83 Comments - Not Again - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:29 am: Did he say anything about the SGOP? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:31 am: ===Did he say anything about the SGOP?=== First thing I thought. What *about* the SGOP, governor? - Iggy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:32 am: This announcement made me think of the Office and this wonderful James Spader quote. “Well, I will not be blackmailed by some ineffectual, privileged, effete, expletive deleted, debutante. You want to start a street fight with me bring it on but you’re gonna be surprised by how ugly it gets, you don’t even know my real name- I’m the expletive deleted lizard king!” - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:39 am: Pritzker better get on the stick with those fundraising calls… I kid, I kid… - Anonymous - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:40 am: Senger and Dodge are out in the woods cold and scared. - DaleyMail - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:40 am: Time for JB to throw 1.5 Million to Kwame. - wordslinger - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:42 am: Cullerton’s veto-proof majority is solid. Rauner’s only hope for influence in the GA is in the House. But he’s burned both ends of the GOP caucus, leaving himself only a mushy-middle-muddle of a minority. Not a great ROI on his investments, to date. For $4 million, you can hope in one hand, do your business in the other and see which one fills up first. - Back to the Future - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:43 am: Interesting quote. Does the idea expressed in it apply to Bruce, JB or both? - Commonsense in Illinois - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:47 am: Should we start a pool to see how long it takes for a reporter to ask Erika Harold what charges she plans to bring against the Speaker? That would be an interesting story… - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:47 am: ===Cullerton’s veto-proof majority is solid.=== Yep. Not up for discussion or debate, but… LEADER BRADY: And I say, “Hey, Bruce, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.” And he says, “Oh, uh, there won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.” So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice. At least Carl got *something* from the Lama, the flowing robes, the grace… - Can - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:47 am: I would’ve used that money to renovate the new pad in Italy, but that’s just me. - G'Kar - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:49 am: Poor little Brucie, how much money did he make last year? “I’m giving her a million dollars which is a lot of money for me.” - Galena Guy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:49 am: And she’s gonna prosecute Madigan for what exactly Bruce? Care to cite any laws he has broken? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:51 am: ===I’m funding Erika Harold. I’m giving her a million dollars which is a lot of money for me.=== Is Rauner serious? Bruce and Diana Rauner are already $112 million in. This idea that a million is a lot for him is an embarrassingly pathetic fib. ===Erika Harold will prosecute Madigan and the corruption.=== As a governor, Rauner is clueless to what his own job entails. Now we know he is clueless to what the AG constitutionally does. If the governor knows of these corruptions, please, pass it on to the US Attorney. No one is stopping Rauner. - Real - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:52 am: That 4 million will be wasted when Pritzker gives double that. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:53 am: ===That 4 million will be wasted when Pritzker gives double that.=== Pritzker will have to raise it first. - Skeptic - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:54 am: “And she’s gonna prosecute Madigan for what exactly Bruce?” He’s a Democrat, Hillary is a Democrat, they must have done *something* illegal, right? /s - a drop in - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:54 am: All we are missing are chants of “lock him up!” - Keyrock - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:55 am: Remind me what powers the AG has to initiate corruption prosecutions again? Oh. That’s right. None (unless a new statute is passed). http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/about/history.html - Potted plant - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:56 am: ===Erika Harold will prosecute Madigan and the corruption.