Month: October 2022

Twelve years after getting rejected by Illinois voters after his scandal-ridden Senate run, Alexi Giannoulias has spent much of his campaign & reclamation project hiding from Illinois voters. This week, his Republican opponent for Secretary of State Dan Brady released an income tax summary from the past two years and called on Giannoulias to do the same.

“Alexi Giannoulias’ record continues to follow him. His history of fiscal mismanagement as State Treasurer and family bank’s loans to mobsters when he was senior loan officer should worry Illinois voters at the prospect of putting him in charge of our state’s largest office,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy. “With such a checkered past, Giannoulias should follow his opponent’s lead and release his taxes.”

As State Treasurer, Giannoulias’ mismanagement of Illinois’ college loans savings programs, caused families to lose millions. When he was Senior Loan Officer, Giannoulias’ family bank loaned millions of dollars to mobsters. Later, the bank was seized by federal regulators.

“His lack of transparency is the latest in a long line of reasons why Illinois voters should not trust Giannoulias for higher office,” said Tracy.

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Today the Illinois Republican Party was made aware of a ballot issue in Schuyler County, where Early Voters were given ballots containing the name of a former Republican candidate instead of current Republican nominee for Senate Kathy Salvi.  As well, over 300 Vote By Mail ballots containing this same defect had been disseminated to Schuyler County voters.  Kathy Salvi’s campaign was justifiably upset over this error.  

From the Salvi campaign press release earlier this afternoon: 

“On Tuesday, October 11th, it was brought to my attention that ballots drafted by the Schuyler County Board of Elections, and approved by the Illinois State Board of Elections, incorrectly listed one of my primary opponents as the Republican nominee for United States Senate.  Our campaign legal team immediately took action and worked with the Schuyler County State’s Attorney. While we came to the best remedy – to sequester the hundreds of ballots that were distributed – this does not solve the most pressing problem of election integrity and transparency.”

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy issued the following statement in solidarity with Salvi and her campaign:

“Voters need to have confidence that our election process is conducted fairly and transparently. This is an unacceptable error by the Schuyler County Clerk.  While we are lucky that we caught this error early, this doesn’t change the fact that it could very well disenfranchise dozens of her voters. Officials responsible must be held accountable professionally, and Schuyler County must come up with a solution to remedy their mistake and ensure these voters have a say in who represents them in the United States Senate.”

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Statement from ILGOP Executive Director Shaun McCabe on false and defamatory “All for Justice” TV Ad:

“The latest false TV ad from ‘All for Justice’ is even more defamatory than their first false ad. This Madigan Machine-backed group is lying about Michael Burke and Mark Curran because they’re attempting to cover up Mary K. O’Brien’s and Elizabeth Rochford’s ties to the Madigan Machine. Don’t be fooled, Illinois voters. If elected to the Supreme Court, Madigan Machine judges O’Brien and Rochford will put their political cronies before the people of Illinois.”

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More State’s Attorneys are joining the chorus of law enforcement leaders suing the Pritzker Administration challenging the SAFE-T Act to stop the potential release of thousands of violent criminals back onto our streets. 

From WTVO last week: 

“Winnebago County State’s Attorney J. Hanley has joined a host of other Illinois state’s attorneys in challenging the constitutionality of the state’s new “no cash bail” provision in the SAFE-T Act.

‘I cannot ignore that, as currently drafted, this law is unconstitutional. Further, it will create unjust results and does not protect the public. Accordingly, it is my duty as your State’s Attorney to fight it,’ Hanley said.

Last week, the Winnebago County Board voted against supporting Illinois controversial SAFE-T Act law, which would eliminate cash bail statewide on January 1st, 2023.”

From Mercer County State’s Attorney Grace Simpson’s press release reported on by WRMJ: 

“It is of utmost importance as a State’s Attorney’s Office that the Constitution is abided by on all levels. As the Chief Legal Officer in Mercer County, it would be unethical to move forward with the implementation of the SAFE-T, without properly raising those concerns to the Court. I am obligated to inform those that I have sworn to protect that version of House Bill 3653, now Public Act 101–652 set to take effect January 1, 2023 poses a serious threat to public safety, specifically, to victims of and witnesses to violent crimes in our community.”

17 of Illinois’ 102 State’s Attorneys have now sued the administration while 100 of Illinois’ State’s Attorneys publicly oppose the legislation. When pressed on the debate stage Thursday, Pritzker refused to provide a specific answer regarding how he would reform his signature legislation.

