Democratic candidates running for governor turned out for the first forum in Hillside this weekend and none other than former Senate President Emil Jones Jr. surfaced. Jones acted as a surrogate to Chris Kennedy, who had a scheduling conflict.
Jones talked about how a governor (and others in power) can help bring jobs to African Americans. He talks about getting more minority firms in the asset management business.
“They have a great opportunity if they take those dollars, hire asset managers … I found out that the City of Chicago in particular with all that money they have, have very few minority money managers. That minority firm is going to hire a lot of minority people.”
“If you are not given the opportunity, then you are not going to be able to sustain your business. Many minority firms suffer because they don’t have access to capital. That’s one of the things that the governor can do, state treasurer can do, city of Chicago treasurer. Open the doors of opportunity.
There were ripples of laughter over this comparison: “You go to an Italian restaurant, there’s a lot of Italians working. There’s a lot of Chinese working in a Chinese restaurant. There’s a lot of Hispanics working in a Hispanic restaurants. I know Chris’ record. I know what he stands for.”
Um, OK.
* Jones was also asked where Kennedy stood on marijuana. He said he wouldn’t answer the question because he didn’t know what Kennedy’s position was. This tracker video doesn’t show Jones, but you can hear him…
* The former Senate President also talked about guns. Well, actually, he kinda rambled for several minutes. About two minutes in, you’ll hear him say he doesn’t know where Kennedy is on the topic because “We never talked about this”…
As an investor I 100% agree with Mr. Jones. It’s very hard for minority money managers to raise capital. Anything less than $100 mil AUM means your not in the game. I only know a few running $100 mil plus. If Kennedy has a plan to open doors so more AA can run gov investments let’s hear it. Also does JB have a plan???
“…you’ll hear him say he doesn’t know where Kennedy is on the topic because…”
So what? Sounds like Raunner. Nobody is EVER sure of where Raunner stands on a topic. Changes from moment to moment. And we’ve been at this for going on 3 years.
“You go to an Italian restaurant, there’s a lot of Italians working. There’s a lot of Chinese working in a Chinese restaurant. There’s a lot of Hispanics working in a Hispanic restaurants. I know Chris’ record. I know what he stands for.”
Vote for Chris Kennedy, the first African-American Governor!
Considering what Pritzker said about President Obama in 2012, why are they spreading oppo now about Emil Jones (this videos were taken by a young blonde lady who had a JB sticker on her vest - I saw her in the back of the room at the event)?
Call me skeptical about this Pritzker strategy of winning the Black vote by trashing respected Black leaders.
I posted in the Biss thread as well. I was at the forum yesterday and Jones’ comments appeared to be in reference to Pawar stating he was the only minority in the race. The restaurant examples were odd, almost humorous.
- Veil of Ignorance - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 4:59 pm:
It’s been over 50 yrs since MLK came to Chicago and by many metrics, things are just as bad or worse for the Black community. The key question for each candidate is what new ideas or radical changes are they going to effectively move that will lead to tangible progress? Reform TIFs? School funding? Force Chicago to prioritize crackdown on housing discrimination? No plan = not a priority. Any political leader that endorses before seeing such a plan is sadly just part of the reason nothing has substantively changed up until now.
Hard to believe that it’s been over 15 years since Speaker Madigan and Senator Obama made the rounds of the pension funds with the first request to improve the minority participation in the funds’ investment selections. I’m estimating close to $20 billion in MWBE assets are now held by the three State funds plus IMRF.
What’s driving this push? Don’t know, but the fact that a major AA (not this AA) owned investment firm named after a Disney character has been fired by all four major funds for underperformance.
- Rocky Rosi - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 2:54 pm:
As an investor I 100% agree with Mr. Jones. It’s very hard for minority money managers to raise capital. Anything less than $100 mil AUM means your not in the game. I only know a few running $100 mil plus. If Kennedy has a plan to open doors so more AA can run gov investments let’s hear it. Also does JB have a plan???
- sal-says - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 3:09 pm:
== Um, OK. ==
“…you’ll hear him say he doesn’t know where Kennedy is on the topic because…”
So what? Sounds like Raunner. Nobody is EVER sure of where Raunner stands on a topic. Changes from moment to moment. And we’ve been at this for going on 3 years.
- Dave Chappell - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 3:09 pm:
“You go to an Italian restaurant, there’s a lot of Italians working. There’s a lot of Chinese working in a Chinese restaurant. There’s a lot of Hispanics working in a Hispanic restaurants. I know Chris’ record. I know what he stands for.”
Vote for Chris Kennedy, the first African-American Governor!
- Rich Miller - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 3:11 pm:
===Sounds like Raunner===
Oh, that’s a great excuse.
- Grand Avenue - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 3:28 pm:
Considering what Pritzker said about President Obama in 2012, why are they spreading oppo now about Emil Jones (this videos were taken by a young blonde lady who had a JB sticker on her vest - I saw her in the back of the room at the event)?
Call me skeptical about this Pritzker strategy of winning the Black vote by trashing respected Black leaders.
- Cubs in '16 - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 4:03 pm:
“No, Chris didn’t fill me in on where he stood on the issues. He just thought my head shots would be more appealing…”
- jim - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 4:11 pm:
forget those other guys — let’s make
Emil Junior. anyone with that level of understanding of asset management should be in charge.
- Berwyn Latino - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 4:11 pm:
I posted in the Biss thread as well. I was at the forum yesterday and Jones’ comments appeared to be in reference to Pawar stating he was the only minority in the race. The restaurant examples were odd, almost humorous.
- Chicago Cynic - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 4:46 pm:
Grand Avenue, how is this “trashing respected Black leaders?”
- Anonymous - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 4:51 pm:
What a headline. “Jones on Marijuana”. Gasp!!
- Veil of Ignorance - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 4:59 pm:
It’s been over 50 yrs since MLK came to Chicago and by many metrics, things are just as bad or worse for the Black community. The key question for each candidate is what new ideas or radical changes are they going to effectively move that will lead to tangible progress? Reform TIFs? School funding? Force Chicago to prioritize crackdown on housing discrimination? No plan = not a priority. Any political leader that endorses before seeing such a plan is sadly just part of the reason nothing has substantively changed up until now.
- Ward Heeler - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 5:20 pm:
If I were Chris Kennedy, I would give serious consideration to distancing his candidacy from Emil Jones, Jr.
The Jones organization was prominent in turning Chicago State University into “Crony State University.”
- Arthur Andersen - Monday, May 8, 17 @ 10:23 pm:
Hard to believe that it’s been over 15 years since Speaker Madigan and Senator Obama made the rounds of the pension funds with the first request to improve the minority participation in the funds’ investment selections. I’m estimating close to $20 billion in MWBE assets are now held by the three State funds plus IMRF.
What’s driving this push? Don’t know, but the fact that a major AA (not this AA) owned investment firm named after a Disney character has been fired by all four major funds for underperformance.
- van - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 4:19 am:
https://www.perfect-surrogacy.com/ more on surrogacy