As usual, plenty of false claims have been made during this state legislative election cycle.
But the campaign I keep going back to in my own mind is the battle in the 97th House District.
The race features freshman incumbent Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, a union ironworker and a former local elected official. The Republican challenger is Gabriella Shanahan, an executive assistant with the Illinois Policy Institute.
Organized labor is keen on this race because the Illinois Policy Institute is known for its anti-union crusades, and Benton is one of their own.
The 97th District had been held by the Republican Party before the 2021 remap, so the Republicans really want to win it back.
But the remap did a number on this district. Donald Trump lost the old district by 8 percentage points in 2020 and 3 points in 2016. Trump lost the precincts that make up the newly redrawn district by more than 10 points in 2020 and 6 points in 2016. Every statewide Democratic candidate has won the precincts in the new district going back to 2016 except one, appointed Republican Comptroller Leslie Munger won it by less than 4 points.
The freshman incumbent and the Democrats have been playing some games there, despite having a huge fundraising advantage of close to $2 million for Benton to $525,000 for the Republican Shanahan (including a $100,000 loan from herself on Nov. 1), as I write this four days before the election.
My associate Isabel Miller reported a while back that Benton told WSPY Radio earlier this year he was “pretty happy to see that the grocery tax is going away,” after the governor proposed eliminating the tax during his State of the State message in February.
Some of Benton’s campaign mailers even claimed the incumbent “supported the elimination of the grocery tax.”
But when it came time to vote on eliminating the grocery tax, Benton didn’t vote either way.
Benton told Isabel that some of his municipalities would lose lots of money since the 1% grocery tax was solely collected for local governments.
But when Isabel asked him why he was touting a position that he didn’t officially take, Benton said, “Since I didn’t vote on HB 3144, people wouldn’t have known my position. I wanted to let people know before anyone could misrepresent my position that while there were parts of that bill I didn’t agree with, I had spoken out about cutting taxes on groceries.”
Um, OK.
Last month, the Democrats ran a digital ad blasting Shanahan for accepting contributions from politicians who “voted to block funding for testing rape kits,” among other things.
That allegation was based on campaign contributions from Republican state legislators who voted against the state budget, which included funding for rape kit testing. Shanahan has indeed received money from several of those GOP members.
However, wanna take a guess who also voted with those very same Republicans against the omnibus appropriations bill (Senate Bill 251)? If you said, “Rep. Harry Benton,” you win a prize.
A person close to Benton said at the time the freshman incumbent had no veto power over the House Democratic ads.
Well, the incumbent’s personal campaign fund, Friends to Elect Harry Benton, then began running a Chicago broadcast TV ad that made the same exact hypocritical charge.
“Gabby Shanahan won’t protect women,” Benton himself said in the voice-over. “She’s backed by extreme politicians who voted to block funding for testing rape kits.”
In other words, he was personally, with his own voice, blasting his opponent for taking money from Republican legislators who made the same exact “No” vote that he did on the budget.
Benton also said this in the ad: “I voted against a new tax on retirement savings for our seniors.” No bill number was flashed on the screen as a reference, and I have no idea what the heck he was talking about.
The almost comically lopsided imbalance in campaign money this year means that Democratic candidates can basically say whatever the heck they want without any sort of consequence.
And the collapse of local news media in the state means that almost nobody in the district will ever hear about this, and the incumbent won’t be called to account.
The Democrats know all this, of course, which is why they do it.
- Donnie Elgin - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 10:26 am:
Politicians like Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield need to be held to account when they make spurious claims. I am unsure what can be done about the decline in local media. I’m doing my part by subscribing to Tribune and Daily Herald. Thank you Rich for highlighting this.
- @misterjayem - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 10:29 am:
truth•i•ness - noun. a truthful or seemingly truthful quality that is claimed for something not because of supporting facts or evidence but because of a feeling that it is true or a desire for it to be true.
