* Gov. Rauner spoke at Sunday’s Effingham County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner and told the party faithful about how he envisions the fall campaign…
You guys know I went to war to get term limits. Nobody should stay in office more than about 8 years. That’s plenty of time. George Washington could’ve been king, and he only served for 8 years because he knew America should be a place for freedom and you should be a public servant and then leave. … We collected half a million signatures to get term limits on the ballot. Madigan sued me and he blocked it in the state courts, with the judges that he elects. …. But I never give up and I never give in.
We are now going to run a pledge campaign. Pledge campaign. We’re going to ask every candidate in the General Assembly statewide to sign a pledge, sign a promise to you as the people of Illinois. And that pledge says two things. Number one: “I promise you that I will vote to put term limits on the ballot so the people of Illinois can vote term limits up or down.” And number two: “I promise you that I will vote for somebody, anybody other than Mike Madigan for speaker after 35 years.”
And when the Democrats refuse to sign that pledge, we’re gonna use it against them and we’re gonna prove that they’re really working for Madigan and the machine, rather than the people of central Illinois and the people of southern Illinois. And we’re going to beat them and that’s how we are going to pick up nine seats in the General Assembly this year. This is an exciting time.
Now, look, this election cycle is going to be tough. A new president’s party has a hard time in the midterms. That’s just true, even look back 50 years. It doesn’t matter whether D or R.
But you know why we’re going to win and why I’m all-in to win? No state has a guy as corrosive and as corrupt and as destructive as Mike Madigan. And we are going to hang every candidate on the Democratic ticket with Mike Madigan around their neck and we’re going to take them down. And we’re going to beat ‘em. The people of Illinois want Madigan gone almost as much as Republicans do.
It was last year, I was shopping at a store in Springfield and an elderly woman came up to me. Slowly, she couldn’t move very, very fast. She was, she was up there in years. She slowly came up to me in the store and she grabbed me by the by the [inaudible], both hands on my left arm. And then she looked up at me. And then she started to tear up. She started to cry a little bit and I said ‘Goodness, what happened, what’s wrong here? Are you hurt? Can I, how can I help you?’ And she said, she said, ‘Governor, you’re our last hope. Don’t give up.’ And I teared up, and I gave her a hug. And I said, ‘I will never give up and it’s an honor for me to work for you.’
We will never give in. We are going to make Illinois great again. Great, proud strong state. The greatest state in the greatest nation on Earth. On to victory in November for Republicans!
You know, I had a woman, an elderly woman, come up to me last month. She couldn’t move very well, but she came up, she grabbed me by the arm. She looked me in the eyes. She teared up, and she said, “Governor, you’re our last hope. Don’t give up,” and she said, “And I’m a Democrat, and many of my friends are Democrats. We know you’re doing the right thing.” I get that every day.
Every day he gets that. Every. Day.
…Adding… Pritzker campaign…
With Donald Trump polling ahead of Bruce Rauner in Illinois, the failed governor is borrowing the president’s slogan to keep Republicans from fleeing to his primary opponent Jeanne Ives as election day nears.
“We are going to make Illinois great again,” Rauner proudly declared at an Effingham County Republican dinner yesterday where Ives was present. While Rauner has long been afraid to utter Donald Trump’s name, his insurgent primary opponent’s campaign has left him with no choice but to cozy up to this bigoted president.
“Bruce Rauner is embracing Donald Trump as he desperately clings to the Republican nomination with Jeanne Ives nipping at his heels,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This is a failed governor, fending off challenges left and right as Illinoisans prepare to hold him accountable for his damage to this state.”
In 2015, Mr. Rauner says, public-employee unions complained to Mr. Madigan that the new governor was too stubborn a negotiator. The speaker pushed through a bill to strip the governor of his authority in contract negotiations in favor of a “labor arbitrator”—an attempt, Mr. Rauner says, to “take away my most fundamental right as governor to represent taxpayers.”
Mr. Rauner vetoed the legislation. In Illinois it takes three-fifths of each legislative chamber to override a veto, and Democrats had the requisite supermajorities. Yet the House sustained Mr. Rauner’s veto. “I got one Democrat,” he says. “Boy, did we work our tails off. We got one Democrat to stay in New York at the U.S. Open during the vote override.”
There is evidence that Dunkin may have gone to the US open during that vote, so the governor could be telling the truth. But Gov. Rauner also told some of his usual whoppers to the paper’s editorial board, so you’re guess is as good as mine.
…Adding… From comments…
HOW exactly did he get that Dem to stay in New York? That’s a much more interesting question.
For his part, Rauner might have been slow to take Ives’ candidacy seriously, but once the money started pouring into her campaign, the governor quickly pivoted to an offensive strategy.
