‘Reefer Madness’-type rhetoric bound to swarm over Ill.; will Lege ignore it?

Try watching the 1936 film “Reefer Madness” today. Its imagery is so over-the-top absurd that it’s a wonder anybody ever could have taken such thought seriously.

Worse than 'Plan 9 from Outer Space?'

Yet I’m not going to be surprised if some people are determined to cling to such thoughts of people being driven insane by inhaling the fumes of the so-called “wacky tobacky.” Either that, or the image of marijuana as a “hippie drug,” which makes their continued pursuit of criminalization more about partisan politics than any legitimate concern about health.

THIS POLITICAL FIGHT is going to step up in coming months, as it appears the Illinois General Assembly may well take up bills that would consider legalizing the recreational use of the drug.

Currently, people in Illinois would need to show a doctor’s prescription, and then could only purchase it from specific places that have been licensed by the state to operate under such restrictive rules that it’s clear the political people who concocted them were determined to maintain the stigma of marijuana use being borderline criminal.

As for whether the state Legislature would actually go along with legalization (instead of mere decriminalization), it seems the key on this issue is just as it is on many others – will Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, go along with it?

If he does, it could wind up getting a vote and passing – with potential future Gov. J.B. Pritzker campaigning now on the idea that legalization (and taxation of marijuana sales by the state) is good.

MADIGAN THIS WEEK said he, “haven’t come to a final decision,” but acknowledged that the mood of the people changes with the passage of time. “For American political parties, they have to be aware of what the people want. When American political parties are not aware of that, they usually dissolve.”

Are some determined to cling to these kinds of thoughts?

Could it be that Madigan noticed the results of the advisory referendum question that was on Cook County ballots in last month’s primary – the one asking people “yes” or “no” whether recreational use by people 21 or older ought to be legal.

Basically making the consumption of marijuana similar to having a drink (and treating a ‘junkie’ similar to an alcoholic).

Within Chicago, 73 percent of people voted “yes,” along with 63 percent of suburban Cook residents. Either way, well over the three-fifths support level required for a referendum to pass.

NOW, WE’LL HAVE to see whether the almighty, all-powerful Mr. Speaker of Illinois is willing to change with the times and permit his Democratic caucus to consider the issue.

Because I’m sure it would involve some sense of change on his part, although it’s not impossible to see it happening. I can recall times when anti-abortion activists in Illinois would say they considered Madigan to be an ally because his own Catholic religious beliefs were in line with them, and he would not use his political power to crush their bills meant to make abortion more difficult to obtain.

I doubt those people are willing to say anything nice about Madigan these days; what with the measures of recent years that are meant to restrict many of those restrictions the ideologues push for as an alternative to outright illegalization of the medical procedure.

Madigan could wind up evolving on this issue, too. Particularly if he comes to see that a majority of the people no longer cling to some nonsensical “Reefer Madness” imagery (Blanche’s maniacal piano playing bit is just too ludicrous).

PERSONALLY, I THINK that marijuana use has become so overly politicized to the point where there’s little logic in the laws restricting its use. Although I’m not surprised that some political people merely see the potential for more tax dollars and are eager to support it for that reason alone.

Will marijuana inspire similar thoughts?

I wasn’t kidding earlier when I wrote the comparison between a drug user and an alcoholic – the latter of whom we’re inclined to think of as someone in need of treatment. And yes, I can already hear in my mind the outrage of conservative ideologues – particularly the ones who drink too much – in making such a comparison.

Perhaps it’s time we consider this issue without much of the nonsense-talk of old. After all, we did the same with alcohol and prohibition some 84 years ago.

Could that actually put the political power of the newly re-elected Illinois Democratic chairman on a higher moral plane? It’s bound to be a heck of a partisan fight.

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Is it now in Donald, he Trusts, for Rod?

What a surprise – the Supreme Court of the United States on Monday let it be known it was not inclined to do anything with regards to the case of former governor Rod Blagojevich.

BLAGOJEVICH: Hair color long gone

The governor (a.k.a., inmate no. 40892-424), who is roughly half-way through the prison sentence he’s now serving at a federal facility in Colorado, had hoped the Supreme Court would consider his legal argument that federal judges in Chicago judged him too harshly.

IN HIS WILDEST fantasies, I’m sure they would have given him a prison term so short that it could be said he had already served his time. He’d be going back home to his wife and daughters immediately.

