State Rep. Peter Breen, R-Lombard, reportedly received a death threat in the wake of an email he sent to fellow Republicans about Winfield Township Republican Party Chairman Burt Minor and the comments he allegedly directed toward Republican attorney general candidate Erika Harold. […]
“This caller was responding to my actions last week, blowing the whistle on a Republican candidate… Our family has dealt with plenty of harassing phone calls over the years, and the First Amendment protects a wide range of speech. But there’s a line you don’t cross – you don’t threaten physical violence. That’s a crime,” Breen said in the [Facebook] post. “There’s just nothing like having your wife listen to a voicemail recording of a lunatic saying that her husband should be ’shot in the f****** head.’ ”
Breen has reported the threat to the Lombard Police Department, according to the post.
Minor is running for the seat currently held by state Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, who is running for governor. In his email, Breen said Minor allegedly asked Harold personal questions about her marital status and sexual orientation, “going so far as to inquire whether she was a ‘lesbo.’ The chairman also used the full n-word repeatedly in front of Ms. Harold and her assistant, asking whether she found its usage offensive.”
* Here’s the voicemail, which is from an unknown caller. But, be warned, there’s lots of profanity. It’s really ugly…
Legislative candidate Burt Minor strongly denies uttering a homosexual slur in front of Republican attorney general candidate Erika Harold and says he only used a racial epithet during that October conversation after she asked him to explain the meaning of the “N-word.” […]
“I’m probably destroyed on this campaign by this slanderous hitting,” Minor told the Daily Herald’s Editorial Board on Monday. “But I have integrity. And I’ve got to defend at least my integrity and tell folks this isn’t the way it happened. It isn’t the way it happened.” […]
Minor says he was encouraged by Harold to ask her about her sexual orientation, with her saying “ask the next question” after he inquired about her marital status. He insists he never used a homosexual slur during the conversation. […]
“She asked me, “What did the N-word mean?,’” Minor said. “She asked me what the N-word was, which I think was a setup question. How would anyone not know what the N-word was?”
While he used the word, Minor says he did it “in a polite way.”
OK, well, just one thing here: There is no “polite way” to say that word in front of an African-American person. Ever.
…Adding… Back in October, Minor wasn’t even a candidate for the Illinois House because Jeanne Ives hadn’t made the move to the governor’s race, so I’m not sure why Harold would even be trying to set him up.
* The Sharon Fairley campaign says this TV ad will start running on cable TV this week…
* Script…
Narrator: In these dark times, the Chicago Tribune endorses Sharon Fairley for attorney general, calling her “a fearless and tested change agent.” The Tribune says “she fought public corruption” and “no politician owns her.” As attorney general, Sharon will reform our criminal justice system and crack down on sexual misconduct in the workplace. Sharon’s been taking on bullies and bigots her whole life, so she will stand up to Trump’s attacks on women, immigrants, and people of color. The Tribune endorses Sharon Fairley.
* The Question: Your rating? Don’t forget to explain.
The son of Robert F. Kennedy has had a criminal charge dismissed after agreeing to pay a small $150 fine.
Max Kennedy, 52, was arrested for disorderly conduct last month when police were called to an early morning party near the political family’s Cape Cod compound in Hyannis Port, Mass.
When confronted about the noise, the lawyer began “screaming incoherently and throwing himself at the wall” before he smashed a cabinet of glass, according to a report from the Barnstable Police.
* Chris Kennedy’s brother Max disputed that police report, but he had a bit of an issue at yesterday’s Kane County Democrats Harry S. Truman Dinner. If you go to about the 1:22-minute mark of this tracker video, you’ll see Kennedy’s relevant remarks partially aimed at fellow attendee JB Pritzker accompanied by some loud booing…
My father said, ‘The easiest thing to do would be to get elected President of the United States, you know how you do it? You just, uh, apply directly to peoples’ fears about people who are different. And if you look at the people who voted for George Wallace in 1972, they’re the exact same people in the state of Illinois who were RFK supporters four years earlier. So, that darkness is inside all of us and we’re capable of bringing it out.