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The Illinois Republican Party issued the following statement following the conclusion of the 1st televised debate between State Senator Darren Bailey Governor JB Pritzker:

“Governor Pritzker’s defining legacy – the [un]SAFE-T Act has made our communities less safe, and unfortunately the worst is yet to come. On January 1st cash bail is set to be eliminated across Illinois, potentially releasing violent criminals back onto our streets. 

100 of Illinois’ 102 State’s Attorneys oppose this law while numerous Democratic State’s Attorneys have sued the administration to stop it from taking effect. When pressed by moderators numerous times. Governor Pritzker failed tonight to provide specific changes that would support to reform his disastrous law to save lives before it’s too late. 

Make no mistake, Darren Bailey won this debate. He outlined a positive vision for our state’s future – one that prioritizes public safety, law enforcement, and a strong & competitive business climate. Illinois voters are fed up with the culture of corruption and criminal coddling that has defined Pritzker’s tenure in office. It’s high time for a change.”

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The ILGOP today unveiled CleanUpILCourts.com, highlighting the Madigan Machine’s historic influence on our judicial system and their latest attempts to stack the bench with two of their very own. 

Judge Mary K. O’Brien is the ultimate Madigan insider and her deep ties to the Madigan Machine are well known. O’Brien was appointed as an Appellate Court Justice during her final year in the Illinois General Assembly after voting with Madigan 93.6% of the time. She also “Helped Madigan Regain The Speakership,” and received over $200,000 in political contributions from political groups led by Madigan. O’Brien’s record on the bench is even more concerning, having overturned the convictions of numerous violent criminals. 

Judge Elizabeth Rochford is funded by many of the same trial lawyers that bankrolled indicted Speaker Mike Madigan and his judicial cronies for years – receiving nearly $600,000 from them. Further, Rochford donated $1,500 to indicted Chicago Alderman and political machine boss Ed Burke, after he was indicted on corruption charges. When asked, Rochford called Burke a “longtime friend of our family.” Rochford has donated a total of $15,350 to Burke since 1999. She’s also used her connections to lower her property taxes under the same property tax appeals system that made Madigan millions of dollars.

“Illinois voters deserve to know the truth. The Madigan Machine has had far too much influence on our judicial election process for far too long,” said Illinois Republican Party Executive Director Shaun McCabe. “Justice Mary K. O’Brien and Judge Elizabeth Rochford are no exception. Instead of electing two more Madigan Machine retreads to our state’s highest court, it’s well past time Illinois voters made a clean break with the Madigan Machine and its ‘politics-as-usual’ process for electing our judges.”

When voters learn the truth about O’Brien and Rochford’s Madigan Machine ties and troubling records, unsurprisingly they oppose them by wide margins.

Click here to visit the website and get the facts.

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The Pritzker Administration and Democratic leadership have gone into full damage control mode on the SAFE-T Act in the past few weeks with the looming elimination of cash bail going into effect on January 1st. Meanwhile, 100 of Illinois’ 102 States Attorneys have sounded alarm bells on cashless bail – including multiple Democratic States Attorneys who have filed lawsuits to stop it.

“​​No cash bail is no cash bail. There’s going to be so many bad actors that are not going to be subject to bond hearings or detention hearings based on the law that he has created,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin.

Democrats can diminish and deflect all that they want, but by no discernable metric has the law been a success. Meanwhile, we’re already seeing the disastrous effects of the elimination of cash bail in other states that have passed similar legislation. New York eliminated cash bail for most non-violent offenses in 2019. 

Since going into effect in January 2020, New York’s bail reform law has led to an unprecedented massive rise in crime, violent reoffenders, and accused criminals skipping trial. According to the New York Post in February, “Nearly every single city police precinct has seen spikes in crime so far this year — including five in which the rate has doubled.” 

As a direct result of the new bail law, 20.1% of “felony arraignments” were rearrestedin 2021, with 16.1% failing to appear at arraignment. These stats could indicate an even more grim future on the horizon for Chicago which has already seen a 37% spike in crime since this time last year.

Bizarrely, Speaker Welch is sticking by the law. “We know the SAFE-T Act will help people, it will help people,” he said as reported by NBC5 Chicago.

