* Background on this tattoo artist is here. It’s a great read. Press release…
U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren, running for re-election in the 14th Congressional District, has aired his first television ad of this campaign season. The 30-second spot rises above typical campaign ads and focuses on the issue of human trafficking that is plaguing our nation, an issue that Rep. Hultgren is passionate about and will continue to address when he is re-elected in November.
“As any parent will attest, there’s nothing more important than protecting our children and our communities. And as a husband and father of four children, including one daughter, one of the issues I’ve been particularly drawn to is the tragic human cost of human trafficking on families and especially children,” said Rep. Hultgren.
“As your representative in Congress, I’ve done my best to raise awareness of this issue that effects our region, and not just far-off corners of the world. Our work isn’t done by any means, but our progress is unmistakable.”
The Hultgren Campaign has made a significant ad buy on local cable networks and digital, and this first ad is one piece of a comprehensive TV and Digital advertising campaign that the voters can expect from Rep. Hultgren.
“When I started removing sex trafficking tattoos, I would drive home in tears,” Ink180 owner Chris Baker says in the spot. “To have a kid, at 13, with a tattoo of her pimp’s name on her arm made me sick.”
“There’s so much more work that needs to be done to combat human trafficking, and Randy Hultgren is the man to do that,” Baker says. […]
Underwood outraised Hultgren by about $150,000 in the second quarter of the year. She launched her first TV commercial this week, highlighting her work as a registered nurse as she tries to introduce herself to voters and keep her campaign’s focus on health care.
* I told subscribers about this last Friday, both in the morning and then in an afternoon update about the agreement to pull the spots on Tuesday. There was a huge fight with Chicago labor leaders over Cullerton’s spots…
Within 10 days of running, three ads for Democratic women running for the Illinois State Senate - in which they called for term limits for House Speaker Michael Madigan - have been pulled from airwaves.
It was an unusual step for the candidates, criticizing a member of their own party by name ahead of a general election, particularly one who leads a different chamber of the legislature. Though Madigan is leader of the Illinois House, Democratic insiders admit that his power impacts the Senate as well. […]
But days after the ads began to air on cable television, sources said the Chicago Federation of Labor intervened, threatening to withhold nearly $5 million in campaign cash for Senate Democrats if the ads were not taken down. A spokesman for the Chicago Federation of Labor did not immediately respond to request for comment.
A spokesman for the Illinois Senate Democratic Victory Fund said Thursday that the ads were the candidates’ introductory ads and they had new ads up and running beginning Tuesday.
The ads are still online, however. Click here for one of them.
* The ads also mention how the Senate Democratic candidates back a “no budget, no pay” law for legislators. As I’ve already told you, the House Democrats are also pushing the concept in some of their mailers. Rep. Mark Batinick was the original sponsor of a bill to prevent lawmakers from being paid without a budget, and his Democratic opponent has been using the issue to bolster her own campaign. So, Batinick wants an immediate special session to deal with the issue…
State Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) today called on the General Assembly to immediately return to Springfield to approve “No Budget, No Pay” legislation that he has been championing since 2015. Democratic legislative candidates and officeholders are now claiming to support this Bill that Leadership suppressed.
“The silence from legislative Democrats on ‘No Budget, No Pay’ during the state’s budget impasse was embarrassing,” said Rep. Batinick. “Now that Democrats on the ballot across the state are voicing their support for the idea through political mail pieces, TV and radio ads, let’s put the issue to bed. I’m calling on the Speaker and the Senate President to call the legislature into session immediately. Let’s see who truly supports this important form of taxpayer protection and who is using this to simply get elected only to turn their backs on Illinois families once in office.”
At the start of the budget crisis in July of 2015, Rep. Batinick became Chief Co-Sponsor of “No Budget No Pay” legislation — HB 4253. This legislation simply states that if there is no state budget in place, legislators won’t get paid.
Batinick also started the website www.NoBudgetNoPayIL.com to collect petition signatures on the concept and signed on to a letter to the comptroller outlining a legal argument on why the comptroller could withhold legislator pay without legislation.
“To use ‘No Budget, No Pay’ as nothing more than a political tool to get elected is disgusting and dishonest,” said Rep. Batinick. “Illinois families deserve better. Let’s go back to Springfield and put the votes on the board. Time to see who is willing to stand for taxpayers and who is in this for themselves - before the November election.”
Today, ahead of Bruce Rauner’s desperate “reset” speech, the Pritzker campaign is releasing two new TV ads that show exactly why Bruce Rauner is trying so hard to reframe his inability to lead after four years of failure.