He started airing TV ads and sending out mailers that labeled Ives “Madigan’s Favorite Republican,” pointing to less than $7,000 in campaign contributions she’d received from a Madigan-allied labor union, and comments she’d made touting Madigan’s support for some of her bills.
The mailers have been effective in some parts of the state, where voters have started to associate Ives with the unpopular speaker, an Ives campaign worker said.
Ives also spent money early to try to build name recognition among voters, leaving her with less for the stretch run. In an email fundraising pitch to supporters, Ives said she needs to raise $10 million by election day to get her message out in TV ads and for get-out-the-vote operations.
* And speaking of the Madigan angle, the BGA and Politifact have weighed in…
Rauner’s campaign ad said: “Who’s really behind Jeanne Ives’ campaign for governor? Mike Madigan’s corrupt insider machine. They’ve bankrolled her campaign with thousands in shady labor union cash, turning Ives into another Madigan lackey.”
A political committee that has supported Michael Madigan and a number of other politicians of both parties gave money to Jeanne Ives. And records show the contributions to Ives total $6,900, a far cry from the $2.5 million she has received from a conservative businessman who once was a major donor to Rauner.
Ives was once a loyal supporter of Rauner in the Illinois House, but broke with the governor last year because she claimed he had become too liberal on social issues. Central to her complaint was Rauner’s signing of abortion rights and immigrant rights legislation that Ives opposed and Madigan backed.
That is hardly a portrait of a Madigan lackey. Indeed, it is the opposite.
Rauner campaign claims about Ives and Madigan turn credibility and rational argument inside out. That is why we give them our lowest possible credibility rating, Pants On Fire!
Republican state Rep. Jeanne Ives’ campaign said Sunday it is up with a new TV ad that compares Gov. Rauner to former Democratic President Barack Obama.
“Bruce Rauner lies so much he reminds us of another Chicago politician,” a narrator says. The ad then cuts to a June 15, 2009, clip of Obama talking about a concept of the Affordable Care Act that didn’t happen. “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period,” Obama says.
It’s unclear how widespread Ives’ ad will appear. No new advertising contracts for Ives have been posted by Chicago TV stations or cable since last month. [Emphasis added.]
Everybody wants to write about the hard-fought campaign as if the two candidates had equal access to messaging, but Pearson just dumped a lake’s worth of cold water on those hot takes. Ives has burned through her cash and can’t place new ads. That’s the real story here now.
I suppose the Ives campaign believes voters will read her new campaign book. She spent big bucks on that mailer, but I cannot imagine that it’ll move many numbers.
*** UPDATE *** Dan Proft pushes back against Pearson’s report. Here’s the printable part…
We had Quincy vets home all last week plus radio statewide. We’re on statewide nets plus radio this week with the “Neither Should You” spot
…Adding… More from Proft…
$300K buy delivering 560 TRPs in Chicago and another 1400 TRPs outside Chicago DMA, networks. This doesn’t include radio which is also up statewide. It may not be Rauner scale but that’s a real buy.
* Related…
* Rauner and Ives appear in Altamont, attend Lincoln Day Dinner: Rauner declined questions before leaving the dinner Sunday. In an emailed statement, Will Allison, a spokesman for Rauner’s campaign, responded to Ives’ comments, saying, “Rep. Ives is simply unelectable. She is refusing to stand up to Mike Madigan and won’t commit to rolling back his massive income tax hike. Governor Rauner has a plan to cut taxes and reform government, and that’s why he will win this primary and defeat JB Pritzker in November.”
* Ives brings ‘truth tour’ to Q-C: “It was not a hard choice getting in this race. It was hard for some of my supporters, knowing the daunting task going up against a guy who’s got millions of dollars, $100 million worth of name (recognition) behind him and three years of incumbency. How do you take a guy like this out?”
* JB Pritzker reported last night that he’s dumped another $7 million into his campaign. Sen. Daniel Biss complained, but was also rebutted…
Ugh. Just when I was getting used to talking about $56 million, @JBPritzker gives himself another $7 million to bring the total up to $63 million. (In other news, still dating checks 2017.) https://t.co/lNwbFFA5TD -DB
Some progressives say a wealthy candidate can't be progressive because they take their own money to spend - but - it's progressive to take $25,000, $100,000, and $250,000 checks from wealthy, uh, 'friends' to spend. Got it. ???? #twill#NoStringsAttached
* Along those lines, Biss just reported $75K from Shook Hardy & Bacon attorney Gary Elden, bringing his total Biss contributions to $200,000. Elden’s firm has represented most of the big tobacco companies and some large pharmaceutical companies.
