The Spin: Rahm Emanuel to soon get President Biden’s nod as Japan ambassador: reports | Pritzker’s budget for adults with disabilities falls short, critics say | Illinois House gets shot-and-a-beer legislation
The Financial Times broke the news this morning that President Joe Biden is expected to appoint former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel ambassador to Japan this month.
Questions about whether Emanuel would be hired for a post in Biden’s cabinet or some other job in the administration have been swirling for some time now. Emanuel made no secret of having been an unofficial adviser to the president’s campaign. But New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party balked when Emanuel’s name surfaced as a candidate to become Biden’s transportation secretary, a job that went to former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Critics in particular hammered away at then-Mayor Emanuel’s response to the police killing of Laquan McDonald.
Neither Emanuel nor the White House offered comment. But the two are clearly tight — Emanuel was chief of staff in the Obama-Biden administration — and have been for years. Biden even attended Emanuel’s first mayoral inauguration.
The Tribune’s Jenny Whidden writes today in this deep dive: “Three years after a federal judge found Illinois had failed to meet the standards of a consent decree mandating sufficient services to residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed budget falls far short of a state-funded study’s recommendation to address the problem.”
Officials across the nation are preparing to begin vaccinating children ages 12 to 15 — final approval is expected tomorrow. Meanwhile, a bill filed in the Illinois House would allow bars and restaurants to reward the newly vaccinated with a free beer, according to Mark Maxwell, a reporter with Champaign CBS affiliate WCIA-Ch. 3.
The governors of New Jersey and Connecticut have teamed up with local businesses and have already launched similar programs. New Jersey’s is dubbed “Shot and a Beer.”
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President Joe Biden to pick Rahm Emanuel as Japan ambassador this month
If the president appoints Emanuel ambassador to Japan, writes the Tribune’s Bill Ruthhart, “The move would give Biden a deeply experienced government tactician and political veteran in a prominent foreign post, but the choice is also certain to receive criticism from some in the Democratic Party’s progressive wing who have been critical of Emanuel’s eight-year tenure as Chicago mayor.”
Getting selected as an ambassador would amount to a political consolation prize for Emanuel, who made no secret of wanting the Department of Transportation secretary gig. But it also would give him a foothold back in national and international politics, Ruthhart writes.
“The president is likely to announce Emanuel with a slate of other ambassadors,” Ruthhart notes. The Financial Times reports that it could be this month. “Once announced, Emanuel would face confirmation in the U.S. Senate. If his nomination were sent with several other ambassadors, it lessens the likelihood he would face individual scrutiny from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.” Full story here.
* On eve of leadership vote, where does Illinois’ Republican congressional delegation stand on fate of Wyoming U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney?
U.S. House Republicans will gather tomorrow to decide whether Cheney will keep her GOP leadership post in the chamber. The Associated Press has more here.
Among Illinois Republicans with a say in the matter, U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, of Channahon, has been publicly supporting Cheney for days now, saying she’s being vilified by party leaders for calling out former President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims that the November election was stolen.
Then there is U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Oakland in east-central Illinois who says Cheney should get bounced for voting to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Ten House Republicans, including Cheney and Kinzinger, joined Democrats in voting to impeach Trump, arguing he egged on the violent attack as Congress was preparing to certify the November election.
Miller made it clear in a statement yesterday that Cheney’s impeachment vote should disqualify her from a leadership post.
“I believe that Rep. Cheney does not represent the Republican conference and should not be a part of our leadership team. Unfortunately, Rep. Cheney is seriously out of step with Republicans and is no longer capable of effectively leading the party. Over 70 million Americans voted for former President Trump in our election in November, and 94 percent of the Republican House members voted against the impeachment of President Trump. The leadership of the Republican conference should represent our voters, who overwhelmingly support former President Trump,” Miller said, adding: “For these reasons, I will vote against Rep. Cheney to remain in our leadership should another vote take place.”
