Gov. J.B. Pritzker's Trump Feud: Will It Cost Him in the 2026 Governor's Race?

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is more than likely to win a third term as Illinois' governor, however, I find myself wondering if he's going to take a serious beating for his ongoing feud with our 47th POTUS Donald Trump.

In a recent wide-ranging interview with POLITICO at Chicago's iconic Manny's Deli, Pritzker sat down for a candid conversation covering everything from the 2024 election fallout to his sharp criticisms of Trump, his influence in state politics, and speculation about a potential 2028 presidential run. The governor didn't hold back, framing Trump's leadership in stark terms and doubling down on the confrontational style that's defined much of his time in office.

Pritzker has positioned himself as one of the leading Trump antagonists among Democrats. In the interview and recent statements, he highlights what he sees as damage from Trump's agenda to working families, farms, retailers, and more—while criticizing policies on tariffs, immigration enforcement, and broader governance. He portrays the current administration in strong language, calling out tones of political violence and authoritarian tendencies.

Check out the interview here [VIDEO]

NBC Chicago — Separation: A State without Chicago

 Get a load of this, this was uploaded to NBC Chicago's YouTube channel. A documentary about a movement for the rest of the state of Illinois to separate themselves from Cook County & Chicago. Legitimate gripes is for example continued control over Illinois by the politicians of the Chicago area.

Might be more to it than that certainly complaints about quality of life, taxes, even mentions of Chicago being less of a goldmine than a financial disaster. Perhaps the divide depicted in this documentary are between the rural and small towns of this state and a big city like Chicago. [VIDEO]

Question to be asked here, how can we make Illinois a better state?

The Sixth Ward: You are NOT getting the people you are voting for as state representative and senator!

Former state sen. Donne Trotter

I'm sharing this post from The Sixth Ward for those of you who live in both the 34th state representative and 17th state senate districts. Of course the changes that took place evidently occurred during the period where it was too late to change the names on the ballot. JP Paulus published this post on election day Tuesday.

You are NOT getting the people you are voting for as state representative and senator! https://t.co/TX5kkfA9R5

— The Sixth Ward (@TheSixthWard) March 20, 2018

As happens with a retirement (there are other scenarios, but this is what happened in this case) the party "bosses" of a particular state legislative district decides who will finish the length of that term in that seat. So while Donne Trotter had actually retired just about two months before Tuesday's election his name remained on the ballot. He's no longer a state senator for the 17th district...

As for Elgie Sims, he was appointed by party bosses to finish Trotter's unfinished term and yet he reamins on ballot for his previous job as 34th district state representative. And those party bosses appoint Sims' successor Nicholas Smith and his name was not on the ballot for Tuesday's primary election.

JP Paulus makes a solid case for a special election to fill vacated state legislative seats. What do you all think?

Capitol Fax: Pritzker and the black vote

JB Pritzker had a strong victory in Tuesday's election. It's safe to say the general election in November will see two wealthy men face-off against each other so get ready for Gov. Bruce Rauner versus his challenger Pritzker. With those wiretaps that came out during the course of the primary with long ago conversations with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich proved to be controversial however, not enough to keep Black voters from choosing Pritzker.

Hence Rich Miller's post:

Pritzker and the black vote https://t.co/PKD7DiZaaK

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) March 22, 2018

From Miller's post he shares a tweet that has graphics of who voted for whom in the Democrat primary on Tuesday across Chicago. Most of the areas that voted for Pritzker is safe to say are the mostly Black neighborhoods of Chicago.

Nick Smith is coming the Chesterfield Community Council #Ward09

You're new 34th District State Representation Nicholas Smith is coming to a meeting of the Chesterfield Community Council next Tuesday.

When: Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Time: 6:30 PM
Where: Tuley Park 90th & King Drive

If you want addition information or to contact the Chesterfield organization I will refer you to their website at www.chesterfieldcommunitycouncil.org. Also a posted is embedded from the FB page below.

 

Community meet & greet on Saturday

Sorry for the late notice - and late crosspost from sixthward.us - on this as I just got wind of this on Friday night. Meet not only your new state Senator Elgie Sims, and state Rep. Nicholas Smith also county Commissioner Stanley Moore at their offices.

• 8658 S. Cottage Grove Ave.
  Suite 404
  Chicago, IL 60619
  1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
  Phone: 773.933.7715

Flyer is below.

Nick Smith succeeds Elgie Sims for 34th district state representative

On Wednesday with Elgie Sims moving up to his mentor's - Donne Trotter - state senate seat there was now a vacancy in Sims' 34th state house district. In a meeting with Democratic bosses Nick Smith was named Sen. Sims successor in this state house seat. Smith is the current 9th ward Streets and Sanitation superintendent and was at one point a former President of the Roseland Heights Community Association.

