* Tribune Editorial: This election is a showdown between Rauner and Madigan
* Down to the wire: Counting the days, pennies, patches, problems in gov race
* Far out! Illinois Dems think they’ve dropped in on the big one
* Rauner’s conservative predicament: “If Bruce Rauner ends up losing we need to realize that we need to go back to our grassroots. We need to be inclusive. We need to be a positive party. We’ve got to stop calling people names and focus on a agenda that makes sense,” McSweeney said.
* It’s probably too late for Republican attorney general candidate Erika Harold campaign to run an ad about this, but it will likely dominate her fly-around on Monday…
If you click the link you’ll see Speaker Madigan made the contribution to Sen. Kwame Raoul’s campaign fund on Halloween. Kinda fitting. Not everyone is happy about this behind the scenes, I’m told, with one calling it “Clearly a power move.” Madigan could’ve washed that cash through the Democratic Party of Illinois, but for whatever reason chose to give directly to Raoul. Since Raoul could really use the money for late TV, he took it.
Harold, an Urbana attorney, bought limited broadcast TV advertising time in the Chicago market for the race’s final weekend. Her campaign late Friday also purchased cable advertising time in the Chicago market. […]
From Oct. 23 through Friday, Raoul has taken in more than $1.3 million in cash and assistance for his campaign. Oct. 23 marked two weeks out from the Nov. 6 election. The donations to Raoul included nearly $445,000 worth of phone banking assistance plus another $55,400 in cash from the Democratic Party of Illinois, $103,867 worth of mailings from the abortion-rights advocacy group Personal PAC, $200,000 from the Laborers’ union and $50,000 from the Teamsters union.
Over that same home stretch of the campaign, Harold reported taking in $166,850. Of Harold’s overall haul of $5.4 million, $3.5 million — or 64 percent — has come from Rauner and Rauner ally Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel. Rauner has contributed $1.8 million while Griffin has given $1.7 million. […]
Raoul allies acknowledged privately that the contest would likely be among the closest of statewide races on the ballot, though they dismissed concerns that their candidate could be in danger. Internal polling, though, has shown that Raoul has consistently trailed behind the larger leads held by other Democrats seeking statewide office, particularly Pritzker, party operatives said.
…Adding… Harold campaign spokesperson…
Mike Madigan wants an Attorney General he can control. That’s why he’s attempting to bail out @KwameRaoul’s failing campaign with a last-minute $1M personal check. Unlike Raoul, @ErikaHarold will hold Madigan accountable and will be the independent voice #IL needs. #twill#ILAGhttps://t.co/82WiF5aHzq
Congressional candidate Lauren Underwood lives in a $750,000 Naperville home with a three-car garage, one block from an exclusive, private golf course.
Upwardly-mobile suburban voters typically admire the trappings of success— when they are one’s own.
Underwood, however, still sleeps in her childhood bedroom, down the hall from her mother and father in the home where she grew up.
There was once a time when a 32 year-old might be embarrassed, perhaps even mortified to rely on their parents to pay their credit card bills.
But no longer.
These days, “failure to launch” doesn’t make one reluctant to offer their leadership and wisdom to others, to run for the statehouse or even U.S. Congress. Enter Underwood, who was recruited by Democrats to challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Plano) this year in Illinois’ 14th Congressional District. It includes Naperville, Plainfield, Shorewood and Aurora in Will County, as well as parts of DuPage Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and DeKalb Counties.
In her defense, Underwood is hardly the only candidate on the Illinois ballot this year still living with their parents.
Democrat Bridget Fitzgerald, 30, is running for state Senate in a district that includes parts of Lockport, Homer Glen, Orland Park and Naperville. She lives with her parents in nearby Western Springs, also in the house in which she grew up.
Near the Wisconsin border, Jake Castanza, 28, still lives with his dad in Rockford. He graduated from Purdue in May, then kicked off a campaign for state representative against a three-term incumbent.