== Did he then lead a chant of “lock him up?” - Anon221 - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:57 am: So Rauner needs help, huh? He was more than willing to sacrifice people and programs throughout his tenure as governor. His ” No help for you” strategy as his “all in” to try and push out Madigan was a failure in the end. Enough House Republicans saw the light, on refused to grant him another year of no budget and inadequate revenues. I agree, he needs help, just not the kind that should be given a vote in November. - Real - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:58 am: Pritzker will have to raise it first. - I don’t think Pritzker meant he would support down ballot only by raised funds. I’m thinking he meant raised funds in addition to what he contributes. - Fixet - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:02 am: And yet another baseless accusation from an inept, ineffectual, and clueless governor. This guy needs to be on the plane to Italy for Thanksgiving. - wordslinger - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:03 am: Love it when Baron von Carhart goes south and does his Hee-Haw bit. He really, really respects the intelligence of the folks down yonder. –Pritzker is the “biggest gun grabber in America”– Huh? – Southside Chicago unemployment is “30 or 40 percent” – What? –and Sam McCann is a “Pritzker plant.”– LOL, McCann is your Frankenstein monster, bully-boy. If you hadn’t been so thin-skinned and thick-headed, you wouldn’t have this problem. Hey Bruce, what’s your over/under on McCann? Four points or better does you in, I imagine. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:05 am: ===I don’t think Pritzker meant he would support down ballot only by raised funds. I’m thinking he meant raised funds in addition to what he contributes.=== Aw, don’t be an apologist. Pritzker is spending, right now, $173.75 a minute, $8,625.00 an hour, $207,000 a day. Since midnight to now, 10am, Pritzker has spent $86,250.00 Pritzker said he’s not raising any money. Now Pritzker is… raising money. Rich has a whole post on it with a bland, innocuous, statement, saying really… nothing. So. Yeah. When Pritzker raises it. - Chris P. Bacon - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:06 am: Wait, hold on. So Rauner is publicly promising that Erika Harold will prosecute Madigan? What is that indictment going to look like? What are the charges? Erika Harold is already an officer of the court, an attorney, if Rauner has communicated evidence of specific crimes to her it would be unethical for her to just sit on it. She has a duty that she should be fulfilling NOW. And Rauner is governor for crying out loud. Where is his criminal complaint for these crimes that he clearly claims have already been committed? Rauner needs to back up his serious allegation — or admit that he’s just being unbelievably reckless in a desperate pander for votes. - Jocko - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:06 am: Judging by the tweet, it sounds like Rauner is going ‘Full Trump’. Is he (or the BTIA) going to devise a nickname for JB? - Anonymous - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:07 am: Get a life. Get off same old Madison blame crap. That’s all u have done since taking office. How bout stepping up and leading. - VanillaMan - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:07 am: Everytime Rauner tells us about corruption in Illinois, our immediate response should be to ask him what he has done during his entire term in office to address it. Rauner is a governor, not a victim. We’re not helpless, and a multi-millionaire governor most definately isn’t either. Corruption? Should have done something beyond political whining, Bruce. - King Louis XVI - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:07 am: — all in — Even with $6 million from Rauner, House GOP is still eating MJM’s dust who started the cycle with around $15 million in his various accounts. Daddy warbucks needs to kick in another $10 million just to draw even the Dems. - wordslinger - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:08 am: –Erika Harold will prosecute Madigan and the corruption.– Kass must have told him that was possible. Embarrassing, that he doesn’t have a clue. - Texas Red - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:08 am: “Remind me what powers the AG has to initiate corruption prosecutions again? Oh. That’s right. None (unless a new statute is passed). http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/about/history.html” Have to laugh at exactly how AG Madigan is “advocating for Women”, one of her stated priorities. When her father is running an organization rife with harassment ..Quinn…Mapes…. http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/women/index.html - Real - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:08 am: So. Yeah. When Pritzker raises it. -I doubt that will be the case. You interpret it as in Pritzker only supporting down ballot races exclusively on raised funds… I interpret it as Pritzker supporting down ballot races on raised funds and what he contributes. So we shall see who is right or wrong in time. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:11 am: ===I interpret it as…=== (Sigh) Pritzker said… he said… not anyone else… Pritzker said… he’s not raising money. Now he’s raising money. Nothing to interpret unless you’re an apologist. You keep using more words to try to refute what’s actually happening, lol - VanillaMan - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:12 am: McCann is a plant? Who isn’t? Every voter votes for a plant on election day. - Honeybear - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:13 am: “Prosecute Madigan and the corruption” Maybe Harold be better off prosecuting The corruption Of a Rauner Executive Order Creating a public private partnership Now known as Intersect Illinois Which never achieved IRS non-profit status IRS rejected its application Thus it is still for profit Non foia-able Lining up EDGE for the husk of DCEO Doing government work and business On behalf of the state Schultz and Winters went straight from Gutting DCEO To running a for profit business. Hundreds of millions of dollars In corporate welfare Lined up by Intersect Illinois Look at their website. They proudly show it. A private company Doing government work I don’t know I’d start with that Mrs Harold. That and how did Rauner make 90,000 am hour After he took office? Just sayin - Grandson of Man - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:16 am: I thought Rauner hated this kind of stuff, an insider buying a political party. Dear union members, Don’t ever feel bad about pooling your few dollars with others to have a voice in public policy when there’s a blatant hypocrite like Rauner, a sitting governor who has singlehandedly spend over $100 million to buy government. - Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:16 am: “I’m funding Erika Harold.” You what public loves? Big money in politics and bought-and-paid-for candidates. The public loves hearing rich guys talk about how much money they are going to spend filling up the airwaves with ads. The public loves rich guys who make power politics their lone priority. Maybe Harold and the GOP need to hear this from Bruce to calm their nerves, but I think the average person hears/sees it and thinks that’s $1 million that could have gone to a better use for almost anything. Among the only things polling worse than Rauner would be big money in politics. Then again, what else does he have to talk about? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:17 am: ===Pritzker is the “biggest gun grabber in America” Southside Chicago unemployment is “30 or 40 percent” and Sam McCann is a “Pritzker plant.”=== Let’s break some of this down, shall we? “Pritzker is the “biggest gun grabber in America”…” How do you think that plays, in the suburbs, with women and moderates… giving up on those voters, or hoping they don’t hear this drivel? “Southside Chicago unemployment is “30 or 40 percent”…” As the sitting governor of Illinois, I’d call this a Rauner failure, if true. Now, if it’s not true and an embellishment, why would a sitting governor make his own incumbency sound like a failure… “oh”… oh… now I… “and Sam McCann is a “Pritzker plant.”…” Meh. McCann didn’t sign HB40, sign a “sanctuary state” bill, or sign a budget with a 32% tax increase to balance it. My point? Who exactly *is* the Rauner constituency? - Real - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:18 am: Pritzker said… he said… not anyone else… Pritzker said… he’s not raising money. Now he’s raising money. Nothing to interpret unless you’re an apologist. You keep using more words to try to refute what’s actually happening, lol -Nothing further to discuss. We all will see what happens in time. - Wensicia - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:18 am: So Rauner plans to put Erika Harold in charge? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:20 am: ===We all will see what happens in time.=== LOL Pritzker is raising money… right now… it’s happening… today. “And… scene” - @misterjayem - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:20 am: He’s been Governor of Illinois for nearly four years but Bruce is still campaigning exclusively on I’m gonna. A more damning admission of failure would be hard to imagine. – MrJM - OneMan - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:21 am: Really, we have reached this point now… I am not surprised but I am disappointed - Dance Band on the Titanic - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:23 am: I don’t recall any previous Illinois gubernatorial candidate ever handing an attorney general candidate a million dollars for the publicly stated purpose of prosecuting his political opponent if she wins. - Real - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:29 am: LOL Pritzker is raising money… right now… it’s happening… today. “And… scene” -The obvious point was he will not only support down ballot races exclusively on raised funds but also on personal contributions from himself… Then I said we shall see in time when you kept saying he will only support down ballot races only on raised funds. Keep up - Jocko - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:30 am: Judging by the audio, Bruce has resigned himself to winning central & southern IL and little else. I especially loved “My grandparents lived in a double-wide trailer. I didn’t inherit a nickel.” - Concerned Dem - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:30 am: “I’m funding Erika Harold.” Thanks Bruce for writing Kwame’s campaign spots. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:33 am: - Real - You’re not very good at this. ===when you kept saying he will only support down ballot races only on raised funds. Keep up.=== Hmm. Let’s see… what I said, exactly aa I said it… ===Pritzker will have to raise it first.=== You want it as … “I interpret it as” Nothing to interpret, guess, speculate, wait on… Pritzker said he won’t be raising money. Pritzker now is… raising money. Get over it. You want what you hope, not what has happened. Keep up? You’re ignoring reality, lol - Nick Name - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:33 am: ===Erika Harold will prosecute Madigan and the corruption. She’s awesome.