The Spin: Former Illinois Gov. Edgar on his talk with Pritzker about politics, leadership amid crisis | Lightfoot-Wilson mask feud | New WGN America nightly news program coming

Chicago Tribune (IL)

While a vocal group of Illinois Republicans may have harsh words for Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s plan for eventually reopening the state’s economy, former GOP Gov. Jim Edgar tells The Spin he recently spoke with the Democratic governor. They discussed crisis management in the COVID-19 age, the politics of regionalism and getting residents in all corners of the state to buy in to the stay-at-home order, Edgar said. A “dysfunctional” federal government, as Edgar described it along with his unsparing criticism of President Donald Trump, makes it even more difficult.

The two also had a moment of levity, Edgar said, when Pritzker jokingly “asked me if I wanted my job back. I said, 'No, I think you’re doing a great job.’" While they’re a study in contrasts -- the GOP governor from downstate Charleston and Pritzker, a Chicago Democrat -- the two have a mutual respect; Edgar was part of Pritzker’s transition team.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was supposed to unveil her road map for reopening the city’s economy, but then canceled and promised to reschedule for a later date. Here’s the important thing to remember, though: Whatever she announces it must heel to the governor’s stay-home order.

And, during an election year where we’re reminded that cable networks such as Fox News lean right while CNN and MSNBC lean left, WGN America officials announced they will begin airing nightly “News Nation” -- described by one boss as “hard news, 100% absent of bias” -- Sept. 1. It will be produced in Chicago.

Welcome to The Spin.

Edgar gets on the phone with Pritzker to talk COVID-19 response

The former governor told The Spin in a phone interview that he reached out to Pritzker through a mutual comrade and the two talked for about an hour by phone this week about Pritkzer’s shutdown order and plans to reopen the state -- and how difficult the latter will be.

Pritzker acknowledged the call today at a news conference - his 60th on the state’s COVID-19 pandemic - saying he’s conferred with Edgar and others who’ve democstrated “great leadership” in the midst of a crisis.

Praise and warning: “I told him I thought he was doing a great job. It’s so much more different than what I had to deal with, but I also told him to be prepared -- enjoy the (favorable) poll numbers while they last -- because people will complain. It’s human nature,” Edgar said of his conversation with Pritzker.

The ‘easy part’ is over: Edgar, who extended his stay in Arizona so he didn’t have to travel amid the pandemic, told the governor that, from his own experience in responding to the first days and weeks of a crisis, “what you’ve been through is kind of the easy part. Now’s the tough part -- you know you’ve got to decide how to open up. If you do it too soon, you’ll kill people. If you do it too long, people go broke and they’re all going to get to grumbling, and that’s just going to happen anyway.”

Illinois and its regions: "I said to him when you open up, you’re going to have to figure out how to open up some things sooner than later. He had already figured that out -- and he knows the last thing you want a governor to do is go too fast on this because then all the pain we went through in the last two months is going to be for naught,” Edgar said, acknowledging that a longstanding Chicago vs. rest-of-the-state tension exists. But it’s also true that a one-size-fits-all answer to reopening the economy isn’t practical.

He said relying on experts and data is key, and that hospitalizations and deaths should be a foremost guide. In looking at a map of the outbreak in Illinois, he says he sees pockets where hospitals have plenty of capacity and the number of deaths are low -- and may be heading to reopening their economies soon.

The U.S. and its regions: “Listen to scientists, you’ve got to listen to the experts -- and you may have to realize you might have to take a few chances,” Edgar told The Spin, noting that some of the states that are now opening up their economies will be a good barometer of how to proceed.

“When I was governor, one of the things I always said was, ‘I never wanted to be first on anything other than on election night,'” he said with a laugh. He said it underscored his approach in the office: When solving a problem or planning a new initiative, look at how other states handled something similar.

Do the right thing -- but make sure the public is in the front seat for the ride: “But you know in the end you have to do what’s right, but you’ve got to ... have public support to make it work, too," Edgar said. “My definition of leadership is convincing folks to go where they don’t want to go. You can’t sit around and wait for polls -- you’ve got to act but you’ve got to make sure you’re bringing the folks along with you as you do this."

'Trump doesn’t understand’: Edgar said, "The federal government’s got to be backing you (the states) up. They’ve got to be sending supplies. You know I was surprised, it’s obvious Trump doesn’t understand his role when he said, 'Well, I’m not a shipping clerk.’ Well, yeah, you are. That’s one of the most important things the federal government does.” Edgar said, recalling the Great Flood of 1993 that devastated Mississippi River towns and the federal government delivered trailers to aid those left homeless by the waters. Edgar added: “I wasn’t no fan of (then-Democrat President Bill) Clinton, but he got the job done.”

After complaints, Pritzker says he’s ramping up unemployment system

One of the questions Pritzker has continued to field during daily news conferences – he held his 60th in a row on COVID-19 today - and likely beyond is about laid-off workers complaining of problems signing up for unemployment benefits with the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

Today the governor detailed efforts the state has made in response to an array of issues people have reported in filing unemployment claims since the pandemic began. That includes additional agents to process claims made through the IDES website and a new call center, as the state gears up for gig workers to begin filing for jobless benefits next week. Read more here.

Just released statewide data shows the state processed 74,476 new initial unemployment claims for the week that ended May 2. The department processed 1,006,925 initial claims during the period between March 1 and May 2, compared with 78,100 initial claims during the same period in 2019.

Pritzker’s five-phase plan a ‘gut punch’ to restaurants desperate to open: The Tribune’s Phil Vettel has the story here.

