* The JB Pritzker campaign just sent out a statement about Pat Brady’s press conference, but the e-mail also included a background comment saying the candidate is in the process of repaying the $330,000 in property tax refunds he received from Cook County.
Anyway, to the statement…
“This is a politically leaked report without new information. Instead of standing outside of JB Pritzker’s home, Pat Brady should be calling for an investigation into Sterigenics, a company Bruce Rauner owned that is emitting high levels of cancer-causing air pollution that is poisoning Illinois families. It’s time for Rauner to release all relevant Sterigenics records so that we can provide answers to the thousands of families who have been exposed to this poison.”
*** UPDATE *** Rauner campaign…
“A bank robber who gives the money back is still a bank robber. Pritzker’s offer to pay back the money he conned out of Illinois taxpayers is nothing less than an admission of guilt that he committed fraud.” -Will Allison, Rauner Campaign Communications Director
We are requesting your investigation into unlawful use of public property in a political campaign, specifically the use of a laptop computer and a desktop computer, both owned by McLean County, in the campaign to reelect Kathy Michael as McLean County Clerk. Additionally, within 72 hours of a 7/12/18 FOIA request for Michael’s laptop browser history, the device sustained massive water damage. This raises the question of whether an attempt was made to destroy evidence of prohibited political activity on a county-owned laptop.
What in the actual heck? A buddy just said, “It’s like a Coen Brothers movie or something.”
The laptop data was eventually recovered. The county paid an outside company $654 in August for data recovery on the computer, county records show. […]
Michael defended herself pre-emptively in a statement late Wednesday, before Lindenbaum’s ethics complaint became public. Michael didn’t address the specific allegations related to internet browsing and did not return requests for comment Thursday. She said local Republicans needed to “stand together to stop this radical, socialist agenda from taking over our county in their efforts to try to smear not only me, but others who have worked for McLean County for all the right reasons.”
McLean County Clerk Michael is a Republican running against Democrat Nikita Richards, an African-American.
* Among other things, the complainants say Michael’s government computer browser histories show this…
* Searching how and where to buy a car wrap—like a vehicular billboard—after viewing images of Richards’ vehicle wrap.
* Viewing Facebook pages for Richards, Democrats, and Republicans.
* Visiting political yard signs on VictoryStore.com.
* Communicating about political events and fundraisers in McLean County.
Yeah, but it’s the socialists’ fault. You can look at her browser history here and here.
McLean County’s Ethics Commission deliberated for two-and-a-half hours on Monday before deciding to send a complaint against County Clerk Kathy Michael to the county state’s attorney for review. […]
[McLean County Director of Elections Denise Cesario] explained Michael left her laptop outside on her deck while she was working. Michael went inside to do some laundry when a rainstorm hit, damaging the computer, Cesario said.
“There’s no way she tried to destroy her laptop,” Cesario told the commission. “It makes sense that she could have just buried it.”
…Adding… Somebody might want to amend the ethics complaint…
I don’t think anyone monitors her county Twitter acct because there are political tweets that have been up almost 2 months which I have tagged local reporters on more than once. pic.twitter.com/rA8agldhKM
* Lawsuit alleging Tinley Park campaign defamation gets tossed by judge: In delivering a sharp rebuke to Stephen Eberhardt, a Tinley Park attorney who filed the lawsuit last November, Judge John Ehrlich referred to it as a “flimsy complaint” and reprimanded him, suggesting he was slipshod in investigating whether his claims were supported by law before filing the lawsuit.
With just 35 days until Election Day and early voting underway, Lauren Underwood has unveiled her second campaign commercial of the general election. The ad, “It’s On”, tells the story of how the campaign came to be––with a broken healthcare promise from her Republican opponent in the IL-14 congressional race.
“He stood in front of us and promised to protect healthcare coverage for more than 300,000 people in our community with pre-existing conditions. Just a few weeks later, he cast a vote that would have jeopardized coverage for the people who need it most,” Underwood said. “When my congressman made that promise, I believed him. I believed him because it was personal. I’m a nurse who has taken care of patients with chronic illnesses and I have a pre-existing heart condition myself. I’m running for Congress because this community deserves better.”
The ad, released after Underwood closed the final FEC filing quarter of the general election with a community fundraiser in her hometown of Naperville, represents a significant investment for the campaign. The commercial will run on broadcast and cable.
