(gentle music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) - Welcome to "CapitolView" on WSIU.

I'm Brian Sapp.

Governor JB Pritzker made his announcement that he's going to seek a third term last week.

This week, he announced who's going to be his running mate.

And we will also, this weekend is the July 4th.

It's a weekend that we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

We're going to talk with the chairwoman of the Illinois 250 America Commission about celebrating our country's independence.

Joining us this week are Brenden Moore, the State House reporter for Lee Enterprises, and Jeremy Gorner of the Chicago Tribune.

Good morning, gentlemen.

Thanks for joining us.

- Good morning, Brian.

- Always a pleasure, Brian.

- First, I wanna start with the big announcement.

Last week we were wondering, well, we were waiting for the shoe to drop, and right before we recorded last week's show, found out that he was gonna make his announcement last week.

And then Brenden, you were there, but the governor said he's running for a third term.

People have been asking, like I said, about who's going to be his running mate since the Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton is running for Durban's seat.

Can you kind of tell us about the announcement last week and just what you saw and what the governor said?

- Yeah, Brian, the announcement was really one of the least surprising announcements of the year.

Most people expected the governor to seek a third term.

It's kind of unprecedented in Illinois history.

Very few governors have won, have sought and won a third term.

The last one was Republican Governor Jim Thompson in 1982.

And you know, he would go on to win a fourth term as well.

But it really wasn't in doubt.

Governor Pritzker has obviously racked up a very progressive governing record over the past two terms, but he believes there's more to do and there's more to accomplish in a third term.

And obviously, he has national ambitions as well.

He's widely viewed as a 2028 presidential contender.

And it is a lot easier to kinda remain in that conversation when you are a sitting governor.

So, he made his announcement.

He had a video, about two minute video, that was filmed in Eastern Logan County at the purported center of Illinois.

And that seems to be what his theme is gonna be, that Illinois is kind of at the center of a lot of these national battles.

Obviously now with the Trump administration, the governor has kind of positioned himself as a fighter against the Republican president, and he made clear that that's gonna continue in the campaign and in a third term, should he be reelected.

You know, he had this line in his announcement saying that, you know, he ran for governor in 2018 to change our story, and he ran for governor in 2022 to keep telling our story, and he said, "I am running for governor in 2026 to protect our story."

So, he kind of views himself as maybe a bulwark against the federal government in some of these uncertain times.

And then earlier this week, a few days after he made his announcement, he made another announcement, which is his pick for lieutenant governor, his running mate, which is Christian Mitchell, former state representative and deputy governor under Governor Pritzker.

So, Pritzker had to kind of make this switch because his current lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, is running for the US Senate seat that is being vacated by the retiring Senator Dick Durbin.

So, Mitchell is an interesting pick.

He is an African American, former legislator from the south side of Chicago.

He, again, served in the legislature, but then resigned to go take a job in Governor Pritzker's administration.

He oversaw a lot of infrastructure and energy issues in the first term in 2019.

He oversaw the Rebuild Illinois Capital construction plan, getting that through the legislature.

And then in 2021, he was the lead negotiator from the administration on the Climate Equitable Jobs Act, which is the policy that's aiming to get Illinois to 100% carbon free energy generation by 2050.

So, he's kind of viewed as somebody who obviously has experience being an elected official facing the public, but also can play the inside game and is viewed as an experienced person in government.

It kind of fits the bill of what Governor Pritzker laid out, in that has to be ready, a takeover on day one, and as the governor said, he has to have, quote, unquote, "A heart for Illinois."

And the governor believes that those metrics, and you know, and again, he was a very...

He's a popular guy within kind of...

The governor obviously trusts him, and he's popular within the governor's inner circle.

The governor trusts him.

So, we're gonna see a Pritzker-Mitchell ticket on the Democratic side moving forward in 2026.

Just quickly on the Republican side, DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick is an announced candidate.

There were a few others that have been floating bids such as State Representative Blaine Wilhour and State Representative Dan Gaiewski.

There were a few other names out there, but not a lot of concrete developments on the Republican side yet.

It would be an uphill climb.

Again, Pritzker's a billionaire.

He has self-funded in the past, and he will again this time.

- That's one of the, and just kind of reading, trying to read over the past week, just what a lot of the things that he's got.

He's got a lot of tailwinds behind him.

Jeremy, as you look at this, and what is the governor's route to the governor's mansion again?

Does he have many challenges, or what do you think he's going to be facing?

