| | | | | |  | | By Shia Kapos | Good Wednesday morning, Illinois. How nice that it rained yesterday, adding even more humidity. Love Illinois summer! |  | TOP TALKER | | | 
Democrat Nikki Budzinski announced Aug. 24, 2021, that she will run for the Illinois 13th congressional district seat. | Screen shot from her campaign video | Nikki Budzinski, who just came off a stint working for the Biden administration, made it official yesterday that she's running for Congress in the 13th District now represented by Republican Rep. Rodney Davis. This is one of the most high-profile races in Illinois and the country as Democrats try to keep their majority in Congress. The most immediate question, though, is whether Davis will be the Republican in the race. The congressman from Taylorsville hasn't committed to running for a sixth term because congressional maps haven't been drawn (or revealed) by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly—and they aren't expected to be anytime soon. Lawmakers first must deal with redrawing legislative maps. What's for certain is that the 13th will become more Democratic, most likely pulling in East St. Louis and dumping Republican farmland. Davis knows this and has said that he's keeping his options open, possibly to run for governor instead. Why else would a sitting congressman travel all the way to southern Illinois to visit a coal plant that could be shut down as part of a state energy plan that has Gov. J.B. Pritzker's support? Davis isn't the only member of Congress on the bubble about 2022. Congressman Adam Kinzinger is expected to see his congressional district gutted in the redistricting process, "leaving him with just a few bleak options for remaining in office next year," reports POLITICO's Ally Mutnick in a story headlined How screwed is Adam Kinzinger? Kinzinger would be forced "to choose between running in unfamiliar territory, possibly against another incumbent, or making a long shot run for governor or Senate in a blue state — and that assumes Kinzinger could prevail in a GOP primary after spending the last year criticizing a former president who remains beloved by the base," writes Mutnick. There's also talk of another scenario in which the General Assembly combines two of three districts represented by Davis and fellow Republican Reps. Mike Bost and Mary Miller of the 12th and 15th districts, respectively. In the meantime, Budzinski is focusing on raising funds and her profile. She officially kicked off her campaign yesterday with a video telling her story of growing up in a middle-class, union family and going on to work in Gov. J.B. Pritzker's administration as the lead negotiator to bring about the $15 minimum wage that came in the first months of Pritzker's term. "I'm running for Congress because in Illinois, the middle class is slipping away and Rodney Davis isn't doing enough to protect Illinois working families," Budzinski says in the video. Davis' team responded with a familiar political trope, saying Budzinski "helped Mike Madigan put his allies in patronage jobs throughout state government." In a statement, Davis spokesman Aaron DeGroot added: "Illinois voters have had enough of corrupt Madigan Machine politicians like Budzinski." A source familiar with Budzinski's camp says she hasn't worked for Madigan nor will she be accepting donations from him, either. Meanwhile, David Palmer, a Democrat who's also in the race, casts Budzinski as carpetbagger, reports WCIA's Mark Maxwell. FYI, she's originally from Peoria. | | THE BUZZ | | The most powerful player in the complicated negotiations for a clean-energy bill isn't state Senate President Don Harmon, state House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch, labor leaders, trade unions, coal plant owners, Exelon or environmentalists. It's Gov. J.B. Pritzker. He wants the bill done right and isn't going to waver to accommodate the whims of any one constituency. Pritzker doesn't need to. The drawn-out discussions on the energy bill don't hurt the governor politically, observers say. The nuclear and coal plants that hinge on staying open because of the clean-energy bill are located in areas of the state that don't exactly favor Pritzker. He's not losing votes there. If anything, Pritzker looks like the good guy standing up against Exelon, which wants state funding to keep nuclear plants open. Sticking to his guns on decarbonization targets (Pritzker wants zero emissions by 2045) and making sure Illinois is a leader on climate is a win with the environmentalist voters who matter to the Democratic governor. Point being: The folks at the table don't have a Michael Madigan to massage and maneuver legislation to make it work their way. The guy with the power is the governor. Have a tip, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Get in touch: skapos@politico.com | | | | INTRODUCING OTTAWA PLAYBOOK : Join the growing community of Politicos — from lawmakers and leaders to pollsters, staffers, strategists and lobbyists — working to shape Canada's future. Every day, our reporting team pulls back the curtain to shed light on what's really driving the agenda on Parliament Hill, the