* Bob Skolnik…

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker dropped by Riverside Foods on the morning of May 17 to go grocery shopping with and for a Riverside woman.

No, the billionaire governor is not moonlighting as an Instacart shopper. But he did want to highlight how the recently passed package of tax cuts will help parents struggling with high prices and rapid inflation. […]

Pritzker spent nearly an hour at Riverside Foods. After helping Pfeiffer put her grocery bags in the back of her Chrysler minivan, Pritzker and Zalewski stopped by the Riverside home of John, Gelse and Ethan Tkalec.

Waiting for them was ShawnTe Raines Welch, the wife of Illinois House speaker Chris Welch and a candidate for judge in the 4th Judicial Subcircuit.

Raines-Welch said she was there in her capacity as a member of the Proviso Township Mental Health Commission, even though the Tkalecs live in Riverside Township. Pritzker chatted with the Tkalecs for approximately 15 minutes.

Must’ve been a coincidence. /s

* This poll is not new. It was taken more than a month ago. A more recent poll has Wallace slightly in the lead. Politico…

A NEW POLL shows Democrats Eric Sorensen and Litesa Wallace are leading in a four-person race for the newly drawn 17th Congressional District seat that Rep. Cheri Bustos now holds. But 51 percent of the 600 likely voters who participated in the Impact Research survey are undecided. Sorensen has an edge in the poll, which his team commissioned, with 20 percent, followed by Wallace, 16 percent; Jonathan Logemann, 5 percent; and Angie Normoyle, 3 percent. Margin of error was +/- 4 percent.

Some of those numbers are more than 5 weeks old.

* Press release…

Today Junaid Ahmed, Democratic candidate for Illinois’ new District 8, asks incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi to join him in refusing corporate-backed campaign donations.

Last week, an article in Politico highlighted ethical concerns over a Krishnamoorthi fundraiser. A pair of lobbyists planned to attend in hopes of discussing an active investigation that the Congressman is leading. Following questions by Politico about the possible conflict of interest, Krishnamoorthi and his campaign decided to cancel the event.

“Representative Krishnamoorthi is quoted in the Daily Herald as saying that he has to play by the rules of a broken political system. I guess those rules say you can break the law so long as the media doesn’t catch wind of it,” Ahmed said. “The congressman was caught with his hand in the corporate cookie jar. He embarrassed himself, his office, and the citizens of District 8. I call on the Congressman to join my pledge to refuse corporate PAC money.”

Ahmed has raised nearly $1 million through individual donations. To date, Rep. Krishnamoorthi has over $11 million cash on hand, more than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several other high-ranking members of Congress.

“Since Rep. Krishnamoorthi is the chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, he should really be leading the charge for campaign finance reform,” Ahmed said. “His job is to promote policies that address income inequality for the middle class. Fairer elections can happen if we take big money out of the picture.”

* Hackler is up against fellow Republican Jennifer Korte for the right to take on Rep. Katie Stewart (D-Edwardsville)…

Today, Joe Hackler, candidate for State Representative in the 112th district, announced his endorsement from the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police. As Democrats cast votes to make our communities less safe, supporting law enforcement and first responders is more critical than ever before. With this key endorsement, police voiced their support for Hackler as the candidate to represent them in Springfield.

“I am honored to have the support of our policemen and women and will fight every day to support them as they keep our communities safe,” said Hackler. “As crime skyrockets, I will continue to stand with law enforcement and take down the Democrats’ radical pro-criminal, anti-police agenda.”

* The folks at Peoples Fabric are in possession of another potentially huge oppo file: 3,500 emails between Tina Wallace, a candidate running for the Illinois House as a Democrat, and Chicago Ald. Raymond Lopez, who is now a candidate for mayor. Some of the email exchanges between the two revolved around Wallace’s efforts to at first keep out and then close down a popular and award-winning local brewery/restaurant. Have a look…

Launching her largely self-funded campaign for 19th District state representative with the slogan “The Change We Need,” Tina Wallace has touted her small business credentials and lack of political insider connections.

But public records show Wallace has already used her government connections to satisfy petty grievances, somewhat reminiscent of another area official. In one case, she set her sights on shuttering a beloved award-winning brewery—and she even enlisted the help of an alderman many wards away in her campaign against the small business. […]

In March 2019, after the extensive renovation—and more than a year after the establishment opened for business—inspectors from the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection were dispatched to the site by the alderman whose ward is more than twelve miles away. […]

In a highly unusual move, the south side alderman prompted then-BACP Commissioner Rosa Escareno to investigate Eris. The request was entirely based on complaints emailed by Wallace.

