Jim Dey: College of law dean bouncing between Berkeley, UI

Jun. 10—It's time once again to dive into another round of quick takes on the people, places and events that were being talked about over the past week:

Hourglass nearly empty

Time is running out on University of Illinois College of Law Dean Vikram Amar.

His eight-year tenure here ends June 30.

Then he'll return to his old job as a professor of constitutional law, but happily divide his teaching time between the UI and California-Berkeley.

"I don't generally believe in strict term limits for deans, but I do think the best deans are people who were happy and successful as faculty members and who look forward to full-time writing and teaching," he said.

Amar, who came to the UI in 2015, is a prolific writer — books on complicated issues involving procedure and constitutional law as well as essays on legal issues and controversies in the news.

He said his "primary personal and professional home" will be the UC law school, where he'll teach in the fall.

Then he'll return to the UI for the spring semester to teach a class at the UI.

"I think it benefits me (and, hopefully, the UI, too) for me not to go back to California cold turkey," he said.

Amar acknowledges he has an ulterior motive for returning to the UI.

A hoop head who is genuinely enthusiastic about discussing the game, Amar said he hopes "Big 10 basketball will be worth watching in January and February."

He said the Pac-10 "has a few good teams," but that the Big 10 "has tough outs up and down the conference, especially on the road."

"B10 hoops venues are something everyone should be so lucky to experience. And State Farm on a good night is as good as any for my money," he said.

Amar didn't dismiss the possibility of pursuing another deanship somewhere down the line.

But he said he is "very happy to pass the baton here and go back to civilian life as a full-time law professor."

Will anyone notice?

The last of Gov. Pritzker's temporary election-year tax cuts will expire July 1.

But there's no reason for consumers to worry much about it — the tax cut was so puny that the tax reinstatement will be puny as well.

Pritzker and legislators, in an effort to burnish their re-election credentials, passed a series of temporary tax cuts last year.

One suspended for one year the state's 1 percent grocery tax as of July 1, 2022.

On a $100 grocery bill for the purchase of eligible food items, the cut saved the buyer $1.

Pritzker's also delayed an increase in the state's gas tax from July 1, 2022, to Jan. 1, 2023.

Consumers also will see another gas tax increase on July 1 because state law calls for automatic increases in the gas tax every July 1.

Call it a "cost-of-living" hike for the gas tax.

Judicial hardball

The ruthless politics of Illinois keep finding their way onto the Wall Street Journal's editorial page — and not in a flattering way.

This week, Journal editorial writers excoriated Pritzker and legislators for "gutting judicial review in Illinois."

That's a bit harsh.

The Journal was referring to a change in state law that limits constitutional challenges to laws or executive orders to just two (Cook and Sangamon) of Illinois' 102 counties.

"Progressives are on the march in Illinois, and they want to make sure their new policies can't be overturned in state court," a Journal editorial stated.

The Journal noted that the new rules will not be applied in an even-handed manner.

"The change means a downstate farmer will have to travel to Chicago or Springfield to challenge a law but the same won't apply to Illinois public unions. In true Springfield fashion, government unions received a special exemption. The venue changes don't apply to 'claims arising out of collective bargaining disputes' between Illinois and the unions," it stated.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Gov. Pritzker were deeply chagrined over the past few years when opponents of coronavirus lockdown rules filed legal challenges in their home counties.

That required the AG's lawyers to travel to county courthouses they didn't want to visit.

Now, the shoe is on the other foot.

The Journal quotes a Raoul spokesman as saying "the change is appropriate because 'inconsistent court decisions about important public issues have repeatedly caused confusion.' Yes, but that's how the judicial system is meant to work. Conflicting lower-court decisions are resolved through appeals," the Journal editorial stated.

Once more with feeling

Here we go again.

There's another political corruption trial underway in Chicago starring Illinois legislators.

Say it ain't so, readers may say. But it is.

After the ComEd Four extravaganza and the string of convictions involving red light camera bribes to municipal officials, federal prosecutors took aim at a scam involving "sweep gaming machines."

Cook County doesn't allow video poker, but the sweep machines have made their way into the marketplace.

Customers deposit money and redeem tickets that can be exchanged for merchandise or, perhaps, something else — like money.

The Chicago Tribune reports the "sweep" machines are "designed to skirt the law."

In Chicago?

Heaven forbid.

But it apparently is true.

The current case involves connected politico James Weiss, son-in-law to another connected politico — former Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios.

He wanted legalization of the machines to be included in the massive gambling expansion legislation Gov. Pritzker signed into law.

So Weiss allegedly set out to bribe key players in the legislative process to get that done.

In her opening statement, federal prosecutor Christine O'Neill told jurors Weiss had "two sitting politicians" on his payroll, one of whom set out to bribe then state Sen. Terry Link.

But Link, already implicated in a separate tax evasion criminal case, agreed to work with federal investigators and tape record former state Rep. Luis Arroyo's efforts to bribe him.

The defense acknowledges Weiss' payments to Arroyo but said the payments were for Arroyo's consulting services, not bribes.

Arroyo already has pleaded guilty in the case and is in prison.

Link is waiting to be sentenced on his tax evasion guilty plea.

He hopes to avoid prison by cooperating in the Arroyo/Weiss investigation.

There's nothing much new here in terms of what was done and why.

It's just standard Illinois corruption involving cash payoffs for legislative action — in this case sweepstakes gambling.

The case is expected to last about a week.

Federal prosecutors rarely lose, but the defense must think it has a chance.

From the outside looking in, it's hard to see why.

But juries know best.

Pay raise stats

Legislative pay raises have been in the news, and everyone views them through their own personal lens.

Whether deserved or not, the state comptroller's office reports legislators have voted themselves five pay raises in the 16 years that have passed since their base pay was set at $67,836.

Those years include hard economic times (the banking/housing crisis, the Great Recession and the coronavirus pandemic) that prompted legislators to reject pay hikes from 2009 to 2019, when they boosted their pay to $69,464.

Since then, they raised their pay in four of the past five years.

It now stands at $89,250.

That does not include annual stipends ranging from nearly $11,000 to nearly $30,000 that most legislators receive.

Fingers do their stuff

In a column this week, retired UI-Springfield Professor Kent Redfield was misidentified as Redmond.

Why?

You'd have to ask my fingers.

They too often do as they please when I'm typing on autopilot.

I've known Redfield and interviewed him many times over the years.

I know his last name, but my fingers have other ideas.

Will have to work on that.