* Chris Kennedy spoke at the Mom+Baby governors candidate meet and greet yesterday. I didn’t see anything on his Twitter page about it, but I’m told about 30 moms and 10 kids had to wait at least half an hour for him to arrive. And it went downhill from there. From a few text messages that were forwarded to me…
He was a hot mess. Shirt barely tucked in. He had on biking shoes. He spoke about Trump the entire time. Crazy!
It was embarrassing. He misquoted stats that our members corrected him on. He got called out on lack of supporting single payer and marijuana legalization
He also starting talking education inequity and misspoke on the cps funding. It was nuts.
* Well, it came up again during the recent gubernatorial forum hosted by Our Revolution Illinois…
Mary Ann Ahern: Mr. Kennedy, you had received criticism after an event Downstate called Mom and Baby. You were late to the event, some of them felt, some of the moms there at the event felt you disrespected them. You’ve also been somewhat reluctant to take reporter’s questions unless it’s a one on one setting. Do you have what it takes for a high-profile governor’s race?
Chris Kennedy: I hope so. [Laughter]. Um, as for the Mom and Babies interaction, I’d say that the people in Vernon Hills would be shocked to know that they now live in Downstate.
Ahern: Sorry. Correction.
Kennedy: That’s OK. I mean, truthfully, they were, a number of them were interviewing for jobs with JB Pritzker and a lot of the criticism came out of that job application process [Pritzker shakes head “No”].
I go to multiple events every day. I’ve had enormous amounts of press exposure, I grew up in a very exposed family, and I’m very comfortable with other people. I don’t know what you’re looking for in terms of an answer but I’ll take you all on one at a time or all at once, either way I’m prepared, so thank you.
Hey Rich! How are you? My org Mom+Baby was slammed again by Chris Kennedy. See this link for the video and check out the 30 seconds starting at an hour into the video. He is blaming our org and the moms for his campaign issues.
Below is the statement that I made on FB in response and the comments. I also showed some additional posts our members put out too.
Facebook friends as you know I am the founder and President of Mom+Baby, a non profit organization that is non-partisan and helps women get involved in the legislative process. Yesterday at a Gubernatorial Forum that we sponsored Chris Kennedy stated that we were being paid by JB to ruin his campaign. These are lies!
We have taken the time to meet with all the candidates through our programming called Legislative Coffee Dates. We met with Chris on July 18th for a Legislative Coffee Date. He showed up over 30 minutes late, was disheveled, spoke poorly and did not share key democratic values like taxing and regulating marijuana. Had he shown up on time he would have known he was in a room of power house women and not at a playgroup meetup. The majority of our members are business owners. During the forum he stated that our members tried to get jobs from JB’s campaign. This is not true! Our members have full plates of their own and love volunteering on campaigns but none attempted a job on a gubernatorial campaign.
Chris would have understood the issues that mattered to our members but he neglected to listen. He was disrespectful to our members and assumed because we are women we were not educated on the issues at hand in our state. He treated us like we were ignorant and his continual lack of care and respect for women and moms disgusts me and our members.
I support JB for Governor. I am not paid by JB, I do not work for JB’s campaign. I support the rights of women and children. Mom+Baby has not endorsed any candidate for governor and we will not be endorsing anyone. If you have questions on my stances, the board’s stances or want to get involved more in our politically active organization let us know. Women matter and we will not allow any candidate or legislator to mistreat us! Www.mombabychicago.org #WeAreTheStorm #MomPlusBaby#WSWConference
Kennedy seemed genuinely perplexed about why this ever became a story in the first place. He said members of the group posed for photos with him for 20 minutes after the July event. He apparently thought it went well.
As noted above, one of his critics mentioned that he wore “biking shoes,” which seemed like a show of disrespect. Kennedy said, however, that an attendee had spoken about her work to expand biking and he showed her his shoes and told her he’d biked to work that very day.
He said he was told that one of the women at the event was interviewing with JB Pritzker’s campaign.
“The truth is some people have disrupted my events who were interviewing with JB,” Kennedy said.
* I checked with the Pritzker folks and they confirmed that no one from the group had applied for a job or had been interviewed about a job with the campaign.
