Rep. Katz Muhl, challenger Behr disagree on anti-slating law

Posted by · October 15, 2024 11:32 AM

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Rep. Katz Muhl, challenger Behr disagree on anti-slating law

Republican Daniel Behr, left, and Democratic state Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl are running for the 57th state House seat.

Posted October 13, 2024 3:11 pm

Democratic state Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl and Republican challenger Daniel Behr disagree on the merits of a new Illinois law that could’ve kept Behr off the ballot.

Katz Muhl, also of Northbrook, defended her vote, alleging candidates have used the slating process to skip primaries and avoid vetting by the public.

Behr and Katz Muhl discussed the legislation during a joint, online interview with the Daily Herald. A video of the interview can be found at dailyherald.com.

Senate Bill 2412 was introduced as an amendment to the Children and Family Services Act in February, but its contents were radically changed by the state House on May 1 to instead focus on election code. Both chambers approved the legislation the next day, and it was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker on May 3.

The law only affects General Assembly races.

Behr and more than a dozen other Republican candidates who had been slated after the state’s March primary election sued the Illinois State Board of Elections and state Attorney General Kwame Raoul and asked a Sangamon County judge to issue an emergency temporary restraining order to stop implementation of the law this cycle. That order was granted and then upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court.

The Illinois State Board of Elections independently ruled it wouldn’t remove slated candidates from this fall’s ballots, too.

The law will be effective for future elections.

Behr, a transportation and economic development consultant making his first run at public office, criticized the law while answering a question about ethics in state government.

He said the law would’ve prevented voters from having second candidates to choose from in 20 state contests.

“That I don’t consider good ethics,” he said.

Behr dislikes that the law only targets state candidates. He pointed out that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris was appointed the party’s nominee without running for that post in this year’s primary elections.

“If it was across the board and applied to every office … that would be a different story,” Behr said. “It wasn’t.”

Katz Muhl said the state’s previous rules for slating candidates after primaries were intended to allow political parties to replace candidates who’ve won primaries but can’t continue to general elections because of illness or other factors. The rules also had allowed parties to replace candidates disqualified from primary races because of petition flaws, she said.

“But over the last several years, we’ve seen actors from both the Democratic and Republican parties misuse that law to deliberately skip participating in primary elections,” said Katz Muhl, a lawyer and former school board member who was appointed to the state House earlier this year.

Running for office under a political party’s banner is a “serious and significant responsibility,” Katz Muhl said, and doing that should mean standing before primary voters.

Behr said he was asked to run by GOP leaders when no primary candidate surfaced — but too late to get on that ballot. Behr denied his appointment was the result of political shenanigans.

“There were no backroom deals, no smoke-filled rooms,” he said.

The 57th District covers all or parts of Glenview, Northbrook, Northfield, Wilmette, Winnetka, Buffalo Grove, Des Plaines, Glencoe, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights and Wheeling. The last day to vote is Nov. 5.

State House hopefuls Katz Muhl, Behr differ on immigration and SAFE-T Act but align on gun control

Posted by · October 11, 2024 1:39 PM

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State House hopefuls Katz Muhl, Behr differ on immigration and SAFE-T Act but align on gun control

Republican Daniel Behr, left, and Democratic state Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl are running for the 57th state House seat.

Posted October 10, 2024 7:28 pm

Russell Lissau

Democratic state Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl and Republican Daniel Behr differ on immigration policy and the effectiveness of the state’s recent criminal justice reform law — but they both want more gun control.

The candidates spoke with the Daily Herald for about an hour Wednesday in a joint, online interview and in questionnaires about these issues and others. A video of the interview can be found at dailyherald.com.

Katz Muhl is a lawyer and former school board member who was appointed to the state House earlier this year after Jonathan Carroll resigned.

Behr, a transportation and economic development consultant in the rail industry, has never before sought elected office. GOP leaders named him the nominee for the seat after no one ran in the primary. Behr and other Republican candidates successfully sued Illinois officials over a new law forbidding political parties from slating candidates after primary elections.

Immigration

In the interview and in a Daily Herald questionnaire, Behr criticized the 2017 state law that limited the ability of state and local law enforcement agencies to participate in federal immigration enforcement efforts. The law prohibits police from arresting someone solely because of a request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, for example. and from detaining people solely because of immigration status.

