The televised skirmish last Wednesday between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and his Democratic opponent, J.B. Pritzker, was so childish, so nasty, so uninformative and, overall, such a waste of an hour that it solidified my conversion to what’s likely an unpopular view:
Debates are a lousy way to evaluate candidates.
They may occasionally make for good theater, but politicians’ ability — or inability — to deliver zingers, dodge questions, pivot artfully, avoid gaffes and remember talking points in a rapid-fire rhetorical jousting match has little to do with their ability to be wise and effective elected officials.
If you wanted to hire, say, a real estate agent to sell your home, you would not invite all the prospects at once to your living room to see which one could most effectively trash the performance and honesty of the others. So why do we do essentially that when we want to hire (or rehire) a governor or any other major officeholder?
* Gov. Rauner at Crain’s Chicago Business the other day…
In his interview with Crain’s, Rauner in painfully personal terms talked about how he’s lost 22 pounds and “a lot of hair,” often wakes at 3 a.m. and has lived a “very stressful” life for years.
He’s talked often about his striking weight loss.
* So, Tina Sfondeles asked the governor and JB Pritzker today about their health and how they handle stress…
Rauner listed three ways he works to reduce stress: riding his motorcycle, swimming, as well as skating and rollerblading.
Pritzker listed his ways to decompress as having “great friends” and “great activities.” The billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist said he’s a “decent” tennis player, “although I have trouble I admit getting everywhere on the court — sometimes I miss shots,” Pritzker said. He said he also enjoys lakefront walks.
Pritzker also said he is constantly monitoring his weight.
“I think you know I’ve had a weight problem nearly my entire life. Like a lot of other people, I’m always struggling with it. There’s no doubt about it. I always monitor it because, you know, my father passed away when he was young of a heart problem, and I’m always concerned about it,” Pritzker said. “I have two young children that are teenagers. I want to be well for them. So I’m always constantly keeping an eye on it.”
* Gov. Rauner defined “middle class income” today at the Sun-Times editorial board as between $50K and $200K for a family of three in Chicagoland. JB Pritzker wouldn’t take the bait and dodged the question. So, at the post-event gaggle he was asked again…
Reporter: Why can’t you answer the question about middle class income? What do you believe middle class income is?
Pritzker: Well, again, I’ve told you that it’s important that we negotiate this with the people’s representatives…
Reporter: No, no, no. Not asking about the graduated…
Pritzker: It doesn’t matter.
Reporter: What does someone make who is middle…
Pritzker: But, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we’re going to have to negotiate this with the legislature and it’s going to have to go to a referendum of the people of Illinois.
Reporter: Governor said $50,000-$200,000…
Pritzker aide: Thank you!
Reporter: What does someone make who is middle class?
Pritzker: Thank you very much.
Reporter: What does someone make who is middle class?
Pritzker: Well we talked a little bit about that today.
Gov. Bruce Rauner and challenger J.B. Pritzker clashed over immigration and Chicago violence Tuesday, with the Republican chief executive alleging that immigrants living illegally in the state are a factor in the city’s crime problem while the Democrat said they contribute to Illinois’ economy. […]
“Illegal immigration takes jobs away from Americans. It holds down wages, hurts union workers, farmworkers, factory workers, hurts wages and raises unemployment,” Rauner said.
“One of the reasons we have such high unemployment in the city of Chicago and so much crime is the massive number of illegal immigrants here take jobs away from American citizens and Chicago citizens,” he contended, adding that Pritzker wants to make Illinois a “sanctuary state.”
But Pritzker said the state needed someone to stand up against President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on immigrants entering and living in the country illegally. “They are good for the economy of the state of Illinois,” he said.
* Rauner was asked by reporters after the Sun-Times editorial board event to clarify his connection of illegal immigration to Chicago’s crime issue…
Reporter: Governor can we clarify what you said about illegal immigrants? It sounded like you were saying that illegal immigrants are the cause of crime in Chicago. What proof do you have of that and why would you say that?
Rauner: Unemployment, unemployment and low wages are part of contributing to crime in Chicago. There’s a lack of economic opportunity. How does illegal immigration relate to that? Illegal immigration, large scale illegal immigration, holds down wages and takes jobs that would otherwise be available for American citizens, Chicago citizens, takes them for illegal immigrants. That’s the connection. It’s about lack of economic opportunity.
