State Sen. Kwame Raoul released a new TV commercial Tuesday that leaves no doubt as to who he believes is his prime opponent.
“Pat Quinn’s incompetence in illegal hiring gave us Bruce Rauner,” the ad says. “Quinn failed as governor. Why would we want to make him attorney general?”
Quinn said he doesn’t believe he failed as a governor. “I signed six straight budgets and the guy who came after me didn’t do any. I’ve been a lawyer for everyday people, I’m not a corporate guy, I don’t take campaign contributions from utility companies, or banks, or red light camera operators.”
According to Quinn, Raoul has taken donations from all three.
Pat Quinn’s incompetence and illegal hiring gave us Bruce Rauner. Jobs for friends and family, endless investigations, and now Illinois is a broken mess. Quinn failed as Governor.
Why would we make him Attorney General?
Kwame Raoul was called to fill Barack Obama’s seat. Now Kwame’s endorsed by teachers, firefighters, nurses, and the state’s pro-choice group to protect Illinois and serve us. Kwame Raoul – Attorney General
…Adding… Quinn is also running the sound from the TV ad as a radio spot. Click here.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Raoul campaign…
Quote: Pat Quinn’s incompetence and illegal hiring gave us Bruce Rauner
“Audit draft shows more mismanagement in Quinn’s anti-violence program,” Joe Mahr, Ray Long, Chicago Tribune, 4/5/2016.
Republican Bruce Rauner went on to beat Democrat Quinn in 2014 after relentlessly charging that Quinn used the grants as a political slush fund to help win votes in Democratic strongholds. Rauner’s administration declined to comment on the draft audit, citing the confidentiality of the process before an audit is released. But in the administration’s response to auditors, also obtained by the Tribune, the agency’s new leaders blame the Quinn administration for the debacle.
“Jim Dey: Investigation into illegal hiring under Quinn expanded,” Jim Dey, The News-Gazette, 5/4/2017.
Last week, a court-appointed outside monitor released a voluminous report that laid bare all the gory details surrounding five years of illegal patronage hiring at the Illinois Department of Transportation. But that report didn’t close the book on the wide-ranging conspiracy to violate state hiring rules by top officials in former Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration. Indeed, there could be more much forthcoming.
Quote: Jobs for friends and family…
“Watchdog details how top Democrats under ex-Gov. Quinn got state jobs for friends, family,” Monique Garcia, Ray Long, Hal Dardick, Chicago Tribune, 4/25/2017.
A new report issued Monday by a court-appointed watchdog charged with looking into patronage hiring at the Illinois Department of Transportation details how top Democrats clouted relatives and friends into positions under former Gov. Pat Quinn, even as many of those hired had little or no experience. “
Quinn and his administration under yet another FBI investigation!” Kirk Allen, Edgar County Watchdogs, 10/27/2014
Quote: Endless investigations and and now Illinois is a broken mess thanks to Quinn.
“Jim Dey: Investigation into illegal hiring under Quinn expanded,” Jim Dey, The News-Gazette, 5/4/2017.
Last week, a court-appointed outside monitor released a voluminous report that laid bare all the gory details surrounding five years of illegal patronage hiring at the Illinois Department of Transportation. But that report didn’t close the book on the wide-ranging conspiracy to violate state hiring rules by top officials in former Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration. Indeed, there could be more much forthcoming. Why? Federal Magistrate Sidney Schenkier on Monday signed an order directing the court-appointed monitor, Chicago lawyer Noelle Brennan, to conduct a wide-ranging examination of “all positions under the jurisdiction of” Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office and file a “preliminary status report” of her findings by July 31. The question behind all this is: If IDOT became a patronage dumping ground for politically connected job seekers under Quinn, what about the rest of the state’s executive departments and bureaus? “Editorial: Was Pat Quinn running the state of Illinois – or a job fair?” Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 4/28/2017 The OEIG’s 2014 investigation stopped short of blaming the governor’s office for the explosion of exempt “staff assistant” jobs created under Quinn, but Brennan’s report says Quinn staffers were “the driving force.” The report notes that of 154 staff assistants hired from 2009 to 2013, 53 had connections to Quinn’s office and another 56 were sponsored by other elected officials.
“Feds subpoena emails in Quinn anti-violence fund inquiry,” Ray Long & Monique Garcia, Chicago Tribune, 7/4/2014
federal grand jury has issued a subpoena for emails of key players in Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s troubled $54.5 million anti-violence program, including the former head of the program and two former ranking members of Quinn’s administration.
“Quinn and his administration under yet another FBI investigation!” Kirk Allen, Edgar County Watchdogs, 10/27/2014
“Watchdog details how top Democrats under ex-Gov. Quinn got state jobs for friends, family,” Monique Garcia, Ray Long, Hal Dardick, Chicago Tribune, 4/25/2017.
Bottom line: Fact’s don’t lie but Pat Quinn and his campaign sure do.
* Democratic Cook County Assessor candidate Fritz Kaegi put another $250K into his own primary race, bringing his self-funding total to just under $1.6 million. Kaegi says he’s a progressive, so the self-funding bit is apparently OK with folks who don’t like rich candidates in other races.
* And The JOBS PAC was just reinvigorated with $300,000 from the Illinois Manufacturers Association and is now making independent expenditures on behalf of two opponents of the Cook County pop tax, commissioners John Fritchey and Richard Boykin.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The Biss campaign just reported $270 in contributions, including $100K from Jonathan Soros, who had earlier agreed to match small donors.
Chris Kennedy, Democratic candidate for governor, called on the state of Illinois to divest from gun and weapon companies today during a news conference outside the James R. Thompson Center.
“Just like a budget is a reflection of an organization’s values, so too is an investment portfolio a reflection of an organization’s morality,” said Kennedy, who was joined by his running mate, Ra Joy. “Investing in gun manufacturers makes the companies more profitable because it drives down their cost of capital making easier for them to make money.
“Our government should not be using one hand to stem the flow of guns into our communities and, at the same time, using the other hand to subsidize the gun businesses by investing in them.”
Kennedy also highlighted the fact that State Sen. Daniel Biss benefits from these pension investments as a member of the Illinois General Assembly.
“Once again, Biss claims this is the moral issue of the day, yet finds a way to flip flop and benefit from being on opposing sides,” Kennedy said. “For Biss, what sets the issue of gun investments apart from earlier issues like pensions is that with the gun issue: there is no separation of time. Biss is on both side simultaneously.
“He speaks about the horrors of guns and benefits from investments in them at the same time.
“Biss has been in Springfield seven years and has done way too little to be a responsible steward of his investments or the investments of the people of the state.”
Sturm, Ruger & Co. and Vista Outdoor are among the gun and weapon companies the companies that the state of Illinois invests in.
* The Question: Your thoughts on this idea?
…Adding… Biss’ campaign calls the premise of the Kennedy press release “absurd” and points to the candidate’s long record on gun control.
They add that Biss called for pension investment divestiture from “dirty energy” companies in January and Kennedy remained silent, perhaps, they suggest, because Kennedy invests in some of those companies.
…Adding… Kennedy campaign…
Chris did divest last year as soon as he learned his index funds included those investments.
As you may have read, in mid-January, the Department of Commerce opted to levy a tariff on Canadian newsprint, which is widely used in the industry. In some cases, that’s adding as much as 10 percent to the cost of newsprint, which is, of course, one of our company’s big expenses.
As if times weren’t tough enough in that industry.
The Chicago Tribune unveiled plans [yesterday] for a sweeping reorganization of its newsroom, aimed at becoming what publisher and editor-in-chief Bruce Dold called “more nimble, more entrepreneurial, more responsive to our readers’ current interests and permanent passions.”
Dold outlined the changes, including the addition of a second managing editor and expansion of the newspaper’s “audience insight team,” in an email to the staff.
“We have to change the way we work and challenge our assumptions about how we create stories and relate to our readers,” Dold wrote. “We must put the audience at the center of what we do. A strategic goal for this newsroom is to produce digital journalism so meaningful, habit-forming and essential that people are willing to buy digital subscriptions.”
* Crain’s media reporter…
Newsroom overhaul @chicagotribune is forcing workers to reapply for jobs in revamped org chart: "This challenge is as great as any generation of Tribune journalists has faced, and we know you are equal to the task."
It appears programming on Chicago’s iconic rock station “The Loop” will come to an end as fast as news broke that the radio station was sold to a Christian broadcaster.
According to a letter to employees from Marv Nyren, vice president of Cumulus-Chicago, WLUP’s programming will end Tuesday, just hours after reports first surfaced on the sale.
According to the Chicago Tribune and a recent filing with the Federal Communications Commission, the Educational Media Foundation has agreed to buy WLUP-97.9 FM from Merlin Media for $21.5 million, planning to covert the legendary station into a “non-commercial educational station.”
Speaker Michael J. Madigan issued the following statement Tuesday:
“Over the past several weeks, I have had meetings with members, staff and lobbyists to discuss issues of sexual harassment. Due to my recent meetings with staff, I felt it necessary to address some of the concerns they raised directly with the members of the House Democratic Caucus. The statement below was delivered to the caucus this afternoon:
“A handout you received during last week’s caucus detailed complaints brought to the chief of staff, directors, supervisors and the ethics officer over the last five years, including sexual harassment complaints made by staff against members. I want to be crystal clear - it is inappropriate for members to make sexual comments or sexual advances to, or engage in sexual relationships with, staff, whether that person is employed directly by you, the Office of the Speaker, or another caucus. This applies to both male and female legislators.
“It is clear from my discussions that staff view you as their superiors or supervisors, and with that you are in positions of power over them. This dynamic is ripe for potential harassment. I expect each of you to treat staff with respect and keep your relationships strictly professional. If I become aware of any complaints against a member by staff, or another member, I will personally get involved to put an end to it.”
