A day after a second debate with Gov. Bruce Rauner, and hours after a news conference where reporters repeatedly dogged him with questions about a property tax break on a mansion he received, Democratic gubernatorial nominee J.B. Pritzker said in Belleville he is working to move on past the issue. […]
“Well, we’re in the last 33 days of the election, I don’t want anybody to be distracted by the real issues that are facing working families, so we thought we would pay that money and keep moving because we’ve got a lot to do over next 33 days to make sure our message and issues are getting out there,” Pritzker said Thursday after speaking to campaign volunteers at his Belleville field office.
Earlier in the day, at a news conference where Pritzker criticized Rauner’s handling of the legionnaire’s disease issues at the Quincy Veterans Home, reporters repeatedly asked questions about Pritzker’s controversial property tax break.
“I wasn’t struggling to keep on message, we were focused on what’s happened, which is Bruce Rauner’s administration is now under a criminal probe for the death, the cover up of what happened at the Quincy veterans home,” Pritzker said.
“This is Bruce Rauner, on the attack, desperate in the last month of the campaign,” Pritzker said Thursday night before attending the annual St. Clair County Democratic Central Committee Dinner. “He’s saying anything, he’ll do anything, he’ll pretend to be anything in order to win. I don’t take it personally. We’re moving forward. We’re talking to the working families of Illinois.”
While two-thirds of Illinoisans live in Chicago and its suburbs, Pritzker has made it a priority to campaign downstate, which is largely Republican.
The strategy behind it is twofold, says Anne Caprara, Pritzker’s campaign manager. There are Democrats and swing voters — as well as Republicans frustrated with Rauner — downstate, clustered in the St. Louis suburbs and the small and mid-sized cities spread across the prairie: Rockford, Peoria, Decatur.
But campaigning downstate is also a good way to reassure voters worried about electing another vertiginously wealthy Chicago businessman four years after sending Rauner to Springfield. “We took a philosophy very early in the campaign that we were going to send him everywhere,” Caprara said. “And I said to him when we first sat down, I think if there’s one thing that’s going to defeat the idea that you’re not gonna work hard or that you’re just coming into this as a billionaire and don’t bring something else to the table, it’s going to be having people actually meet you.”
* Meanwhile…
Rauner campaign says he didn't "cancel." Campaign never confirmed. Spokesman says they ultimately couldn't make the appearance work. https://t.co/KBHUZ1oRVr
Today, the campaign of Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, Democratic nominee in Illinois’s 13th Congressional District, released a new ad highlighting Congressman Rodney Davis’ attempts to mislead voters about his record on health care — and how his allies were caught lying about Londrigan’s health care positions in TV ads.
“Career politician Rodney Davis took millions of dollars from special interests and insurance companies, then voted with them eleven times to eliminate critical protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Now that he’s running for re-election, Davis and his allies are trying to compensate for his disastrous record by lying about it, and about Betsy,” said Emma Brown, Betsy Dirksen Londrigan’s campaign manager. “It’s time to replace Davis with someone who is focused on making healthcare more affordable, not lying and playing politics with this critical issue.”
The ad, “Caught,” is began airing today across the district. It highlights Davis’ eleven votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement, which would have eliminated protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Davis also voted for the Republican health care repeal bill last summer, which non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, independent fact checkers, and the AARP have all said would have weakened protections for those with pre-existing conditions, allowing insurers to discriminate against them and make their coverage unaffordable.
Career politician Rodney Davis. Caught lying. Those attacks on Betsy Londrigan? ‘That ad is categorically false.’ What’s worse? Davis is lying about his own health care record. Here are the facts: Davis voted eleven times to gut protections for pre-existing conditions. Eleven times to let insurance companies deny coverage. And eleven times to help his insurance company donors instead of you. Those are the facts. And Rodney Davis’ lies can’t change them.
* Background…
Davis Voted 11 Times To Repeal The Affordable Care Act Without Any Replacement:
Davis Voted For Republican Budget That Repealed Affordable Care Act. [H Con Res 25, Vote #88, 3/21/13]
Davis Voted To Repeal The Affordable Care Act. [HR
45, Vote #154, 5/16/13; CQ Floor Votes, 5/16/13]
Davis Voted For Republican Budget That Repealed Affordable Care Act. [H Con Res 96, Vote #177, 4/10/14]
Davis Voted To Repeal Affordable Care Act. [HR
596, Vote #58, 2/3/15; CQ Floor Votes, 2/3/15]
Davis Voted For Budget Alternative That Repealed The Affordable Care Act. [H. Con Res. 27, Vote #141, 3/25/15; US News and World Report,3/25/15]
Davis Voted For Republican Budget That Repealed The Affordable Care Act. [H. Con Res. 27, Vote #142, 3/25/15; New York Times, 3/25/15]
Davis Voted For Republican Conference Report On Budget That Began Process To Repeal Affordable Care Act.
[S Con Res 11, Vote #183, 4/30/15; Bloomberg, 4/29/15]
Davis Voted To Repeal Major Pillars Of Affordable Care Act, Including Individual Mandate. [HR 3762, Vote #568, 10/23/15; Los Angeles Times, 10/23/15]
Davis Voted To Repeal The Affordable Care Act. [HR
3762, Vote #6, 1/6/16; CNN, 1/6/16]
Davis Voted To Overturn Obama’s Veto Of Bill That Would Repeal The Affordable Care Act. [HR3762, Vote #53, 2/2/16; Washington Post,2/2/16] Note: Reported as 63rd vote
Davis Voted To Begin Process Of Repealing Affordable Care Act. [S Con Res 3, Vote #58, 1/13/17; CNN, 1/3/17]
Today, the Rauner campaign is launching a new TV ad titled “Change Doesn’t Come Easy.”
In the ad, Governor Rauner directly addresses the voters of Illinois about how important this election is in the fight for the future of the state. Governor Rauner makes the choice voters face in November clear: “We could give up, and give total control to Madigan, Pritzker and the Machine that made this mess, or do the tough, honest things to save Illinois.”
You sent me to Springfield to fix our state. We’ve done some good. We’ve stopped a lot of bad. But like you, I’m frustrated because we haven’t done enough. After decades of corruption, change doesn’t come easy. We could give up, and give total control to Madigan, Pritzker and the Machine that made this mess, or do the tough, honest things to save Illinois. This might be our last chance.
