What a Governor’s Job Really Looks Like: Lessons from the Bears Stadium Debate

Source: DesignYourWay.net

Rich Miller’s column from two Sundays ago, shared via Capitol Fax, pulls back the curtain on what effective governing actually requires — and why Governor JB Pritzker’s handling of the Chicago Bears stadium situation raises legitimate concerns.

Pritzker might want to take his own advice https://t.co/etQVjweabq

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) June 22, 2026

Reclaiming Illinois Pride: Addressing the Loathing and Building a Better State

In my earlier post on the NBC Chicago documentary "Separation: A State without Chicago", we saw real frustration bubbling up across Illinois. The idea of downstate and suburban areas breaking away from Cook County and Chicago highlights deep divides—political control from the metro area, burdensome taxes, quality-of-life concerns, and debates over whether Chicago functions more as a fiscal drain than an economic engine for the whole state. Rural and small-town Illinois often feels overshadowed. These tensions feed into a broader sentiment: many Illinoisans seem to loathe the state or at least complain about it constantly.

This isn’t new. Back in 2022, the Geography King profile of Illinois noted a sense of self-loathing among residents—no one seems eager to defend the state. And during that year’s governor’s race, I shared thoughts on "IL Governor's race and trashing Illinois", observing how some political talk focuses more on tearing the state down than on fixing it and making the Land of Lincoln better.

For some folks, trashing Illinois has become a perverse pleasure https://t.co/tPAX9DJX6K

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) May 23, 2022

But why exactly does this persist, and what can we do to foster genuine pride instead? 

Favored design of the Illinois state flag - the people have spoken.

 The people of this state cast 165,602 votes for the current state flag. As our Secretary of State says  in a video below this flag got more votes than five of the other designs combined.

Drum roll please…🥁 After receiving 385,000 votes, we have a DECISIVE winner in the state flag redesign contest! The Illinois Flag Commission will now report the results to the General Assembly who will vote on whether to adopt a new flag or keep the current one. pic.twitter.com/CS3RMesLH6

— Secretary Alexi Giannoulias (@ILSecOfState) March 6, 2025

You can see how many votes was cast for each flag here. Only wo of my favored designs in the ten submitted for a new state flag came in the top five votes. That includes the one that had a blue and red stripe on each side of the state seal coming in at #4.

Though I should note feedback on these chosen designs weren't very good. These results will be submitted to the general assembly and who knows the state legislature may still decide to come up with a design for a new state flag.

Though I would still say we could keep the current state flag for the governor. A few states have standards for a state's governor. An Illinois governor has no standard.

My favored rejected designs for the Illinois state flag

Generated by GrokAI

I wanted to dig into this, perhaps some of these rejected designs for a possible new state flag could be the proposed symbol for the Illinois Republic. My vision for this republic is not only to revamp how this great state could be governed, but what could be done to unify this state and give it the pride that it deserves.

My vision could put Illinois up there with places like Texas, Vermont, or even California states that actually were independent republics before they became part of the United States. Either way it's difficult to create something resembling a "new regime" without creating symbols (i.e. a flag) to represent it.

So the so-called state flag reject pile was shared on Capitol Fax on Monday linked below.

The Illinois Flag Commission’s reject pile https://t.co/21vedtR5Oj

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) January 6, 2025

While I haven't gone through every submission so far, there are a few that I do consider favorites and then from the 10 designs that were chosen I also want to share the ones I do like best. In addition, other than the grassroots designs shown it's also important to show the favorite choices of others.

Of course click on the screencaps below to see the text description of each design. You will see 20 below the page break.

Jimmy Carter - 39th POTUS R.I.P.

 The news broke on Sunday and there have been nothing but stories about it. Carter served as the 39th President of the United States between 1977 to 1981. In 1976, he was elected in light of the Watergate scandal as a change from the Nixon/Ford administrations. Then had to face the terrible economy of the late 1970s and was really brought down by the Iranian hostage crisis which resulted in his 1980 electoral loss to his successor Ronald Reagan.

His last public appearance was in a wheelchair in time for his 100th birthday, he didn't even appear to be conscious at that time. There were reports prior to that in terms of his condition and was noted by his son that he wasn't awake everyday.

He had been in hospice care for well over a year and about a year ago former first lady and wife Rosalyn Carter had passed away. That was his last formal appearance.

How many of you follow the X/Twitter account "How Many Days Until Jimmy Carter Turns 100?" At least the account was able to track Jimmy Carter to 100 years of age, however, not too long after that he passes away and this was the first time I heard about it.

Rest in peace, Mr. President https://t.co/K8go6A99cE

— How Many Days Until Jimmy Carter Turns 100? (@CarterTurns100) December 29, 2024

This is how the YouTube channel Biography remembers President Carter. [VIDEO]

I am too young to remember Carter's presidency, however, as a former President he was very active often seen working with Habitat for Humanity and even as a Sunday school teacher. 

