Senate Republicans accuse Pritzker of "shell game" at Prisoner Review Board
republicans accuse governor pritzker of
using shady tactics to skirt the
senate’s confirmation process
in appointing members to the prisoner
review board our capital bureau chief
mark maxwell is live in springfield mark
that
review board decides who gets out of
jail
now a number of senators are wrestling
with the governor’s office to reassert
control over confirming
who and which appointees land on that
prisoner review board to make those
often difficult sometimes controversial
decisions in fact a handful of senate
republicans
rather unhappy with the number of
controversial releases of
five convicted murderers courts found
two of them guilty of killing police
officers back in 1967 and 1970.
the other three were also found guilty
of murder one of rape in the 60s and 70s
one of them had a prison sentence of a
thousand years
now out on parole it’s sparking a
political fight with two parts one the
pandemic pressuring prisons to reduce
their
population to cut down on risk but also
now with a rise in crime
republicans are trying to tie that back
to the release of these prisoners
most crimes go unsolved so the studies
can say is at the same time people are
being released from prisons
we’ve seen a massive spike in the
increase in crime
senator steve mcclure acknowledging
there was no direct link or any evidence
suggesting that those
particular parolees were accused or
suspected in any
current crimes three senate republicans
staged a press conference
accusing governor pritzker of
withdrawing these board appointments
right before their senate hearing was on
the calendar
then only reappointing them back to the
board once
that window had passed senators
describing it as a shell game to skirt
senate oversight but tonight
a response from the governor’s office
saying that it’s routine
practice for appointees to be withdrawn
so the senate has more time to consider
those appointments and also quote
members must be able to make parole
determinations entirely
independently said that subjecting
members to political grandstanding would
set a new and dangerous precedent
for this constitutional function there’s
only a week left to
have those hearings for these four
appointees on the board now serving
without confirmation reporting in
springfield
mark maxwell all right mark thank you
