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* Center Square…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker continues to take heat from political opponents about crime in Illinois and Chicago.
Republican candidate Jesse Sullivan, who faces five others in the GOP primary for governor, called for emergency federal involvement in the crisis by opening an investigation into the activities of Chicago’s more than 50 known street gangs under the USA PATRIOT Act, the post-9/11 law that facilitates investigations into domestic terrorism.
“Last October, you acted on a letter from the National Association of School Boards calling for an investigation into the activities of lawfully-assembled parents, concerned over strenuous COVID restrictions and the discovery that schools across America were integrating Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) into their curriculum,” Sullivan said in a letter to President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland. “To the best of my knowledge, those protests resulted in zero fatalities.”
Sullivan then noted in Chicago alone, there have been more than 250 lost lives this year. He urged prompt deployment of the National Guard after three police officers were shot in less than a week.
“Somehow, 28 months in [to the COVID-19 pandemic], J.B. Pritzker is still signing monthly COVID disaster proclamations, but he is unwilling or unable to act on an even more pressing crisis – the senseless violence ravaging the streets of Chicago,” Sullivan said. “It’s time for Governor Pritzker to immediately declare a state of emergency and bring out the National Guard to help our undermanned and outgunned police department.”
Pritzker was asked about that Monday and said he has never failed to do what’s been asked of him.
“I will tell you that I have never once hesitated when asked by local law enforcement or by local mayors to provide help from the National Guard. I have never ever hesitated to do that, and I’ve done that several times,” Pritzker said.
* More from yesterday…
Q: Some of the Republican candidates have asked for the National Guard to be called out to combat recent violence involving law enforcement. And so what do you say to that?
A: Well, I think you know that I have called up the National Guard whenever local mayors that I’ve spoken to have wanted that done, have needed that done in their local communities. And I’ll continue to make the National Guard available whenever it is necessary.
* And from Pritzker’s second appearance yesterday…
Q: It has been a wild weekend, we have had another police officer shot at… Your Republican opponents are saying it’s your fault, that you have not been tough enough on crime, and you have not been standing with the police.
A: Let me start by offering my sympathies and my solidarity with officers and with their families. They are heroes. They really are. They do amazing work on the streets of Chicago and our police all across the state of Illinois. And I support that work with everything that I am working on. I want to remind you that we’ve made major investments in support of police. In particular in building back our Illinois State Police, which provides so many officers to backup Chicago Police Department, as well as police departments all over our state, was, as you know, devastated and decimated under the prior administration. We’ve been adding back hundreds of officers. And they’re doing terrific work. They were out when there was looting in 2020. They were called upon, we even brought in the National Guard to support local police. We continue to do that whenever we’re asked to. Maybe most importantly, we’ve been addressing the underlying causes of crime, fighting poverty, making sure we’re providing health care for communities most in need. And that also is an enormous support for our local law enforcement. So you know, for people who talk, that’s easy, we’re actually doing things and the people that stand with me that are in Springfield have voted to help our local police.
* He was also asked about Sullivan’s other point…
Q: COVID extension on emergency orders? Why sign that? What’s that all about?
A: You’re talking about our disaster declaration. Yeah, well, let me remind all of you that, like a flood, you know, floods don’t have a time limitation to them. They end whenever they end. So in Illinois, COVID-19 is like a massive flood that has taken place. It has been going on for a couple of years now. People getting the disease are needing to treat it, are needing to use the executive orders of the office of governor in order to help people get through this terrible time. Ianybody who’s paid attention, and I think the people who have been complaining about this have not been, can see that the disaster declarations and the executive orders have been ramping down over many months now. And so as we ramp them down, we’re also providing the supports that people need beyond the executive orders. But we’re in a different situation now than we were months and months ago. And we’re going to continue to provide support. We’re still in COVID-19, we still have a pandemic, there is still a federal disaster that’s been declared. And so we’re going to keep providing the services that people need and ramping down because we can see that there are fewer and fewer people who are needing hospitalizations when we get surges. Thank God
* Pritzker was asked about his COVID game plan earlier in the day as well…
Q: As you know well, hospitalizations are going up for COVID. As cases going up, you know, what’s your game plan for going ahead, any thought about masking?
