Pritzker dismisses IRichard Irvin's criticism of crime law - Chicago Tribune

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday defended his support for sweeping criminal justice reforms he signed into law last year and dismissed GOP candidate Richard Irvin’s accusation that it played a role in law enforcement officer deaths as unfounded political exaggeration.

“Richard Irvin is exaggerating because he doesn’t really understand the law. It seems like if you’re running for governor, you ought to understand the law. The law that he’s referring to is one that mostly doesn’t go into effect until next year,” Pritzker said of Irvin, the mayor of Aurora and one of five Republicans running for governor.

“He also misunderstands what that law is about. It would keep people in prison who could otherwise afford to get out of prison. These could be very violent criminals. And it allows people who are nonviolent criminals who may be in jail for a petty offense, and just don’t have $100, to get themselves out of jail,” the first term governor said.

Pritzker’s comments, made at an unrelated Chicago news conference, came a day after Irvin used his first series of media interviews since announcing his candidacy Jan. 17 to contend the criminal justice law Pritzker signed a year ago had led to increased outbreaks of violent crime and had a role in the deaths of eight law enforcement officers.

“Eight police officers have been killed in the line of duty since that bill has been signed,” Irvin said. “Of course signing that bill affects crime in this state.”

Many of the law’s provisions, including one Irvin cited that does away with cash bail, take effect next year. But Irvin said the law was emboldening criminals though it has largely not gone into effect.

“There are many more things that we need to do to fight crime,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure we’re investing in the things that police need. We’re investing in the things that communities need to lift themselves up.”

Republicans have sought to use outbreaks of violent crime, along with the signing of the criminal justice reform law, to portray Democrats as soft-on-crime. The GOP is particularly pushing the message in the suburbs, which had traditionally been Republican strongholds but have recently favored Democrats.

Pritzker said he supported strong sentences against people who attack or kill a police officer and bristled at Irvin’s criticism.

“I attend the funerals of police officers. I talk to family members in the wake of the deaths of their loved one who was a first responder,” Pritzker said. “So, no one needs to tell me about the seriousness of the attack that has taken place on a police officer because I feel it, I talk to those people, unfortunately, too regularly. But it’s also one of the important duties of being governor.”

Pritzker made his comments as another of his prospective Republican opponents, businessman Jesse Sullivan of Petersburg, named Kathleen Murphy as his running mate. Sullivan needed to name a lieutenant governor candidate to circulate candidacy petitions for the June 28 primary ballot because candidates for governor and lieutenant governor must run as a team.

Murphy is a longtime aide and media partner of former state Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton, working in Ives’ unsuccessful campaigns for Congress last year and for the GOP nomination for governor in 2018.

More recently, Murphy and Ives have been partners in a political outreach group called “Breakthrough Ideas” that has lately focused on organizing protests at suburban school boards over state masking requirements.

The group also has featured Murphy and Ives on conservative politically oriented podcasts. In a podcast hosted by Murphy, she connected the famed Chicago political phrase, “We don’t want nobody that nobody sent,” to “Albert Mikva.” The phrase became part the city’s lexicon thanks to the late congressman, federal judge and White House counsel Abner Mikva, who heard it from a ward heeler when he sought an early political job.

With Murphy’s addition, all five GOP contenders have running mates. Irvin’s is state Rep Avery Bourne of Morrisonville; Bull Valley businessman Gary Rabine has Palatine Township Republican Committeeman Aaron Del Mar; state Sen. Darren Bailey of Xenia has former suburban right-wing radio talk show host Stephanie Trussell; and former state Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo has McHenry County Board member Carolyn Schofield of Crystal Lake.

source: https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-pritzker-richard-irvin-crime-20220204-oo6hz6ydijgvhl5bfamhqtpliu-story.html

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