But no, the Supreme Court seems to believe there are no great legal questions that need to be decided in the Blagojevich Affair. Meaning there’s no reason for them to do anything at all.

Which also means that Blagojevich’s 14-year prison term remains in place. That’s the one that (if he qualifies for all the good behavior provisions for early release) would have him out in May 2024.

Just over six years from now. Blagojevich (the governor whose criminal behavior seems to be that he expected to be rewarded for his actions – particularly for the appointment he was entitled to make when Barack Obama gave up his U.S. Senate seat in 2008 to become president) will be free.

CONSIDERING THAT HE’S already served just over six years in prison, it could be said it’s just a matter of time – that the worst of things is over.

Although during those past six years, Blagojevich was clinging to hope that the courts would “see the error of their ways,” so to speak, and give him some ruling that he’d claim to be vindication. Now, he’s going to have to go through the next six years thinking of himself as “just another criminal.”

For it seems the number of legal appeals possible for Blagojevich have run out. Unless he could come up with some new, and previously unknown, evidence, there’s no reason for a judge to consider his case again.

TRUMP: Rod's last-ditch hope for sympathy

And even if he did, the argument most likely would be made that it’s too late; he should have said something earlier in the process.

LITERALLY, ABOUT THE only option for Blagojevich is some form of federal clemency from none other than the president himself.

Considering how erratic the behavior and thought process of Donald J. Trump is on so many issues, there’s certainly no guarantee that he’d be inclined to even consider acting on any measure related to Blagojevich.

I’m also sure that even if Trump were to think of any kind of pardon, it probably would be used to discredit the president. It would be regarded as being amongst his most stupid of actions – and this is a man who during first 16 months of his presidency has made many lunatic decisions. Bottom line? Anybody who needs to rely on Trump for a favor is truly desperate.

Now it’s always possible that a future president could grant some sort of action favorable to Blagojevich. Although that likely would come someday after his release from prison. There’s likely nothing left to be done to get him out of prison early.

DESPITE THIS ATTITUDE, I have to admit it disgusts me the level to which certain people seem compelled to demonize Blagojevich – who during his time as a public official in Illinois was more a goofball than a truly corrupt figure.

Disgusting? Or ha ha-type funny?

In particular, I can’t help but agree with one-time First Lady Patti Blagojevich, who called “disgusting” what I’m sure Gov. Bruce Rauner thinks is a joke (as in, funny, “ha ha”) the filter he paid to have created on SnapChat.

One that allows people to put a comical version of Blagojevich’s now-history coif of hair on a picture of themselves – along with a placard depicting Rod’s federal inmate number.

Maybe the people inclined to rant and rage that Rod Blagojevich was shown too much mercy by the courts will think it funny. Perhaps they’d also like to see an image with a dunce cap superimposed on the current governor?

rod  -30-

Ill. budget “brawl” likely to get ugly

I remember back when I was still in college, trying to gain some experience that might make me a reporter-type person someday when an editor told me the very definition of “news” is wherever there is conflict. People in agreement about things just aren’t very newsworthy.

Madigan seems determined to continue ...

If that’s the case, we’re in for a significant scrap in coming months – because I can see massive conflict occurring within state government.

GOV. BRUCE RAUNER met Thursday with the General Assembly’s leadership, and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, made it clear he’s not about to meekly cower in the governor’s presence just to get a budget put together.

With regard to the Illinois government budget being put together for the state’s 2019 fiscal year (which begins July 1), Rauner earlier this week made a point of talking of the need for the state to have a balanced budget, while also implying that the problem was the Democratic majorities that run the General Assembly.

They’re not doing what Rauner wants of them. They are to blame for any inability of state officials to put together a budget before the state Legislature’s scheduled adjournment come the end of May.

Which led to Madigan issuing his own statement following the Thursday morning session – one in which he attempted to shift back blame to the governor.

AS THE ESTEEMED (some sarcasm intended) “Mr. Speaker” said, “If the governor’s agenda is to push more of his extreme cuts to health care, senior services and resources for our most at-risk residents, or if he again intends to move the goalposts and create chaos, he should stay on the sidelines and allow serious leaders to continue working cooperatively to address the challenges facing our state.”