Prior to that law’s passage, Behr said, the flow to Illinois of migrants who entered the U.S. illegally was “only a trickle,” Behr said. “Now we’re a destination,” he said.

Such immigrants are taking away resources from Americans, Behr said. He cited housing and educational services as examples.

In his questionnaire, Behr said repealing the law and ending Illinois’ reputation as a sanctuary state “would be a good start” to solving the migrant crisis here.

Katz Muhl said the government has “a moral obligation” to take care of people’s basic needs, such as housing, health care and education. Illinois should help “our new neighbors” while improving health care and housing services for all Illinoisans, she said in her questionnaire.

Crime

The candidates also shared differing opinions on the 2021 criminal justice reform legislation — dubbed the SAFE-T Act — that abolished cash bail, created new rules for when police can use force, expanded the use of body-worn cameras and implemented other changes.

Katz Muhl said she’s spoken with police officers and other first responders about the law’s effectiveness. She lauded the rules for body cameras, saying they protect officers and civilians, and the elimination of cash bail. Moving forward, she’d like to see the state focus on trying to rehabilitate criminals who are young adults through social work, job training and other alternatives to incarceration.

“I am committed to working with our law enforcement, prosecutors, public defenders, and advocates to continue refining criminal justice laws,” Katz Muhl said in her questionnaire.

Behr said lawmakers’ objectives for the reforms were noble and rational, but he criticized some of the byproducts of the law. He said some offenders who aren’t jailed while awaiting trial don’t show up for their court appearances, and argued ankle monitors don’t always keep defendants at home and out of trouble.

Behr said he believes some prosecutors won’t push cases now deemed less serious, which tells criminals “there are no consequences to their action.” For those and other reasons, Behr said he opposes the law in its current form.

Gun control

Behr and Katz Muhl found common ground when it came to guns. Both support the state’s ban on the sale or manufacture of assault-style weapons, which has been upheld by the courts. Both also called for more restrictions on gun ownership.

Katz Muhl, a gun control activist before joining the General Assembly, said she was inspired to take up the cause after a gunman opened fire with semiautomatic weapons in Orlando’s Pulse nightclub in 2016, killing 49 people and wounding dozens more. With the assault weapons ban in place, the General Assembly now must pass legislation requiring judges to order the confiscation of guns from people who have emergency restraining orders against them, she said. The proposal is called Karina’s Bill after a Chicago woman who with her teen daughter was fatally shot in a suspected case of domestic violence.

Katz Muhl also said Illinois should shorten the time frames for reporting lost or stolen firearms, and she suggested penalties for gun owners who carelessly lose weapons.

Behr agreed with the intent of the assault weapons ban and said he supports Illinois’ other gun control measures, especially a law that allows authorities to temporarily remove firearms from people considered potentially dangerous.

Behr said he’d favor more stringent penalties for gun traffickers, people who remove serial numbers from firearms, people who use guns during crimes and people who possess automatic weapons.

“I don’t support machine guns at all,” he said. “This is common sense. Why do you need a machine gun?”

In his questionnaire, Behr also called for thorough background checks for gun buyers, more government funding for mental health care and earlier intervention for people who might be violent.

The 57th District covers all or parts of Glenview, Northbrook, Northfield, Wilmette, Winnetka, Buffalo Grove, Des Plaines, Glencoe, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights and Wheeling. The last day to vote is Nov. 5.

State House 57 candidates talk education, abortion and guns; ‘I want to be more than a spectator’

Posted by · October 11, 2024 1:00 PM

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Finding an ideal way to serve the community is a goal for both state Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl, D-Northbrook, and Daniel T. Behr of Northbrook, her Republican opponent in the upcoming election for all 118 members of the Illinois House of Representatives.

After serving eight years on the Northbrook School District 28 Board of Education, Muhl’s final term ended in April 2023. Within a month, she decided to run for the Illinois General Assembly. In January, she was appointed to fill a recently vacated seat in Springfield she is now defending.

“My children completed their education in the district,” Muhl, 48, said. “In my work on the school board, I engaged with a lot of state lawmakers. It inspired me to do more for a bigger district. I’ve always worked to build consensus, and will continue to do that.”

Tracy Katz Muhl. (Photo courtesy of Tracy Katz Muhl)

Behr, 71, an economic development consultant to the railroad industry, said he was talking with a friend this winter about holding elective office. The time for filing to run in the March primary was past. With no one on the GOP ballot, he was appointed to fill the slot in June.

