* Joe Bustos at the Belleville News-Democrat had a chance to interview JB Pritzker…
Q: If you win and become governor, you most likely will have to work with Speaker Mike Madigan. Why do you think you could negotiate with Madigan and get a budget in place, unlike what we saw the last couple of years?
A: “Well, I’m an independent leader and independent thinker. So I’m going to go to Springfield on the issues that I’m running on and I’m going to stand up for them. Whoever the Speaker of the House is or whoever the President of the Senate is at the time, those are the people I’m going to work with. It’s important to know that Bruce Rauner on the other hand has decided from the very beginning that he really didn’t want to work with anybody, he just wanted to dictate an answer and not figure out the solution by working together with people. And frankly he was so far off where people in Illinois really are on the issues. I think where I stand, standing up for education, health care and jobs, means that when I get to Springfield, having run on those issues, I’ll be able to work with people there because I think the forcefulness with which I would have run and won on it means they’ll come to the table (with) the understanding we’ve got to get things done.”
Lots of words.
* On to money…
Q: You put $14.2 million into your campaign fund. How much are you willing to put in for this race, and how much do you think you’ll have to put in?
A: “All I know, with Bruce Rauner writing a $50 million check and $20 million coming from Ken Griffin and tens of millions of dollars that will come in from the Koch brothers network on his side, is somehow we have to be competitive in this race. There isn’t a number in my opinion that anybody could name. I don’t know what it would be. All I know is we got to build the infrastructure for beating Bruce Rauner and whatever that’s going to take.”
- Franklin Delano Bluth - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:25 pm:
He didn’t even come close to really answering either question. I really hope this guy doesn’t make it through the primary, about the only candidate I think Rauner could beat at this point (though Pritzker would be 100x better than Rauner)
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:36 pm:
Ugh… “Really?”
Try this…
===If you win and become governor, you most likely will have to work with Speaker Mike Madigan. Why do you think you could negotiate with Madigan and get a budget in place, unlike what we saw the last couple of years?===
The negotiations begin and end for a governor with 60 and 30, the majority numbers in both chambers of the General Assembly. I look forward to working with Democrats and Republicans, both for the two things all governors need, 60 and 30. It’s a shame that Bruce Rauner failed to learn how to work to get majorities.”
Capiche?
Enough with the word salad.
It’s embarrassing.
- Arsenal - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:36 pm:
==“Raise my taxes, not yours,”==
Oh my, we’ll be hearing that one some more.
His answer on maps/term limits was really interesting, too.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:39 pm:
Make it about getting bipartisan majorities. That’s the role of the job. Rauner failed at that role, no matter the “Speaker” or “President” in the Senate.
They talk “personalities”, you talk process.
Follow up?
“No, about Madigan.., ”
“Everyone keeps taking personalities. Ones tbsp talk about doing the doable and getting the 60 in the House and 30 in the Senate to get Illinois moving forward.”
Stop falling into the abyss.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:40 pm:
“I want to talk about doing the doable…”
Apologies.
- Carhartt Union Negotiating Team - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:41 pm:
Oswego Willy: Thank you.
- cdog - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:42 pm:
Bust out your check books, friends, if this guy gets elected.
It will be just a new chapter in the pursuit of the never attainable, socialistic-leaning, blue-state utopian Illinois.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:49 pm:
- Carhartt Union Negotiating Team -,
Thanks.
I couldn’t bite my tongue anymore, lol
- Anon0091 - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:50 pm:
On the money, this is the key phrase that scares the bejeesus out of Rauner. “All I know is we got to build the infrastructure for beating Bruce Rauner and whatever that’s going to take.”
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:53 pm:
To this…
===”…There isn’t a number in my opinion that anybody could name. I don’t know what it would be. All I know is we got to build the infrastructure for beating Bruce Rauner and whatever that’s going to take.”===
Here’s the whole ball of whacks… ready?
It’s about turnout, organization, central and simple messaging, and a crew that can manage each separately, and have division leads that can handle each prong best.
Then the monies will be maximized.
That’s it. That’s the secret. Not really a secret, the secret is having the discipline to do it.
- Juvenal - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:56 pm:
“I plan on working with lawmakers all over the state, from both parties and both chambers, to balance the budget t and do what is right for Illinois. That is part of Bruce Rauner’s biggest failure. Bruce Rauner fails to understand that what unites folks in the Metro-East - like the love of baseball - is bigger than divides us. As governor, I will build on the strength of the good people of Illinois, not turn neighbor against neighbor as Bruce Rauner has during his failed administration.”
- Capitol View - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 3:24 pm:
Now that our guv has the IPI running things, it will be as crazy as the Breitbart crown in Washington around 45.
Both parties have to reform around mainstream populist issues and state a willingness to work across the aisle. Unless they prefer most citizens abandoning their right to vote and just let the status quo state and federal officials do whatever they and their donors want…
- 47th Ward - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 3:41 pm:
===It will be just a new chapter in the pursuit of the never attainable, socialistic-leaning, blue-state utopian Illinois.===
cdog, you’re going to need some new material if Pritzker is the nominee. You clearly are confusing him with someone else.
- lake county democrat - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 3:44 pm:
Yeah, Madigan is officially in favor of independent maps too.
JB, you paid for a law school to rename itself after you. Even if only a few noticed it, you should know how shameful the majority of IL Supreme Court justices have been in repeatedly refusing to address one of the challenges to the remap petitions (are redistricting ballot initiatives unconstitutional *per se*). Are you willing to call them out on it? Are you willing to pledge that you’ll put a redistricting plan on the ballot during your first term? Otherwise spare us the lip service.
Re: the second answer quoted in the post - that one isn’t bad.
- Periwinkle - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 5:21 pm:
“[S]omehow we have to be competitive in this race…”
The implication of this quote is that the only way Democrats can “be competitive” financially is if he gets the nomination. Of course, he could just as easily use his ample means to support a nominee with actual government experience.
- Anony - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 5:29 pm:
Why does he need to answer a Madigan question? Madigan isn’t on the ballot….
- Responsa - Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 8:06 am:
==Madigan isn’t on the ballot….==
But Madigan *is* on people’s minds. Sounds like you wanted JB to ignore the elephant in the room. That is not going to work. All candidates are going to need to have a talking point on this that does not seem like a talking point or an evasion. Any good reporter is going to bring it up and ask a similar question.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 8:17 am:
===But Madigan *is* on people’s minds.===
But Donald Trump *is* on people’s minds.
The goal of the exercise isn’t to dismiss, the goal of the exercise is to run for governor of Illinois.
If Munger-Mendoza taught me anything, it taught me an awful campaign that was saved by turnout and Labor beats Raunerism.
I’d line to play “Rauner-Trump”, but we’re talking about Rauner, and Rauner’s failures.
- Rabid - Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 8:42 am:
Mike is the person that ended Rauner demands without a supermajority