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CHICAGO — Illinois residents continue to FLEE Democrats’ high taxes, refusal to address rising crime and anti-business policies. Hundreds-of-thousands of people are leaving Illinois, and it’s not just Chicago either. Since 2020, Chicago has lost 82,000 people, 3% of its population and Cook County as a whole lost 188,000 people, or 3.6% of its population. Outside of Cook County, further suburbs lost between 4% and 5% of their population.

In total, Illinois has lost 263,780 residents since 2020.

Meanwhile, instead of admitting Illinois’ problems and residents’ concerns, Governor JB Pritzker called the numbers FAKE NEWS, and cast doubt on Joe Biden’s U.S. Census Bureau. Brandon Johnson highlighted decades of Democrat control in Chicago, spotlighting Chicago’s lack of affordable housing, job losses, closed schools and a need for additional mental health resources. Notably, neither gave solutions to keep residents and grow Illinois.

“Illinois residents are fleeing the Prairie State as they run from Democrats socialistic policies, high taxes, a migrant crisis that continues to grow worse and high crime,” said ILGOP Chairman Don Tracy. “Illinois leaders like Pritzker are putting their heads in the sand and refusing to see the effects of their agenda. As long as Democrats claim Illinois as a Democrat utopia, more residents will continue to flee.”

POLITICO: “The DNC Is Preparing for the Worst in Chicago – Without the Help of the City’s Mayor”

As Democrats plan their convention, they’ll have to address the elephant in the room: How to mitigate the threat of disruptions and work with a rookie mayor who unabashedly sympathizes with the protesters.

POLITICO

May 10, 2024

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/05/10/rookie-mayor-chicago-dnc-00157208

There’s already a joke going around Democratic strategist circles that the main difference between 2024 and 1968 is that the Chicago mayor this year will be on the side of the protesters, not the cops.

Forty-eight-year-old Brandon Johnson, who was elected mayor last year after incumbent Lori Lightfoot failed to even make the runoff, was an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union and has yet to fully make the jump from activist to mayor of one of America’s largest cities.

It’s ironic because soon after he became mayor, he hosted DNC Chair Jaime Harrison for lunch and, according to a Democrat familiar with the conversation, immediately pronounced that “nobody else represents the city but me.” He also asked if Harrison would have his back as a fellow Black man (Harrison, I’m told, tried to delicately explain that the convention would be a partnership between the party, the city and the state of Illinois).

“If there’s any mayor that understands the value of protest and demonstration, it’s me,” Johnson told reporters earlier this week at a groundbreaking, dismissing a question about Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) concerns over unrest in the city during the convention. Johnson said, “Without protests and real demands of a government, people of color and women do not have a place in society.”

More striking was how Johnson responded to whether he thought it was appropriate for police to have been dispatched last weekend to a protest at one of Chicago’s art museums. He spoke in a detached manner – the museum “made that request and the police department reacted,” the mayor said – evading the question and leaving the impression he somehow wasn’t in charge of the city and its police department.

Johnson praised the importance of protecting free speech and initially said that was paramount to safety, which he called “second most important,” before seeming to recognize his error.

When I asked him what his vision of a successful Democratic convention looked like, Johnson repeated the same formulation – “safe, vibrant and energetic” – before saying he wanted young people to “see what democracy really looks like.”

At no point did he mention Joe Biden or the importance of the convention in helping the president’s reelection.

It was an eye-opening exchange. And it made clear why so many Democrats, in Chicago and beyond, respond to questions about Johnson with a sigh and hope that he’ll recognize the weight of this moment, both for his career, the city and the country.

CHICAGO — Another week, another set of crises, bad headlines and screw ups from Illinois Democrats. See for yourself:

Johnson Opposed Education Bill Resoundingly Supported In Springfield

Pritzker’s Admin Can’t Get Out Of Their Own Way

Johnson’s Appointee Doesn’t Know About Budget Shortfall

President Biden Jeered By Protestors

Democrats Decide That Stealing Elections Is Ok Now

Illinois Democrats like JB Pritzker and Brandon Johnson need to get their act together because Chicago is taking center stage in just a few months to host the Democratic National Convention.

Bottom Line: It’s becoming clear that Illinois Democrats are set to embarrass the Prairie State. Word of advice – get it together.