Reporter: How many Chicagoans want the types of jobs that illegal immigrants are doing, though? Whether it’s a landscaping job or something else that’s being paid cash on the side. How many Chicagoans really want those jobs?
Rauner: Chicagoans want to work. You ask someone in Lawndale, Austin, Englewood whether they want to work. They do. They’re looking for jobs. Those jobs in too many cases are being filled by illegal immigrants. That’s wrong. I support legal immigration. Legal immigration is good and America is built by legal immigrats. But illegal immigration, we have immigration laws for a reason, and Mr. Pritzker has been very clear he says there’s no one here illegally. There’s no such thing as an ‘illegal person.’ That’s just not true. And he said specifically that he supports sanctuary cities and making Illinois a sanctuary state. I do not. We have immigration laws. They should be enforced. And the lack of economic opportunity on the South Side and West Side is a major driver of the violence there and we’ve got to fix that.
* Pritzker campaign…
“At today’s editorial board, Bruce Rauner blamed immigrants for crime in Chicago, demonizing entire communities with a vicious attack that may as well have come directly from Donald Trump’s mouth,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This is divisive and shameful rhetoric from a failed governor who time and again has stood in the way of investing in communities and passing commonsense gun safety legislation to keep families safe.”
…Adding… I forgot about this Sun-Times story from the weekend about illegal immigrants who work in Chinese restaurants in Chicago…
But since he started working at eateries three years ago, he said he has shuffled between Asian restaurants all over the Midwest, putting in 12- or 13-hour days, six days a week, for pay that works out to a few dollars an hour. The men say they get virtually no breaks and are often treated poorly, put up in substandard housing. […]
The lawsuit claimed the agencies and their restaurant clients “collectively set the wages for each Latino worker referred as low as $3.50 an hour, well below the $8.25 minimum wage in Illinois.” The employees work 12-15 hours a day, six days a week with “no bona fide meal breaks.”
* From the National Republican Congressional Committee…
The NRCC today released a new TV ad, “Madigan’s Candidate,” which introduces voters to IL-14 Democrat Lauren Underwood, whose campaign is bankrolled by liberal politicians Mike Madigan and Nancy Pelosi.
“Illinoisans know first-hand just how corrupt the Mike Madigan machine is,” said NRCC Communications Director Matt Gorman. “They now know that Madigan and his liberal allies moved Lauren Underwood to the district just to run for Congress, because she supports his and Nancy Pelosi’s radical agenda of a government takeover of your health care.”
That’s definitely a sign that things are starting to break bad for the Republican incumbent.
I think the only contested congressional race where Madigan hasn’t yet been an issue is Rodney Davis’ 13th CD battle against Betsy Dirksen Londrigan.
In my opinion at this point in time, the Republicans’ bump from the Kavanaugh thing was a dead cat bounce. In other words, not sustainable. Should be a fascinating four weeks.
Randall: After Isabel was born, she was diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis, a rare genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow throughout the vital organs. She can’t do any of the things a normal kid, her age does.
Narrator: Peter Roskam repeatedly attacked the law that protects Isabel and other Americans who have a pre-existing condition, voting against it 60 times.
Randall: Peter Roskam had 60 chances to do the right thing.
Illinois: The deadline to register in person is Oct. 9. The deadline to register online is Oct. 21. After that, residents can register and vote at a local election office during a “grace period.”
The deadline for registering to vote or re-registering at a local board of elections office in Illinois is Tuesday, Oct. 9.
If you miss the deadline you can still register online through the State Board of Elections for the next two weeks, until Oct. 22.
You can also register to vote on Election Day at the board of elections office. If you choose to register to vote on Election day, you cannot register at your polling place, unless your polling place is the board of elections office.
Regular registration is available year-round with exception to the 27-day period prior to an election, or 16 days prior through online paperless voter applications available on the State Board of Elections website. […]
Grace period registration is an extension of the regular registration deadline from the 27th day prior to an election through Election Day. Grace period registration is only available “in-person” at sites authorized by each election authority.