Underwood: “I have a heart condition that’s considered a pre-existing condition. At my congressman’s one and only public event of 2017, he said he was only going to support a version of Obamacare repeal that let people with pre-existing conditions keep their healthcare coverage.”
Hultgren: “Any type of replacement has to have pre-existing conditions.”
Underwood: “That’s what he said. He lied about taking away my healthcare coverage. Randy Hultgren voted against people like me with pre-existing conditions. And I decided, you know what, ‘it’s on, I’m running.’ I’m Lauren Underwood and I approve this message.”
Today Sean Casten, Illinois 6th Congressional District Candidate, announced that his campaign had raised over $2.6 million in the third quarter.
“These numbers confirm what we already knew,” said Casten “People are ready for a change in Illinois’ Sixth District, and the momentum is on our side. I’m humbled by the outpouring of support I’ve seen throughout the campaign from our thousands of volunteers and from the over 79,000 individuals who have contributed to our campaign.”
Sean Casten is running to unseat incumbent Peter Roskam whose campaign is being bankrolled by special interests like the billionaire Koch brothers and Paul Ryan’s allies at the Congressional Leadership Fund.
So far in the general election, Roskam and his allies have spent millions of dollars on mailings, TV and digital ads. Yet, it’s obvious it’s not working as recently Inside Elections moved the race to “Tilt Dem” just as Politico becomes the fifth key political prognosticator to join Cook Political Report, Election Projection, and Larry Sabato all to list this race a toss-up. The Casten campaign poll, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, and the New York Times latest public polling confirms that momentum.
Casten had ended Q2 with $646,750 in his campaign coffers. He faces Republican incumbent Peter Roskam, who ended the second quarter with $2.3 million on hand, according to campaign finance reports.
* The Illinois Economic Freedom Alliance, which has already spent big bucks to help Gov. Bruce Rauner’s campaign, just filed a $2 million A-1 from the Illinois Manufacturers Association. It also filed an independent expenditure report of $1,528,455 for “advertising” opposing Sen. Sam McCann.
Stay tuned.
*** UPDATE 1 *** And here they are. The quality isn’t the best because they were sent to me via text message. They’re throwing the kitchen sink at him in this one…
* Script…
Shady Sam McCann.
McCann claimed to serve in the Marine Corps, but the Marines have no record he ever served. Calls himself conservative, but voted with Mike Madigan to raise taxes $3 billion. Got caught using his campaign account as Sam’s Slush Fund. Didn’t even pay his own bills, dodging nearly $200,000 in taxes and taken to court over bad credit card debt.
One of these is a plant. The other a Mike Madigan plant.
Phony Sam McCann is no conservative. McCann repeatedly sided with Madigan and big unions to oppose Gov. Rauner’s conservative reforms. Voted with Madigan to raise our taxes $3 billion. But Shadey Sam got caught dodging nearly $200,000 in his own taxes.
A vote for McCann is a vote to keep the Madigan machine in control. And Illinois can’t afford that.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Sam McCann…
These false and cowardly attack ads are just another example of Bruce Rauner’s desperation as his support evaporates across Illinois. We have seen this tired old move time and time again– when Rauner is in a corner, he shouts “Madigan!” He calls anyone who defies him a Madigan Plant, including Jeanne Ives, who nearly defeated Rauner in the Primary.
The fact is I never claimed to be in the Marines. After sustaining a severe injury, my contract with the Marines was canceled before I had a chance to leave for boot camp.
The fact is I have never voted to raise taxes.
The fact is that like many Illinoisans, my family and business faced hard times due the crippling of the economy by hedge fund managers like Bruce Rauner.
The fact is that I use my campaign account to assist in my official duties as Senator traveling one of Illinois’s largest districts at no cost to the taxpayer.
The fact is that I stand with blue-collar middle class working families when wealthy elites push laws to take food off their tables and money out of their pockets.
I stand by my conservative record. Rauner is a failed Governor and a liar. He has to resort to the politics of personal destruction to hide the fact he is a pro-choice RINO who spits in the face of conservative-minded Illinoisans every chance he gets.”
That’s all well and good, but if the push-back isn’t in TV ads, nobody but us will see it.
* Democrats were asked during a Springfield candidates’ forum last night if they would vote to reelect Michael Madigan as House Speaker…
State Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, said she was “totally focused on (her) own election” and that she would have to “look and see what (her) choices are.”
