CRIMINAL LAW
House Republicans urge Gov. Pritzker to veto flawed criminal justice bill. Illinois House Republicans held a press conference Wednesday to urge Gov. JB Pritzker to veto a sweeping criminal justice bill passed by bare Democrat majorities in the waning hours of the lame duck session of the 101st General Assembly.

House Republican Leader Jim Durkin said the state must “thoroughly and carefully address police reform and criminal justice reform. It is the right thing to do.”

State Representative Mark Luft is focused on bipartisanship, ethics reform, and economic recovery for our state as he begins his first term in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Have All Voted Who Wish · Leading Voices: Rep. Mark Luft

Photo from the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library & Museum. 

Illinois is certainly not a stranger to cold winters, and this year is shaping up to be no different.

Throughout history the state has endured some truly brutal and bone-chilling winters. Just two years ago, on January 31, 2019, a weather station in the northwestern Illinois town of Mt. Carroll reported the coldest temperature ever recorded in Illinois: -38 degrees. It broke the old record of -36 which had been set in Congerville, near Peoria, on January 5, 1999.

But these record-setting cold snaps do not stand alone in Illinois’ frosty history.

Law enforcement officials and public safety agencies across Illinois believe HB3653 as written, will threaten the safety of Illinois families. This flawed bill will make it more difficult for law enforcement to keep communities safe and gives more rights to criminals than to their victims. 

We urge the governor to veto HB3653 and bring all stakeholders together to craft real criminal justice reform and police accountability legislation that will truly make our communities safer.

Sign the petition to urge Governor Pritzker to veto HB3653

Top Row: Leader Jim Durkin, Reps. Dan Brady, Tom Demmer, Tom Bennett, Avery Bourne & Tim Butler
Bottom Row: Reps. CD Davidsmeyer, Deanne Mazzochi, Ryan Spain, Keith Wheeler, David Welter & Mark Batinick

Today House Republican Leader Jim Durkin announced the appointment of his leadership team for the 102 General Assembly.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY
New members of the House Republican Caucus. Ten new Illinois House Republicans took their oaths of office on Wednesday, January 13, in Springfield. Joining their colleagues were new Representatives Chris Bos, Amy Elik, David Friess, Jackie Haas, Paul Jacobs, Seth Lewis, Mark Luft, Martin McLaughlin, Adam Niemerg, and Tim Ozinga. Making up almost one-quarter of the members of the new Illinois Republican Caucus, the freshman members of the Illinois House of Representatives are a demonstration of the Caucus’ forward-looking, growth-oriented identity.

Political conventions in the 19th century were wild, chaotic affairs. Unlike today’s quadrennial events which ratify nominees chosen weeks or months earlier, conventions in the 1800s saw enormous amounts of wheeling and dealing among those vying for nominations, as well as for cabinet posts, patronage and a myriad of other potential spoils from the victor.

Ironically enough, the President who has gone down in history as the most honest man ever to sit in the Oval Office secured his nomination through this traditional method of horse-trading, and it was a Bloomington judge named David Davis who helped him to do it; ensuring that Abraham Lincoln would be the Republican nominee for President at the 1860 convention in Chicago.