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Tuesday, Feb 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* At the 45:45 mark of this Chicago Sun-Times video, Gov. Bruce Rauner was asked if he was troubled by the fact that the three leading people who are running for governor right now (including Rauner himself) “could only do so because they are extremely wealthy.”

Rauner’s response…

“In general, in many races the candidate that has the most money doesn’t win. Money is relevant, money does matter, but it’s not the deciding factor.”

Very true. But then he went on to say this…

“I believe we got outspent in my race. We got outspent in my race.”

Um, what?

* I checked with the folks over at the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, who sent me a spreadsheet. Click here.

ICPR totaled up all money spent by both major party 2014 gubernatorial candidates and also by outside groups. It came up with $42,007,560 spent by or on behalf of Pat Quinn and $65,432,067 by or on behalf of Bruce Rauner.

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*** UPDATED x1 *** Candidates deal with the “Madigan question”

Tuesday, Feb 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Chris Kennedy was interviewed by Rockford’s WREX TV…

When asked if he supported term limits, Kennedy said, “I think that it’s really important that people have faith in their government, and they don’t have that now. They want term limits wildly in order to restore that faith; and if that’s the price of getting people to believe in government, then I would embrace term limits.”

With that answer we asked him about the longest serving House Speaker in the country: Michael Madigan. We asked Kennedy if after more than 28 years as House Speaker was it time for a change in leadership?

“Every year he’s up. Let’s say every session he needs to earn the support of his members,” said Kennedy. “I think that’s between him and his members. I think the issues in this state are firmly on the governor’s shoulders. I don’t think the speaker or the legislature is the root of all evil. I think the governor’s refusal to negotiate a budget is.”

*** UPDATE *** No need to edit this mess. From the WREX interview as posted by the ILGOP…

Wow.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* And the Peoria Journal Star criticized a recent Kennedy appearance before its editorial board…

We’ve covered politics a long time, and all’s fair in … well, mostly war. But interestingly — and disappointingly — Kennedy pretty much took a pass on critiquing the performance of House Speaker Michael Madigan, though specifically asked.

Indeed, it’s not the Republican right but the Democratic left controlling the Legislature that has overseen the loss of people, jobs and investment and the erosion of services for the most vulnerable in Illinois. Democrats are responsible for drawing the maps and the gerrymanding that has guaranteed most races in Illinois now go uncontested. It’s Madigan himself who steadfastly has blocked redistricting reform. Arguably it takes an especially willful brand of denial to overlook Madigan’s contribution not just the last two but the last 30 years to putting Illinois at the bottom of the nation’s barrel.

If we may offer some unsolicited advice to Kennedy, to J.B. Pritzker who is reported to be mulling a bid, to any other Democrat who aspires to be governor: You’d be hard-pressed to find a politician more unpopular than Madigan in these parts, and in Illinois that’s saying something. There’s a reason the vast majority of counties in Illinois outside Cook have gone red in a lot of these statewide and national races.

We get the reluctance of Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls to cross the chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party, among the conflicts the Speaker has. We’d just say that real leadership requires courage, which includes standing up to someone who’s been around too long and has gained too much power, to this state’s ongoing detriment.

* OK, now on to Bob Daiber, who announced his campaign in Edwardsville yesterday. I happened to be in town anyway, so I went to the event and asked a few questions…

MILLER: Do you think that the speaker should be negotiating non-budget items as part of a package?

DAIBER: Well, I don’t, I don’t, I think that’s the big hangup right now with the governor. I think most of the governor’s items that he has on the table he says he won’t pass a budget ’til he has these other reforms. So, um, I think the issue at stake in drafting a budget has to be budgetary items, not items that are not directly related to the line items.

MILLER: But they are doing that in the Senate. Do you support that?

DAIBER: Yes, I do.

MILLER: Do you support the plan?

DAIBER: Well, there are certain parts of what the Senate, I don’t agree with 100 percent of it, OK? But I agree with their compromise and the collaboration because they’re trying to move the state forward. So, I’m not gonna oppose any effort to get a budget because we need one so bad.

* Related…

* Can Chris Kennedy fix Illinois?

* Governor candidate Bob Daiber says labor, education and a budget needed for Illinois

* Democrat Bob Daiber officially declares candidacy for Governor of Illinois

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Friday, Feb 10, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I’ll see you Tuesday…

No grave for you

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Schimpf stresses the need for compromise, dings the Illinois Policy Institute

Friday, Feb 10, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Freshman Sen. Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo) was interviewed on Will Stephens’ WXAN Radio program this week about the Senate’s attempts to negotiate a grand bargain…

The voters expect us to work together and compromise. That doesn’t mean sell out our principles. That doesn’t mean do a bad deal.

But at the same time, anything that’s going to pass is going to require Democratic votes to pass. So, the other side is gonna weigh in. There’s going to have to be some compromise.

We’re not trying to put together something that is perfect as if Paul Schimpf were king and I could dictate, or even if the governor could dictate everything he wants. It’s gonna have to have Democratic votes to pass, so there is going to have to be some compromise.

And that’s something where I’ve been a little bit disappointed with some of the groups like the Illinois Policy Institute. I don’t think their proposals are realistic, in terms of they’re not something that would get any votes from the other side.