*** UPDATE *** Alaina Hampton press release…
“Speaker Madigan now says he is committed to getting ‘personally involved’ in preventing sexual harassment. That may prove to be a step forward–but today, it rings hollow. The Speaker had three months to get ‘personally involved’ in my case, but took no action until he knew the story was about to come out.
“Perhaps my telling my own story publicly, combined with the EEOC’s notification of my right to sue last week, has caused the Speaker to have a revelation about his ethical and moral obligation to those who have been harassed and even assaulted in his own organization. More likely, he’s being driven to action by the threat of losing his grip on power–not by any personal concern for the well being of the women in the House Democratic Caucus or the Democratic Party of Illinois.
“I, and countless other victims and survivors, will be watching the Speaker’s next moves closely. We are hopeful that he will back up his words with meaningful and swift action.”
Dan Caulkins says the Democratic Victory Fund’s recent decision to contribute $55,400 to the campaign fund of Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) should be seen as a slap in the face to women everywhere.
“It’s beyond shameful, when you consider that they portray themselves as the party of female voters,” Caulkins told the Chambana Sun. “It sends a terrible message and outweighs any statement claiming to have regard for the victims. It’s like they are trying to buy their way out of this.”
Darren Bailey views the Democratic Victory Fund’s recent move to contribute over $55,000 to the re-election campaign of Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) as just another example of just how much Illinois politicians are intent on maintaining the status quo in Springfield.
“I think politics has easily become the biggest industry in the state,” Bailey told the SE Illinois News. “So many people involved now are just there for self-seeking reasons. They’ve entrenched themselves in telling voters whatever they need to keep things moving along.”
Dwight Kay says the State Democratic Victory Fund’s recent decision to provide more than $55,000 in campaign funds to the re-election effort of Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) sends a clear and dangerous message to voters.
“That kind of money is not just given out because you like someone,” Kay told the East Central Reporter. “It sends the horrible message that if someone is willing to spend that kind of money on a candidate that’s not putting in that much for themselves, that candidate is essentially bought and paid for.”
Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) thinks the “good ol’ boy network” is alive and well in Springfield, as evidenced by the Democratic Victory Fund’s recent decision to contribute more than $55,000 to the re-election campaign of Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago).
“Democrats are only interested in maintaining power so it is no surprise they are supporting Sen. Silverstein, a longtime incumbent with plenty of name recognition,” Ives told the Prairie State Wire.
“The Democratic Victory Fund would support Silverstein after all the controversy because he has held a position of leadership for a long time, and kept his mouth shut, while he alone took the fall for the wrongdoings in Springfield that could have brought down other legislators, namely Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago),” Rotheimer told the Lake County Gazette on March 1. “Unless the Democrats demand that the $55,400 in campaign funds that Sen. Ira Silverstein received from the State Democratic Victory Fund are returned, the Democratic Party in Illinois consents to a Democratic senator’s unlawful behavior that was found to be in violation of the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act and conduct that is unbecoming to a legislator.”
* Today at the Statehouse…
Denise Rotheimer, a lobbyist-turned-candidate who accused Sen Ira Silverstein of sexually harassing her, says @JeanneIves is the “only champion” for her and “stood with me since the beginning.” Both pushing for HB4840, which would expand access to info from Leg Inspector General pic.twitter.com/lvrq1PkJei
A letter to Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 members from its president, James Tracy, is sparking backlash from the Northwest Side GOP Club and some union members for Tracy’s endorsement of Democratic State Central Committee candidates Cynthia Santos and John Cullerton.
In his letter to Local 2 members, Tracy encourages members to support Santos and Cullerton in the upcoming Democratic primary, writing “they support the right to choose and will stand with Democrats at the state and federal level to protect funding for Planned Parenthood, stop extreme cuts to women’s health and demand equal pay for women.”
A recent post on the Northwest Side GOP Club Facebook page showing a snapshot of Tracy’s letter to union members is calling out the union president for using his post to take on issues such as Planned Parenthood funding and a “progressive” tax.
“This is insane,” the Northwest Side GOP Club’s Facebook post reads. “So the Local 2 Firefighters Union now takes positions on abortion? They are pro-abortion?”
Illinois residents have picked “The Blues Brothers” as the top movie in state history, making it the first item on a list of Illinois’ top 200 people, places and things.
The list is being compiled as part of Illinois’ bicentennial celebration. Every two weeks, people may cast votes online for their favorites in a new category. By early December voters will have selected 10 favorites in 20 categories.
More than 1,500 people voted on the first category, selecting the movie featuring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. The next movies selected were “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “A League of Their Own.”
OK, I’m finally on board with this bicentennial thing.
* To me, “The Blues Brothers” is an art film. The camera’s framing of Elwood as he sits next to his SRO’s window while the L train passes by is one of my favorites in any movie…
For one of the most memorable comedy films of the late 20th century, The Blues Brothers starts grimly enough, with an arresting aerial shot of industrial Chicago, as the smoke from dark satanic chimneys smear the sunset. It’s as if director John Landis is tipping us off that what follows, a film of madcap fun and action rampage, is comic escapism from the bleak modern American life.
To obtain the seven limousines for the wedding party, my father used up his last favor with Mad Pete Trullo.
And…
Jake: You traded the Bluesmobile for this?
Elwood: No, for a microphone.
Jake: A microphone?
[pause]
Jake: Okay I can see that.
* Some of my friends have memorized the entire script…
Four fried chickens and a Coke.
I hate Illinois Nazis!
* Plus the great music and by-then-forgotten African-American stars (who even knew that Cab Calloway was still alive?), a car chase under the L tracks, SWAT teams…
No, sir, Mayor Daley no longer dines here. He’s dead, sir.
Every frame, every song, every sentence of that movie is something I hold dear. Plus it’s about a couple of misfit musicians trying to do a good deed for once. I’ve known people like that most of my adult life…
Jake, you get wise. You get to church.
The film’s back-story was even fascinating. Anyway, I have lots of work to do today and I wish I had more time, so I’ll close with this…
Monday’s hearing was called after the administration released an August 2016 report from Belleville-based consulting engineer BRiC Partnership suggesting steps to mitigate the problem, including replacing the underground water-distribution system and plumbing inside 15 campus buildings where the most susceptible residents live for $8 million.
[Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries] said in December that plumbing replacement could cost $500 million or more; in January, she told lawmakers about the BRiC report and said it put the price tag at $25 million to $30 million. She has never explained why she used estimates that at a minimum were more than four times higher than the actual number.
BRiC’s 2016 report, which cost $20,000, listed about a dozen ideas for a total of $17 million. The administration paid BRiC another $40,000 to update and expand its 2016 report. That update released last month indicated plumbing replacement for the entire campus would be $11 million; expanded options for the other ideas combined would cost no more than $24 million.
Jeffries explained Monday that the August 2016 delivery of the BRiC report was just two months after the June completion of a $6.5 million water-treatment facility and wanted to test its effectiveness before taking any more actions. But Public Health officials had confirmed two more cases of Legionnaires’ in late July, just days before BRiC’s arrival on campus.
Emphasis added for obvious reasons.
Director Jefferies, you’ll recall, said yesterday that she prefers “to speak with journalists who have journalistic integrity.” Hmm.
…Adding… Pritzker campaign…
At a hearing yesterday, Bruce Rauner’s administration announced that the Legionnaires crisis that has already lasted nearly three years and taken 13 lives will continue for at least another “three to five” years.
After 13 residents died on Rauner’s watch, the failed governor has struggled to deal with the health crisis, desperately resorting to press stunts and cover ups instead of real action to fix the problem. Now, as Rauner feels political pressure for his nearly three years of inaction, his administration is taking a page out of the Trump playbook and attacking the press instead of solving the crisis.
“Bruce Rauner has fatally mismanaged the Quincy Veterans’ home, and now he is attacking the press and covering up information instead of taking real action to fix the problem,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Our state’s heroes can’t wait three to five years for this failed governor to address a crisis he has let spiral out of control.”
A yearlong study offers rigorous new evidence against using prescription opioids for chronic pain.
In patients with stubborn back aches or hip or knee arthritis, opioids worked no better than over-the-counter drugs or other nonopioids at reducing problems with walking or sleeping. And they provided slightly less pain relief,
Opioids tested included generic Vicodin, oxycodone or fentanyl patches although few patients needed the most potent opioids. Nonopioids included generic Tylenol, ibuprofen and prescription pills for nerve or muscle pain. The study randomly assigned patients to take opioids or other painkillers. That’s the gold standard design for research.
If they don’t work better than less risky drugs, there’s no reason to use opioids given “their really nasty side effects — death and addiction,” said lead author Dr. Erin Krebs, a physician and researcher with the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System. […]
About 42,000 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2016 involved opioids, including prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl. Many people get hooked while taking opioids prescribed for injuries or other short-term pain and move on to cheaper, more accessible illicit drugs like heroin.
Krebs said the strongest evidence from other studies shows that physical therapy, exercise or rehabilitation therapy works best for chronic pain. And she said noted that there are a variety of nonopioid drugs to try if one type doesn’t work.
Would having access to the correspondence of House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, shed light on his handling of sexual harassment allegations by associates?
We don’t know — and it’s designed that way because the documents of Madigan, like all Illinois lawmakers, are exempt from the state Freedom of Information Act.
The legislation, enacted in 1984, is a critical tool to ensure our public bodies are transparent and that, to quote the act, “all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts and policies of those who represent them as public officials and public employees.”
That sounds good, but the General Assembly has elected to exclude one noteworthy group from disclosure rules — lawmakers themselves. The argument is legislators deal with sensitive constituent issues and share draft legislation that are negotiating documents. (Congress has a similar exemption and cites similar logic.)