Kennedy has been very frustrated that Democratic party groups that he thinks he deserves by virtue of being a Kennedy are going to Pritzker. He’s said this directly. So maybe he’s just getting a little paranoid and seeing phantom JB operatives everywhere he turns.
Kennedy made this entire segment so uncomfortable at a forum already pretty full of uncomfortable moments.
- TopHatMonocle - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:22 am:
Kennedy is clearly the victim of a vast centrist-wing conspiracy. Everyone who’s not supporting him is either being paid by JB, or wants to be paid by JB. And Mary Ann Ahern obviously needs to have the Illinois map mansplained to her, he probably picked up a ton of votes with that display of geographic prowess.
The specific complaint I was told by Kennedy folks was that the Mom+Baby thing was an orchestrated hit by Becky Carroll. I have no idea what Carroll’s connection is to Mom+Baby, if any, but she was briefly a Pritzker spokesperson before his full time comms staff came on board. So that’s the nature of this Kennedy/Pritzker accusation, at least as it’s been told to me.
Strange that an organization calling itself “Mom + Baby” has marijuana legalization as one of its core tenets - especially if it claims to represent that interests of mothers and children. These phony made-up “advocacy” groups need to stop high-jacking candidates and demanding special attention when they really don’t represent any constituency but their own tiny membership. Kennedy’s conspiracy theories are unattractive, but this does seem like kind of a set-up.
No snark intended. I never realized that marijuana regulation was a “key democratic value.” It seems to me that there are a lot more issues here in Illinois and nationwide that would be higher on the list.
What’s with Kennedy and Mary Ann Ahern, anyway? Is it just her or does he have issues with other women politics reporters (Korecki, Sfondeles, Vinicky to name three)?
The chronic lateness for scheduled events may be (probably is) a warning flag.
Even so, when he’s on his game, he’s really on it. When he’s off his game, it’s embarrassing.
Kennedy may need a reminder that as a candidate whatever room he is in contains the most important people in the state. He says he is comfortable with other people and that’s great around friends and family, but that’s not what a candidate should be, being comfortable isn’t being engaging and making the ‘room’ feel important.
No one is coming across as terribly sympathetic here. Kennedy hasn’t really handled any of it with grace or class. Ahern is asking a question that is a matter of style, rather than substance - going for glitz and controversy. And Eidenberg, who admits she’s backing JB in a release from the allegedly neutral organization she leads, seems like she’s on a hair-trigger to be offended, oddly claims legal pot is a “core Democratic value” as opposed to a policy preference shared by most Democrats, and asserts that the son of Ethel Kennedy, father of three daughters, who just held a “Women for Kennedy” event, has a “lack of respect and care for women.” The whole affair from the candidate to the organization is amateur hour.
Chris apparently hasn’t learned that the rumor mill coming from the long time political hangers on can’t always be trusted and is almost never wise to repeat.
==asserts that the son of Ethel Kennedy, father of three daughters, who just held a “Women for Kennedy” event, has a “lack of respect and care for women.”==
What’s the contradiction? Literally every person who disrespects women has a mom, plenty of ‘em have daughters, and every politician wants votes, regardless of whether or not they respect the voters.
It’s not that far from his house to Vernon Hills. No reason to be late. I would not hire an employee who was chronically late to flip burgers in a fast food joint. Chronic lateness is a sign of a disorganized mind and who needs more of that?
=What’s with Kennedy and Mary Ann Ahern, anyway? Is it just her or does he have issues with other women politics reporter==
Just wait until Pam Zekman is chasing him down an alley asking why he isn’t at work.
- Thomas Paine - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 11:27 am:
Dear Mr. Kennedy:
You are making your campaign Chris Kennedy versus Moms & Babies.
There is punching down, and then there is punching down at mom’s and babies.
As for your claim you can take the pressure, the sight of you running away from reporters and toward the elevator unable to answer questions at a press event you staged says otherwise. In fact, it speaks volumes, it defines you. Untested, unready, ill-prepared, amateurish, underperforming. These are adjectives that describe your bid for governor.
Look in the mirror, take away the name “Kennedy”, and tell Democrats why they should nominate you to be their standard bearer.
Arsenal: if Eidenberg is going to embrace the idea that Kennedy has a “lack of respect and care for women”, which is a pretty extraordinary and far-reaching thing to assert, there better be great evidence to support it. He was late, rude, or had a stain on his shirt, or wore biking shoes doesn’t equal that.
