* This quote was buried in a long post below, but here’s WLS Radio…
Gov. Bruce Rauner went on Fox & Friends this morning and accused House Speaker Mike Madigan of running “a Mafia protection racket.”
Rauner took it up a notch against Madigan by trying to link the speaker’s property tax assessment appeal law firm to corruption this way.
“Basically in the political job he raises property taxes”, said Rauner, “We have the highest property taxes in America. And then on the side, he charges millions of dollars in fees to businesses that are afraid of their property taxes. He reduces them for a fee and then he holds the threat that if they ever cross him, he’ll raise their property taxes. It’s just like the Mafia. It’s a Mafia protection racket!”
* The joint House and Senate hearing on the Quincy veterans’ home was an emotional event. From the Sun-Times…
As [Illinois Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries] and [Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health Nirav Shah] exited the meeting Monday, the two repeatedly deflected questions from the Sun-Times and WBEZ reporter Dave McKinney.
They both suggested inquiries be directed to a spokesperson, who stood inches away.
When asked why two heads of state agencies couldn’t speak for themselves, Jeffries responded bluntly.
“Generally I prefer to speak with journalists who have journalistic integrity,” she said.
“And to whom are you referring,” asked McKinney, who’s broken much of the news related to the outbreak.
Chris Kennedy, Democratic candidate for governor, released his statewide infrastructure plan today while attending events in Peoria and Champaign.
Kennedy’s plan helps ensure that every community in Illinois is connected through roads that are paved and not perpetually congested, a rail system that efficiently delivers freight and connects our major towns and cities with regular and predictable passenger rail, statewide broadband internet access that is critical for 21st century communication, and an effective waterway system that is essential for our freight and shipping economy.
“Our plan reinvests in Illinois’ infrastructure to create jobs in all sectors: from construction workers to electricians, from agriculture to logistics, and from small business to big business,” Kennedy said. “Together we will put our collective shoulder to the wheel, refresh Illinois’ economy and put this state to work.
“Capital projects build infrastructure and offer an entry point to full economic participation that can lift up entire communities.”
Illinois has not had a capital bill for the entire state since 2009. Not only has Governor Rauner refused to advance plans for capital infrastructure investment but he has halted projects that were underway. Countless economic studies have found that investments in infrastructure increase the overall productivity of the economy. In addition, with improved infrastructure comes faster, more reliable transportation which allows companies to move their products faster and more reliably.
“The path to energizing the economy in every region of the state involves a robust higher education system,” Kennedy said. “We will create a steady increase in investments in education, knowing full well that universities are the economic engines of our state. Our public universities support the state’s economy as hubs of innovation, conducting pioneer research and preparing students to join the 21st century workforce.”
The plan also:
Creates a State Grants Office to ensure that the state of Illinois and its employers, research facilities and taxpayers are getting their fair share from the federal government.
Establishes a Deputy Governor for Rail and Intermodal Transportation to oversee freight and passenger railway expansion.
Guarantees the administration partners with other states that border the Mississippi River to lobby the federal government to increase subsidies to upgrade our lock and dam system.
Commits a Kennedy-Joy administration to working closely with the Illinois EPA to protect drinking water and fund wastewater management programs.
Focuses on closing the digital divide.
“In order to have the best economy in the nation, Illinois has to have the greatest infrastructure system in the world,” Kennedy said. “If we invest in our infrastructure, the jobs we will create and the companies we will attract to Illinois will jumpstart our economy and ensure that we remain one of the best places in the world to move to for a job, to own a business, and to raise a family.”
* Biss campaign…
Today the Biss campaign is releasing a new series: “The Billionaire Playbook Play of the Day”. While JB Pritzker and Chris Kennedy spend their millions to convince voters they’re different from the other inexperienced billionaire businessmen who hold public office, their records show something different. Like Donald Trump and Bruce Rauner, Pritzker and Kennedy are using the Billionaire Playbook to navigate their way through hypocritical attacks, tax scams, and more. Let’s take a look at the play-by-play:
Today’s Play of the Day: Bullying the Press
Let’s Go to the Tape
Like Donald Trump, JB Pritzker tries to avoid reporters who ask questions that he doesn’t like.
In a move the Chicago Tribune said was “disrespectful to Downstate voters and smacks of faintheartedness,” JB Pritzker ducked out of participating in the only debate that would have reached television audiences outside of Chicago after the media host, WCIA-TV, published stories about his shadowy financial maneuvers to fund his campaign via offshore trusts and shell companies, his championing of charter schools for his own profit, and his hidden donations to Michael Madigan via obscure LLCs. Pritzker has in the past restricted access to NBC Chicago, sending his spokesperson to publicly feud with a station reporter.
Meanwhile, Gov. Bruce Rauner refuses to debate his primary opponent, Jeanne Ives, while avoiding tough questions throughout his campaign.
JB Pritzker and Bruce Rauner cut off access to reporters for asking tough questions, just like Donald Trump does. It’s just another page from their Billionaire Playbook.
* Pritzker campaign…
Instead of apologizing for badmouthing Cairo students and making false claims, Chris Kennedy tripled down on his attacks on public school teachers and students.
Despite being reminded that SAT scores are not a recognized as a metric for college readiness, Kennedy defended his repeated attacks yesterday, claiming “the information I took was right off of a state of Illinois website, and that’s how we’re measuring ourselves.” He then continued slinging insults at hardworking students, saying “the kids who graduate are going to have a hard time making it in this economy.” Cairo students are defending themselves and taking the high road, with one high school senior telling a local TV station, “If he doesn’t think I can make it, I got to prove him wrong.”