* The Board also has a handy online calendar. Today is indeed the final day of “regular registration,” either for in-person or when your registration form is mailed in. “Grace period” registration begins tomorrow and lasts all the way through election day. Online voter registration has been continuous and closes at 11:59:59 pm on October 21st.
* As for same-day registration/voting (it has to be done at the same time), here’s where you can register/vote…
Office of the election authority, at a permanent polling place, at any other early voting site, … at a polling place on election day, or at a voter registration location specifically designated for this purpose by the election authority.
There are different rules for counties under 100,000 which do not use electronic poll books.
The only time you can’t register to vote in Illinois is the day or two after the election.
* JB Pritzker complained during and after last week’s debate of inaccuracies in the Cook County Inspector General’s report about his reassessment, but wouldn’t say what those were. He was asked again after the Sun-Times editorial board meeting today by reporters…
Pritzker: I’d guess I’d point to the fact that numerous people have said that the designation was proper. Um, and that was somewhat ignored in the report.
Reporter: Who would that be?
Pritzker: Well, in the report you can see. And actually they sort of cite it but they don’t emphasize it. Uh, and then in another part of the report they talk about some of the other items of disrepair, but again don’t emphasize it, seem to overlook it. So those are some of the inaccuracies.
* I asked the Pritzker campaign for a citation in the IG report where people said the uninhabitable designation was proper. I was directed to page 12…
[The Appraisal Firm President] said he recalled that the property was in very poor condition, with the staircase pitched in such a way that it was dangerous. The Appraisal Firm President opined that property was a ‘gut rehab.’ He related that had he been informed that the toilets were in place on January 1, 2015 [the date of the retrospective appraisal] he would have documented the information in the appraisal report although it would not have changed his opinion of the property’s value.
The Associate Appraiser related that aside from the missing toilets, from what he saw, he believes the residence was still uninhabitable because there were other things wrong with it. For example, the Associate Appraiser said the main staircase looked structurally unsound.
The Valuation/Appeals Deputy was asked, ‘How would the Assessor view the fact that a homeowner removed all the toilets from the residence for purposes of arguing that it was uninhabitable?’ He replied, ‘If that were solely in isolation, which reminds me of a political commercial which implies that that’s what it is, that’s a different situation than if I’m talking about a stairwell that is under bracing, mold in the basement, 2,300 square feet that’s not livable, and a bunch of other things. … A person that was trying to do something solely to do one thing as a technicality in the hope they would get relief is a different situation than in the totality of circumstances, toilets are removed with a whole bunch of other stuff. So I can’t tell you what would happen if we confronted just that one oddball thing, but it doesn’t appear that’s what this is here, that we had here. We have a whole bunch of things in this building, okay.’
You won’t believe what Republican Erika Harold believes. Just like Trump, Harold pledged to eliminate Obamacare, leaving a million Illinoisans without coverage, denying lifesaving care to children with pre-existing conditions.
As a cancer survivor, Kwame Raoul believes that everyone deserves access to affordable, quality healthcare. That’s why he took on the special interests and expanded Obamacare.
[Raoul]: Healthcare should not be a privilege; it should be a human right. I’m Kwame Raoul. This is the work of my life, and I’m just getting started.
Rauner’s campaign gave Erika Harold’s bid for attorney general another $500,000 last week, state campaign finance reports showed. Rauner’s campaign gave her $1 million in August and previously paid for $305,000 worth of ads in the March GOP primary. She is facing Democratic state Sen. Kwame Raoul to replace retiring Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
Both candidates vying to replace Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Friday they don’t know enough about her investigation into Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration’s response to deaths from Legionnaires’ disease at the Quincy veterans home to say whether it’s appropriate.
Republican attorney Erika Harold, who has been backed by Rauner, said investigating circumstances surrounding the government-run home and the outbreak itself is appropriate. Fourteen residents have died of Legionnaires’ at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy since 2015.
“Without knowing what laws that she’s looking into and what evidence she has, I’m not able to comment whether it’s appropriate for her to open that particular probe,” Harold said at a good-government forum downtown. “But I am able to definitively say it is very appropriate for us to have an investigation about what happened and what we can learn.”