CHICAGO — Illinois Democrats showed just why Chicago has become the butt of so many jokes nationwide yesterday. Take a look…

SHOT:

CHASER:

Today, Joe Biden returns to Chicago to raise money off of his big-spending mega donors, but don’t expect him to comment on the ongoing migrant crisis enveloping the city, rising crime thanks to JB Pritzker’s “un”-SAFE-T Act, and the fact that two thirds of Americans think the economy was better under Trump.

ILGOP Chairman Don Tracy released the following statement pointing out the struggles Illinois families are facing as a result of Joe Biden’s disastrous agenda in Washington:

CHICAGO — Yesterday, Illinois Democrats voted to protect their own cronies and take choice away from voters. At the 11th hour, Democrats added an amendment to prevent the slating of candidates, a practice that has been in place for years, in order to protect two of their own members facing legitimate challenges – Katie Stuart and Mary Edly-Allen. Democrats are running scared because they know their policies have made them increasingly unpopular, so they resort to tricks like these to protect their allies.

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy released the following statement:
“When you hear about how loathed politicians are in poll after poll, all you have to do is look to the Illinois Democratic Party to see why. Sneaking amendments into legislation at the last minute to protect their cronies, taking the voice of Illinois voters away from them for a numbers game in Springfield, and thinking that Illinoisans are too dumb to notice should tell you all you need to know about how Illinois Democrats like to do business.”

Last week, Kim Foxx, Cook County’s unpopular State’s Attorney, announced that her office will prosecute unlawful protestors at Chicago’s Democratic National Convention. For the last four years, Foxx has failed to prosecute criminal violations committed during protests that she deemed “peaceful,” which probably means “mostly peaceful” as so memorably stated during the Kenosha BLM riot by a CNN reporter in front of a burning building.

Now, Foxx has decided to selectively change Cook County prosecution rules as many Democrat officials stand idly by while violent protests break out on college campuses in Illinois and beyond.

Foxx should never have allowed illegal, violent protests and flash mobs to occur without serious consequences, and instead should have been prosecuting offenders to the fullest extent of the law. Violent crime in Chicagoland leads the nation because of rogue prosecutors like Kim Foxx and Eric Rinehart.

“Protestors, regardless of race or background, including BLM, antifa and pro-Hamas group protesters at Northwestern University and other campuses, who engage in serious criminal conduct, endanger citizens with acts of violence, resist arrest, and destroy property should always face repercussions for such unlawful acts – not get a free Foxx pass. For the last four years, soft-on-crime, do-little prosecutors like Foxx and Rinehart have endangered our state by failing to do their sworn duty and letting criminal defendants with long rap sheets out of custody and free to undermine, endanger and threaten public safety,” said Illinois Republican Chair Don Tracy.

CHICAGO — As Americans across the country filed their taxes, Illinois residents should remember: Corruption costs taxpayers billions of dollars. When corrupt politicians lie, steal and cheat, the people of Illinois pay the price.

See for yourself:

“Plenty of forces enable corruption to thrive in Illinois – loophole-ridden ethics laws, policymakers unwilling to confront the problem head-on and a drastically shrunken nonpartisan press corps that once kept a close eye on political chicanery.”

. . .

“The ComEd bribery also produced a direct cost to millions of ratepayers across northern Illinois, as the utility’s balance sheets took on a gold-plated hue.

In last spring’s ComEd trial, a senior company executive testified that one piece of legislation that was part of the Madigan bribery scheme generated a $1.8 billion windfall for ComEd.

That same 2016 law included another $2.3 billion over 10 years for ComEd corporate parent Exelon to bail out two of its cash-draining nuclear power plants. That money largely came from ratepayers, though ComEd has said that energy efficiencies allowed under the 2016 law also helped customers save money.

Northwestern University law professor Juliet Sorensen teaches courses on corruption and is a former federal prosecutor.

“Corruption . it’s a killer of economic growth and development,” Sorensen said. “The ComEd case is a stark example. It looks like the jury understood it to be as well.

“Some cases are more subtle. A hand-to-hand bribe transaction may not directly impact me in my daily life. But it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t negatively impact the place I live and the economy that I live in.”