* From the ILGOP…
CAUGHT: Pritzker Meets with Madigan Insiders
-Admits he’s been conversing with Madigan himself-
“J.B. Pritzker’s talks with Mike Madigan and secret meeting with Madigan insiders reveal his true colors. Pritzker wants to be Madigan’s financial muscle and strengthen the Chicago machine.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
Dan Mihalopoulos reports that Pritzker met yesterday with Madigan insiders, then dodged questions about the secret meeting.
Mihalopoulos writes, “Many of the others at the meeting with Pritzker have close ties to Illinois House Speaker and Democratic Party boss Mike Madigan, another name you can hardly equate with progressivism. The state’s Republicans have sought to link Pritzker to Madigan.
Cook County Commissioner Ed Moody — for decades a famously effective precinct captain in Madigan’s Southwest Side ward organization — left the meeting Thursday with a “J.B.” sticker on the lapel of his suit coat. Moody said he’s “100 percent” with Pritzker because “we’ve got to get rid of this Rauner.”
Also meeting with Pritzker was Madigan ally Steve Landek, the Bridgeview mayor and state senator.
In a statement sent later Thursday, a Pritzker spokeswoman said “of course J.B. has had conversation” with Madigan about the race.
…And it wasn’t just elected officials at the Pritzker event. Lobbyist Al Ronan was there, too, maneuvering his black Cadillac with the “R” vanity plate into one of the closest spots to the door. Ronan’s company — though not Ronan himself — admitted guilt in a 2004 in a bid-rigging scheme at McCormick Place.
I couldn’t tell you what Pritzker told all these guys Thursday. Del Galdo ushered me out of his offices on Harlem Avenue almost as soon as I walked in.”
The Sun-Times piece is here. The Republicans left out one attendee: Larry Dominick, the Republican president of the Town of Cicero. I guess they’re only willing to go so far with this.
* Anyway, here’s the Pritzker campaign response to the Mihalopoulos column…
Today, JB attended a meeting he was invited to with mayors and elected officials who represent over 700,000 constituents across Cook and the Collar Counties. He was doing exactly what a Democratic candidate for governor should do – talk to the local leaders who are representing people across our state directly impacted by Bruce Rauner’s failure as governor.
JB has been an independent thinker and leader his whole life, fighting for causes and ideals he believes in, and he’s certainly not going to change now. As a Democratic candidate for governor, of course JB has had conversations with the Chair of the Democratic Party, and he thinks we need to focus on uniting against the one person who is determined to dismantle all of the progressive gains we have made over the years and that’s Bruce Rauner.
- Rogue Roni - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:10 am:
Didnt see that coming / snark
- Harvest76 - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:11 am:
Rauner wants to be the GOPs financial muscle and strengthen the Republican machine.” there, fixed it.
- annonin' - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:16 am:
does this mean Kassamoron was busy and the DopeyDuct brigade had to drop down to ST?
- Roman - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:24 am:
Dominick is a Proft client, or at least was. Doesn’t that connect him to Rauner every bit as much as the others are connected to Madigan?
- anon2 - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:24 am:
We can see how thi gubernatorial campaign is going to go. Dems will exaggerate ties between Rauner and Trump, while the GOP will depict Pritzker and others as Madigoons.
- Earnest - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:25 am:
Terrible response. How many people have lost their jobs due to Rauner’s destruction of higher education and state services? How many state vendors have had to cut employees? How much debt are we racking up per day? VM’s convinced me better to talk economics than services. Every time you get a spotlight on you it’s a gift–where’s the coherent, cohesive message?
- Biscuit Head - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:25 am:
Vote for the GOP!
You can count on us to make commercials and issue press releases complaining about things!
We won’t actually do anything!
We won’t even talk to anybody!
And we’ll point and say bad things about anybody who does.
- Grand Avenue - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:27 am:
I want to know who tipped off Dan Mihalopoulos to this meeting - that’s the real story.
- Jefferson - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:30 am:
The Illinois GOP has ties to Dominick so attacking him would be rich. LOL.
- Juice - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:40 am:
“- Grand Avenue - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:27 am:
I want to know who tipped off Dan Mihalopoulos to this meeting - that’s the real story.
- Jefferson - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:30 am:
The Illinois GOP has ties to Dominick so attacking him would be rich. LOL.”
Maybe start there?
- Moe Berg - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:47 am:
Grand Avenue is exactly right. Who tipped?
The Rauner crew only respects and understands money. That’s why they fear Pritzker so much. The desperation that he not be the candidate is palpable.