* Excerpt from post-debate Raoul campaign press release…
While Raoul spoke openly about his legal and advocacy goals for the office, Harold tried to have it both ways.
She stated that her personal views don’t matter since she will simply defend Illinois law, yet throughout the debate, she advocated for changes to state law in select areas and even touted her ability to exercise discretion in litigation.
I asked which law changes she spoke of.
* Response…
She mentioned grand jury power, sexual harassment (including non-legislators on the ethics commission), legalization of marijuana, sentencing reform, other types of criminal justice reform
She’s referenced other topics in previous interviews, but then says choice and marriage equality are “settled law” so therefore her opinion is not important to share with voters.
* Could the U of I do better? Sure. But they wouldn’t have to raise so much money if the state was a reliable partner…
“The University of Illinois has an extraordinary alumni network,” Rauner recently told Crain’s editorial board. “Only one of them, oh, actually two, have given any material amount of money to the university, and (it has) dozens of half-a-billion to billion to multi- to decca-billionaires. Most of them have never given a nickel. Why not? The U of I is atrocious at fundraising. They treated their alumni shabbily.”
Nonetheless, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed its largest gift ever this year, receiving $150 million from Chicago private-equity pro and alum Larry Gies, who donated to the school’s College of Business. And the system’s foundation, which raises funds across the university’s three campuses, Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield, reported a record $499 million for this year.
While Gies as well as big-name alumni such as Chicago venture capitalist Steve Miller and Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur Tom Siebel have given hundreds of millions of dollars to UIUC, there are others who have been lower-profile in their philanthropy, if not absent. Only 6.9 percent of the university’s alumni contributed to the school last year, compared with about 7.8 percent nationally for all institutions and 7.2 percent for public research institutions, like UIUC, according to the Council for Aid to Education. Also, U of I system’s $2.73 billion endowment across the three campuses is paltry compared to those of prestigious private schools, and even some public ones. […]
Public universities are increasingly focused on private donations as state funding declines. Illinois schools are particularly keen on it after a depletion of reserves during a recent two-year budget impasse that underscored the cash-strapped state’s unreliable support. Illinois allocated $600.5 million to the university system’s $6.8 billion budget this year for a record 85,600 students, including the biggest population, 49,340, at the system’s most prestigious campus, Urbana-Champaign. […]
“We are going flat-out on our overall fundraising efforts here,” University of Illinois System President Tim Killeen says. The system has raised more than half of its $3.1 billion goal.
…Adding… Let’s add a bona fide screwup to this post…
Former SIU System President Randy Dunn’s lack of action on a key funding request may have hindered Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s recruitment efforts in his final months on the job, according to documents obtained by The Southern Illinoisan via a Freedom of Information Act request.
E-mails between top administrators show that Dunn declined to give final approval on $499,000 in recruitment spending at SIUC for more than two months this summer, setting back crucial and time-sensitive recruitment initiatives. Per SIU protocol, any expenditure over $100,000 must be approved by the system president.
The money was requested to purchase the names and contact information of students who took the SAT, ACT and other standardized tests. The name buys are standard practice at four-year universities, and are “critical” to new-student recruitment, said Jennifer DeHaemers, SIUC’s associate chancellor for enrollment management. […]
“When we can’t spend the money to purchase names, it slows our recruiting down,” DeHaemers said. “Other schools beat you in getting their information in front of students, which makes us play catch-up.”
Sangamon County Republicans, at a central committee meeting last week, were strongly encouraged to vote for Gov. BRUCE RAUNER even if they have disagreements with some of his actions.
“I know there are mixed feelings for our governor, and I respect your feelings,” party Chair ROSEMARIE LONG told more than 100 committeemen, officials and campaign representatives. “But do you want to wake up the next day and find out we lost by a few votes?” She said they shouldn’t let “one issue” get in the way. It was a reference to Rauner having signed a bill to expand taxpayer funded abortion.
She said the “big picture” is the coming remapping of legislative and congressional district boundaries after the 2020 Census — and the importance of being able to stop a Democratic legislature from having its way with the lines.
“Look up the words partisan and tyranny in the dictionary,” said the generally mild-mannered Long. “Friends, we’re screwed for another 10 years at least if we do not elect Bruce Rauner.”
