I’m headed to the Thompson Center to cover multiple press conferences dealing with the state’s decision to whittle down 700+ applicants for new pot shop licenses to just 21 groups who will be included in a lottery to determine the winners.
Congressmen Danny Davis and Chuy Garcia and state Rep. La Shawn Ford are expected to speak about the “rigged” lottery at one of them.
The group claimed the lottery has been scheduled for tmrw, which former state Rep. Rickey Hendon called “a snake move.” One applicant said his group is now filing an injunction. Another suit obtained by the ST has already been filed in connection with the applications.
Hendon: “We are under the weather from this oppressive system, this rigged system.”
The applicant filing the injunction, Marc Pullins, called the scoring an “orchestrated injustice,” bemoaning the binary scoring system and calling for a delay in issuing the licenses.
Chuy and Davis weren’t on hand, but Ford said Black ppl have been “getting shut out” by the state for too long, pointing to IDOT contracts in the past here’s his stmt. Here’s he and state Rep. Kathleen Willis’ letter to Pritzker.
A lot of the speakers raised concerns about KPMG, the global accounting firm given two no bid contracts to grade all upcoming weed licenses. They say a KPMG employee is part of an applicant group in the lottery. Working to confirm that.
chicago.suntimes.com/cannabis/2020/…
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