A: So I want to remind you that at the height of Omicron, really at the height of COVID-19, we had about 7400 people in the hospital. Today, we have around 1600 people in the hospital. What I watch most closely around COVID, to determine whether we need to take state action is the situation in our hospitals, and whether we’re keeping people safe and healthy. As you know, one of the big differences between a year ago and several months ago and now is we have widespread availability of treatments, of therapeutics. So if people do get sick from COVID, we have for example that is available, widely available, you can have your doctor prescribe it to you, and specifically within the first five days of feeling symptoms. Very importantly, we’re trying to keep people safe and healthy and remind them that if you haven’t been vaccinated, now’s a great time to go do it. If you haven’t received your booster, now is the perfect time to go do that. I’m somebody who’s of an age over 50. So I’ve had a second booster. And I encourage anybody over 50 to go get that booster. But that is one of the reasons why even though you’ve seen case numbers go up, you have not seen hospitalizations go up commensurate with that.
There is also federal relief available for states with emergency orders, including SNAP benefits. Without a state order, those federal benefits go away.
…Adding… The governor’s office pointed to this example…
Beginning April 2021, all eligible SNAP households are eligible to receive a minimum EA [emergency allotment] of $95. … EA will continue as long as the COVID-19 public health emergency is in effect. When the public health emergency ends, EA will only be available for one additional month.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 12:39 pm
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President Biden? But I thought Richard Irvin controlled the Illinois National Guard.
Comment by AC Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 12:44 pm
==President Biden? But I thought Richard Irvin controlled the Illinois National Guard.==
No, no, this is the *National* National Guard, the one I think Jesse Sullivan served in until he didn’t.
Comment by Roadrager Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 12:47 pm
Didn’t Trump already do this 5 years ago and solve the problem in a few days?
Comment by Baloneymous Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 12:51 pm
Jesse Sullivan showing us he would be a leader of substance. /s
Comment by Montrose Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 12:52 pm
===50 known street gangs under the USA PATRIOT Act, the post-9/11 law that facilitates investigations into domestic terrorism
Don’t give Lightfoot any ideas.
Comment by ArchPundit Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 12:52 pm
=activities of lawfully-assembled parents, concerned over strenuous COVID restrictions and the discovery that schools across America were integrating Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) into their curriculum=
Parents that are disturbing the peace and hurling threats at school boards and admin are not “lawfully-assembled” there Sergeant Haircut McImposter.
Since you are, or you should know that you are, running for governor of Illinois, you should no that CRT is a lie (he knows, he is just a liar) and not taught in Illinois. But you keep telling the lie. And here I always thought christians were against lying.
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 12:55 pm
Sullivan spouting out the typical GOP fantasies hoping to get past the Irvin/Bailey horse race.
Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 12:55 pm
==Sullivan spouting out the typical GOP fantasies hoping to get past the Irvin/Bailey horse race.==
You can’t come out slinging the cheap red meat when your competitor has already been serving the prime cuts for months.
Comment by Roadrager Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 12:57 pm
Slinging cheap red meat?
Get back to us tomorrow after the backlash from the California primary today is apparent that will send soft on crime Democrats exiting stage left.
Comment by Lucky Pierre Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 1:02 pm
Based on his extensive military experience, I am surprised that Mr. Sullivan doesn’t know what the Guard is trained to do or not do. /s
Sure, downstate random guy (who’s going to be even more random in about 3 weeks), JB will get right on sending troops to Chicago because you want it.
Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 1:04 pm
==Today, we have around 1600 people in the hospital. ==
JB’s guesstimate was only about 30% higher than actual.
Maybe he’s not watching the hospital situation as closely as he claims.
Comment by Stu Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 1:09 pm
Asking Governor Pritzker to address the crisis of 50 street gangs with 150,000 members, many with illegal weapons whose main business is poisoning are young people with fentanyl laced narcotics is obviously a losing issue Jesse based on the comments so far
Comment by Lucky Pierre Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 1:12 pm
==the California primary==
If you have to take a four-hour flight to find anything close to making your point on local politics, maybe just sit it out instead.