=== Whiskey tango foxtrot. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:37 am: ===“My grandparents lived in a double-wide trailer. I didn’t inherit a nickel.”=== Why he ignores his own father and his own upbringing is the stuff of head scratching - Retired SURS Employee - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:40 am: The Governor seems to think that winning most, if not all, downstate counties guarantees his re-election. Fortunately, it’s the vote of individuals that wins an election, not how many counties you’ve won. - @misterjayem - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:41 am: Anybody else see Madigan and the Corruption when they opened for Foghat? – MrJM - Real - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:41 am: Nothing to interpret, guess, speculate, wait on… Pritzker said he won’t be raising money. Pritzker now is… raising money. Get over it. You want what you hope, not what has happened. Keep up? You’re ignoring reality, lol -Which is why I also said there is nothing further to discuss We surely will see in time. - Just Sayin - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:44 am: “Erika Harold will prosecute Madigan and the corruption.” Gee, I wonder if Erika agrees with this? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:48 am: ===We surely will see in time.=== When you catch up? It’s happening now. Here’s the deal. At 12:01 am… Pritzker spent $143.75. At 12:02 am, another $143.75… and so on, every minute. Your thinking, that this fundraising thingy is “I interpret it as… “… Nothing to interpret. It’s monies going out that even someone worth billions (with a b, and an s at the end) sees that hubris of eating the whole bill… nah. Nothing to wait. Either you’re raising money or not. No ambiguity. When Pritzker raises the money, they’ll get it. Otherwise… why raise the money at all? - Real - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:50 am: Ow Get over yourself. We will see in time period. I don’t know why you continue to rant. - DarkHorse - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:52 am: I get it why Rauner is giving Harold $1 million. I don’t get why he then says she will prosecute Madigan - that just ensures Madigan will pull out all the stops for Raoul. Plus, he then makes Harold look like a puppet. - Nick Name - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:54 am: ===The Governor seems to think that winning most, if not all, downstate counties guarantees his re-election.=== In 2014 he won every county in the state except for Cook and he still barely squeaked by. I’m pretty sure he won’t have that magic this time around. - Lawman - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:54 am: Southside Chicago unemployment is “30 or 40 percent”. Guess it is taking some time for all those foreign corporations that Bruce recruited on his overseas trip to come in. Weren’t we suppose to be hearing those names that he recruited in a few weeks after his return. Time to name them, Bruce. That will take care of some of that unemployment. - Grandson of Man - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:57 am: “My grandparents lived in a double-wide trailer. I didn’t inherit a nickel.” Class warfare, lol. Poor Rauner, being raised in the Chicago suburbs, going to Dartmouth and Harvard and having to scratch out a living. It’s a miracle how he was able to avoid the streets. - Hit or Miss - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:58 am: ===I’m giving her a million dollars which is a lot of money for me.=== In 2016, the last data I could find, Rauner had taxable income of about $91 million. A $1 million donation is a bit over 1% of his income. That is not ‘a lot of money’, on a percentage basis, to me for someone like Rauner to make. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 10:59 am: ===We will see in time period. I don’t know why you continue to rant.=== Are you that person, standing with another, under an awning, rain coming down… and you turn to the other to say… “We’ll see if it rains” It’s raining. I’m tired of “alternative facts”… “I interpret it…” No. Facts are facts. You want to discuss after, fine. Pritzker is raising money now, after saying he wouldn’t. Nothing to wait for here. It’s raining. Pritzker is raising money. When he raises the money, then they’ll get it, otherwise, why raise money at all. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:02 am: I’d hate to think it’s interpreted that to get that Rauner million Erika Harold had to pledge to “find a way” to prosecute Madigan… - hisgirlfriday - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:03 am: Prosecute him for what? How soon before Bruce starts leading “lock him up” chants at rallies? Some people act like Trump is an anamoly with this authoritarian stuff because he is so vulgar and boorish, but as Rauner shows, lack of respect for the rule of law/independent legal institutions and only caring about them as a means to wield power to achieve partisan political objectives is a mainstream majority Republican position. - get real - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:07 am: Why won’t Rauner and Harold tell us what these supposed Madigan crimes are? Why r they sitting on it? Seems very unethical. - Northsider (the original) - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:13 am: Is he channeling Dr Strangelove? - wordslinger - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:13 am: –Prosecute him for what?