Oh, for crying out loud
Friday, Aug 28, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I told subscribers about these mailers from the ostensibly “pro-Democratic” Illinoisans for Growth and Opportunity the other day…
It says that “state politicians have cut $14,036,198 from our neighborhood schools since 2010″ and that “without an immediate budget solution,” schools face “another $500 million in cuts to classrooms,” with more than 3,000 teachers laid off. The two-page flier lists Cullerton’s and Feigenholtz’s district office numbers and urges recipients to call them and “demand they stop playing games with our schools and pass a balanced budget.”
The flier does not mention that Rauner has held off on approving a tax hike he admits is needed to balance the budget until Democrats put limits on public-sector unions. The governor says those changes will save money and boost the economy, but Democrats say they would effectively destroy the collective bargaining process.
Cullerton, in a phone interview, pretty much shrugged off the attack, noting that he’s not up for re-election for three years. He and Illinoisans for Growth and Opportunity chief Greg Goldner, a prominent political operative who once was campaign manager for Mayor Richard M. Daley, have talked since the flier hit. Cullerton said Goldner “was not aware” that a bill already has passed the Senate by a veto-proof majority that would solve CPS’ current budget woes by giving it $200 million a year for pensions and allow CPS to defer hundreds of millions in other pension payments for two more years. The same measure would impose a two-year property tax freeze and mandate a rewrite of the state’s school-aid formula by 2017. [Emphasis added.]
OK, wait. First of all, Greg Goldner’s front group is using the exact same false attack that the Rauner campaign used against Quinn last year. The truth is that the state didn’t cut funding for schools. As I showed time and time again last year, school funding dropped after the federal stimulus package expired.
Also, Goldner is running a multi-million dollar attack machine and doesn’t even know that the Senate passed a Chicago schools bailout bill?
Really?
* More…
The flier “is propaganda” that “doesn’t tell the whole story,” [Rep. Sara Feigenholtz] said in a phone interview. “We could agree on the budget tomorrow,” but Rauner “is holding the budget hostage, presenting us with issues that have nothing to do with the budget. . . .He just wants the collective bargaining process to go away.”
Goldner, in a separate interview, noted that similar fliers have been sent to the districts of every lawmaker in the city and some in the suburbs. Beyond that, he insisted that the fliers are not intended to criticize but to inform.
Um, the same guy who wasn’t even aware of the Senate’s school funding bill before sending out two direct mailers on the topic to every legislative district in Chicago says he’s just trying to “inform” voters?
Whew, man.
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 3:42 pm:
I got that flier in the mail and laughed a lot. Then I threw it away.
Goldner is a joke.
- A guy - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 3:43 pm:
Political mail like this from all sources should be embarrassing.
It’s truly embarrassing that it isn’t.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 3:43 pm:
Raunerites…
If Democrats don’t rally around each other, they’ll be next.
Look what happened to the ILGOP…
Flip side?
Can’t beat someone with no one.
- Wordslinger - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 3:44 pm:
Helluva way to make a living. Gotta buy Lava in bulk, I imagine.
- Mama - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 3:46 pm:
He does not appear to care if his mailers are true or not, as long as Rauner gains more Republicans in the next election.
- William - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 3:48 pm:
Voters in Illinois really need to wake up and start paying attention. They’re just as much to blame for the mess we are in as Madigan and Rauner.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 3:49 pm:
- Mama -
No, Rauner wants Raunerites.
Democrats that will vote Rauner.
This isn’t a GOP/Dem battle. It’s Rauner running Rod’s playbook. Hence, another exhibit.
- Precinct Captain - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 3:51 pm:
When you’re accountable to no one but a handful of megawealthy ideologues and a political mercenary open to business from anyone, of course things like this happen.
- Beaner - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 3:52 pm:
The first causalty in War is the Truth.
- school funding - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 3:59 pm:
“mandate a rewrite of the state’s school-aid formula by 2017″
SB 318 does NOT do that. It simply eliminates the current formula on June 1, 2017.
Cullerton’s spokesperson stated what would happen if a new formula was not adopted by that date, and
Rep. Lou Lang stated it would blow up school funding.
- Willie Stark - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 3:59 pm:
Did Goldner and all those oh-so-progressive Dems he’s got working for him, people whose salaries were at one time supported by labor union members and progressive donors always hope they would eventually parlay that into becoming the vassals of plutocrats? Are they glad to be able to do their part to destroy the middle class they used to campaign on fighting for?
- Tom - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 4:06 pm:
You can complain all you want about Goldner and his motives–I have. But habitual attacks gone unanswered will work. It has been proven time and time again. I hate what they are doing but believe if it is left to stand on it’s own, will weaken every member they attack. To think otherwise is very foolish.
- rural observer - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 4:07 pm:
These fliers, these ads, the threat of propaganda releases, all of this presupposes that Illinois voters are ad sensitive and/or easily influenced dupes. In this day an age people are ad immune if anything. Rauner’s tactic is based on his conviction the average voter is an idiot. Rauner can throw all the money he has at the voters and it won’t alter much. He spent big money on the election needlessly, all had to be was not Quinn and not responsible for the tax hike. He has convinced himself that his money got him elected. It did not.
- Anon - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 4:21 pm:
There is one common denominator between Rauner and blago, and that’s Greg goldner. Throw in rich Daley, and Goldner is the man behind everything that’s wrong with politics in this state. What a disappointment that guy is. I once thought he cared about people and politics, but I was mistaken for a mercenary who would sell out to the highest bidder.
- Juice - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 4:24 pm:
Bruce Rauner, and the independent expenditure committees he controls, aren’t really much into reading.
- Angry Chicagoan - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 4:27 pm:
Facts aren’t important to these people. Salesmanship is. Control is. Domination is. And you see it on the Internet too, where a ridiculous fake of Saul Alinsky is making the rounds (e.g. “build control over healthcare”) and people believe it’s fact.
The rest of us, and I am addressing this in particular to the quieter Democrats, need to fight back, or these lies, repeated often enough, become reality.
- NewWestSuburbanGOP'er - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 4:28 pm:
Another “superstar”!
- The Way I See It - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 4:39 pm:
* fliers are not intended to criticize, but misinform.
Fixed that.
“Informing voters” and stuff like this dont belong together
- @MisterJayEm - Friday, Aug 28, 15 @ 4:46 pm:
At the risk of repeating myself: Shamelessness is a political superpower.
– MrJM