The CloutCast

Rep. Mary Beth Canty, a Democrat from Arlington Heights, was elected to the Illinois House in November 2022 after previous years of public service on the Arlington Heights Village Board and Regional Transportation Authority board. In her first few months as a state lawmaker, Canty has pushed major pieces of legislation that would require all Illinois school districts to offer all-day kindergarten and would require all job postings to have salary ranges and information about benefits.

Ald. Matt Martin (47) introduced a City Council resolution in January calling for a hearing to discuss the possibility of using ranked choice voting in future Chicago elections. Advocates argue the system, in which voters rank candidates by preference in races with three or more people, not only produces elected officials more representative of voters but also can save cities money from not having to run costly runoff elections.

Greg Harris retired from the General Assembly as House Majority Leader following over a decade representing the North Side of Chicago. Harris is the first person to serve who openly lives with HIV and is one of the first openly gay lawmakers in Illinois history. During his tenure in the House, Harris oversaw budget negotiations for House Democrats and led key pieces of legislation on health care reform.  

After eight years in the Illinois House and four as House Republican floor leader, Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) decided not to run for another term in 2022. The Daily Line's Ben Szalinski sat down with Batinick to talk about his career in the House, why he decided to elected office, and his observations about the House Republican caucus and the workings of the Illinois House of Representatives.

Larry Suffredin was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 2002 as an insurgent looking to shake up the county's old ways to make the government more efficient and service-focused. Now, 20 years later, at the age of 74, Suffredin is staring down retirement and reflecting on the changes he and his allies were able to force in the county's government and political structure. Suffredin spoke to The Daily Line's Alex Nitkin about his battles with John Stroger, why the Cook County Forest Preserve needs a taxpayer infusion and what county offices can do to head off crippling staff shortages.

Ald. Nicole Lee (11) made history this year when she was sworn in as the first Chinese American member of Chicago's City Council and the first woman to represent the 11th Ward. The Daily Line's Erin Hegarty sat down with Lee to hear lessons from her first months in office, how her legislative priorities are taking shape, why she supports a Near South high school and whether she'll run for election in 2023.

Seven people were killed and more than 40 were injured when a gunman opened fire during Highland Park's Independence Day parade. Since the shooting, law enforcement officials have revealed details about the gunman's background including previous encounters with police. Despite making a threat to kill his family, the shooter legally bought a firearm owner identification and purchased multiple weapons, sparking new conversations about ways lawmakers can boost the state's gun owner requirements. Gun Violence Prevention PAC CEO Kathleen Sances talked with The Daily Line's Ben Szalinski about the next frontier of gun control measures her group is pursuing at the state level, including expanding fingerprinting requirements, curtailing the sale of assault weapons and limiting magazine sizes. She said the biggest factor in the state's rampant gun violence is that there are too many guns on the streets. 

For decades, the only way to know how to vote in Cook County judicial elections was to go on a research dive or trust the local Democratic Party's picks. But thanks to Injustice Watch and its new judge's guide, voters have a third option. Injustice Watch editor Jonah Newman joined The Daily Line's Alex Nitkin to walk through the ins and outs of the judge's guide, how Cook County judicial races have changed over the decades and what it means to be an informed judicial voter.

Chicago Animal Care and Control is tasked with taking care of and controlling animals found throughout the city including kittens, dogs, coyotes and even the occasional peacock. The department relies not only on city employees but also on volunteers who help care for animals and get them adopted out. The Daily Line's Erin Hegarty talked with Executive Director Mamadou Diakhate about the regular and not-so-regular animals the department sees, how it's ramping up its marketing strategy and how it's targeting resources in the two Chicago neighborhoods that register the most calls into the department.

Chelsea Laliberte Barnes has been advocating for substance abuse treatment and opioid overdose prevention measures since her brother died of an overdose more than a decade ago. It let her to create Live 4 Lali, a non-profit that has given her a platform to advocate for state and federal legislation to push back on the opioid epidemic. Now, Barnes has decided to mount a run for state representatives in the new 51st House District against Democratic opponent Nabeela Syed of Inverness. The winner will take on Rep. Chris Bos (R-Lake Zurich) in the November election. Barnes talked to The Daily Line's Ben Szalinski about her experience at Live 4 Lali and laid out her stance on a variety of issues in the campaign including public safety, Illinois' budget, ethics reform and the state's business climate. 

Deborah Witzburg was confirmed on April 27 as the city's new Inspector General after the office spent more than six months in a transitory state that she and her predecessor say never should have been allowed to happen. Witzburg sat down last week with The Daily Line's Alex Nitkin to talk about how she got involved in government oversight, how she plans to balance simultaneously investigating and collaborating with the City Council, what meaningful police reform would look like and how the process to choose her eventual successor should change so the six-month waiting period is not repeated.

Chicagoans are set on June 28 to vote for everything from governor and Secretary of State to county commissioners and, likely, a new Chicago ward map. But how does a city prepare for a primary, general and municipal election all set to occur in less than a year's time? The Daily Line's Erin Hegarty talked to Max Bever of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners about election prep, what's on the June ballot, the variety of ways Chicagoans can cast their ballots and what's next in the evolution of how people vote. 

The Illinois General Assembly passed HB1091 in the final hours of the spring session to crack down on organized retail crime and smash-and-grabs that have become a nemesis for business owners along the Magnificent Mile and at stores in suburban shopping malls. It was one of several bills lawmakers passed at the end of session to address concerns about public safety. Illinois Retail Merchants Association CEO Rob Karr led the push for the bill and sat down with The Daily Line's Ben Szalinski to talk about what the bill does, address some criticism after Republicans said the bill was too weak, and give listeners an inside perspective of the negotiations and how the bill was agreed to in the final hours of session.

For months, The Daily Line has been teaming up with WBEZ and Crain's Chicago Business to calculate how often all 50 aldermen have been absent from meetings of their assigned City Council committee meetings between May 2019 and December 2021. The resulting project, published on Monday, includes a deep dive into how the results break down, what they mean for the way the council conducts business, and what it says about power (and the lack thereof) in the City Council. In this cross-over episode with the AD Q&A podcast, Crain's reporter A.D. Quig talks to Alex Nitkin and Erin Hegarty of The Daily Line and Claudia Morell of WBEZ about what this investigation tells us about Chicago government in 2022.

The COVID-19 pandemic put Cook County in the position of having to overseeing triage and recovery for more than 120 suburban municipalities — first with CARES Act funds and now with $1 billion in aid from the American Rescue Plan. Cook County Chief Financial Officer Ammar Rizki sat down with The Daily Line's Alex Nitkin to talk about how the county got into position to weather the pandemic's fiscal storm without hiking taxes, and how county leaders are hoping to make the federal money last while following through on a pledge not to spend any of the dollars on policing or incarceration.

Ald. Anthony Beale (9) has been pushing since last June for members of the City Council to have their own legal counsel, separate from Chicago's Corporation Counsel charged with representing the city's interests as a whole. The addition would also bring aldermen their own parliamentarian to advocate on their behalf when there are disagreements over process during City Council meetings. But Beale's proposal has hit delay after delay as other aldermen seek to introduce their own proposals for legislative legal counsel. Beale talked to The Daily Line's ErinHegarty about his proposed ordinance, which ward map he supports and what the rest of the year holds for the 9th Ward.

Since the beginning of 2022, Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith has been found in contempt of court multiple times by a Cook County judge for failing to place children in appropriate care settings in a reasonable amount of time. Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert explains what is going on in an interview with The Daily Line's Ben Szalinski. The department has also been mourning the murder of Diedre Silas., a DCFS employee who was killed visiting a home in Sangamon County. Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) also sits down for an interview to explain legislation moving through the General Assembly to improve employee safety.

After 11 years overseeing the department that manages the city's properties and equipment, Commissioner David Reynolds is stepping down to take on a new role at the Obama Foundation, he announced in an exclusive interview with The Daily Line's Alex Nitkin. Reynolds defended the Department of Fleet and Facility Management's 2020 merger with the Department of Innovation and Technology to become the new Department of Assets, Information and Services — a move that some still say was a mistake. He also gave an update on the city's negotiations with ComEd over a new franchise agreement, and he described the city's efforts to switch to renewable energy and upgrade its software technology.

Going back to his days as a 20-year-old member of the Elmwood Park school board, Pete Silvestri has always been a mediator. Now that Silvestri is about to retire from politics after 28 years as a Cook County Commissioner on the Northwest Side, he sat down with The Daily Line's Alex Nitkin to reflect on his legacy and the ways he's tried to soothe conflicts while moving the county past its legacy of outdated systems and clout-based hiring. He also talked about how today's elected leaders can bridge partisan divides, and he described what kind of candidate he would support to fill his seat.

Ald. Silvana Tabares represents the 23rd Ward on the Southwest Side and also serves as vice-chair of the City Council's Latino Caucus. As the city's remap process continues to heat up and drag on past a critical December deadline, Tabares has helped lead the push for the adoption of the so-called “Coalition Map” spearheaded by the Latino caucus and the proposal for a new set of protocols for the remap process. Tabares talked to The Daily Line's Erin Hegarty about what a new map could mean for the city and the 23rd Ward, issues facing residents in her ward and possible legislation on the horizon this year.

Illinois has long been known for its dismal financial condition. But Comptroller Susana Mendoza is staking her reelection campaign on an argument that things are much better for the state and its taxpayers since she took over five years ago. Mendoza talked to The Daily Line's Alex Nitkin about her office's progress shrinking the state's bill backlog, debt the state still owes to the federal government and a bill she's backing that could help shore up the state's rainy day fund.

A hard-fought and long-delayed commission to oversee the Chicago Police Department. A bitter fight to redraw the boundaries of Chicago's 50 wards. A scramble to figure out how to spend $1.9 billion from the federal government. On this special end-of-year episode of the CloutCast, The Daily Line's Alex Nitkin and Erin Hegarty look back at some of the biggest issues that consumed Chicago government in 2021 and how they'll be shaping the city in the new year to come.

Chicago aldermen are in the middle of their once-a-decade task of redrawing the city's 50 ward boundaries to match the city's shifting populations. So far, three different map proposals have surfaced, and aldermen blew past a critical Dec. 1 deadline for voting on a map. The Daily Line's Erin Hegarty talks with former WLS reporter Bill Cameron, who retired this year after covering City Hall for half-a-century, about how this year's ward remap stacks up against those of the past.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi rode into office in 2018 on a platform of reforming a property tax assessment system widely assailed as arbitrary and inequitable. Three years later, he says he's made strides toward that goal, but critics — including a formidable new political challenger — say he's only brought chaos and confusion. As Kaegi revs up his reelection campaign, he sat down with Alex Nitkin to preview his pitch to voters: that his new assessment methodology is fairer and more accurate than his predecessor's, and that most taxpayers will benefit from it — even as some businesses wince at eye-popping tax hikes.

Since the beginning of the year, Illinois lawmakers have undertaken the once-a-decade task of drawing new political boundaries for the legislature, state Supreme Court and congressional districts. The legislative maps are facing a legal challenge and the congressional districts are forcing candidates to consider their options ahead of next year's filing deadline. On this episode of The CloutCast, reporter Joel Ebert discusses the year in redistricting with CHANGE Illinois executive director Madeleine Doubek and mapmaker Frank Calabrese, who reflect on the new political boundaries and the process that was used to get to them while looking ahead at the future of redistricting in Illinois.

Officials in the city of Chicago have plans for 100 miles of new and upgraded bike lanes in 2021 and 2022, plus plans for 12 miles of new protected bike lanes both this year and next. Additionally, the city continues to expand its Divvy bike share program. The Daily Line's Erin Hegarty spoke with Daniel Comeaux from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and Jim Merrell from Active Transportation Alliance about building a robust and safe network of bike lanes and infrastructure in Chicago and the surrounding area.

Joe Ferguson stepped down on Friday after 12 years overseeing Chicago's Office of the Inspector General, the office charged with investigating and exposing waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement and corruption in Chicago's government. Ferguson sat down for an extensive exit interview with The Daily Line's Alex Nitkin to catalog a litany of issues he said are still undermining the public's trust in city government, from lax oversight by the City Council to structural shortcomings in the Chicago Police Department and broken promises by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot pitched her $16.7 billion budget plan for the 2022 Fiscal Year as an “investment in the success of generations to come.” But can the plan really help climb Chicago out of the financial hole it has been digging for decades? And will it position the city for financial stability after its $1.9 billion share of American Rescue Plan funding dries up? The Daily Line editor Alex Nitkin spoke to Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jennie Bennett, Budget Director Susie Park and Comptroller Reshma Soni about how they tried to build the mayor's budget to stand the test of time. And Amanda Kass, associate director of the Government Finance Research Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, shared her reactions to the mayor's budget plan and delved into the history of how Chicago got stuck with its infamous pension crisis.

After months of discussions, negotiations and delays, the Illinois General Assembly has finally approved a new omnibus energy bill aimed at moving the state from using traditional fossil fuels to be more climate friendly. The proposal, known as The Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, was signed into law last week by Gov. JB Pritzker. To break down the various components of the new law, The Daily Line's Joel Ebert talks with Sen. Michael Hastings, the Tinley Park Democrat who helped shepherd the measure through the Senate. For additional analysis of the new law, Ebert also talks to Colleen Smith of the Illinois Environmental Council about how the energy law compares to others states and Abe Scarr from the Illinois Public Interest Research Group about a provision that he says will continue to provide guaranteed profits for Commonwealth Edison.

The Chicago Police Department is the most expensive, and arguably most controversial, piece of Chicago's nearly $12 billion budget. And as the City Council gets ready to pass a new spending plan for 2022 with the help of a $1.9 billion boost from the federal government, a battle is underway over how much funding should go toward police. Chicago Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20) and Emma Tai, executive director of United Working Families, talked to Alex Nitkin about what the “defund the police” movement means to them, and how they plan to advance its principles in the city's budget when Mayor Lori Lightfoot and most of the City Council supports maintaining or growing funding for police.

The COVID-19 pandemic generated discussions in Illinois and all across the nation about the importance of affordable housing in new ways. This year, Illinois lawmakers introduced and passed several housing-related bills. On this episode, The Daily Line's Joel Ebert discusses lawmakers' work during the spring legislative session with Housing Action Illinois policy director Bob Palmer and Sen. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago). In separate interviews, Palmer and Feigenholtz share their views of the various bills approved this year and look ahead at other housing-related issues that remain on their radars.

While trees seem to be everywhere in Chicago, the city is having to remove trees faster than it can replace them, whether due to pest infestation or storm damage. And as the city is feeling the effects of climate change with higher temperatures and derechos, the importance of tree coverage across the city has come to the forefront. The Daily Line's Erin Hegarty spoke with Malcolm Whiteside, head of the city's Forestry Bureau, and Cook County Comm. Bridget Degnen (D-12), chair of the Cook County Environmental Commission, about the city's tree stock and what's being done to expand the canopy.

Sam Toia is an extremely visible presence around city government, whether he's standing alongside the mayor at press conferences, lobbying aldermen behind the scenes or promoting public education and tourism initiatives. As president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association, Toia's job is to advocate for eateries across the state — to make sure the restaurant industry is “at the table, not on the menu” for public policymakers, as he puts it. That job got much harder after restaurants were decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Toia has had a front-row seat to the panoply of federal, state and local programs that have been put in place to try to keep restaurateurs afloat. He spoke with The Daily Line's Alex Nitkin about the deep toll the pandemic took on Chicago's restaurant scene, and what it's going to take for the industry to bounce back, including a new round of funding from the federal government and a purge of red tape by the city.

Hilco. General Iron. MAT Asphalt. You've likely heard about high profile clashes between industry and the health and well-being of the people who live nearby their facilities. These incidents have ignited another spark in the fight for environmental justice across Chicago. Daily Line reporter Caroline Kubzansky spoke with Ald. George Cardenas (12) and Alfredo Romo of Neighbors for Environmental Justice about recent development decisions, the work that remains for lawmakers in ensuring clean air and water for Chicagoans and the challenges the city faces as it starts to adapt to climate change.

For months, Illinois' top elected officials, including Gov. JB Pritzker, House Speaker Chris Welch and Senate President Don Harmon said ethics reform was one of lawmakers' top priorities for this year's legislative session. Little significant action was taken until May 31, the last scheduled day of session. Despite the new proposal, good government groups and even the sponsors of the ethics reform package said more work is needed on the issue. This week on the CloutCast, Joel Ebert interviews Alisa Kaplan, executive director of Reform for Illinois, about the latest new ethics bill, which now heads to the governor for action.  

In 1969, an idealistic young lawyer named Michael Shakman filed a lawsuit with the goal of breaking the stranglehold that the Democratic Organization of Cook County — the political “machine” run by Mayor Richard J. Daley — held on Chicago's government and elections. More than a half-century later, Shakman isn't finished yet. The Daily Line's Alex Nitkin talked to Shakman about the history of the “Shakman decree,” how it's transformed the way governments work in Illinois, why it's so hard to root out Chicago's decades-old legacy of patronage — and what it will take to end the 52-year-old federal legal case.

A bill to give voters a say in the governance of Chicago Public Schools will likely land on Gov. JB Pritzker's desk by the end of the legislative session. But will the bill mandate a fully elected school board or a "hybrid" elected-appointed body to oversee the nation's third-largest school district? The Daily Line reporter Caroline Kubzansky talked to State Sen. Robert Martwick (D-Chicago), who has been championing elected school board legislation since 2015, and Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood), who's carrying Mayor Lori Lightfoot's hybrid proposal in the legislature.

Advocates behind the Empowering Communities for Public Safety ordinance are urging aldermen and Mayor Lori Lightfoot to approve the newly proposed measure that would establish civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department. The measure, which comes as a result of coalitions behind the Civilian Police Accountability Council and Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability agreed on a unity ordinance, has stalled as Lightfoot says her own proposal on police oversight is on the way. Erin Hegarty spoke with Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) and Desmon Yancy, director of community organizing for Inner-City Muslim Action Network, about their ordinance and challenges in getting it approved without the mayor's support.

In January, when Illinois lawmakers approved a comprehensive measure to overhaul criminal justice and policing, the legislation contained a provision that would effectively end prison gerrymandering. Today, prisoners across the country are counted by the U.S. Census as residents of legislative districts with prisons, rather than at a person's last known address. Critics of the process say it artificially inflates the population of counties with prisons, giving those areas more federal money. On this episode of The CloutCast, Joel Ebert talks to Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) and Common Cause Illinois executive director Jay Young about prison gerrymandering and the effort to end it in Illinois.

April 1 marks a changing of the guard at the Cook County Public Defender's office as Sharone Mitchell Jr. prepares to take over as the county's top defense lawyer. He succeeds Amy Campanelli, who launched multiple new branches of the office during her six-year term and carved out a legacy as a vocal advocate for policy reforms. Alex Nitkin spoke with Mitchell about how he plans to carry on that legacy, and how he'll use his new position to help implement the sweeping new criminal justice reform law he championed as a member of the Coalition to End Money Bond.

Arguably no sector of the Chicagoland economy was hit harder by the COVID-19 pandemic than hotels and tourism, and it will likely take years for the hospitality industry to recover to its pre-pandemic strength. The crisis took an especially deep toll on tens of thousands of hotel workers, an economically vulnerable group that's still mostly out of work. Now that the industry is looking for ways to bounce back this summer, city and state leaders are facing tough debates over questions like how quickly capacity limits should be expanded, how soon hotel workers should be vaccinated and what rehiring in the industry should look like. Alex Nitkin spoke with Michael Jacobson, president of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association, and Karen Kent, president of the hospitality union Unite Here Local 1, about how hotel owners and workers envision the industry's recovery.

On Feb. 17, Gov. JB Pritzker released his proposed $41.6 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2022. To help balance the budget, the governor called for closing an estimated $932 million in what he's calling "corporate loopholes." On this episode of The CloutCast, we examine the loopholes, the governor's pitch for closing them and reactions to the proposal. Guests include the Illinois Manufacturers' Association president Mark Denzler and Niya Kelly from the Responsible Budget Coalition, who offer their perspectives on the governor's proposed budget and call to change some of the state's tax laws. 

Aldermen and city officials are already in disagreement over how the boundaries of Chicago's 50 wards should be redrawn this year. Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26), chair of the City Council Latino Caucus, and Ald. Jason Ervin (28), chair of the Aldermanic Black Caucus, are challenging the proposal from at least two aldermen that the city rely on an independent commission to draw the wards, arguing aldermen, including in majority-Black and majority-Latino wards, are best equipped for the job. We talk with Maldonado, Ervin and former alderman and political science professor Dick Simpson to examine how the boundaries should be drawn and whether the Black and Latino caucuses will be able to hold onto City Council seats with a shifting population.

Now that the Illinois General Assembly's regular session is underway, lobbyists from all corners are scrambling to make sure their interests are being represented in new legislation. Those lobbyists include representatives of Chicago and Cook County, who are respectively whipping legislators in support of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's and county board President Toni Preckwinkle's policy goals. In this episode, Alex Nitkin talks to Chicago Deputy Mayor for Intergovernmental Affairs Manny Perez and Cook County Director of External Affairs John Roberson to discuss the bills Lightfoot and Preckwinkle want to see become laws in Springfield this year.

The 101st General Assembly of the Illinois legislature wrapped up last week, after passing a comprehensive series of proposals from the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus during an abbreviated lame duck session. On this episode, Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood), discusses the behind-the-scenes negotiations for the caucus' most controversial legislation, which focused on reforming criminal justice and policing in Illinois. Later, Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) reflects on the Black Caucus' agenda and how the Illinois House of Representatives could change in a post-Mike Madigan era. 

The start of 2021 officially kicks off the beginning of a months-long redistricting process that will lead to the redrawing of boundaries for Illinois' congressional seats, Chicago's 50 wards, Cook County's 17 districts, 59 state Senate and 118 state House seats. To understand redistricting and all that it entails, we sit down with Madeleine Doubek, executive director of CHANGE Illinois, who breaks down the process and efforts to reform it. You'll also hear from Chicago Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) and Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) about the 2010 redistricting process and the creation of their wards and the aftermath of the choices made a decade ago.