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Rate the new DGA video on GOP opposition to COVID mitigations

Thursday, Sep 16, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Press release…

The DGA is launching a new video in Illinois that slams the growing GOP gubernatorial field for their reckless disregard for public safety throughout the pandemic.

While the rest of the field have already gotten a head start, Jesse Sullivan, the newest to join the growing primary, has quickly jumped on the anti-science bandwagon. Sullivan has repeatedly opposed measures to mitigate the spread of COVID, and he’s not the only anti-science Republican in the race. Gary Rabine, Darren Bailey, and Paul Schimpf have all similarly opposed common-sense safety measures.

Sullivan, Rabine, Bailey, and Schimpf have baselessly criticized the leadership of Gov. JB Pritzker, who acted swiftly to protect the health of Illinoisans when the pandemic hit. As Republicans flounder on public safety, Gov. Pritzker is putting Illinois back on a firm fiscal footing to emerge from the pandemic even stronger.

“As Republican primary candidates vie for the support of Trump’s extremist base, they’ve taken to spreading dangerous lies and threatening public safety with their negligence,” said DGA Senior Communications Advisor Christina Amestoy. “The growing primary field is in a full-on race to the far-right, and that means adopting an unpopular anti-science, anti-safety, and anti-Illinois platform that voters will reject at the ballot box.”

I’ve asked whether this is just a YouTube video or if the DGA is putting any money behind it online. My guess from reading lots of releases like this is it’s just a video, but I’ll let you know if I hear back. [I was right. Just a video.]

* Video…

* Transcript…

Reporter: What would you tell people today who are still holding out, who have not been vaccinated?

Gary Rabine: Mandating of this vaccine, of these vaccines, is crazy.

Jesse Sullivan: Mandating and forcing actions is not the way that I would handle things.

Reporter: Today, Bailey says he believes everything in the state should be open — no capacity limits, no restrictions.

Paul Schimpf: I voted against the governor’s mask mandate.

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Sullivan insists he’s not a San Francisco guy

Monday, Sep 13, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Dave Dahl…

Illinois’ newest candidate for governor is trying to explain who he isn’t.

Jesse Sullivan, the fourth person to declare for the 2022 Republican primary, is a venture capitalist from Petersburg – near Springfield and the home of Lincoln’s New Salem – who says he moved back to his hometown to raise his family.

His opponents, as well as the Democratic Party, have tagged him as a “San Francisco venture capitalist,”

“I am through and through a Midwesterner from central Illinois, a small town of 2,000 people,” Sullivan told WTAX News. Responding to a question about how he will escape his rivals’ labeling of him, “I’m a central Illinois guy who shares central Illinois values, and so anybody who tries to paint me in a different way – it’s all politics.”

While Sullivan and his campaign are disavowing the labeling, his company’s web site does not. He is the founder of Alter Global, whose site is alter.vc. A check of that site, including Sullivan’s own page on the site, reveals no mention of Lincoln, nor the small-town, Midwestern roots on which Sullivan is campaigning.

The company has apparently since updated its site…

And Sullivan no longer has a page on the site as of 10:19 this morning.

But the company’s Twitter and LinkedIn and Facebook pages still list San Francisco or the Silicon Valley as its headquarters.

* I mean, it seems so trivial, but the campaign has reportedly been pushing back hard against media outlets which have labeled him a San Francisco businessperson. They’ve also released a new video on the topic whacking the media…

Tell me you’re from the Midwest without telling me you’re from the Midwest ????????#HomeGrown #ILProud #ILStrong pic.twitter.com/0OoihQrvdC

— Jesse Sullivan (@JesseSullivanIL) September 13, 2021

Um, I’m pretty sure he’s telling us he’s from the Midwest by loudly insisting he’s from the Midwest.

* Perhaps this not so subtle dog whistle is why Sullivan is so insistent about separating himself from San Francisco…

State senator Darren Bailey, who recently pointed to a jar full of corn kernels to declare himself as the Republican frontrunner, cast Sullivan as a different kind of outsider because of where he has lived

“We have witnessed San Francisco’s values on full display in our great state—it’s not good,” Bailey said. “We need a Governor who understands the Heartland, made a life here and shares our values. Our so-called ‘elites’ and their big checkbooks have had their run of things for too long. We think it’s time the regular folks in this state have their say.”

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