The remaining three House Republicans in the Illinois delegation — Mike Bost of Murphysboro, Rodney Davis of Taylorville, and Darin LaHood of Peoria — didn’t respond to questions about how they plan to vote on the Cheney question tomorrow.
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Providers say Pritzker’s budget for adults with disabilities falls short of solving long-standing problems
In 2018, a federal court ruling found Illinois was not in compliance with a 2011 consent decree requiring the state to make community services more accessible to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Following the ruling, the Department of Human Services began a two-year review of its funding system and gathered recommendations from providers before hiring Guidehouse, a Chicago-based management consulting firm, to turn those recommendations into a spending plan.
Released in December, the five-year spending plan recommended an initial funding increase of $329 million — on top of the $1.1 billion allocated to community providers who work with people with disabilities such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and autism. That would be followed by increases of approximately $100 million in each of the next four years.
Pritzker’s budget proposal calls for an increase of $122 million, roughly a third of the recommended boost. Whidden writes: “While in line with the funding hikes of recent years, providers say it is not enough to meet the demand for services in Illinois and continues to push the problem down the road.” Full story, including why providers say the governor’s proposed increase falls short, here.
Column: As controversy swirls over critical race theory, state Rep. La Shawn Ford proposes including it in police training
Tribune opinion columnist Clarence Page writes: “Amid rising attacks against a line of academic debate called ‘critical race theory,’ I was surprised to see a Black state lawmaker from Chicago’s West Side, La Shawn Ford, introduce a bill calling for its inclusion in police officer training.”
He goes on to note that, “‘Critical race theory,’ or CRT, has become a trigger term for politicians, activists and media voices, particularly on the right wing where it’s competing with ‘cancel culture’ on the hit parade of things we are all supposed to be angry about or afraid of — or both.”
Background: “Among other pioneers of the CRT movement, legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw has called it an evolving practice that questions how race, as a social construct, perpetuates a caste system that relegates people of color to the bottom tiers.” Full column here.
Chicago-area health systems hope to start vaccinating kids ages 12 to 15 Thursday
With the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approving the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 12 to 15 yesterday and an advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expected to give the final OK tomorrow, three health systems say they’ll be ready to inoculate kids starting Thursday, the Tribune’s Lisa Schencker reports.
She writes: “Doctors from Advocate Aurora Health, NorthShore University HealthSystem and University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital said they plan to vaccinate children ages 12 to 15 the same way they’ve been vaccinating kids 16 to 18 in recent weeks — at their vaccination clinics. The systems, which work together through the Chicagoland Children’s Health Alliance, will reach out to patients to invite them for vaccinations, but children do not need to be patients to get the shots.” Full story here.
Reminder: Children will need parental consent to get the vaccine.
Illinois passes 10 million vaccine doses administered while the number of new daily cases dips below 2,000 and 26 deaths were reported today. More here.
Chicago Fed President Charles Evans questions whether remote offices, hastened by COVID-19 outbreak, will dampen Chicago’s ability to attract young workers. The Tribune’s Kim Quillen has the details here.
Group of cases involving a controversial former Chicago police detective who is married to a judge are moved out of Cook County
The Tribune’s Megan Crepeau writes: “Cook County judges will no longer preside over eight cases involving a controversial former Chicago police detective who is married to one of their fellow judges, the Tribune has learned.
“Cases related to ex-detective Kriston Kato will be moved to Will County, the state Supreme Court wrote in an order entered last month. He’s been married to Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan since 2006, at which point she already was a judge in the Criminal Division at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.”
The office of Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans explained in a statement: “The appearance of a conflict arises from the fact that a primary witness in each case is a retired police detective who is the spouse of a judge who supervises felony trial judges.”
“In each case, the witness is alleged by the defense to have engaged in some form of physical or other coercive conduct against the defendant. The witness is also the defendant in a federal civil rights case in which the witness is alleged to have engaged in the same or similar conduct.” Full story here.
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