* From the discrimination lawsuit against the JB Pritzker campaign…
And when they asked why JB Pritzker did not visit their office, they were told that “he’ll visit when they stop shooting.”
Apparently, the Region 6 Office is safe enough for Black and Latino men and women, but not a white man.
* As I told subscribers this morning, the Pritzker campaign kept records of his campaign office visits…
The Region 6 office, I’m told, is the one on South Wentworth. As you can see, the campaign claims Pritzker has visited that office four times.
The only two he hasn’t yet visited are the ones which opened in September. His running mate Juliana Stratton visited those.
…Adding… The schedule says he was at the South Wentworth office on July 24th. That address is near Washington Park. Pritzker tweeted the following day to a staffer’s July 24th post…
* Back to the lawsuit…
At all times relevant, the JB Prtizker [sic] for Governor campaign has been cesspool of racial
discrimination and harassment.
For example, Kasmine [Calhoun] travelled over one thousand miles to Illinois to work for JB Prtizker for Governor and was one of the few Blacks not herded into POD 4.
In fact, she was the only (and possibly first) Black organizer in Peoria; she was later informed by the campaign that she was hired meet a “Black Female organizer quota.”
Stationed in Peoria, Kasmine was supposed to be housed with a family that was friendly to the campaign. When the family found out Kasmine was Black, though, they denied her housing.
As a result, she was forced to sleep in her car and at the campaign office.
Eventually, Caitlin Pharo found her a hotel in an unsafe part of town.
When Kasmine complained that she did not feel safe there, she was counseled on the “financial budget” of the campaign and told to “make due.”
Even after the chairman of the Peoria Democrats informed the campaign that they could request cheaper rates at safer hotels, therefore not affecting the campaign budget, the Campaign still refused to move her to a safer location.
As a result, she resigned her position.
* Chris Kaergard was recently re-hired by the Peoria Journal Star (hooray!) and the Pritzker campaign gave him hotel receipts and other details…
They show that the night before Calhoun’s Sept. 4 start date, the campaign booked a room for her at the Econo Lodge Inn and Suites, 4244 Brandywine Drive, at a cost of $61.56.
The night of Sept. 4, the campaign booked her a room at the America’s Best Value Inn, 104 W. Camp St. in East Peoria, at a cost of $56.44, but the summary says she did not like the facility, leading the regional field director to book her a second room for the night at the Fairfield Inn & Suites, 200 Eastlight Court in East Peoria, at a cost of $122.08.
The next night, Sept. 5., Calhoun received housing from a supporter.
From Sept. 6 through Sept. 9, the campaign had a room booked for Calhoun at the Super 8, 1816 W. War Memorial Drive, at an average cost of $75.81 for each of four nights.
The campaign says Calhoun then indicated she didn’t want to stay there and brought her complaints to a local official who used credit card points to arrange a room that night at the Candlewood Suites Grand Prairie, 5300 W. Landens Way.
The campaign then arranged a room at the same hotel the next three nights at $119.99 per night.
The next two nights, the campaign said, Calhoun was at an all-staff get-out-the-vote training in suburban Burr Ridge and stayed with all other campaign staffers at the Sheraton Lisle Naperville Hotel.
On Sept. 12, the campaign found and arranged for Calhoun to stay with a Peoria area supporter that evening.
She quit the next day, the campaign says. “Effective immediately.”
* Zorn has more problems…
And just because the lawsuit was filed only after the Pritzker campaign did not accede to demands enumerated in a letter sent to it last Friday that included a $7.5 million settlement and a threat to “pursue all available legal remedies” if the parties didn’t come to terms by Monday doesn’t mean that the lawsuit is simply phase two of a brazen extortion plot.
But the demand letter severely weakens the idea that these short-time field organizers are animated by an interest in racial justice as opposed to say, an interest in a significant payday from a billionaire candidate.
The final thing you notice is that there isn’t even an allusion to the existence of documentary evidence of specific problems, specific outrageous behavior and specific attempts to address these issues with Pritzker or members of his team.
