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* Who needs a budget plan when you have friends like this?…
All in!! $2,500,000.00 from Griffin, Kenneth to Citizens for Rauner, Inc. http://t.co/pd99Zqr7nl
— Trib IL CampaignCash (@ILCampaignCash) June 13, 2014
…Adding… A Ken Griffin flashback from a 2012 Tribune interview…
Q. I’m going to come back to this. But I want to touch on two more areas first. What do you think in general about the influence of people with your means on the political process? You said shame on the politicians for listening to the CEOs. Do you think the ultrawealthy have an inordinate or inappropriate amount of influence on the political process?
A. I think they actually have an insufficient influence. Those who have enjoyed the benefits of our system more than ever now owe a duty to protect the system that has created the greatest nation on this planet. And so I hope that other individuals who have really enjoyed growing up in a country that believes in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – and economic freedom is part of the pursuit of happiness – (I hope they realize) they have a duty now to step up and protect that. Not for themselves, but for their kids and for their grandchildren and for the person down the street that they don’t even know.
Emphasis added for obvious reasons. I think he’s having sufficient influence on the Rauner campaign, to say the least.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:27 pm
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The guys anti-casino views are a little surprising, otherwise seems like the kind of guy Rauner would hang with: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-10/business/ct-biz-0310-ken-griffin-interview_1_chicago-casino-citadel-political-contributions
Comment by lake county democrat Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:31 pm
this is one vote you can’t buy, hedgies.
Comment by yo Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:31 pm
steak dinners, caged chickens. beware the voters.
Comment by Amalia Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:35 pm
And the ads will soon hit the airwaves!!!!
Comment by Wally Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:35 pm
Eric Cantor raised $4,700,000 versus Dave Brat’s $231,000, more than 20 times more, but big ideas can have a bigger impact than big money.
Comment by Mighty M. Mouse Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:36 pm
Rauner’s new budget plan: Kindly ask people making over 1 million dollars for a donation of 3% of their income.
Comment by Timmeh Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:36 pm
I apologize to - Wordslinger - and - AA -….
To the Post,
When a friend can drop $2.5 million on you, and both you and your friend think nothing of the real value if that cash, except the value of the ROI of the prestige of a title, and cutting out the middlemen in impacting “insiders”… Yowza.
There is no worry for Rauner;
Except voter, message, and staving of criticism with the “baloney” word.
Is it time to begin the “Carpet bombing” of the $54 million, the Feds investigating, and the shine off what is left of Pat Quinn?
Yep.
This isn’t for “How great is Bruce”, this is “How bad is Quinn”.
Quinn knows this, that Crew has to. They know the money game is lost.
Unions, teachers and their union, the Ballot initiatives, education on Rauner, and the Field Ops…
Until another $2+ million is dropped.
June 13th. Why not wait till June 29? Why not even wait till July 1?
“When you have it, you wait for no one”
Troubling days ahead for Quinn’s Crew.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:42 pm
I’ve definitely got to meet this guy. Right now I’m the guy way down the street who he doesn’t even know. If I knew where he lived, I’d start walking my dog by his house daily.
Comment by A guy... Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:47 pm
Tribbie star Melissa Harris had an indispensable interview with Griff if you want to understand how this wannabe King Louis’ view of the world.
He revealed a wee bit too much to an excellent interviewer. Hint: If you don’t have bread, eat cake.
–”I spend way too much of my time thinking about politics these days because government is way too involved in financial markets these days,” he said. –
Bite me.
The criminally incompetent or bad-faith regulation of financial markets (take your pick) let scumbags like Griff wipe out trillions in home equity, the only wealth most middle-class folks had, tossing millions out of work. We’ve been scratching back ever since.
The got bailed out, you got hosed.
How’s the stock market doing these days, Ken? Government, in the form of the Fed, treating you right, yet?
Read the whole thing. This is the Rauner crowd. Produce nothing, huffle money around and take the cream off the top.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-11/business/ct-biz-0311-confidential-griffin-web-version-20120311_1_american-crossroads-politics-republicans-and-democrats
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:50 pm
===but big ideas can have a bigger impact than big money===
I’d be careful mentioning big ideas and Professor Brat in the same sentence.