That means a citizen can get, say, five years’ worth of internal emails of the local township cemetery board, the calendar of Gov. Bruce Rauner and any other documents related public business, but can’t see any paperwork for our elected citizen legislature.
For Madigan, that also means all correspondence is exempt for his two high-profile positions — as speaker, which he’s held since 1983, and as head of the state Democratic party, his position since 1998.
* It’s certainly true that the GA exempted itself. Here’s the law…
Preliminary drafts, notes, recommendations, memoranda and other records in which opinions are expressed, or policies or actions are formulated, except that a specific record or relevant portion of a record shall not be exempt when the record is publicly cited and identified by the head of the public body. The exemption provided in this paragraph (f) extends to all those records of officers and agencies of the General Assembly that pertain to the preparation of legislative documents. […]
A person whose request to inspect or copy a public record is denied by a public body, except the General Assembly and committees, commissions, and agencies thereof, may file a request for review with the Public Access Counselor established in the Office of the Attorney General not later than 60 days after the date of the final denial.
Reports and records of the obligation, receipt and use of public funds of the State, units of local government and school districts are public records available for inspection by the public according to law.
All officers of the Executive Branch shall keep accounts and shall make such reports as may be required by law. They shall provide the Governor with information relating to their respective offices, either in writing under oath, or otherwise, as the Governor may require.
There is no such language in the Legislature’s article, which is an argument legislators use when they say they were meant to be exempted. The same goes for the judicial article. The courts have also ruled that because the GA didn’t include the judiciary in the FOIA statute, the judicial branch was exempted. So, I highly doubt the folks in black robes will ever open that Pandora’s Box by prying open GA records.
Also, I have no idea how a state government could legally subject a political campaign committee to the FOIA laws.
* Look, I’d love to see the GA covered by FOIA. But unless somebody wants to go out and gather enough petition signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot (and that could work because it may fall under the “Amendments shall be limited to structural and procedural subjects contained in Article IV” language) not much can be done unless GA members voluntarily do it themselves.
Fat chance of that happening.
…Adding… From an attorney…
If you look on the GA website, both the House and Senate have memos with categories of items available under FOIA. What isn’t available is personal correspondence (e.g. letters constituents send to their members). Also, the draft exemption applies to all units of government, not just the GA.
• Quorum calls for meetings of the House and House Committees
• Legislation and motions filed by members of the House, including roll call of voting
• Reports and fiscal notes filed with the Clerk
• Documents filed in House Committee hearings (roll calls, witness slips, notices of
action)
• Transcripts and audio recordings of House floor debate
• Video of House floor debate (2005 to present)
• Audio recordings of House Committee hearings
• Vouchers and documents detailing District Office expenditures
• Vouchers and documents detailing House Operations and Leadership expenditures
• Official Journals of the House
• District Office leases
• Personnel Rules adopted by each member for their District Offices
• Name, title, start date and salary for employees of the House
• Property inventories for House Operations, Leadership, and District Offices
Don’t look for much action from the Illinois Capitol this month. In fact, don’t look for much of anything, lawmakers from both parties said, because the General Assembly is pretty much taking the month of March off.
Both the Illinois House and Senate are scheduled for just four days of sessions this month, and they could cancel some of them.
State Rep. Tom Bennett, R-Gibson City, said Illinois lawmakers haven’t done much all year.
“If you look at the calendar, in January we were here just a few days. In February it was about the same. In March we’re in four days, that’s it for the House,” Bennett said.
State Rep. Will Davis, D-Homewood, said while lawmakers haven’t done much so far, he noted that the real action always comes in late April and May. […]
On key issues – such as property tax reform, pension reform and workers compensation reform – there’s no expectation that lawmakers will do much of anything about them.
“For this year, with the elections, with the primary election, with the general election, no one wants to give the other side a win,” Bennett said. “They just don’t.”
I don’t expect much to happen, either. But, hey, one never knows.
* Along those lines…
After several gun bills were passed in the Illinois House last week, several legislators telling me there's more work to do and there won't be votes this week. Also, a busy schedule ahead of primary means some candidates (Drury, Raoul) won't be present to vote.
Sale or possession of a backpack that has been manufactured or designed to include Kevlar or any other imilar material or metal, fiberglass, plastic, or nylon plates with the intended purpose of stopping not only missile fragmentation from mines, grenades, mortar shells, and artillery fire but also fire from rifles, machine guns, and small arms; or a removable backpack insert made of Kevlar or any other similar material or metal, fiberglass, plastic, or nylon plates with the intended purpose of stopping not only missile fragmentation from mines, grenades, mortar shells, and artillery fire but also fire from rifles, machine guns, and small arms that have been manufactured or designed to be included in a backpack.
Since the [Florida schooil] shooting, bulletproof backpacks have been selling out across the country. With names like BulletBlocker and Guard Dog - parents are snapping them up.
“I guess that’s just the harsh reality of the world we live in today,” said parent Nick Barnett.
* The ad begins with part of this Robert Kennedy quote, who is pictured: “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.” The rest…
Chris Kennedy’s father fought for civil rights, equality and fairness. Today, the fight lives on in Chris’ campaign for governor to take on a broken political system. Endorsed by newspapers across the state as authentic and independent. Kennedy will be an anti-establishment governor with a progressive agenda and the vision to reshape Illinois.
The best thing he’s got going for him is his family heritage. Pritzker inherited money, Kennedy inherited his last name. You go with what you have in this business.
* According to the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute’s latest poll, the federal tax reform law isn’t yet helping the Republicans. “Do you support or oppose the tax reform plan passed last December by the Republican Congressional majorities?”…
Well over a majority, 53% of Illinois voters say they opposed the tax cut with 15% strongly opposed and 38% who opposed and 2% who said “neither”. The state is deeply polarized on this issue with 80% of Democrats opposed while 75% of Republicans supported the tax cuts. Independents were in the middle with 36% who supported and 48% who opposed the cuts.
Central city Chicago voters opposed the tax cuts by a margin of 63% who opposed and 28% who supported. Downstate voters were more closely divided over the tax cuts with 40% who supported and 41% who opposed. 33% of suburban Chicago and the collar counties voters supported and 55% opposed the tax cuts.
Illinois voters were asked whether the tax cuts would make them more or less likely to vote for Republican congressional candidates in November. 33% of the respondents said the tax cuts would make them more likely to vote Republican in the fall while 56% said less likely with 6% choosing neither.
85% of Democrats said less likely; 80% of Republicans said more likely while 29% of Independents said more likely and 49% said less likely.
Downstate voters chose more likely over less likely by a margin of 48% to 42%. Chicago voters chose less likely by 70% to 19%. Suburban Chicago and the collar counties voters chose less likely over more likely by a margin of 58% to 31%.
The question of which party “best represents your interest in the U. S. Congress” produced a solid advantage for the Democrats. 43% of the respondents overall chose the Democrats; 28% chose the Republicans while 2% chose the Green Party, 6% the Libertarians, and 12% chose some other party.
40% of downstate chose the Republicans and 31% chose the Democrats while 2% chose the Greens and 7% the Libertarians. In Chicago, 55% favored the Democrats and 15% favored the Republicans. 6% took the Libertarians and 3% the Greens in Chicago. 45% of Chicago suburban and collar counties voters chose the Democrats and 25% the Republicans while 2% chose the Greens and 5% the Libertarians.
Keep in mind that these are registered voters, not likely voters. And more men were polled than women. Both of those things are not at all optimal.
* Methodology…
The margin of error of the entire sample of 1,001 voters is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. […]
Live telephone interviews were conducted by Customer Research International of San Marcos, Texas using the random digit dialing method. The telephone sample was provided to Customer Research International by Scientific Telephone Samples. Potential interviewees were screened based on whether they were registered voters and quotas based on area code and sex (<60% female). The sample obtained 51% male and 49% female respondents. Interviewers asked to speak to the youngest registered voter at home at the time of the call. Cell phone interviews accounted for 60 percent of the sample. A Spanish language version of the questionnaire and a Spanish-speaking interviewer were made available.
Field work was conducted from February 19 through February 25. No auto-dial or “robo” polling is included. Customer Research International reports no Illinois political clients. The survey was paid for with non-tax dollars from the Institute’s endowment fund. The data were not weighted in any way. Crosstabs for the referenced questions will be on the Institute’s polling web site, simonpoll.org.
Generally speaking, do you think things in our country are going in the right direction, or are they off track and heading in the wrong direction?
Right direction 27%
Wrong direction 64%
Don’t know 9%
And what about the direction of the State of Illinois? Generally speaking, are things in Illinois going in the right direction, or are they off track and heading in the wrong direction?
Right direction 9%
Wrong direction 84%
Don’t know 7%
And how are things [in your local area? Are they] going in the right direction, or are they off track and heading in the wrong direction?
Right direction 54%
Wrong direction 37%
Don’t know 10%
* From the Institute…
“Voters have been more negative about the state of Illinois than the rest of the country since the inception of our poll in 2008,” said Charlie Leonard, an Institute visiting professor and one of the designers of the poll. “It is notable that the state ratings are still 20 percentage points more negative than the national ratings and there is an 18% gap between Illinois and the nation on the ‘right direction’ option.”
So, maybe if we legalized it the public might be happier with the way things are going here? Just sayin.
* Back to the press release…
Two-thirds (66%) of Illinois voters said they favored this measure compared to nearly one-third (32% who opposed. Those favoring were 46% who strongly favored and 20% who favored legalization compared to 24% who strongly opposed and 8% who opposed and 3% were unsure.
Downstate voters favored legalization by a 58% to 40% margin; Chicago favored by 77% to 22% and suburban Chicago and the collar counties favored by 66% to 31%. Democrats favored by 78% to 20%; Republicans were evenly divided at 49% favor and 49% opposed and Independents favored by 62% to 36%.