Comment by Roadrager Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 1:14 pm
=If you have to take a four-hour flight to find anything close to making your point on local politics, maybe just sit it out instead.=
LOL. Good stuff.
BTW-Did you see that Boris Johnson survived the vote of no-confidence? ILGOP candidates should take note. /s
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 1:20 pm
=address the crisis of 50 street gangs with 150,000 members=
I guess this was overlooked in the last administration’s “turnaround agenda.” If 6% of the cities population is in a street gang, you would have thought they would have made it a priority.
Comment by Pundent Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 1:34 pm
== Asking Governor Pritzker to address the crisis of 50 street gangs with 150,000 members, many with illegal weapons==
Every time we try to do something about those illegal weapons you cry like an ickle baby, so don’t pretend you care about crime for even a second.
Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 1:36 pm
The Public Health Emergency was supposed to end 06/30/22- was it extended? Did I miss that news?
Comment by Alice Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 1:41 pm
“I always thought christians were against lying.”
No. They are the worst offenders.
Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 1:45 pm
For the last time, what do these people expect the National Guard to do in Chicago? They aren’t (for the most part) trained to investigate crimes or interrogate suspects or follow a suspected carjacker. (And those that are are law enforcement officers in civilian life who are needed elsewhere.) If this is the best idea you have, then you don’t have *any* good ideas.
Comment by Benjamin Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 1:51 pm
@Pundent: I, too, was surprised at that number, but apparently that’s not far off from the “official” estimate from the Chicago Police Department:
https://news.wttw.com/2020/07/27/critics-say-chicago-police-need-rethink-tracking-gang-members-curbing-violence
Having said that, it’s not at all clear that the CPD’s estimate is accurate, or that it differentiates actual gangsters from people who might be associated with a gang member in some way but aren’t really members themselves.
Comment by Benjamin Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 1:57 pm
Even Texas is still operating under an emergency declaration, the SNAP dollars are a very big deal.
Obviously Jesse is not overly concerned with reducing federal dollars coming into the state to assist poor people if it means giving him a good talking point.
Comment by Juice Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 2:06 pm
“For the last time, what do these people expect the National Guard to do in Chicago?”
Best as I can tell, they have visions of some form of martial law where you militarize black and brown neighborhoods for an indefinite period of time to “restore order.”
Comment by Montrose Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 2:17 pm
Lots of criticism over the years re the CPD gang database, and much of it seems justified. It appears to be, basically, the gut reaction of street cops, which may have some value in certain contexts but probably not for statistical analysis.
Comment by WestBurbs Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 2:18 pm
We need to try anything that might work to curtail crime and shootings. Maybe using the National Guard was tried before, but change the procedures and try it again. The city needs to do something.
Comment by Just a Citizen Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 2:20 pm
==Maybe using the National Guard was tried before, but change the procedures and try it again.==
Seems specific enough. Roll in the humvees and let the magic happen.
Comment by Roadrager Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 2:39 pm
==Obviously Jesse is not overly concerned with reducing federal dollars==
I would say that’s a good bet since he’s also the guy who said he’s going to cut $10 billion from the state budget. There’s a whole lot of budget tied to federal funds.
Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 4:11 pm
Roadrager…Why not Humvees since the police have all of the other leftover military gear? Might be a better idea if the Guard just walked around and let their presence be known in some of the areas experiencing the most crime.
Comment by Just a Citizen Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 5:29 pm
-Roll in the humvees and let the magic happen.-
Maybe Jesse could get a picture standing next to one for his campaign materials.
Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 5:41 pm
===walked around and let their presence be known in some of the areas ===
Yeah, that’ll work. Nobody will get shot accidentally. This ain’t Baghdad. Light up a civilian in Chicago and all heck breaks loose.
Also, from the looks of things, there were plenty of police present during this mass shooting https://www.inquirer.com/crime/live/philadelphia-shooting-south-street-dead-wounded-20220605.html
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 7, 22 @ 5:56 pm