“Mr. Brat’s academic work has drawn particular interest because he is seen as the odds-on favorite in a heavily Republican district. Religious ethics rarely enter into mainstream economic theory, but they are topics that Mr. Brat, who describes himself in his writing as a Calvinist, has turned to repeatedly. In a 2011 article, “God and Advanced Mammon — Can Theological Types Handle Usury and Capitalism?” published in a journal of religion, Mr. Brat questioned whether Christianity could be reconciled with government programs.
“Are you willing to force someone you know to pay for the benefits for one of your neighbors?” he asked. “Very few Christians I know are willing to say ‘yes’ to this question.”
In the same essay, he argued: “If we make all of the people good, markets will be good. If markets are bad, which they are, that means people are bad, which they are. Want good markets? Change the people.”
Several economists said in interviews that Mr. Brat often appeared not to be writing as an economist. “I did find him pretty confusing,” said Justin Wolfers, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan, and a fellow at the Brookings Institution. “This dude just really wants us all to go to church, and that appears to be his economic policy conclusion.”
Mr. Brat has an unpredictable streak. He takes a generally free-market, libertarian stance, but economists of that stripe generally favor relaxed immigration, while Mr. Brat not only opposes it, but used the issue to great effect against Mr. Cantor.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/13/us/david-brat-and-jack-trammell-show-unease-in-the-spotlight.html?hpw&rref=politics&_r=1
Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:51 pm
Griffin and his wife have now given more than $3.5 million to Rauner’s campaign. He has a ways to go before he reaches 3% of his annual income. And he’s worth $3 billion, so the possibilities are endless.
Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:55 pm
$2.5 million ain’t chicken feed.
Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:57 pm
That last Anonymous was me.
I also count $6.6 million total since the March 31 filing. I have a feeling this Griffin contribution is the start of regular seven-digit deposits for the Rauner campaign.
Comment by Snucka Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:58 pm
@47th Ward, great post on Brat. he is a very controversial figure and while the district is certainly heavily republican, the general should be interesting. and filled with money.
Comment by Amalia Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 3:59 pm
So does Griffin get the chickens?
Comment by Soccermom Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 4:09 pm
Oligarchs trying to make sure they have sufficient influence.
Comment by Anon Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 4:15 pm
===So does Griffin get the chickens?===
Soccermon, for $2.5 Mil, he should be getting steaks.
Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 4:17 pm
Oswego Willy, the last time I checked, one can go on television for about $1 million a week. If Quinn starts July 1st, that would cost him roughly $16 million to be on TV till Election day. Are you saying that Quinn can’t raise $16 million to talk about Bruce’s chickens and mansions? Pat Quinn is no Kirk Dillard, he HAS resources.
Comment by media buyer Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 4:21 pm
Rauner “can’t be bought,” but he and his other rich friends want to buy the election. Nothing illegal or wrong with that, but don’t tell me this is some hero trying to make things better for me and a majority of residents in this state. His money is being used to pay for misleading or untruthful ads designed to make people buy a pig in the poke.
Once this pig is purchased we’ll see that the folks who benefit are the rich ones who invested in this campaign.
Comment by Norseman Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 4:25 pm
The new Jack Roeser.
Comment by Rhino Slider Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 4:30 pm
We’ve seen Organized Labor, Party Leadership and the combination of both throw huge piles of money around before. It’s hard to feel sorry for them when someone else matches or exceeds what has traditionally been their controllable areas of influence. Pat Quinn couldn’t raise a fuss, let alone a fortune, until the surrounding players got involved. I’m just not sure how this is different.
Comment by A guy... Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 4:33 pm
- media buyer -, it’s Friday, US Open week, World Cup Soccer is going on, and you ask a Word Math Problem?
To your question towards me,
Do I think Quinn will not sufficiently be able to “counter”?
No, I think the $16 million on TV can be found. The question and what I was walking around the barn was that Rauner, again, is setting the money pace. That $2.5 was not given to get interest in an account to get a bank toaster. It’s going out, it’s going out now.
Will Quinn finally get to the educating of the voters on Rauner? I dunno, but it’s lazy time, unless you have the resources, and you are willing to spend them, today (See Blago re-elect)
Every day Rauner was off the gas on Quinn was a gift, but no maximizing the quiet by Quinn’s Crew to frame who Rauner is/was. This $2.5 million is setting the spending pace again.
Will Quinn “match “, go stride for stride on $1 million a week for saturation? He may have to, he may have those resources, but now it’s a matter of the question of “When?”
By taking the cash before June 30 too, is that a shot across the bow? Probably.
