Arlington Heights Daily Herald. February 21, 2024.

Editorial: Don’t sit out the March 19 primary — too much is at stake

At first glance, the March 19 primary in Illinois might not look that exciting.

Unless Republican Nikki Haley manages to hold on another month or Democrat Dean Phillips pulls off a miraculous surge, the choices for president — despite other names on your ballot — will likely be down to President Joe Biden on the Democratic side and former President Donald Trump on the Republican.

Our U.S. senators are not up for reelection this year, and many congressional districts and state house seats won’t see challenges until November.

Still, skipping the primary would be a mistake and, in some cases, a potentially costly one.

First off, there are heated battles in a few congressional districts, with Democratic challengers looking to unseat their party’s incumbents and eager Republicans hoping to recapture what was once GOP territory.

Consider the 11th District, where Democratic incumbent Bill Foster faces a primary challenge from Qasim Rashid in a race that has largely focused on campaign financing and policies in the Middle East. Voters in that district pulling a Republican ballot will pick among Jerry Evans, Susan Hathaway-Altman and Kent Mercado, all presenting starkly different visions than the two Democrats.

Other party battles are shaping up in the 4th, 6th and 14th districts.

With the balance of power in the U.S. House at stake and massive foreign and domestic decisions in play, choosing the best candidate to represent your party or political views in November should be a priority.

County positions are also up for grabs. One of the more high-profile is the Cook County State’s Attorney’s race. Retired Illinois Appellate Court Judge Eileen O’Neill Burke and Cook County prosecutor Clayton Harris III are facing off in the Democratic primary to replace the controversial Kim Foxx. If you live in Cook County, you should weigh in on her successor.

Referendums are another pressing reason to cast your vote. Tax questions await voters in Glenbard High School District 87, Fenton High School District 100, Central Unit District 301, Roselle Park District and other places. Doing your homework will help you decide which projects you support and whether you are willing to pay for them.

Plus, these ballot questions can be decided by just a handful of votes, especially when turnout is low. If you are not among them, you have no right to complain about the fallout later.

As of today, some early voting is available in Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane, Will and McHenry counties. Hours and locations differ, but county websites spell out your options. Expanded early voting begins on Monday, March 4. Or, you can wait until March 19, head to your polling place and proudly wear your “I voted” sticker home.

The outcome of this election and the general in November will have major repercussions on our communities, our nation and our world. Now is the time to have your say.

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Chicago Tribune. February 26, 2024.

Editorial: Illinois hospitals must root out sex abusers in their midst

Dr. Fabio Ortega was a trusted gynecologist at Chicago’s NorthShore University HealthSystem who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two of his female patients, receiving a three-year prison sentence in 2021.

Since his criminal case came to light, dozens of women have stepped forward to say they too were his victims. In a string of lawsuits, they’ve accused the hospital chain — now known as Endeavor Health — of allowing Ortega to continue working despite patient complaints about his behavior.

In a yearlong investigation, Tribune reporters Lisa Schencker and Emily Hoerner uncovered multiple instances where local health care systems let medical providers keep working after patients had accused them of sexual misconduct. In all, the Tribune identified 52 health care workers accused of abusing patients in Illinois over the last decade.

“While some medical systems in other states have reckoned publicly with their failures, Illinois health care providers have quietly settled lawsuits, entered into confidentiality agreements with patients and often refused to acknowledge wrongdoing,” the Tribune reported on Feb. 18. “The failures to respond adequately to abuse allegations had devastating consequences for the victims, who felt betrayed by medical systems they had trusted with their health and safety.”

Practically everyone is familiar with the disgusting case of Dr. Larry Nassar, the Michigan State University-affiliated predator whose white coat enabled him to sexually assault gymnasts for years under the guise of treatment. But not everyone realizes how difficult it is to bring predatory doctors to justice.

The Tribune’s reporting builds on a 2016 investigation by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution showing how the medical establishment time and again favored doctors over patients in sex-abuse cases. Physician-dominated state medical boards across the country were found to be handing out second chances like vitamin pills, routinely agreeing to confidential settlements or otherwise working to keep allegations private.

At the same time, the investigation showed, law enforcement sometimes treated accused doctors with deference. Prosecutors faced with wealthy, lawyered-up defendants would reduce or dismiss charges, allowing doctors guilty of misconduct to stay off sex-offender registries.

The Tribune’s reporting goes beyond doctors to show how some nurses, technicians and other medical providers similarly took advantage of vulnerable patients while their employers worked to keep allegations under wraps.

The Tribune found that many allegations were not reported to law enforcement or, as required, to the state. It is no stretch to conclude that most instances of sexual misconduct by medical providers in Illinois are likely to remain secret, while many of the abusers continue working in the same settings that enabled the abuse in the first place.

What to do? One of the Tribune’s most startling findings was the failure to implement an Illinois law enacted nearly 20 years ago that might have helped to make a difference.

The legislation approved in 2005 was meant to address the worst health care incidents, such as mistakenly leaving an item inside a body during surgery — or the sex abuse of a patient. The Illinois Department of Public Health was supposed to create a reporting system so hospitals and surgery centers could identify the causes of these incidents and work together to prevent them in the future.

