* This press release was sent yesterday, but I didn’t see it until early this morning…
“It’s become apparent that Mike Madigan used his power to cover up sexual harassment in his political organization, and only went public when he knew Alaina Hampton was on the verge of speaking out. Today, J.B. Pritzker was asked repeatedly whether Mike Madigan bears responsibility for these actions, and Pritzker refused to answer the question every single time.
“What’s even more striking is that just yesterday Pritzker released a statement saying we need to focus on Alaina’s story, but when pressed by reporters for a reaction to Mike Madigan’s involvement in Alaina’s story, Pritzker dodged the question. Pritzker said we shouldn’t focus on Madigan’s involvement, but we should rather focus on sexual harassment generally because he knows he can’t speak out against Madigan - the man behind his campaign for governor.
“J.B. Pritzker’s repeated silence on Mike Madigan shines a light on Pritzker’s character and reveals a man who believes behind-the-scenes support from a corrupt politician is more important than speaking out for a woman who faced harassment. Just like his conduct on the Rod Blagojevich calls, Pritzker chooses the insiders over everyone else.” - Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Aaron DeGroot
Today, J.B. Pritzker held a press conference in Springfield and faced a volley of questions about the recent sexual harassment case in Mike Madigan’s political operation. Not once did Pritzker criticize Madigan or his handling of the case. Instead, he chose to dodge and deflect because his campaign is dependent on Mike Madigan’s support. From the press conference:
Question: “You said that you want to believe [Alaina Hampton’s] claim. One of the claims she made was the Speaker’s announcement to fire Quinn was preemptive right out in front of the story. He’s the Chairman of the Democratic Party [of Illinois], and we are five weeks from a primary that you’re running in. At what point does his involvement in the party become a political liability?”
Pritzker: “We’ve got to find out exactly what the facts are… Each piece of information that leaks out is yet another, you know, piece of information. Focusing this on one thing isn’t good enough. This is a pervasive problem throughout private and public sectors and that means to me making sure all the facts are brought to the fore.”
Question: “If you called on Mike Madigan publicly to clean up what happened here, wouldn’t that put pressure and send a signal to women that they were safe working on his campaigns?”
Pritzker: “Again, I would say focusing on one person when this is a pervasive problem, what I would tell you is we need to make sure that all the facts come out…”
Just yesterday, Pritzker released a statement saying in part that “today should be about Alaina and Alaina’s story,” but when pressed by reporters today to respond to what Mike Madigan’s involvement in Alaina’s story was, Pritzker balked, said we shouldn’t focus on Madigan, but rather we should focus on the issue of sexual harassment generally. Yet again, Pritzker refuses to criticize Mike Madigan because he knows he can’t speak out against the man behind his campaign.
Watch Pritzker absolve Madigan of responsibility HERE.
To be fair, Pritzker did eventually kinda answer the questions. The Tribune has the full exchange here. But the back and forth is much longer than even the ILGOP press release indicates.
The Trib’s story is entitled “Pritzker on Madigan’s handling of sexual harassment complaint: ‘It shouldn’t take that long’” but maybe it should’ve been “It shouldn’t take that long for Pritzker to answer a simple question.” The Sun-Times headline was better: “Pritzker takes a while to say Madigan took too long to fire aide.”
J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday tiptoed around criticizing Mike Madigan over the state Democratic Party chairman’s handling of a sexual harassment complaint.
But under repeated questions from reporters, the billionaire entrepreneur did question why it took three months for a Madigan political aide — and brother of an alderman — to be fired.
“It shouldn’t take that long,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker is in a precarious spot. His Democratic campaign for governor is backed by heavy-hitting state Democrats and unions, many allied with the powerful House speaker. But Pritzker has been careful not to signal public support for Madigan — which many Democratic and Republican opponents would pounce on — given Madigan’s growing unpopularity with some voters.
Today, the Rauner Campaign launched a new statewide television ad promoting Governor Bruce Rauner’s $1 billion tax cut proposed in yesterday’s budget address. In his speech, Governor Rauner outlined a plan to enact pension reform using the ‘consideration model’ to save taxpayers nearly $1 billion.
Governor Rauner’s pension reform proposal coupled with the $1 billion tax cut is the first step needed to reverse the 32 percent income tax hike forced through the legislature last year by Speaker Madigan over Governor Rauner’s veto.
The Rauner Tax Cut will help grow jobs in Illinois and put more money in the pockets of hardworking families.
It’s time to end Mike Madigan’s tax hikes. It’s time to enact the Rauner Tax Cut.