“Chris Kennedy insults hardworking students left and right, and won’t back down from his baseless attacks even after he is confronted with the facts,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Students and teachers in Cairo have already stood up to correct Kennedy, but he refuses to learn his lesson.”
Maxwell: You pointed out recently that in Cairo, down in Southern Illinois, that zero percent of the students there were ready for college according to their SAT scores. That’s correct, but they don’t use that score for college readiness in the state of Illinois currently. Are you running dangerously close to- in the past we’ve seen this issue where you’re calling for more state funding for schools, but also some of the teachers and students there took offense that maybe you were saying they weren’t doing their jobs.
Kennedy: The information I took was right off of a state of Illinois website, and that’s how we’re measuring ourselves.
Maxwell: Can you clarify that comment?
Kennedy: I don’t believe that the tests measure potential or academic success. As the chairman of the University of Illinois, I sat, I sit on a board associated with the University of Chicago. I sit on the board associated with Kellogg, the school of business at Northwestern. I spent 12 years on the board of the Chicago, or the Catholic Theological Union. And so I know test scores are not determinant, but what they are evidence of is massive underfunding of our schools where if you’re in a town without a lot of property taxes, your school is so underfunded that the kids who graduate are going to have a hard time making it in this economy.
* Jeanne Ives…
Political Columnists Greg Hinz and John Kass called out Governor Rauner for lying about Jeanne Ives in political attack ads. A coalition of Republican legislators signed a letter demanding Governor Rauner end his shameful distortions of Jeanne Ives’ record.
To do something Rauner has proven unwilling to do: tell the truth, State Rep. Jeanne Ives, the conservative reform Republican for Governor, released a new campaign TV ad: Ives Won’t. Neither Should You.
Our Republican president is polling poorly in Illinois and our governor, Bruce Rauner, is polling worse than that.
Democratic Party Chairman Michael Madigan? Worse still.
And so Jeanne Ives, who is running against Rauner in the primary just launched a new ad using guess who as an attack tool? Barack Obama.
“Bruce Rauner lies so much, he reminds us of another Chicago politician.
President Obama: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.
Republicans are sick of Rauner’s lies.”
* Rauner campaign…
ICYMI: Governor Rauner Discusses Fight for Illinois’ Future on Fox & Friends
Governor Rauner joined Brian Kilmeade on Fox and Friends to discuss the future of Illinois and the fight against the entrenched political machine in this state.
Watch the full interview HERE and check out some highlights below.
Governor Bruce Rauner: “Illinois has been dominated by a corrupt career politician for decades and I just decided I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m not a politician, I’m a business-builder, but I said I’ll never run away from the state of Illinois. I grew up here, I raised my six kids here. I want to take on the corruption, the career politicians and restore good government in our state again. That’s why I’m fighting so hard.”
Life on the campaign trail: Il. Gubernatorial candidate Bob Daiber stops by Decatur's senior center. No activities on docket today, so Daiber chatting w/employee pic.twitter.com/Lf9F46y7c6
* PPP poll taken February 28 through March 1 of 553 likely Democratic primary voters in Cook County…
Do you approve or disapprove of President Donald Trump’s job performance?
Approve 10%
Disapprove 87%
Not sure 2%
If the Democratic Primary Election for Governor were held today and the candidates were JB Pritzker, Chris Kennedy, and Daniel Biss, who would you vote for?
JB Pritzker 35%
Chris Kennedy 31%
Daniel Biss 18%
Not sure 16%
* I sent all candidates in both parties this question the other day…
This requires only a simple yes or no response: Will you pledge as governor to veto any state legislative redistricting map proposal that is in any way drafted or created by legislators, political party leaders and/or their staffs or allies? The exception, of course, would be the final official draft by LRB.
I’ve heard plenty of candidates talk about how they favor an independent map-making process, but I wondered how far they would go - particularly JB Pritzker.
* Posted in the order they were received. Rep. Jeanne Ives’ campaign…
She is willing to veto a political partisan map. However, that could be overridden.
The problem is what if there is no other amendment? What if all you have? If there is no other option, do we just used the same map?
A better question is, if your party is able to draw the map will you start with a computer-generated model with the intention of getting a fair map.
Additionally, Ives has already challenged her national party on this issue. She is one-of 17 state legislators that signed on to the amicus brief of the Democrat-challenge in Wisconsin that has reached the Supreme Court.
* Tio Hardiman…
Yes.
* Bob Daiber…
Yes, I pledge to veto redistricting maps that are drawn in a political favor. I advocate for the development of fair maps. It is time for a governor to take a strong stance to end gerrymandering and support a nonpartisan commission tasked with drawing fair legislative maps.
* Gov. Bruce Rauner…
Yes.
* JB Pritzker…
Yes, I will pledge to veto. We should amend the constitution to create an independent commission to draw legislative maps, but in the meantime, I would urge Democrats and Republicans to agree to an independent commission to handle creating a new legislative map. That designated body should reflect the gender, racial, and geographic diversity of the state and look to preserve the Voting Rights Act decisions to ensure racial and language minorities are fully represented in the electoral process.
