Month: June 2021

Today the Chicago Tribune published an expose detailing how the Pritzker administration failed to protect Illinoisans from an onslaught of fraudsters gaming the state’s unemployment insurance program to steal taxpayer money meant for those experiencing joblessness during the pandemic. 

TRIBUNE – How Illinois failed to stop a flood of unemployment fraud during the pandemic: “Records obtained by the Tribune show the flood of fraud happened after IDES failed to follow federal recommendations to adopt free fraud-fighting tools that were made available in 2019. Only recently did the agency begin using those tools. A separate process to help identify problematic claims also didn’t become fully functional until February, nearly a year into the pandemic.”

If someone had fraudulent claims made in their name and then subsequently became jobless, they most likely spent months in purgatory, working with a failing state agency to receive the aid they needed during a global pandemic. That’s what happened to  Kristin Deming, a Lockport woman who “said that when she tried to file an unemployment claim in March, she learned someone had already received benefits in her name.” She then spent three months “trying to get IDES to rectify the problem.”

Not only were victims of fraud denied important unemployment benefits, likely billions of dollars in taxpayer money was wasted and handed over to scam artists while Pritzker’s administration stalled on implementing the necessary safeguards. The Tribune reports that while the state hasn’t released figures yet, that “if the amount tracks with national estimates, it could involve billions of dollars.”

Disgusted by this abject failure, Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy released the following statement:

“The Pritzker administration’s incompetence has cost countless jobless individuals the benefits they deserve and wasted billions of dollars in taxpayer money. On a day when the Governor is touting bond agencies upgrading the financial position of Illinois from the worst state in America to a slightly better worst state in America, victims like Kristin Deming are struggling to recover because the State of Illinois failed them.”

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Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy has released the following statement in response to JB Pritzker signing the new Democrat-drawn legislative maps:

“Governor Pritzker lied to the people of Illinois when he pledged to veto a politician-drawn map. Governor Pritzker promised to take politicians out of the mapmaking process and hand it over to an independent commission that would be required to follow the Voting Rights Act and protect minority representation. Instead, he let politicians pick their own voters, split up numerous communities of interest, and use faulty data all in an effort to rig the system for those already in power. Pritzker didn’t keep his word and cannot be trusted.”

Pritzker was asked in 2018 by Capitol Fax publisher Rich Miller whether he would veto a map in “any way drafted or created by legislators, political party leaders and/or their staffs or allies?” The Governor responded, saying, “Yes, I will pledge to veto.”

Today, after finishing up numerous one-on-one interviews with media outlets this week, he didn’t veto. He signed off on the maps created by “legislators, political party leaders and/or their staffs.” 

The media must now demand answers to why the Governor lied. The media should not let him get away with vague answers pontificating on his definition of fairness. That is irrelevant to the very specific pledge he made in 2018 that he has now violated.

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Illinois Democrats routinely put on a masterclass in how not to govern a state. Nothing displays this total disregard for good governance quite like their annual late-night budget drop and last minute blind vote. That’s right, Democrat budget negotiators again dropped an over 3,000 page document that spends more the $42 billion on the laps of legislators late last night and asked them to vote on the package minutes later without reading the document, holding committee hearings, or engaging in debate on the floor.

Democrat members of the General Assembly dutifully voted for this year’s budget and will undoubtedly go back home to their districts and tell taxpayers they are fighting for their interests in Springfield. That would be a lie.

Highlights of this years budget include:

• $1,100 pay raises for legislators
• A doubling of the legislator district budget allotment
• Hundreds of millions in new discretionary spending
• Increases taxes by over $600 million on job creators across the state
• Passed at 3 AM with no committee hearing and no debate

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy released the following statement in response to last night’s charade:

“The budget process in Illinois is an embarrassment. This year’s budget, like last years, was passed in the dead of night with no legislators actually reading the bill. It features new spending, higher taxes on small businesses, legislator pay raises, and extra perks for politicians. At a time when families and businesses have had to tighten their belts due to the pandemic, Illinois Democrats are going hog-wild at the federal government bailout trough with billions in new spending. 

Democrats should be ashamed of the process and the resulting budget they rushed to the floor at midnight when no one was watching. This budget makes clear that it’s not a ‘new day’ as Speaker Welch claimed when he took over for his mentor, Mike Madigan. This is deja vu all over again.”

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