* Lots of campaigns are loading up on digital ads these days because network TV is so darned crowded. The governor has been online forever, but here’s a new anti-Ives online spot from Gov. Rauner’s campaign…

* Script…

“When I served on Wheaton city council, the only thing that union membership understood were layoffs. It’s the only thing they understood. So if you can’t impose your final, best offer because the courts have blocked it, then you just start laying people off.”

The tagline at the beginning and end is: “Jeanne Ives isn’t for real reform. She’s for laying off real people.”

This from a man who promised a government shutdown in the 2014 campaign. Such is life. Click here for the video of candidate Rauner.

…Adding… 2014…

“The hard thing is getting customers; the hard thing is cutting expenses; the hard thing is laying people off. But that’s what good companies do when times are tough, and she just would not do it,” said Rauner, who sat on LeapSource’s board.

* Meanwhile, this came in over the transom…

On Steve Cochran’s show this morning on WGN Radio, Jeanne Ives called transgender people predators and insisted that there should be no abortions in cases of rape and incest. This kind of rhetoric and these views – which are far out of the mainstream in Illinois – are exactly why the Democratic Governors Association is trying to boost her in the primary. She’d be crushed in the general election.

http://wgnradio.com/2018/03/16/gubernatorial-candidate-jeanne-ives-on-who-is-worse-for-the-future-of-the-state-rauner-or-mike-madigan/

On transgender people:
6:38-7:00: “What we know is that they are truly predators”
5:41-6:37: She also talks about grandmothers being assaulted because of transgender birth certificate bill
On abortion:
9:37-9:59: no abortions in cases of rape or incest
On being a bigot:
7:24-8:01: Cochran says “large percentage of the state’s population” sees her as a bigot

* I made a transcript…

The truth is he took a bill that literally means there’s no medical intervention, there’s no medical sign-off on a doctor for somebody to change their sex and this has far-reaching implications. All you need is an out-of-state licensed mental health professional to say that you can change your sex. And that has real policy problems. That means your grandmother who may have to have a shared room in a nursing home or a hospital bed in a shared room, can literally be having her privacy invaded by somebody who says they’re the opposite sex. That’s true.

* She was then asked if transgender people and gays are “truly predators”…

Well what we know is that they are truly predators in some cases. Not all cases, in some cases. And this happened in the Department of Corrections where there was a transgendered male who pretended to be a girl, and went to the female - got transitioned, in Illinois, this is not an out-of-state case, in Illinois - went to the female prison then sexually assaulted another prisoner and had to be taken back to the male prison. So this is real lifetime stuff. This happens in real life.

I hunted around for a while and couldn’t find that on the Google. Not sure what she’s talking about. I e-mailed her campaign and IDOC for an explanation. I’ll let you know what I hear back.

*** UPDATE *** From the Ives campaign…

In 2017, Tom Morrison and several other state legislators were tipped off about an inmate who was transferred from Lawrence Correctional Center (a men’s prison) to Logan Correctional Center (a women’s prison) to Pinckneyville Correctional Center (a men’s prison), as well as an incident at Logan that precipitated the transfer to Pinckneyville.
https://bailbondcity.com/illinois/ildoc-inmate-MAHALBASIC/M54605

Tom Morrison FOIA’ed the case at the end of May 2017. His request was denied. Morrison reached out to the IDOC liaison directly. The liaison told Morrison the request was denied because the incident was still under investigation. Morrison told the liaison that he would keep pressing the issue until he got verification. On June 6, 2017, he received a call back from the Department of Corrections legislative liaison who did not want to put anything in writing. But would confirm dates and locations for the inmate in question. The following timeline was confirmed:

10/5/2015 - The Prisoner was first sent to Stateville, on the charge of pimping minors.

10/25/2015 - The Prisoner was transferred to Lawrence Correctional Center (a men’s prison)

5/17/16 - The Prisoner was transferred to Logan Correctional Center (a women’s prison)

11/27/16 - The Prisoner was transferred to Pinckneyville Correctional Center (a men’s prison)

5 /9/17 - Prisoner received two years of parole

In discussing the Transgender Birth Certificate Bill with Governor Rauner, Morrison presented this specific case to Rauner, told him DOC was stonewalling his request for information about the specifics of the case, and suggested that, as Governor, Rauner could learn all the details.

Morrison asked “if you are in a men’s prison and could change your gender so easily to be transferred to a women’s facility, why would you stay in a men’s prison?” Morrison also presented other situations where objective biological sex and anatomical differences would be problematic, such as women’s sports, hospitals, nursing homes, domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, college dormitories. The Governor acknowledged to Morrison that those scenarios could be problems, but did not seem overly concerned. And, subsequently signed the bill.

There are reportedly another half-dozen such cases pending at DOC.

* Related…

* Gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives on who is worse for the future of the state, Rauner or Mike Madigan: She agrees, Mike Madigan is the biggest problem with getting things done in Illinois.

* Ives says she can win, Rauner’s support is thin: “Bruce has no base,” she says, “He’s counting on uninformed voters to go to the polls and believe he’s still fighting Mike Madigan and to believe I’m Mike Madigan’s lacky, which everybody knows is completely false. He’s counting on you not knowing the truth about him.”

* Ives Blasts Rauner Over Ads: Rauner and Ives have only appeared once together in the same room – for a Chicago Tribune Editorial Board forum last month. Ives said that’s because he can’t defend his record. “He embarrassed himself in that debate,” Ives said, “and he’s worried because he can’t talk to anybody about real policy choices and he can’t defend his record. He wants to blame everything on Mike Madigan and not take ownership of his three years of failed governorship. And that’s the truth. And that’s why he doesn’t want to debate me.”

* Trump factor looms large in Illinois governor primary campaigns: At the same time, however, the Wheaton legislator has embraced Trump and urges what she calls the “silent majority” that elected him to rise up against Rauner… How does Ives reconcile campaigning on an honor code that prohibits lying and cheating as a rationale to take on Rauner, while not only tolerating but actively promoting Trump? Asked that question recently, Ives paused for several seconds. “For me, it’s a personal affront to what Gov. Rauner has done because I’m part of that Republican caucus he lied to, OK?” she said. “So, it’s a very personal thing. That’s the thing. I can affect him (Rauner) and the outcome of this election. I can’t necessarily affect Donald Trump.”

* Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund Endorses Jeanne Ives for Governor in Illinois: “For three years, Illinois has been led by a liberal governor – a man who presided over a massive personal income tax increase, failed to negotiate a state budget for two years, broke a campaign promise when he decided that abortions should be paid for with taxpayer dollars, and signed a bill making the Land of Lincoln effectively a ‘Sanctuary State.’ Sadly, that liberal governor is a Republican – a Republican who campaigned four years ago as a conservative, making promise after promise to assuage the concerns of conservative Illinois voters, then betrayed them once he took office.”