* Sen. Daniel Biss wouldn’t pledge to veto a non-independent map…
“Under the current constitution, legislators, their staffs, and political allies are involved in the redistricting process — regardless of whether a governor vetoes the initial redistricting proposal. While the post-veto process might appear to some as though it more closely aligns with an independent commission to draw the maps, in reality, it’s a small group of political appointees selected by legislative leaders. We must do better. Instead of pledging to veto — which is self-defeating and shows how inexperienced candidates would back themselves into a corner because they are unable to advance an agenda constructively — as governor, I would advocate for a true independent redistricting process.”
* And neither would Chris Kennedy…
Our campaign is proud to have Ra Joy, a prominent independent maps advocate, on our ticket. With that in mind, no, it would be irresponsible to take an absolute pledge like this because it fails to take into account the situation which may exist at a time of passage. The vagueness of the pledge’s wording is a problem. An “ally” of a member or staff could encompass thousands of people, many of whom are the type of talented good government advocates who we should be welcoming rather than shunning.
Site Selection Magazine today announced Illinois as a top state for businesses looking to relocate. Illinois was named third in the 2017 Governor’s Cup rankings. This is the second year in a row that Illinois has received this honor. The recognition is awarded to states with the most qualifying new and expanded facilities per capita.
“All Illinoisans know that there is no better state than Illinois,” said Governor Bruce Rauner. “One of the objectives of my administration has been to highlight our assets and better recruit businesses to locate within our state. Our efforts are paying off, but the work is not done. We continue the push to make the business environment more competitive to create good paying jobs and opportunities across all Illinois communities.”
Illinois had 419 projects over the course of the year, coming in behind only Texas and Ohio. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area remained the top metropolitan area of 1 million or more for new and expanded facilities with 402 projects.
“From our exceptional workforce to the seamless transportation of goods, Illinois is a world-class place to do business,” said Illinois Department of Commerce Director Sean McCarthy. “Interest in our state continues to rise and we remain focused on supporting our economy to ensure a better quality of life for Illinoisans.”
In addition, micropolitan areas in Illinois that were named for their projects include Ottawa-Peru, Paducah, Effingham, and Rochelle. Micropolitan areas are defined by cities of 10,000 to 50,000 people that cover at least one county.
“We are constantly in contact with new companies looking to expand or locate within Illinois,” said Intersect Illinois CEO Mark Peterson. “The excitement and optimism about the potential that exists within our boarders is palpable. We will continue to work with our partners to capitalize on our accomplishments and bring more success to Illinois.”
Details about the study:
Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database focuses on new corporate facility projects with significant impact, including headquarters, manufacturing plants, R&D operations and logistics sites, among others. It does not track retail and government projects, or schools and hospitals. New facilities and expansions included in the analyses must meet at least one of three criteria: (a) involve a capital investment of at least US$1 million, (b) create at least 20 new jobs or (c) add at least 20,000 sq. ft. (1,858 sq. m.) of new floor area.
Conservative reform gubernatorial candidate State Rep. Jeanne Ives will discuss legislation she has filed to prohibit Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s new “CityKey” identification card for illegal immigrants to be used as a valid form of identification for registering to vote.
41st Ward Alderman Anthony Napolitano of Chicago’s Northwest side, who voted against the city ordinance that created the “CityKey” id, will join Ives at this press conference to discuss voter fraud prevention and maintaining the integrity of Chicago’s upcoming 2019 municipal elections.
Ives accused Chicago Democrats of “breathtaking” hypocrisy for obsessing over accusations of Russian meddling in President Donald Trump’s election while at the same time taking steps that she said would make it easier for undocumented immigrants to fraudulently vote in Chicago.
“Accepting the CityKey ID as a legitimate form of identification for voter registration is literally suborning voter fraud, and the political class in the sanctuary city of Chicago is brazen about this fact,” Ives said.
Emanuel dismissed Ives’ criticism. “She should just take her Trump rhetoric out of the city,” he told reporters before Ives’ downtown news conference. “It doesn’t reflect our values.” […]
City Clerk Anna Valencia’s office contends the CityKey will just be another in a long list of forms of identification voters can use to establish residency, among them credit cards, firearms owner ID cards, student ID cards and union membership cards. And while only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote, voters are not required under state law to prove their U.S. citizenship. They simply must attest they are citizens.
But Ives said other forms of ID “are legitimately given to citizens, not noncitizens.” And Napolitano said if the city wanted to avoid potential problems with noncitizens voting with CityKey, Valencia could simply issue IDs that include the cardholder’s citizenship status.
Ives did not go so far as to suggest — as Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson did last month — that Emanuel is “looking for new voters” to replace the African-American voters he lost because of his handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting video.
She simply said that, if Carlson’s allegation is true, “That’s too bad for Rahm. He’s going to have to persuade people who are legal voters.”
Napolitano argued that the city is “documenting undocumented people” by allowing the CityKey ID to be used to register to vote.
“What this is going to do is change elections. Change elections in Chicago. Change elections in the state of Illinois … to entice or encourage people to go register to vote who are illegal immigrants,” he said.
State Board of Elections officials were asked about this topic last week and they pointed out it’s always been a felony to register to vote if you’re not a citizen and that getting caught would likely result in deportation.
* From the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights…
First, the CityKey card is intended for ALL Chicago residents. It is incorrect to refer to the card as an “immigrant” card or a card for the undocumented, despite the way that the card is sometimes portrayed. All Chicago residents can and would benefit from the card.
The CityKey, like any other photo ID such as a driver’s license, can be used for voter registration only to establish the registrant’s identity and the registrant’s address (if it appears on the card–which is optional). It cannot be used to establish that the person qualifies to vote.