Because I don’t expect Rauner to put himself on the sidelines during budget negotiations that are taking place in coming weeks between the Democratic and Republican leadership of the Illinois House of Representatives and the state Senate.

For one thing, Republican leadership wouldn’t allow it.

... the political brawl Rauner brought on

They’re not going to meekly go along with whatever kind of orders Rauner tries to bark out at them.

RAUNER’S OWN POPULARITY ratings have dwindled (26 percent approval, and 60 percent disapproval – the worst of any governor seeking re-election this year, according to the Morning Consult group’s latest study) to the point where I suspect many GOP legislators don’t want the governor taking them down to defeat along with him come the Nov. 6 elections.

While many Democratic officials counting on the Donald Trump unpopularity factor aren’t about to do anything to appear to be caving in to Rauner on anything.

Budget talks are going to be downright ugly – and likely to accomplish little of anything significant. Because both sides seem to be more interested in one-upping each other.

If you think about it, Madigan’s comment about, “if the governor is finally ready to accept responsibility for the management of this state and be an honest partner in trying to pass a budget, we welcome him to this process” is about as snide and sarcastic as Rauner earlier this week saying he was fighting against, “a corrupt machine of self-dealing, unethical behavior … that benefit a few against the people.”

WHICH MAKES IT ironic that Rauner wants us all to think his four-year term as governor has been about “reform.”

When the reality is Rauner has behaved in as an obstructionist a manner as any other official within Illinois government has ever done. Meaning that obstructionism in the name of partisan politics is very much a part of the “Way things are done” in Illinois.

Is Pritzker our 'savior' by default?

Although going for so much of the four years of his term without a balanced budget in place will leave the Rauner Years with quite a legacy – particularly if he insists on finishing out his time in office without a budget in place for fiscal 2019.

It will be enough to make all of us eager for Election Day so we can pick a replacement to live and work in the (newly-renamed) Governor’s Mansion.

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EXTRA: Does the 'power of the press’ extend to endorsements any longer?

I couldn’t help but be amused by the Chicago Tribune editorial page on Tuesday.

FAIRLEY: Will 2 Tribune endorsements help?

The newspaper, which already has endorsed Sharon Fairley for the Democratic nomination for Illinois attorney general, felt compelled to write another editorial about the merits of the woman who helped create the current panel that oversees Chicago Police activity and investigates the doings of bad cops, and also is a former federal prosecutor in Chicago.

FAIRLEY IS ONE of eight people wishing to be the Democrat who succeeds Lisa Madigan, but the most recent poll by the We Ask America group (conducted for the Capitol Fax newsletter) shows her running fourth.

With only 3.5 percent support. This remains a political brawl between former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s comeback desires and the dreams of state Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, to become something other than a Hyde Park neighborhood pol.

Fairley appears to be part of the anonymous pack, no matter what her credentials. Which led the Tribune to take another crack at influencing its readership on how to vote this week, or a week from Tuesday on Election Day.

It will be odd if Fairley is the candidate who had the official endorsements of both the Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times (along with a few other publications, including the State Journal-Register of Springfield) but couldn’t rise above the pack. Probably more evidence of the declining influence that newspaper endorsements carry, although I still think they serve a purpose in helping to clarify a publication’s perspective and judging the honesty and objectivity of its reporting.

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Is “Madigan” going to be the GOP response to “Trump?” “Dump Madigan!!!” tactic has failed before!

There’s a lot of political outcry these days that Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, ought to give up the other political title he holds – that of Illinois Democratic Party chairman.

MADIGAN: Has his time really come?

The way it goes, people say that his slow response to dealing with allegations of sexual harassment by people connected to him shows that, at the very least, he should no longer be the top Democrat in parts of the state outside of Chicago.

PERSONALLY, I’M NOT getting on board this rhetorical railroad because I think many of the people who are spewing it are merely peeved that their own political party is going to have the embarrassment that is Donald J. Trump as a millstone around their own neck.

They feel the need to create a Democratic Party counterpart to the president who, thank goodness, gave up his own claims to once being a Democrat and decided to become a Republican when he began spewing his loony behavior on a political scale.

So I’m sure they are thinking that for every Illinois voter in the March 20 primary and the Nov. 6 general elections who casts their ballot with thoughts of reigning in Trump, they will create an equal number of people who will vote with the phrase “Blame Madigan!!!” burned into their brains.

