Sacia, Other Republicans, Cry Race, Updated X 1
2 comments July 17th, 2008
As we reported in today’s Register Star, Rep. Jim Sacia and other white Republicans on Wednesday accused a black Chicago Democrat of race-baiting during a committee hearing.
During a morning hearing on a bill to help ex-convicts get jobs and start businesses, Rep. Monique Davis, D-Chicago, said lawmakers representing state prisons are more interested in keeping their prisons packed with inmates “from Chicago” than they are with helping ex-convicts improve their lives after prison.
“African-Americans down here (in Springfield) have got to fight harder … to stop this continued recidivism because opportunities are denied,” Davis said. “You need to take the names of people with prisons in their districts and watch how they vote. They don’t want to stop crime. It stops their livelihood.”
Sacia, who is white, told Davis her statement was “asinine,” and she responded that she was not speaking to him. Sacia then voted against the bill and abruptly departed from the hearing.
“Her comments were definitely racial,” he said after the hearing. “They were directed at white Republicans. It was totally unacceptable.”
Davis accused lawmakers representing prisons of stymieing efforts to improve the lives of ex-cons.
“Illinois must recognize there are some people in the Illinois General Assembly who have prisons in their district and their whole objective is to keep them filled,” she said during committee. “Anything that would create an atmosphere to get those prisons with fewer people, or (would) threaten to close (them), it’s a war.”
“’We’ve got to have those prisoners,’” she continued, characterizing what she perceives as the view of lawmakers whose districts include prisons. “’They’ve got to come down here from Chicago and we’ve got to keep them filled because that’s how we get work. That’s our economy. We no longer plant corn. We no longer have farms. We don’t raise cows and pigs. We keep prisoners.’”
Davis, an African American, noted after the hearing that she had not specified the race of inmates packing prisons.
“I didn’t say what color they are, but we all know what color they are,” she said.
According to a 2005 report (the latest available) from the Illinois Department of Corrections, 60 percent of the adult prisoners in Illinois are black, while 28 percent are white and 11 percent are Hispanic.
Her remarks and the ensuing response from livid Republicans has attracted quite a bit of attention.
What do you make of this? Did the Republicans over-react?
UPDATE 1
Sacia used his weekly column, which he distributes to local newspapers, to address the controversy …
We returned to Springfield on Tuesday, July 16 at the beckoning of Speaker Madigan to resume work on a capital (jobs) bill and to vote on override motions dealing with the Governor’s $1.4 billion in cuts to the Fiscal Year 2009 state budget.
The Governor used a broad ax to cut funding from numerous social services and state government agencies that provide very necessary monies to keep the machinery of the state moving forward. The House voted on thirty-three separate override motions dealing with cuts to the new budget (House Bill 5701). My good friend Representative Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) articulated the “insanity” of voting no, in effect voting to sustain the Governor’s cuts. As an example, he noted that the Governor cut a mere 3% from his own budget while slashing more than 25% from Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s budget. No one has missed the ongoing battle between these constitutional officers. This and the other disproportionate cuts made throughout the budget left me with no option but to vote to override the Governor’s actions.
Adding insult to injury, the $59 billion budget the Governor axed had been sent to him $2.4 billion out of balance. There is a lot of blame to go around in this unfortunate situation, but the true absurdity lies in knowing that no matter what we do our efforts will be futile if the Senate doesn’t return to Springfield as well to deal with the Governor’s budget cuts. Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) is a close ally of Governor Blagojevich and has made it clear that he has no intention of calling the Senate back into session. Sounds absurd? You’re right, it is.
On the budget, the Illinois House did its due diligence and now we await the next move by the Governor or the Senate. We did not however, act this week on a sorely needed capital (jobs) bill that would put up to 700,000 Illinoisans back to work.Oh, and did I mention that if the Senate fails to return and take action, legislators and the Governor will receive a 3.8% pay raise? This raise will be funded on the backs of hard working Illinoisans. That infuriates me, and of course I will give my pay increase to charity.
I would be remiss if I also didn’t mention the potential racial issue that arose at our Prison Reform Committee hearing on July 16th. I am the Minority Spokesman on this committee and I take that responsibility very seriously. My good friend and an outstanding young legislator LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago), an African American, presented House Bill 2746 that would allow the state to provide low-interest loans to paroled prisoners to help them start their own businesses.
In my questioning, I was attempting to determine if we would be offering more perks to ex-offenders than to law-abiding citizens who have not been to prison. Representative Monique Davis (D-Chicago), an African American who is not a regular member of the committee, said that members who have prisons in their districts do all they can to keep the prisons full. She urged African American legislators to work together to put a stop to it. I told the lady her comments were asinine and it went down hill from there. When the full House came to order I asked the Speaker to investigate the incident, which I felt was highly racial, and at a minimum, race-baiting. [Emphasis added]