- Well, actually, I wanna start by saying, to answer your question, Brian, that last week, Brenden and I were in Springfield when the governor made his tour of sorts, that he was announcing a run for a third term.

And Brenden asked a great question, which was, you know, basically, if Donald Trump had not won the election and Kamala Harris did become president, would Pritzker still be running for a third term as governor?

And Pritzker, I remember his response was very measured, where he said he probably would run anyway, but then he quickly pivoted and said but now he essentially sees his third term candidacy as something that's really almost like more important than ever for him because of what's going on at the national level, and talked about what he views as, you know, the federal government being a big threat under the Trump administration to Illinois.

And he kind of acted as if this is his mission now, to run for a third term, and that, you know, the fire igniting him to do that is Donald Trump.

And as we have seen, you know, to your question, Brian, on, like, for national, you know, implications, I mean, this kind of goes to how Governor Pritzker has really branded him himself as probably he's emerging as the biggest critic of Donald Trump.

Out of all the Democratic leaders in the country that you see, you see others who have become, you know, household names, such as Gavin Newsom, governor of California, who's liberal democrat, you know, but has become very pragmatic since Trump was elected, you know, trying to be, as... You know, trying to work his way a little bit to the center.

I think that we saw an exception to that in the last couple of weeks because of the events that unfolded in Los Angeles, where he was going back and forth with Donald Trump, so.

So maybe that pragmatism for Gavin Newsom was short lived.

But the point is, you didn't see any of that from Governor Pritzker.

He's still sticking to being who he is, a proud progressive who's gonna challenge Donald Trump at every turn, you know, with respect to abortion rights, with respect to, you know, daring him to deprive illinoisans of key federal funding like such as Medicaid.

We'll know in the coming days how that's gonna be affected.

And other issues.

So he's basically, he's really trying to put his eggs in one basket by trying to run... You know, it's almost as if if he runs for president, he wants to run the same campaign as he did in blue Illinois, you know, being this proud progressive.

But is that going to work on the national level?

I mean, I think only time will tell.

I think it's early, but you know, when you listen to, when you read news stories, when you look at polls, when you, you know, you look at cable news, you know, which obviously, you know, for better or for worse, depending on, you know, how you consume news, you know, Pritzker really isn't in the conversation when it comes to who is a national Democrat who can emerge as the nominee in 2028 for president.

He's really at the bottom.

I mean, people are still thinking could be Pete Buttigieg, President Biden's transportation secretary.

Looking at Kamala Harris again, who she might run for governor of California, but vice president still at the top of the list for Democrats.

Gavin Newsom, Bernie Sanders, the same household names you heard.

Pritzker still really kind of needs to make a name for himself nationally.

People really need to get to know him better and then decide whether his brand of progressivism is something that can resonate for the whole country and not just Illinois.

- That's an interesting point, I think he's... As I'm sitting here trying to think of the follow up question, where do we go next, I don't really see, and you know, Brenden, you talked about the Republicans haven't coalesced behind anybody and they've struggled here in the state, do you think that as we see his campaign for governor, it's going to be more like a campaign for president?

I noticed in his video there was a lot more shots of...

There was lots of shots, like you said, Illinois, and that central Illinois, and then President Trump.

Do you think that's how he's gonna position himself as he makes this run for governor?

- Yeah, I think there's gonna be a lot of national themes, and frankly, I mean, it's kind of walking and chewing gum, because there are so many things going on right now at the federal level that have a significant impact at the state level, as Jeremy mentioned, I mean, just with the federal funds for programs like Medicaid or for SNAP, or, you know, for K through 12 block grants.

Those all have significant impact on the state's budget, on the budgets of local governments and school districts.

So, you know, I think he's gonna have an opportunity to speak about those things simply because, I mean, it does impact the state in addition to being a politically, perhaps politically potent topic.

You know, I think that those are gonna be more animating than maybe the minutiae of, you know, say, government, such as, you know, reforming pensions or talking about Illinois' tax structure, whatever it might be.

I mean, granted, the governor in his announcement did talk about state issues.

I mean, he did talk about, you know, I'm paraphrasing it, but he said, you know, "Everything's too damned expensive in the state."

You know, he really wants to tackle the affordability issues that have risen up in the past few years.

And, you know, he mentioned continuing to fund education, to get it more at a state level of funding, so maybe lower property taxes at the local level, you know, things of that nature.