“The bill I signed did not make Illinois a sanctuary … period, end of story,” Governor Bruce Rauner told a group of Republicans gathered in Palos Park Saturday.
Whether the Trust Act made Illinois a sanctuary state is a topic that the governor has been facing since he signed it into law last year. His frustration with what he considers confusion over the issue was evident in his reply.
“Then why are they saying that?” one of the members of the United Southland Republican Women asked.
“Because they are political attacks to undermine me,” Rauner replied. “Fake news. Listen guys, this is really important, it’s really important. I have fought sanctuary every year, I have vetoed bills and stopped it. That bill I did sign - that was a 40 page bill when it started. It … made us a sanctuary.
“I said no, and we shrunk it down to a 2-page bill and all it does is do what judges said we need to do when we’re interacting with illegal immigrants. It still says we should coordinate with ICE agents. In no way does it make us a sanctuary.”
With four weeks until the November election, incumbent Governor Bruce Rauner pulled no punches against his Democrat challenger J.B. Pritzker during a visit with United Southland Republican Women Saturday. Saying his opponent is likely to be indicted for a property tax “scheme to defraud,” Rauner said “J B” will stand for “Jail Bird.”
“People go to prison for a lot less…” the governor said. After a yearlong investigation of emails and talking to the contractors working on the mansion next door, Democrat Pritzker “cheated on his property taxes, took toilets out right before the inspection, and said ‘Nobody can live in this house, it doesn’t have toilets. It must be worthless,’” Rauner said.
“Cheated you - if you live in Cook County - out of $330,000. This is fraud, and I can darn near guarantee that he’ll be indicted sometime in the coming months. He might set a record - he could be indicted before he would become governor - that would be a record. That would be a record for the state of Illinois, and you know what - What’s ‘JB’ going to stand for? Jail Bird … ”
With 28 days until Election Day, Lauren Underwood, Democratic candidate for Congress in Illinois’ 14th District, announced today that her campaign raised more than two million dollars during the final FEC filing quarter before the Nov. 6 General Election.
Underwood’s announcement comes on the heels of two key editorial board endorsements of her campaign, from the Chicago Sun-Times and the Daily Herald.
“We have the momentum in this race. The excitement about our campaign is palpable — our voters began heading to their polling places as soon as early voting began,” Underwood said. “I’m so thankful to the thousands of people across our community who have invested in this race. It’s clear that voters in the 14th are ready for real representation in Congress and we have have the resources we need to win in November”
Underwood outraised her incumbent Republican opponent, Randy Hultgren, during the previous two consecutive FEC filing quarters. Underwood will post her full FEC filing Oct. 15.
Our latest poll shows Sean Casten expanding his lead over Peter Roskam to five points (49% Casten, 44% Roskam), up from a three-point lead in early September. Roskam’s job approval and personal ratings remain in negative territory, and his electoral support has been mired in the mid-40s since our first poll in April. Meanwhile, Sean Casten is becoming better known and better liked with each passing day. Voters clearly have soured on Peter Roskam , and their attitudes are calcifying quickly. Millions of d ollars spent trying to rebrand Roskam has done nothing to change voters’ negative impressions of him. And efforts to tarnish Sean Casten with lies and distortions about his business record have failed , despite Roskam and outside groups sinking millions more on these attempts . Congressman Roskam’s continued support for President Trump’s divisive and unpopular agenda is proving disqualifying among the thoughtful, moderate voters in this district .
A new internal poll shows Democrat Betsy Dirksen-Londrigan within one percentage point of three-term incumbent Republican Congressman Rodney Davis.
Londrigan trails Davis 49 to 48 percent, according to the new poll which was conducted between October 1st and 4th. The one-point margin is well within the margin of error of 4.4 percent.
Democratic firm GBA strategies says their survey, which polled 500 likely voters, shows the race for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District is one of the closest in the country. The same polling firm found Londrigan trailed Davis by a five point margin, 51 to 46, last month.
Following the weekend confirmation vote of Brett Kavanaugh, NARAL Pro-Choice America today announced a new $1 million ad campaign to hold the Republican Party accountable and urge voters to “vote them out.”
