The PAC is headed by Operating Engineers Local 150 President Jim Sweeney, a staunch ally of House Speaker Michael Madigan. The entire $675K contribution came from the Fight Back Fund, which lists the same address as both Local 150 and the Fight Back for a Better Tomorrow PAC.
So… what’s going on?
* Check out their new B-1. They’re spending $600K on TV ads opposing Rep. Scott Drury, who is running for attorney general and is a noted Madigan foe.
…Adding… A couple of recent Drury press releases. Yesterday…
Earlier today, Scott Drury’s campaign for Attorney General announced the endorsements of three leading Illinois criminal justice reform advocates:
· Thomas P. Sullivan – former United States Attorney, Northern District of Illinois and Co-Chair of the Commission on Capital Punishment and the Illinois General Assembly’s Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee whose reports were influential in the decision to abolish the death penalty in Illinois;
· Rob Warden – co-director of Injustice Watch, an investigative journalism organization dedicated to criminal justice reform; director emeritus of the Center on Wrongful Convictions (CWC) at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law; and a founding director of the Innocent Network, an international affiliation of organizations providing pro bono legal services to convicted persons with claims of actual innocence;
· Leonard C. Goodman – an attorney committed to representing the indigent, who has won awards for his work on behalf of the wrongfully convicted and on behalf of an Afghani man detained at Guantanamo Bay without charges or evidence of any wrongdoing.
“I am proud to have earned the support of these leaders in the criminal justice reform movement,” said Drury. “These endorsements are a testament to my long-standing commitment to fix Illinois’ broken criminal justice system.”
Criminal justice reform is a major issue in the Attorney General’s race. As a State Representative, Drury was responsible for the passage of groundbreaking legislation designed to end wrongful convictions in Illinois. As a result of his efforts, Illinois now has best-in-the-nation laws regarding the recording of custodial interrogations and eyewitness identification procedures.
In announcing their endorsements, Warden, Sullivan and Goodman had this to say about Drury:
“As someone who has worked more than three decades for criminal justice reform, I am looking for an Attorney General who has demonstrated a commitment to fixing the dysfunctional Illinois system,” said Rob Warden. “That is why I am endorsing Scott Drury for Illinois Attorney General. I have worked closely with Scott on a number of criminal justice issues and have seen his dedication to meaningful reform. Illinois needs a leader like Scott Drury.”
“I do not often get involved in politics,” Thomas Sullivan stated. “However, having worked with Scott Drury and witnessed his steadfast advocacy for criminal justice reform in the face of intense opposition, I proudly endorse him for Illinois Attorney General. Having personally worked to end the death penalty and wrongful convictions in Illinois, I know how hard it can be to enact these types of reforms. Based on my personal experience with Scott, I am confident he is the best qualified candidate to get the job done.”
“I proudly endorse Scott Drury for Illinois Attorney General,” said Leonard Goodman. “During Scott’s time in the General Assembly, he was instrumental in passing long-overdue reforms designed to end Illinois’ regrettable history of putting innocent people in prison for crimes they did not commit. Because of Scott’s work, more custodial interrogations are recorded, and police throughout the state must now follow standard eyewitness identification procedures.”
These endorsements follow another major endorsement earned by Drury earlier this week – that of the News-Gazette. The primary election takes place on March 20, 2018.
* Today…
Earlier today, Representative Scott Drury filed House Resolution 890 which calls for the immediate passage of legislation that will allow for the independent investigation many legislators have called for but not pursued. Here is a link to the resolution.
In the preamble, Representative Drury sets forth the various reasons why such an investigation is needed, including the mishandling of, and lack of transparency regarding, allegations of harassment, abuse and misconduct by Illinois Speaker of the House and his staff and attorneys. Representative Drury also sent the attached letter to every member of the General Assembly asking them to co-sponsor the resolution. In the letter, Drury makes clear that legislators’ careers “likely will be defined by how we respond to this issue. The time for blind loyalty has passed.”
The ultimate purpose of the resolution is to put in place legislation that will allow for a truly independent special counsel who can investigate allegations of sexual harassment, abuse and misconduct. The special counsel should have the power to issue subpoenas, command testimony under oath and bring appropriate civil and criminal proceedings.
Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to speak with Representative Drury today or over the weekend.
President Trump’s job approval was 36% positive and 62% negative. These totals included 54% who strongly disapproved, 8% who somewhat disapproved, 18% who strongly approved and 18% who somewhat approved of his performance in office. In shorthand terms he was 26% “underwater.”
