North Shore Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider announced today he’s drafting a resolution aimed at censuring Georgia Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for comparing Congress’ COVID-19 rules, including wearing masks on the House floor, to the treatment of Jewish people in Nazi Germany.
Taylor Greene’s comments already have drawn sharp criticism from a fellow Trump ally, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, and other GOP leaders. Schneider, who is Jewish, called her statements “antisemitic.”
Censure is a formal rebuke and requires a simple majority vote to pass the Democratic-controlled House.
The lobbying scandal that has rocked Commonwealth Edison and some of Illinois’ most powerful lawmakers has put a bright spotlight on utility-related legislation that has hit the utility’s customers in the wallet.
The Illinois Public Interest Research Group, which focuses on consumer advocacy, is out with “a new analysis contending a little-known law cost electricity users more than $600 million over the last seven years — a figure ComEd disputes,” ace Tribune investigative reporter Ray Long reports. It’s relevant now as Gov. J.B. Pritzker, lawmakers, ComEd, environmental groups and others negotiate a new state energy policy ahead of Monday’s scheduled adjournment of the General Assembly.
Meantime, the brawl is intensifying over the legislature’s once-a-decade effort to redraw the state’s legislative maps, aimed at ensuring equitable racial and ethnic representation, keeping communities of shared interest intact and for districts to be compact, contiguous and as equal in population as possible.
Republicans say the new state legislative boundaries proposed by Democrats are so gerrymandered that they’ll pit Downstate Republicans against one another and ultimately cement Democrats’ iron grip on the statehouse, the Tribune’s Rick Pearson and the Belleville News-Democrat’s Kelsey Landis
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write in separate pieces.Democrats also are looking to consolidate power by redrawing the state Supreme Court district boundaries.
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U.S. Rep Brad Schneider of suburban Deerfield announced in a news release he’s drafting a resolution to censure controversial U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after comments she made on a conservative podcast, “The Water Cooler with David Brody,” last week, The Associated Press reports.
The AP notes: “In her interview, Greene excoriated safety protocols adopted by House Democrats, including a requirement that masks be worn on the House floor. She also called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ‘mentally ill’ while suggesting that the rules were comparable to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust.”
Greene said on the podcast: “You know, we can look back in a time and history where people were told to wear a gold star. And they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany. This is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.” Read the full AP story here.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted that her comments were “appalling.”
“Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene continues to debase not only the memory of 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis, but all those who fought and died defending Democracy against Hitler and his evil,” Schneider said in a statement.
“There should be no room for such unapologetic hate and antisemitism in our politics or our government. Therefore, I am drafting a resolution to censure Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. I hope that if Speaker McCarthy truly believes that what Rep. Greene said was ‘appalling,’ he will join our effort to censure her.”
While Schneider called Greene’s comments antisemitic, she wrote on Twitter: “Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi’s forced Jewish people to wear a gold star. Vaccine passports & mask mandates create discrimination against unvaxxed people who trust their immune systems to a virus that is 99% survivable.”
Another Illinois congressman, U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Channahon Republican and frequent Greene critic, responded “Just stop” and added, “This is demented and dangerous. There is no comparison. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: while we cannot stop her from calling herself a Republican, we can and should refuse to let her caucus with the @HouseGOP.”
Greene’s latest controversial comments come a week after she, along with Downstate U.S. Rep. Mary Miller and other Republicans, defied mask rules on the U.S. House floor.
They were protesting the fact that the chamber’s COVID-19 restrictions haven’t been amended in the wake of new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that states those fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can skip face coverings in most settings.
Greene, as well as Miller of Oakland, were each given a first-offense warning by the sergeant-at-arms.
The Tribune’s Ray Long writes, “As the Commonwealth Edison lobbying scandal has rocked state government, much of the focus has been on laws that resulted in customers paying more for a smart grid and a bailout of nuclear power plants.
“But there’s a third, lesser-known measure that also has had a big impact on customers’ wallets: a 2013 law that allowed ComEd to use a trio of accounting techniques to help its bottom line.
“The Illinois Public Interest Research Group is out with a new analysis contending the law cost electricity users more than $600 million over the last seven years — a figure ComEd disputes.
“That law is relevant today because its provisions are among those on the table as Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, lawmakers, ComEd, environmental groups and others negotiate over a new state energy policy ahead of Monday’s scheduled adjournment.