– HGF and others make some good points. Rauner says he’s giving a million to an AG candidate because she will “prosecute” his political opponent. We all cool with the that Banana Republic stuff? Perhaps some reporters could follow up and have Rauner explain his intentions more fully. And if he attempts to speak off-script while also trying to rub his tummy, that will be extra-special hilarious. Because, that’s a lot to ask of him…. - Steve Rogers - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:16 am: –I’m funding Erika Harold– That’s a weird way to say that. Can she not fund raise on her own? - DarkHorse - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:20 am: Steve Rogers - most candidates don’t like fundraising and I sense she dislikes it more than most. - Boone's is Back - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:23 am: There’s gotta be better ways to waste money. Maybe he should’ve bought a tenth pad for that kind of scratch? - DarkHorse - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:23 am: Hit or Miss - very unfair hit on Rauner. Contributions are after-tax items, Rauner paid like 22% tax, so more like 1.5% of his income, you’re 50% off. - Texas Red - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:28 am: “We all cool with the that Banana Republic stuff?”.. having a 30 plus year Speaker/Democratic Party Chair with control of the statehouse having a daughter as AG looks like something straight out of a banana Republican as well. - DarkHorse - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:38 am: Oh, wondering - when is that $1 million going to drop? Haven’t seen it yet. For all we know, it gets spread out between now and November. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:40 am: ===…having a daughter as AG looks like something straight out of a banana Republican as well.=== What if it was a son? Funny, I don’t recall, less Birkett, the ILGOP really taking aim at defeating Lisa Madigan. So you absolve the ILGOP for continually ceding to Lisa Madigan part of that banana republic mentality too? - Arsenal - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:43 am: ==I’m funding Erika Harold.== the Kwame Comms Corps is currently figuring out how many times that line can fit in a 30-second spot. - TominChicago - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:50 am: Texas Red The AG’s office does not have authority to prosecute corruption. It has very limited prosecutorial authority. So how has Lisa’s being the AG in any way abetted her father’s alleged corruption? Moreover, the GOP has controlled the US attorney’s office for about half of the 30 years that Madigan has been in charge. Do you really think that Patrick Fitzgerald would not have indicted Madigan if there was credible evidence of corruption? Or was Fitzgerald also under Madigan’s control? - wordslinger - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 12:03 pm: –. having a 30 plus year Speaker/Democratic Party Chair with control of the statehouse having a daughter as AG looks like something straight out of a banana Republican as well.– You’re not big on elections, I take it. I guess that’s how you end up with Nazis and Fawell loony-tunes as GOP nominees. I also find it hilarious that the one time you try to back up something you say with a link, it goes to a page that doesn’t exist. Keep swingin’, champ. You’re bound to foul one off, eventually. http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/about/history.html” - Generic Drone - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 12:18 pm: A million dollars is alot of money for me”. $1000 is alot of money for the rest of us. - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 12:18 pm: Good to see the 5 day break sharpened Rauner’s focus. Not. - JS Mill - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 12:26 pm: Pritzker the gun grabber? Like he actually runs around grabbing guns? Last I checked he isn’t Governor yet. - Nick Name - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 12:27 pm: Hm. I took a look at the Attorney General Act [15 ILCS 205]. Of the fifteen duties of the AG listed in Section 4, prosecuting officers of the legislative branch isn’t one of them. The AG may, however, “…enforce the proper application of funds appropriated to the public institutions of the State, prosecute breaches of trust in the administration of such funds…” Gov. Gaslight: cough! step pay cough! - DarkHorse - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:30 pm: Having just listened to the audio of Rauner’s remarks that Rich very helpfully provided, it didn’t seem clear than Rauner was goin’ to give Harold $1 million more - just that “he’s giving her $1 million), a bunch of which he’s already given. We’ll see when the check arrives. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.