UCDI’s Citizen Bulletin for April 9–15         

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Good morning. Our highlights from this week include: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel remained silent regarding the recent tap water study which found lead concentrations above the FDA maximum in three out of every 10 houses surveyed; Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner urged legislators to moderate last year’s income tax hike, enact pension reform, and pass a budget without additional tax increases; President Donald Trump ordered new precision strikes on Syria that targeted facilities linked to Assad regime chemical weapons attacks; the British and French are joining the U.S. in military action.

CHICAGO CITY GOVERNMENT

Alderman Leslie Hairston (5th Ward) ~ call your alderman! (773) 324-5555

• Apr 9—Decided not to allow a car sharing service pilot program in her ward, citing parking concerns in the area which will only be exacerbated by the construction of the Obama Presidential Library

Alderman Willie Cochran (20th Ward) ~ call your alderman! (773) 955-5610    

• [No News*]

Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) ~ call your mayor! (312) 744-3300

• Apr 10—Signed an executive order which prohibits many city departments from inquiring about the previous salaries of job applicants, calling it a “significant step towards closing the gender pay gap”

• Apr 11—Announced that billionaire Kenneth C. Griffin will donate $10 million towards the Chicago Police Department’s use of technology to prevent crime

• Apr 14—Remained silent regarding the recent tap water study which found lead concentrations above the FDA maximum three out of every 10 houses surveyed

COOK COUNTY BOARD

President Toni Preckwinkle ~ call your Cook County board president! (312) 603-6400

• Apr 9—Claimed that increased collection of a 1 percent tax on automobiles bought outside of Cook County results from increased auto sales in the area in addition to stricter enforcement

ILLINOIS STATE GOVERNMENT

Representative Barbara Flynn Currie (D–District 25) ~ call your state rep! (773)-667-0550

• [No News*]

Senator Kwame Raoul (D–District 13) ~ call your state senator! (773) 363-1996

• [No News*]

Governor Bruce Rauner (R-IL) ~ call your governor! (312)-814-2121

• Apr 10—Urged legislators to moderate last year’s income tax hike, enact pension reform, and pass a budget without additional tax increases; an aide to Democratic legislative leader Mike Madigan called Rauner’s pension reform plan a “pipe dream”

• Apr 12—Expressed optimism at the beginning of budget talks between his office and the Democratic legislature, despite their divergent visions

• Apr 12—Traveling to Germany and Poland in order to convince foreigners to invest in Illinois

• Apr 12—Requested federal assistance for dealing with flooding in several counties

• Apr 14—Signed legislation to standardize cell service and provide for 5G installation

U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Representative Bobby Rush (D–IL District 1) ~ call your representative! (773) 779-2400

• Apr 11—Grilled Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during congressional hearings, comparing Facebook’s practice of allowing advertisers to use race to target users and collect data to former FBI Director J Edgar Hoover’s notorious surveillance of civil rights activists in the 1960s

• Apr 12—Opened the fiscal year hearing of the Energy Committee with a call for a diversity of communities receiving grant funds

• Apr 12—Criticized GOP proposals to reduce spending on social safety net programs for senior citizens

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) ~ call your senator! (312) 886-3506

• Apr 9—Urged Congress to change the rules to allow her to bring her newborn daughter to floor votes

• Apr 9—Demanded information from the Department of Housing and Urban Development regarding the shutdown of two public housing complexes in Thebes, Illinois

• Apr 14—Criticized Trump for not seeking Congressional authorization prior to launching airstrikes on Syria

Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) ~ call your senator! (312) 353-4952

• Apr 10—Questioned Mark Zuckerberg during Senate hearing, condemning Facebook’s apparent lack of concern for users’ privacy

• Apr  11—Criticized the Trump administration for aggressive drug policy that he believes will be counterproductive to fighting the opioid epidemic

President Donald Trump (R) ~ call your president! (202) 456-1414

• Apr 11—Suspended the General Legal Orientation Program, a key source of legal advice for undocumented immigrants in deportation hearings

• Apr 13—Pardoned Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a former Bush official convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice

• Apr 13—Ordered new precision strikes on Syria that targeted facilities linked to Assad regime chemical weapons attacks; the British and French are joining the U.S. in military action

• Apr 14—Ordered the federal agencies to craft plans to impose work requirements on public assistance programs such as food stamps

• Apr 15—Directed officials to look at re-entering the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal he withdrew the U.S. from on his third day in office

*Our research process involves searching for press releases from the elected representatives, Google News stories, and any Twitter and Facebook posts. If no information is displayed in the Citizen Bulletin, then our research process turned up nothing new from this past week.

The Citizen Bulletin is a product of the University of Chicago Democracy Initiative (UCDI). UCDI is proudly supported by Andrew Goodman Foundation’s nonpartisan Vote Everywhere project. In addition to the UCDI website, you can find past versions of the bulletin here. For news closer to campus, subscribe to the twice weekly newsletter produced by our partners at The Chicago Maroon.

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