* Natasha Korecki…
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner, under the gun this week for admitting he belongs to an exclusive wine club that costs upward of $100,000 to join after portraying himself as the frugal $18 watch wearer, had a new everyday Joe ad teed up.
In this one, Rauner talks about his “trashcan van,” which he says he’s owned for 20 years — with “almost 200,000 miles.”
“I’ll live in Springfield, sell that state plane and drive my van to work because the Capital needs a good trash can,” Rauner says in the ad, chiding Gov. Pat Quinn for using a state plane to fly to Springfield.
* The ad…
* DGA response…
This is from the phony with a $100,000 extra parking spot. The ad is as insulting as it is incredulous. Voters beware.
*** UPDATE *** Quinn campaign…
“Mr. Rauner’s attempt to deceive voters into not thinking that he’s an out of touch billionaire with 9 homes and a $140,000+ wine club membership is offensive. But it’s not as offensive as the fact that his policies always benefit the very wealthy at the expense of the rest of us, whether it’s his heartless belief that the minimum wage should be eliminated or his plan to tax consumption of food and medicine. We don’t think voters will be fooled.”
Food and medicine taxes? A new front against Rauner appears to be opening.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The Rauner campaign responds to the food and medicine tax allegation…
This is a lie. Bruce’s growth plan only modernizes how we treat services - not goods like food and medicine. And in fact, Bruce explicitly said that he would exempt “medical services” and “day-to-day items like Laundromats, day care centers, barber shops and animal care.”
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* I really like the visual quality of Bobby Schilling’s new TV ad…
* Script…
Bobby Schilling: “I know these roads—lived here my whole life. I know our people, our places, and our perseverance. I know our struggles—and our successes. This is my home. This is where Christie and I are raising our 10 kids. It’s where I started our family restaurant. I know first-hand how Washington makes it hard for families and workers, and I want to stop it. I’m Bobby Schilling, and I approve this message because I know we’re all on this road together.”
*** UPDATE *** From the Cheri Bustos campaign…
“Bobby Schilling’s first ad is a blatant attempt to hide the ‘Real Bobby Schilling’s’ record of putting the Tea Party first and Illinois middle class families last. In Congress, Schilling voted to protect tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas, to end the Medicare guarantee for seniors and walked out of a public meeting with workers whose jobs were shipped to China. Now he’s making a six figure salary working for one of his campaign contributors helping wealthy Chinese businessmen game the immigration system. If this is what he means by ‘leading by example’ Illinois working families will reject him once again this November.”
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* Cumulus, which owns several Chicago radio stations including WLS, has decided to no longer air a radio ad paid for by the New Prosperity Foundation which targeted Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider. We discussed the group’s two radio ads yesterday. The offending line was this…
Finally, last month, after promising to release his tax returns, Schneider offered the public only a one-page summary that hides his wealth and then barred reporters from obtaining the actual return, like nearly every other member of Congress does.”
* But the Schneider campaign pointed to several media stories like this one…
Both U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-10th) and his Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Robert Dold, have released their 2013 tax returns to the Journal & Topics Newspapers.
So, the ad came down, but you can still listen to it here if you want…
No response yet from the New Prosperity Foundation.
…Adding… From Staci McCabe at the Schneider campaign…
“This false ad goes down as just another example of Republicans willing to say anything to elect their reliable Republican ally Bob Dold.”
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* Earlier this morning, we discussed Brian Mackey’s column which contained some quotes from Bruce Rauner about the government’s role in the economy. He made those remarks during a 2011 panel discussion. A labor union source found another Rauner quote from that same panel. The pre-candidate was asked “Could you talk about the increasingly unequal distribution of wealth in this country?” Rauner’s response…
“You know, we can complain about it, we can try to tax more, redistribute income, whatever. Or encourage more unionization, which is, or raise the uh, another standard one, let’s raise the minimum wage.