Saying women should get paid less than men, that women don’t have a right to make their own reproductive decisions, that violence against women isn’t a serious problem, or that we don’t need robust family leave policies would indicate a “lack of respect and care for women.”
Apologies for making it seem I was saying only being a son or father of daughters itself means anything. Look at Trump. However, if you knew much about Kennedy’s home life, you would also know that women are definitely treated respectfully and with care. His wife and he have raised 3 strong daughters (and a son). The fact that you don’t is another reflection of the amateur nature of his candidacy and campaign organization.
Kennedy also features a Women’s Rights page in the Vision section of his website.
It’s just rather absurd for an obscure group with a small membership, whose leader is openly supporting someone else, to be trying to make a mainstream Democratic candidate out to be anti-woman with no substantial evidence.
Give Kennedy a break. Late thirty minutes is not unusual for candidates and I heard it was closer to fifteen. Wearing gym shoes and not supporting marijuana means disrespecting women? Boy its going to be long campaign.
Frankly I’m surprised Republicans haven’t taken the lead on taxing & regulating marijuana - it’s a great way to throw a bone to the libertarian wing of the party plus if they get pot tax money, they can cut property & income taxes.
Gotta believe Kennedy on this one. The sheer amount of staff JB has is absolutely insane, they have enough people to send multiple disrupters to trail all of the candidates right down to Paterakis.
==if Eidenberg is going to embrace the idea that Kennedy has a “lack of respect and care for women”, which is a pretty extraordinary and far-reaching thing to assert==
Is it? I think we’re getting quite a few object lessons right now that disrespecting women is easy and common.
==there better be great evidence to support it==
Assuming arguendo that it *is* an extraordinary assertion, I’d agree. But it’s kind of a different matter than indicating that the presence of a mother, some daughters, and a political subgroup demonstrates respect for women.
==However, if you knew much about Kennedy’s home life, you would also know that women are definitely treated respectfully and with care.==
I certainly don’t know much about *Chris* Kennedy’s home life, but we do know that the family’s history on women is…checkered.
This is beyond a non issue. Learning experience for Kennedy? Sure, but It’s a single event that was echoed by Facebook comments and this site picking it up. Does this matter come March? Probably not.
I have two other friends who were at the Mom + baby event, one supporting Biss and one undecided. Both said the same thing about the event, primarily that Kennedy was dismissive of their opinions and their knowledge, and it felt very sexist. Tracy Baim of Windy City Times put a post on FB a while ago about a pretty unbelievable encounter with Kennedy where he put her in a headlock after she told him WCT didn’t endorse candidates.
- Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 4:04 pm:
@The Captain at 10:28: Well, if Becky Carroll organized this “hit,” she would know late, disheveled, and arrogant, having been a top aide to John Filan and Forrest Claypool.
- PJ - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:13 am:
the lesson is, as always, that Kennedy needs to quit and run for Cook County Assessor.
- Anon0091 - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:21 am:
Kennedy has been very frustrated that Democratic party groups that he thinks he deserves by virtue of being a Kennedy are going to Pritzker. He’s said this directly. So maybe he’s just getting a little paranoid and seeing phantom JB operatives everywhere he turns.
- WSJ Paywall - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:22 am:
Kennedy made this entire segment so uncomfortable at a forum already pretty full of uncomfortable moments.
- TopHatMonocle - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:22 am:
Kennedy is clearly the victim of a vast centrist-wing conspiracy. Everyone who’s not supporting him is either being paid by JB, or wants to be paid by JB. And Mary Ann Ahern obviously needs to have the Illinois map mansplained to her, he probably picked up a ton of votes with that display of geographic prowess.
- We'll See - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:23 am:
“He showed up over 30 minutes late, was disheveled, spoke poorly and did not share key democratic values like taxing and regulating marijuana.”
That’s Kennedy in a nutshell.
- The Captain - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:28 am:
The specific complaint I was told by Kennedy folks was that the Mom+Baby thing was an orchestrated hit by Becky Carroll. I have no idea what Carroll’s connection is to Mom+Baby, if any, but she was briefly a Pritzker spokesperson before his full time comms staff came on board. So that’s the nature of this Kennedy/Pritzker accusation, at least as it’s been told to me.