– MrJM
- Candy Dogood - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 10:41 am:
===The Democrats know all this, of course, which is why they do it.===
What is occurring here is right out of Karl Rove’s playbook which was proven to be very effective. Attacking your opponent in an area you’re weak in even if your attack is untrue diminishes the ability of the opponent’s counter attack on the same issue, even if that counter is coming from a sincere reporter trying to keep a candidate honest about their votes. Of course, I doubt anyone would have brought this issue up if his campaign and allies hadn’t decided to use it as an attack, even if it makes their candidate a hypocrite at best or a liar.
Even for something out of Rove’s handbook, this is still a pretty extreme example.
- Pot calling kettle - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 10:41 am:
==Politicians like Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield need to be held to account when they make spurious claims.==
When you write “politician like…” are you referring to Dems or to any politicians who “make spurious claims”? Because there is one guy on the ballot who blows all of the others away when it comes to making “spurious claims.”
- Lurker - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 10:43 am:
With the way media is now dispersed and absorbed, this is only the beginning in the lies that will be told. At some point we will get to where laws are created and enforced against lies but that will not happen in my lifetime.
- Just A Thought - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 10:51 am:
This has been very disappointing. Benton is a nice guys and is relatively liked in Springfield, but this will last with people who may now have a different view of his character.
- TheInvisibleMan - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 10:53 am:
“Benton told Isabel that some of his municipalities would lose lots of money”
The budget of a municipality is the responsibility of the municipality, not a state representative. If those municipalities in his district refuse to enact their own tax locally as a replacement for a previous state tax, then that’s the choice of the municipality.
If politicians aren’t going to hold municipalities accountable and responsible for their choecs, why are we expecting to hold politicians accountable.
It’s turtles all the way down.
- Pot calling kettle - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 10:55 am:
==What is stopping the local news media from mentioning the spurious lie==
A lack of reporters. The wealthy owners have gutted newsrooms to the point where very little reporting can be accomplished, let alone reporting in-depth.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 11:16 am:
“The wealthy owners have gutted newsrooms to the point where very little reporting can be accomplished, let alone reporting in-depth.”
Look on the bright side though, they still have well oiled op-ed pages to force feed right wing slop to the liberals that buy their papers.
Seems they also have plenty left in the ‘political reporter’ budget. The ‘both sides’ take complex serves a valuable role in society from the perspective of people who own media organs.
- Not a Benton Fan - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 11:24 am:
From what I hear, Benton is the one incumbent who no one would cry over if he lost. None of his colleagues like the guy. He’s pompous and arrogant to the Nth degree.
- So Let Me Get This Straight - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 11:24 am:
To Just a Thought - I completely agree with you.
In addition to this, I am also very disappointed in the latest ad that has his wife having lines to camera disparaging his opponent. I have seen a spouse SUPPORT their husband/wife with lines to camera, but not disparage. Maybe I am mistaken. Either way, I think it is in poor taste and further questions his character.
- levivotedforjudy - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 11:27 am:
When I read this column yesterday, I had to re-read some of the stuff, because this guy is a walking contradiction. Almost makes me glad I only have to deal with the CTU’s misrepresentations (i.e. Richard Boykin being a closet member of the GOP).
- Oldtimer - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 11:28 am:
“The freshman incumbent had no veto power over House Democratic ads”.
That fortitude should really impress his constituents.
Maybe he should just give IDHM his proxy vote during session and stay in Plainfield.
- Lincoln Lad - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 11:52 am:
I don’t live in the district, and don’t have direct knowledge of either candidate. I have seen the ads, and did have a positive feeling toward Harry on that alone. The ads are working… and then I read this…
- Drifter182 - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 11:56 am:
And this is in the Chicago media market. Just imagine the egregious stuff that go unchecked in cities like Peoria and Springfield where the local papers are more likely to cover restaurant openings and closings than anything even vaguely civic. Or the even smaller cities with no local media at all.
- BCOSEC - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 12:39 pm:
Our local newspaper was a daily for over 100 years. It’s now a weekly and its subscriptions have dropped from over 10k to under 2k. At least for now it still exists, several counties have no paper anymore.
However, our local Facebook page has over 17k members. Of course, it gets crazy at times.
- don the legend - Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 1:39 pm:
I know little about Plainfield but what I do know is not flattering.