They hope that they can impose as much damage to Democrats as Trump will cause for Republicans in Illinois. This may well become an election cycle for Illinoisans to reveal whom they despise the most.

TRUMP: Despised by more than anybody

NOW I DON’T doubt that Madigan isn’t that well liked amongst people who don’t pay much attention to government or electoral politics. That’s what happens when you’ve managed to survive on the scene for nearly a half century (dating to 1971, when he was 29). You build up enemies.

But he has the advantage of actually appearing on the ballot in one lone Illinois House district in the area surrounding Midway Airport. Where it seems the local voters enjoy the idea that their state representative is all-powerful and can order about other people.

The idea of beating Madigan himself is a long-shot.

RAUNER: Hopes anti-Madigan vote propels victory

Because he has control of the political party post and can influence how much campaign funding Democratic legislators have, he gets many of the senators and representatives who bear the mark of “D” following their names to go along with him.

WHICH, IF YOU think about it, is similar to the number of Republican legislators who are going to ignore Gov. Bruce Rauner’s ideological leanings on certain issues because he’s the guy dishing out his own personal funds to their campaigns.

This long-shot thought has been revealed in past election cycles.

Let’s not forget that Rauner himself campaigned heavily in 2014 by trying to tie the “Madigan” image to every Democrat (many of whom wound up winning). The same happened in 2010 – only it was William Brady (who has since become Illinois Senate minority leader these days instead of finishing a second term as governor) who tried the tactic and failed.

The bottom line! I don’t think enough people will let their thoughts about Madigan influence their vote. Even if they want to believe that Madigan should have reacted more vociferously (and quickly) to the sexual harassment allegations now underway.

PARTICULARLY SINCE IT can be argued that Madigan seems more willing to sacrifice low-level people so long as he preserves his political structure.

BRADY: Blaming Madigan didn't win '10

Yet let’s be honest; Trump himself has so many similar incidents involving various women in his background – to the point where I wonder that if first lady Melania Trump were to whack her husband upside the head for his behavior, would the Secret Service feel compelled to treat it as a presidential assault or deserved behavior by a wife against a cheating husband?

I don’t see anybody who takes the sexual harassment issue seriously at any level voting for the opposition, or thinking that the Party of Trump is in any way more acceptable on this issue.

Which could make such “Blame Madigan!!!” tactics liable to fail for yet another election cycle – and the 2020 election cycle resulting in 50 years worth of ballots in which “Mr. Speaker” has his name on them, and wins!

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700 days w/o a state budget? Why do we feel no shame at such negligence?

It would take a political miracle at this point for Illinois to avoid hitting a particularly embarrassing timeline – 700 days without our government being able to approve a budget for its official operations.

That’s 700 days (not quite two full years) of inactivity, because officially nothing can happen without our government officials detailing how taxpayer money will be spent with a budget program.

THE ONLY REASON we haven’t had a complete shutdown of Illinois government operations is because there are some programs that the federal courts have deemed too significant to have their fate determined by the politically-partisan quirks of the knuckleheads we have chosen to represent us at the Statehouse in Springfield.

Of course, some of the programs that are not protected are amongst those that serve the greatest need for the public. Or just don’t have strong interests pressuring the courts to force themselves to be included amongst the protected.

Our government during the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years (Fiscal ’18 begins July 1) has been run in a scattershot manner, and even after the time occurs that our Legislature and governor are able to put together an operations budget that gets state government fully running again, it will take years for things to settle down.

Which is why I’m not getting all excited over the fact that our Legislature actually worked on Monday and through the weekend (the Memorial Day holiday weekend) to try to do the people’s business. It’s the least they could do, considering how mucked up things have become in government operations.

Anybody who can't spread political blame ...

BESIDES, WHILE I’M sure many of them would have liked to have returned to their home districts to be seen by local voters at Memorial Day parades, I doubt they were missed. Besides, if you’ve seen one parade, you’ve seen them all. And they’ll get their chance to express pseudo-patriotism come July 4 and the Independence Day parades in their communities.

Seriously, 700 days?!?

How can we possibly think it acceptable to go for so long without a spending plan that ensures our government fulfills its obligations to the people?

... is more delusional than old Cubs fans

How is it we haven’t had a serious voter revolt at the thought of such negligence on the part of the electorate at the fact our government officials think they can go so long without acting on their fiduciary responsibilities?