He may not rank well with many of America's great or even above average Presidents, however, he was an all around decent man and that's how I remember him. I don't care about his politics or even what he had done as President. What allowed him to be a great man in general?

Capitol Fax: Illinois school district that called police on students “every other day” agrees to reform disciplinary practices

 I read through this and found this interesting. Should police be called for disciplinary issues at school?

This district is in downstate Illinois and it's a small district and often has far more arrests than they have students.  I may also recognize that many of these students come from backgrounds that isn't exactly conducive to better behavior.

What makes sense to me is that a school should be equipped to handle behaviorial issues and not have to rely on police to intervew.

Illinois school district that called police on students “every other day” agrees to reform disciplinary practices https://t.co/qdAaZkBTng

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) September 6, 2024

Via CapFax

VP Kamala Harris has chosen her running mate.

 Allow me to share her tweet from about an hour ago. She chooses Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) as her running mate against former President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH).

I am proud to announce that I've asked @Tim_Walz to be my running mate.

As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his.

It's great to have him on the team.

Now let’s get to work. Join us:https://t.co/W4AE2WlMTj

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 6, 2024

Allow me to share a livestream going on as I share this post from Mr. Beat who did the same thing when Trump announced Sen. Vance as his running mate last month. [VIDEO]

Gov. Walz is from a blue state and certainly might share some of the same ideals as Harris (that is if she has an real ideas or ideology or core values). More than likely she'll win Minnesota so I'm not sure what real benefit Walz pick would be.

In general people will still vote for who they want as President more so than who they want as Vice President. And just as we have to get to know Sen. Vance (whom Democrats have started calling "weird"), we'll have to get to know Gov. Walz.

I may point out that the unrest and anxiety of 2020 is in the rearview mirror I wonder if in any future Vice Presidential debates that questions might be asked about his response to the riots in Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd's death while being arrested by police. We shall see...

President Joe Biden drops out of the 2024 presidential race

The rumors were ongoing with this. Some earlier reports had Joe Biden dropping out of the 2024 race on Sunday (yesterday). However, it seemed as if the President was going to stay in this thing. 

And then I saw this on Instagram yesterday.

Capitol Fax: Updates on Capitol renovations

One of the goals I've had is to go to Springfield, ILL and see the state capitol and I never realize that it's currently undergoing renovations. Rich Miller has some updates on the renovations which are taking place on the north side of the building in the state senate chambers.

Updates on Capitol renovations https://t.co/DJ8AuhCTkg

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) June 15, 2023

And allow me to share one tweet of what is going on inside the building. This time from the inside of the state senate chambers.

Here’s the inside of the Senate. It won’t look too different but will get more natural light from the ceiling. Pictures are taken on the floor from the president’s desk and from the gallery at the front pic.twitter.com/x1ZjsOnGp0

— Ben Szalinski (@BenSzalinski) June 14, 2023

I hope to one day see the finished project and share it on YouTube.

Time for a new Illinois state flag?

 I had been sitting on this since I first saw this over at Capitol Fax. Is it time for a new state flag?

Has the time come for a new state flag? https://t.co/PqMwPGXsB9

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) March 3, 2023

Basically the Illinois state flag is really Illinois' state seal with Illinois on the bottom. That version of the flag had been adopted in 1969 thanks to a Vietman serviceman who realized that most Americans don't know the state flag of Illinois. Of course this isn't much different than a number of other states such as Iowa, one of our neighbors.

Here is a site that shows possible new flags for Illinois. Below is our current flag.

Private school student dean teaches students about about "queer sex"

 I'll just share a link to this via Newsalert. There they show a video of a dean at Francis Parker School in Chicago discuss handing out sexual materials to his young students.

I find this repugnant. We're talking about a private school not a private college although it wouldn't even be appropriate there also. We're talking K-12 and discussing students playing around with "sex toys". This is a private school.

Of course the issue we often hear about take place in public schools. I suppose that's my perception of this type of news, perhaps it's safe to say it's everywhere. The answer for many who are concerned about what's going on in public school is to put them into a private school perhaps that's not even an easy answer anymore.

A wise thing for a parent to do when possible - because well I have concede parents may have the excuse of not having any time - vet any school you plan to send your children. Public or private, you must be as sure that not only are your children learning what they're supposed to learn (reading, writing, and arithmetic), they also aren't subjected to sexual material like this.

This isn't just about queer sex, any sexual material beyond what is age appropriate.

Alas the school itself appears to have dug in on the controversy.

