By John Kass

Aug 31, 2022

What does conservative talk show host and political operative Dan Proft think of the Democrat hysteria over his effective new political ad about violent crime and Chicago’s “Summer of Joy?”

They’re not pleased. And he doesn’t give two figs for their public anger. But they do help him get his message out.

Proft isn’t upset by the outrage of Democrats Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker and their media allies over the ad. Instead he welcomes it, because it focuses voters on what’s important:

The Pritzker/Lightfoot failures in handling crime, and their support over a controversial law that will end no-cash bail in Illinois. This policy is a left-wing Democrat elite fantasy, and many veteran prosecutors warn no-bail policy will usher in even more anarchy and chaos when it becomes law in January.

Jeff Carlin and I invited Proft on the Chicago Way podcast as our guest. You can listen to the full interview by clicking on the button in the photo at the top of this column. Proft made the ad for his political PAC, People Who Play by The Rules, that backs Republican State Sen. Darren Bailey for governor.

Public outrage from Pritzker and Lightfoot obscures more Democratic vulnerability on the crime issue. Because Pritzker’s signing of the Illinois Safe-T Act does away with cash bail on January 1. And then chaos comes to breakfast.

100 of Illinois 102 county prosecutors vehemently oppose the “Safe-T Act.” They know getting rid of cash bail will mean more violent offenders on the streets and it will result in more crime  violence. Pritzker’s allies including Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx support elimination of cash bail. And that’s why the Democrats are so angry with Proft. He nails them to the spot.

The ad targets Democrat Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker as soft and incompetent in dealing with rising crime. And the Democrats are desperately trying to distract by playing the race card and the victim card. Lightfoot relies on an old rhetorical formula, insisting the ad darkens her skin and serves as a “dog whistle” to racists. She’s complained about criminals depicted in the ad and say’s that’s racist too, but the ad takes news footage from Chicago television stations.

There has been much clucking of media tongues.

But Proft said he didn’t darken the ad. “That’s absurd. We did nothing to her pigmentation just as we did nothing to pigmentation of our pasty blowhard of a governor. The video of Lightfoot was pulled from the web from her City Club speech.”

So, why are the Democrats seething and saying the ad is full of “dog whistles?” Because that’s all they’ve got now, those old left-wing tactics of playing the race card and whining about being the victim, when the true victims of violent crime in Chicago, most of them black and brown, largely ignored by the Black Democrats who run the criminal justice system, the prosecutors’ office and the courts

We asked Proft: What about the race card and the allegations of racism?

“Her response is typical of what you get from race hustlers. we’re very familiar with this routine” Proft scoffed on The Chicago Way. “We’ve seen this for generations. We’ve seen this for as long as I’ve been on the planet. It comes in the form of a Jesse Jackson or an Al Sharpton or a JB Pritzker or a Lori Lightfoot. Was I surprised by it? No

“Did I think it would come from that angle? No. because I never even conceived, I never even thought about her race or the tone of her skin color in the ad. It’s so absurd but this is what you have to do, I suppose, from their perspective when you have turned the city over to predators, when the city has become lawless, when you’ve lost control of the city perhaps purposely and people are afraid, suburbanites won’t come to the city,” Proft said. “The reputation of the city internationally is a place that is unsafe. This is the first order of duty of any political figure at any level—provide for the physical security of your constituents. And both Pritzker and Lightfoot have failed.

And what does he think of the pounding he’s been getting in the media? By the Chicago Tribune and the Sun Times, on radio, by the clique that tries to control and shape what the people of Chicago and Illinois think is legitimate political inquiry?

It’s also the clique that has loathed Proft and all conservatives for years and years.

But he’s not all that upset.

“I’m not complaining,” said Proft. “I appreciate what Lightfoot and Pritzker did. You think the name calling bothers me? I love what they did  because they helped this issue break through to the general public. You can talk about coloration all you want, or what the left Twitterverse wants to talk about.

“But what it’s really doing is getting people to people ask, wait ‘what is the Safe-T Act? What are (DuPage County State’s Attorney) Bob Berlin and (Will County State’s Attorney) Jim Glasgow saying? What’s going to happen on Jan. 1?

“That’s the conversation we need to have, because that’s the substantive conversation that relates to peoples’ quality of life in Illinois,” says Proft.

Bingo.

Since he  spends part of his time in Florida, I’ve been after Proft to write me a fishing column. Alas, he’s a golfer. But he did set that fly on the water right in front of her, and she bit down good and hard. Pritzker too. Their angry shrieks provided Proft with free news coverage. Now the message of Pritzker putting Illinoisans at risk by getting rid of no cash bail is now out there.

But will the people of Illinois hear it? Or will there be too much noise in media to distract them?

The rise of violent crime is perhaps the most important issue in Chicago and Illinois. And put the race cards down for a moment, and you’ll realize the victims are overwhelmingly black and Latino. But the threat is on almost every corner now. When Chicagoans get together, crime is the main topic of conversation along with whether they should carry guns, because there aren’t enough cops, because the jails are emptying with the violent out on the street, because the Cook County prosecutor isn’t a crime fighter, because the criminal element has been emboldened.  And it will all get worse when Illinois abandons cash bail.

And so, Lightfoot and Pritzker—and their liberal media allies—are furious with Proft. Why? He right over the target.

I really don’t think news editors are all that interested in examining the no-cash bail issue, just like I really don’t think Illinois editors are all that enthused about examining the connections between do-nothing Democratic prosecutors and left-wing billionaire George Soros. They’ve seen that movie. So have I.

Meanwhile, the Democratic left in Illinois, meaning Lightfoot and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, her patron Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and the Illinois Black Caucus have backed Pritzker on the no-cash bail plan. His politics are set. So are theirs.

No cash bail allows the Democrats to campaign against law enforcement. And corporate legacy media in Chicago is largely supportive of the lenient and left leaning criminal justice priorities.

Does it make sense? Not to me. Not to victims. Not to prosecutors. Not to veteran detectives.

About the only thing that might change the status quo, and compel them to reconsider no cash bail would be if Illinois Democrats lose power in November.

Every night Chicago is the scene for a dystopian Mad Max movie of violence, lawlessness, and anarchy. But it isn’t a movie, is it?

It’s the real thing. Murders, shootings, mayhem and other violence continue. Lightfoot and her police brass are overwhelmed. The gang wars spread from the South and West Sides to downtown and the suburbs. Children die every day. Chicago’s downtown streets are routinely taken over by thugs who  unafraid of law enforcement. They take downtown streets and police avoid confronting them, because the cops are  outnumbered.  This prompts even more violent aggression from the mob.

Tourists are robbed and shot during Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s “Summer of Joy.” And police can’t wait to retire or leave town, because they have no confidence in the mayor or the prosecutor she and Pritzker have endorsed.

Lightfoot talks of “dog whistles,” because she has no answers. This way she can play the victim,  and liberal media that largely agrees with her , can try to protect her. But the police don’t respect her. They don’t think much of the governor either. And the people know the job is just too much for her.

Every night, it’s the same thing. The weekend count of the wounded and the dead in the “Summer of Joy,” and the yammering of  tired politics in a broken city, in a broken state, as Pritzker and Lightfoot avoid the responsibilities and obligations of office and attack the messenger instead.

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(Copyright 2022 John Kass)