The candidacy of a still dependent like Underwood, Fitzgerald or Castanza would ordinarily be seen as quixotic. But state and national Democrat leaders are backing the trio with millions of dollars, betting voters driven by their animus to President Donald Trump won’t dig deep into their resumes.
So far, polling numbers show the three as competitive, suggesting they haven’t.
Just days before Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza is slated to be on the ballot for a second term, a new campaign ad surfaced Friday showing her announcing a run for Chicago mayor, but her team insisted the ad was only made in preparation for a potential run.
“I’m Susana Mendoza and I’m running for mayor of Chicago,” Mendoza says in the seconds-long clip obtained by NBC 5, adding, “and I ask you to join me on this journey together.”
The ad, which Mendoza claimed was stolen from her campaign, surfaced four days before she is slated to be on the ballot in the midterm elections, running against Republican Darlene Senger for a second term as Illinois comptroller.
Mendoza’s campaign said the ad was simply made in preparation for a possible run, as she is still considering her options.
Worst. Kept. Secret. Ever.
Either this was stolen or leaked from within. Either way, somebody needs to upgrade their security before making a formal announcement for mayor.
…Adding… If you click here and go to the 18-second mark of a Mendoza comptroller campaign ad, you’ll see that she’s wearing that same gray sweater and appears to be in the same room as in the above ad. It seems possible that she cut these at the same time.
Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th) hedged her bets, filing for both re-election to her aldermanic seat and for city clerk. She’ll have to drop one or the other by Monday, she said. She and her husband will talk about it over Thanksgiving dinner, she said.
State Rep. Susana Mendoza poked fun at Jackson’s double-filing as she filed her own candidacy for clerk.
“I filed for one office I’m really passionate about and that’s city clerk,” she said.
…Adding… ILGOP…
“Susana Mendoza is a liar. She said she would respect voters by focusing on the Comptroller’s race, but it’s clear that she only cares about her own ambition and climbing up the ladder. Mendoza has been misleading the people of Illinois, asking for their vote with no intention of serving her term. She should immediately drop off the ballot for Comptroller” - Illinois Republican Party Executive Director Travis Sterling
Eric Adelstein, Mendoza’s political consultant, stepped up to take the blame for the mayoral video.
“We were filming her comptroller ads and I suggested that, while she hasn’t made up her mind on the mayor’s race, she should record some lines so we had them and could move quickly if she decides ultimately to run. It’s a tight time-frame,” Adelstein said, noting the Nov. 28 mayoral filing deadline.
“She hasn’t made up her mind. One-hundred percent. l hope she runs … because the city could really use her energy, her drive and her vision. … But, maybe I jumped the gun by urging her to go out. … People should be focused on Tuesday.”
Asked if he had a mole in his firm, Adelstein said he didn’t know.
“There are a lot of people involved in these campaigns. Hopefully we get to the bottom of how that leaked out. It shouldn’t have,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s any surprise she’s been thinking about running, and said she’d make that decision after Tuesday, and a prudent candidate gets ready for any eventuality given how close the next one would be coming up … I know she has not made up her mind, but I had suggested she get prepared and get ready.”
Communities facing abnormally high cancer risks from toxic air pollution stand out on a color-coded map created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Only a few dozen residential areas nationwide are shaded dark blue like neighborhoods surrounding the Sterigenics facility in west suburban Willowbrook, where potent ethylene oxide gas escapes from fumigation chambers used to sterilize medical instruments, pharmaceutical drugs and food.
Pull back from a tight focus on Willowbrook and another dark blue cluster comes into view about 40 miles northeast in Lake County.
More than 19,000 people live within areas at risk from ethylene oxide emitted by a Medline Industries facility near Interstate 94 in the southwest corner of Waukegan, the interactive map shows.
Another facility in Lake County could pose even greater risks than Sterigenics or Medline. Federal and state officials confirmed the only reason it isn’t on the map is that someone at the state level failed to provide the facility’s ethylene oxide emissions for the U.S. EPA’s latest estimate of cancer risks, known as the National Air Toxics Assessment. […]
None of the findings about Medline and Vantage has been shared with the public until now.