When people register to vote, they need to attest that they are US citizens. If noncitizens incorrectly or falsely register, they are subject not only to state criminal penalties for the improper registration but also to immigration consequences, including unwaivable lifetime bars on legal status and deportation. Immigrants who are not yet citizens generally know that they cannot register and vote in US elections–which is one of the main reasons why the opportunity to become US citizens is so important to us.
The Janus back story illustrates the corrupting influence of public-sector unionism. It started with Rod Blagojevich, who in 2002 sought to become Illinois’s first Democratic governor in 26 years. According to Mr. Rauner, then- Rep. Blagojevich asked Afscme for “$3 million and a couple thousand of your taxpayer-funded people” to work for his campaign. He won the election. “Then he went to the state employees and he said, OK, if you’re in my administration, if you’re in a union, I’ll give you 4% annual raises as long as I’m governor. And if you’re not in a union, I will never give you a raise as long as I’m governor.”
“I respect peoples’ right to join a union or not join a union,” said Rauner. “But a governing union, when they go to a politician and say, ‘I’ll give you $3 million bucks for your election and I’ll give you 500 of my taxpayer-funded members to work for your campaign and then when you get in, I’ll negotiate a contract with ya, that is corruption.”
There’s that $3 million again.
* According to Illinois Sunshine’s website, AFSCME gave Blagojevich’s campaign $377K through 2003. Blagojevich received nothing after that. From September of 2006…
However, Blagojevich has had a more difficult time drumming up support from the state’s two largest public sector unions, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, which represents state and local workers, and the Illinois Education Association, which represents many of the state’s teachers.
Earlier this month, AFSCME and the IEA opted to formally support neither candidate in the Nov. 7 election.
Gov. BRUCE RAUNER, while visiting a business in Morton last week, described an ambitious effort to cut the state’s income tax — more ambitious that what’s actually in the proposal he submitted.
“I’ve recommended a budget that rolls back the income tax hike that they passed over my veto last summer, roll that back to 3 percent, from the 4.95 percent,” Rauner said at Morton Industries, LLC.
Actually, the budget he proposed Feb. 14 would cut the current 4.95 percent personal income tax to 4.7 percent. But that decrease — of just a quarter of a percentage point — would only happen, according to his proposal, if lawmakers enact a pension reform plan that would face a likely court challenge. So even that cut is not assured, and may not come in fiscal 2019, which begins July 1.
I asked the governor’s office to explain his comments in Morton.
“Governor Rauner has proposed incrementally rolling back the income tax hike passed last summer over his veto,” spokeswoman RACHEL BOLD said. “To make that possible, he supports full implementation of a consideration model for pension reform which will save taxpayers nearly $1 billion a year, making it possible to begin rolling back the tax hike with a 1/4 percent tax rate cut. We believe it will also spur economic development which could speed up the pace of the rollback.”
* Related…
* Is the Supreme Court inviting a ‘Pandora’s box’ of unintended consequences if it rules with Rauner in his anti-union lawsuit?: All three of these cases, says Maher, are about making the government face the consequences of ruling with Janus. That if he doesn’t have to pay his agency fees because collective bargaining is speech he disagrees with, that makes the very act of collective bargaining—speech. And therefore can’t be restricted. In other words, Janus unintentionally argues for unions’ right to free speech. “If this is the way the Supreme Court rules, it will be hard to limit free speech of unions,” Maher says. “This Janus case has been presented [by conservatives] as providing workers with a choice, but they already have a choice not to pay for the political speech of unions. This is the choice to get collective bargaining and not having to pay for it—something for nothing.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski says his party is risking creating a “tea party” faction as it drifts leftward and fails to support a “big tent” of contrasting ideas.
Lipinski is a social conservative who opposes abortion, and he’s facing a serious primary challenge from the left via political newcomer Marie Newman. She has the backing of abortion rights advocacy groups, as well as Lipinski’s colleagues U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston and Luis Gutierrez of Chicago.
“Right now there is a battle for what the Democratic Party is going to be, going forward,” Lipinski, who has represented the Southwest Side and suburban 3rd Congressional District for seven terms, said Sunday on WGN-AM 720.
“Four years ago we were at our lowest point in (Democratic seats in) the U.S. House since Herbert Hoover was president. We’ve come up slightly since then, but we’re still in a big hole, and there are those who want to have a ‘tea party of the left’ in the Democratic Party to match, unfortunately, what’s happened to the Republicans,” he said.
* Laura Washington writes that Gov. Bruce Rauner is in yet another “pickle” over the gun legislation currently making its way to his desk…
[After HB40, etc.] Rauner is loath to further alienate conservative voters, the ones Jeanne Ives is after. He is way ahead of her in the polls and wants to keep it that way. So, he will sit on the legislation, reviewing and conversing, until after the primary.
He’ll endure weeks of attacks from the state’s Democratic Party leadership, its political action committees, gun control activists and gubernatorial candidates.
But whoever wins the six-way Democratic gubernatorial contest, Rauner will surely face a liberal Chicagoan, on his left. […]
The sweet spot lies in the Chicago suburbs, the home of moderate independent and swing voters, especially women. The same women who are terrorized by the ubiquity of guns. The women who wonder, every day, whether their children are safe in their own schools. And who wonder, every day, if they will come home.
After his “review” and “conversation,” look for Rauner to sign a minimum measure or two. An obvious “give” would be the bump stock ban. Just enough to show he is listening and is willing to govern.