The ads highlight the central failure of Rauner’s tenure: the two-year budget crisis that Illinoisans are still recovering from. “736 Days” focuses on how the crisis hurt local communities by delaying funding for schools and forcing local governments to raise property taxes while “Unpaid” focuses on Rauner racking up over $10 billion in unpaid bills and wrecking state finances.
“From harming local neighborhood schools to forcing property tax hikes and tanking state debt, communities across Illinois are still reeling from Bruce Rauner’s two-year budget crisis, and no single speech can erase the fact that four years of his failure is enough,” said Pritzker campaign communications director Galia Slayen.
Want to see what failure looks like? Because of Bruce Rauner, Illinois went 736 days without a budget, delaying funding for schools while local governments were forced to raise property taxes. Four years of failure is enough.
Want to see what failure looks like? When Bruce Rauner took office, Illinois had $6 billion in unpaid bills. But after Rauner’s budget crisis, we had over $16 billion. Bruce Rauner, four years of failure is enough.
A TV-watching buddy told me last night that the :15 spots were played back-to-back.
*** UPDATE *** Despite the claims by the Pritzker campaign (and the fact that I only heard about the spots last night), the Rauner campaign says the ads are not new and have been running since last Thursday.
HOST 1: Bruce Rauner’s been on the program a number of times, and I kind of feel for him. But, the ad that he ran against you from the Tribune Editorial Board meeting –
HOST 2: ’She loves Mike Madigan.’
HOST 1: - Was taken so far out of context for even people that follow the news marginally well.
HOST 2: ’When Jeanne Ives was a soccer coach she taught her kids to cheat.’
HOST 1: What does this say about the populous where they buy that nonsense? And this is true of Democratic ads too.
IVES: But they did. But they did buy it. He spent $1.7 million the last four days of the campaign lying about who I was in Central Illinois, and they did not do their research or check it out. So, they know that it’s effective. Which is why now everybody’s tied to Madigan on both sides, I mean it’s just ridiculous. So, people are gonna have to wake up to the reality in their checkbook before we – Republicans are going to have to make arguments, we’re going to have to make real arguments about what’s going on and connect dots for folks. And I think eventually we may get there, but the truth is we’re going to lose more and more people every single year because they’re just going to give up, they don’t care why they just want out.
* I missed this one yesterday when I was under the weather. But now that Rauner is planning to cross a union hotel picket line today, it’s even more timely…
Today, the Rauner campaign is launching a new digital video titled “Turning Up The Heat.”
JB Pritzker claims to support unions and boasts of their endorsements, but his history with workers stands in stark contrast to his words. Currently, union workers are striking at the Hyatt Hotels owned by the Pritzker family and employees of a Pritzker-owned business are accusing of him of union-busting.
Back in 2011, when workers at the Pritzker family’s hotel chain went on strike in the middle of the summer, the hotel turned the winter heat lamps on. This video focuses on the strike, the Pritzker’s use of heats lamps, and features one worker saying, “If the heat didn’t kill us, the heat lamps would.”
JB Pritzker talks a big game, but Illinois workers can’t trust him.
Pritzker: “It’s why I believe so strongly that we have to stand up for our labor unions in the state.”
But when workers went on strike at the Pritzker family hotel chain, they turned on the heat. In the heat of the summer, they turned heat lamps on workers.
Hyatt Hotel Worker: “They put the heat lamps on us like we were nothing. If the heat didn’t kill us the heat lamps would.”
JB Pritzker says one thing, but his record shows another. Illinois workers can’t trust him
This spot is obviously designed to try and discourage or tamp down union member support for Pritzker.
A new ad from the Roskam for Congress campaign released today highlights Sean Casten’s previously unreported work as a federal lobbyist who sought taxpayer funded subsidies and attempted to sway members on Capitol Hill to grant him special tax incentives for his own company.
“Sean Casten takes every opportunity to talk about his ‘resume,’ but he conveniently leaves out that he was also a registered federal lobbyist who pleaded with congressional leaders for special tax breaks to benefit his own business,” said Roskam for Congress Spokesman Veronica Vera. “Casten’s hypocrisy in calling for raising taxes for 6th District residents, all the while lining his own pockets with taxpayer money through special interest tax breaks, is breathtaking. Casten’s history continues to reveal shady business dealings, cover-ups and contradictions—and now, Sixth District residents are getting to know the real Sean Casten.”
