Senator accused of sexual harassment fighting to stay on ballot

2018年1月8日星期一

Senator accused of sexual harassment fighting to stay on ballot

Topspin

An attorney for state Sen. Ira Silverstein predicts the Chicago Democrat eventually will overcome a challenge to his spot on the primary ballot, allowing him to continue his bid for re-election.

At issue are the petition signatures a candidate needs to run for office. A preliminary examination of Silverstein's paperwork raised questions about enough of the signatures to leave him about 45 short of the 1,000 needed, an election official said.

Silverstein is facing four primary challengers in a contest that started after a victims' rights advocate accused him of sexual harassment as she was working with him to pass a bill. Silverstein has disputed the allegations and said he apologized "if I made her uncomfortable."

Asked about the issue with his signatures, Silverstein said he was "not an expert on the topic" and referred a reporter to his attorney, longtime election lawyer James Nally.

Nally said he would not comment on the pending case "other than to say that when the process is complete, and it is not yet complete, I believe that the candidate will be on the ballot."

Chicago election officials will hold a hearing in the case on Monday. No final decision will be made, but a hearing officer eventually will recommend whether Chicago election officials should keep Silverstein on the ballot.

Chicago Board of Election Commissioners spokesman Jim Allen said there are ways that signatures in question could be "rehabilitated." That includes confirming the address of someone who signed the petition but may have transposed some numbers. Or in cases where a signature doesn't appear to match what is on file in the voter database, a candidate can obtain affidavits in which the signer swears it is their writing.

While several Democratic candidates for governor have called on Silverstein to step down following the harassment allegation, he has pressed forward as lawmakers have scrambled to address the fallout. That includes the appointment of a new inspector general to look into ethics complaints filed against legislators and staff, a post that sat empty for years as accusations piled up.

Records show that as of December, Silverstein will hit 20 years in the legislative pension system, meaning he will be eligible for a yearly payment of 85 percent of his final legislative salary. In 2017, his yearly salary totaled almost $88,500, according to the comptroller's office.

Silverstein's accuser, Denise Rotheimer, had filed to run for the Illinois House as a Republican in a Lake County district. Her petition signatures were challenged, and she has since withdrawn her candidacy. (Monique Garcia)

What's on tap

*Mayor Rahm Emanuel will attend the opening of the Whole Foods distribution center in the Pullman neighborhood.

*Gov. Bruce Rauner has no public schedule. His office has said he'll be at the Quincy veterans home until mid-week.

*The Chicago Teachers Union will have a City Hall news conference to deliver a list of proposals to Emanuel's office.

*Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx will speak to the City Club of Chicago.

*Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth will hold a Chicago news conference about federal funding for community health centers.

*U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson will meet with Chicago Housing Authority leaders and tour the local HUD office.

*The Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System meets.

*The week ahead: On Tuesday, state House and Senate committees will hold a joint hearing in Chicago about the Legionairres' disease cases at the Illinois veterans home in Quincy. A hearing in a challenge to assessor candidate Fritz Kaegi's petitions will be held. Two City Council committees will meet, as will a Cook County Board panel that is scheduled talk about the Tribune's "The Water Drain" series. On Wednesday, four City Council committees will meet. One will hold a hearing about the Water Department's troubles. On Thursday, two council committees meet, and one will talk about "textalyzer" technology that purports to tell if a driver was using a phone before a wreck. And finally, on Friday, a council committee will consider a $500,000 affordable housing fund, and two other panels will meet.

From the notebook

*Biss raises nearly $1.1 million at end of year: Democratic governor candidate Daniel Biss says his campaign will report raising nearly $1.1 million over the last three months of 2017.

"It's humbling to see so many people joining together around a shared vision for our state," the state senator from Evanston said in a statement.

"This quarter, thousands of volunteers and donors have shown that they see this election the same way we do: as a generational opportunity to build an Illinois that works for the rest of us. We can't wait for someone else to catalyze this transformation, and that's why we're growing our grassroots movement every day." Biss said.

The Biss campaign said it will report raising $1.095 million in the final three months of 2017 and it will report having $3.1 million in the bank.

Biss is seeking support from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, and his campaign said nearly 80 percent of its contributions were under $100 and that virtually all of the donations came from within the state. (Rick Pearson)

*"Fire and Fury": Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi has asked former White House strategist Steve Bannon to go before a House oversight committee, following the release of Michael Wolff's book on President Donald Trump, "Fire and Fury."