So there will be things that are kind of independent of the national conversation, but I think those national issues are probably gonna be leading in this campaign, especially, I mean, even if the Pritzker campaign isn't doing it, I mean, a lot of people are gonna have their eyes on 2028, knowing that, again, as Jeremy kind of alluded to, you know, Pritzker, you know, if you look at polls, I mean, he's polling maybe 1 or 2% in a lot of these, you know, polls that he's included in.

He's not included in every national poll.

So he will, you know, still has to make a name for himself with voters across the country, in addition to the voters that he will need to get reelected here in Illinois.

- As we, I think, wrap up this part, I think that's one of the things, you know, that Jeremy talked about, is he's stayed, he's not changed, you know?

We've seen Governor Newsom be aggressive and then kind of back off and then be aggressive again.

So I think it's figuring out what issues come up in the next few years, and there are gonna be, you know, household issues that affect people in Illinois as well as across the nation, so I think we'll definitely see how the governor is gonna respond to that and use that to his benefit for governor and his national profile.

Jeremy, I wanted to move on to a story that you worked on with some of your colleagues at the Tribune there about Chicago's lobbying team, and some questions about whether they were registered properly.

This brought up some questions, too, about Mayor Johnson's effectiveness in lobbying.

Can you tell us what you guys reported on?

- Yeah, and I'll start with the latter statement that you made, Brian, because I think this is what matters most to viewers all over Illinois, you know, with respect to the city of Chicago.

It's often said that Chicago is the economic engine of the state of Illinois, right?

I mean, we've heard this from politicians time and time again.

So of course, Chicago, like other municipalities, has a lobbying team in place to try to, you know, to try to get Springfield to help the city with its priorities, you know, whatever that may be.

It could be more funding for education, more funding for transportation systems.

It could be, you know, other legislation.

Number of lawmakers have said that under Mayor Johnson, this is the weakest lobbying effort they have seen.

You know, these are veteran lawmakers, compared to other mayors that, you know, many of these lawmakers have worked with.

They feel that Mayor Johnson's lobbying efforts have been ineffective in Springfield, and there used to be this idea that legislation, the passage of legislation would often be contingent on where does the city of Chicago stand on this?

Where, you know, one lawmaker said, you know, "For this story now, it's almost like if Chicago is in favor of it."

It's not exactly, it doesn't carry as much weight as it used to, at least now under the Johnson administration.

So you have that dynamic, and then you have the fact that it was revealed that Johnson had, you know, in addition to his own in-house lobbyists, lobbying team, he hires contract lobbyists, and these are lobbyists, you know, who work regularly in the Rotunda in Springfield, they have other clients, but the city of Chicago retained them for a variety of issues, and it was revealed that the Johnson administration worked with these contract lobbyists, and under state law, they're supposed to go to the Secretary of State and declare that the city of Chicago is one of their clients.

Well, these contract lobbyists did not do that, which, you know, appears to, you know, that's raised ethical issues and some legal issues with some experts who we spoke with, you know?

And then, you know, basically, what the city said, they defended...

The Johnson administration defended, you know, their relationship with these contract lobbyists, saying there are contracts that are in, like, the final preparations for these three contract lobbyists, and, you know, but they're pending, you know?

There's a slow procurement process with the city of Chicago.

That's why their contracts haven't been drawn up yet.

But, you know, we heard from numerous sources and through emails that despite, that the city still retained their services, despite, you know, them not being under contract or declaring with the Secretary of State that they were working for the city of Chicago, you know, on numerous fronts.

You know, there was one contract lobbyist, you know, his name's Frank Bass.

He also has the Chicago Teachers Union as a client, and you know, CTU, of course, was the biggest supporter of Mayor Johnson's campaign when he ran for mayor.

Vince Williams has the Chicago Transit Authority as a client.

They're in the middle of transit funding negotiations with the city.

And then Lakeisha Purchase, a Springfield Alderwoman, was also retained as a lobbyist.

Now, what the city's justification for this is that, you know, they defended working with these lobbyists despite them not registering with the state because their contracts are pending, or they haven't signed anything, and then all this other stuff, you know?

But, you know, they said for Frank Bass, basically, you know, because of his relationship with CTU, the city consulted with him on education issues, Brandon Johnson's administration.

And then you have Vince Williams.

Because of his relationship with the CTA, they conferred with him on, you know, matters having to do with the CTA.

And Lakeisha Purchase, They said she was just helping facilitate lobbying.

She was essentially a go-between between lawmakers and Brandon Johnson, and that was it.