That may leave a sour taste with gun control advocates, but just enough to get Rauner out of that pickle.
Prior to Rauner’s public remarks, Justin Oseland of Cumberland County approached the governor to ask what the governor will do about the gun control measures passed last week by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. The two could be seen talking for a couple minutes.
“He said I have his support for the second amendment, and (he) will veto all of the bills, with maybe the exception of bump stocks, if they can come to some sort of consensus,” Oseland said of his conversation with the governor.
Oseland went on to clarify that the governor said he would veto those bills currently “in the works.” According to the Associated Press, last week the Illinois House approved a bump-stock ban, a minimum age to purchase assault-style weapons and state licensing of gun dealers.
The Cumberland County man added that Rauner seemed open to a ban on bump stocks, which modify semi-automatic weapons to make them fire faster.
“His answer wasn’t exactly straight to the point,” said Oseland. “He just said he may be open to working with something on bump stocks … not necessarily a full ban, but some type of bill regarding them.”
The Rauner campaign’s response didn’t really answer the paper’s question about what he may may not have said. Then again, he told a lot of people he would veto HB40, too.
Your thoughts about what he’ll do?
…Adding… Press release…
“The Gun Dealer Licensing Act is critical legislation that will help prevent gun trafficking and keep families safe. Bruce Rauner should immediately sign it,” said JB Pritzker. “Communities and families across this state have been devastated by gun violence and instead of playing politics, Bruce Rauner should keep his word and take immediate action. This critical legislation will help keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them and I call on Bruce Rauner to immediately sign the Gun Dealer Licensing Act and help keep our communities safe.”
* Related…
* Rauner ‘silence is deafening’ on bill to license state gun retailers, Rahm says: “I know he once said he wasn’t in charge. Well, the bill is on his desk. He can show that he’s in charge when it comes to public safety,” the mayor said. … All of those bills are still awaiting final approval. The bill to license gun dealers is the only one forwarded to the governor for final action. It passed the Senate last year and cleared the House Wednesday by a vote of 64-to-52. State Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, Rauner’s more conservative opponent in the Republican gubernatorial primary, voted no and urged the governor not to sign the bill.
Rauner announced in January that he would replace plumbing on the campus. He has since named task forces to study options and on Friday tabbed an adviser to coordinate the effort. […]
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration now says it plans to rebuild dormitories at the Quincy veterans’ home where Legionnaires’ disease continues to be a problem. […]
[Erica Jeffries, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs] told the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs committees that the plan now is to demolish and replace problematic residence halls on the Quincy campus during the next three to five years. And she said plumbing replacement would not be a good use of money and cause too much disruption in the meantime.
Three to five years? We’ve had four more cases this year alone and it’s not even warm yet.
* And in the meantime?…
Jeffries: Governor has appointed two task forces, we have working groups, short-term and long-term plans. Should have final draft to General Assembly by May 1.
* Gov. Rauner spoke at Sunday’s Effingham County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner and told the party faithful about how he envisions the fall campaign…
You guys know I went to war to get term limits. Nobody should stay in office more than about 8 years. That’s plenty of time. George Washington could’ve been king, and he only served for 8 years because he knew America should be a place for freedom and you should be a public servant and then leave. … We collected half a million signatures to get term limits on the ballot. Madigan sued me and he blocked it in the state courts, with the judges that he elects. …. But I never give up and I never give in.
We are now going to run a pledge campaign. Pledge campaign. We’re going to ask every candidate in the General Assembly statewide to sign a pledge, sign a promise to you as the people of Illinois. And that pledge says two things. Number one: “I promise you that I will vote to put term limits on the ballot so the people of Illinois can vote term limits up or down.” And number two: “I promise you that I will vote for somebody, anybody other than Mike Madigan for speaker after 35 years.”
And when the Democrats refuse to sign that pledge, we’re gonna use it against them and we’re gonna prove that they’re really working for Madigan and the machine, rather than the people of central Illinois and the people of southern Illinois. And we’re going to beat them and that’s how we are going to pick up nine seats in the General Assembly this year. This is an exciting time.
Now, look, this election cycle is going to be tough. A new president’s party has a hard time in the midterms. That’s just true, even look back 50 years. It doesn’t matter whether D or R.
But you know why we’re going to win and why I’m all-in to win? No state has a guy as corrosive and as corrupt and as destructive as Mike Madigan. And we are going to hang every candidate on the Democratic ticket with Mike Madigan around their neck and we’re going to take them down. And we’re going to beat ‘em. The people of Illinois want Madigan gone almost as much as Republicans do.
It was last year, I was shopping at a store in Springfield and an elderly woman came up to me. Slowly, she couldn’t move very, very fast. She was, she was up there in years. She slowly came up to me in the store and she grabbed me by the by the [inaudible], both hands on my left arm. And then she looked up at me. And then she started to tear up. She started to cry a little bit and I said ‘Goodness, what happened, what’s wrong here? Are you hurt? Can I, how can I help you?’ And she said, she said, ‘Governor, you’re our last hope. Don’t give up.’ And I teared up, and I gave her a hug. And I said, ‘I will never give up and it’s an honor for me to work for you.’
We will never give in. We are going to make Illinois great again. Great, proud strong state. The greatest state in the greatest nation on Earth. On to victory in November for Republicans!
You know, I had a woman, an elderly woman, come up to me last month. She couldn’t move very well, but she came up, she grabbed me by the arm. She looked me in the eyes. She teared up, and she said, “Governor, you’re our last hope. Don’t give up,” and she said, “And I’m a Democrat, and many of my friends are Democrats. We know you’re doing the right thing.” I get that every day.