The ads start with pictures of Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump and the protests that took over Washington during the last month, and state that the Republican Party is advancing an agenda that “harms and silences” women and that it is time to “vote them out.”
The ad campaign, which will include TV, digital ads and mail, will target Representatives Young (IA-3), Roskam (IL-6), Yoder (KS-3), Tenney (NY-22), Culberson (TX-7), Lewis (MN-2) and Brat (VA-7).
Respectful disagreement and civility have been noticeably absent during this election cycle, and the rampant theft of political yard signs in the Sixth District is just one more example. Day after day, Roskam supporters are calling into the local campaign office reporting signs stolen from their yards and personal property—and one such attempt was caught on camera as a Sean Casten supporter hovered over a sign around 2 a.m. in a yard that has already reported several yard sign thefts. Peter Roskam is calling on Casten to end the dirty campaign tactics and denounce this illicit behavior by his supporters.
This past week, at a Roskam supporter’s home in Wheaton, a young man in a hoody was spotted in her front yard with both hands on the Roskam for Congress yard sign. When called out to, the young man jumped and claimed he was “just looking at the sign” and proceeded to try to ask her questions about her support for Roskam. The home has been a target of sign theft three times to date.
Over 250 Roskam for Congress yard signs have been stolen since their distribution starting on Labor Day, September 3—with over 100 of that number occurring in the past week.
* Civil Rights leader to hold rally with Brendan Kelly: Democratic U.S. Rep. John Lewis is set to appear at a Get Out the Vote rally in East St. Louis with Kelly, who is seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro.
* I scheduled this morning’s subscriber e-mail earlier this morning and it never went out. I scheduled it again and it still hasn’t gone out. You can e-mail me for the password if you’d like. Sorry about this. I’m checking into it.
*** UPDATE 1 *** I’m told that Constant Contact is having some issues. All e-mails will supposedly clear in the next 30-45 minutes. Fingers crossed.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The subscriber edition is now being sent out.
Political insiders are pointing to a senior aide to Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas as the person who leaked a “confidential” report by county Inspector General Patrick Blanchard, a report that has thrown a big last-minute obstacle in the path of Democratic gubernatorial hopeful J.B. Pritzker.
The aide: Peter Karahalios, Pappas’ general counsel and a friend and appointee of incumbent GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner.
The report charged that Pritzker associates engaged in “a scheme to defraud” the county by yanking out toilets in Gold Coast mansion he owned and then claiming that he was owed hundreds of thousands of dollars of property-tax cuts because the building was become uninhabitable. Rauner, badly trailing in the polls, has seized on the issue with vigor, and yesterday launched a new TV ad blitz declaring, “Illinois can’t afford another governor going to jail.” […]
I’m told by multiple sources who say they are sure of their facts that the document was leaked to the Sun-Times by campaign aides to Gov. Bruce Rauner. Rauner’s campaign spokesman and Sun-Times editor Chris Fusco both declined to comment.
That makes the question of who gave it to the Sun-Times. And I’m told by someone with direct knowledge that it was Peter Karahalios, with a second source close to the matter indicating they, too, believe that is the case.
JB Pritzker was recently endorsed by Crain’s Chicago Business. Yes, you read that right. The state’s premiere business magazine endorsed a candidate whose biggest promise is to raise taxes on the publication’s well-off subscriber base.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has called Pritzker’s graduated income tax proposal “a green light to raise taxes on everyone.”
Pritzker has infamously dodged hundreds if not thousands of questions about what the graduated rates will be and where the cutoff will be between a middle-class tax cut and tax hike on the wealthy.
“The reason Mr. Pritzker doesn’t want to answer the question.” Rauner said during the last debate, “is because he knows it’s going to crush the middle class, and he doesn’t want to admit it before the election.”
Maybe. But the main reason that people like Rauner hate Pritzker’s idea is not that it’ll necessarily make middle class families pay more taxes.
Increasing taxes on everyone is a very difficult thing to do here. A two-percentage point tax hike only passed in 2011 because the state was in extremely dire fiscal straits. Before that, the tax rate wasn’t increased by more than a half a point since the income tax was created in 1969. The rate was increased last year because a bipartisan supermajority in both chambers reacted to another extremely dire fiscal condition after part of the 2011 increase expired.