“I guess it’s no surprise that so many Illinois Democrat political leaders continue to support legislation that makes law enforcement more difficult, more dangerous, and more expensive. So many of their Illinois Democrat colleagues have been indicted or convicted for corruption since 2019, they’re probably very supportive of the defund, disarm and demoralize law enforcement movement and overly sympathetic to criminal defendants,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy.

Seven Democratic State Lawmakers – including Speaker Madigan – and nine Chicago Aldermen have been indicted or convicted since Pritzker took office. The SAFE-T Act’s champion in the Senate, Elgie Sims, is currently facing an FBI investigation. 

Further, the SAFE-T Act is expected to lead to property tax hikes across the state as a result of unfunded mandates placed on law enforcement. 

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Governor Pritzker and Illinois Democrats put millions of dollars behind a failed tax referendum in 2020. Now the Democrats are proposing a trojan horse tax increase via yet another constitutional referendum this election, called Amendment 1 or the Workers Rights Amendment (WRA), a misnomer if there ever was one. Amendment 1 is not a workers rights amendment. It is a government union power grab that would give unions like Chicago Teachers Union and AFSCME super-legislative powers and trigger property tax increases across our state.

From Crain’s Chicago Business on October 3rd:

“If the WRA passes, Illinois will stand out for giving broader constitutional protections to organized labor than any other state. Its sweeping language provides that “workers shall have the fundamental right to organize and to bargain collectively” over wages, hours, working conditions, workplace safety “and to protect their economic welfare.” It bars any legislation that interferes with this right, and—going further than any of the handful of states that constitutionally protect collective bargaining—explicitly prohibits “right to work laws” like those recently adopted by neighboring states.

The WRA is bad policy, and it couldn’t come at a worse time. A broad grant of constitutional power to unions would fuel the growing belief that Illinois is hostile to business. And a new restriction on labor-related legislation would tie the hands of lawmakers as they try to respond to the state’s ever-evolving needs…

…The WRA would similarly hamstring government in dealing with important public policy questions. In addition to the specifically enumerated bargaining rights, it puts loosely defined matters relating to the “economic welfare” of workers beyond the reach of legislators. Imagine how far an aggressive union could stretch that elastic concept…

That’s the last thing we need now. Concerns over Illinois’ business climate—the crime, the taxes, the regulatory burdens—are spreading far and wide, while defections of big-name companies Boeing, Caterpillar and Citadel grab headlines.

At the same time, we’re competing for big economic prizes such as electric-vehicle battery plants with states deemed more business-friendly. Our reputation as a difficult place to do business surely contributed to our failure to win one of roughly 20 North American EV battery plants announced so far. 

Bestowing special constitutional status on unions would give companies one more reason to avoid Illinois.”

“Amendment 1 would make our state even less business-friendly and less competitive right as businesses already leave our state in droves. It would empower and make state and city bureaucrats and employees even less efficient and accountable than they are now. This constitutional referendum grants super-legislative powers to union bosses that could only be changed by further constitutional referendums, not legislative action. Illinois voters should reject Amendment 1 as the government union power grab and trojan horse pathway to tax increases that it is,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy

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Springfield, IL – When State Treasurer Mike Frerichs claims to stand tall, he never mentions that he will go to any length to avoid answering the tough questions. Yesterday, he used a question from a reporter as an opportunity to lob baseless allegations at his opponent, Deputy Minority Leader Tom Demmer.

“Today the Demmer Campaign tried to interrupt a press conference I had highlighting how we help people with disabilities have meaningful work.”

The Demmer campaign quickly refuted the baseless allegations by Frerichs, “‘Earlier today, Mike Frerichs accused my campaign of attempting to interrupt a press conference he called to discuss the ABLE Program. That accusation is absolutely false. In reality, he yelled at a news reporter after the press conference when he received a question he didn’t like,” said Demmer in a statement.  

The statement continued “To make the unfounded accusation that I would disrupt a press conference dealing with this important issue is despicable but is a consistent pattern of Treasurer Frerichs. He abruptly canceled his own press conference after his comments in support of the retirement tax and then called the Daily Herald and Todd Maisch liars for confirming those comments.”

“Frerichs has spent months dodging tough questions when pressed on his past statements. To make up baseless allegations of this sort is a new low. With early voting underway, Frerichs should spend less time hiding from voters and blaming others, and start answering tough questions on his record,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy.

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