true players who are shaping politics and policy across Canada, and the impact it all has on the world. Don't miss out on your daily look inside Canadian politics and power. Subscribe to Ottawa Playbook today. | | | | | | | WHERE'S J.B. | | At the Thompson Center at 2 p.m. to sign legislation expanding access to mental healthcare. | | WHERE'S LORI | | No official public events. | | Where's Toni | | At Dunbar Vocational Career Academy at 2:30 p.m. for the grand opening of Larry Roberts Barber College. | | Covid-19 Update | | — CDC pandemic response limited by patchy data on breakthrough infections: "The agency originally tried to track all infections in vaccinated people, from mild to severe. But in May it decided to focus on the most severe cases," by POLITICO's Erin Banco. — Illinois schools flouting Pritzker school mask mandate banned from fall playoff games: The decision "means that high school athletes will be banned from playing in the State Series for a sport if their school is still on the Illinois State Board of Education's probation list for non-compliance with the mask mandate on the "seeding" date — the deadline for entering the playoffs — for a fall sport, IHSA officials said in a statement," reports Tribune's Karen Ann Cullotta. — More Illinois kids hospitalized for Covid-19, but situation is far worse in other states: "This month, an average of more than 30 Illinois children a day have been admitted to hospitals with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, with the rolling seven-day average reaching 40 admissions last Wednesday. A year ago at this time, average daily admissions were around 20 in early August before peaking at 35," by Tribune's Joe Mahr and Lisa Schencker. — Pritzker: Restrictions may return as ICU bed availability drops below 'warning level' in Chicago, other counties, by WGN's Ben Bradley and Meghan Dwyer. — AMITA Health joins hospitals mandating vaccines; Northwestern Medicine, still not, by Sun-Times' Maudlyne Ihejirika. | | FEELING '22 | | — A first for Illinois politics: Lake County treasurer accepts campaign donations of Bitcoin, Dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies: 'It seems to be how people want to give,' said Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim, a Democrat. 'I feel like it's a new frontier.' The Federal Election Commission has allowed crypto donations since 2014, but so far few politicians have taken advantage of that [Andrew Yang, the entrepreneur and Democratic presidential candidate, has been a notable exception]," by Tribune's John Keilman. — Republican Glen Evans running for Illinois state Senate: "Current state Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Andalusia, was drawn out of the district during the Democrat-controlled state legislature remapping process, leaving the seat open for the 2022 election. Evans is an ordained minister and a member of Laborers Local 309, where he served as auditor from 2016 to 2018," by Quad-City Times' Sarah Hayden. — Darren Bailey's got a TikTok that shows him delivering petitions, nearly 45,000, he says—to Gov. J.B. Pritzker's office demanding he rescind "his unilateral mask mandate on our schools. I'm delivering YOUR voice," Bailey says. | | THE STATEWIDES | | — This Illinois county is losing people faster than anywhere in the U.S.: "Alexander County, home to Cairo, dropped more than a third of its population in past decade, as big U.S. counties grew and small ones shrank," by the Wall Street Journal's John McCormick and Chad Day. — Pritzker signs bills calling for inclusive sex ed and conversations about sexting: "Two new laws require Illinois public schools to reevaluate what is taught when discussing personal health and safety and sexual health education….Senate Bill 818 and House Bill 24 require what is taught in classrooms to be inclusive and affirming for all students in kindergarten through 12th grade," reports State Journal-Register's Natalie Pierre. ...He signs bills to prevent underage e-cigarette sales, by WAND TV. ...And another bill creates a task force addressing local journalism, by the Edwardsville Intelligencer's Shepard Price. — Community Ask: 'I filed a complaint to the AG's office. When will I hear back?' "With the ongoing investigation and majority of the Attorney General's computer system offline, is there any way to know when the office will meet your requests," asks Olivia Obineme for the Better Government Association. — Ambulance carveout is latest Medicaid managed care battleground: "Pritzker has 'serious concerns for patient safety and cost' if unanimously-passed bill becomes law," reports Capitol News' Jerry Nowicki. — State task force meets for first time, seeking to crack down on brokering of body parts: "Families unknowingly thought they were donating their loved ones' bodies for medical research – only to find out they were dissected and sold off," reports CBS/2's Tara Molina. | | CHICAGO | | — Indicted Ald. Carrie Austin resigns as committee chairman: "I have always attempted to be loyal to the mayors whom I served, as well as work to achieve resources for my community over the last 28 years," Austin said in a