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after the Chicago Tribune published a story that details how two facilities in Lake County, Illinois – Medline Industries, Inc. in Waukegan and Vantage Specialty Chemicals, Inc. in Gurnee – appear to emit cancer-causing emissions, yet the Rauner Administration, along with the Trump Administration, have delayed giving this pertinent information to Lake County residents:
This is simply outrageous. Day after day, the Rauner and Trump Administrations continue to prioritize public relations over serious public health hazards. The U.S. EPA and Illinois EPA must immediately begin conducting ambient air monitoring and stack tests to identify all emissions from the Medline and Vantage facilities and determine whether these facilities are releasing harmful levels of ethylene oxide – cancer causing emissions. They must also guarantee that both companies are taking the necessary steps to limit ethylene oxide emissions using any available pollution control technologies. Most importantly, the Rauner and Trump Administrations must be fully transparent with the public about the information they have on these two facilities, and set a public meeting for Lake County residents. Additionally, I will be calling on the EPA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to investigate whether or not EPA complied with all statutory, regulatory, and policy requirements and protocols when it intentionally withheld critical health information from the public on these two facilities. The health and safety of Illinoisans is at stake.
After pouring a record-breaking $161.5 million into his own candidacy, Illinois Democrat J.B. Pritzker will close out his 18-month gubernatorial campaign with an ad that never even mentions his name.
In the final spot, first obtained by POLITICO, Pritzker doesn’t ask Illinois voters to go to the polls for him specifically. Instead, the ad urges “on Tuesday, vote Democratic.” […]
In a statement about the ad, Pritzker said he’s focusing on boosting Democrats up and down the ticket. Pritzker has already financed a massive statewide GOTV operation that is coordinating with Democrats across the state. While polls have consistently shown Pritzker holding a comfortable lead against Rauner, four Republican-held Illinois congressional districts remain toss-ups. The Democratic nominee for governor has also invested in the contest for attorney general, which pits Democrat Kwame Raoul against Republican Erika Harold.
The fact that Pritzker can take an unusual step of not including his name in his closing spot is a testament to the onslaught of ads that have carpeted every media platform available for 18 months. Viewers will likely recognize the narrator’s voice: it’s Pritzker himself. He also makes an appearance in the spot.
* The spot, per state law, does say briefly on-screen that it’s paid for by JB for Governor…
Hard work, decency, looking out for our children’s future, creating opportunity. That’s what’s on the ballot on Tuesday. When you vote for Democrats, you can make clear health care is a right and pre-existing conditions should be protected. You can make sure that all kids get a quality education no matter where they live. You can send a message that it’s time for a change in Springfield and in Washington. On Tuesday, vote Democratic.
With Rauner at the helm, we believe the state stands a better chance of navigating the difficult financial straits ahead.
We understand Pritzker holds what appears to be an insurmountable lead in polls leading into the election and that if elected, Rauner would face the challenge of working with a Legislature he largely has alienated.
We take the governor at his word, though, with his mea culpa and think he would be an important, much-needed check on single-party rule in the General Assembly.
With that in mind, we endorse Gov. Bruce Rauner for a second term.
A campaign ad put out by Rauner’s campaign for governor this week showed his childhood home in suburban Deerfield, prompting CBS 2 to look into his past as a child growing up in the Chicago suburbs.
A Chicago Tribune article that ran in 1963 shows an 8-year-old Rauner with his family.
A check of Rauner’s birth certificate shows his birth year was actually 1956, a year earlier than the year widely-published.
Rauner’s campaign staff on Thursday acknowledged the mistake, and his Facebook page had been changed to the correct year on Thursday.
But it may take the rest of the internet some time to catch up, however. His Wikipedia page still cites his birth year as 1957.
