July 19, 2020
The (Champaign) News-Gazette
Virus numbers tell a grim story
Continuing his battle to limit the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. J.B. Pritzker last week announced a more targeted geographic approach to the problem.
In doing so, Pritzker repealed his earlier decision to set up rules applying to four regions of our large, industrial state. Now, he’s created 11 zones that will allow health officials to take a much more narrow approach in identifying and dealing with any outbreaks.
Pritzker also raised the possibility of re-imposing restrictions on businesses and individuals in zones where coronavirus statistics reveal a growing problem.
Pritzker’s more precise approach - moving to 11 zones from four - is a tacit admission that critics were correct when they argued that his initial approach was far too broad to apply to the state’s 102 counties. Without saying that specifically, that’s what he said.
“We’re continually evaluating what works and what doesn’t work,” he said.
That’s a common-sense approach on public-policy questions, particularly this one.
As has been said before, if anything is clear about the coronavirus pandemic, it’s that far more is not known about what works than is known.
Few governors have been more aggressive than Pritzker in taking steps to limit the virus’s spread. He shut down the state’s economy in March to restrict spread of the virus and has been reluctant to ease up on restrictions, even though the public has grown restive.
Obviously, Pritzker thought he was doing the right thing for the right reasons. Even now, he brags about the success of his policies, characterizing Illinois’ “infection rate” as several times lower than surrounding states.
The coronavirus has produced an avalanche of statistics. So it’s unclear to what Pritzker is referring.
The Statista website indicated that, as of July 15, Illinois had an infection rate of 1,236 per 100,000 people, the 12th highest in the nation. The hardest-hit states, in order, are New York (2,072 per 100,000), New Jersey (1,981 per 100,000) and Louisiana (1,765 per 100,000).
Statista shows all of Illinois’ neighboring states with lower rates - Iowa, 1,137 per 100,000; Indiana, 783; Michigan, 780; Wisconsin, 651; Missouri, 476; and Kentucky, 453.
NPR’s coronavirus statistics website reports that as of Thursday, Illinois has had 157,825 cases and 7,427 deaths. It puts Illinois’ total deaths at No. 4 nationwide, trailing New York (32,427 deaths), New Jersey (15,634) and Massachusetts (8,368).
Michigan has had 6,330 deaths, even though its number of cases (78,913) is slightly more than half of Illinois’.
Of Illinois’ five other neighboring states, total deaths range from 645 (Kentucky) to 2,785 (Indiana), and cases range from 20,677 (Kentucky) to 53,370 (Indiana).
All kinds of factors contribute to those statistics. Urban areas, like Chicago, where people are piled on top of each other, are a coronavirus problem. So, too, are large populations of groups of those who are especially vulnerable to the virus - minorities, the elderly and those with co-morbidities.
Whatever the reasons for Illinois’ circumstances, the numbers show the state is not necessarily doing well in its efforts to limit the spread of the virus.
In that context, Pritzker’s more precise approach is welcome.
The coronavirus represents a double whammy to the state - both a public-health and economic disaster whose consequences are ongoing and far-reaching.
That’s why people need to exercise their best judgment when it comes to taking safety measures while maintaining a sense of both humility and skepticism about what works and doesn’t.
___
July 18, 2020
(Arlington Heights) Daily Herald
It can be denied no longer: Speaker Madigan must go
Federal prosecutors have not yet indicated whether they will indict the Illinois House speaker they dub “Public Official A” in documents filed with an explosive ComEd plea deal on Friday, but as far as the quality of Illinois government is concerned, they don’t have to.
The suggestions of impropriety in those documents are so overwhelming that Michael J. Madigan, whether innocent or guilty of wrongdoing, cannot escape being a major distraction both to good government and to the hopes of the political party he leads. The Chicago Democrat has survived many a controversy and many a scandal in his 35 years as Illinois House speaker, but this one is unsurvivable.
This time, it is inevitable that Speaker Madigan must go.
Consider the implications just from the standpoint of the Democrats: Imagine Gov. J.B. Pritzker trying to pass a major graduated income tax initiative with Madigan at the helm? Imagine Sen. Tammy Duckworth seeking to win a vice presidential nod from Joe Biden while carrying the Madigan scandal around her neck? Imagine one more thing Democrats want to worry about defending in their efforts to keep Lauren Underwood and Sean Casten in vulnerable Congressional seats? Does even relatively safe Sen, Dick Durbin want to run with this as his campaign backdrop?
