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Many legislators focused on primary election
The March 17 primary election is the main focus of many legislators right now. Several primaries in Chicago will be hotly contested. It will be interesting to see how many of these turn out.
In Chicago, a few appointed legislators are in the midst of heated primaries. These include Senator Rob Martwick and Representative Lindsey LaPointe, both from the Northwest Side, Representative Yoni Pizer in the Lakeview area, Chicago Representatives Mark Kalish and Eva Dina Delgado, and Senator Pat-
rick Joyce from the Kankakee area. Other legislators with prima- ries include Chicago-area Representatives Thaddeus Jones, An- dre Thapedi, Mary Flowers, Jaime Andrade and Rita Mayfield and Bloomington’s Dan Brady.
The legislature has been meeting for the last few weeks, work- ing on committee hearings. Hundreds of bills have been intro- duced this year, and we are watching the many that impact polic- ing issues. As you have probably seen in the news, there continues to be a strong push by the mayor on a casino for Chicago. We are watching that carefully, as the revenue would go to pay for police and fire pensions.
As you have also seen in the news, the scandals in and around the Capitol and City Hall continue to be investigated. This should lead to some kind of ethics reform legislation. A bipartisan com- mittee is working diligently on that topic in Springfield. In this election year, the main legislative focus of the General Assembly will be to pass a budget on time.
20 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MARCH 2020
DAVE SULLIVAN
LEGISLATIVE Report