A new Public Policy Polling survey shows political newcomer Marie Newman in a statistical dead heat with longtime Congressman Dan Lipinski. The poll, made available first to POLITICO, showed 43 percent of those surveyed supported Lipinski and 41 percent backed Newman — the two percentage points were within the margin of error. The automated poll of 648 likely Democratic primary voters was taken Feb. 27-28. […]
The numbers reflect a huge jump in Newman’s name recognition since October, when she only logged 18 percent in a Normington Petts poll. Since then, various groups, including NARAL, Planned Parenthood and SEIU have backed Newman, and a superPAC targeting Lipinski has helped drive up her name ID and his negatives. While Lipinski has more money in his account than Newman, over the last few weeks, the Citizens for a Better Illinois political action committee spent nearly $700,000 on ads attacking Lipinski. Newman had the help of veteran Democrats U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Luis Gutierrez who publicly rejected Lipinski, calling his views opposing abortion rights and votes on immigration too conservative for his district. The AFL-CIO has backed Lipinski and he has the support from dozens of mayors and village presidents in the 3rd Congressional District.
The survey was conducted from February 27-28, 2018. PPP surveyed 648 IL-03 likely Democratic primary voters. The margin of error is +/- 3.9%. This poll was conducted by automated telephone interviews.
* The breakdown of those who participated in the survey are:
o 55% women, 45% men
o 16% Hispanic or Latino, 71% white, 7% African-American, 6% other
o 31% aged 18-45, 46% aged 46-65, 23% older than age 65
During the last Census, the district was 66 percent white, 25 percent Latino and 5 percent African-American. However, that’s probably not how the actual voting breaks down.
United for Progress, Inc., has launched a new television ad, “Don’t Be Fooled,” which highlights Marie Newman’s record of fly-by-night campaign exaggerations, misstatements, poor management, and policies that will hurt Illinois workers.
“A member of Congress can’t deliver progressive change in Washington without character and experience. And Marie Newman unfortunately has neither,” said United For Progress, Inc. Treasurer Bruce Goren. “She claims to fight for workers and yet took a stand against 14,000 airline workers in her own district. She shamelessly lied about her record as a nonprofit leader and business owner. She claims to be a progressive and yet has no record of fighting for progressive change. We ran this ad because voters in the 3rd District deserve to know the truth: Marie Newman would be a disastrous choice for Congress.”
If Marie Newman has her way, subsidized foreign airlines will take away U.S. jobs. But that’s not the only thing fly-by-night with Marie Newman. She says she set up a charity for bullied children. But the IRS has no record of it. The restaurant she ran was cited for over a dozen health code violations. Her experience for public office? Dropping out of the race for Library Board. Don’t be fooled by the flimflam. Send Marie Newman and her out-of-state attack dogs packing.
* This is yet another pre-primary week when one chamber is in session while the other takes a break. It’s the House’s turn to work this week, but after its scheduled adjournment on Thursday it won’t return until April 9th. The Senate is off this week, comes back to town next week and then leaves until April 10th. Watch all the action with ScribbleLive…
* This quote was buried in a long post below, but here’s WLS Radio…
Gov. Bruce Rauner went on Fox & Friends this morning and accused House Speaker Mike Madigan of running “a Mafia protection racket.”
Rauner took it up a notch against Madigan by trying to link the speaker’s property tax assessment appeal law firm to corruption this way.
“Basically in the political job he raises property taxes”, said Rauner, “We have the highest property taxes in America. And then on the side, he charges millions of dollars in fees to businesses that are afraid of their property taxes. He reduces them for a fee and then he holds the threat that if they ever cross him, he’ll raise their property taxes. It’s just like the Mafia. It’s a Mafia protection racket!”
* The joint House and Senate hearing on the Quincy veterans’ home was an emotional event. From the Sun-Times…
As [Illinois Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries] and [Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health Nirav Shah] exited the meeting Monday, the two repeatedly deflected questions from the Sun-Times and WBEZ reporter Dave McKinney.
They both suggested inquiries be directed to a spokesperson, who stood inches away.
When asked why two heads of state agencies couldn’t speak for themselves, Jeffries responded bluntly.
“Generally I prefer to speak with journalists who have journalistic integrity,” she said.
“And to whom are you referring,” asked McKinney, who’s broken much of the news related to the outbreak.
Chris Kennedy, Democratic candidate for governor, released his statewide infrastructure plan today while attending events in Peoria and Champaign.
Kennedy’s plan helps ensure that every community in Illinois is connected through roads that are paved and not perpetually congested, a rail system that efficiently delivers freight and connects our major towns and cities with regular and predictable passenger rail, statewide broadband internet access that is critical for 21st century communication, and an effective waterway system that is essential for our freight and shipping economy.
“Our plan reinvests in Illinois’ infrastructure to create jobs in all sectors: from construction workers to electricians, from agriculture to logistics, and from small business to big business,” Kennedy said. “Together we will put our collective shoulder to the wheel, refresh Illinois’ economy and put this state to work.
“Capital projects build infrastructure and offer an entry point to full economic participation that can lift up entire communities.”
Illinois has not had a capital bill for the entire state since 2009. Not only has Governor Rauner refused to advance plans for capital infrastructure investment but he has halted projects that were underway. Countless economic studies have found that investments in infrastructure increase the overall productivity of the economy. In addition, with improved infrastructure comes faster, more reliable transportation which allows companies to move their products faster and more reliably.
“The path to energizing the economy in every region of the state involves a robust higher education system,” Kennedy said. “We will create a steady increase in investments in education, knowing full well that universities are the economic engines of our state. Our public universities support the state’s economy as hubs of innovation, conducting pioneer research and preparing students to join the 21st century workforce.”
The plan also:
Creates a State Grants Office to ensure that the state of Illinois and its employers, research facilities and taxpayers are getting their fair share from the federal government.
Establishes a Deputy Governor for Rail and Intermodal Transportation to oversee freight and passenger railway expansion.
Guarantees the administration partners with other states that border the Mississippi River to lobby the federal government to increase subsidies to upgrade our lock and dam system.
Commits a Kennedy-Joy administration to working closely with the Illinois EPA to protect drinking water and fund wastewater management programs.
Focuses on closing the digital divide.
“In order to have the best economy in the nation, Illinois has to have the greatest infrastructure system in the world,” Kennedy said. “If we invest in our infrastructure, the jobs we will create and the companies we will attract to Illinois will jumpstart our economy and ensure that we remain one of the best places in the world to move to for a job, to own a business, and to raise a family.”
* Biss campaign…
Today the Biss campaign is releasing a new series: “The Billionaire Playbook Play of the Day”. While JB Pritzker and Chris Kennedy spend their millions to convince voters they’re different from the other inexperienced billionaire businessmen who hold public office, their records show something different. Like Donald Trump and Bruce Rauner, Pritzker and Kennedy are using the Billionaire Playbook to navigate their way through hypocritical attacks, tax scams, and more. Let’s take a look at the play-by-play:
Today’s Play of the Day: Bullying the Press
Let’s Go to the Tape
Like Donald Trump, JB Pritzker tries to avoid reporters who ask questions that he doesn’t like.
In a move the Chicago Tribune said was “disrespectful to Downstate voters and smacks of faintheartedness,” JB Pritzker ducked out of participating in the only debate that would have reached television audiences outside of Chicago after the media host, WCIA-TV, published stories about his shadowy financial maneuvers to fund his campaign via offshore trusts and shell companies, his championing of charter schools for his own profit, and his hidden donations to Michael Madigan via obscure LLCs. Pritzker has in the past restricted access to NBC Chicago, sending his spokesperson to publicly feud with a station reporter.
Meanwhile, Gov. Bruce Rauner refuses to debate his primary opponent, Jeanne Ives, while avoiding tough questions throughout his campaign.
JB Pritzker and Bruce Rauner cut off access to reporters for asking tough questions, just like Donald Trump does. It’s just another page from their Billionaire Playbook.
* Pritzker campaign…
Instead of apologizing for badmouthing Cairo students and making false claims, Chris Kennedy tripled down on his attacks on public school teachers and students.
Despite being reminded that SAT scores are not a recognized as a metric for college readiness, Kennedy defended his repeated attacks yesterday, claiming “the information I took was right off of a state of Illinois website, and that’s how we’re measuring ourselves.” He then continued slinging insults at hardworking students, saying “the kids who graduate are going to have a hard time making it in this economy.” Cairo students are defending themselves and taking the high road, with one high school senior telling a local TV station, “If he doesn’t think I can make it, I got to prove him wrong.”
“Chris Kennedy insults hardworking students left and right, and won’t back down from his baseless attacks even after he is confronted with the facts,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Students and teachers in Cairo have already stood up to correct Kennedy, but he refuses to learn his lesson.”
Maxwell: You pointed out recently that in Cairo, down in Southern Illinois, that zero percent of the students there were ready for college according to their SAT scores. That’s correct, but they don’t use that score for college readiness in the state of Illinois currently. Are you running dangerously close to- in the past we’ve seen this issue where you’re calling for more state funding for schools, but also some of the teachers and students there took offense that maybe you were saying they weren’t doing their jobs.
Kennedy: The information I took was right off of a state of Illinois website, and that’s how we’re measuring ourselves.
Maxwell: Can you clarify that comment?
Kennedy: I don’t believe that the tests measure potential or academic success. As the chairman of the University of Illinois, I sat, I sit on a board associated with the University of Chicago. I sit on the board associated with Kellogg, the school of business at Northwestern. I spent 12 years on the board of the Chicago, or the Catholic Theological Union. And so I know test scores are not determinant, but what they are evidence of is massive underfunding of our schools where if you’re in a town without a lot of property taxes, your school is so underfunded that the kids who graduate are going to have a hard time making it in this economy.
