Page 24 - 01A_CL7_APR18.indd

Heavy turnover possible in Springfield
The legislature was primarily working its way through committee action during the beginning of March. The legislators did then take the last few weeks off for the primary elec-
sentative Ives would “give him a battle.” That certainly turned out to be true, as the governor’s team thought it would be a much bigger victory. And now, this fall election could be the most expensive governor’s race in United States his- tory. If you did not like seeing so many ads during the
DAVE
DAVE
SULLIVAN
SULLIVAN
tion and then the Easter/Passover break. When they return to session during the week of April 9, we expect to be dealing R with a variety of bills impacting public safety and pension issues. This will be a
very busy time until the legislature’s scheduled adjourn- ment on May 31.
Politically, the primary election results are the biggest sto- ry. We now know that billionaire J.B. Pritzker will face fellow billionaire Governor Bruce Rauner in the November election. Pritzker had an impressive victory over his challengers, in- cluding Chris Kennedy and Daniel Biss. Pritzker garnered 45 percent of the vote in a six-man race, while Governor Rauner was held to just 52 percent of the vote against Representative Jeanne Ives. In our February newsletter, I wrote that Repre-
primary, just wait for the show this summer and fall! In legislative primaries, three incumbents, includ- ing two Democrats from Chicago, lost their seats. Longtime legislators Senator Ira Silverstein and Repre- sentative Dan Burke were both defeated in their bids for reelection. In addition, far downstate Republican State Rep- resentative David Reis was the only one of the GOP legislators who voted for last year’s tax increase to face defeat. Several of those GOP legislators decided to retire, while the others who sought re-election won their battles. With these losses, there are now at least 36 legislators who took office in January 2017 who will not be taking that same oath in January 2019. Even before we get to the general election, that is more than a 20
percent turnover. d
L
R
E
E
e
e
c
c
G
or
ord
RE
R
R
T
IS
d
E
O
i
in
n
P
L
g
g
S
e
A
O
S
por
T
e
ec
R
R
t
cr
IV
r
T
e
e
t
ta
a
r
ry
P
y
24 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ APRIL 2018