When, when JB, when he was running for Congress and he started losing that race, he started losing the race, and he started talking about the Muslims*. That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. I don’t want to have a negative campaign. But I’ll tell you, absolutely, JB, you’re shaking your hands like it didn’t happen, so that’s a direct answer, yes or no?
So, when you come up here, I want you to say whether or not you’ll support Joe Berrios after he has been convicted, he has been found to have been in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act**. Will you just answer without doing the Irish jig? [Dances on stage.] Tell us the direct answer to the question. [Booing begins.] Will you support Joe Berrios? [More booing.] It’s an important question to ask. [Someone shouts “Not here!”] Alright, we’ll answer it, we’ll ask it another time.
[Long pause.] So, I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you just one quick story about my dad. [Another long pause.] You know, I know you guys don’t really want to talk about the difficult things in the Democratic Party. And I know this is a dinner for unity. And I guarantee you, all of us will be back together, all of us will be back together on the 21st no matter who wins this primary. And I’ll be happy to work for the Democrat who wins.
I hope that you will not vote for someone who uses coded language to talk about minorities and that you will not, and you will vote for someone who will stand for what the Democrats believe in. For giving the child a coat***, not for the kinds of corruption and, you know, all the money, all of the money that Joe Berrios is taking, that’s coming out of his, they’re taking almost a million dollars per ward****. That’s a playground for every ward. [One person heard clapping.]
You may not like it, but try to answer the question without dancing, JB. [Some clapping and some booing can be heard as Kennedy leaves the stage.]
After the speech, you can hear Kane County Democratic Party Chairman Mark Guethle start to say: “Alright, first of all, I just want to say this isn’t Chicago, Illinois. This is Kane County, we’re in Aurora, Illinois,” followed by cheering. Guethle, keep in mind, has endorsed Pritzker.
When he stepped to the stage, Pritzker had something to say to Kennedy.
“Max you may have forgotten your glasses. Are these yours? I am running a positive campaign*****,” Pritzker said to applause. […]
As he was leaving the facility after the event, Pritzker called the incident “unfortunate.”
“I think they are seeing that their campaign isn’t running well so they are attacking,” he said. “That’s what that is about. I am sorry to see that. It’s politics. Hopefully they will come together. We all need to come together to beat Bruce Rauner after March 20th.”
**Chris Kennedy has claimed that the Cook County property tax assessment system violates the Civil Rights Act, but that hasn’t yet been adjudicated.
***A quote from Max Kennedy’s grandmother earlier in the speech: “The essence of the Democratic Party is when we see a child without a coat, we give him a coat.”
****I have no idea what that means. ADDING: With thanks to a couple of commenters, click here for background.
I stand with Mark Janus and all his supporters outside SCOTUS this morning. No person should be forced to give up a portion of their pay each month to fund public sector union activity. It’s a fundamental violation of cherished American rights to free speech and free association. pic.twitter.com/JfXRrniPbL
* Attorney General Lisa Madigan was hopeful after today’s oral arguments…
.@GovRauner isn’t the only one in Washington DC for #JanusvAFSCME today. IL AG @LisaMadigan met the media moments ago: “This is a case where there are a small group of very well funded right wing extremists that want to eliminate unions throughout this country.” pic.twitter.com/kDuh57qp3X
Aside from Gorsuch’s silence, the most striking aspect of Monday’s argument was Justice Anthony Kennedy’s hostility to the unions’ position. He repeatedly tore into lawyers for the State of Illinois and for a major union as they defended the ‘fair share’ practice.
As Illinois Attorney General David Franklin argued that the agency fees help states by bolstering the unions’ role as a negotiating partner, Kennedy ridiculed that claim, contending that what the unions are really about is wielding political power.
“It can be a partner with you in advocating for a greater size workforce, against privatization, against merit promotion, … for teacher tenure, for higher wages, for massive government, for increasing bonded indebtedness, for increasing taxes?” Kennedy said almost angrily. “That’s the interest the state has?….Doesn’t it blink reality to deny that is what’s happening here?”