* Jeanne Ives…
Political Columnists Greg Hinz and John Kass called out Governor Rauner for lying about Jeanne Ives in political attack ads. A coalition of Republican legislators signed a letter demanding Governor Rauner end his shameful distortions of Jeanne Ives’ record.
To do something Rauner has proven unwilling to do: tell the truth, State Rep. Jeanne Ives, the conservative reform Republican for Governor, released a new campaign TV ad: Ives Won’t. Neither Should You.
Our Republican president is polling poorly in Illinois and our governor, Bruce Rauner, is polling worse than that.
Democratic Party Chairman Michael Madigan? Worse still.
And so Jeanne Ives, who is running against Rauner in the primary just launched a new ad using guess who as an attack tool? Barack Obama.
“Bruce Rauner lies so much, he reminds us of another Chicago politician.
President Obama: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.
Republicans are sick of Rauner’s lies.”
* Rauner campaign…
ICYMI: Governor Rauner Discusses Fight for Illinois’ Future on Fox & Friends
Governor Rauner joined Brian Kilmeade on Fox and Friends to discuss the future of Illinois and the fight against the entrenched political machine in this state.
Watch the full interview HERE and check out some highlights below.
Governor Bruce Rauner: “Illinois has been dominated by a corrupt career politician for decades and I just decided I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m not a politician, I’m a business-builder, but I said I’ll never run away from the state of Illinois. I grew up here, I raised my six kids here. I want to take on the corruption, the career politicians and restore good government in our state again. That’s why I’m fighting so hard.”
Life on the campaign trail: Il. Gubernatorial candidate Bob Daiber stops by Decatur's senior center. No activities on docket today, so Daiber chatting w/employee pic.twitter.com/Lf9F46y7c6
* PPP poll taken February 28 through March 1 of 553 likely Democratic primary voters in Cook County…
Do you approve or disapprove of President Donald Trump’s job performance?
Approve 10%
Disapprove 87%
Not sure 2%
If the Democratic Primary Election for Governor were held today and the candidates were JB Pritzker, Chris Kennedy, and Daniel Biss, who would you vote for?
JB Pritzker 35%
Chris Kennedy 31%
Daniel Biss 18%
Not sure 16%
* I sent all candidates in both parties this question the other day…
This requires only a simple yes or no response: Will you pledge as governor to veto any state legislative redistricting map proposal that is in any way drafted or created by legislators, political party leaders and/or their staffs or allies? The exception, of course, would be the final official draft by LRB.
I’ve heard plenty of candidates talk about how they favor an independent map-making process, but I wondered how far they would go - particularly JB Pritzker.
* Posted in the order they were received. Rep. Jeanne Ives’ campaign…
She is willing to veto a political partisan map. However, that could be overridden.
The problem is what if there is no other amendment? What if all you have? If there is no other option, do we just used the same map?
A better question is, if your party is able to draw the map will you start with a computer-generated model with the intention of getting a fair map.
Additionally, Ives has already challenged her national party on this issue. She is one-of 17 state legislators that signed on to the amicus brief of the Democrat-challenge in Wisconsin that has reached the Supreme Court.
* Tio Hardiman…
Yes.
* Bob Daiber…
Yes, I pledge to veto redistricting maps that are drawn in a political favor. I advocate for the development of fair maps. It is time for a governor to take a strong stance to end gerrymandering and support a nonpartisan commission tasked with drawing fair legislative maps.
* Gov. Bruce Rauner…
Yes.
* JB Pritzker…
Yes, I will pledge to veto. We should amend the constitution to create an independent commission to draw legislative maps, but in the meantime, I would urge Democrats and Republicans to agree to an independent commission to handle creating a new legislative map. That designated body should reflect the gender, racial, and geographic diversity of the state and look to preserve the Voting Rights Act decisions to ensure racial and language minorities are fully represented in the electoral process.
* Sen. Daniel Biss wouldn’t pledge to veto a non-independent map…
“Under the current constitution, legislators, their staffs, and political allies are involved in the redistricting process — regardless of whether a governor vetoes the initial redistricting proposal. While the post-veto process might appear to some as though it more closely aligns with an independent commission to draw the maps, in reality, it’s a small group of political appointees selected by legislative leaders. We must do better. Instead of pledging to veto — which is self-defeating and shows how inexperienced candidates would back themselves into a corner because they are unable to advance an agenda constructively — as governor, I would advocate for a true independent redistricting process.”
* And neither would Chris Kennedy…
Our campaign is proud to have Ra Joy, a prominent independent maps advocate, on our ticket. With that in mind, no, it would be irresponsible to take an absolute pledge like this because it fails to take into account the situation which may exist at a time of passage. The vagueness of the pledge’s wording is a problem. An “ally” of a member or staff could encompass thousands of people, many of whom are the type of talented good government advocates who we should be welcoming rather than shunning.
Site Selection Magazine today announced Illinois as a top state for businesses looking to relocate. Illinois was named third in the 2017 Governor’s Cup rankings. This is the second year in a row that Illinois has received this honor. The recognition is awarded to states with the most qualifying new and expanded facilities per capita.
“All Illinoisans know that there is no better state than Illinois,” said Governor Bruce Rauner. “One of the objectives of my administration has been to highlight our assets and better recruit businesses to locate within our state. Our efforts are paying off, but the work is not done. We continue the push to make the business environment more competitive to create good paying jobs and opportunities across all Illinois communities.”
Illinois had 419 projects over the course of the year, coming in behind only Texas and Ohio. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area remained the top metropolitan area of 1 million or more for new and expanded facilities with 402 projects.
“From our exceptional workforce to the seamless transportation of goods, Illinois is a world-class place to do business,” said Illinois Department of Commerce Director Sean McCarthy. “Interest in our state continues to rise and we remain focused on supporting our economy to ensure a better quality of life for Illinoisans.”
In addition, micropolitan areas in Illinois that were named for their projects include Ottawa-Peru, Paducah, Effingham, and Rochelle. Micropolitan areas are defined by cities of 10,000 to 50,000 people that cover at least one county.
“We are constantly in contact with new companies looking to expand or locate within Illinois,” said Intersect Illinois CEO Mark Peterson. “The excitement and optimism about the potential that exists within our boarders is palpable. We will continue to work with our partners to capitalize on our accomplishments and bring more success to Illinois.”
Details about the study:
Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database focuses on new corporate facility projects with significant impact, including headquarters, manufacturing plants, R&D operations and logistics sites, among others. It does not track retail and government projects, or schools and hospitals. New facilities and expansions included in the analyses must meet at least one of three criteria: (a) involve a capital investment of at least US$1 million, (b) create at least 20 new jobs or (c) add at least 20,000 sq. ft. (1,858 sq. m.) of new floor area.
Conservative reform gubernatorial candidate State Rep. Jeanne Ives will discuss legislation she has filed to prohibit Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s new “CityKey” identification card for illegal immigrants to be used as a valid form of identification for registering to vote.
41st Ward Alderman Anthony Napolitano of Chicago’s Northwest side, who voted against the city ordinance that created the “CityKey” id, will join Ives at this press conference to discuss voter fraud prevention and maintaining the integrity of Chicago’s upcoming 2019 municipal elections.
Ives accused Chicago Democrats of “breathtaking” hypocrisy for obsessing over accusations of Russian meddling in President Donald Trump’s election while at the same time taking steps that she said would make it easier for undocumented immigrants to fraudulently vote in Chicago.
“Accepting the CityKey ID as a legitimate form of identification for voter registration is literally suborning voter fraud, and the political class in the sanctuary city of Chicago is brazen about this fact,” Ives said.
Emanuel dismissed Ives’ criticism. “She should just take her Trump rhetoric out of the city,” he told reporters before Ives’ downtown news conference. “It doesn’t reflect our values.” […]
City Clerk Anna Valencia’s office contends the CityKey will just be another in a long list of forms of identification voters can use to establish residency, among them credit cards, firearms owner ID cards, student ID cards and union membership cards. And while only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote, voters are not required under state law to prove their U.S. citizenship. They simply must attest they are citizens.
But Ives said other forms of ID “are legitimately given to citizens, not noncitizens.” And Napolitano said if the city wanted to avoid potential problems with noncitizens voting with CityKey, Valencia could simply issue IDs that include the cardholder’s citizenship status.
Ives did not go so far as to suggest — as Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson did last month — that Emanuel is “looking for new voters” to replace the African-American voters he lost because of his handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting video.
She simply said that, if Carlson’s allegation is true, “That’s too bad for Rahm. He’s going to have to persuade people who are legal voters.”
Napolitano argued that the city is “documenting undocumented people” by allowing the CityKey ID to be used to register to vote.
“What this is going to do is change elections. Change elections in Chicago. Change elections in the state of Illinois … to entice or encourage people to go register to vote who are illegal immigrants,” he said.
State Board of Elections officials were asked about this topic last week and they pointed out it’s always been a felony to register to vote if you’re not a citizen and that getting caught would likely result in deportation.
* From the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights…
First, the CityKey card is intended for ALL Chicago residents. It is incorrect to refer to the card as an “immigrant” card or a card for the undocumented, despite the way that the card is sometimes portrayed. All Chicago residents can and would benefit from the card.
The CityKey, like any other photo ID such as a driver’s license, can be used for voter registration only to establish the registrant’s identity and the registrant’s address (if it appears on the card–which is optional). It cannot be used to establish that the person qualifies to vote.
When people register to vote, they need to attest that they are US citizens. If noncitizens incorrectly or falsely register, they are subject not only to state criminal penalties for the improper registration but also to immigration consequences, including unwaivable lifetime bars on legal status and deportation. Immigrants who are not yet citizens generally know that they cannot register and vote in US elections–which is one of the main reasons why the opportunity to become US citizens is so important to us.
The Janus back story illustrates the corrupting influence of public-sector unionism. It started with Rod Blagojevich, who in 2002 sought to become Illinois’s first Democratic governor in 26 years. According to Mr. Rauner, then- Rep. Blagojevich asked Afscme for “$3 million and a couple thousand of your taxpayer-funded people” to work for his campaign. He won the election. “Then he went to the state employees and he said, OK, if you’re in my administration, if you’re in a union, I’ll give you 4% annual raises as long as I’m governor. And if you’re not in a union, I will never give you a raise as long as I’m governor.”
“I respect peoples’ right to join a union or not join a union,” said Rauner. “But a governing union, when they go to a politician and say, ‘I’ll give you $3 million bucks for your election and I’ll give you 500 of my taxpayer-funded members to work for your campaign and then when you get in, I’ll negotiate a contract with ya, that is corruption.”
There’s that $3 million again.
* According to Illinois Sunshine’s website, AFSCME gave Blagojevich’s campaign $377K through 2003. Blagojevich received nothing after that. From September of 2006…
However, Blagojevich has had a more difficult time drumming up support from the state’s two largest public sector unions, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, which represents state and local workers, and the Illinois Education Association, which represents many of the state’s teachers.
Earlier this month, AFSCME and the IEA opted to formally support neither candidate in the Nov. 7 election.
Gov. BRUCE RAUNER, while visiting a business in Morton last week, described an ambitious effort to cut the state’s income tax — more ambitious that what’s actually in the proposal he submitted.
“I’ve recommended a budget that rolls back the income tax hike that they passed over my veto last summer, roll that back to 3 percent, from the 4.95 percent,” Rauner said at Morton Industries, LLC.
Actually, the budget he proposed Feb. 14 would cut the current 4.95 percent personal income tax to 4.7 percent. But that decrease — of just a quarter of a percentage point — would only happen, according to his proposal, if lawmakers enact a pension reform plan that would face a likely court challenge. So even that cut is not assured, and may not come in fiscal 2019, which begins July 1.
I asked the governor’s office to explain his comments in Morton.
“Governor Rauner has proposed incrementally rolling back the income tax hike passed last summer over his veto,” spokeswoman RACHEL BOLD said. “To make that possible, he supports full implementation of a consideration model for pension reform which will save taxpayers nearly $1 billion a year, making it possible to begin rolling back the tax hike with a 1/4 percent tax rate cut. We believe it will also spur economic development which could speed up the pace of the rollback.”
* Related…
* Is the Supreme Court inviting a ‘Pandora’s box’ of unintended consequences if it rules with Rauner in his anti-union lawsuit?: All three of these cases, says Maher, are about making the government face the consequences of ruling with Janus. That if he doesn’t have to pay his agency fees because collective bargaining is speech he disagrees with, that makes the very act of collective bargaining—speech. And therefore can’t be restricted. In other words, Janus unintentionally argues for unions’ right to free speech. “If this is the way the Supreme Court rules, it will be hard to limit free speech of unions,” Maher says. “This Janus case has been presented [by conservatives] as providing workers with a choice, but they already have a choice not to pay for the political speech of unions. This is the choice to get collective bargaining and not having to pay for it—something for nothing.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski says his party is risking creating a “tea party” faction as it drifts leftward and fails to support a “big tent” of contrasting ideas.
Lipinski is a social conservative who opposes abortion, and he’s facing a serious primary challenge from the left via political newcomer Marie Newman. She has the backing of abortion rights advocacy groups, as well as Lipinski’s colleagues U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston and Luis Gutierrez of Chicago.
“Right now there is a battle for what the Democratic Party is going to be, going forward,” Lipinski, who has represented the Southwest Side and suburban 3rd Congressional District for seven terms, said Sunday on WGN-AM 720.
“Four years ago we were at our lowest point in (Democratic seats in) the U.S. House since Herbert Hoover was president. We’ve come up slightly since then, but we’re still in a big hole, and there are those who want to have a ‘tea party of the left’ in the Democratic Party to match, unfortunately, what’s happened to the Republicans,” he said.
* Laura Washington writes that Gov. Bruce Rauner is in yet another “pickle” over the gun legislation currently making its way to his desk…
[After HB40, etc.] Rauner is loath to further alienate conservative voters, the ones Jeanne Ives is after. He is way ahead of her in the polls and wants to keep it that way. So, he will sit on the legislation, reviewing and conversing, until after the primary.
He’ll endure weeks of attacks from the state’s Democratic Party leadership, its political action committees, gun control activists and gubernatorial candidates.
But whoever wins the six-way Democratic gubernatorial contest, Rauner will surely face a liberal Chicagoan, on his left. […]
The sweet spot lies in the Chicago suburbs, the home of moderate independent and swing voters, especially women. The same women who are terrorized by the ubiquity of guns. The women who wonder, every day, whether their children are safe in their own schools. And who wonder, every day, if they will come home.
After his “review” and “conversation,” look for Rauner to sign a minimum measure or two. An obvious “give” would be the bump stock ban. Just enough to show he is listening and is willing to govern.
That may leave a sour taste with gun control advocates, but just enough to get Rauner out of that pickle.
Prior to Rauner’s public remarks, Justin Oseland of Cumberland County approached the governor to ask what the governor will do about the gun control measures passed last week by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. The two could be seen talking for a couple minutes.
“He said I have his support for the second amendment, and (he) will veto all of the bills, with maybe the exception of bump stocks, if they can come to some sort of consensus,” Oseland said of his conversation with the governor.
Oseland went on to clarify that the governor said he would veto those bills currently “in the works.” According to the Associated Press, last week the Illinois House approved a bump-stock ban, a minimum age to purchase assault-style weapons and state licensing of gun dealers.
The Cumberland County man added that Rauner seemed open to a ban on bump stocks, which modify semi-automatic weapons to make them fire faster.
“His answer wasn’t exactly straight to the point,” said Oseland. “He just said he may be open to working with something on bump stocks … not necessarily a full ban, but some type of bill regarding them.”
The Rauner campaign’s response didn’t really answer the paper’s question about what he may may not have said. Then again, he told a lot of people he would veto HB40, too.
Your thoughts about what he’ll do?
…Adding… Press release…
“The Gun Dealer Licensing Act is critical legislation that will help prevent gun trafficking and keep families safe. Bruce Rauner should immediately sign it,” said JB Pritzker. “Communities and families across this state have been devastated by gun violence and instead of playing politics, Bruce Rauner should keep his word and take immediate action. This critical legislation will help keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them and I call on Bruce Rauner to immediately sign the Gun Dealer Licensing Act and help keep our communities safe.”
* Related…
* Rauner ‘silence is deafening’ on bill to license state gun retailers, Rahm says: “I know he once said he wasn’t in charge. Well, the bill is on his desk. He can show that he’s in charge when it comes to public safety,” the mayor said. … All of those bills are still awaiting final approval. The bill to license gun dealers is the only one forwarded to the governor for final action. It passed the Senate last year and cleared the House Wednesday by a vote of 64-to-52. State Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, Rauner’s more conservative opponent in the Republican gubernatorial primary, voted no and urged the governor not to sign the bill.
Rauner announced in January that he would replace plumbing on the campus. He has since named task forces to study options and on Friday tabbed an adviser to coordinate the effort. […]
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration now says it plans to rebuild dormitories at the Quincy veterans’ home where Legionnaires’ disease continues to be a problem. […]
[Erica Jeffries, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs] told the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs committees that the plan now is to demolish and replace problematic residence halls on the Quincy campus during the next three to five years. And she said plumbing replacement would not be a good use of money and cause too much disruption in the meantime.
Three to five years? We’ve had four more cases this year alone and it’s not even warm yet.
* And in the meantime?…
Jeffries: Governor has appointed two task forces, we have working groups, short-term and long-term plans. Should have final draft to General Assembly by May 1.
* Gov. Rauner spoke at Sunday’s Effingham County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner and told the party faithful about how he envisions the fall campaign…
You guys know I went to war to get term limits. Nobody should stay in office more than about 8 years. That’s plenty of time. George Washington could’ve been king, and he only served for 8 years because he knew America should be a place for freedom and you should be a public servant and then leave. … We collected half a million signatures to get term limits on the ballot. Madigan sued me and he blocked it in the state courts, with the judges that he elects. …. But I never give up and I never give in.
We are now going to run a pledge campaign. Pledge campaign. We’re going to ask every candidate in the General Assembly statewide to sign a pledge, sign a promise to you as the people of Illinois. And that pledge says two things. Number one: “I promise you that I will vote to put term limits on the ballot so the people of Illinois can vote term limits up or down.” And number two: “I promise you that I will vote for somebody, anybody other than Mike Madigan for speaker after 35 years.”
And when the Democrats refuse to sign that pledge, we’re gonna use it against them and we’re gonna prove that they’re really working for Madigan and the machine, rather than the people of central Illinois and the people of southern Illinois. And we’re going to beat them and that’s how we are going to pick up nine seats in the General Assembly this year. This is an exciting time.
Now, look, this election cycle is going to be tough. A new president’s party has a hard time in the midterms. That’s just true, even look back 50 years. It doesn’t matter whether D or R.
But you know why we’re going to win and why I’m all-in to win? No state has a guy as corrosive and as corrupt and as destructive as Mike Madigan. And we are going to hang every candidate on the Democratic ticket with Mike Madigan around their neck and we’re going to take them down. And we’re going to beat ‘em. The people of Illinois want Madigan gone almost as much as Republicans do.
It was last year, I was shopping at a store in Springfield and an elderly woman came up to me. Slowly, she couldn’t move very, very fast. She was, she was up there in years. She slowly came up to me in the store and she grabbed me by the by the [inaudible], both hands on my left arm. And then she looked up at me. And then she started to tear up. She started to cry a little bit and I said ‘Goodness, what happened, what’s wrong here? Are you hurt? Can I, how can I help you?’ And she said, she said, ‘Governor, you’re our last hope. Don’t give up.’ And I teared up, and I gave her a hug. And I said, ‘I will never give up and it’s an honor for me to work for you.’
We will never give in. We are going to make Illinois great again. Great, proud strong state. The greatest state in the greatest nation on Earth. On to victory in November for Republicans!
You know, I had a woman, an elderly woman, come up to me last month. She couldn’t move very well, but she came up, she grabbed me by the arm. She looked me in the eyes. She teared up, and she said, “Governor, you’re our last hope. Don’t give up,” and she said, “And I’m a Democrat, and many of my friends are Democrats. We know you’re doing the right thing.” I get that every day.
Every day he gets that. Every. Day.
…Adding… Pritzker campaign…
With Donald Trump polling ahead of Bruce Rauner in Illinois, the failed governor is borrowing the president’s slogan to keep Republicans from fleeing to his primary opponent Jeanne Ives as election day nears.
“We are going to make Illinois great again,” Rauner proudly declared at an Effingham County Republican dinner yesterday where Ives was present. While Rauner has long been afraid to utter Donald Trump’s name, his insurgent primary opponent’s campaign has left him with no choice but to cozy up to this bigoted president.
“Bruce Rauner is embracing Donald Trump as he desperately clings to the Republican nomination with Jeanne Ives nipping at his heels,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This is a failed governor, fending off challenges left and right as Illinoisans prepare to hold him accountable for his damage to this state.”
According to OpenSecrets.org, a total of $6.5 billion was spent nationwide on the 2016 campaign by presidential and congressional candidates.
Closer to home, the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform says $134 million was spent on state legislative races in Illinois during the 2016 cycle and an additional $11 million or so on the special election for Illinois comptroller.
A huge chunk of that money is spent on advertising, which is incredibly expensive.
A smaller portion goes to campaign staff. Most of those workers are grossly underpaid, vastly overworked—regularly logging 80-hour weeks and even more—and too often treated like rented mules. Toward the end of campaigns, some candidates even decide to put all the cash they have left into advertising instead of paying their workers. As former campaign spokesman Lance Trover recently wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, with tongue only partially in cheek, life for campaign workers “is nothing short of a living hell.”
Enter the Campaign Workers Guild, a newly formed union that has so far negotiated contracts with a couple of Democratic congressional campaigns, one in Wisconsin and one in Pennsylvania. The union was in Springfield on Feb. 27 to talk to a handful of campaign staffers about the benefits of union membership.
We’ve talked about this topic before, but the rest of the column is something I haven’t written about until now, so click here and read the whole thingbefore commenting, please. Thanks.
Also, I noticed something the other day as I was preparing to write this column. I’d earlier posted two videos of the campaign union’s press conference and one of them got 362 views, which is pretty successful for such a long video of a mere press conference with three reporters. I didn’t think it would get anywhere near 100.
Former Gov. Pat Quinn, who is running for Illinois attorney general in the Dem primary, thinks powerful House Speaker Mike Madigan should step down as the state’s Dem party chairman!
Yikes!
“He [Madigan] has been there for 20 years and I don’t think Senate President John Cullerton, who is a Dem committeeman, should be part of the party apparatus either,” he told Sneed. (The story was first reported by WBBM Radio’s Craig Dellimore.)
“I think the political apparatus should be separate from their public jobs,” Quinn added. “They have demanding positions. They should stick to their public responsibilities and let somebody else do the party politics.”
* Lisa Madigan gets good reviews at Democrats’ AG debate — mostly: Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan got mostly favorable reviews from the eight Democrats running to replace her as they gathered Sunday for a debate co-hosted by the Chicago Sun-Times. But some of the candidates who gathered at Cards Against Humanity for the livestreamed event also said Madigan should have been more aggressive when it comes to investigating public corruption.
* Tom Kacich: [Gary Grasso] is running radio commercials that say Harold “has not even tried a single case” since her 2007 graduation from Harvard Law School, and that call her “unproven, untested, liberal Miss Erika Harold.” Harold campaign manager Jason Heffley said that “Erika has tried a case (in Champaign County) and Gary knows it.”
* Daily Herald: Sharon Fairley for attorney general in Democratic primary
* CS-T endorsement: Sharon Fairley for attorney general in Democratic primary
* CS-T endorsement: Erika Harold for attorney general in the Republican primary
* Daily Herald: Erika Harold for attorney general in the Republican primary
* Jim Dey: Harold faces long campaign trail in run for AG
Does the #MeToo movement really want to go after Boss Madigan?
Madigan has been harshly criticized for his indifferent handling of sexual harassment allegations against his Democratic political aides and allies.
And many of those who keep calling for a truly “independent” investigation somehow keep forgetting that job should be done by the Illinois attorney general. But she happens to be his daughter, Lisa.
So where’s the #MeToo movement?
They’re nowhere near Madigan and his boys.
If Madigan were a Republican, I have no doubt they’d be protesting, holding marches and speeches. And not just women, but we’d see men in those fuzzy pink hats they wear when virtue signaling before news cameras against Republicans.
But when it comes to Democrats? Crickets.
It’s almost as if the #MeToo is all about partisan politics.
Sources in both parties said last week that their tracking polls were showing a dip in support for Sen. Daniel Biss and a trending increase for Chris Kennedy in the Democratic primary race for governor.
That’s the most likely reason why billionaire J.B. Pritzker’s campaign began airing negative ads against Kennedy last week. Pritzker has been playing a fascinating game of “whack-a-mole” with his two opponents while Gov. Bruce Rauner has tried to make Pritzker’s task difficult.
Pritzker started as an almost complete unknown, so he spent millions to become known. And, for a while, it worked splendidly because neither Biss nor Kennedy had the money to run any ads against Pritzker, let alone on behalf of themselves.
Enter Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Rauner’s campaign has acted as sort of a Super PAC for Biss and Kennedy, doing their dirty work for them by spending a fortune on anti-Pritzker TV ads featuring audio recordings of Pritzker’s conversations with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich caught on FBI wiretaps.
Rauner’s idea isn’t to knock Pritzker totally out of the race. Instead, by all accounts he wants Pritzker to barely win an ugly primary and then turn to the general election as a bruised and bloodied candidate who could more easily be finished off. That’s still a tall order in today’s anti-Republican national environment, but it’s all Rauner has.
With Rauner’s ads constantly bashing their candidate, the Pritzker campaign’s worst fear is that one of its Democratic opponents will catch fire.
The undecideds in this race are undecided mainly because those voters don’t like Pritzker (primarily because of Rauner’s ads) but have yet to hear a convincing “ask” by either of the other two candidates. Pritzker’s immense wealth also grates against years of the Democratic Party’s anti-billionaire orthodoxy. And his attachment to the establishment headed by House Speaker Michael Madigan naturally gives people pause, including Democrats, who don’t like the guy, either.
No matter how many times Biss and Kennedy claimed that Pritzker was trying to force them out of the race, Team Pritzker has never wanted either candidate to drop out. The fear was that opposition voters would coalesce behind whoever remained against a wounded frontrunner.
Winning a one-on-one race requires 50 percent plus one vote. In a contested, multi-candidate primary, a damaged-by-Rauner billionaire can still win with 40 percent of the vote or even less. So, this means Pritzker’s opponents had to be prevented from gaining too much ground, but not fall so far back that one or the other could consolidate support and reach 40 percent to beat him.
Kennedy was starved of financial resources by putting out the word that contributing to him was a very big no-no to the Democratic and union powers that be in this state. The effort prevented Kennedy, with his well-known family name, from moving forward in the polls.
The unknown Biss had been a distant third for most of the campaign, but then zoomed up to second place ahead of Kennedy after airing TV ads in the Chicago area. So, Pritzker hit him with negative TV ads over his support of pension reform and other issues. The ads apparently pushed Biss back down.
That left an opening for Kennedy, who reportedly started moving up. The easiest attack on Kennedy would’ve been the Democrats’ praise of the Republican Rauner. “I think Bruce Rauner is trying to do what he thinks is best for the state of Illinois,” Kennedy said in January when asked by a reporter if the Rauner campaign was, indeed, acting like some sort of super PAC on behalf of Pritzker’s challengers.
Then again, if Kennedy was hit that hard, there’s a real danger he’d be completely disqualified in Democratic voters’ minds, which would leave an opening for Biss to start surging yet again. So, the Pritzker ad focused on tuition hikes at the University of Illinois while Kennedy was chairman of the board of trustees. Just tapping the brakes rather than slamming them.
Kennedy used his latest surge to raise over $600,000 in just a few days last week, his best fundraising week ever. But that’s pocket lint to Pritzker, who can always increase the pressure on those brakes.
Expect this back and forth to continue right up until election day. Rauner will attack, forcing Pritzker to spend even more on positive ads while making sure neither of his two major opponents don’t catch a sudden tailwind. I wouldn’t want to be on that campaign.
In 2015, Mr. Rauner says, public-employee unions complained to Mr. Madigan that the new governor was too stubborn a negotiator. The speaker pushed through a bill to strip the governor of his authority in contract negotiations in favor of a “labor arbitrator”—an attempt, Mr. Rauner says, to “take away my most fundamental right as governor to represent taxpayers.”
Mr. Rauner vetoed the legislation. In Illinois it takes three-fifths of each legislative chamber to override a veto, and Democrats had the requisite supermajorities. Yet the House sustained Mr. Rauner’s veto. “I got one Democrat,” he says. “Boy, did we work our tails off. We got one Democrat to stay in New York at the U.S. Open during the vote override.”
There is evidence that Dunkin may have gone to the US open during that vote, so the governor could be telling the truth. But Gov. Rauner also told some of his usual whoppers to the paper’s editorial board, so you’re guess is as good as mine.
