* From yesterday’s press release from Susana Mendoza…
What’s true is Leslie Munger flat out lied at the Chicago Tribune last week when she denied that her campaign chair is Elizabeth Brandt when official documents signed by Munger herself show Brandt, the leader of the movement to slash the paychecks of thousands of Illinois private sector workers, is in fact her campaign chair.
Brandt is the Mayor of Lincolnshire, Munger’s home town. She is leading the fight for a local “right to work” ordinance.
* The candidates are debating at the Sun-Times today…
* From the Illinois State Board of Elections as of 11:21 this morning…
* And from NBC 5 yesterday…
According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, Brandt is listed as Munger’s campaign chair. [Munger’s campaign manager Phil Rodriguez] called the incident a misunderstanding Wednesday and confirmed that Brandt is the comptroller’s campaign chair.
I don’t get it.
*** UPDATE *** From Tina…
Hey Rich,
I’m writing a story now, but Leslie didn’t deny that Brandt is on the paperwork. She just denied that she’s involved in her campaign. She called it an “error” that she didn’t take her name off.
Meh.
A campaign chairperson has duties. And she’s been the chair for quite a while now.
- HRC2016 - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:27 am:
Maybe Comptroller Munger has no idea who is running her campaign because Governor Rauner is running her campaign.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:28 am:
You can’t misunderstand a name or a signature.
Nothing like blowing your credibility on an easily provable
Lying is such sweet sorrow…
- Cubs in '16 - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:30 am:
There goes the last shred of respect I had for Munger.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:30 am:
Maybe she didn’t know who her campaign chair was, in that context.
- Anon221 - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:32 am:
Campaign Chair…Campaign Manager…
Tomato…Tamatah… (Snark!)
- Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:38 am:
Can’t do math.
Can’t keep track of employees.
that’s what we need in a state comptroller
- Finally Out (and now very glad to be) - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:47 am:
Sounds like the Rauner M.O.
Deny, deny, deny!
- The Dude Abides - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:47 am:
When caught in a bald faced lie how do you respond? Just a misunderstanding. All I can say is that the Comptroller appears to be all in on the Governor’s obsession, which is to make Illinois a cheap labor state.
- Nick Name - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:49 am:
Mike Madigan, and the Illinois State Board of Elections paperwork he controls…
- Dome Gnome - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:56 am:
8 X 7 = Lincolnshire
- JS Mill - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:59 am:
Just a goofy unforced error.
She still probably beats Mendoza, but this makes it just that much more challenging.
- Big Joe - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:59 am:
You can’t make up stuff this absurd. Munger can’t keep something this simple straight. She HAS to go in November.
- are you sure? - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:02 pm:
are you sure leslie denied it?
Susana just posted on facebook
“Just admitted during the The Chicago Sun-Times endorsement session… Leslie Geissler Munger lied to the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board and now admits that Elizabeth Brandt of Lincolnshire, IL is her campaign chairperson”
- burbanite - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:02 pm:
Why this cycle are so many politicians lying about things that are easily proved false and that in the whole big picture of things don’t matter? At least they called her out on it.
- Annonin' - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:07 pm:
Isn’t a lot like
I ain’t doin’ no electioneerin’
I call them and told them
blah blah
heck if WingMan can’t get away with the same stuff as BigBrain then what fun is it bein’ wingman?
Or perhaps she was D* or Cyber Attacked
- Cubs in '16 - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:10 pm:
As a practitioner in human behavior and not politics, I often wonder why simple mea culpas have become almost taboo for politicians. I notice this at all levels of government. Would simply saying “I made an embarrassing mistake and I apologize” be politically damaging? What am I missing?
- Precinct Captain - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:12 pm:
Lyin’ Leslie!
- Been there, done that - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:24 pm:
What is it with this election cycle and people not being able to tell the truth?
I have never seen so many half-truths, depends on your perspective truths, stretching it truths, or out-and-out untruths in all the years I have followed politics.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:30 pm:
@ Precinct Captain- I can already envision the yard signs!
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:34 pm:
@burbanite and Been there, done that….
https://youtu.be/vn_PSJsl0LQ
- JustRight - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:36 pm:
Why does this matter? She’s doing a great job, which is essentially just showing everyone how broke IL is.
- Not It - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:40 pm:
Do people really care about this? Madigan was Blago’s chairman after all. It’s so insider baseball.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:43 pm:
===A campaign chairperson has duties. And she’s been the chair for quite a while now.===
Ball Game
Lincolnshire, Labor… Lincolnshire.
I can’t understand how this campaign can’t just own the hometown of Lincolnshire and the weeks and weeks and weeks “Lincolnshire’s Own” is the Campaign Chair.
If they wafted it removed, it would’ve been off.
Details. It’s about the details.
- Anon - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:45 pm:
===Why does this matter? ===
That’s sort of the point of the question “why is she lying?”
The campaign chair isn’t especially important, however Munger incorrectly claimed that the person listed as her chair on all official records was not the chair. This means either she doesn’t know who the chair is, is lying about who the chair is to spare embarrassment/didn’t know that the chair of her campaign was publicly reported, or that her campaign did not file the appropriate paperwork when the campaign chair changed.
There’s not really a ‘good’ outcome to the situation. The best outcome would have been issuing a statement after the falsehood was acknowledge stating that the campaign is currently in transition and the paperwork hasn’t been filed.
- illini - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:45 pm:
” She just denied that she’s involved in her campaign.”
I will give Munger credit for learning quickly and well from her mentor about how to deflect, obfuscate and detract from any negative press she and her campaign may receive from the media and the public.