Earlier in the argument, Kennedy framed the so-called agency fees as a clear First Amendment violation.
“What we’re talking about here is compelled justification and compelled subsidization of a private party, a private party that expresses political views constantly,” the frequent swing justice and Reagan appointee said.
Kennedy’s comments were so strident that it sounded like he may have crafted a majority opinion striking down the fees in the case from last term, but was forced to put the opinion on ice when the court deadlocked after Scalia’s death.
* The Trump administration claimed the case wasn’t really a huge dealio…
Yes, Solicitor General Noel Francisco pushed back against this idea, assuring the justices that there would not be much in the way of disruption if they rule for Janus. https://t.co/iPmX7TSblM
One other possible middle ground, suggested (inadvertently?) by SG Noel Francisco, arguing in support of Janus: allow unions to charge for grievances & contract administration, but not bargaining.
Union workers rallied Monday in front of the Picasso statue in Daley Plaza to denounce a lawsuit being heard that morning in the U.S. Supreme Court — a case they called an open-and-shut case of union busting.
“This court case was cynically designed to try and weaken the voices and power of working people,” said Kimberly Smith, a healthcare administrator and member of Service Employees International Union, Healthcare Illinois-Indiana, one of the organizers of the rally.
“In fact, destroying the union movement is what motivates [Gov. Bruce] Rauner — it’s all he thinks about before he goes to bed,” Smith told a cheering crowd of about 100.
* Video from a Saturday rally…
Thousands of working people marching under the L tracks and fighting for their freedoms.
The attorney charged with looking into the sexual harassment complaint that rocked House Speaker Michael Madigan’s Democratic organization acknowledged she regrets she didn’t react faster after a female campaign worker said she received unwanted advances and text messages from a longtime Madigan loyalist.
“In hindsight, I wish I had put everything in my personal and professional life aside and focused solely on this until it was brought to a resolution,” Heather Wier Vaught, who examined the issue on behalf of Madigan’s political organization, told the Tribune.
Still in damage control over how Madigan handled harassment issues, the attorney outlined the fullest and most robust defense of what transpired in the speaker’s 13th Ward headquarters once campaign worker Alaina Hampton called out political operative Kevin Quinn for his relentless string of inappropriate texts, including one calling her “smoking hot.”
Wier Vaught, who delved into Hampton’s case at Madigan’s request, is representing the speaker’s political committee, Friends of Michael J. Madigan, and presented his side during a rare in-depth interview from a trusted insider.
Yet even as she expressed some regret, Wier Vaught attempted to cast the speaker’s team in a better light as he faces questions of whether he acted swiftly or forcefully enough when his state and political organizations learned of allegations of sexual harassment and harsh behavior among top lieutenants.
* Meanwhile, from the ILGOP…
“J.B. Pritzker is completely incapable of criticizing Madigan - for absolutely anything. Even as Illinois Democrats call on Madigan to resign his top party posts, you’d think a billionaire who claims ‘independence’ from Madigan would have the gumption to join in on the criticism, but no. Pritzker refuses to criticize Madigan because Pritzker owes his candidacy to Madigan and, if given the chance, would work hand in hand with him to maintain their corrupt, broken system in Springfield.” - Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Aaron DeGroot
Today, the Illinois Republican Party released a new digital ad, Unwillingness. The ad highlights J.B. Pritzker’s refusal to criticize Mike Madigan for his mishandling of sexual harassment complaints within his political organizations. Even as leading Illinois Democrats like Chris Kennedy and Daniel Biss call on Madigan to resign his top party posts, Pritzker remains silent. Why?
In their endorsement of Chris Kennedy in the Democratic primary for governor, The News-Gazette gives us a window into Pritzker’s candidacy for governor.
