Dick Uihlein. Meanwhile, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed 71 bills, including one that expands sexual harassment education in Illinois public schools.