“Those are all in a lot of ways counter-productive, in my opinion.”
Video…
Like I told you yesterday, prepare to hear more about this issue as the campaign progresses, not less.
The full video is here. The above quote starts around the 1 hour, 28 minute mark. But what the union guy didn’t include was the last part of the quote…
“What it’s really about is education.”
Rauner was arguing that education was important to the knowledge-base economy. He’s right about that part, although I don’t see how cutting state and local revenues will accomplish his goals. But, whatever, the rest of his comment opens him up yet again to claims that he’s a heartless plutocrat.
By the way, Rauner also said there’s “a financial tumor growing” in the nation, caused by public sector unions.
* Meanwhile, apparently the Illinois economy didn’t crash in the late 00’s because the world economy crashed. Nope, it crashed because the state gradually raised its minimum wage…
The minimum wage in Illinois rose four times between 2006 and 2010. Unemployment rates climbed, along with home foreclosures and the number of families living in extreme poverty.
The rest of the column is pretty good, though…
They know that state and federal welfare programs punish workers who move up the pay scale. Federal benefits for housing assistance or food stamps or day care start to drop off once someone is earning about $22,000 a year. Take a promotion, and you’ll lose your child care subsidy. It makes no sense.
The politicians here and in Washington, D.C., know that affordable housing is a scarcity. They know expanding the earned income tax credit to younger workers would put real money into the pockets of the working poor.
They know that reducing mandatory minimum prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and giving businesses more incentives to hire people with criminal records would enable millions of men and women to better care for their families. The Tribune’s Jon Yates recently wrote of a man who didn’t qualify for the Chicago Transit Authority’s ex-offender apprenticeship program because his criminal record wasn’t current enough. Yes. True story.
* And, on a related note, from the twitters…
That’s two, two Illinois ballot issues in one, in case you’re keeping score at home.
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* The DCCC is using clips from the infamous video of Rep. Mike Blost blowing up on the House floor against him. Pretty effective, if you ask me…
* Script…
Bost: These damn bills that come out of here all the damn time…
Announcer: Mike Bost keeps melting down in Springfield
Bost: … you should be ashamed of yourselves. I’m sick of it.
Announcer: Now Bost wants to be in Congress.
Bost: Enough! I feel like somebody trying to be released from Egypt. Let my people go!
Announcer: He’d make Washington … worse.
*** UPDATE *** RNCC response…
Nancy Pelosi’s campaign arm, the DCCC, is up on TV today with a new ad highlighting Mike Bost’s dedicated service to his constituents. As most Southern Illinois families know, Springfield is a disaster and under the Quinn-Madigan machine, folks are suffering. Thankfully, Mike Bost has been a leader in Springfield and has stood up to the Democratic cronies who try to push large tax hikes and bills that are bad for the state through with zero transparency.
Bost said enough is enough. Hopefully the DCCC will continue to run these ads which highlight Bost’s dedication and hard work.
NRCC Statement: “You can tell this TV ad was made by folks in DC who are out-of-touch with what’s really happening in Southern Illinois. While Nancy Pelosi may think Mike Bost’s dedicated service is strange, the families that have continued to vote for him throughout the years appreciate his passion and efforts to keep Pat Quinn’s toxic agenda out of Southern Illinois.” – Katie Prill, NRCC Spokeswoman
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* Just imagine the TV ad this’ll inspire…
In a newly unearthed radio interview, Republican private equity investor Bruce Rauner admitted earlier this year that he once favored the outright elimination of Illinois’ minimum wage. […]
While acknowledging that he once supported an elimination of the minimum wage, Rauner said later in that Jan. 10, 2014, interview on Bloomington-based WJBC-AM that either ending or reducing the state’s minimum wage to the lower national standard, as he advocated during a candidates’ forum in the Quad Cities last December, was ill-advised on his part.