Every day he gets that. Every. Day.
…Adding… Pritzker campaign…
With Donald Trump polling ahead of Bruce Rauner in Illinois, the failed governor is borrowing the president’s slogan to keep Republicans from fleeing to his primary opponent Jeanne Ives as election day nears.
“We are going to make Illinois great again,” Rauner proudly declared at an Effingham County Republican dinner yesterday where Ives was present. While Rauner has long been afraid to utter Donald Trump’s name, his insurgent primary opponent’s campaign has left him with no choice but to cozy up to this bigoted president.
“Bruce Rauner is embracing Donald Trump as he desperately clings to the Republican nomination with Jeanne Ives nipping at his heels,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This is a failed governor, fending off challenges left and right as Illinoisans prepare to hold him accountable for his damage to this state.”
According to OpenSecrets.org, a total of $6.5 billion was spent nationwide on the 2016 campaign by presidential and congressional candidates.
Closer to home, the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform says $134 million was spent on state legislative races in Illinois during the 2016 cycle and an additional $11 million or so on the special election for Illinois comptroller.
A huge chunk of that money is spent on advertising, which is incredibly expensive.
A smaller portion goes to campaign staff. Most of those workers are grossly underpaid, vastly overworked—regularly logging 80-hour weeks and even more—and too often treated like rented mules. Toward the end of campaigns, some candidates even decide to put all the cash they have left into advertising instead of paying their workers. As former campaign spokesman Lance Trover recently wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, with tongue only partially in cheek, life for campaign workers “is nothing short of a living hell.”
Enter the Campaign Workers Guild, a newly formed union that has so far negotiated contracts with a couple of Democratic congressional campaigns, one in Wisconsin and one in Pennsylvania. The union was in Springfield on Feb. 27 to talk to a handful of campaign staffers about the benefits of union membership.
We’ve talked about this topic before, but the rest of the column is something I haven’t written about until now, so click here and read the whole thingbefore commenting, please. Thanks.
Also, I noticed something the other day as I was preparing to write this column. I’d earlier posted two videos of the campaign union’s press conference and one of them got 362 views, which is pretty successful for such a long video of a mere press conference with three reporters. I didn’t think it would get anywhere near 100.
Former Gov. Pat Quinn, who is running for Illinois attorney general in the Dem primary, thinks powerful House Speaker Mike Madigan should step down as the state’s Dem party chairman!
Yikes!
“He [Madigan] has been there for 20 years and I don’t think Senate President John Cullerton, who is a Dem committeeman, should be part of the party apparatus either,” he told Sneed. (The story was first reported by WBBM Radio’s Craig Dellimore.)
“I think the political apparatus should be separate from their public jobs,” Quinn added. “They have demanding positions. They should stick to their public responsibilities and let somebody else do the party politics.”
* Lisa Madigan gets good reviews at Democrats’ AG debate — mostly: Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan got mostly favorable reviews from the eight Democrats running to replace her as they gathered Sunday for a debate co-hosted by the Chicago Sun-Times. But some of the candidates who gathered at Cards Against Humanity for the livestreamed event also said Madigan should have been more aggressive when it comes to investigating public corruption.
* Tom Kacich: [Gary Grasso] is running radio commercials that say Harold “has not even tried a single case” since her 2007 graduation from Harvard Law School, and that call her “unproven, untested, liberal Miss Erika Harold.” Harold campaign manager Jason Heffley said that “Erika has tried a case (in Champaign County) and Gary knows it.”
* Daily Herald: Sharon Fairley for attorney general in Democratic primary
* CS-T endorsement: Sharon Fairley for attorney general in Democratic primary
* CS-T endorsement: Erika Harold for attorney general in the Republican primary
* Daily Herald: Erika Harold for attorney general in the Republican primary
* Jim Dey: Harold faces long campaign trail in run for AG
Does the #MeToo movement really want to go after Boss Madigan?
Madigan has been harshly criticized for his indifferent handling of sexual harassment allegations against his Democratic political aides and allies.
And many of those who keep calling for a truly “independent” investigation somehow keep forgetting that job should be done by the Illinois attorney general. But she happens to be his daughter, Lisa.
So where’s the #MeToo movement?
They’re nowhere near Madigan and his boys.
If Madigan were a Republican, I have no doubt they’d be protesting, holding marches and speeches. And not just women, but we’d see men in those fuzzy pink hats they wear when virtue signaling before news cameras against Republicans.
But when it comes to Democrats? Crickets.
It’s almost as if the #MeToo is all about partisan politics.
Sources in both parties said last week that their tracking polls were showing a dip in support for Sen. Daniel Biss and a trending increase for Chris Kennedy in the Democratic primary race for governor.
That’s the most likely reason why billionaire J.B. Pritzker’s campaign began airing negative ads against Kennedy last week. Pritzker has been playing a fascinating game of “whack-a-mole” with his two opponents while Gov. Bruce Rauner has tried to make Pritzker’s task difficult.
Pritzker started as an almost complete unknown, so he spent millions to become known. And, for a while, it worked splendidly because neither Biss nor Kennedy had the money to run any ads against Pritzker, let alone on behalf of themselves.
Enter Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Rauner’s campaign has acted as sort of a Super PAC for Biss and Kennedy, doing their dirty work for them by spending a fortune on anti-Pritzker TV ads featuring audio recordings of Pritzker’s conversations with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich caught on FBI wiretaps.