Whether it’s his undying loyalty to Mike Madigan, cozying up to crooked politicians like Rod Blagojevich, or devotion to personal ambition over the public interest, J.B. Pritzker is the status quo candidate who will protect and empower party bosses like Madigan, even as their political organizations are dominated by a culture of sexual harassment and corruption.
* I told subscribers about this new TV on Friday. Dan Proft’s Liberty Principles PAC has a new spot featuring Denise Rotheimer, who accused Sen. Ira Silverstein of sexual harassment. Rotheimer claims in the ad that House Republican Leader Jim Durkin and House Speaker Michael Madigan “both ignored claims of sexual harassment.”
“I called Jim Durkin to ask for his help” Rotheimer says as she looks into the camera. “I received none.”
The sexual-harassment issue is playing out in a big way in a four-way race for Chicago Democratic Sen. Ira Silverstein’s seat. An ethics officer found that the 19-year Senate veteran had acted unprofessionally in personal interaction with a legislative activist he was working with, but did not harass her. Silverstein said he’s received a “favorable response” from voters and his campaign is “moving on.” His opponents differ.
Ram Villivalam, a union leader who has raised $175,000 to Silverstein’s $236,000, said voters “need someone effective, someone proactive,” adding that after the harassment complaint, “I knew that he could not be effective moving forward.”
Norine Hammond and Joshua Griffith are in a campaign to be the Republican who runs for Illinois’ 93rd District seat in November.
The campaign has turned contentious as a Super PAC backing Griffith has launched attack ads that accuse Hammond of trying to “silence” Denise Rotheimer, a woman who accused State Sen. Ira Silverstein of sexually inappropriate behavior. Rotheimer even appears in one ad.
Griffith’s campaign officially has only spent about $4,000 on the race but the Liberty Principles PAC has spent over $173,000 in media buys on behalf of Griffith’s candidacy.
Hammond sits on the Legislative Ethics Commission which Rotheimer thinks should’ve let her testify in front of.
The rules of the commission allow her to say little about these cases according to Hammond and thus she thinks it’s unfair to attack on her on the issue.
*** UPDATE *** Kennedy campaign…
Today, Chris Kennedy, Democratic candidate for Governor, released his plan to combat the rampant sexual harassment in political campaigns across Illinois. Last week, the Illinois County Chairs’ Association released a pledge for all candidates regarding sexual harassment policies. Kennedy believes that pledge does not go far enough, though it goes farther than the silence from the Illinois Republican Party on this issue.
“The political culture in Springfield has allowed rampant sexual harassment to go unchecked for far too long,” Kennedy said. “Only now under pressure from the media and the MeToo movement is Speaker Madigan caving and agreeing to an investigation. The problem is we can’t allow politicians to investigate themselves. We need an independent committee to ensure the safety of staff in the political workplace. My plan will provide a true statewide policy for all political campaigns and an independent investigator to stop wrong doing.”
The Kennedy-Joy administration would create an independent committee within the State Board of Elections to investigate claims of sexual and workplace harassment including requiring lobbyists to register as agents of the campaign. This proposal will allow everyone working on a campaign to be held accountable for their actions. The temporary nature of campaigns requires swift and immediate action that cannot be expediently fulfilled by filing a complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights, although this option would always be open to a person claiming harassment. The following procedure is a framework of key elements designed to specifically address the expediency required in cases of harassment that occur during the course of political campaigns:
Harassment Prevention
All campaigns will be required as a filing requirement to publicly post and provide employees with information of their rights and how to proceed with filing a complaint at the State Board of Elections.
All employees and interns will be required to sign a statement acknowledging that they understand a campaign’s policies regarding harassment and pledge not to engage in that behavior.
All employees will receive sexual harassment training by a third party provider.
All lobbyists working on a campaign will be required to register as an agent of that campaign so that they can be held responsible for their behavior while working on behalf of the campaign.
Harassment Investigation Committee at the State Board of Elections
The Commissioners of the State Board of Elections will appoint a standing independent committee of four bipartisan (two Democrats, two Republicans) outside legal counselors who have the necessary skills and experience to investigate claims of harassment.