statement issued minutes before she was to preside at a committee hearing. Sun-Times' Fran Spielman reports. — Pritzker announces expansion of Coinflip, leading cryptocurrency ATM operator: "CoinFlip, the world's leading cryptocurrency ATM operator and the fastest-growing company in Chicago, joined Governor JB Pritzker and local leaders to announce a new 44,000 square-foot headquarters located in the Old Post Office downtown," by WMBD's Gretchen Teske. — Chicago police to keep sending 2 officers to schools that voted to have just 1: "Chicago Public Schools says the Police Department decided to temporarily send the two officers to the schools, citing safety issues. It's unclear when they'll leave," reports WBEZ's Sarah Karp. — Chicago watchdog harshly criticizes ShotSpotter system: "A gunshot detection system that has cost Chicago tens of millions of dollars and is touted as a critical component of the police department's effort to combat gun violence rarely produces evidence of gun-related crime in the city, Chicago's nonpartisan watchdog agency concluded," by AP's Don Babwin and Garance Burk. — Splash and flash: Ideas emerge for repurposing the Thompson Center: "Contestants in a design contest imagine the Helmut Jahn building with a waterpark, a rooftop farm, new civic uses and as a display of 3D LED wizardry," by Sun-Times' David Roeder. — Kanye's listening party at Soldier Field will have no vax or Covid test requirement but lower capacity: "Thursday's event to preview Chicago native West's "Donda" album is set to kick off at 9 p.m., though the mercurial rapper tends to be fashionably late," report Tribune's John Byrne and Tracy Swartz. — New Chicago Lyric Opera music director wants audiences to know opera is not 'only for certain rich elites,' by AP's Mike Silverman | | COOK COUNTY AND COLLARS | | — A Skokie man awaits family's return from Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan: "Ali's wife and three children left Illinois in June to visit relatives in Afghanistan. After the Taliban took over, he scrambled to help them find a way out," by WBEZ's Adora Namigadde. — Pritzker signs bill allowing Cook County public defender's office to handle deportation cases: "The bill, HB 2790, passed the Illinois General Assembly in May and clarifies any conflicts that would prevent the county's public defenders from representing immigrants in federal immigration court. The bill takes effect in January and only applies to Cook County," by Injustice Watch's Carlos Ballesteros. | | REMAP ROAD MAP | | Tribune's Rick Pearson has more on the judge punting on the remap lawsuit: "In his ruling Monday, [U.S. District Judge Robert] Dow allowed the legal challenge to continue before a three-judge federal panel past Sept. 1, a day after lawmakers are supposed to return to Springfield to enact Democrats' post-census fixes to the map. 'The panel,' Dow wrote, also urges 'the General Assembly to take into account the views of the plaintiffs in crafting any amended plan with the objective of presenting for the court's consideration a plan that satisfies all constitutional and statutory obligations, not just those raised in the existing pleadings and motions.'" | | DAY IN COURT | | — Raw sewage polluted this Black community. Now residents are fighting back: "Raw sewage pools in yards, bubbles out of manholes ... and backs up into tubs, toilets, and sinks," according to a lawsuit filed by residents of Cahokia Heights in St. Clair County, via NBC News. — Heather Mack, imprisoned in her mother's grisly Bali murder, expected to be released early: "The former Chicago woman expects to be released from a Bali prison in October, three years early based on good-behavior credits, her attorney Vanessa Favia said Tuesday," by Tribune's Christy Gutowski. — Lawsuit claims The Profit's Marcus Lemonis preyed on and destroyed 50 small businesses: "A group of more than 50 businesses that have appeared on CNBC s hit reality show The Profit allege that the show's star Marcus Lemonis [a Chicago businessman] and the TV network use the series as a guise to defraud and ruin small businesses. A proposed amended complaint filed on Saturday with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alleges that Lemonis, NBCUniversal, and production company Machete employed mob-like tactics against companies that have appeared on The Profit to defraud business owners and take their companies," by Forbes' Will Yakowicz. | | SPOTLIGHT | | Joliet father of six has five new organs after an extraordinary transplant: Phillip Hanks "received a multivisceral transplant — a simultaneous transplant of multiple organs — at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis in late April. He received a new liver, small and large intestine, stomach, pancreas and kidney…. 