SPRINGFIELD – Governor JB Pritzker, content for three years to let Prisoner Review Board members serve without Senate confirmation, suddenly declared confirmation “vitally important” on March 15.
He urged Senate appointment committee chair Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) to act on his choices, “so that this board can fully function.”
All six unconfirmed appointees have now been posted in the Senate Executive Appointments Committee, scheduled at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 22.
After urging Sen. Murphy to act, Pritzker withdrew his appointment of board member Max Cerda, who murdered two men in a gang battle at age 16.
Last year Cerda voted to release Ronnie Carrasquillo, who murdered Chicago policeman Terry Loftus in 1976.
The board denied Carrasquillo’s release, seven to six.
Cerda later stated that he knew Carrasquillo in prison.
Pritzker withdrew Cerda after Sen. Steve McClure (R- Jacksonville) questioned the appointment at a hearing on the board’s appropriation.
State law requires confirmation within 60 days of legislative sessions, but Pritzker dodged the requirement last March.
He withdrew appointments of Aurthur Mae Perkins, Joseph Ruggiero, Oreal James, and Eleanor Wilson, and reappointed them to start another 60 days.
He withdrew Perkins and Ruggiero again this March 8, and hadn’t appointed them to start another 60 days as of March 16.
A deadline for confirming James and Wilson will arrive on March 28.
Deadlines also approach for board members Jeffrey Mears and Kenneth Tupy.
Pritzker appointed Mears last March, and his deadline will arrive on March 24.
Pritzker appointed Tupy last May, and his deadline will fall on April 8.
Pritzker’s letter to Murphy stated that without an adequate number of members, the board would jeopardize its responsibility for final revocation hearings.
He wrote that the board holds such a hearing when an individual returns to the corrections department for allegedly violating parole or supervised release.
“If the hearing is not held within 90 days, the person is automatically deemed not to be in violation and is released from custody,” Pritzker wrote.
The board held 4,595 final revocation hearings last year.
He sent the letter to Murphy five days after she received a letter from Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville).
Plummer wrote that Perkins and Ruggiero have served a combined six years on the board and have collected about half a million dollars in salaries.
He wrote that the process of reappointing “violates the spirit of the rules and any notion of a transparent process.”
“I have repeatedly inquired about what is happening with these nominations and I have received no information from you as to why the committee is avoiding hearing the nominations,” Plummer wrote.
“You have seemed to indicate to me that the matter was in the hands of the governor.”
He wrote that on March 9, Pritzker said appointments “don’t get taken up by the committee that’s supposed to take those up.”
He wrote that nominees make important and sometimes dangerous decisions.
He sent a similar letter to Murphy last May, imploring her to allow lawmakers to carry forth their constitutional duty.
Appointees have made controversial decisions without being vetted or approved by the committee, he wrote.
“Under their tenure on the board, convicted murderers, rapists, and cop killers have been paroled.”
Last year, the board paroled Paula Sims, who killed her two infant daughters, according to Madison County jurors.