An employee, consultant or intern who believes he or she has been the victim of sexual harassment, or who has witnessed the sexual harassment of another, has the right to report a complaint directly to the committee. The committee will maintain the anonymity of the complainant at all times.
This committee will have discovery power. They will be able to conduct interviews and compel document disclosures including relevant emails, text messages, and other forms of communication.
A final report will be required within 30 days of the initial complaint.
If the committee declines to pursue the claim, the claimant will be referred to the Department of Human Rights if they wish to continue pursuing the claim.
If the committee finds that harassment has occurred, the committee will be empowered to levy a fine on the principal for whom the offending individual is an agent. The principal may be a campaign, a party organization, or a company or organization for whom a lobbyist is under contract. All fines will be public record. The committee can also take direct action against the individual, up to and including a prohibition on involvement in a campaign or requiring termination.
There will be an online database of all ruled incidents noting the accused individual and the committee’s determination for the past ten years. The committee will be required to consult this database prior to adjudication of complaints to help determine if a pattern or practice of harassment exists.
An anonymous reporting hotline will be established. The committee shall review hotline complaints to uncover problems of sexual harassment and shall have the power to independently initiate an investigation based on hotline tips received.
This process will hold individuals, campaigns, lobbyists, and political organizations responsible for incidents of workplace and sexual harassment. No longer will cultures that tolerate abuse be allowed to exist and thrive unchecked.
As governors from across the country descend on Washington for the annual meeting of the National Governors Association, here is POLITICO’s updated list of the 10 governorships most likely to change parties in November.
1. Illinois — Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is running for reelection. (Previous ranking: 1)
Rauner remains the most vulnerable governor in America — but much has changed ahead of the March 20 primary. Rauner’s primary challenger, state Rep. Jeanne Ives, is running incendiary television ads aimed at turning conservatives against the incumbent. But things may be even more unsettled on the Democratic side: Controversial comments by self-funding front-runner J.B. Pritzker about African-Americans has widened an opening for his opponents in the primary. State Sen. Daniel Biss has emerged as a top competitor to Pritzker in the primary and points to polls of him leading Rauner in the general election. Both Rauner and Pritzker have been forced to begin airing attack ads against their two main primary rivals. Rauner and Pritkzer, both billionaires, are still likely to win their bruising primaries, setting up the general election to be among the most expensive state races in the nation’s history.
Some of this info is a bit outdated. The African-American controversy, for one, seems to be fading. And as I told you Friday, Ives’ campaign has been running on fumes. Since I posted that quickie analysis, some Republican operatives said Ives was off (or, at the very least, “dramatically reduced from where she was earlier this month”) network TV last week. She did have about $80K in cable ads running in Chicagoland. I did see one of her ads last night on WCIA.
Jeanne Ives, a West Point grad and the conservative reform Republican candidate for governor, has released new :30 second ad, “Respect.”
“What the hell is wrong with this Governor?” Ives asked rhetorically at a press conference last week calling on Governor Rauner to remove veterans and their families from the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy after 4 more cases of Legionnaires’ Disease where reported in the past week.
The ad is in response to this ongoing crisis that has already claimed 13 lives and produced 11 negligence lawsuits against the state over the past 2.5 years and to Governor Rauner’s lethal mishandling of it.
In July 2016, Governor Rauner said his administration was “really on top” of the situation at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy.
After that pronouncement, 3 more people got sick. A Korean war veteran died.
Recently, after his January PR stunt of staying at the home, Rauner told the Crain’s editorial board in response to a question as to whether he would’ve done anything differently in handling the crisis, “We handled it exceptionally well and we would not do anything different.”
13 people are dead and Governor Rauner says he wouldn’t have done anything different. Astounding.
Since that pronouncement, 4 more people have gotten sick.
A West Point Graduate and Army veteran, Ives has used her platform as a candidate for governor to draw attention to the crisis. She has repeatedly called on Governor Rauner to end his press release politics and respond to the crisis with urgency and prudence.