- Annonin - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:47 pm:
And you who is actually put the brick on the pay checks, because the WingMan can’t keep her one person band of a campaign straight. Yikes.
- @MisterJayEm - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:50 pm:
“She just denied that she’s involved in her campaign.”
Today, I’m sure plenty of people are denying they’re involved in Munger’s bumbling campaign.
– MrJM
- Raising Kane - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:55 pm:
“A chairperson has duties”. What my those be? I have been involved in dozens of campaigns and I can’t tell you a chairperson duty. Please forward a job description.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:57 pm:
===Do people really care about this? Madigan was Blago’s chairman after all===
Yep and people still use it against MJM.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:18 pm:
==Do people really care about this?==
Some people do. But that’s really not the point. The point is she denied it when it she can obviously be proven wrong. That’s what I care about. Why lie about it?
- DAW - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:52 pm:
Munger just lost my vote.
- P. - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:58 pm:
She denied it to the Tribune a couple wks back. If she can’t do the campaign basics with the support of a billionaire and all the resources in the world, she seems a little hopeless.
- pundent - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:58 pm:
If people didn’t care about this, and it didn’t matter, Munger wouldn’t have an issue. Why she’s chosen to deny something that is so easily proven is beyond me. Choosing Brandt as chairman was a deliberate act on somebody’s part. If not Munger then who?
- CUBS WIN! - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:59 pm:
Did you read Tina’s clarification? She said Munger didn’t deny it. This whole post is based on misinformation.
- Wensicia - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 2:09 pm:
Does anyone here believe the Tribune will call her out on this lie?
- Bobby Catalpa - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 2:10 pm:
–
If not Munger then who?
—
I think the responsibility chain goes something like this:
Rauner > Illinois Policy Institute > Everyone else in the state
Or maybe:
Illinois Policy Institute > Rauner > Everyone else in the state
- Arsenal - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 2:10 pm:
==A campaign chairperson has duties.==
Depending on what you mean by “duties” I might dispute that. I’ve known plenty of campaigns where the chair is pretty hands off. But even in those cases, they’re still a very well-respected close ally of the candidate, and you can’t seriously disassociate yourself from them. If nothing else, *you* chose this person to be the name on your filings.
- Tron - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 2:24 pm:
We’re dealing with an enormous bill backlog, pensions that make Kyrgyzstan look well-funded, and social services have officially reached a crisis … and many of you are worried about this?? So, let me get this straight, you’re going to vote against the person who’s worked with the Riverside Foundation servicing the developmentally disabled for decades and who’s done yeoman’s work being CFO of the state during these unprecedented times … and you’re going to vote FOR A double-dipping mushroom who voted for these lousy budgets that put us in this position who also happens to be Madigan’s protege?? Unreal.
- who are any of them? - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 2:29 pm:
Does anyone even know who Susana or Leslie are? as oswego has said many a times. neither of them are up on TV and no one knows either of them… Debating over Liz Brandt doesnt do anything. Minus the people posting here, no one knows Liz Brandt in this state…they barely know leslie or susana
- Liandro - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 2:35 pm:
Meh. I people agree to campaigns roles and go on official documents, but never end up really being involved (usually time constraints). It happens; not really an issue to me.
- Rabid - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 2:43 pm:
Wingman keeps formation behind and outside
- siriusly - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 2:45 pm:
How can the state comptroller blame this as a “paperwork error” ?
The entire Comptroller’s job is paperwork.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 3:07 pm:
Obviously, a clerical error.
- Touré's Latte - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 3:11 pm:
Thinking Munger’s campaign is tightly run by Raunerites, Brandt was there for the original filing, and has long since been moved aside.
- JoanP - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 3:30 pm:
” Leslie didn’t deny that Brandt is on the paperwork. She just denied that she’s involved in her campaign. ”
Oh, please. When you’re on the paperwork as campaign chair, you’re involved in the campaign.
Just like when you throw millions of your own money at a campaign, you’re involved.
- Shytown - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 4:26 pm:
It seems that this isn’t really an “issue” to those who support Munger, but given Brandt’s anti-working families agenda it will matter to voters.
- Downstate Dem - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 4:31 pm:
Illinois just lost 4,400 manufacturing jobs in one month alone - August - which decimates small to medium sized communities downstate. Would be refreshing if every candidate for a financial office and every candidate for major public office would focus on that instead of candidates’ pensions and campaign chairs.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 5:30 pm:
–” Leslie didn’t deny that Brandt is on the paperwork. She just denied that she’s involved in her campaign. ”–
The official campaign chairman is not involved in the campaign?
Is that the official spin from the Frat Boy kegger? Bros,you be trippin’. Crazy talk.
–Asked what eight times seven was, Munger shot back “Eight sevens is 72,” before correcting herself, “no, 56.”
Things got worse when the comptroller was asked what nine threes are: “53,” she answered. “No. Nine threes? Why are you doing this to me?”–
Why are you and Boss Rauner inflicting yourself on the voters?
There ain’t qualified suburban GOP women to run for comptroller? Some who know their times-tables and who’s running their campaign?
I’m quite sure there’s a boatload.
Seriously, what does she bring to the party, and The Party?
- MyTwoCents - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 5:36 pm:
If Munger lies about this, what else will she lie about? That’s the issue. Yes it is a minor issue, but it is an obvious misstep on her part.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 6:56 pm:
This race is meaningless but Munger will now draw attention to it and probably has hurt her chances
- Rabid - Friday, Sep 16, 16 @ 2:05 am:
Rebirth of the know-nothing party