Rauner’s idea isn’t to knock Pritzker totally out of the race. Instead, by all accounts he wants Pritzker to barely win an ugly primary and then turn to the general election as a bruised and bloodied candidate who could more easily be finished off. That’s still a tall order in today’s anti-Republican national environment, but it’s all Rauner has.
With Rauner’s ads constantly bashing their candidate, the Pritzker campaign’s worst fear is that one of its Democratic opponents will catch fire.
The undecideds in this race are undecided mainly because those voters don’t like Pritzker (primarily because of Rauner’s ads) but have yet to hear a convincing “ask” by either of the other two candidates. Pritzker’s immense wealth also grates against years of the Democratic Party’s anti-billionaire orthodoxy. And his attachment to the establishment headed by House Speaker Michael Madigan naturally gives people pause, including Democrats, who don’t like the guy, either.
No matter how many times Biss and Kennedy claimed that Pritzker was trying to force them out of the race, Team Pritzker has never wanted either candidate to drop out. The fear was that opposition voters would coalesce behind whoever remained against a wounded frontrunner.
Winning a one-on-one race requires 50 percent plus one vote. In a contested, multi-candidate primary, a damaged-by-Rauner billionaire can still win with 40 percent of the vote or even less. So, this means Pritzker’s opponents had to be prevented from gaining too much ground, but not fall so far back that one or the other could consolidate support and reach 40 percent to beat him.
Kennedy was starved of financial resources by putting out the word that contributing to him was a very big no-no to the Democratic and union powers that be in this state. The effort prevented Kennedy, with his well-known family name, from moving forward in the polls.
The unknown Biss had been a distant third for most of the campaign, but then zoomed up to second place ahead of Kennedy after airing TV ads in the Chicago area. So, Pritzker hit him with negative TV ads over his support of pension reform and other issues. The ads apparently pushed Biss back down.
That left an opening for Kennedy, who reportedly started moving up. The easiest attack on Kennedy would’ve been the Democrats’ praise of the Republican Rauner. “I think Bruce Rauner is trying to do what he thinks is best for the state of Illinois,” Kennedy said in January when asked by a reporter if the Rauner campaign was, indeed, acting like some sort of super PAC on behalf of Pritzker’s challengers.
Then again, if Kennedy was hit that hard, there’s a real danger he’d be completely disqualified in Democratic voters’ minds, which would leave an opening for Biss to start surging yet again. So, the Pritzker ad focused on tuition hikes at the University of Illinois while Kennedy was chairman of the board of trustees. Just tapping the brakes rather than slamming them.
Kennedy used his latest surge to raise over $600,000 in just a few days last week, his best fundraising week ever. But that’s pocket lint to Pritzker, who can always increase the pressure on those brakes.
Expect this back and forth to continue right up until election day. Rauner will attack, forcing Pritzker to spend even more on positive ads while making sure neither of his two major opponents don’t catch a sudden tailwind. I wouldn’t want to be on that campaign.
In 2015, Mr. Rauner says, public-employee unions complained to Mr. Madigan that the new governor was too stubborn a negotiator. The speaker pushed through a bill to strip the governor of his authority in contract negotiations in favor of a “labor arbitrator”—an attempt, Mr. Rauner says, to “take away my most fundamental right as governor to represent taxpayers.”
Mr. Rauner vetoed the legislation. In Illinois it takes three-fifths of each legislative chamber to override a veto, and Democrats had the requisite supermajorities. Yet the House sustained Mr. Rauner’s veto. “I got one Democrat,” he says. “Boy, did we work our tails off. We got one Democrat to stay in New York at the U.S. Open during the vote override.”
There is evidence that Dunkin may have gone to the US open during that vote, so the governor could be telling the truth. But Gov. Rauner also told some of his usual whoppers to the paper’s editorial board, so you’re guess is as good as mine.
…Adding… From comments…
HOW exactly did he get that Dem to stay in New York? That’s a much more interesting question.
For his part, Rauner might have been slow to take Ives’ candidacy seriously, but once the money started pouring into her campaign, the governor quickly pivoted to an offensive strategy.
He started airing TV ads and sending out mailers that labeled Ives “Madigan’s Favorite Republican,” pointing to less than $7,000 in campaign contributions she’d received from a Madigan-allied labor union, and comments she’d made touting Madigan’s support for some of her bills.
The mailers have been effective in some parts of the state, where voters have started to associate Ives with the unpopular speaker, an Ives campaign worker said.
Ives also spent money early to try to build name recognition among voters, leaving her with less for the stretch run. In an email fundraising pitch to supporters, Ives said she needs to raise $10 million by election day to get her message out in TV ads and for get-out-the-vote operations.
* And speaking of the Madigan angle, the BGA and Politifact have weighed in…
Rauner’s campaign ad said: “Who’s really behind Jeanne Ives’ campaign for governor? Mike Madigan’s corrupt insider machine. They’ve bankrolled her campaign with thousands in shady labor union cash, turning Ives into another Madigan lackey.”
A political committee that has supported Michael Madigan and a number of other politicians of both parties gave money to Jeanne Ives. And records show the contributions to Ives total $6,900, a far cry from the $2.5 million she has received from a conservative businessman who once was a major donor to Rauner.
Ives was once a loyal supporter of Rauner in the Illinois House, but broke with the governor last year because she claimed he had become too liberal on social issues. Central to her complaint was Rauner’s signing of abortion rights and immigrant rights legislation that Ives opposed and Madigan backed.