BREAKING: Fracis W. Parker School in Chicago, IL - where the Dean of Students Joseph Bruno was caught on video talking about giving students butt plugs and dildos- sent out this email to parents saying that they stand in full support of the Dean. pic.twitter.com/isHOxfLEQK

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 8, 2022

Forbes: Biden Student Loan Forgiveness Plan Survives Multiple Court Challenges — But Legal Battles Continue

 Sorry I have been slow about this, however, there was bound to be legal challenges to the Biden admin's proposed student loan forgiveness program.

Forbes: 

ILL gubernatorial election 2022

 I haven't done a very good job of following the election since the June 28 primary. For the Governor's race it will be state senator Darren Bailey for the Republicans vs incumbent Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Rich Miller on his blog on Wednesday showed some polling numbers Pritzker is ahead. Not too surprised there isn't much noise of note coming from the Bailey campaign aside from him moving to the former Hancock Building so that he can get a feel for Chicago.

Poll! Illinois Governor’s Race!! pic.twitter.com/9OdW1EDkGO

— Tahman Bradley (@tahmanbradley) September 28, 2022

We're approaching almost a month before the general election and my gut tells me this race will be close. I will legit give Gov. Pritzker the edge although this is how I can boil this election down at this point crime vs abortion.

Over the summer Roe v. Wade was overturned by the US Supreme Court so there will be a faction of the American electorate that will be energized in that fight. Also the issue of crime across the country has gotten the attention of the media. Americans want safe streets and the headline seems to be that politicians are handcuffing police from doing their jobs and elected prosecutors are unwilling to enforce the law and prosecute crimes.

Incidentially another piece of analysis is that Mayor Richard Irvin who ran in the June 28 primary portrayed himself as very tough on crime. Some might say in the Republican primary crime wasn't the primary issue although Irvin unfortunately got hit with charges of being very disingenuous as far as what he believes in on issues of abortion or even who he voted for in 2020 or even support for BLM. So I suppose if crime didn't motivate voters to choose Mayor Irvin then what motivated them to choose downstate state senator and farmer Bailey.

Almost a month away! General election is November 8, 2022 and early voting according the Chicago Board of Election (assuming you're in Chicago) will commence October 7, 2022. I hope you're registered to vote!

British Queen Elizabeth II dies

 I didn't really plan to post here today, however, since we do look at things from a history standpoint here we talk about the late Queen of England.

Well in fact Elizabeth was the Queen of many realms and former parts of the British Empire such as Jamaica, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Tip of the iceberg of course however she was the figurehead sovereign of many territories around the globe.

And now that passes on to her son, the Prince of Wales who it seems will now be known as King Charles III. I knew someone who predicted that Charles would likely pass away before he gets the throne. Of course that prediction was made two decades ago and now we see King Charles finally has ascended the throne at 73 years of age.

The Queen was 96 years of age when she passed away and I woke up to news that she was under medical supervision. And then I saw reports of her family coming to her estate in Scotland wanting to be with her in the final hours of her life as it turned out. When I saw those reports I had a sinking feeling, although she usually bounces back. It wasn't that long ago that she was diagnosed with coronavirus.

So anyway the 2nd Elizabethan era has come to a close and now we're starting the reign of Charles. And consider that she reigned a long time other British monarchs who reigned as long includes King George III - and if you remember the United States of America broke away from the British Empire under his reign - and a woman named Queen Victoria. The Queen reigned for 70 years having celebrated her diamond jubilee this year!

I do find this British monarchy fascinating, many Americans do as well. 

The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.

The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/VfxpXro22W

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 8, 2022

Student loan debt on Black college students & graduates...

I wanted to share this tweet with you. Perhaps there are some graduating seniors or even high school juniors trying to figure out what next after four years of high school. Is college in your future? 

 This tweet from Charlane Oliver - who is running for a state senate seat in Tennessee - shares a number of graphics with regards to the latest action by the Biden-Harris admin. How does student loans affect Black students? How much debt does Black students carry compared to white students? 

CNBC: Pres. Biden cancels $10K of student loan debt for most borrowers

 Well it's not total relief, but how many will argue with this. I won't.

Via CNBC:

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he will forgive $10,000 in federal student debt for most borrowers, fulfilling a campaign pledge and delivering financial relief to millions of Americans.

Biden will cancel up to $20,000 for recipients of Pell Grants, he also said in a tweet Wednesday.

The relief will be limited to Americans earning under $125,000 per year, or $250,000 for married couples or heads of households. The relief is also capped at the amount of a borrower’s outstanding eligible debt, per the Education Department.

The president will also extend the payment pause on most federal student loans “one final time” through Dec. 31, 2022, according to the tweet.

The tweet in question.

IL Governor's race and trashing Illinois

 I'm sharing this with you all since we have an election next month. We have to decided who will move on to run for Governor especially in November. It'll be time for the Republican and Democrat primaries much later in June.