Dillon Clark, the Democratic challenger in the 95th District, said he would “fight for the people in (his) district” and against Bruce Rauner.
And according to [99th House District Democratic candidate Marc Bell], “we really don’t know who’s going to run.”
State Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Raymond, lit into the Democrats on stage for not directly answering the question.
“Every Democrat on this stage like to hem and haw and say they only want to represent their district,” said Bourne, who represents the 95th. “We know who’s running. Mike Madigan has said he’s running. Jim Durkin is running,” Bourne said. “If they’re not willing to nominate someone else for speaker, then the choice is clear. This isn’t a 90-second answer, this is a two-second answer. Are you voting for Madigan or not? Our constituents deserve to know that.”
Clark had the only “right” answer to this question. Everyone presumes Madigan is running again. So, if you’re gonna dodge the question, at least try to turn it on the other party.
How much longer should he remain Speaker, a role he’s held – except for two years – since 1983?
“You’d have to ask him that question.”
* 50th House District Democratic candidate James Leslie, who is up against GOP Rep. Keith Wheeler…
Leslie, 41, an Aurora Democrat and firefighter/paramedic, says it’s laughable to suggest Madigan wields that much power over other lawmakers.
“You’re telling me all of those senators and representatives, and governors were just innocent bystanders? Or is it people that haven’t accomplished anything are looking to blame someone?” he said.
Leslie said he would vote for Madigan to continue on as speaker if there is no other, better candidate. He doesn’t support term limits for Madigan or House leaders.
“Term limits for legislative leaders makes me nervous because, in that scenario, it’s the lobbyists who become the knowledge brokers and they don’t face election,” he said.
* All very predictable. Trot out the former state party chairman who is also a former federal prosecutor at a press conference in front of JB Pritzker’s empty mansion next door to his home with toilets in tow and a mention of Rod Blagojevich…
.@pat_brady says sentencing guidelines for these types of alleged crimes (mail fraud, perjury) is “48 months.” Says “this is how the Blagojevich stuff started.”
Last June, J.B. Pritzker’s campaign for Illinois governor was rocked by an investigative report from the Chicago Sun-Times that detailed how the billionaire removed toilets at his second Gold-Coast Chicago mansion in order to claim the property uninhabitable and receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in property tax refunds and breaks.
Now, the Cook County Inspector General is investigating the scandal and calling the Pritzkers’ efforts to dodge taxes a “scheme to defraud” taxpayers, and is recommending Cook County seek action to recover over $330,000 from the Pritzkers. Specifically, the IG alleges that Cook County was “the victim of sworn affidavits containing false representations” from the Pritzkers. These affidavits were “part of a scheme for obtaining money by means of false representations.”
In fact, the report found that the Pritzkers had the mansion’s toilets removed just 10 days prior to the inspection, and “lined up” the toilets against the wall.
J.B. Pritzker is trying to force an “immediate increase” in taxes on hardworking Illinois families, but won’t pay his own fair share by defrauding taxpayers. Pritzker should immediately apologize for his efforts to defraud taxpayers and return the money.
* Even Jim Dodge is getting into the act…
Last night, news broke in the Chicago Sun Times that, “Cook County’s chief watchdog has concluded that more than $330,000 in property tax breaks and refunds that Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker received on one of his Gold Coast mansions — in part by removing toilets — constituted a “scheme to defraud.”
Since the news broke, Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs, whose campaign has received sizeable donations from the billionaire Pritzker, has failed to comment publicly on the report.
In response, Jim Dodge, the Republican nominee for Treasurer issued the following statement:
“Over and over again Treasurer Frerichs has failed to show any political courage. He failed to speak up about Madigan and the #MeToo issues, failed to speak out about faulty assumptions in the budget before it passed and now he fails to speak out about Pritzker’s scheme to defraud taxpayers.
“At every juncture silent Mike puts political calculations above doing what is right.
“We need a Treasurer who will speak up and tell the truth, not just when its politically advantageous to do so. I will be that kind of Treasurer.”