And Chris Kennedy just reported raising $84,500, with $50K of that coming from Florida-based SOLIC Capital Advisors.
* Rep. Scott Drury reported $100,000 this weekend from Steven Miller, a Chicago venture capitalist. Drury has only reported raising about $9K for his AG race since January 1 aside from that Miller contribution. Miller (no relation that I know of) has now contributed over $230K to Drury’s campaign. Drury entered the year with $732K in the bank.
* Former Gov. Pat Quinn just put $100K of his own money into his AG campaign. Quinn has raised $465K since the beginning of the year, which he started with $278K. Sen. Kwame Raoul has raised $984K since January 1 and started out with almost $1.1 million.
* Senate President John Cullerton just kicked in $55,400 to a Cook County Board candidate’s race. Why? The candidate is Angie Sandoval, the daughter of one of Cullerton’s members, Sen. Martin Sandoval. She’s also being backed by Sen. Tony Munoz.
* As you know, Democratic House candidate Lamont Robinson is vying against former Rep. Ken Dunkin and two others to replace Rep. Juliana Stratton (D-Chicago).
Robinson has now raised $453K this quarter, far outpacing everyone else. Much of that money is coming from Speaker Madigan-related entities. Rep. Marty Moylan just contributed $40K. Other than Dunkin (who, as subscribers know, is being whacked by Robinson hard in the mail and on TV), his closest competitor is Dilara Sayeed, who has raised just $37,000 since January 1.
* Related…
* Four men dominate the turf in Illinois’ political ‘playground of the rich’: A Chicago Sun-Times analysis found that more than 25 percent of the money contributed to Illinois political campaigns in the past two years has come from the pockets of four men: Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, Democratic challenger J.B. Pritzker, Rauner supporter Kenneth Griffin and disgruntled, former Rauner supporter Richard Uihlein.
Government is complicated, it’s weird; it’s not business. I think the notion that just being successful in business means that you’ll be effective as a government leader is frankly absurd. I know the legislators, I know the legislature, I know the agencies, I’ve sat in many of the state agencies and had detailed conversations about specifics of what they’re supposed to be doing to improve their public service.
Coming into office and not knowing that stuff just makes you an empty shell, that could be filled by anybody else. And I think if we’ve learned anything about J.B. Pritzker during the course of this campaign, it’s that indeed he is an empty shell, and right now that empty shell is being filled by whatever Mike Madigan wants to put in it. And when he becomes governor, it would be that much worse. Where the already most powerful person in state government would then, for the first time since he became speaker in 1983, have the opportunity to himself to govern.
If we are concerned with the way state government has gone since 1983, if we think that the concentration of power is too great in the state of Illinois, if we think that the fabled political machine that has screwed so much stuff up over the course of these many decades, is too powerful, electing J.B. Pritzker governor is literally the worst thing we could possibly do.
So, Pritzker would be an empty shell that Madigan would completely fill? Whew. And electing Pritzker governor is “literally” the worse thing we could do, including, oh, I dunno, mass self-immolation?
Hey, the dude said “literally.”
* Speaking of harsh Madigan-related stuff, check out Gov. Bruce Rauner’s new attack ad against Rep. Jeanne Ives…
Democratic governor candidate Chris Kennedy on Friday night escalated his attacks on Speaker Michael Madigan, saying he would not want any of his daughters to intern in Springfield following disclosures of harassment in the Illinois House leader’s political operation.
“I have three daughters, one of them interned in Washington, D.C. I don’t think I’d encourage any of the three of them to intern in Springfield,” Kennedy said. “They might do that on their own. They’re, you know, very independent. But that’s not a place I’d want a family member and I can tell you that.”
Springfield has its problems and they’re serious, but DC isn’t exactly a harassment-free zone.
One day after not knowing the price of a monthly CTA pass — Biss turns that into a Pritzker attack.
“I learned that when JB Pritzker’s campaign spends $17,000 a day, to try to buy this nomination, they’re buying slightly over $1,600 monthly CTA passes.”
Kennedy, whose campaign donations are on the rise, looks to separate himself from Biss when asked about recruiting Amazon to Chicago.
“I wouldn’t give the sweetheart deals that Daniel Biss has voted for groups like sears or the mercantile exchange,” he said.
Zing.
* The candidates were asked what they’d say if Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was in the audience…
Businessman Chris Kennedy agreed he’d prioritize the HQ2 pitch, but he said he’d first ask Bezos why the company hadn’t announced changes to its gun sales policy as other companies had in the wake of the Parkland, Florida shooting.
“I’d have that hard conversation with him, absolutely,” Kennedy said.
In fact, Amazon does prohibit “the listing or sale of all firearms,” according to its seller guidelines, though BB and pellet guns are offered.
