* From a recent Facebook ad…

Does “Fix Illinois” sound familiar? It should. It’s the RGA’s slogan in those ubiquitous Gov. Rauner in a pristine workshop TV ads. There’s even a Fix Illinois website.

So, when the ILGOP recently accused Pritzker of using his inherited wealth to push an inherited agenda, they weren’t kidding.

* There’s also this problem…

“This state needs a champion that’s going to stand up for our kids, that’s going to stand up for creating job, that’s going to fund education and stand up for health care,” he said.

Heather and Jackie have heard those promises before.

“Bruce Rauner said the same thing and we still have no budget yet,” said Grissom.

They say they want someone who’s going to fight for Southern Illinois.

Only time will tell if that’s Pritzker.

* Chris Kennedy is pushing that same sort of Rauner/Pritzker angle on the campaign trail. He played it up during a recent interview on WBBM Radio and in a sit-down with Alex Ortiz of the Joliet Herald-News…

Ortiz: I’d be remiss to not ask you about the rest of the Democratic field. Obviously there are some who see you and J.B. Pritzker and they’re a little concerned about all the money in politics these days in general. What do you say to those people who have those concerns about all this money being thrown around?

Kennedy: I think they should be concerned. You look what’s happening to the Republican Party in the state. It’s a disaster. What Gov. Rauner has done to our economy, what he’s done to the million people who he’s thrown out of the government programs, that’s unforgivable. But what he’s done to the Republican Party is shameful, the party of Lincoln. There is no one left who will speak up for the future of that party, who will offer any form of dissent. He’s bullied his own state reps with his money. He’s scared his own state senators with his wealth. He, his wife, and three friends supplied maybe 80 percent or more of the funding for state reps, state senators and constitutional officers in the last election. No one can afford to take the risk and object to anything that he’s done. We can’t let that happen to the Democratic Party. That’s wrong. We can’t say to our people, you know, let’s find another billionaire. Let’s find someone to fight our fights so that we don’t have to and make him our kind. If we do that, if we’re not willing to make the sacrifices to win an election, sacrifices such as taking time to go door-to-door, signing a petition, giving five or 10 or 15 dollars to a candidate, if we’re not willing to do that, we don’t deserve the freedom that comes with being an American.

       

10 Comments - Ok - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 2:31 pm: So an inherited agenda just because he said fix Illinois? Rauner owns that now? - Ok - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 2:33 pm: I think there is a lot of reaching going on. - Ok - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 2:43 pm: That must be a rarely used ad. I can’t find it anywhere on his facebook page after a search. - Lester Holt's Mustache - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 3:32 pm: Kennedy isn’t wrong on the merits here, but that argument won’t hold up in the general. According to the Raunerites there is already a Democratic leader who does all of those things - Speaker Madigan! Remember, he controls everyone from State Supreme Court justices all the way down to Precinct Committeemen. And he isn’t even a billionaire! Raunerites claim he does so by controlling the party money. Maybe Kennedy doesn’t realize that Illinois voters are more than willing to buy this argument hook, line and sinker. Literally the only way to fight this charge is to have a candidate that can believably argue that he doesn’t need Madigan’s money. As rich as he may be, Mr. Kennedy isn’t that candidate. Kennedy may become the nominee, but it shouldn’t be because of this goofy “one man controlling the party” argument. - Fax Machine - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 3:37 pm: That’s the way the Democratic Party has been already - fear to speak out against the Speaker because he controls the money, jobs, etc - you don’t need a Billionaire to create that state of affairs. - W Flag - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 3:40 pm: Agree with Lester Holt’s Mustache generally. I would add that Rauner has been in office for about two years and not quite four months. The Democrats had control of all three branches of government for the preceding twelve years. The Land of Lincoln was not in great shape in 2015, so there is sufficient blame to go around for all. - Anonymous - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 3:51 pm: - JB has a genuine smile. - Chris is not so blessed - Bruce’s smile always looks like he just took another sucker - Words are cheap. Except when used in ads. - Hopefully Illinois will get a worthy governor before the lights are turned off - VanillaMan - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 4:03 pm: “Are Illinoisans better off now than they were before Rauner?” “Did the rich guy deliver on his promises?” “Are our state bond ratings reflecting a bright, or a dismal future?” “Are we more in debt today than we were before Rauner?” WHEN a governor promises, but instead makes thing worse before he made those promises - citizens still want what he failed to do for them. Rauner doesn’t own our dreams. We still want them. We just now know for a fact that our dreams aren’t his. And he blames us for having dreams he fails to deliver on. - wordslinger - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 4:23 pm: Fix is in, apparently. - Amalia - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 4:38 pm: the “Think Big” JB commercial just came on. what a goofy pitch. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.