And that’s just the politics. Consider the implications for the General Assembly: Imagine anything of significance getting done with the taint of this.
Pritzker on Friday declared himself “deeply troubled” and “furious” about the corruption case in which ComEd agreed to pay $200 million in fines and then placed a large if on the speaker’s future.
“If,” Pritzker said at a speech in Waukegan, “these allegations of wrongdoing by the speaker are true, there is no question that he will have betrayed the public trust, and he must resign.”
With respect, Governor, that if is neither necessary nor relevant. The speaker’s effectiveness is too deeply compromised.
His indifference to calls last year for urgent ethics reforms in the wake of several high-profile political investigations ought to be enough to demonstrate his tin ear to the public’s demands for good government. Now, he is inarguably the contaminated focal point of discussion on all matters confronting the state, threatening any hope of reasoned discussion on every issue from coronavirus response to the state’s gaping budget hole.
Madigan insists that any claims that he, personally, ever traded favors for jobs for his friends or “made a legislative decision with improper motives” are “unfounded.” Even if that denial is true and the speaker is guilty of no legal infraction, the case laid out by the prosecutor against ComEd — and said to be expanding to other major companies — suggests he at the least must be guilty of woefully bad judgment in the selection of his close associates. To believe the denial would also require one to believe that Madigan must be guilty of dreadful incompetence in the oversight of his legislative duties.
He may not be, in the fabled political lexicon, a crook, but he is at least a ruinous centerpiece for public debate. The governor must know this. The legion of Democratic lawmakers who have cowered under Madigan, lo, these many decades surely must accept it now, too. Can they not see that their persistent toadyism reflects, in a different arena, the very cowardice of which rank-and-file Republicans are accused when it comes to reining in the excesses of President Donald Trump?
One, at least, does. Grayslake Democratic Sen. Melinda Bush issued a statement Friday pointedly critical of the management of Illinois politics.
“We can’t allow this shameful behavior to continue — especially from someone who has a lead role in both the General Assembly and throughout the state,” she said. “The continuous ethics and legal violations have been swept under the rug for far too long.”
Bravo for Sen. Bush. Bravo too to Democratic state Rep. Kelly Cassidy of Chicago. And to Democrat Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Cook County Board. All had the backbone to join multiple Republicans in sharply abhorring the scandal.
That said, we regret that each has stopped short of specifically calling for the speaker’s resignation just yet.
We cannot.
Illinois and the Democratic Party in Illinois need a new direction and a new vision.
To be sure, the state needs the legislative attention to ethics that Bush emphasized, but it also needs something more — or rather something less. It needs Mike Madigan’s departure and a replacement with the credibility to lead that reform.
___
July 18, 2020
The (Springfield) State Journal-Register
Mr. Madigan, step aside and let ethics reform happen
The Commonwealth Edison agreement with federal prosecutors gives Illinoisans $200 million reasons to demand legislators immediately get back to work on ethics reform.
ComEd admitted to federal prosecutors that it arranged jobs, vendor subcontracts and “monetary payments” associated with those jobs and contracts to various associates of a high-level elected state official to influence and reward the official’s efforts to help ComEd ’s dealings in the legislature.
Court documents identified the House Speaker as the highly placed official, but did not name him specifically and made no mention of any charges. However, House Speaker Michael Madigan confirmed that he was subpoenaed Friday morning and in a statement said he would “cooperate and respond to those requests for documents.” He also denied any wrongdoing.
But the implications of the federal investigation would make it unlikely that the nation’s longest-serving legislative leader could oversee ethics reform with any credibility. Furthermore, if the allegations against Madigan are found true, he must resign.
The ComEd mess is the latest in a long list of public corruption scandals that have gripped Illinois. The message to lawmakers should be loud and clear get to work on figuring out how to govern free of backdoor dealings and shady handshakes. Enough is enough. No more excuses, no more lame delays.
House Democrats particularly need to show they’re serious on the subject by publicly demanding reforms now and accepting no more delays from Madigan. It speaks volumes if they don’t act.
Really, how hard is it for lawmakers to commit to serving the people of Illinois with integrity and honesty? Is our longstanding history of breeding corrupt leaders so part of our DNA that it can’t be shed?
For the sake of the people of Illinois, it is time for politicians and public officials to stand up for what’s right. Get the ethics reform committee back to work on a comprehensive, bipartisan plan with real accountability. End public corruption in Illinois once and for all.
And Mr. Madigan, please step aside and let your colleagues lead the way to reform.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.