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.
In a floor vote a week later, senators denied confirmation to one appointee, Jeffrey Mears, who had worked at the board since his nomination by Pritzker a year ago. Mears received 22 votes, eight short of the 30 he needed for confirmation.
Earlier in the day on March 22, all six unconfirmed appointees - Mears, Oreal James, Eleanor Wilson, Kenneth Tupy, Jared Bohland, and LeAnn Miller – were given a hearing before the Senate Executive Appointments Committee.
The committee tabled confirmation of James and Wilson, and sent them to the Senate floor without recommendations.
In the lead up to Tuesday’s action, Pritzker on March 15 urged Senate appointment committee chair Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) to act on his choices, “so that this board can fully function.”
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, 7-6. 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, James and 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.
Pritzker’s letter to Murphy stated that without an adequate number of members, the board would jeopardize its responsibility for final revocation hearings.
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, whose members are paid close to $90,000 annually, held 4,595 final revocation hearings last year.
Pritzker 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 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,” he wrote.
Last October, the board paroled Paula Sims, who killed her two infant daughters, according to Madison County jurors. The vote was 12-1.
Senate Executive Appointment Committee March 22 action
While the full Senate rejected confirmation of Mears, a former Illinois Department of Corrections employee, the appointment committee had recommended his confirmation earlier in the day.
The committee tabled confirmation of Oreal James and Eleanor Wilson, and sent them to the Senate floor without recommendations.
The three faced tough questioning at Tuesday’s hearing, with Sen. Plummer calling one nominee "extraordinarily slippery."
Republicans on the committee couldn’t ask nominees why they released child killer Sims, but they made her an example of controversial decisions.
Madison County jurors convicted Sims of murdering daughter Heather, six weeks old, at trial in 1990. Evidence showed Sims killed daughter Loralei, 12 days old, in 1986.
Sen. Terri Bryant (R- Murphysboro) asked Mears if he would parole a person who killed their children.
Mears asked if she meant Sims and she said, “In general.”
He said he’d look at total circumstances, years that passed, mental health at the time of the crime, and “efforts they have made to show they’re a good person.”
Sen. Steve McClure (R- Jacksonville) asked Mears about the board setting a Feb. 8 deadline for a family statement and granting parole on Feb. 7.
Mears said the notification unit was out of his purview.
“If I had that information going, I think it’s a very important thing,” Mears said.
McClure asked if he would object or abstain.
Mears said, “I would hope that would be cleared up prior to the hearing.”
Sen. Plummer asked if it influenced him that without confirmation the governor could pull him at any time.
Mears said, “I take care of me.”
Plummer voted with four Democrats to recommend Mears. Bryant and McClure voted against him.
During Oreal James’s hearing, Sen. Bryant said the board didn’t post its meeting minutes. He answered that he didn’t know why.
Bryant asked about a person who appeared before the board 33 times and threatened a state’s attorney in court four years before the board paroled him.
James said, “I’m not familiar with all the circumstances you mentioned.”
Bryant asked what crime a person could never be released for and he said, “To say I’d never vote for something, there would be no reason to have this hearing.”
McClure told him his explanations and his votes contradicted each other.
McClure said he released prisoners who showed no signs of rehabilitation.
James said, “You left a lot of questions open.”
He said more than eight members voted for each release.
Plummer said, “This is about you.”
He quoted a news report that James said, “No need to hash out what happened four years ago.”
James said, “I’m sure it wasn’t as flippant as you read it.”
Plummer said in 2019, James said he’d never parole someone who shot at police.
James said, “That’s part of a statement with a bigger part.”
Plummer said, “You released at least seven people who shot police.”
Plummer called him extraordinarily slippery and said, “How can I trust a single word coming out of your mouth?”
James said, “I don’t have all the statements that came out of that hearing. When things come out that make sense to me I change my mind.”
Senator Omar Aquino (D-Chicago) moved to table the nomination and send it to the floor without recommendation.
Committee chair Murphy apologized to James for Plummer’s words, but she voted for Aquino’s motion with the rest of the committee.
Nominee Eleanor Wilson was asked about her votes to release 45 times out of 105.
“I can’t remember all those cases,” she responded.
On posting of minutes, she said she had no authority.
Plummer asked if she was aware of pending litigation on freedom of information, and she said she wasn’t.
He said she might want to dig it into it.
Aquino moved to table the recommendation and the committee passed the motion, 8-0.
Nominee LeAnn Miller listed her criteria for deciding cases and said she asks if she would be okay if the person would be her neighbor or her mother’s neighbor.
Bryant asked if there was any crime from which a person can’t be reformed.
Miller said, “Some people don’t need to be let out.”
Bryant asked about murder of one’s children and Miller said she would look at a person’s adjustment, likelihood of another offense, and mental health then and now.
“You can’t base it all on a crime,” Miller said. “It’s all individuals.”
McClure brought up the Feb. 7 vote and the Feb. 8 family deadline.
Miller said, “If I knew about it, I’d bring it to the board. I wouldn’t have a problem saying hold off.”
McClure asked if she was in the best position to judge someone’s rehabilitation.
Miller said, “You just have to use the tools you have and the hearing that you hear.”
Five Democrats voted for Miller. Bryant, McClure, and Plummer voted against her.
Jared Bohland was the only nominee who voted against releasing Sims.
Plummer told him the board granted more releases since the governor held their positions hostage.
He asked if members could be influenced out of desire to keep their positions.
Bohland said, “I vote with integrity regardless of the circumstance. I don’t know that my record falls within that data stream.”
No one voted against Bohland or nominee Kenneth Tupy.