* I think Rick Pearson and Mike Riopell have written the best story about how DuPage County politics are changing that I have ever read. One small excerpt…
But there are other factors at play — such as the demographic shift DuPage County has been experiencing. DuPage is becoming less white, and its white population is growing older, according to statistics compiled by the county’s public health department. At the same time, its racial and ethnic minority population is growing, and it’s trending younger. […]
Between 1990 and 2013, the county’s Latino population increased by 275.4 percent and the African-American population increased by 175 percent, the DuPage health department report said. During that time period, there was a 124.3 percent increase in the 55 to 59 age group and a 162.4 percent increase in the 85 and over age group. […]
A critical subset of suburban voters are women — fiscally conservative but socially moderate who are true swing voters who can hold strong sway over the outcome of Illinois elections.
“I’ve got a picture of her on a PowerPoint,” said Mooney, the UIC political scientist, explaining one of his class exhibits.
“She’s about 34, she’s got a kid in the backseat that she’s taking to daycare or to soccer, she’s driving an SUV and she’s driving around in Schaumburg or Lisle or something like that,” he said. “She’s socially, fairly liberal. She has no problem with gay people. Immigrants maybe make her a little nervous but not that much. But she doesn’t like her taxes, and she doesn’t like Donald Trump and all these nasty things about people. That’s one of the problems some of these suburban Republicans have at the moment and the governor.”
* I haven’t received anything yet from the Republicans in these two races, but here’s Lauren Underwood…
* Script…
This is our community. We work every day to make it better for our children.
Our representative in Washington pledged to protect our health care, then voted to sabotage it. He told us he would stand up for our families, then he championed a tax break for the rich.
We were disappointed and we were emboldened. This is our community and our representative is not working for us.
Casten: “I’m Sean Casten, and I’ve spent my career building businesses that will leave a safer, cleaner planet to our children. But when Donald Trump was elected, I knew I had to do more.”
Narrator: “After 25 years, Peter Roskam can’t run on his record. He’s lost touch with the people who sent him to Washington.”
Casten: “In Congress, I’ll make decisions based on facts, not partisan politics. I’ll work with Republicans and Democrats to tackle our problems and I’ll be an independent check on Donald Trump.”
* In past years, the Democratic Party of Illinois opened a hotline on election day to take calls about voting issues. The effort was expanded to a month this year. From DPI…
(T)he Voter Protection Program has received more than 700 calls and helped resolve dozens of voting-related issues. While a majority of the calls relate to vote-by-mail or general election questions, the staff intervened and helped resolve dozens of issues often with the assistance of the State Board of Elections. These include:
Successfully intervening at a Will County early voting location, with the help of local officials, that was plagued by long wait times and even turned potential voters away;
Intervening on the first day of voting when a local election authority incorrectly advised voters that a Drivers’ License was required to vote, which is not the case;
Working with DuPage County election officials to ensure that ballots for disabled voters were made available at an early vote location.
* That Will County instance was interesting. I first heard of it from a legislator’s tweet…
Voters are having problems at the Crete Twp. early voting facility; 1367 Wood St. in Crete. They're being told they have to sign a list and to expect long waits. This is nonsense. Many people there feel as though this is an instance of voter suppression.
* This e-mail was sent by the Will County Clerk’s chief deputy that afternoon..
To: Kathie Holubek, Crete Township Clerk
Michael Liccar, Crete Township Supervisor
Today was the first day for Early Voting at Crete Township Office Building. Our office has received numerous calls complaining about the long lines and inappropriate procedures taking place at this location. The clerk is making up her own policies for voting that are unlawful and unacceptable and must cease immediately.
I personally trained the Clerk (and staff) and it was never communicated that you can do any of the following:
· No voters should ever be turned away if they have entered your building during the hours you have agreed to for Early Voting
· All voters in line must be allowed to vote
· No phone numbers or lists are to be written down for a call back when they can vote
· No signs should be posted that voting is closed, especially if it is still within the hours you agreed to
As elected officials it is your duty to provide this service to your residents per the guidelines of the agreement you signed (copy attached). The Will County Clerk is asking for you to provide us with a phone number so we can call you after all voting is finished today in Crete to further discuss this matter. We await your response.