- Rocky Rosi - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:48 am:
Give me a break. For one he is a man with recourses so people are going to want to meet with him. Second who is leaking info to Mihalopoulos?
- Demoralized - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:48 am:
==Admits he’s been conversing with Madigan himself==
Again, when you’ve got nothing to run on you go to what you have. Anti-Madigan is all they have. We’ll see if it’s good enough.
- Telly - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:55 am:
The ILGOP will perform ridiculous, credibility-bending acrobatics to tie anyone and everyone to Madigan…but the truth is, they won’t have to bend too much with Pritzker. He is the Speaker’s preferred candidate. It will be interesting to see if his fellow Democratic candidates start to attack him for it.
- RNUG - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:56 am:
At least it’s just “… because Madigan” and not more duck tape!
- Slim James - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 10:58 am:
As a Democrat, I love these GOP attacks and hope they keep it up. They sound like whiny little kids, “he knows Madigan, he said hi to Madigan, he shops at the same grocery store as Madigan, etc.”
If this is the GOP platform, I’m feeling more confident about 2018.
- Joe Bidenopolous - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 11:05 am:
Someone else said it, I’ll just reiterate - the cognitive dissonance is strong in the Rauner frat house
- The Dude Abides - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 11:09 am:
Oh no, a Democratic candidate was seen actually talking to Mike Madigan, that disqualifies him from being a candidate!
Vote for incumbent Bruce Rauner instead. He won’t pass a balanced budget, heck he refuses to even call the legislative leaders into his office to talk about a budget deal but if you give him four more years you’re going to see a new Bruce Rauner and he’s going to fight for all those who feel left behind!
- Rich Miller - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 11:16 am:
===If this is the GOP platform, I’m feeling more confident about 2018.===
It was their platform last year and it worked pretty well. The Republicans picked off a bunch of Democratic seats and held onto their suburban districts against the hurricane-force Hillary winds there.
- Johnny truth - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 11:29 am:
Take note Republicans I’m voting for JB no matter what you say just because he’s got deep pockets I want to Bruce as much money as I can
- RNUG - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 11:30 am:
== The Republicans picked off a bunch of Democratic seats and held onto their suburban districts against the hurricane-force Hillary winds there. ==
I’m not sure it was all the GOP messaging. Yes, Hillary won Illinois but she was a flawed candidate and I’m not sure she had very long coat tails.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 11:42 am:
===Yes, Hillary won Illinois but she was a flawed candidate and I’m not sure she had very long coat tails. ===
She helped carry Duckworth and Mendoza.
- DuPage Bard - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 11:45 am:
Same playbook, but Rich is right until the Dems figure out how to stop the Madigan “issue” it is winning. Hillary, Tammy and Susanna all won yet the GOP picked up 4 in the House and 2 in the Senate. The Madigan deal sticks. Everyone who thinks this is over because of x, y, and z is not based in reality.
- VanillaMan - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 11:46 am:
If the Democrats spun MJM positively, being tied to him won’t sting. MJM has been too reluctant to publically enhance his image. Rauner can’t win if
voters believe Madigan isn’t a monster.
Time for Mike to start telling voters how he’s kept Illinois functioning since 2002 when our string of loser governors began.
- Union Man - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 11:50 am:
The Trump,I mean Rauner organization wants everyone to remember their 2-second bits and slur attempts. Oh, we’ll remember alright. 2 years from now in the next gubernatorial election and how Rauner would NOT work with Madigan. Time for a new Governor.
- Arsenal - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 12:53 pm:
==She helped carry Duckworth and Mendoza.==
Duckworth was helped by a pretty self-destructive opponent.
I’m still having trouble figuring out why the Republicans failed to Madigan-ize Mendoza, though one thing to remember is, like the Governor, she was running statewide.
That being said, I think “Because Madigan!” *can* work, but the hits have to be better than *this* one. Just throwing out a bunch of names people don’t know isn’t going to cut it.
- Chicago Cynic - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 2:46 pm:
The guy goes to a meeting with D and R mayors and gets zapped. He’s going to get zapped whether he does (because Madigan) or doesn’t (elitist who won’t meet with people). This was a pretty lame hit.
- walker - Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 3:49 pm:
Pritzker has been meeting with everybody, including many Dems outside of the Chicago domain. The hit is unfair, but so what?
Gotta hand it to the ILGOPers: They stick with an easy-to-remember message, and paste it all over the media for months. Why be nuanced?
We are hearing “but what about Madigan?” from Dems and independents all over the burbs, much more than in previous years. The races are going to be close and intense, because Rauner’s faults are coming into focus as well,