Though I said I was going to step back from Nextdoor it was interesting the see the names who presented their credentials for this vacancy. Michael Lafargue of West Chesterfield, Richard Wooten a former police officer who actually ran for this seat in 2012, Jahmal Cole of My Block My Hood My City, Eli Washington of Chesterfield. These are all names many of us have heard of in the public as leaders of community or youth organizations.

It let's you know that even though many of us didn't get to vote on any of these names, you can have an impact in your community and you can forward your name for any political position. And of course the possibility is there that you can become a person state official using in part that experience.

Congrats to state Rep. Smith!

Thank you Sen. Donne Trotter

Illinois state capitol - Springfield

In portions of Chicago's 9th Ward Donne Trotter's 34 state senate district covers and area north and easy of the Bishop Ford/Calumet Expressway. So that means he covers Chatham, Chesterfield, West Chesterfield, Roseland Heights, & Pullman.

On Friday he announced his retirement from the Illinois state senate effective immediately. Rich Miller who writes the Capitol Fax blog and newsletter wrote this for the Sun-Times yesterday:

He was the Senate Democrats’ top point person on appropriations for years, and that “budgeteer” status gave him the access and the power to help shape the government in incremental measures with every new state budget. His contributions cannot be minimized. From KidCare, to things like clean needle exchanges, mental health programs, HIV programs – pretty much anything whatsoever to do with improving the health of people in Illinois – Trotter (who has a master’s degree in Health Policy of Jurisprudence from Loyola Law School and was an administrator at Cook County Hospital) has been part of it.

Trotter is also well known for his mentorship of young African Americans. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched him stop a conversation among older people to make sure a young black person’s voice was heard.

Rep. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago) is probably one of his most successful mentorships. Sims served on the Senate appropriations staff under Trotter, then became the caucus’ budget director and, after law school, became a state representative who is now chairman of the House Judiciary Criminal Law Committee.

As reported over at Concerned Citizens of Chatham, there is an expectation that Elgie Sims may be Trotter successor to the 34th district seat in the state senate. Continuing:

Sen. Trotter got his political start with Congressman Ralph Metcalfe’s 1974 campaign. Later, Trotter helped register tens of thousands of voters for Harold Washington’s 1983 mayoral campaign. The late Chicago political expert Paul Green used to tell the story about how Mayor Washington was duly impressed when only two voters in Trotter’s assigned precinct cast their ballots for one of the other mayoral candidates.

Trotter thought his big move to the Illinois General Assembly would happen in 1986, when then-Rep. Carol Moseley-Braun decided to run for lieutenant governor. He backed out of the race when the future U.S. senator decided not to run statewide. Instead, Trotter wound up being elected to the House in 1988, after Moseley-Braun was elected Cook County recorder of deeds.

The new legislative district map in 1991 forced him to run for the Senate the following year, where he has served ever since. Trotter turned out to be far more suited to the Senate (he often chafed under House Speaker Michael Madigan’s rule) and quickly became an indispensable member of Senate Democratic Leader Emil Jones’ team. When Jones was elected Senate president, Trotter’s power increased exponentially.

Below is the post from Concerned Citizens of Chatham and we have at least 30 days for Democrat bosses in 34th district to determine who will succeed Trotter.

Another property tax increase coming soon...

Chicago Board of Education

Remember during the 2015 municipal elections where I expressed support for an elected school board - though my idea was a hybrid with both appointed and elected members? Well we need to get to work on this idea especially if Gov. Bruce Rauner signs legislation that sets up another property tax increase here in Chicago that would be approved not by Chicago Aldermen, but by the appointed Chicago board of education.

Tapped-out Chicago property owners would face yet another tax hit for teacher pensions — but their aldermen would escape another difficult vote — under a historic new statewide school funding deal now headed to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s desk.

That “compromise” bill — approved by Illinois lawmakers this week — authorizes the Chicago Board of Education, comprised of mayoral appointees, to impose a property-tax hike worth $125 million without any involvement whatsoever from the Chicago City Council, whose members are elected.

The Board of Education does indeed plan to approve the increase, enabling the Chicago Public Schools to walk away with a total of $450 million in new state and local money for the 2017-18 school year once Rauner puts his signature on the bill, school officials said.

Rauner plans a bill-signing ceremony on Thursday, his office said.

It’s unclear when the city’s school board will take up the property-tax increase.

This hike would amount to a 2.5 percent increase in the tax bill for an average Chicago homeowner. The owner of a home worth $200,000 would pay an additional $83 in property taxes, records show.

It brings to mind a recent column written by John Ruberry of Marathon Pundit

In Chicago it’s great to be part of the ruling class. But Chicago’s roads are crumbling, barely one out of four of its students in its government schools read at grade level, its bond rating is the lowest among major cities, and businesses lack confidence in Chicago and Illinois as a whole. If you are part of Chicago’s ruling class you might view high taxes as a downpayment on your next paycheck or your retirement, but Chicagoans endure the nation’s highest sales tax rate and they were slugged with the highest property tax increase in the city’s history to fund public-worker pensions.