…Adding… From comments…
HOW exactly did he get that Dem to stay in New York? That’s a much more interesting question.
For his part, Rauner might have been slow to take Ives’ candidacy seriously, but once the money started pouring into her campaign, the governor quickly pivoted to an offensive strategy.
He started airing TV ads and sending out mailers that labeled Ives “Madigan’s Favorite Republican,” pointing to less than $7,000 in campaign contributions she’d received from a Madigan-allied labor union, and comments she’d made touting Madigan’s support for some of her bills.
The mailers have been effective in some parts of the state, where voters have started to associate Ives with the unpopular speaker, an Ives campaign worker said.
Ives also spent money early to try to build name recognition among voters, leaving her with less for the stretch run. In an email fundraising pitch to supporters, Ives said she needs to raise $10 million by election day to get her message out in TV ads and for get-out-the-vote operations.
* And speaking of the Madigan angle, the BGA and Politifact have weighed in…
Rauner’s campaign ad said: “Who’s really behind Jeanne Ives’ campaign for governor? Mike Madigan’s corrupt insider machine. They’ve bankrolled her campaign with thousands in shady labor union cash, turning Ives into another Madigan lackey.”
A political committee that has supported Michael Madigan and a number of other politicians of both parties gave money to Jeanne Ives. And records show the contributions to Ives total $6,900, a far cry from the $2.5 million she has received from a conservative businessman who once was a major donor to Rauner.
Ives was once a loyal supporter of Rauner in the Illinois House, but broke with the governor last year because she claimed he had become too liberal on social issues. Central to her complaint was Rauner’s signing of abortion rights and immigrant rights legislation that Ives opposed and Madigan backed.
That is hardly a portrait of a Madigan lackey. Indeed, it is the opposite.
Rauner campaign claims about Ives and Madigan turn credibility and rational argument inside out. That is why we give them our lowest possible credibility rating, Pants On Fire!
Republican state Rep. Jeanne Ives’ campaign said Sunday it is up with a new TV ad that compares Gov. Rauner to former Democratic President Barack Obama.
“Bruce Rauner lies so much he reminds us of another Chicago politician,” a narrator says. The ad then cuts to a June 15, 2009, clip of Obama talking about a concept of the Affordable Care Act that didn’t happen. “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period,” Obama says.
It’s unclear how widespread Ives’ ad will appear. No new advertising contracts for Ives have been posted by Chicago TV stations or cable since last month. [Emphasis added.]
Everybody wants to write about the hard-fought campaign as if the two candidates had equal access to messaging, but Pearson just dumped a lake’s worth of cold water on those hot takes. Ives has burned through her cash and can’t place new ads. That’s the real story here now.
I suppose the Ives campaign believes voters will read her new campaign book. She spent big bucks on that mailer, but I cannot imagine that it’ll move many numbers.
*** UPDATE *** Dan Proft pushes back against Pearson’s report. Here’s the printable part…
We had Quincy vets home all last week plus radio statewide. We’re on statewide nets plus radio this week with the “Neither Should You” spot
…Adding… More from Proft…
$300K buy delivering 560 TRPs in Chicago and another 1400 TRPs outside Chicago DMA, networks. This doesn’t include radio which is also up statewide. It may not be Rauner scale but that’s a real buy.
* Related…
* Rauner and Ives appear in Altamont, attend Lincoln Day Dinner: Rauner declined questions before leaving the dinner Sunday. In an emailed statement, Will Allison, a spokesman for Rauner’s campaign, responded to Ives’ comments, saying, “Rep. Ives is simply unelectable. She is refusing to stand up to Mike Madigan and won’t commit to rolling back his massive income tax hike. Governor Rauner has a plan to cut taxes and reform government, and that’s why he will win this primary and defeat JB Pritzker in November.”
* Ives brings ‘truth tour’ to Q-C: “It was not a hard choice getting in this race. It was hard for some of my supporters, knowing the daunting task going up against a guy who’s got millions of dollars, $100 million worth of name (recognition) behind him and three years of incumbency. How do you take a guy like this out?”
Asked in a recent interview if, in hindsight, he would do anything differently in his first term, he paused for half a beat to consider.
“Hmm, no,” he said
#FacePalm.
Dude, you’re polling worse than the governor next door who was just arrested. There’s a reason for that. You made a ton of mistakes in your first term. And you can’t ever do better as long as you continue to believe you didn’t make any mistakes.
* JB Pritzker reported last night that he’s dumped another $7 million into his campaign. Sen. Daniel Biss complained, but was also rebutted…
Ugh. Just when I was getting used to talking about $56 million, @JBPritzker gives himself another $7 million to bring the total up to $63 million. (In other news, still dating checks 2017.) https://t.co/lNwbFFA5TD -DB
Some progressives say a wealthy candidate can't be progressive because they take their own money to spend - but - it's progressive to take $25,000, $100,000, and $250,000 checks from wealthy, uh, 'friends' to spend. Got it. 🤔 #twill#NoStringsAttached
* Along those lines, Biss just reported $75K from Shook Hardy & Bacon attorney Gary Elden, bringing his total Biss contributions to $200,000. Elden’s firm has represented most of the big tobacco companies and some large pharmaceutical companies.
And Chris Kennedy just reported raising $84,500, with $50K of that coming from Florida-based SOLIC Capital Advisors.
* Rep. Scott Drury reported $100,000 this weekend from Steven Miller, a Chicago venture capitalist. Drury has only reported raising about $9K for his AG race since January 1 aside from that Miller contribution. Miller (no relation that I know of) has now contributed over $230K to Drury’s campaign. Drury entered the year with $732K in the bank.
* Former Gov. Pat Quinn just put $100K of his own money into his AG campaign. Quinn has raised $465K since the beginning of the year, which he started with $278K. Sen. Kwame Raoul has raised $984K since January 1 and started out with almost $1.1 million.
* Senate President John Cullerton just kicked in $55,400 to a Cook County Board candidate’s race. Why? The candidate is Angie Sandoval, the daughter of one of Cullerton’s members, Sen. Martin Sandoval. She’s also being backed by Sen. Tony Munoz.
* As you know, Democratic House candidate Lamont Robinson is vying against former Rep. Ken Dunkin and two others to replace Rep. Juliana Stratton (D-Chicago).
Robinson has now raised $453K this quarter, far outpacing everyone else. Much of that money is coming from Speaker Madigan-related entities. Rep. Marty Moylan just contributed $40K. Other than Dunkin (who, as subscribers know, is being whacked by Robinson hard in the mail and on TV), his closest competitor is Dilara Sayeed, who has raised just $37,000 since January 1.
* Related…
* Four men dominate the turf in Illinois’ political ‘playground of the rich’: A Chicago Sun-Times analysis found that more than 25 percent of the money contributed to Illinois political campaigns in the past two years has come from the pockets of four men: Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, Democratic challenger J.B. Pritzker, Rauner supporter Kenneth Griffin and disgruntled, former Rauner supporter Richard Uihlein.
Government is complicated, it’s weird; it’s not business. I think the notion that just being successful in business means that you’ll be effective as a government leader is frankly absurd. I know the legislators, I know the legislature, I know the agencies, I’ve sat in many of the state agencies and had detailed conversations about specifics of what they’re supposed to be doing to improve their public service.
Coming into office and not knowing that stuff just makes you an empty shell, that could be filled by anybody else. And I think if we’ve learned anything about J.B. Pritzker during the course of this campaign, it’s that indeed he is an empty shell, and right now that empty shell is being filled by whatever Mike Madigan wants to put in it. And when he becomes governor, it would be that much worse. Where the already most powerful person in state government would then, for the first time since he became speaker in 1983, have the opportunity to himself to govern.
If we are concerned with the way state government has gone since 1983, if we think that the concentration of power is too great in the state of Illinois, if we think that the fabled political machine that has screwed so much stuff up over the course of these many decades, is too powerful, electing J.B. Pritzker governor is literally the worst thing we could possibly do.
So, Pritzker would be an empty shell that Madigan would completely fill? Whew. And electing Pritzker governor is “literally” the worse thing we could do, including, oh, I dunno, mass self-immolation?
Hey, the dude said “literally.”
* Speaking of harsh Madigan-related stuff, check out Gov. Bruce Rauner’s new attack ad against Rep. Jeanne Ives…
Democratic governor candidate Chris Kennedy on Friday night escalated his attacks on Speaker Michael Madigan, saying he would not want any of his daughters to intern in Springfield following disclosures of harassment in the Illinois House leader’s political operation.
“I have three daughters, one of them interned in Washington, D.C. I don’t think I’d encourage any of the three of them to intern in Springfield,” Kennedy said. “They might do that on their own. They’re, you know, very independent. But that’s not a place I’d want a family member and I can tell you that.”
Springfield has its problems and they’re serious, but DC isn’t exactly a harassment-free zone.
One day after not knowing the price of a monthly CTA pass — Biss turns that into a Pritzker attack.
“I learned that when JB Pritzker’s campaign spends $17,000 a day, to try to buy this nomination, they’re buying slightly over $1,600 monthly CTA passes.”
Kennedy, whose campaign donations are on the rise, looks to separate himself from Biss when asked about recruiting Amazon to Chicago.
“I wouldn’t give the sweetheart deals that Daniel Biss has voted for groups like sears or the mercantile exchange,” he said.
Zing.
* The candidates were asked what they’d say if Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was in the audience…
Businessman Chris Kennedy agreed he’d prioritize the HQ2 pitch, but he said he’d first ask Bezos why the company hadn’t announced changes to its gun sales policy as other companies had in the wake of the Parkland, Florida shooting.
“I’d have that hard conversation with him, absolutely,” Kennedy said.
In fact, Amazon does prohibit “the listing or sale of all firearms,” according to its seller guidelines, though BB and pellet guns are offered.