And also… they’re proposing shifting the burden to the local municipalities. You as the mayor of Murphysboro certainly know that Murphysboro needs some state aid. The cuts that the Illinois Policy Institute is advocating would really cripple some of our local municipalities. […]

I appreciate everybody’s input, but I think the reality is we cannot get ourselves out of this hole that we’ve been digging for two decades just by spending cuts alone. I’m gonna insist there be spending cuts, but I don’t think that’s going to get us out of it just on those alone.

* The “Institute” has been targeting Republican Senators for several days with Facebook ads like this one and some GOP members aren’t amused…

* Meanwhile, this is one of their latest column submissions that appeared in the Alton Telegraph…

Take the Local Government Distributive Fund, or LGDF. This state fund is made up of $1.3 billion in income tax money that the state hands out to local governments with no strings attached.

Local leaders say this money is used to help keep property taxes low. But that argument doesn’t hold water in a state with the highest property taxes in the nation.

They also say it’s a pillar of basic services such as public safety. That’s a convenient excuse. In reality, this money enables reckless spending habits propped up by the state. Practices such as pension spiking, sick leave accumulation and pension “pickups” are rampant in the Land of Lincoln.

Money from the LGDF also enables local governments to pay the state-mandated prevailing wage for work on public projects. The costs this requirement entails are astonishing. […]

And yet, most Republicans still won’t touch programs like the LGDF. Doing so requires taking on the mayors, township supervisors, highway commissioners, park district officials and legions of others who have staked their hopes on multibillion-dollar tax hikes as a way out of the budget mess.

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*** UPDATED x1 *** Trump versus Madigan

Friday, Feb 10, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Greg Hinz…

When gubernatorial candidate Chris Kennedy sent out his first email to supporters last night, he mentioned incumbent Bruce Rauner’s name—twice. But President Donald Trump’s name appeared three times.

When I asked a top Rauner strategist if they’re worried, he had a two-word reply: Mike Madigan. […]

“Rauner is a failed governor who has made Illinois worse by dividing people and failing to fix the mess,” says Kennedy strategist Eric Adelstein. “There are a lot of parallels with President Trump and his stubbornness and failure to bring people together.”

When I asked Adelstein if voters should expect to hear a lot more about Trump from the Kennedy campaign, he had a one word answer: “Yes.” […]

“Mike Madigan is in far worse shape with voters than Trump,” says [a Rauner source]. And to the extent that Trump is disliked: “Voters understand he has different views from Trump” on issues ranging from abortion rights to abolishing Obamacare and converting Medicaid to a block grant.

I seriously doubt that many voters know the governor is opposed to converting the Medicaid program to a block grant system, but otherwise it’s not a bad point.

Elections are referendums on the incumbent. The idea by the Republicans has always been to make Madigan the incumbent in voters’ minds. Rauner is an outsider, he just got here two years ago. Madigan is the entrenched insider stopping all progress. You know the drill.

It’s like the old story about the two guys around a campfire seeing an approaching bear. One puts on his running shoes. The other says “You’ll never outrun a bear even in those shoes.”

“I don’t have to outrun the bear,” the first guy says, “I just have to outrun you.”

That right there is what Rauner has been doing to Madigan. Yes, the governor is unpopular, but Madigan is more so. He just has to outrun Madigan.

The Trump card wasn’t played much here last year, so we don’t know how effective it’ll be, but, for now, it doesn’t hurt the Democrats at all. Likely primary voters are fired up like we haven’t seen in a long while, so it’s a smart move at the moment.

* Meanwhile, this is from one of Kennedy’s fundraising e-mails…

States controlled by the radical right are losing people and jobs. Banks and investors are reluctant to fund new investments. Meanwhile, Republican legislatures have cut government services for thousands, including kids who are disabled, the sick and elderly, and wounded veterans.

Governor Rauner has supported the same alt-right, anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-worker agenda that Donald Trump has promoted. With this election, we have the opportunity to reject that agenda and send a message from Illinois that this behavior won’t be accepted anywhere in the country.

With redistricting coming up soon, this race takes an even bigger importance. We can’t let Governor Rauner and his allies try to gerrymander our maps to elect more Republicans from Illinois who will blindly support President Trump.

With the right leadership, we can oppose the worst of the Trump agenda and embrace the best of economic success and opportunity.

OK, well, that first paragraph could be about Illinois and the Democratic legislature, which hasn’t approved a real budget and has therefore effectively cut lots of services.

That second graf may be over the top, but it’ll probably resonate with Democratic primary voters at this point in the game.

And I’m kinda surprised that the Republicans haven’t whacked Kennedy yet for that third paragraph, because that might possibly imply he wants Madigan to draw the next map. He should’ve probably insisted on remap reform.

…Adding… Another heavily edited video from the ILGOP…

Press release is here.

*** UPDATE *** The predictable press release…

Another day, another sign Chris Kennedy is a Madigan lap dog.

In a fundraising email sent out Wednesday, Kennedy said that “With redistricting coming up soon, this race takes an even bigger importance.”

Governor Rauner believes that the legislature should pass redistricting reform to take the decision out of the hands of politicians.

By refusing to stand for reform, Kennedy is backing Mike Madigan’s position that the legislature he controls should decide how to draw districts.

Illinois’ Madigan-drawn districts are some of the most gerrymandered in the country.

In fact, 2/3 of candidates for the General Assembly faced no opponent in the 2016 election.

That’s not democracy, that’s a rigged system. And Chris Kennedy wants to perpetuate it.

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