Yet Chicago’s public pensions are the worst-funded among America’s biggest cities--at a rate of just 25 percent of its obligations. But the cruel joke may be on these well-compensated public-servants. Despite the strong pension protection clause in the Illinois constitution, a pension “haircut” seems unavoidable for retirees. Michigan has similar wording it its constitution, yet Detroit municipal retirees saw their pension checks cut after the Motor City declared bankruptcy.

h/t Newsalert

BTW, what you see in that Newsalert post is a screencap of the Sun-Times front page which is what I share now.

 

Another iteration of the Clout Wiki

Sometime before the 2011 municipal elections an earlier iteration of the Clout Wiki was shared on the 1n73rw3bs to the delight of Chicago political geeks such as myself and was at one point linked to The Sixth Ward blog. For many years, it was online with no updates other than the current officer holders when it was first published then eventually went offline.

Our friends at Aldertrack has unveiled a new version with the current players of Chicago politics especially those elected this year. Here's hoping they will continue to update for years go come.

In addition they have some changes to make such as 21st ward Ald. Howard Brookins is no longer chairman of the City Council Black Caucus. That distinction now goes to 6th ward Alderman Roderick Sawyer. Just one example among many to be sure.

Mike Fourcher was the mastermind behind the original CloutWiki and is now bringing it back to cover the current players in Chicago politics. He is also involved with the Aldertrack website.

Open House & Shred Day

Via the office of State Representative Elgie Sims on Sept. 19, 2015.

• Join State Representative Elgie R. Sims, Jr. along with State Senator Donne E. Trotter and Cook County Stanley Moore for the annual Community Shred Day and Open House!
  
  Saturday, September 19, 2015
  9:00 am - 12:00 pm
  8658 S. Cottage Grove, Suite 404
  Chicago, IL 60619.
  
  Help protect yourself from identity theft by safely disposing of documents. Flu shots available. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us at our office at (773) 783-8800.

Don't forget about the Purnell Silas College Expo that is also being held next Saturday. Flyer for the district shred day and open house is below.

EVENT: Invitation to share input on Harlan High School

Disclosure I'm an alum of Harlan Community Academy and we've talked about this school a lot in the past. I've even attended some LSC meetings in the past and this update is a bit shocking, but then we want to consider the academic status of all of our local schools. It's hard to believe that Harlan has been on probation for 18 years though! I hope that Mrs. Banks-Pincham who wrote the information below and sent it to the community doesn't mind if I share her e-mail address at least.

INVITATION TO SHARE INPUT ON HARLAN COMMUNITY ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL

"Harlan's Probationary Status"
Meeting January 22, 2014, at 5:30 PM
Office of Representative Elgie Sims
8658 S. Cottage Grove, Suite 404
(On the Cottage Grove side of the strip mall at 87th Street).
Make a commitment to bring Harlan out of this dilemma
Join Us!!!

Hello Everyone,

In an effort to place all of the surrounding community on the same page, you are invited to attend a meeting at the office of Representative Elgie Sims on Wednesday, January 22, 2014 at 5:30 PM, 8658 S. Cottage Grove, Suite 404. (On the Cottage Grove side of the strip mall at 87th Street).

There is great concern about the academic status of Harlan, having been on probationary status by CPS standards for eighteen (18) years. This has an enormous effect on our community's property values. There has been an "Interim Principal" at Harlan for the last eight (8) years. Harlan and the community deserve for our neighborhood school to have a regular, contract principal supported by CPS.

Because of Harlan's probationary status, the elected Local School Council only serves in an advisory capacity and has no authority over things that effect the school.

It is obvious that for 18 years Chicago Public Schools has not shown the commitment to bring Harlan out of this dilemma.

Other invitees to this meeting will be the administration for Harlan; Network Chief LaTonya McDade and Principal Reginald Evans. Aldermen who serve the catchment area (Wards 6, 9 and 21) within Harlan's boundaries are also invited.

Please RSVP as soon as possible by e-mail or phone. We look forward to your input.

Sincerely,

Sharon Banks-Pincham
LSC Community Representative
Member, 34th Legislative District Education Committee
sherry8750 @ yahoo.com

Coalition calls for an elected school board

The video above is from Chicago Tonight which talks about calls for an elected Chicago School Board.

Below an article from the Chicago Tribune:

Chicago's next mayor shouldn't control the city's public school system, a coalition of teachers, community leaders, parents and students said Wednesday, raising an idea that quickly splintered the major contenders for the office.