That is hardly a portrait of a Madigan lackey. Indeed, it is the opposite.
Rauner campaign claims about Ives and Madigan turn credibility and rational argument inside out. That is why we give them our lowest possible credibility rating, Pants On Fire!
Republican state Rep. Jeanne Ives’ campaign said Sunday it is up with a new TV ad that compares Gov. Rauner to former Democratic President Barack Obama.
“Bruce Rauner lies so much he reminds us of another Chicago politician,” a narrator says. The ad then cuts to a June 15, 2009, clip of Obama talking about a concept of the Affordable Care Act that didn’t happen. “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period,” Obama says.
It’s unclear how widespread Ives’ ad will appear. No new advertising contracts for Ives have been posted by Chicago TV stations or cable since last month. [Emphasis added.]
Everybody wants to write about the hard-fought campaign as if the two candidates had equal access to messaging, but Pearson just dumped a lake’s worth of cold water on those hot takes. Ives has burned through her cash and can’t place new ads. That’s the real story here now.
I suppose the Ives campaign believes voters will read her new campaign book. She spent big bucks on that mailer, but I cannot imagine that it’ll move many numbers.
*** UPDATE *** Dan Proft pushes back against Pearson’s report. Here’s the printable part…
We had Quincy vets home all last week plus radio statewide. We’re on statewide nets plus radio this week with the “Neither Should You” spot
…Adding… More from Proft…
$300K buy delivering 560 TRPs in Chicago and another 1400 TRPs outside Chicago DMA, networks. This doesn’t include radio which is also up statewide. It may not be Rauner scale but that’s a real buy.
* Related…
* Rauner and Ives appear in Altamont, attend Lincoln Day Dinner: Rauner declined questions before leaving the dinner Sunday. In an emailed statement, Will Allison, a spokesman for Rauner’s campaign, responded to Ives’ comments, saying, “Rep. Ives is simply unelectable. She is refusing to stand up to Mike Madigan and won’t commit to rolling back his massive income tax hike. Governor Rauner has a plan to cut taxes and reform government, and that’s why he will win this primary and defeat JB Pritzker in November.”
* Ives brings ‘truth tour’ to Q-C: “It was not a hard choice getting in this race. It was hard for some of my supporters, knowing the daunting task going up against a guy who’s got millions of dollars, $100 million worth of name (recognition) behind him and three years of incumbency. How do you take a guy like this out?”
Asked in a recent interview if, in hindsight, he would do anything differently in his first term, he paused for half a beat to consider.
“Hmm, no,” he said
#FacePalm.
Dude, you’re polling worse than the governor next door who was just arrested. There’s a reason for that. You made a ton of mistakes in your first term. And you can’t ever do better as long as you continue to believe you didn’t make any mistakes.
* JB Pritzker reported last night that he’s dumped another $7 million into his campaign. Sen. Daniel Biss complained, but was also rebutted…
Ugh. Just when I was getting used to talking about $56 million, @JBPritzker gives himself another $7 million to bring the total up to $63 million. (In other news, still dating checks 2017.) https://t.co/lNwbFFA5TD -DB
Some progressives say a wealthy candidate can't be progressive because they take their own money to spend - but - it's progressive to take $25,000, $100,000, and $250,000 checks from wealthy, uh, 'friends' to spend. Got it. 🤔 #twill#NoStringsAttached
* Along those lines, Biss just reported $75K from Shook Hardy & Bacon attorney Gary Elden, bringing his total Biss contributions to $200,000. Elden’s firm has represented most of the big tobacco companies and some large pharmaceutical companies.
And Chris Kennedy just reported raising $84,500, with $50K of that coming from Florida-based SOLIC Capital Advisors.
* Rep. Scott Drury reported $100,000 this weekend from Steven Miller, a Chicago venture capitalist. Drury has only reported raising about $9K for his AG race since January 1 aside from that Miller contribution. Miller (no relation that I know of) has now contributed over $230K to Drury’s campaign. Drury entered the year with $732K in the bank.
* Former Gov. Pat Quinn just put $100K of his own money into his AG campaign. Quinn has raised $465K since the beginning of the year, which he started with $278K. Sen. Kwame Raoul has raised $984K since January 1 and started out with almost $1.1 million.
* Senate President John Cullerton just kicked in $55,400 to a Cook County Board candidate’s race. Why? The candidate is Angie Sandoval, the daughter of one of Cullerton’s members, Sen. Martin Sandoval. She’s also being backed by Sen. Tony Munoz.
* As you know, Democratic House candidate Lamont Robinson is vying against former Rep. Ken Dunkin and two others to replace Rep. Juliana Stratton (D-Chicago).
Robinson has now raised $453K this quarter, far outpacing everyone else. Much of that money is coming from Speaker Madigan-related entities. Rep. Marty Moylan just contributed $40K. Other than Dunkin (who, as subscribers know, is being whacked by Robinson hard in the mail and on TV), his closest competitor is Dilara Sayeed, who has raised just $37,000 since January 1.
* Related…
* Four men dominate the turf in Illinois’ political ‘playground of the rich’: A Chicago Sun-Times analysis found that more than 25 percent of the money contributed to Illinois political campaigns in the past two years has come from the pockets of four men: Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, Democratic challenger J.B. Pritzker, Rauner supporter Kenneth Griffin and disgruntled, former Rauner supporter Richard Uihlein.