'We never knew this was possible,' Tiva Hanks [his wife] said," by Tribune's Darcel Rockett. | | THE FIFTY | | THE FIFTY: It's governors vs. the White House this school year. And no one is winning, according to this week's feature. "Republican state executives see the fight against masking kids as a chance to show off their political power — and take on Biden," report Juan Perez Jr., Daniel Payne and Mackenzie Mays. | | TAKING NAMES | | Penny Pritzker named to board of proposed Women's History Museum: "Tennis legend Billie Jean King, fashion designer Tory Burch, actress Lynda Carter and former commerce secretary Penny Pritzker are among the inaugural members of the advisory council of the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum. The council is charged with advising the Smithsonian's Board of Regents on the location, planning and design of the proposed museum and with helping the institution raise money from private donors.," via the Washington Post. | | FROM THE DELEGATION | | Rep. Rodney Davis, the top Republican on the House panel that oversees federal elections, denounced the John Lewis voting rights legislation as a "federal takeover" of elections and a "partisan power grab." The bill passed in the House but will likely stall in the Senate, reports POLITICO's Nicholas Wu. | | THE NATIONAL TAKE | | — Secret Service warned Capitol Police about violent threats 1 day before Jan. 6, by POLITICO's Betsy Woodruff Swan and Nicholas Wu — Anatomy of a power play: How 9 House Dems cut their deal with Pelosi, by POLITICO's Sarah Ferris and Heather Caygle — Supreme Court orders Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' policy reinstated, by POLITICO's Josh Gerstein | | TRANSITIONS | | — Martin H. Malin has been appointed chair of the Federal Labor Relations Authority Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) by President Joe Biden, according to the White House. Malin is a Chicago-Kent College of Law professor emeritus. — Patrick Martin is now managing director (the firm's shareholder equivalent for lobbyists) at Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies. He previously was senior principal. | | WEDDING BELLS | | | 
Chicago Foundation for Women's Felicia Davis and journalist Derrick Blakley celebrate. | Photo courtesy of the happy couple | Felicia Davis and Derrick Blakley have tied the knot. She is president and CEO of Chicago Foundation for Women, and he's a longtime journalist. They were married Aug. 14 at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Evanston. The couple met years ago when she was working on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's City Hall staff. Joining the small wedding party to celebrate: Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, a pal of Davis', as Blakley's friends, and CBS reporters Jim Williams and Derrick Young. The couple's wedding showcased Black- and women-owned small businesses, including caramel cupcakes from Brown Sugar Bakery. | | IN MEMORIAM | | Ann M. Laurence, political insider and aide to former Gov. Dan Walker: "Her 15 minutes of fame came when Newsweek magazine profiled her (and others) who represented a cosmic demographic shift from 1968 for delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Ann attended the convention and proudly voted to nominate George McGovern for President," according to her obituary in the State Journal-Register. Jerry Harkness, captain of the 1963 Loyola basketball national champions and a 'trail blazer' for civil rights, dies at age 81: Harkness was a starter on the team along with three other Black players—unheard of at the time. "Harkness and his teammates would go on to win the NCAA championship that season — and their legacy goes well beyond the basketball court as agents of social change in the United States," writes Tribune's Paul Sullivan. | | TRIVIA | | TUESDAY's ANSWER: Congratulations to Playbookers Juliana Pino and Jim Nowlan for correctly answering that Corneal Davis was turned away from hotels while serving in the General Assembly and had to sleep in the train station. Abraham Lincoln Marovitz, the state's first Jewish state senator, joined him to protest. (Note, Davis is memorialized for this act, but there are plenty of anecdotes out there of other lawmakers who faced similar indignities.) TODAY's QUESTION: Who's the political insider who helped a wealthy Northshore lawyer win a Democratic primary for Cook County Board president by producing ads that featured the candidate drinking beer in a bar with working class guys? And who was the candidate? Email to skapos@politico.com | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY | | Doug Kucia, former chief of staff at the Tollway, Chicago Principals and Administrators Association President Troy LaRaviere, Democratic fundraiser Brenna Walsh, Hurley McKenna & Mertz paralegal Jane Wasserman, and Chicago Public Schools STEM Projects Coordinator Sam Bernstein. -30- | | | | SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" TODAY: Power is shifting in Washington and in communities across the country. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. The Recast is a twice-weekly newsletter that explores the changing power dynamics in Washington and breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics and policy in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear critical new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE . Thank you to our sponsor, Intel. | | | | |
| | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment