Illinois Review

Illinois Family Action's statement reversing McCann endorsement

Illinois Family Action released this statement on their website, which up until today, endorsed Sam McCann for governor: 

Conservative Party gubernatorial candidate Sam McCann just committed an 11th-hour betrayal of fellow conservative Tom Morrison (R-54) so stunning and so manifestly dishonest that Illinois Family Action (and other conservative organizations) is rescinding its recent endorsement of McCann. In a phone conversation with IFA Executive Director David E. Smith this afternoon, McCann doubled down on his incredible claim calling Morrison a “Raunerite.” It seems that in addition to losing his moral compass, McCann has lost his political compass.

Ives' statement on McCann's mailer against Tom Morrison

Earlier today, Conservative Party candidate Sam McCann began losing support from conservative groups that had previously endorsed him. While State Rep. Jeanne Ives did not endorse McCann, she did speak out and encourage endorsers to withdraw support from McCann after a mailer calling State Rep. Tom Morrison a "Rino" hit 55th District Hard R mailboxes. (see mailers here)

Statement from former GOP gubernatorial candidate State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton): 

Is Sam McCann just looking for his taxpayer-funded job in the Pritzker Administration?

We don’t know, but it may explain why he sent out attack mailers on a common sense conservative like Tom Morrison.

Breaking: Illinois Family Action rescinds Sam McCann endorsement over mailer

Wednesday, Illinois Family Action rescinded its endorsement of Conservative Party's gubernatorial candidate Sam McCann after finding McCann sent out a mailing against one of the Illinois House's most conservative members - State Rep. Tom Morrison. 

State Rep. Jeanne Ives told Illinois Review she would be sending a statement to her statewide mailing list condemning McCann's mailer and actions against Morrison. 

Illinois Review obtained a copy of the mailer in which McCann skews Morrison as a "Rauner RINO" - when Morrison has consistently and publicly criticized Gov Rauner when he acted against conservative interests. UPDATE: IR is hearing that McCann was furious with Morrison for refusing to endorse him in the governor's race. Also, it is IR's understanding that no endorsement will be forthcoming from the state's conservatives on the governor's race. 

The mailer that stirred the controversy: 

More to come.

Fiscally Sound States: Illinois in bottom five

State liabilities grow as new standards force them to be honest. Veronique de Rugy reports some findings of the 2018 edition of the Mercatus Center’s State Fiscal Rankings:

[T]he data show that long-term liabilities have increased over time on average, with a pretty big jump since 2015. This is partly due to a recent transparency requirement by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board that makes states report unfunded pension obligations on their balance sheets. Under the older standards, states didn’t have to report the true size of their pension liabilities. To understand the impact of this change, consider the following: From 2006 to 2014, long-term liabilities per capita grew by about 4 percent annually, on average. Between fiscal year 2015 and fiscal year 2016, that average ballooned by a sobering 54 percent.

How Much Would Medicare for All Cut Doctor and Hospital Reimbursements?

Eighty percent of hospitals lose money on Medicare patients. That might be a problem for the plan to make all patients Medicare patients, as Charles Blahous notes:

On average, Medicare hospital payment rates are substantially below hospitals’ reported costs of providing services. The CMS Medicare Actuary projects that by 2019, over 80% of hospitals will lose money treating Medicare beneficiaries. If these data are correct, M4A would mean that over 80% of hospitals would lose money when treating all of their patients. We simply don’t know what would happen—for example, how many hospitals would stay in business—if M4A is enacted as written. Clearly there would be some disruption of the availability and timeliness of healthcare services, but no one can say how much.

Beyoncé, Hannity and LeBron James Among Most Politically Divisive Entertainers

In the polarizing climate of 2018, even some entertainers are viewed through a political lens.

Vocal black celebrities, advocates for the LGBT community and white conservative pundits are the most politically divisive figures on the Forbes 100 list of the world’s highest-paid entertainers, according to a new survey.

More HERE

What's Wrong with Government-Run Healthcare?

If you get sick or suffer a serious injury, you not only want medical care, you want quality medical care. What’s the best way to get it? Through a government-run program like Medicare for All or through our current free market system? Stanford policy expert Lanhee Chen has the answer in this video from Prager University. Get informed. After all, this is your health we’re talking about.

McCann: endorsements from social conservatives and dollars from unions, corporations

CHICAGO - Last week, Conservative Party gubernatorial candidate Sam McCann and Libertarian Party candidate Kash Jackson spoke with Fox 32's Mike Flannery about why Illinois voters should vote for them in the November 6th election. 

Sam McCann - a downstate senator wearing a red NRA cap during the interview - argued that Chicago politicians shouldn't run the state. McCann also has received rave reviews, endorsements and recommendations from what establishment Republicans scorn as "one-issue voters" : Illinois Family Action PAC, Illinois Federation for Right to Life PAC and the Lake County Life PAC:

Study shows excessive lawsuits cost Illinois $12B annually

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois loses an estimated $4.5 billion every year in direct costs along with $7.7 billion in output due to excessive lawsuits - an industry that heavily contributes to keep Democrats in power at the state capitol. (As of October 1, 2018, the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association PAC donated $299,000 to Democrat legislative candidates in the past three months.)

That's what the Illinois Civil Justice League (ICJL) reports Monday, based on the 2018 Economic Benefits of Tort Reform, an assessment measuring the impact of excessive civil court costs on Illinois’ economy.

Cook County Commissioner Morrison faces Soros plant November 6th

PALOS PARK - Sounds crazy, but George Soros is spending money on national, state and even county races this season. One of only four Republicans serving on the 17 member Democrat-controlled Cook County Board of Commissioners, Sean Morrison of District 17 is facing an uphill battle against Democrat Abdelnasser Rashid, 29-year-old Harvard graduate that has worked as a community activist for Soros in the past.

Rashid would be the first Arab Muslim on the county board. He adamantly opposes Morrison's efforts to stop a minimum wage hike and mandated paid sick leave countywide and Morrison's success at bringing together bi-partisan group that successfully repealed the countywide soda tax. 

Suburban women respond to Sean Casten's repulsive tweets

WHEATON - Democrat 6th CD candidate Sean Casten's comments are revealing, suburban women are saying, and they show his inner instincts that women should find alarming, a new ad from the Roskam campaign says ... 

Di Leo: Global Trade and the Challenges of Intellectual Property

By John F. Di Leo - 

As the Trump administration has focused heavily on trade this year, it has been instructive to note the weight that has been placed on intellectual property, in both the negotiations and the results.

The new USMCA treaty – the intended replacement for NAFTA – includes a whole chapter on intellectual property (IP).  2018’s wave after wave of punitive tariffs on Chinese goods, too, have been imposed in an effort to stem not only the loss of American jobs to China, but the loss of American how-to as well.

Even the new layers of 10% and 25% additional tariffs on raw materials of steel and aluminum, generally dismissed as job protection efforts, are actually designed, at least in part, to help keep the technology associated with such materials here in the United States.

Roskam, Hultgren endangered as Nov 6th nears

CHICAGO - Republicans and conservatives in Illinois may be torn about how to vote at the top of the November 6th ballot, but once past the statewide offices, Congressional races could be the next driving factor for getting red voters to the polls in the mid-term election.

The Left is pouring money and seemingly boundless energy into turning district voters against longtime conservative Congress members.

Three Illinois Congressional races drawing the Cook Political Report's attention are two where Trump lost in 2016 and one where he won. Cook Report says post-Kavanaugh, the polls are showing tightening races:

HB 40 created an environment where abortion clinics like Carafem can thrive, IL Right to Life says

A second new abortion clinic opened in Illinois this year - while they're closing in surrounding states - and drew the attention of the Illinois Right to Life. As reported last week in Illinois Review, Carafem Clinics advertise performing abortions, saying "There's no shame in it."

A spokesperson for the Carafem Clinic located in Skokie Illinois told the Chicago Tribune that Carafem set up their third clinic nationwide in the Chicago area because Illinois’ has relaxed abortion laws, possibly drawing expectant mothers seeking abortions from other states.

“This is just one more indicator that the legal situation in our state is dire,” said Mary Kate Knorr, executive director for Illinois Right to Life. “This is the second clinic to open [in Illinois] this year alone, following Governor Bruce Rauner’s historic betrayal of pro-lifers in signing HB 40. Illinois’ lax abortion laws have made it the abortion ‘oasis’ of the Midwest and created an environment where clinics like this can thrive and literally capitalize on women from other states.”

University of Illinois defends new 'Trumpaganda' course

The University of Illinois will offer a course titled "Trumpaganda: The war on facts, press, and democracy."

The course will focus on the president's "running war" with the media and his "disinformation campaign."

More HERE

Rauner's "sanctuary state" denial stirs confusion among conservatives and amnesty advocates

CHICAGO - Conservatives in Illinois are struggling to trust Governor Rauner and what he's saying on the stump about the TRUST Act he signed into law last year. The governor signed the legislation surrounded by immigration advocates like the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights - a pro-amnesty group - and refused to speak with family members of victims  killed by those in the US illegally. 

Democrat candidate J.B. Pritzker said Thursday night he agreed with Governor Rauner signing the TRUST Act into law. Rauner said he opposes illegal immigrants that take jobs away from Illinoisans. He said he wanted E-verify in Illinois and to strengthen regulations against employers hiring illegals.

Saturday Governor Rauner said "I will never let Illinois be a sanctuary state. Period."

That is a shift from his previous stance, Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington) told Illinois Review. SB 31 restrains local law enforcement from detaining past releases dates those that do not have up to date, sufficient immigration papers - unless they are suspected of criminal acts.

Decision 2018: Summary of last debate between Rauner and Pritzker

QUINCY - WGEM TV, Quincy's NBC affiliate, hosted the only downstate debate between Governor Bruce Rauner and his Democrat challenger J.B. Pritzker Thursday night in Quincy, Illinois. It is their last scheduled public debate. 

Opening statements from both candidates pointed to their overall goals if they were to be elected governor. Latest polls showed Pritzker 20 points ahead of Rauner, serving his first term as governor.

Pritzker provides reasons for IL conservatives to get to the polls, vote for Harold

CHICAGO - J.B. Pritzker - the Democrats' gubernatorial candidate that is running 20 points ahead of incumbent Governor Rauner in the polls - sent out an email Friday urgining Democrats to help Democrat Kwame Raoul is his bid for attorney general. 

Raoul is showing 10 points ahead of downstate Republican candidate Erika Harold - and that's reason to help him, Pritzker says in the email:

We need an attorney general who isn’t afraid to fight back. Kwame has pledged to stand up for voting rights in our state, protect the environment against an EPA that refuses to acknowledge climate change, and advocate for a woman’s right to choose—no matter what happens on the Supreme Court.

Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer hits theatres today

Once Superman actor Dean Cain portrays an investigator in the film Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer opening in theatres nationwide Friday. The story is of Kermit Gosnell, who for 30 years ran an abortion clinic in Philadelphia. 

Rovi writes: The film is the shocking true story of the investigation and trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell - his 30 year killing spree and the political and media establishment that tried to cover it up. Who can the investigators really trust when a routine drugs investigation uncovers a scandal that goes all the way to the top?

Prolifers are being urged to see the film and encourage the authors, film makers, actors and others that are putting their careers on the line to get the story out into the public.

Brewskis with Bruce 2.0

SPRINGFIELD - Governor Rauner's campaign is now focused on the candidate's likability. With such high negatives, they're evidently concerned as to how approachable the Governor is - and rightfully so. 

Decked in a plaid shirt, the governor sat down to share a "brewski" in Normal, Illinois to discuss how to keep youngsters in Illinois in a new "Brewskis with Bruce" internet ad.