“I’ve never been satisfied with being a spectator,” Behr said. “I want to be more than a spectator. I want to play a role.”

Voters in southern Lake and northern Cook counties will choose Behr or Muhl to represent them in the Illinois General Assembly’s 57th State Representative District in the Nov. 5 general election.

Describing himself as a “very balanced moderate,” Behr said he has worked in the railroad industry since 1986. Raised in Chicago, he moved to Northbrook in 1996. He has an undergraduate degree from Northeastern Illinois University, and a Ph.D. in applied economics from the University of Antwerp in Belgium.

A partner in the Chicago law firm of Fox, Swibel, Levin & Carroll, Muhl said her workload there is limited since she was appointed to the legislature, and she devotes most of her time to her role in Springfield. She has an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, and a law degree from the University of Chicago.

Since joining the legislature in January, Muhl has introduced five bills that passed in both the House and Senate, and signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, according to the General Assembly website. One requires automobile insurers to give a person the option of repairing a vehicle or receiving replacement value. It is effective Jan. 1.

Both candidates said they consider education a key issue. Muhl said her experience as a school board member for eight years gives her insight into the needs in schools throughout the state, and the importance of evidence-based funding.

“It is where I have more experience, and it is my passion,” she said. “It is a good way to fund education in Illinois,” she added, about the reform which became law in 2017.

Daniel T. Behr. (Photo courtesy of Daniel T. Behr)

Teaching children how to succeed in 21st-century America, coupled with fundamentals, is Behr’s educational philosophy. He wants them to learn STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), while not losing sight of basic skills like reading and writing.

“Kids need to learn the basics while they’re at a malleable age,” he said. “It’s important they learn the basics. It is the best way to help them succeed, and be prepared for the future.”

Both Muhl and Behr believe in a woman’s right to make decisions about their reproductive health, but not to the same degree. Behr said the decision to have an abortion should be made earlier in pregnancy.

“It’s up to the woman to make the choice,” he said. “Having an abortion in the third (trimester) is way over the top.”

Not only does Muhl believe a woman’s right to make decisions about her reproductive health is absolute, but she also wants to make sure Illinois remains a place where women from states with restrictions can get care.

“It’s important Illinois continues to remain a leading example of a place they can come if they need services,” she said.

A member of Mom’s Demand Action, Muhl said she became a volunteer and advocate for the LGBTQ community after the Orlando Pulse shooting in 2016. She also wants to create strict liability holding gun owners accountable if they do not report a lost or stolen weapon within 72 hours.

“It will make it easier to prosecute a crime,” she said.

On Behr’s list for gun safety is legislation requiring firearm purchasers to be thoroughly screened before they can get their hands on such a weapon.

“We can’t have whackos buying guns,” he said.

The district includes all or part of Northbrook, Glencoe, Wilmette, Winnetka, Glenview, Northfield, Riverwoods, Deerfield, Lincolnshire, Wheeling, Prospect Heights, Buffalo Grove, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights.

Democrat Effort to Avoid Contested Races Fails Daniel Behr Placed On the November Election Ballot

Posted by · August 25, 2024 11:04 AM

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Democrat Effort to Avoid Contested Races Fail

Daniel Behr Placed On the November Election Ballot

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - August 23, 2024

NORTHBROOK, IL --- The Illinois Supreme Court declined to overturn a Sangamon County Judge's May decision and the Illinois State Board of Elections unanimously voted to dismiss an objection to Dr. Daniel Behr's candidacy for the Illinois House of Representatives 57th District seat, ensuring Behr will be a candidate in this November's election.

"I am relieved this ridiculous chapter emblematic of what is wrong with the Illinois General Assembly is over," Behr said. "My opponent has no defense for her vote on this bill or her and her allies' continued pursuit of having this law enforced retroactively. The way this law was passed and attempted to be implemented should insult and outrage every Illinois voter. Make no mistake: this bill was not aimed at me, but it was aimed at the hundreds of thousands of voters in the 57th District and other legislative districts across the state that would have had an uncontested state legislative race had they succeeded. Now the voters get the last word, as they should in a democratic republic."