The group called for an elected school board that would geographically represent the city instead of the current panel the mayor appoints. The proposed board would dedicate seven of the 13 seats for parents and community members. Two would go to teachers and one each to an administrator, education researcher, paraprofessional and business person.

The push is in its early stages; advocates will need to persuade state legislators to overhaul the landmark 1995 law that put control of Chicago Public Schools into Mayor Richard Daley's hands. To that end, the group is lobbying "key legislators," said Jitu Brown of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, who declined to say which lawmakers the group is targeting as sponsors.
...
In an open letter to the "citizens of Chicago," the coalition also recommended the board stagger its meetings between weekday mornings in district headquarters and evening sessions in area schools. A student advisory board also would be convened and report to district leaders.

The proposed changes would upend the system that allows Daley to appoint a school CEO and board members. The school board now includes seven members drawn from several top financial and consulting firms in the city.

But Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said that's no substitute for the voices of parents, teachers and students who are in the city's schools every day. The union is one of the main architects of the proposal.

What's more, the union wants the return of an educator to lead the Chicago education system. Daley has favored the CEO model of leadership, picking four school chiefs in 15 years who were not career educators.

"The top-down decisions made by non-educators have not shown the improvement," Lewis said.

Before Mayor Daley took control of CPS back in 1995, I have no idea how one became a member of the School Board. In addition to that, I have no idea who appointed the School's superintendent. Today the schools have a Chief Executive Officer, the last superintendent of the public schools was Argie Johnson.

BTW, I have little problem with a CEO running the schools. Running a major school system will involve more skills than being an educator, especially if one needs to worry about making sure the school get all the necessary resources. But it's not unreasonable to call for an elected school board even if CPS remains a department of the City of Chicago where the Mayor still has a hand in who actually runs the system.

BTW, what about the Mayoral candidates on this issue you saw that in the Chicago Tonight video, but what about reading that article that I had excerpted.

Should the schools prevent teachers from striking?

The Capitol Fax Question of the Day:

A new school reform proposal working its way through the Illinois House has a section which would severely limit teachers’ right to strike. If there’s an impasse, the state’s Education Labor Relations Board could appoint a fact finding panel which would then come up with a solution. If that’s rejected by both parties, the panel’s proposals are published in local newspapers and the sides then have 10 days to settle. If there is no settlement, the two sides exchange their proposals and then the school boards, by a two-thirds vote, can impose a solution on the unions. If the school boards cannot muster a two-thirds vote, then and only then the union has the right to strike.

However, according to an internal analysis I’ve obtained created by the Illinois State Board of Education, it appears that Chicago’s education board could simply impose their own terms on the teachers union and prevent it from striking. And lots of people believe that this bill is designed to prevent a teachers strike when the current contract expires in 2012.

The legislation would also prevent teachers from including school-year length in their union contracts. Again, this appears aimed at the city, where the school year is one of the shortest in the nation.

You should check out some comments. Here's one in that post:

Not only should the locality be able to set its workplace rules, it should be allowed to decertify any public employee union. One other element in this proposal is tenure reform. I can almost understand tenure in universities. Almost. But tenure in K-12 is beyond me. It handcuffs the school administration from making personnel decisions that improve student performance, school budgeting, and ultimately school effectiveness and viability.

And before anyone says I don’t know what it’s like to be a teacher, I held a Type 09 certification in Illinois and taught at disadvantage schools.

I wonder if this proposal will be defeated however. School vouchers as mentioned in a previous post was defeated in the state legislature earlier this year.

District 299: Budget Cuts Still Looming

Alexander Russo at the Chicago Schools Blog discusses a variety of news from state budget negotiations in Springfield, student protests against education cuts, and punishment against those protests.

Illinois schools: Controversial grant program cut

A just posted a more condensed version of this over at The 6th. Here's the full article from the Tribune:

It took a mammoth budget crisis and the arrest of Rod Blagojevich, but state leaders are shelving a dubious after-school grant program that a Tribune investigation found included many handouts that rewarded one lawmaker's political supporters.

The Illinois State Board of Education deleted $9.7 million for the controversial program from next year's budget proposal, and new Gov. Pat Quinn backed up that decision.

The decision comes after the Tribune reported last year that state Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) helped at least 21 campaign workers and donors get the grants, some totaling $20,000.

Nearly half of the 48 grant recipients the Tribune investigated were found to be running dubious programs or declined to show how the money was spent.

In one case, a church sat darkened and padlocked during after-school hours even though it was presented as a tutoring center. In another, a woman used her grant for billboard ads to encourage teens to attend community college but pocketed nearly half the money.

All of the questionable projects shared the same sponsor: Hendon.

The veteran lawmaker recently said that not every organization he helped abused the grants. "Even though everybody might not get it right, that's no reason to kill a program that we have to have," he said.

It's not actually posted at The 6th yet, but it will be. Some how after school programs should find some money from somewhere.