The system was intended to be operational by 2008, with annual reports to follow. Minnesota has had a similar system running since 2005.

Illinois has failed to make progress. Almost 20 years after the legislation was voted into law, the state still has no reporting system. It hasn’t published a single one of the required annual reports. That’s inexcusable.

A spokesman for the state health department blamed a lack of funding, a series of failed bids to build the reporting system and the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s sure to be a comfort to those experiencing sexual misconduct at the hands of medical providers while the state dithers.

Today, we call on the state’s large hospital chains, privately owned clinics and the Chicago-based American Medical Association to start living up to their self-proclaimed commitments to prevent sexual misconduct.

They are in the best position to take effective action against predators in their midst. So far, however, we see a disturbing pattern of resistance to any solution requiring them to act swiftly and decisively when patients report sex abuse.

In the short run, coming clean about abusers they employ may indeed damage their reputations and invite litigation. But they’re playing with dynamite. Consider the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts of America and Michigan State, among other institutions accused of covering up sexual assaults.

A sex-abuse scandal and failed cover-up could devastate any one of Illinois’ world-class medical institutions. Those responsible owe it to their organizations, and to the vulnerable patients they serve, to stop putting Band-Aids over this festering wound.

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Chicago Sun-Times. February 24, 2024.

Editorial: Gov. Pritzker’s proposed budget has some good bets, but also some question marks

The governor’s proposed $52.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2025 still must run the gauntlet through the Legislature, so a final version is still up in the air.

Boosting the tax on sportsbooks from 15% to 35% is a winning bet in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s $52.7 billion proposed state budget, unveiled Wednesday for the next fiscal year 2025, which begins July 1.

Sportsbooks, which accept bets from individuals — almost entirely online — generate about $150 million a year in taxes for the state, but Pritzker’s plan would bring in another $200 million. At 35%, Illinois’ tax rate still would be far less than the 51% that New York, Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island assess.

“When they started, the (sportsbook) tax was way too low because the gambling companies told the state they wouldn’t be making any money,” Anita Bedell, former director of the Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems, said. “It sounds like they are making tons of money now.”

Another bet in Pritzker’s budget is capping the so-called retailer discount cap. Retailers get to keep 1.75% of the sales taxes they collect to cover the cost of collecting the taxes. Once the collected amount covers the costs, though, the rest is pure profit, mostly benefitting big box stores and other mega-retailers. Placing a cap on the discount would bring more money to the state while still covering retailers’ costs. But whether this measure will remain in the final budget is a good question. We can’t count how many times capping the retailer discount cap has been tried in the past, only to be shot down by stiff opposition.

It’s good to see Pritzker make provisions to continue building up the state’s rainy day fund, which was driven down to essentially zero under former Gov. Bruce Rauner, and set aside extra money for state pension systems, which are underfunded by more than $140 billion and will require extra funding because the state’s Tier 2 pension system doesn’t comply with Social Security’s Safe Harbor formula.

More problematic is Pritzker’s plan to eliminate the 1% sales tax on groceries. We get that Pritzker wants to make taxes more progressive — and the sales tax is anything but, putting more of a burden on those with lower incomes. But getting rid of this tax would knock holes in the budgets of local municipalities, which get the proceeds from the tax. Municipalities can’t easily turn to the property tax for replacement revenue because schools heavily rely on property taxes, driving them up to high levels. School districts do that because the state underfunds schools. Higher-poverty municipalities would have an even harder time replacing the lost revenue.

If the grocery sales tax is eliminated, municipalities should be provided with another revenue stream. Leaving the grocery sales tax as-is would also solve the issue.

Crafting a budget at a challenging time

Among other measures in the budget, which would bring in more than $800 million in new revenues, are money set aside for migrants; a child tax credit for low- and moderate-income families; money to address homelessness; extending past 2024, and raising, a cap how much large corporations write off on their state income taxes to offset losses; more money for quantum computing to help turn the state into a high-tech hub; money to reduce Black maternal mortality rates; more money for K-12 education; boosting staff at Illinois prisons and the Department of Children and Family Services; and helping thousands of mostly low-income families by erasing $1 billion in medical debt.

Also, the state’s match of a portion of the sales tax that funds mass transit would move from the general fund to the state’s road fund. That will free up money for the state, but it won’t help with the projected $730 million operating shortfall that the Regional Transportation Authority faces starting in 2026.

The coming year’s budget arrives at a challenging time. Federal pandemic dollars are drying up. Corporate profits are flattening, as are income tax receipts. The state is once again face-to-face with its long-term structural deficit, in which existing tax revenue sources don’t keep pace with the rising cost of providing services.

Pritzker’s budget will have to run the gauntlet of the legislative process before a final version emerges. As Rich Miller reports in Capitol Fax, the Legislative Black Caucus and the Legislative Latino Caucus are saying they want more money for progressive causes. Other groups, including businesses and road builders, also undoubtedly will be pushing to reshape the budget.

We’re not going to play the odds with a sportsbook on what the final budget will look like. But it should remain one that is based on sound fiscal sense.

END