But the point is, is that it's raised ethical questions as to whether they should have registered with the state, and after we had asked questions, two of the three contract lobbyists in fact did just that, they registered with the state.

So, we'll see if there's any fallout with this, and we're just gonna go from there.

- Okay.

I guess, (chuckles) even though it's summer, things seem to slow down, but I think we'll still have plenty to talk about as we go through the summer and into the fall.

Brenden and Jeremy, thank you for your insight this week.

It was good to talk to you.

I hope you enjoy the holiday weekend and your 4th of July.

- You too.

- Happy fourth.

(dramatic music) - This weekend, our country's going to celebrate the 4th of July.

Preparations are being made nationally and at the state level to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The Illinois America 250 Commission was created to develop commemorations of the nation's founding here in Illinois.

Gabrielle Lyon is the chair of the commission, and she's also the executive director of Illinois Humanities.

Thanks for joining us today, Gabby.

- Thanks so much for having me.

- First, can you just, what is the Illinois America 250 Commission?

What's your goal?

What do you hope to do?

- Well, I think the first thing is to make sure that everyone knows that next July 4th, 2026, is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

So, when we say 250, that's what we're talking about.

And the commission was really stood up under, you know, congressional, sorry, state house efforts, to make sure that every person in Illinois has a way to participate in what it means to tell our national story.

And I think as chair, one of the things I'm most excited about in terms of the commission's priorities is the chance to uplift undertold stories.

- Let's dive into that.

What are some of the stories, and, you know, we think Declaration of Independence, 250 years ago, out east before Illinois was even a state, but how do you see Illinois telling some stories of this?

- I'm so glad you mentioned that.

You know, for the commission, we're much more focused on what Illinois has contributed to understanding why the Declaration of Independence matters.

Ideas about equality, ideas about we, the people, some of those innovations that we really developed here in Illinois to make sure that we have, for example, a government by the people.

So, that's really the first thing.

We had the westernmost battle of the American Revolution in what is now Illinois, a lot of people don't know that, in your neck of the woods, in the southern part of the state.

But the other thing is we didn't really become a state.

We were the 21st state to enter.

So we're less interested in the particulars of, say, 1776, and much more in Illinois's contribution to the national story.

- Great.

What are a couple of the stories that you're trying to put together to be able to share?

Can you give us a sneak peek, I guess?

- Sure, I mean, the main thing for the commission is encouraging folks to commemorate right where they are.

So there's a few themes we've really been focusing on, and especially when I think of, you know, the southern part of the state, which is so rich with history and heritage, I think there's great examples.

You know, one of the things is there's a halfway tavern in Luka, Illinois, where you can kind of see what that stage coach traveling was like.

That's an immediate American Revolution kind of connection.

But when you think of a theme like the power of place, I mean, Southern Illinois has the power of place for Cahokia Mounds, right?

Which is a great example of the ways in which Illinoisans occupy a place that, you know, had Native Americans living here, still living here.

Shawnee National Forest, power of place.

How do we find ourselves connected to nature?

So I think that the first thing is the themes.

Doing history, we, the people, power of place.

The second thing is really supporting towns and cities to commemorate right where they are.

And that's an invitation I'd love to give to anybody listening.

If they go to the il250.org website, there's all the materials they need to get involved.

You can sign up to be a partner organization and share your plans.

You can take a resolution to be a 250th community, and there's, you know, dozens and dozens of those coming online every day.

So, we try to make it as easy as possible to connect people's local stories to our statewide commemoration.

- And I think, and just kind of, I find that interesting.

You know, we go back to where you and I started.

You know, the Declaration of Independence, we think it's, you know, 250 years ago out east, you know, Washington, you know, the Founding Fathers.

But Illinois has contributed so much.

Going forward, I mean, these contributions are gonna continue, and this celebration just seems to be really exciting.

- Absolutely, and I think one of the things I love is, number one, you can't have America without Illinois.

You just can't.

We're the most American of states.

But secondly, these invitations of, you know, well, what does it mean that all people are created equal?

Abraham Lincoln's speeches, given right here in Illinois, really brought, for example, that theme to life and to the national consciousness.

It's something important for who we are as Americans.

So if you live in Illinois, it's a great chance to say, do we still believe that?

What makes that happen?

- Great.

Well, thank you, Gabrielle.

I'm excited to see what you and the communities around the state are able to come up with, and what we're going to have in set for this celebration.

That's it for this week's edition at "CapitolView".

Join us next week as we look at what's making news around the state of Illinois.

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