Behr, a longtime Northbrook resident, will face local Democratic Party boss Tracy Katz Muhl, a longtime local politician who has not had an opponent in her five previous appearances on a ballot. Katz Muhl, whose more than 50 percent weighted vote appointed herself to the seat made vacant by former State Rep. Jonathan Carroll's January resignation, voted in favor of SB2412, a bill that originally aimed to address issues with foster children and the Department of Children and Family Services. However, Katz Muhl did not vote on that version of the bill. Instead, she voted on an amendment to strip all that language out of the bill and another amendment that added numerous changes to the Election Code, including abolishing slating of candidates to the legislature only. The bill was amended and passed the House May 1, advanced through the Senate May 2 and was signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker May 3.

Under longstanding law, a political party can slate a candidate after the primary to run as the party's nominee in the general election if nobody ran in the primary. The nominated candidate would then have to get the same number of voter signatures required of primary candidates, and the candidate would have 75 days agfter the primary to be slated, collect the signatures, and file with the State Board of Elections. The Republican committeemen of Wheeling, Northfield, and New Trier townships as well as the Lake County Republican chairman slated Behr before a crowd of 100 after the polls closed on primary night March 19, 2024 at Hackney's on Lake in Glenview. Starting that night, Behr and his volunteers began collecting signatures of registered voters in the district. By the end of April, he had more than 500 signatures.

When the Behr team learned of the house's action on May 1, they began gathering petition sheets and continued to collect them the morning of May 2. After rapidly putting the nomination sheets together, a Dan Behr volunteer drove the nominating papers down to Springfield May 2, reaching the Board of Elections shortly after the Board closed at 4:30 p.m. Ordinarily, the Board remains open until 5 p.m. on the final day of filing. Behr's papers were officially filed at 8:41 a.m. May 3, five minutes after Pritzker signed the bill.

Behr subsequently joined several other slated candidates on a lawsuit argued by the Liberty Justice Center. The case argued that the General Assembly cannot make changes to election law restricting ballot access after the election cycle had started as it violates the right to vote and the equal protection clause The suit was filed against the State Board of Elections and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, but Speaker of the House Chris Welch "intervened" in the case, meaning that he joined the group of defendants. His taxpayer-paid attorney, Michael Kasper, argued in favor of the law because, among other things, Welch as Committeeman (not a taxpayer-funded office) did not like attending slating meetings per Kasper's arguments.

Sangamon County Judge Gail Noll agreed with the plaintiffs, stipiulating that while the bill can go into effect in future elections, the current slated candidates cannot be excluded from the ballot based on the new law. Welch appealed the ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court, which had heard all the arguments by July 8, but could not come to a majority conclusion as two justices recused themselves from the case. As such, the lower court's ruling is affirmed.

When the new law goes into effect for future cycles, vacancies on the ballot because no one ran in the primary can still be filled by slating for any office that is not for Illinois House or Illinois Senate. County positions such as Commissioner or Assessor, Statewide positions such as Treasurer, Federal offices such as Congress or U.S. Senate can still be filled by the slating process. Additionally, the law does not affect filling open legislative seats after the death or resignation of a representative or a senator. For example, with her more than 50 percent of the weighted vote as Northfield Township Democratic Committeewoman, Behr's opponent effectively appointed herself to the 57th District seat to serve the remaining term of elected representative Jonathan Carroll upon his resignation last January. And if a candidate drops out of the race after the primary, like Rep. Mark Walker did upon his decision to run for the now open Illinois Senate seat, the Democrats were able to slate a new candidate without voter input as they did with Nicole Grasse. Ironically, Grasse's opponent, Ronald Andermann of Arlington Heights, was a co-plaintiff on the lawsuit.

"The Democrats' attempt to subvert democracy in Illinois failed," said Northfield Township Republican Committeeman T.J. Brown, a resident of the 57th District. "Drawing what has been called the most-gerrymandered map in the nation was not enough; the Democrats do not trust our states' voters to make a choice in November. I am very grateful that people like the LJC's Jeffrey Schwab and fearless candidates like Daniel Behr stood up to defend our democracy. It was interesting timing that the day after Daniel Behr's opponent celebrated a presidential candidate selected solely by the will of party bosses behind closed doors, her efforts to shut down her opposition because she felt he should have run in the primary failed."

The election is Tuesday, November 5, but voters can request Vote By Mail ballots from the Cook County Clerk, and early voting begins at the five Cook County court houses on Wednesday, October 9 and countywide on Monday, October 21.