* JB Pritzker started off his weekend with a super strong endorsement by the Chicago Sun-Times…
Among the essential leaders in building Chicago’s vibrant tech industry, which barely existed two decades ago, has been J.B. Pritzker, whom we endorse in the Democratic primary for governor. He bought into the vision of “Silicon Prairie” early on, as a venture capitalist and public servant. He has put his energy, leadership and money behind it ever since.
Pritzker founded 1871, the tech business incubator in the Merchandise Mart credited with creating some 7,000 jobs. This remarkable nonprofit has raised Chicago’s profile nationwide as a high-tech hub. He served as chairman of Chicago’s Technology and Entrepreneurship Committee. He was a founder of Matter, the nonprofit healthcare technology incubator.
This kind of future-focused approach to economic development is precisely what Illinois sorely needs right now. It is also reflective of what seems to be Pritzker’s philosophy for trying to make a difference in this world: work it from the bottom up.
That’s the common thread — start at the beginning — running through Pritzker’s many years of public service, whether he was supporting new technology, working to expand childcare services and early-childhood education, or simply trying to provide every child with a good school breakfast.
Pritzker saw the promise and nurtured it.
That was one of the strongest I’ve ever seen for anyone. Not all, but many of the endorsements received by other candidates in both primaries have been less than full-throated.
* For instance, the News-Gazette’s endorsement of Chris Kennedy focused a lot of its attention on Pritzker…
Chicago businessman and former University of Illinois Board of Trustees Chairman Chris Kennedy is a relatively easy choice to make among a crowded Democratic field that features three leading candidates — Kennedy, billionaire businessman J.B. Pritzker and state Sen. Daniel Biss of Evanston.
Pritzker is the favored candidate of party leaders, virtually all of whom fell in line after Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan made it clear that he wanted Pritzker to self-finance his race for governor, allowing Madigan to use his many millions in campaign contributions to re-elect an overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature.
Pritzker obviously chose his parents well, but he’s established himself as a businessman of some repute. Nonetheless, when it comes to politics, he gives the impression of a candidate who’s running to become something rather than do something.
Whether he’s on the telephone with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich groveling for appointment to what he hoped would be a vacant state treasurer’s post or toadying for Madigan in his quest to become governor, Pritzker comes across as a hollow man with a passing interest in issues and a surpassing interest in fulfilling his ambition to be more than just another billionaire.
* The Republican Governors Association used that Kennedy endorsement to concern-troll Democratic voters…
It’s become clear that with his numerous scandals and ties to Madigan and Blagojevich, J.B. Pritzker is a general election nightmare for Illinois democrats.
* Meanwhile, I’ve condensed this press release to take out the pics, but Pritzker’s Sunday schedule made me tired just reading it…
Yesterday, JB Pritzker spoke with voters at nine events throughout the Chicagoland area. At the stops, JB highlighted his plans to put Springfield back on the side of working families by creating jobs, expanding healthcare, and investing in education.
JB began the morning at Mount Carmel Bible Church. He continued to Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. JB then spoke at Greater Rock Missionary Baptist Church. Afterwards, JB headed over to Greater Garfield Missionary Baptist Church. For his last church stop, JB spoke with congregants at the Greater Open Door Baptist Church.
After the church stops, JB headed to the collar counties to encourage getting out the vote on March 20th. The first stop was in Grayslake to speak with voters at the Lake County Democratic Convention. JB then headed to Aurora to speak at the Kane County Democrats Truman Dinner. For his next stop, JB spoke with volunteers at a JB for governor phone bank in Aurora. And for the final event of the night, JB attended the DuPage County NAACP Freedom Fund Gala.
* One more item of note…
Today, the JB Pritzker campaign released a new digital ad, “Dan’s Record,” highlighting Biss’ votes to cut pensions, increase charter funding at the expense of neighborhood public schools, and garnish wages of those who fall behind on student loans.
At the State Journal-Register/WMAY debate on Wednesday, Dan Biss said “I’m running on my record of seven years in the legislature, passing progressive laws, making tough choices.” But let’s see what that really looks like.