- Whatever - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:28 am:
Strange that an organization calling itself “Mom + Baby” has marijuana legalization as one of its core tenets - especially if it claims to represent that interests of mothers and children. These phony made-up “advocacy” groups need to stop high-jacking candidates and demanding special attention when they really don’t represent any constituency but their own tiny membership. Kennedy’s conspiracy theories are unattractive, but this does seem like kind of a set-up.
- G'Kar - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:33 am:
No snark intended. I never realized that marijuana regulation was a “key democratic value.” It seems to me that there are a lot more issues here in Illinois and nationwide that would be higher on the list.
- Arsenal - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:35 am:
This is *definitely* the kind of multi-day story Chris Kennedy should be having right now.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:36 am:
=== I never realized that marijuana regulation was a “key democratic value.”===
It is becoming one now. Polls off the charts. lol
- dbk - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:39 am:
What’s with Kennedy and Mary Ann Ahern, anyway? Is it just her or does he have issues with other women politics reporters (Korecki, Sfondeles, Vinicky to name three)?
The chronic lateness for scheduled events may be (probably is) a warning flag.
Even so, when he’s on his game, he’s really on it. When he’s off his game, it’s embarrassing.
- Swift - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:50 am:
Kennedy may need a reminder that as a candidate whatever room he is in contains the most important people in the state. He says he is comfortable with other people and that’s great around friends and family, but that’s not what a candidate should be, being comfortable isn’t being engaging and making the ‘room’ feel important.
- A guy - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:54 am:
==It is becoming one now. Polls off the charts. lol==
Does it? Or do the charts just keep moving as you’re looking at them dude? lol
- Moe Berg - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:54 am:
No one is coming across as terribly sympathetic here. Kennedy hasn’t really handled any of it with grace or class. Ahern is asking a question that is a matter of style, rather than substance - going for glitz and controversy. And Eidenberg, who admits she’s backing JB in a release from the allegedly neutral organization she leads, seems like she’s on a hair-trigger to be offended, oddly claims legal pot is a “core Democratic value” as opposed to a policy preference shared by most Democrats, and asserts that the son of Ethel Kennedy, father of three daughters, who just held a “Women for Kennedy” event, has a “lack of respect and care for women.” The whole affair from the candidate to the organization is amateur hour.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 10:59 am:
Chris apparently hasn’t learned that the rumor mill coming from the long time political hangers on can’t always be trusted and is almost never wise to repeat.
- Arsenal - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 11:14 am:
==asserts that the son of Ethel Kennedy, father of three daughters, who just held a “Women for Kennedy” event, has a “lack of respect and care for women.”==
What’s the contradiction? Literally every person who disrespects women has a mom, plenty of ‘em have daughters, and every politician wants votes, regardless of whether or not they respect the voters.
- NoGifts - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 11:18 am:
It’s not that far from his house to Vernon Hills. No reason to be late. I would not hire an employee who was chronically late to flip burgers in a fast food joint. Chronic lateness is a sign of a disorganized mind and who needs more of that?
- City Zen - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 11:21 am:
=What’s with Kennedy and Mary Ann Ahern, anyway? Is it just her or does he have issues with other women politics reporter==
Just wait until Pam Zekman is chasing him down an alley asking why he isn’t at work.
- Thomas Paine - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 11:27 am:
Dear Mr. Kennedy:
You are making your campaign Chris Kennedy versus Moms & Babies.
There is punching down, and then there is punching down at mom’s and babies.
As for your claim you can take the pressure, the sight of you running away from reporters and toward the elevator unable to answer questions at a press event you staged says otherwise. In fact, it speaks volumes, it defines you. Untested, unready, ill-prepared, amateurish, underperforming. These are adjectives that describe your bid for governor.
Look in the mirror, take away the name “Kennedy”, and tell Democrats why they should nominate you to be their standard bearer.
Sincerely,
Thomas Paine
ropemaker
- Ghost - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 11:32 am:
+1 a guy
Kennedy is like watching a Slo mo wreck, you don’t want to see it but you can’t look away….
- LilLebowskiUrbanAchiever - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 11:34 am:
City Zen FTW.
- Anon - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 11:41 am:
Pot=Democratic value?