But it would be a whole different ball game with graduated rates. And people like Rauner know this all too well. The temptation for politicians to raise taxes only on “the rich” will be really difficult to resist during tough fiscal times.
Right now, with a flat tax, that can’t be done. A tax hike for one is a tax hike for all.
But if our state’s constitution is amended to allow for graduated rates, a Democratic legislature could decide down the road to slap an extra surcharge on all annual income over, say, a million dollars. And then do it again. Who would be opposed to that? Well, millionaires, of course, but there’s not enough of them to stop the Democrats.
I’m not saying that Rauner is trying to block a graduated tax for his own personal sake. He may be, but I’m not saying it. I’m saying that Rauner truly believes that wealthy people create jobs (even though his former firm created lots of wealth and very few actual jobs), and harming wealthy people harms job creation and that harms the poor and the middle class and Democrats don’t care about wealthy people, so the graduated tax must be stopped at all costs to protect the wealthy and the poor and the middle class.
At least, that’s the theory. The reality is more jobs were created in the four years after Illinois’ January 2011 tax hike than the four years after it was automatically lowered and then raised again.
Gov. Rauner warned that the 2017 tax increase passed over his veto would be a “disaster” for the state and imperil our economic and fiscal future, but he’s now crowing about recent job growth and a balanced budget.
Rauner’s loud warnings about the damage the tax hike would do were wrong, so, that undermines his similar warnings about a graduated tax.
And, if the polling is correct, the idea isn’t hurting Pritzker at all. Three polls in a row have shown Pritzker with double-digit leads. The most recent poll by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute had Pritzker ahead of Rauner by 22 points.
One of Rauner’s many weaknesses exposed by the poll was that only 67 percent of Republicans supported him. I crunched the numbers and found that even if he captured 90 percent of the Republican vote, he’d move from his current 27 percent all the way up to… 31.5 percent. And if he then captured every single one of the undecided independents (an impossibility), he’d go from 31.5 percent to 37 percent.
The governor is spectacularly unpopular, but the current political environment is just horrible for his party. The partisan split in the Simon poll was a whopping 49 percent Democrat to 27 percent Republican.
The last off-year Democratic wave was 2006, and exit polls showed the partisan makeup of the Illinois electorate was 46 percent Democrat to 31 percent Republican. That’s close to the Simon Poll results.
The current environment simply makes it easier for a Democrat to talk about a tax hike and still win, particularly if his opponent is as unpopular as Rauner.
The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police blasted the jury verdict finding Jason Van Dyke guilty of second-degree murder and aggravated battery in the shooting of Laquan McDonald — a sentiment that was shared by many members of a Far South Side neighborhood where many police officers live.
In a statement issued Friday, the state FOP — based in Springfield — decried the ruling.
“This is a day I never thought I’d see in America, where 12 ordinary citizens were duped into saving the asses of self-serving politicians at the expense of a dedicated public servant,” the statement from State Lodge President Chris Southwood said.
“This sham trial and shameful verdict is a message to every law enforcement officer in America that it’s not the perpetrator in front of you that you need to worry about, it’s the political operatives stabbing you in the back. What cop would still want to be proactive fighting crime after this disgusting charade, and are law abiding citizens ready to pay the price?”
“Today, Jason Van Dyke was held accountable for his role in the tragic death of Laquan McDonald and justice was finally served for him and for his family, who have already endured so much during this difficult time,” said JB Pritzker and Juliana Stratton. “While there is still so much work to do, we believe this verdict represents an important step — one of many — towards fostering an environment of respect and accountability between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”
The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge (FOP) endorsed Democratic candidate J.B. Pritzker for governor Friday. […]
“I’m proud to have the support of the Illinois FOP and the working families they represent,” Pritzker said. “With workers’ rights under assault, Illinois needs a governor who will stand up for working families.” […]
Illinois FOP State Lodge President Chris Southwood said “Illinois needs a fresh start and J.B. is the man to do it.”