…Adding… Oops. I missed this one from the ILGOP…
“This report makes it increasingly clear: JB Pritzker is a hypocrite and a fraud. He’s campaigning on a massive tax hike, calling on everyone to pay their ‘fair share,’ yet he devised a corrupt ’scheme to defraud’ Illinois taxpayers. The Inspector General’s report makes it clear that Pritzker ripped toilets out of his mansion just before tax assessors visited so he could claim it as uninhabitable, and reap a tax break worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. A billionaire willing to cheat Illinois taxpayers to save himself some extra cash clearly lacks the integrity to be governor.” - Illinois Republican Party Executive Director Travis Sterling
…Adding… Sam McCann’s not running as a Republican, but I’m putting his statement here anyway…
The same J.B. Pritzker who wants to raise taxes and make the wealthy pay their share got caught with his hypocritical hand in the cookie jar. Illinois’ history of corrupt governors is the laughing stock of the nation, and the last thing we need is another punchline governor connected with a “scheme to defraud” the system that the rest of us are forced to live by.
There are two tax systems in Illinois – the one that J.B. Pritzker and his billionaire buddies abuse, and the one by which ordinary Illinoisans like you and me pay for their tax breaks. If JB wants to be seen as anything other than just another billionaire, he should stop making excuses, own up to what he did, and pay Illinois back the $330,000 in taxes that he dodged.
Illinoisans deserve a governor who understands the world that normal working families live in and will work to protect the tax system from cheaters who laugh all the way to the bank.
* The US Environmental Protection Agency recently declared it will begin air testing around the hugely controversial Sterigenics plant in Willowbrook. As we’ve discussed before, area residents are up in arms about pollution from the plant. Gov. Rauner, whose former firm still owns a chunk of the company, has said that the plant is not a public health crisis. But Willowbrook is represented by House Republican Leader Jim Durkin and he is hot as heck over this.
I received this statement today from the governor’s office…
Out of an abundance of caution, we believe Sterigenics should pause operations until the USEPA can provide more clarity about the potential threat, if there is any.
* That comment was attached to this Illinois EPA press release…
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director Alec Messina has referred an enforcement action to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office against Sterigenics US, LLC (Sterigenics) based on the findings of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in its Letter Health Consultation and on information provided by U.S. EPA. The Agency is seeking an order enjoining Sterigenics from continuing operations that result in any emissions of ethylene oxide either until a complete review of additional modeling and risk assessment is completed by U.S. EPA or until U.S. EPA otherwise assures the community that resumed operations would not present an elevated health risk.
Sterigenics is a commercial sterilizer that primarily uses ethylene oxide (EtO) to sterilize medical equipment. It operates in two buildings at 7775 Quincy Street and 830 Midway in Willowbrook.
As part of the process for assessing new cancer risk assumptions nationwide, U.S. EPA chose to evaluate the implications of the recently updated Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) at the Sterigenics facility in Willowbrook. U.S. EPA provided that data to ATSDR, and ATSDR concluded, in an August 21, 2018 report, that “if measured and modeled data represent typical EtO ambient concentrations in the air, an elevated cancer risk exists for residents and off-site workers in the Willowbrook community surrounding the Sterigenics facility.”
On September 28, 2018, Illinois officials and local community representatives met with U.S. EPA to discuss the status of U.S. EPA’s ongoing evaluation and testing at Sterigenics. While progress has been made, it is evident that additional weeks or months will pass before U.S. EPA will be in a position to provide an updated risk assessment and propose any resulting changes to relevant regulations. The lack of certainty continues to raise public concern. In addition, the September 28 meeting increased that concern due to information discussed. In particular, the August 21 ATSDR report referenced a “30-fold increase in cancer potency,” but at the September 28 meeting, U.S. EPA referenced a 60-fold increase.
In the referral, the Illinois EPA cited the findings of the ATSDR Letter Health Consultation and information provided at the September 28 meeting with U.S. EPA. In addition to the Agency requesting an order enjoining Sterigenics from continuing operations, the Agency requests , as an alternative, the Attorney General’s Office pursue a violation of Section 9(a) of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act. Illinois EPA also requests Sterigenics pursue EtO emission limits for the Willowbrook facility that would be memorialized in an amended permit.
Shutting down the Willowbrook facility — and all the others in Illinois that emit any EO — will create serious risk for hospitals and medical device manufacturers that depend on EO all in the name of safety for the healthcare industry. This action by Illinois is not justified by the facts and the EPA has communicated directly to the Governor that Sterigenics Willowbrook does not present an imminent threat to public health. We urge reconsideration of the Governor’s ill- considered action, which is based on a misuse of ATSDR data, which the ATSDR has already publically acknowledged.