Okay…
- Last Bull Moose - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 11:41 am:
Kennedy needs to hire a body person wirh the task and authority within the campaign to keep him on schedule. It will help him win votes.
The Prussian part of me admires punctuality. But it is not a make or break feature for a Governor.
I worked for an Agency Director who was extremely punctual. Unfortunately, that was his best feature.
- Anon - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 11:41 am:
Let’s remember that blago was late for everything.
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 11:42 am:
Mon + Baby wins against Kennedy Dynasty, thanks to favorable media exposure and deft communication skills.
Non-partisan? LOL, yeah, right.
- Moe Berg - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 11:52 am:
Arsenal: if Eidenberg is going to embrace the idea that Kennedy has a “lack of respect and care for women”, which is a pretty extraordinary and far-reaching thing to assert, there better be great evidence to support it. He was late, rude, or had a stain on his shirt, or wore biking shoes doesn’t equal that.
Saying women should get paid less than men, that women don’t have a right to make their own reproductive decisions, that violence against women isn’t a serious problem, or that we don’t need robust family leave policies would indicate a “lack of respect and care for women.”
Apologies for making it seem I was saying only being a son or father of daughters itself means anything. Look at Trump. However, if you knew much about Kennedy’s home life, you would also know that women are definitely treated respectfully and with care. His wife and he have raised 3 strong daughters (and a son). The fact that you don’t is another reflection of the amateur nature of his candidacy and campaign organization.
Kennedy also features a Women’s Rights page in the Vision section of his website.
It’s just rather absurd for an obscure group with a small membership, whose leader is openly supporting someone else, to be trying to make a mainstream Democratic candidate out to be anti-woman with no substantial evidence.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 12:22 pm:
Give Kennedy a break. Late thirty minutes is not unusual for candidates and I heard it was closer to fifteen. Wearing gym shoes and not supporting marijuana means disrespecting women? Boy its going to be long campaign.
- Lucky Charms - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 12:31 pm:
Interesting to note that Eidenberg is running for State Rep in the 17th district. http://www.alexandraforillinois.org/
- Grand Avenue - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 1:22 pm:
Frankly I’m surprised Republicans haven’t taken the lead on taxing & regulating marijuana - it’s a great way to throw a bone to the libertarian wing of the party plus if they get pot tax money, they can cut property & income taxes.
- Grit - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 1:59 pm:
Gotta believe Kennedy on this one. The sheer amount of staff JB has is absolutely insane, they have enough people to send multiple disrupters to trail all of the candidates right down to Paterakis.
The Mom & Baby statement feels painfully wooden.
- Arsenal - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 2:15 pm:
==if Eidenberg is going to embrace the idea that Kennedy has a “lack of respect and care for women”, which is a pretty extraordinary and far-reaching thing to assert==
Is it? I think we’re getting quite a few object lessons right now that disrespecting women is easy and common.
==there better be great evidence to support it==
Assuming arguendo that it *is* an extraordinary assertion, I’d agree. But it’s kind of a different matter than indicating that the presence of a mother, some daughters, and a political subgroup demonstrates respect for women.
==However, if you knew much about Kennedy’s home life, you would also know that women are definitely treated respectfully and with care.==
I certainly don’t know much about *Chris* Kennedy’s home life, but we do know that the family’s history on women is…checkered.
- BeatRauner - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 2:17 pm:
This is beyond a non issue. Learning experience for Kennedy? Sure, but It’s a single event that was echoed by Facebook comments and this site picking it up. Does this matter come March? Probably not.
- Lakeview Lawyer - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 2:36 pm:
I have two other friends who were at the Mom + baby event, one supporting Biss and one undecided. Both said the same thing about the event, primarily that Kennedy was dismissive of their opinions and their knowledge, and it felt very sexist. Tracy Baim of Windy City Times put a post on FB a while ago about a pretty unbelievable encounter with Kennedy where he put her in a headlock after she told him WCT didn’t endorse candidates.
- Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 4:04 pm:
@The Captain at 10:28: Well, if Becky Carroll organized this “hit,” she would know late, disheveled, and arrogant, having been a top aide to John Filan and Forrest Claypool.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Oct 11, 17 @ 4:48 pm:
===and Forrest Claypool===
Filan, yes, Claypool, no.