“Law enforcement officers, like all other working men and women in Illinois, want a leader who won’t bankrupt the state by trying to dictate his own personal agenda at all costs. The 34,000 members of the Illinois FOP have confidence that J.B. Pritzker is the best candidate to shake up Springfield and return civility decency and a true sense of public service to Illinois.”
* I asked the Pritzker campaign over the weekend if the candidate would renounce his ILFOP endorsement…
JB and Juliana wholeheartedly disagree with their statement and their position. They believe justice was served for Laquan McDonald and his family.
* The Question: Should JB Pritzker renounce his ILFOP endorsement? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Today, the Pritzker campaign released a new TV ad on Sterigenics, a company that Rauner’s company owned that’s poisoning DuPage County: “Not an Emergency.”
The Environmental Protection Agency found that Sterigenics has been releasing cancer-causing toxins into the community, but the Rauner administration refused to take immediate action to shut down the facility and protect Illinois families. Rauner even downplayed the U.S. EPA report when it came to light, saying “this is not an emergency, this is not a public health immediate crisis,” as his administration delayed and refused to release key records. Meanwhile there have been weeks of public outcry, impeding lawsuits, and a pledge by the U.S. EPA to conduct further air pollution tests.
“A company that was owned by Bruce Rauner is poisoning DuPage County, but this failed governor refused to take immediate action to protect families from cancer-causing toxins,” said Pritzker campaign communications director Galia Slayen. “From Willowbrook to Quincy, Rauner proves unwilling to take charge and protect public health over his own image.”
Voiceover: Sterigenics. It’s an industrial sterilization company in DuPage County. Nearby, 19,000 people and four schools. Bruce Rauner’s company owned Sterigenics. But when the Environmental Protection Agency recently found chemicals were causing an elevated cancer risk and residents became sick, Rauner disagreed.
Rauner: This is not an emergency. This is not a public health immediate crisis.
Voiceover: Then he refused to give records to the Attorney General. Four years of failure is enough.
Today, the Rauner campaign is launching a new statewide TV ad titled “Scheme To Defraud.”
Last week, an independent Inspector General report detailed JB Pritzker’s scheme to defraud Illinois taxpayers. After filing fraudulent affidavits to the Cook County Assessor’s office, Pritzker received a $330,000 tax break on his home, forcing Illinois taxpayers to pay the price of his fraudulent behavior. Pritzker’s potential criminal activities have now been referred to the special prosecutions unit of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.
…Adding… The website’s video feed has crashed. Click here for the Facebook video feed.
…Adding… From the Rauner campaign…
Today, Governor Rauner and JB Pritzker will meet with the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board. Just a week after the Chicago Sun-Times reported on an independent Inspector General report in which Pritzker’s “scheme to defraud” Illinois taxpayers was uncovered, Pritzker has yet to provide a substantive answer for the Inspector General’s conclusion.
Pritzker has been hounded with questions about the “scheme to defraud” ever since, including a press conference in which he couldn’t point to anything wrong with the report, as reported by Capitol Fax.
Here are the key questions Pritzker has yet to answer:
What exact mistakes does Pritzker think are in the IG report?
How was the report ‘taken out of context’ as Pritzker claims?
Why did Pritzker lie on his affidavits?
If Pritzker actually did follow the rules, then why is he giving the money back?
Would Pritzker have repaid the money if he hadn’t been caught?
…Adding… Pritzker campaign…
In 2014, Rauner told one editorial board, “Give me four years, and I’ll say to the voters, ‘throw me out of office in four years if I don’t deliver results,’” and in the four years since, it’s clear his prediction may come true.
At the same editorial board, Rauner said he’s “very big on veterans support services. I’m a big advocate for veterans.” But in every year Rauner has been governor, Legionnaires’ disease has plagued the Quincy Veterans’ Home, leaving 14 dead and nearly 70 sickened. Rauner’s administration contributed to a six-day delay in notifying the public that a disease expert called “mind boggling” and “inexcusable,” and now they’re subject to a dozen negligence lawsuits from families and a criminal probe.
“When Bruce Rauner sits down before editorial boards, he makes big promises and comes up empty,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This failed governor made our nation’s heroes pay the ultimate price for his criminal, fatal mismanagement, and it’s time to give Rauner his wish and throw him out of office.”
