Got That Wrong: U.S. Attorney for Northern District of Illinois

In a post back in August of 2020 on why Kim Foxx would win re-election as Cook County State’s Attorney (she did), I said:

“It is entirely possible that the biggest reason the Illinois Democratic Party, or at least its leaders, wants to beat Donald Trump in November is not his response to Covid-19 – or any other policy President Trump has.  Instead, it might be because, if Joe Biden wins, John Lausch might no longer be U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.  A President Biden can replace him.  In 2008, when the investigation of then-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was going on, Barack Obama promised that he would not replace then-U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald­­­­­.  As far as I know, Joe Biden has not made a similar promise.  And I would not expect him to do so.  Getting rid of Mr. Lausch is too important to Illinois Democrats.”

It looks like I might have been wrong on this.  The Biden administration has told almost all U.S. attorneys that they need to submit their resignations by the end of February.  In response, both Illinois Senators, Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth (the former being more important than the latter), have urged President Biden to keep John Lausch, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, on the job.  Which is the opposite of what I said in August.

Here is my cynical view on why:  It is possible that, in August, Democrats like Senator Durbin, wanted to get rid of Mr. Lausch.  But, in November, the Fair Tax amendment was defeated and an Illinois Supreme Court justice was not retained, perhaps in part because the opponents of the amendment and the justice targeted Michael Madigan, long-time¹ Speaker of the Illinois House, in their ads.  Also, Democrats like Senator Durbin didn’t do as well as they expected in November, perhaps as a carry-over from the anti-Speaker advertising. 

Mr. Madigan lost his job as Speaker in January.  And now, maybe, some Illinois Democratic leaders see Mr. Lausch’s investigations as the easiest way to get Mr. Madigan out of his other job, as chairman of the state Democratic Party. 

I don’t know if I’m right in this.  After all, I didn’t get it right in August.  In any case, it should be interesting.
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¹ “Long-time” as in 36 years, from 1983-1995 and 1997-2021.

UPDATE (2/23/21 5:45 pm): If my cynicism was right, with Mr. Madigan having now also resigned as chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party, Senator Durbin may have less reason to care about whether John Lausch stays as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.