*** UPDATE *** That sign requiring a driver’s license to vote was in Cumberland County…
IMHO, under no circumstances should a governor - whoever it is - hire a chief of staff with no state government experience in Illinois. We do not need a Rauner repeat.
That was intended as a response to a suggestion elsewhere that a tech/business guy with no political or government experience might be in line to be JB Pritzker’s chief of staff should he be elected governor.
I’ve since re-thought that blanket assertion after discussing it over with some old hands in both parties. Gov. Rauner’s first chief of staff, for instance, had no state government experience. He and his team had their flubs, but the worst mistakes were made by the governor when he wouldn’t listen to his team’s advice, whether that was over doing a budget deal or whatever.
His third chief of staff also had no significant state government experience and that person was out after only a few chaotic months at the helm.
So, it can go either way. It really depends on the person and the top dog, not really the chief’s specific background. I let my Statehouse chauvinism show through too much. It happens on occasion.
* What the next governor (whoever it is) needs in a chief is someone he can totally trust to always look out for his and the state’s best interests. People are going to be coming at him from all directions with their own agendas, and with their hands or their swords (or both) out. So that chief will have to remind him that Illinoisans put him in that job for a reason and sometimes that means saying “No” to an ally and also means finding a way to get to “Yes” with others.
I think Gov. Rauner had that sort of chief when he was inaugurated, except the governor didn’t listen nearly enough. The governor wanted everything done right away and then got almost nothing done after the FY15 budget deal because that’s what happens when you demand too much, too fast in a divided government (or even in a one-party government).
* The bottom line here is that prior state government experience isn’t as all-important as I insisted the other day. I still think it would be helpful, but I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary. What matters most is a range of abilities and a bond of trust.
WHO / WHAT State Representative Jeanne Ives, former conservative reform Republican for Governor, has some availability for interviews related to the Midterm election.
WHEN Monday, November 5, all day; Tuesday, November 6, 6:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.- 11:00 p.m.; Wednesday, November 7, all day
WHERE Representative Ives will be in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, but is available via phone and satellite.
WHY Ives can discuss a number of issues, including her election predictions, election results, and next steps for the ILGOP
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois is threatening to haul the state’s child welfare agency into court next week if it doesn’t take immediate action to ensure kids are safe inside an Uptown psychiatric hospital that has seen a rise in complaints alleging youths were sexually and physically abused due to lax supervision and improper staff conduct.
The group wants the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to put an immediate hold on future admissions of the agency’s young patients into Chicago Lakeshore Hospital, as well as allow for an independent investigation of recent problems there. Four state lawmakers also called on DCFS to seek an outside review of the hospital.
In addition, the ACLU is asking DCFS to transfer the agency’s youths out of the private hospital if a more suitable facility can be found. And the organization urged DCFS staff to conduct daily unannounced visits. […]
The ACLU, which has a long-running federal class-action lawsuit against DCFS on behalf of children in the state’s foster system, gave the agency until the end of Friday to respond or it plans to ask U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso to intervene, said Heidi Dalenberg, the civil rights group’s general counsel.
State lawmakers Thursday called for an independent investigation of a Chicago psychiatric hospital, citing a ProPublica Illinois report that found allegations of sexual assault and abuse of children, as well as safety violations related to suicidal patients.
In a letter to the head of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, three state lawmakers said they support the recommendation of DCFS’ acting inspector general, Meryl Paniak, to appoint an independent reviewer to go into Aurora Chicago Lakeshore Hospital and examine the agency’s response to incidents there. […]
State Reps. Sara Feigenholtz and Greg Harris and state Sen. Heather Steans, all Chicago Democrats, expressed in the letter their “serious concern” about reported incidents involving “harm to youth” at the hospital. They urged Beverly “B.J.” Walker, DCFS’ acting director, to “move swiftly” in naming an independent reviewer.
