* Gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin is holding a news media availability today for the first time since launching his campaign almost two months ago…

#TakeItBack Campaign Stop 1:

WHO: Gubernatorial Candidate Richard Irvin and Lieutenant Governor Candidate Avery Bourne
WHAT: #TakeItBack Tour Campaign Stop
WHEN: 12:15pm on Monday, March 7th
WHERE: Downtown Cafe and Bakery, 217 N Main St, Decatur, IL 62523

#TakeItBack Campaign Stop 2:

WHO: #TakeItBack Team: Richard Irvin, Avery Bourne, Steve Kim, John Milhiser, Tom Demmer, and Shannon Teresi.
WHAT: #TakeItBack Kick-Off Event
WHEN: 5:00pm on Monday, March 7th - Media allowed from 5-6pm, with media availability after remarks. Event is closed to press after media availability.
WHERE: Statehouse Inn Governor’s Ballroom, 101 E Adams St, Springfield, IL 62701

* He’ll probably want to talk about this…

In just one week, JB Pritzker’s shoddy ethics have gone from bad to worse. After refusing to answer how much he personally profited off one of the state’s largest contracts, he is now trying to re-write history of how he enabled Mike Madigan to continue to run his criminal enterprise. Also known as Public Official A, the former disgraced House Speaker was indicted with 22 counts of racketeering and bribery charges.

A week ago, we learned that Pritzker knew he was profiting off a personal investment into Centene, a company that holds one of the largest contracts with the state of Illinois. Despite having personally signed a document just last year acknowledging this investment, Pritzker doubled down in his denial by insisting there was no conflict of interest at all.

Now he’s trying to further rewrite history on his cozy relationship with disgraced former House Speaker Mike Madigan by pretending to celebrate the news of his indictment even though he said that the people of Illinois should be “grateful” for his service when Madigan stepped down in February 2021. Despite the state’s largest utility company admitting to attempting to bribe Madigan in exchange for favorable treatment in July 2020, Pritzker allowed Madigan to continue his reign of corruption in Illinois government and refused to call for his immediate resignation.

“JB Pritzker will continue his election year gimmicks because he’s desperate to distance himself from the corruption he enabled for years,” said Irvin for Illinois Campaign spokesperson Eleni Demertzis. “At a time when we need leaders who will hold all public officials to the highest levels of integrity, we learned JB Pritzker prefers to turn a blind eye to corruption and it’s simply unacceptable. ”

* Meanwhile, a bit of fun with numbers…

Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin promotes a “tough-on-crime” mantra as part of his campaign for Illinois governor.

Since Irvin jumped into the Republican primary earlier this year, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker and lawmakers have criticized Irvin for touting a crime-busting reputation while ignoring his 15 years of work as a defense attorney.

In a Feb. 20 tweet, Irvin said, “In my first year in office, Aurora homicides went down by 40%. While crime is exploding under anti-police politicians, I have suppressed crime in Aurora. Send me to Springfield and I’ll do the same thing across all Illinois.”

We decided to check out whether Irvin’s claims at reducing homicides in one year stand up to his assertion he “suppressed crime” since taking office in May 2017.

* The guy does seem to have a problem with easily checkable facts. Here he is on WMAY this morning when asked what the state should have done with COVID-19…

What I would not have done is made these sweeping determinations without, as though I was an emperor, and do all these executive orders without involving the individuals that were affected by it. Now when JB Pritzker made the determination on his own without talking to any of the mayors or any of the, for example, restaurant industry leaders when he shut down all the restaurants that affected our economy. He didn’t even talk to the Restaurant Association to see if there was a way to keep patrons safe.

Wait. The governor called Mayor Irvin himself, according to Mayor Irvin in 2020…

Yesterday on Wednesday, July 15, Governor JB Pritzker announced the state’s new action plan to combat the resurgence of COVID-19 through a series of mitigation efforts. The governor called me on Tuesday evening to explain to me his plan for the state

Also, while the governor and the Illinois Restaurant Association have publicly clashed on numerous occasions, they have generally (not always) kept communications lines open.

* I mean, he now says restaurants should’ve been allowed to open when he hasn’t held an in-person state of the city address in two years?…

Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin will give his first in-person State of the City address in two years at 6:30 p.m. March 15 at the Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora.

C’mon, man.