Lots more there, and, apparently, lots more to come. This is the same group that dug up a huge amount of unsavory things in Keith Thornton’s past before he dropped out of the same House primary race. Wallace is up against Rep. Lindsey LaPointe (D-Chicago).

* Press release…

Republican candidate for Governor Paul Schimpf released his 2021 Tax Returns, becoming the first Republican candidate to provide Illinois voters and media the opportunity for full transparency ahead of Illinoisans casting their ballots for the Primary Election. Schimpf understands the struggles of working families across the state, and calls on the other candidates for governor to release their tax returns and offer full transparency to the people they are trying to obtain support from.

“Illinois’ history of corruption runs deep, in large part because elected officials decided transparency to the people they were elected to serve wasn’t important,” Schimpf said. “I will bring transparency to our state government, and I’m starting now by releasing my 2021 tax returns so voters can truly know who they’re voting for—and who are they voting for? Someone that understands the daily struggles our working families face. I’m not like some of my other opponents who are lined with millions of dollars. High taxes, rising gas prices, increasing energy costs, record-high grocery prices all impact our low- and middle-class families, and I feel their burden. I call on all my fellow opponents to release their tax returns because Illinois voters deserve full transparency from the people who could be managing their tax dollars and running our state.”

The return is here. Schimpf reported an adjusted gross income of $56,360, mostly from his pension.

* Government email, but campaign-related…

Congresswoman Mary Miller (R-IL) released the following statement after Governor Pritzker signed HB4383, which makes buying, selling or possessing certain guns illegal in Illinois.

“Governor Pritzker is once again targeting law-abiding gun owners by banning certain firearms when his soft-on-crime policies caused the crime wave in Illinois,” said Miller, who is a member of the House Second Amendment Caucus. “Governor Pritzker cares more about providing “sanctuary state” benefits to non-citizen illegal aliens than defending the Second Amendment rights of the citizens he swore an oath to serve. The crime wave in Illinois is the result of Governor Pritzker using COVID to release inmates and refusing to accept inmate transfers from county prisons, and his work eliminating cash bail to put offenders right back on the street. Governor Pritzker is refusing to work with ICE to deport dangerous illegal immigrants but has no problem violating the Second Amendment rights of the citizens he swore an oath to defend. In Congress, I will always stand up for our Second Amendment. That is why I voted against H.R.8, also known as the “universal” background check bill, which seeks to criminalize the private transfer of firearms. We must protect law-abiding gun owners and our Second Amendment.”

* From the Rodney Davis campaign…

For two weeks, Mary Miller has refused to comment on news reports that a campaign worker of hers served jail time for soliciting sex from a young boy on the internet. Rodney Davis is calling on Miller to break her silence and explain her relationship with the child sex predator.

“Mary Miller needs to stop using the Biden basement strategy and start answering questions about her relationship with a child sex predator. For someone who claims to be an advocate for children and family values, Miller’s silence on this issue speaks volumes about her judgement and character. When you’re a candidate for Congress, you have to answer basic questions about your record. You can’t just hide from the public and hope a bad story blows over like Miller is doing. It’s far past time for Miller to start giving voters some answers.” - Rodney Davis, Republican candidate for Congress in IL-15

*** UPDATE *** I forgot to post this…

A recently conducted survey by Lake Research Partners in IL-01 reveals a competitive Democratic primary race for Congress, and a major opportunity for State Senator Jacqui Collins to take the lead. The race starts out a statistical tie between Collins, Jonathan Jackson, and Pat Dowell, with the undecided vote the clear leader today. However, Collins surges into a commanding 30-point lead once voters learn more about how her background and agenda for the office.

● Despite Jonathan Jackson’s name ID advantage, the race starts out with the top three candidates in a dead heat: 19% for Jackson to 14% for Collins and 14% for Dowell. Karin Norrington-Reaves (5%) and Jonathan Swain (3%) trail behind in the single digits. A 42% plurality of voters are completely undecided, making this contest truly up for grabs at this point in the race.

The polling memo goes on to claim that Sen. Collins’ builds a substantial lead with push questions. But that assumes she’ll have the cash to make her full case to voters. We’ll see.