“Dan Biss voted to cut pensions for 467,000 state workers, including teachers and nurses, fill charter coffers at the expense of neighborhood public schools, and garnish wages of those struggling to repay student loans,” said Pritzker communications director Galia Slayen. “That’s not ‘making tough choices,’ that’s Dan Biss abandoning working families at every opportunity.”
Narrator: Dan Biss says he’s a proven progressive.
Biss: I’m running on my record, seven years in the legislature, passing progressive laws, making tough choices.
Narrator: Biss wrote the law that slashed pension benefits owed to teachers, nurses and state workers. The court ruled it unconstitutional.
Biss: I’m running on my record.
Narrator: Biss voted to increase funding for charter schools at the expense of neighborhood public schools, and he’s supported by a pro-charter group who’s fought for school privatization.
Biss: I’m running on my record.
Narrator: Biss has the lowest lifetime rating from the AFL-CIO of any Democratic state Senator.
Biss: I’m running on my record.
Narrator: Biss joined Republicans in Springfield and voted to let the state garnish wages when people fall behind on student loans. Dan Biss, take a look for yourself.
* Other stuff…
* ADDED: Press Release: Unions, State and Community Leaders, and Newspapers Endorse JB for Governor: With 22 days until the primary election, support continues to build for JB and Juliana’s campaign. In the past week alone, the Chicago Sun-Times, Crain’s Chicago Business, the Illinois Nurses Association, ATU Local 308, State Sen. Toi Hutchinson, State Rep. Mike Halpin, 14 Rock Island County elected officials, 50 suburban mayors, and Chicago City Council’s Veterans Caucus have all announced their support.
* Pritzker pledges support to — and seeks support from — black women: Democratic gubernatorial hopeful J.B. Pritzker on Friday vowed to a room of more than 600 African-American women that he’d be an “ally,” while calling them the “lifeblood” of a “resistance and grassroots movement.” … “Since January 20th of 2017, we have seen a resistance and a grassroots movement take hold in this country like nothing that any of us have seen in an awfully long time,” Pritzker said. “Women, and specifically black women are the lifeblood of that movement.” … And Preckwinkle once again defended Pritzker regarding the FBI tapes: “First of all it’s hard for me to remember conversations that I had 10 years ago. Secondly, there isn’t anybody who wouldn’t be uncomfortable with something they said on the telephone, wouldn’t want it on the front page of a newspaper,” Preckwinkle said. “So, I think this is kind of a mountain out of a molehill.”
* Zorn: Shameful decision by a Downstate TV station allows Pritzker to cancel a debate: And it’s very common for front-running and well-funded candidates to play it safe and limit — or decline altogether — risky debates that are likely to elevate the profile of their opponents. You’re entitled to be indignant about this tactic only if you have never supported a candidate who has employed it, and unless you’re a new voter, odds are that you have. My indignation is reserved here for the management of WCIA, which announced Monday that, in light of Pritzker’s decision not to appear, the debate was off.
* Spot the differences between the two Jewish candidates for Illinois governor: Both Pritzker and Biss credit their Jewish background for who they are. Pritzker and his relatives are longtime donors to Jewish causes, and Pritzker includes his support of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in his campaign website biography. He also has served on the national board of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby. … Biss is descended from an Israeli mother and grandparents who survived the Holocaust. He grew up in a secular, culturally Jewish family. He told the Chicago Sun-Times that his maternal grandparents gave him “a deep sense of Jewish identity” but not “a strong sense of ritual observance or literal belief, necessarily.” His grandparents on the other side “had kind of a Marxist view on religion.”
* Pritzker working to shed Blagojevich baggage: “We’ve got this unusual situation of the Republican incumbent governor is coming after a Democrat in a Democratic primary,” Pritzker said. “Why do you think that is? Because he knows he can’t beat me in the general election, so he’s going to try to beat me in our own Democratic primary. It’s not working. It’s clearly not working.”