“PIRG, a consumer advocacy group, joins the governor in seeking to end the decade-old, automatic formula rate-making process that critics say is too generous and return to a more traditional regulatory review.”
ALSO – Illinois legislators approve bill that would decriminalize HIV transmission, the Tribune’s Jenny Whidden reports.
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The Tribune’s Rick Pearson writes, “New state legislative boundaries proposed by Democrats would further cement the party’s dominance in Springfield by using a declining downstate population to pit House Republicans against each other in several areas.” Full story here.
“Make no mistake, these maps were drawn solely for the Democrats to maintain their political power in the state of Illinois,” House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said during a news conference Monday in which he ripped the Democratic map proposal.
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By the numbers: Democrats hold a 73-45 advantage over Republicans in the 118-member Illinois House, Pearson reports. He also writes: “Under details emerging from a proposed legislative map unveiled by Democrats on Friday evening, the new boundaries would pit Republican incumbents against each other in eight House districts. In east-central and southern Illinois, the homes of four House Republicans are packed into a single district.”
RELATED: Democrats look to consolidate power by redrawing Illinois Supreme Court districts to maintain majority — Pearson writes about it here.
Alexi Giannoulias wins endorsement of politically powerful Service Employees International Union
“Former state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has received the endorsement of the politically influential Service Employees International Union State Council in his bid to gain the Democratic nomination for secretary of state to replace retiring Jesse White,” Rick Pearson writes.
The union has more than 150,000 Illinois members and its Local 73 represents 2,600 workers in the secretary of state’s office, more than half the office’s employees, he said. Tom Balanoff, president of SEIU Local 1, said Giannoulias “understands what critical issues are most important to the hardworking families across our state.” Full story here.
One year later, George Floyd’s killing marked by public officials
Public officials are marking the somber anniversary of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd.
“George’s murder ignited the largest anti-racism movement our country has seen since the Civil Rights Movement and has demanded that we work that much harder to create a society where Black people and people of color are able to live their lives free from the fear of police brutality and systemic injustice,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot wrote in a social media post this morning. “It has also urged us to take an honest look at the policing and racial justice problems still facing our country. What we saw was this: some progress. Far too many failures. And above all, a lack of holistic solutions to the scourges of racism.”
Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton paused to reflect on George Floyd the man — as well as the movement he sparked. She wrote on Twitter: “George Floyd was loved. He had family. And friends. And community. And he deserved to breathe. Today, and everyday, may we honor his legacy — and that of the countless others who have not found justice. Let’s keep pushing, family. For George.”
A year ago, ordinary people became activists and leaders when George Floyd was murdered. How are they doing today? My Tribune colleagues checked in with them. Read about it here.
Chicagoans mark anniversary of George Floyd’s murder. Read about the events here.
In Northwest Indiana, area legislators, activists say ‘long way to go’ toward police reform after George Floyd’s death, the Post-Tribune’s Alexandra Kukulka writes.
George Floyd’s family meets with President Biden as Congress weighs police bill, The Associated Press reports.
One year after civil unrest, Central Camera owner determined to rebuild in the Loop, the Tribune’s Lisa Schencker reports.
*OTHER NEWS – Mayor Lightfoot promotes two high-ranking city workers to fill top-level vacancies: Andrea Holthouse Cheng is Lightfoot’s pick to be the next commissioner of the Department of Water Management. Her career with the city began in 2004, according to the mayor’s office. She’s been acting commissioner since January 2021. The mayor’s office says Cheng is a nationally recognized expert on water quality and is a licensed professional engineer. Her predecessor, Randy Conner, resigned from his post last year.
Cheng’s appointment comes at a time of crisis: The Roseland water pumping station went offline today — the second time in a month. The Tribune’s Clare Proctor notes in this piece that the outage at the 110-year-old South Side water pumping station left thousands of people in the area without water, primarily in Beverly and Morgan Park. More on that here.
The mayor also announced that Brandie Knazze will become the next commissioner of the Department of Family and Support Services. She has been the first deputy commissioner of the department since 2017. The agency provides or connects residents with social service agencies that help homeless families, those in the throes of domestic violence and more. She replaces Lisa Morrison Butler.
The appointments of Cheng and Knazze come as the mayor made headlines for leaving top-level posts vacant as staffers exit the administration. The Tribune’s John Byrne and Gregory Pratt reported on the vacancies earlier this month.
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