Prairie State Wire

This past Friday, Fox News talk show host Tucker Carlson discussed crime in Chicago with radio host Dan Proft, president of the super PAC, People Who Play By the Rules.

The segment showed The Scream Ad by the super PAC as well as clips from other ads the group funded. Both Carlson and Proft were very critical of the way Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot have handled crime in Illinois. Proft also emphasized the importance of this election cycle and the effect it will have on the SAFE-T Act.

Back in September, Pritzker denounced The Scream Ad that blames him for the rise in violent crime stating that it “clearly has a racial tinge to it” and “they’ve [PBR PAC] chosen a particular crime in which there was a white woman who was the victim and apparently black perpetrators,” Fox 32 Chicago reported.

Proft rejected this accusation back in September and pointed out on Carlson’s show, “we don’t even know the races of the assailants because they were masked.”

“They're presiding over a lawlessness that has no comparison nationally, an exodus of residents from Illinois, an exodus of humanity not seen since the Israelites fled Egypt, and all they have is to create boogeymen of people who are pointing out what's actually happening," Proft said of crime in Chicago. "You know, it's one thing to talk about statistics, to talk about the fact that Chicago is approaching 600 murders and 3,000 people shot just this year alone, but that doesn't bring it home to people the way that something like that ad ['The Scream'] does, which is why they had to collude with the network affiliates in Chicago and make sure nobody sees it, because they want you to believe everything is just fine, join Lori Lightfoot in her karaoke contest, and everything is  going to be OK.”

Illinois GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey has made it clear in the past that he “has nothing to do with that super-PAC [People Who Play by the Rules], NBC Chicago reported. But Bailey did not condemn the PAC’s methods stating, “if they are helping make people aware of what is going on, I think that’s a good thing.”

The SAFE-T Act, set to go into effect on Jan. 1, has been subject to criticism from state’s attorneys to candidate campaigns, the Kankakee Times reported. The provision in the bill that abolishes cash bail has been the key recurring talking point for both sides. In lieu of cash bail is a system where the "burden of proof" for pretrial detention falls to the state. Pritzker has expressed that the bill as a whole will bring equitable change to Illinois’ justice system. The opposition claims that the SAFE-T Act will not make citizens safer, but simply overburden police departments, and provide the opportunity for violent criminals to be released back onto the streets.