See - AA -, AWillyWord Con$ulting would love part of that $16 million, but I digress…
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 4:34 pm
–Eric Cantor raised $4,700,000 versus Dave Brat’s $231,000, more than 20 times more, but big ideas can have a bigger impact than big money.–
BS.
You extrapolate way too much out of the defeat of the universally disliked and stupid Eric Cantor in a gerrymandered GOP VA district.
Seriously, seen any columns crying about Cantor getting beat? Nobody liked the dude. He was the House GOP Wall Street and K Street shill.
He spent $5 million on negative spots ripping someone nobody had ever heard of. He raised Brat’s name recognition. If he spent nothing, he probably would have won.
He spent a bundle on some pollster that told him he was up by 34 points! Where did that number come from? Crack? It couldn’t have been actual polling.
Every idiot Congresscritter knows that you work the district above all. Cantor spent primary day in Washington, as did his campaign manager.
His district was in Richmond, not Seattle!
For crying out loud, it was stupidity that prevented him from working Richmond. It wasn’t Bobby Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia.
As far as money, review Blago vs. JBT.
It was ipartisan, business, dirty money that allowed a phony like Blago to buy spots to beat a JBT like a rented mule.
It was disgusting, shameful and we all got what we deserved.
Learn.
There’s another election coming up.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 4:41 pm
The Cantor/Brat race might be analogous, but in a different way than suggested above.
The lesson might be that any amount of money cannot save an arrogant and out-of-contact incumbent. The mood starts at anti-incumbent, and in Illinois the Challenger has the money to build on that sentiment.
Brat said his personal goal is to “combine Economics with my Christian philosophy”. Kind of like “Creation Science” I guess. That might produce a political ideology, but it hardly qualifies him as “an economist” in the usual sense of the word.
He won, it’s been reported, more by being anti-incumbent and anti-Washington, than with any new ideas.
Quinn would have a tough enough time on an evenly funded playing field, as an incumbent, given the state’s economic challenges.
Comment by Walker Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 4:43 pm
== this is one vote you can’t buy, hedgies. ==
Well using your logic and a 1,000,000 threshold you might as well insert
Senate Democratic Fund
Republican State Senate Committee
Hair Care Products Company Guy
Comment by OneMan Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 5:03 pm
This is further confirmation of my theory that the A team has left the building. This is stupid on the part of the Rauner campaign. They didn’t need this in one giant, story-inducing check. 1/2 mil a month wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near as much attention as one $2.5 million check…and there will probably be more.
As to Cantor, most of the press completely missed the boat on this one. As the saying goes, Cantor went Washington and ignored his district. His district felt betrayed and gave him the boot. Happens from time to time. Only difference this time is that the moron who neglected his district was in leadership.
Comment by Chicago Cynic Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 5:47 pm
PQ has about $9 million in the bank. He should be able to do another $7 mill without any trouble. So he’ll be able to match.
Comment by Soccermom Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 6:29 pm
Calm down.
It’s only money.
Voters know what they want.
Quinn needs to show them he has it.
Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Jun 13, 14 @ 9:53 pm
=== I’d be careful mentioning big ideas and Professor Brat in the same sentence.===
47 warned me…
=== BS.
You extrapolate way too much out of the defeat of the universally disliked and stupid Eric Cantor in a gerrymandered GOP VA district.===
… and Word delivered the blow.
So clearly I was way too succinct. What I meant in the context of the Virginia race was that the right combination of ideas taken together were perceived by the electorate as being “big” enough to overcome an overwhelming money disadvantage.
Those ideas may have been simple things like, but not limited to, tea party red meat on immigration to a gerrymandered district, a decision to take advantage of an absentee incumbent and some creative (read untrue) advertising, but they worked.
In other words, “He figured it out!”, if figuring it out means Prof. Brat figured out how to beat a majority leader in a primary, an unprecedented achievement. The object is to win and he won.
And he didn’t use money to win, he used ideas. Even if I think they were bad ideas, they were designed to appeal to his electorate and take him to victory, and the combination worked. He won.
In a different context, such as the gubernatorial election in Illinois, a big idea could really BE a true “idea whose time has come,” rather than a sly conglomeration of bad ideas tailored to speak to a congressional district. It’s still pretty early but so far no such serious, riveting issue (with legs) has emerged.
Comment by Mighty M. Mouse Saturday, Jun 14, 14 @ 2:43 am