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Wednesday, Jul 11, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Earlier this week, WCIA TV ran a story based on Politico’s report about Gov. Rauner “turning a profit from a health care group that services U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers, including facilities that hold immigrant families with children.” Click here if the embed doesn’t work for you…

* The station has since issued a clarification…

Transcript…

And WCIA is clarifying a story we reported last night about the governor’s finances. A web story, published first by Politico, suggested with incomplete evidence that Gov. Rauner makes a profit from immigration detention centers at the southern border. We cannot confirm that report and the governor’s office denies it. An investment firm that Rauner used to control does hold stake in a healthcare company that provides medical treatment for inmates there. However, it remains unclear if that contract is profitable. A spokesperson for Rauner says the firm has not collected any profit from it.

FYI, the above YouTube video was posted by the governor’s campaign.

* Related…

* 10 Chicago-area politicians sign letter urging that ICE be abolished: Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Skokie), Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston), Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago) and Rep. Theresa Mah (D-Chicago), joined Ald. George Cardenas (12th), Susan Sadlowski Garza (10th), Ricardo Muñoz (22nd), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), Milly Santiago (31st) and Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd) in co-signing an open letter calling for an end to the agency.

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*** UPDATED x3 - Pritzker campaign doubles down - Rauner campaign responds *** Pritzker to air brutally deceptive TV ad

Tuesday, Jul 10, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Background is here. From the script of a new JB Pritzker TV ad that I’m told will be airing tomorrow…

Across the country, Democratic and Republican Governors spoke out against their state supporting Trump and keeping children away from their parents.

Rauner wasn’t giving it a thought and now we learn why.

Rauner has been profiting on Donald Trump’s policy.

Rauner is the owner of this company which is paid millions to keep children from their parents.

Bruce Rauner, that’s a disgrace.

OK, first of all, Rauner officially retired from GTCR in October of 2012. GTCR didn’t invest in Correct Care Solutions until 2014. GTCR co-owns the company with two other companies, Audax Private Equity and Frazier Healthcare. As I told you earlier today, Rauner hasn’t yet directly made any money off that GTCR investment. Audax Private Equity lists its own investment as “Unrealized.” And, despite what the Pritzker ad says, Rauner has spoken out against the family separation policy.

* But most importantly, this is what Correct Care Solutions actually does…

We provide medical and behavioral health services for nearly 250,000 patients located in state hospitals, forensic treatment and civil commitment centers, as well as local, state and federal correctional facilities.

The company provides healthcare. It’s not “paid millions to keep children from their parents.”

* Like many of you, I’ve lost sleep at night over this absolutely obscene federal debacle. This tweet has been open in a browser tab all week and I find myself looking at it multiple times a day with the same disbelief and shock as the first time I saw it…

14 month old boy separated from immigrant parents at the border, was returned after 85 days, covered with lice, had apparently not been bathed - part of lawsuits filed by states against Trump administration @LisaDNews reports @NewsHour tonight

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) July 5, 2018

I just want to scream at somebody about this whole Kafkaesque nightmare.

And, for sure, this new Pritzker ad will strike a chord out there with people who will never know the whole story. It’s definitely a “get tough on Rauner” spot.

But it’s also dishonest.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Here’s the ad…

*** UPDATE 2 *** Rauner campaign spokesman Alex Browning…

Pritzker’s latest ad intentionally misrepresents the facts of an unsubstantiated story to weave a false and deceitful narrative. The Pritzker campaign should immediately take down this dishonest and shameful ad.

*** UPDATE 3 *** Bernie…

Galia Slayen, spokeswoman for Pritzker, stood by the ad. She called it “disgraceful and disgusting” that Rauner is “an owner of a company that has been paid to keep children separated from their families.”

Gonna be a long summer and fall. I hope the Pritzker campaign doesn’t whine when they are lied about because I’m gonna bring that quote right back up.

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*** UPDATED x1 *** Local union president says use of her photo by Illinois Policy Institute “a form of identity theft”

Tuesday, Jul 10, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the Illinois Policy Institute…

* According to AFSCME, the woman on the left is Darneice Cooper, a casework manager with the Illinois Department of Human Services and the president of AFSCME Local 2806…

“People e-mailed me and said, ‘You know your picture is on the web site of the Illinois Policy Institute,’” Cooper relates. “I’m like, ‘What? You’ve got to be kidding me.’ So I went on there and sure enough my picture was right there [next to a headline encouraging state workers to quit the union]. Like I’m supporting that caption that they have under my name! I was appalled. I was very upset.”

* Cooper sent the Illinois Policy Institute a letter…

To whom it may concern:

I was shocked and dismayed to discover recently that you are using my photo on your website as part of your effort to get employees to drop out of our union. This is a really a form of identity theft—using my image to promote something that is completely wrong in my eyes.

I am a proud AFSCME member, I support my union, and I will never quit standing with my fellow workers.

I was outraged by the Supreme Court’s decision in the Janus case. Five conservative justices sided with the billionaires and corporate special interests who funded this case – and who fund your organization. They ruled against not just those of us who work in public service, but those we serve every day.

I help make sure some of Illinois’s most vulnerable seniors get the care they deserve. I don’t do what I do to get rich, like our billionaire governor or your corporate donors.

Like my coworkers, I’m in public service because I care about my community. Being in a union gives us a voice and allows us to fight for the resources we need to serve the people of Illinois.

Please remove my photo from your website immediately.

The photo is still there as I write this.

Cooper also appeared in a video. Click here.

I’ve asked the Illinois Policy Institute for comment.

*** UPDATE *** Illinois Policy Institute response…

Rich:

This photo is licensed through the Associated Press and has been available since May 23, 2012. It was a photo taken by an AP photographer at a public political rally at the Illinois State Capitol. Any concerns about the photograph should be directed to the Associated Press.

…Adding… Heh…

.@illinoispolicy: people shouldn't be forced to support a political agenda

also @illinoispolicy: people can't stop us from using their photo to support our political agenda

got it, cool cool#twill https://t.co/ZTgPM6xZUE

— Illinois Working Together (@IllinoisWorking) July 10, 2018

* Related…

* It’s time to opt in - After the Supreme Court ruling, a message to my fellow former fair-sharers: Two very nice union representatives knocked on my door last week. Anticipating an unfavorable ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, they asked me, a “fair share” state employee, to join the union. I didn’t have to think twice. Sign me up, I told them. I’m with you.

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