IT WAS EMBARRASSING enough when the entire first full fiscal year of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s term came and went without a budget, and our state officials managed to piece together merely an interim budget for the first half of the second full fiscal year of The Rauner Years.

But considering that we now are approaching the end of the fiscal year (the spring ’17 legislative session is scheduled to end Wednesday night) without anything being done, it seems we have political people more than content to do nothing.

Rauner clearly wants his ideological games to play out, and is determined enough to want to undermine organized labor’s influence within state government that he will refuse to do anything that provides true funding for the state.

While Democrats led by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, clearly want to use the issue to bludgeon Rauner to a political death – hoping for a massive voter revolt that makes Bruce nothing more than a one-term governor whom we remember as “that stupid mistake we (the voters) made back in ’14.” As for the Senate Democrats, they passed something budget-related and issued a statement Monday saying how it would fully-fund higher education -- but also admitted they don't have Illinois House or Republican support. As though the real point is they want to escape blame when nothing happens by Wednesday night.

IT WAS MADIGAN who issued the statement Monday saying he felt he and Democrats had done enough in passing measures related to the acquisition of goods and services by state government. As though now it’s on Rauner to put up or shut up, so to speak, in backing a budget proposal.

“Today’s agreement is proof that House Democrats are willing to make compromises to move Illinois forward,” Madigan said. Although it comes across as a strong desire to see how much dirt they can force Rauner to eat.

No longer the gold standard of local ineptitude

I used to think the most embarrassing aspect of our local scene were those hard-core Chicago Cubs fans who got all worked up over a ballclub that hadn’t won a World Series in over a century, or even a league championship in excess of seven decades. How can anyone take such a ball club seriously?

Yet now that we’re approaching that 700-day mark, it makes me think we have developed a new standard for ineptitude. Thy name is Illinois government.

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EXTRA: If Kennedy, other Dems, really want to be called “governor,” maybe they should move to England

Chris Kennedy, the son of a former presidential hopeful and nephew to a president and a long-time senator, has taken the step he has never been willing to in his past political fantasies – he declared a candidacy Wednesday for Illinois governor.
 

A Kennedy joining the gubernatorial rat-race

Kennedy, the son of Bobby and himself the long-time manager of the formerly Kennedy family-owned Merchandise Mart property, says he’ll seek the Democratic Party’s gubernatorial nomination for the 2018 election cycle.

WHICH PUTS HIM on a lengthy list of people who have allowed their names to be thrown into the mix; some of whom likely just enjoy the idea of having such speculation being bandied about when people discuss them.

For what it’s worth, that list right now includes:

·        Amaya Pawar, a Chicago alderman,

·        Robin Kelly, in whose congressional district I currently reside,
·        Kwame Raoul, a state senator from President Barack Obama’s neighborhood in Chicago,
·        Michael Frerichs, the Illinois treasurer,
·        Daniel Biss, a state senator,
·        Cheri Bustos, a member of Congress from the Quad Cities,
·        J.B. Pritzker, the financially well-off man (the Hyatt Hotels fortune) who could potentially make incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner look like a pauper,
·        Lisa Madigan, the Illinois attorney general who has long been rumored to have gubernatorial fantasies, and
·        Pat Quinn, the former governor who has never let being a political long-shot stop him from running for a government office.

Will people feel the same way about his son?

Needless to say, it’s highly unlikely we will have a 10-candidate ballot to choose from in the Democratic primary to be held in March 2018. This list will winnow down considerably, and it may be possible that the person who winds up on top is someone who hasn’t come forth yet.

ALL OF WHICH is to say I don’t have a clue who will be the challenger to Rauner when he seeks another term as Illinois governor.

As for whether any of these people can actually beat the millions of his own dollars that Rauner has already committed to spending to get himself re-elected along with a General Assembly more sympathetic to his anti-organized labor political agenda, that remains to be seen.

Will Caroline draw more attention to her candidacy

About the only thing I do know for sure is that having to think about this election cycle more than a year before the actual primary gives me a sense of nausea.

And as for the Kennedy name, we’ll get to see whether the multi-generational political family (supposedly, JFK daughter Caroline is contemplating a bid for office in New York, and there are countless Kennedy cousins throughout the years who have succeeded) can add Illinois to the list of states and cities where voters chose to elect one of their members to handle the duties of governing themselves.

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