Illinois’ convention industry reopens last under Pritzker’s plan: And a dark McCormick Place in the last half of the year alone could translate into a citywide economic loss -- think hotels and restaurant tabs -- of $923 million, my Tribune colleagues report here.

Illinois nursing home strike averted as tentative agreement reached, including hazard pay for workers during COVID-19 outbreak

From the Tribune’s Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas and Robert McCoppin: Certified nursing assistants had threatened to walk out at more than 40 nursing homes tomorrow in “this time of unprecedented vulnerability and risk,” according to a statement from SEIU Healthcare Illinois spokeswoman Catherine Murrell.

But overnight, the union announced it had won “significant contract gains,” including baseline pay of $15 an hour, hazard pay for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and a provision that employees are not required to work without adequate personal protective equipment. Read the full story here.

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, a Chicago Democrat, is calling for beefing up protections for nursing home residents across Illinois: The Tribune’s Alice Yin reports that he outlined a “Save Our Seniors” crisis plan that would, among other things, free up additional federal money for nursing homes and require more certified workers at such facilities throughout the state.

Yin writes: “Statewide, long-term care facilities have become a tinderbox for the coronavirus to spread. As of Friday, 1,082 of Illinois’ 2,457 COVID-19-related deaths were linked to nursing homes, assisted living centers and other long-term care facilities, according to Illinois Department of Public Health data. At least 7,500 residents at 348 facilities across the state have tested positive.” You can read the full story here.

United Airlines backtracks on plan to cut 15,000 workers’ hours to part time: It comes after the union filed a lawsuit alleging the move violated the terms of an agreement the airline struck with the federal government when it gave United $5 billion in COVID-19 financial assistance to keep workers on the payroll, the Tribune’s Lauren Zumbach reports. The airline called the suit “meritless." Read the full story here.

Lightfoot calls off today’s news conference to announce plan to reopen city’s economy

The Tribune’s Gregory Pratt reports that Mayor Lightfoot canceled a previously scheduled news conference today to outline Chicago’s “COVID-19 reopening framework” her administration announced. The mayor was scheduled to meet with Chicago health officials to announce the plan this afternoon.

Her administration announced just hours ahead of time it would be rescheduled to “a different date due to scheduling conflicts." But the mayor said yesterday that the city can’t reopen without a decrease in COVID-19 cases, “which we have not seen yet at all.” Read Gregory Pratt’s story on that here.

Reminder: The city, like every community in the state, is under the Illinois’ stay-at-home order. That means individual communities must follow those provisions. Local leaders, such as Lightfoot, can enact stricter rules and then lift those as they see fit.

Lightfoot vs. Willie Wilson? My Tribune colleague John Byrne writes: “Former mayoral candidate Willie Wilson will donate up to 5 million disposable face masks at three South and West Side churches on Saturday after the United Center backed out of the giveaway event, he said.” It comes after Wilson asked Mayor Lightfoot via text on Tuesday whether she wanted to appear at a news conference to promote the event. The mayor responded with questions about whether he had adequate security, he said, and after that the United Center pulled the plug.

The United Center’s chief operating officer, Terry Savarise, released a statement saying officials reviewed Wilson’s proposal and decided it simply didn’t meet the facility’s “critically important safety guidelines.”

“While we appreciate what Dr. Wilson is doing for our community, we have the utmost responsibility to protect the United Center personnel working on behalf of the same community,” Savarise’s statement reads in part.

It’s the latest in what seems to be a simmering feud between the two. Read the story here.

Onetime aldermanic candidate, who lost by a hair, launches PAC: Scientist Marianne Lalonde, who came up a few dozen votes short of beating North Side Ald. James Cappleman in last year’s city election, has joined forces with an up-and-coming politico to establish the Lakeview Uptown Political Organization, state election board records show.

The Political Action Committee’s "mission is to create a more welcoming, safe and affordable community,” said Eli Stone, the chair of the organization -- a Chicago resident and 18-year-old high school senior who already has eight campaigns under his belt, including Mayor Lightfoot’s bid for office last year.

“The fundraising we do will be to support our mission and the candidates we choose to endorse,” he said in a statement to The Spin.

Asked whether this means Lalonde, listed as treasurer, might run for alderman in 2023, Stone said that’s “a long way away.” Lalonde forced Cappleman into a runoff election and lost by 25 votes in the April 2019 contest for the 46th Ward seat representing parts of Uptown, Buena Park and Lakeview.

WGN America sets Sept. 1 launch date for ‘100% absent of bias’ nightly national newscast from Chicago

Perry Sook, chairman and CEO of Dallas-based Nexstar Media Group, which owns cable channel WGN America in Chicago and nearly 200 TV stations across the country, announced the nightly news program, to be called “News Nation” and produced in Chicago, will launch in the fall, the Tribune’s Robert Channick writes.

Sook reiterated during an earnings call yesterday, “This will be hard news, 100% absent of bias. We’re so serious about that we’re hiring a panel of rhetoricians to review our broadcasts for unconscious bias that may creep into the words we use and the reporting that we do.”

Channick notes: “Sook said the straight news approach will set WGN America apart from the opinion-heavy programming featured on other cable news networks during prime time.”

Sook added: “From my barber to certain investors, people have said that the timing for this couldn’t be better. The country just wants straight news, no opinion and they’ll make their own decisions.” Read the full story here.

Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Have a tip? Email host Lisa Donovan at [email protected].

Twitter @byldonovan

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