That person, they wrote, should be appointed to “evaluate not only the cases at Chicago Lakeshore and the response by DCFS, but also to conduct a thorough review of quality of care and adherence to all relevant laws, policies, and procedures.” In addition, the review should include recommendations on how to “guarantee the safety and best possible outcomes” for children at the hospital now or in the future.
State Sen. Julie Morrison, a Democrat from Deerfield, said separately on Thursday that she is drafting a second letter to DCFS reiterating the need for an independent investigation and asking DCFS to ensure the process takes no longer than 60 days.
UPDATE: Signs I referenced earlier. Looks like wind blew them flat. "Bought and Paid for by Mike Madigan" signs next to Jackson Co. Dem. Clerk candidate. @WSILNews@capitolfaxpic.twitter.com/85yTP2Irxl
* Earlier this week, the Field Museum announced free admission on election day for anyone who could show proof that they voted. Oopsie…
“The intention is golden. But under the law, you can’t offer anything of value in connection with registering to vote or voting,” said Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
The good news? Now the free admission offer will be extended to all Illinois residents, regardless of whether or not they’ve got an “I Voted” sticker.
“Oh, what the heck,” the museum announced after a nitpicking Chicago Sun-Times reporter inquired about the potential felony. “Field Museum free to all IL residents Nov. 6, even if you don’t vote.”
Field Museum spokeswoman Kate Golembiewski called it a mistake, saying they “still hope people research the issues that matter to them and make their voices heard.”
* Gov. Rauner is on the final bus tour of the campaign. Peoria…
If re-elected, Rauner said his first priorities would be to work with the Legislature on a pension reform package as well as putting together “one of the biggest capital bills in Illinois history.”
The latter, he said, can be done without raising taxes on residents by leveraging more federal money, using more public-private partnerships and getting revenue from expanded sports betting and gambling.
After a first term that frequently faced gridlock with the Legislature, Rauner said a second term would reflect lessons learned.
“What we’ve learned is by focusing on moderate wins, getting small steps, we can build up a lot of steps to get change over time,” he said, adding that he hoped that more reform-minded legislators of both parties would be taking office.
“Change takes time, especially in a system that’s as broken as ours,” he said. “We got into this mess over 40 years, we can’t change it in four.”
“Every vote we get here, we don’t have to get up in Cook County,” said Rauner, highlighting the fact that his victory in 2014 was close, even though he won every county in the state except Cook.
“A lot of people might say ‘I’m too busy to vote,’ or My vote does not matter.’ Every Vote Matters! This race is going to be closer than people think.” […]
“[Pritzker] is outspending us by $100-million,” said Rauner. “Good grief, he is trying to buy the election. [He is] covering the airwaves with false advertising, but the truth is breaking through. That’s why it’s so great to have some members of the media here. The truth gets known, we are going to win.” […]
“Corruption, insider dealing, this guy has used the language of racists, he’s been caught on FBI wiretaps trying to buy office from [former Illinois Governor Rod] Blagojevich, his own staff is suing him for racial discrimination, and Cook County Democrats investigated him for his property tax shenanigans and they decided property tax fraud, mail fraud and perjury for falsely manipulating, taking toilets out, saying ‘No one can live here so it’s worthless, I should not have to pay $330,000 in property taxes.’ This guy is corrupt at his core.”
A Paul Simon Public Policy poll earlier this month showed Rauner trailing Democratic challenger J.B. Pritzker by 22 points. But Rauner said he wasn’t concerned with poll results.
“We were trailing by similar amounts four years ago,” he said. “I don’t pay that much attention to polls; they’ve been shown to be wrong so many times over recent election cycles. All that really matters is the turnout and the vote results on Nov. 6. […]
“Pritzker has been part of that corrupt machine — (Gov.) Blagojevich, Madigan — they’ve all been together in that Chicago nest of malfeasance,” Rauner said. “When you cut through everything, this election is really about taxes and corruption. As that truth gets known, I really believe we are going to prevail in this election.” […]
“The critical thing out of the gate will be a capital bill,” he said. “We need to invest in our infrastructure and invest in our state. We are the transportation hub of America. We’ll get it done right after the election.”