“I have said, on a number of occasions, that we could have a lower minimum wage or no minimum wage as part of increasing Illinois’ competitiveness. I’ve said that many times,”
“It’s a mistake for me to focus on lowering the minimum wage or eliminating it because there are better ways to increase Illinois’ competitiveness,” Rauner said at the time.
Yeah, he claimed his earlier position was a “mistake,” but he said what he said and it’s now fair game.
* I was out with a totally non-political friend last night who makes the minimum wage caring for the developmentally disabled at a central Illinois group home. I received a text from the governor’s campaign about the story and read Rauner’s quote aloud.
It didn’t go over well. At all. The first thing my friend said was, “That’s just great, I’m getting a pay cut.”
* Raw audio. Start listening at about the one-minute point…
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the DGA…
“This is the most revealing moment of Bruce Rauner’s candidacy. Throughout this campaign he has been a master of disguise - veiling his elitist and exploitative philosophies with flannel shirts and a cheap watch. But Rauner can’t hide from his own damning advocacy against real people living from paycheck to paycheck. By supporting the elimination of the minimum wage, Bruce Rauner has distinguished himself as the most dangerous candidate that Illinois’ working families have ever seen.”
From the Quinn campaign…
“We’re not surprised to learn that Republican billionaire Bruce Rauner advocated to eliminate the minimum wage this year.
“This is his real position, the one he’s trying to hide from voters to get elected.
“While Mr. Rauner originally said his comment about cutting the minimum wage was ‘flippant,’ this little-noticed audio clip proves otherwise. This is the real Bruce Rauner and this is what he truly believes.
“Whether he’s dropping $140,000 on a luxury wine membership or pushing to eliminate the minimum wage, Bruce Rauner is the most out-of-touch candidate for Governor in Illinois history.”
No major-party gubernatorial candidate in modern Illinois history has openly advocated for eliminating the minimum wage. Bruce Rauner is an out-of-touch Republican billionaire who got rich at the expense of the rest of us. His plan for Illinois would benefit the very wealthy like him while hurting working people. Bruce Rauner isn’t looking out for us.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Illinois Freedom PAC…
Rauner Again Caught Lying About Minimum Wage Position
Chicago, IL - This morning the Chicago Sun Times reports on billionaire Bruce Rauner’s admission he has advocated for eliminating the minimum wage on multiple occasions. Rauner made the admission during a January 10th radio interview with WBJC and also said he’d advocated for lowering the minimum wage. From today’s Sun Times …
“I have said, on a number of occasions, that we could have a lower minimum wage or no minimum wage as part of increasing Illinois’ competitiveness. I’ve said that many times,” Rauner told WJBC host Scott Laughlin.
However, he told the Chicago Sun Times at the very same time that he’d never called for cutting the minimum wage. From the January Sun Times piece…
“I never said that. I said we should tie the minimum wage in Illinois to the national minimum wage. I didn’t use numbers. I didn’t use $7.25. I didn’t say any of that,” Rauner said.
“Billionaire Bruce Rauner has been exposed once again for his blatant, repeated falsehoods and his disdain for hard working families,” said Neal Waltmire, Communications Director for Illinois Freedom PAC.
Rauner has been caught giving false and misleading statements when it comes to his budget, his outsourcing record, his Cayman Islands accounts, and the clout scandal involving his daughter’s admission to an elite public school.
*** UPDATE 3 *** IFT President Dan Montgomery…
“The more voters learn about the Real Rauner, the less we like,” said Dan Montgomery, President of the IFT and a high school English teacher of nearly 20 years. “The news that Bruce Rauner favors eliminating the minimum wage is appalling and demonstrates how completely out of touch the billionaire is with working families. He talks a good game in his empty TV commercials, but Bruce Rauner owes Illinois voters a real explanation for this extreme position and his fairy tale budget proposal, which would blow an $8-billion dollar hole in the state budget and force larger class sizes and devastating cuts to our public schools. Illinois families deserve better.”
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