CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - The speaker of the Illinois House said Wednesday his political opponents want to sow fear and spread misinformation.
Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) told the City Club of Chicago that the elimination of cash bail, effective Jan. 1, is a good thing.
“Those who want to repeat the Safe-T Act, ask them what else they want to repeal,” Welch said Wednesday. “That is coded language. They want to repeal a whole lot more than the Safe-T Act.”
Welch ticked off the possibilities: women rights and civil rights, such as same-sex marriage.
But House Republican Leader Jim Durkin — a former prosecutor from Western Springs — recently argued the new system will only allow detention hearings for people accused of "non-probational" offenses. A host of serious crimes, including robbery, burglary and arson, are not in that classification, he said.
Durkin added that detained suspects must get their trial within 90 or they will be freed on their own recognizance.
“It can’t be more clear that you have a 90-day requirement for a person to go to trial, otherwise they must be released, and they will be placed on a recognizance bond,” he said.
“There’s no discretion on this. It’s not fear-mongering. It’s reality.”
Welch said in leading the entire House, he’s a unifier, though the super minority Republicans have been complaining almost since he became speaker that he’s not.
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