* Chicago Magazine’s Edward McClelland couldn’t get away from JB Pritzker’s constant ads on Spotify, so he wrote about it…
Pritzker isn’t just advertising on Spotify and YouTube, but on Pandora, Hulu, and Facebook, according to his communications director, Galia Slayen. She called the campaign’s digital program “honestly one of the best in the nation. We’re reaching voters in ways voters have never been reached before, and we’re doing it on a scale it’s never been done [before].”
Digital platforms, she explained, allow politicians to reach various demographic groups more precisely than TV or radio. For instance, the Pritzker campaign targeted Facebook and YouTube ads at voters who favored marijuana legalization by using data from an online survey by Civis Analytics. The survey asked voters’ opinions on a wide variety of issues; Civis then used that data to model voters likely to be pro-legalization.
“You have so much data about who you’re reaching,” Meininger said. “In digital, I know X, Y, and Z about people who listen to Coffee Table Jazz. Even if they’re not picking out you, they’ll do a profile about people who listen to this type of music.”
In 2016, Hillary Clinton won voters under 45, while Donald Trump won voters over 45. Younger people are more likely to use streaming services, which makes digital advertising more important for Democrats.
“Democrats, especially, need to invest more in digital,” said Pritzker’s digital director, Megan Clasen. “Digital reaches young people and TV reaches older people.”
There’s a good feeling of balance emanating from the Executive Office and on Beacon Hill these days, a far cry from what is transpiring in Washington.
People’s concerns are getting a fair hearing, no matter what side of the political aisle they are aligned.
It’s a tribute to the collaborative spirit fostered by Baker’s team with Democrat leaders controlling both branches of the state Legislature. While nothing is perfect — and differences of opinion crop up all the time — there is an attitude of respect and collegiality among lawmakers that says adults are at work and we’ll get this done.
The end result is that Massachusetts and its 6.6 million residents are better off today than they were four years ago.
Under the Baker administration, 215,000 people have found jobs who didn’t have them two years ago. New businesses are moving into the state and some existing ones are expanding. Our state public colleges are winning accolades for quality and value by national rating services and magazines, and lawmakers are pumping record dollars into the K-12 school system.
But there’s a lesson in the divergence so far, one that tells us that even in these angry and polarized times, there’s a market for decorum, pragmatism and political centrism.
Rauner chose to go down — and I do mean down — a confrontational path. His strategy was to try to browbeat and insult “corrupt” Democratic legislative leaders into passing items on his highly ideological 44-point pro-business agenda, and, when that failed, to wait until they blinked during a 736-day budget stalemate.
Rauner congratulated himself on his stubbornness, impatience and resolve as the state’s fiscal condition continued to deteriorate and his poll numbers plummeted. […]
The contrasting results achieved so far by these outwardly very similar men shows that, while the public may thrill to invective and rage, what most constituents want are adult politicians who know how to work together without rancor, split their differences and get things done.
“Mike Madigan’s power, his tentacles, are everywhere, in all the branches of government. But I’ve figured out how to get around him,” the governor said, citing passage of a balanced budget.
All of Rauner’s talk about Madigan’s power prompted the show’s host, Tom Miller, to ask the Republican governor: “Bruce, are you saying that there’s a deep state in Illinois when it comes to Madigan?”
“Well, I can tell you there absolutely is, and it is corrupt. It’s corrosive, and it’s very powerful,” Rauner said.
“Madigan is the head of it, but he’s got his cronies, his minions all buried in the judiciary in the judicial branch, all through the General Assembly and unfortunately in most of the departments over in the administration, the executive branch of government,” he said.
And since the governor was speaking to a Downstate audience, Rauner added that his Democratic challenger Pritzker was a “super-liberal gun-grabber” who was “bad news for southern Illinois.”