We could very well see a Black man be the nominee for the Republican Party to run against incumbent Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Oh that Black man is Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin - Aurora, Ill. is this state's second largest city behind Chicago. He has the financial backing of Ken Griffin who is the richest man in this state and wants to dethrone Gov. Pritzker this year.

Anyway aside from that one thing I would give Gov. Pritzker is that he's actually governing this state. It's been a while since this state had actually been governed. Pritzker knocked off Bruce Rauner as this state's chief executive and during Rauner's term this state went two years without a budget as he sought to dethrone Speaker Michael Madigan. So in 2018, Illinois voters cast their ballots rightfully and rejected Rauner's bid for re-election.

And when you think about it not since Rod Blagojevich - who was later impeached and removed from officer - that an incumbent Governor actually did win re-election. So this article from Edward McClelland discusses why he thinks Pritzker will likely get a second term.

Trivia question: Who was the last Illinois governor to serve two full terms?

The answer here: https://t.co/MV1SQ2iKI7

— Chicago magazine (@ChicagoMag) May 29, 2022

I also wanted to add this worth sharing from last week Rich Miller's syndicated column with regards to "trashing" Illinois. It seems quite a few Republicans talk about how bad Illinois is and never about changing what's wrong and making the Land of Lincoln a better place.

For some folks, trashing Illinois has become a perverse pleasure https://t.co/tPAX9DJX6K

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) May 23, 2022

If Mayor Irvin wants to replace Gov. Pritzker I hope he has a good plan to turn this state around and doesn't resort to trashing it. He might want to start with not targeting Michael Madigan who is diminished as a political power in this state. And he might want to clear up his role in calling the Nat'l Guard during the difficulties of 2020 (only the Governor of Illinois can call in the Nat'l Guard during civic disturbances).

I suppose barring any weirdness in the Republican primary next month Mayor Irvin will face Gov. Pritzker in November. If you're reading this blog I hope you're registered to vote.

The nine sub-states of Illinois

Well there was a proposal out there to divide up California into a series of different states. Illinois is a lot like California and other states where population centers dominate the rest of the state.

Illinois is dominated by the Chicago area. We know that if turnout is down in say Chicago/Cook County that means a Republican victory in a state election is likely. Why because this part of the state is solidly Democrat and that's not likely to change in the near future. 

And yet other Democrat counties or areas of this state includes at the very least East St. Louis, St. Clair County, Illinois and certainly Champaign County, Illinois. And for the most part the rest of the state is a solid red.

However, this article from Chicago Mag isn't just talking about politics of division in the Land of Lincoln. Just the various part of this state is culturally different. The further south in Illinois you go the more "southern" and perhaps more accurately the more rural it is.

And also consider that being a Chicagoan is a distinct identity than being an Illinoisan....and Chicago has a better flag too :P 

Anyway no one is proposing breaking up the State of Illinois anytime soon although some of those rural downstaters have floated proposals to turn Chicago into it's own state.

The Nine Sub-States of Illinois https://t.co/Cgk1sAVoCR

— Aaron M. Renn 🇺🇸 (@aaron_renn) April 27, 2022

On second though if the so-called Land of Lincoln became it's own state I wonder how it would be governed. I'd live there if it's capitol is actually Springfield. :)

Former Gov. Jim Edgar on 2022, state GOP, the pandemic and vax

Jim Edgar was Governor of Illinois from 1991 to 1999. It's said he was the last governor to have voted out, he wasn't impeached, nor did he stand down after one term.

Since he's the earliest serving governor since Jim Thompson (2020) and Daniel Walker (2015) had passed away, he can talk candidly about the actions of the current Governor J.B. Pritzker. And I'm with him on one thing this pandemic is unprecedented and thus many decisions had to be made.

I'll share a tweet from CapFax regarding this piece and then share a link to the Edgar piece.

Jim Edgar on his party, the pandemic, vaccinations and 2022 https://t.co/LuI5x87drt

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) November 29, 2021

The Edgar piece from a downstate TV station. Here's video footage [VIDEO]

Edgar also speaks of the 2022 election and makes a claim for Republicans that they have to nominate someone with an appeal to the rest of the state beyond the primary. And that Pritzker is beatable although from a lot of sources I see that Illinois is likely a safe seat for the Democrat Pritzker. Things could change of course.

#HappyThanksgiving to you & yours

 I found this animated gif on Twitter from a local reporter this morning which showed Snoopy and that bird Woodstock cutting into a sweet potato pie. Therefore for you all following this blog I couldn't let this day go by without sharing this with you. Happy Thanksgiving to all! 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. pic.twitter.com/jkkBvNnqIz

— Joanie Lum FOX 32 (@JoanieLum) November 25, 2021