Krishnamoorthi noted a quote in the book from Bannon about a 2016 Trump Tower gathering that included Donald Trump Jr., Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort. They met with a Kremlin-connected lawyer and a former Soviet counterintelligence officer about potential dirt on then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

"The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor — with no lawyers," the book quotes Bannon as saying. "Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad (stuff), and I happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately."

"I hope for a positive answer from him," Krishnamoorthi, who is a member of the oversight panel, said Sunday on WGN AM-720.

"There's so much drama going on right now between Mr. Bannon and the president," he said. "I don't really know whether he would be willing to come to talk to members of Congress about the issue but my guess is that special counsel (Robert) Mueller will certainly want to talk to him and others as well and hopefully he can shed a little more light on what's going on and what he knew about Russian interference in our elections." (Rick Pearson)

*Safety-net hospitals' uncertain fate: Illinois' hospital assessment program expires July 1, and health care facilities in poorer areas are sounding the alarm.

The program uses an upfront tax on hospitals to leverage federal Medicaid money. So far talks between lawmakers, the state hospital association and Rauner's administration have not produced an agreement to extend the assessment program.

"The working group on this assessment has been meeting for several months and there's not been consensus at this point, meeting both with the Illinois Hospital Association as well as the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services," state Rep. Juliana Stratton, D-Chicago told WGN AM-720 on Sunday.

While the current assessment program doesn't expire for six months, time is critical, she said, because the federal government must approve a new program and "it's typically been up to one to two years" for final approval.

"Well now, here we are, about six months out from when this assessment will sunset so we're heading back to session in the General Assembly later this month and during that time we have to get this passed," said Stratton, who also is the running mate for Democratic governor candidate J.B. Pritzker.

Without a new program in place, Illinois could face a $750 million hit to the budget, the safety-net hospitals say. (Rick Pearson)

*Lawmakers questioning Crosscheck talks: More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers are asking State Board of Elections officials if recent talks involving a multistate voter database have resulted in tighter security procedures.

A new letter to that effect is the latest outgrowth of concerns over Illinois' participation in the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program, conducted through the Kansas secretary of state's office, which is aimed at flagging duplicate voter registrations across state lines.

In November, the eight-member elections board split along partisan lines, rejecting a call to end Illinois' role in the program known as Crosscheck. Crosscheck has drawn heightened political attention due to questions of the security of voters' personal information. In addition, some states have been sued for wiping out voter registrations based solely on the system's findings without following procedures spelled out in federal voting rights laws.

The lawmakers asked what changes were being made to protect voter privacy. And they want to know if Kansas will indemnify the state from any liability over privacy breaches.

Several of the lawmakers who sent the letter are backing legislation to remove the state from Crosscheck. They have asked the state elections board to respond to their questions by Wednesday and not submit state voter data on Jan. 15 without requiring an independent security audit of the Crosscheck system.

The letter was signed by Chicago Democratic Sens. Kwame Raoul, Bill Cunningham, Jacqueline Collins, Heather Steans, and Sens. Michael Hastings of Tinley Park, Don Harmon of Oak Park and Andy Manar of Bunker Hill. Also signing the letter were Chicago Democratic Reps. Ann Williams, Will Guzzardi, Jaime Andrade, Kelly Cassidy and Greg Harris and Reps. Carol Ammons of Urbana and Linda Chapa LaVia of Aurora. (Rick Pearson)

*On "The Sunday Spin": Chicago Tribune political reporter Rick Pearson's guests were Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Stratton and Chuck Holland with St. Bernard Hospital-Englewood, and Haymarket Center CEO Dr. Dan Lustig. "The Sunday Spin" airs from 7 to 9 a.m. Sundays on WGN 720-AM. Listen to the full show here.

What we're writing

*Lt. Gov. Sanguinetti sticks with Gov. Rauner despite disagreements.

*Plow, truck drivers union reaches tentative deal with Emanuel administration, avoiding strike vote.

*Emanuel responds to Kennedy accusations: "Where are the solutions?"

*Durbin pulls back on call to close Quincy veterans home hounded by deadly water problems.

*Chicago cop who fatally shot two in 2015 under investigation for bar fight.

*Illinois suspends second Outcome Health tax break deal.

*Design plans for new Englewood high school promoted ahead of public hearings.

*Transgender inmate seeks transfer to female prison after claims of abuse involving guards.

*Chicagoans scramble to find copies of highly anticipated new book on Trump presidency.

What we're reading

*How to deal with frozen pipes, and how to thaw them. (Hint: Do not use a blowtorch).