Governor Rauner’s total positive rate was 31% who either somewhat approved (23%) or strongly approved (7%). His total negative rating was 63% with 39% who strongly disapproved and 24% who disapproved. This put him at 32% underwater.
“It is notable that Governor Rauner’s job approval in Illinois is somewhat more negative than President Trump’s. This is the opposite of the more usual finding of other polls in other states”, said John Jackson of the Paul Simon Institute, one of the directors of the poll.
Speaker Madigan fared somewhat worse than Governor Rauner at a 21% approval rate with 18% who somewhat approve and 3% who strongly approve. He is at 68% total disapprove with 49% strongly disapprove and 19% who somewhat disapprove.
This is the second poll in the past few weeks to show that Trump is less unpopular than Rauner.
And that Madigan issue is golden for the GOP and Democrats and will remain golden. The crosstabs show his job disapproval rating among Democrats is at 58 percent, among blacks it’s at 53 percent and among labor union members it’s at a whopping 66 percent. But be careful with those last two numbers because sample sizes were pretty low.
…Adding… DGA…
.@BruceRauner's at 55/39 job approval with REPBULICANS walking into primary.
The respondents were next asked, “Has President Donald Trump’s record in office made you more or less likely to vote this year for a Republican for Illinois executive offices including: Governor and Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, or Attorney General?”
Overall, 27% said more likely; 55% said less likely, and 11% said neither. There were 17% who said much more likely and 10% who said somewhat more likely while 13% said somewhat less likely and 43% who said much less likely.
This was followed by a similar question of whether President Trump’s record in office made you more or less likely to vote for a Republican for U. S. Congress from Illinois this year. A total of 30% chose more likely with 20% who said much more and 10% said somewhat more likely. 57% of the respondents chose less likely with 47% saying much less likely and 11% somewhat less likely. 9% said neither.
Another question asked if Trump’s record made them more or less likely to vote for a Republican for the Illinois General Assembly this year. 29% chose more likely; 56% chose less likely and 10% chose neither.
43% said much less likely and 13% said somewhat less likely. 10% said somewhat more likely and 18% selected much more likely.
If you’re one of those people who still questions why Democrats are attacking Trump in their advertising, now you know.
The margin of error of the entire sample of 1,001 voters is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. This means that if we conducted the survey 100 times, in 95 of those instances, the population proportion would be within plus or minus the reported margin of error for each subsample. For subsamples, the margin of error increases as the sample size goes down. The margin of error was not adjusted for design effects. Among self-identified primary election voters, the margin is plus or minus 6 percentage points in the 259-voter sample of Republicans, and 4.5 percentage points in the sample of 472 Democrats.
Live telephone interviews were conducted by Customer Research International of San Marcos, Texas using the random digit dialing method. The telephone sample was provided to Customer Research International by Scientific Telephone Samples. Potential interviewees were screened based on whether they were registered voters and quotas based on area code and sex (<60% female). The sample obtained 51% male and 49% female respondents. Interviewers asked to speak to the youngest registered voter at home at the time of the call. Cell phone interviews accounted for 60 percent of the sample. A Spanish language version of the questionnaire and a Spanish-speaking interviewer were made available.
After taking heat for saying Gov. Bruce Rauner should be “applauded” for speaking truth to power, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Chris Kennedy on Thursday said the Republican is the worst governor in state history — worse than some who have ended up behind bars.
“Gov. Rauner is the worst governor in the United States,” Kennedy said, as he spoke to a gathering of striking YMCA childcare workers in the West Loop.
“He’s the worst governor in the history of Illinois, including governors that went to jail.”
Kennedy also called Rauner “heartless” for throwing “a million people out of government programs,” words he’s used before. But the jail reference appeared to take criticism of the governor to a new level.
“He believes, like some ugly character in a Disney movie, in the pirate philosophy that when you fall behind, you’re left behind,” Kennedy said of Rauner. “That’s not what we think of as Americans. We believe what President Kennedy said, that a rising tide should lift all boats.”
* Meanwhile, the Pritzker campaign has opened up a new front on Kennedy…
While candidate Chris Kennedy recently said that collective bargaining was “a central tenant of the American Dream,” he has a long history of opposing the labor movement.
In 2013, Chris Kennedy said a tenured faculty union was a “threat to the greatness of the University of Illinois.” While faculty at the UIC and UIUC unionized, Kennedy and his Board of Trustees were part of lawsuits to challenge the bargaining units. And back in 1998, Kennedy praised efforts to cut overtime pay, calling them “hugely significant.”
“Chris Kennedy has disparaged unions and workers seeking collective bargaining, undercutting the ability of working families to come together and fight for a better future,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Suing to challenge bargaining units and calling it a ‘threat to greatness’ shows Kennedy has never truly recognized the value of the labor movement in our workplaces, despite his rhetoric on the campaign trail.”
JB Pritzker wants to compare labor records. Happy to do so.
Chris ran the Merchandise Mart with a unionized workforce and his Wolf Point development is done in partnership with the AFL-CIO Building and Construction trades. He joined Cesar Chavez on his hunger strike to fight for workers’ rights. His family’s commitment to the rights of workers to organize for a better life goes back for generations. To question it in the final weeks of an election is a sign of a desperate billionaire whose attempt to buy an election is failing.
Let’s look at JB Pritzker’s record:
J.B. Pritzker is one of the biggest shareholders in, and has called himself “a principal owner of,” Hyatt Hotels, a corporation that UNITE HERE has said “singled itself out as the worst employer in the hotel industry” and “taken the most aggressive role [in the industry] in going after their workers including turning on heat lamps on striking workers.”
J.B. Pritzker owns and is the chairman of a pallet distribution company that fought to prevent workers at its Chicago plant from forming a union and hired an infamous union-busting law firm to try to keep out Teamsters Local 743.
J.B. Pritzker has funded an attack on public employees and their hard-earned benefits, giving $10,000 to a Bruce Rauner-led political action committee set up by business interests specifically to “bankroll candidates who are willing to cross labor unions and vote to reduce pension benefits.”
So anytime JB Pritzker wants to compare his labor record with Chris Kennedy’s, we are game — especially on a day like today, when Chris is joined by Dolores Huerta, one of the most respected leaders in the labor movement.
* I asked Gov. Pat Quinn’s attorney general campaign yesterday for a copy of their new TV ad and was told I’d have one as soon as possible. As a hedge, I put some Chicago-area friends on alert and asked them to record it with their phones if they saw it.
There are actually two Quinn ads, both 15 seconds in length. Here’s one…
For years I’ve fought the bigshots for everyday people, battling utilities and helping our veterans. Now it’s time to stand up to Trump’s illegal policies. As attorney general, I’ll take on Trump and fight for you.
I half expected him to say “You know me” in that spot.
…Adding… With thanks to a commenter, he actually did say “You know me” at the beginning of the ad. Click here to see it.
* This second one isn’t complete. It’s missing the very beginning, but beggars can’t be choosers…
…the last line of defense against Trump. As attorney general, I’ll fight his attacks on healthcare. I won’t let him take away our civil rights. Trump wants to protect assault weapons. Me? I want to protect you.
…Adding…If you click here, you’ll see he says “Our attorney general is the last line of defense against Trump.”
Thoughts on these ads?
* Related…
* Democratic race to succeed Attorney General Lisa Madigan becomes battle to stop Pat Quinn: “It was passed by the legislature, I looked at it, I signed it,” Quinn said. “There had never been a court case on this issue that was on point. The court decided. In our democracy, whether it’s the U.S. Supreme Court, the Illinois Supreme Court, you accept the verdict of the court and you move on.” That response was a far cry from 2012, when Quinn declared he was “put on Earth” to solve the state’s pension mess. He attempted to cut lawmakers’ pay over the issue, then called a special session to get a bill on his desk.
Democratic governor candidate Chris Kennedy on Thursday night accused opponent J.B. Pritzker of using “the language of racists” and not political leaders when he spoke to then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich nearly a decade ago about potential African-American candidates to fill Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat. […]
“What J.B. says in those tapes, he uses the language, the language of racists, not language of politicians and not language of leaders,” he said.
Asked after the debate whether he thinks Pritzker is a racist, Kennedy did not directly answer, returning to his contention that his opponent has used “language that is commonly associated with racists.” […]
Kennedy, a member of the iconic Massachusetts political family, is counting heavily on support among African-American community because of the work of his late father, former U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy, and late uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, during the struggle for civil rights. Rauner’s ads have been seen as lending an assist to Kennedy, who has had struggled to raise campaign cash.
