* The two major party candidates for Illinois comptroller will appear on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight program at about 7 o’clock this evening. They’re streaming it live on their website, so click here.
The Green Party candidate plans to protest…
WTTW Studio Protest Tues. Night Demands Equal Airtime for Candidates
WHO: Activists & Illinois Comptroller candidate Tim Curtin
WHAT: Protest against partisan bias in public broadcasting
WHERE: WTTW11 studio building, 5400 St. Louis Ave., Chicago, IL
WHEN: Tonight, Tues. Oct. 25th, 6:00pm to 7:00pm
There are four candidates on the ballot in Illinois this year for Comptroller, but viewers who tune into local PBS affiliate WTTW’s candidates’ forum on Tuesday will only see two of them. Tim Curtin, the Green Party candidate for Comptroller, isn’t taking it lying down: he’s organized a demonstration of supporters and equal airtime activists outside the WTTW studio, 6pm to 7pm on Tuesday, Oct. 25th.
“Street action is obviously a last resort,” said Curtin. “We tried repeatedly to work with the station to ensure airtime for all ballot-listed candidates. There are four names on Illinois ballots for Comptroller this year, and I don’t think it’s a controversial position to say that something billed as a Comptroller candidates’ forum should include all four of those individuals.”
* Anyway, use this post’s comment section to let everyone else know what went down.
* Comptroller Leslie Munger’s new TV ad has footage of Susana Mendoza seconding the nomination of Michael Madigan for House Speaker…
* Script…
VO: Susana Mendoza spent her political career following Mike Madigan’s orders.
SM: “I second the nomination of Michael J. Madigan for Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives.”
VO: Mendoza called him her mentor- but the Chicago Tribune called Madigan “the architect of Illinois’ financial downfall.”
VO: Together they voted for the largest tax hike in Illinois history and even raised their pay by a whopping 13 percent.
SM: I for one am thankful to the Speaker…for what he’s done for each and every one of us.
VO: Susana Mendoza. Just a career politician and Illinois just can’t afford her.
* Video of her full nominating speech is here. The transcript of that speech is here.
* The Question: Rate Munger’s new TV ad on a 1-5 scale, with 5 being the most effective and 1 being the least effective. Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* Lindsay Whipp at London’s Financial Times wanted a local angle on Illinois’ US Senate race. So, a mutual friend put us together and I suggested she head to LaSalle County, a blue-collar area that Barack Obama won handily in 2008, but lost by just a hair in 2012 and the site of an intense state legislative battle…
US veteran Stan Mazon enjoys a cigarette and beer on his porch, star-spangled banner swaying to his left, as he soaks up the afternoon sun in his sleepy home town of Ottawa.
Mr Mazon is not sure who to back in November’s presidential election, despite usually voting for the Democratic party’s candidate. Like many residents of Ottawa, the 68-year old is not necessarily voting along party lines in all races. The choice in the key Senate contest between incumbent Republican Mark Kirk and rival Tammy Duckworth, for instance, is a no brainer for Mr Mazon. He is voting for the Democrat.
As a fellow veteran, Ms Duckworth lost both her legs in Iraq in 2004. Senator Kirk’s campaign, however, has been criticised for misstating the extent of his military service. He has apologised, but for some it has not been enough.
“She’s a veteran and what she’s been through, she’s got my sympathy there,” Mr Mazon says. “Kirk did the wrong thing by lying about being a vet.”
On 10 October 2016, the Christian Times Newspaper web site published an article reporting that “new evidence is surfacing” showing “widespread voter fraud carried out by Hillary Clinton supporters during the primary election” […]
This report is false, and no alleged “hidden camera and surveillance footage” documenting voter fraud is actually viewable on the site. The screenshot that accompanies the article was actually taken from BBC news footage about alleged vote fraud in Russia, not the United States […]
The Christian Times Newspaper (not to be confused with the legitimate Christian Times newspaper) is a fake news web site that has exploited the current political scene by publishing multiple fabricated clickbait stories related to the upcoming presidential election, including a false claim that thousands of pre-marked ballots for Hillary Clinton and other Democratic candidates had been found in a warehouse in Ohio.
How ironic.
* I’ve also seen a 2014 story about electronic votes being changed from Republican to Democrat recycled to make it look like this was actually happening to Trump backers. Click here for the Snopes debunk.
Millions of Republicans, independents and Democrats across the nation are conflicted (read: HORRIFIED!) by the presidential candidates on offer from the two major political parties. In Illinois, where Hillary Clinton is certain to win the state’s 20 Electoral College votes, the question many are asking is: “How can I make my vote for president count?”
There is a way. Vote for the Green Party presidential candidate, Jill Stein, to help re-elect Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2018.
That’s right. Voting for the hard-left Dr. Stein, who makes Sen. Bernie Sanders seem like a sober bank president, can help Rauner win what is certain to be a hard-fought contest two years from now.
Here’s how it works.
If Stein receives 5 percent or more of the presidential vote in Illinois on Nov. 8, then the Green Party will qualify as an “established political party,” making it eligible to place a full slate of candidates on the 2018 statewide ballot. A Green Party candidate for governor in 2018 will attract several percentage points of the total vote — most of it coming at the expense of the Democratic nominee.
* Well, the idea appears to be catching on with some top GOPs. Former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady had this response to Laura Washington’s question about how he plans to vote next month…
“Jill Stein. Green Party,” the lifelong Republican replied in an email. “Want Greens to get to number so they are on ballot in 2018. Helps our side.”
Chicago Public Schools officials are moving ahead with plans to add hundreds of millions of dollars in debt to the district’s books, setting up a blitz of construction projects.
The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday is expected to approve borrowing as much as $840 million. But CPS won’t tell the public what it plans to spend the money on until after the district goes to market for the new bonds.
I doubt an elected school board could get away with doing that. Just sayin…
As U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk’s re-election bid approached, his camp knew it would have to convince voters that he is still able to serve following a major stroke in 2012.
Kirk’s first TV ad sought to address that question head on, taking people behind the scenes of the Republican senator’s grueling rehabilitation. The 60-second spot, dubbed “Courage,” showed the senator wrapped in medical gear as he struggled to walk on a treadmill, then slowly climbing stairs in Willis Tower and finally returning to Washington and ascending the steps of the Capitol with the help of a cane and a couple of colleagues. He was making a comeback to honor everyone facing their own challenges, Kirk said into the camera.
While Kirk has presented that image to the public, he has declined to produce detailed documentation on his recovery, treatment and physical and mental condition, making it difficult for voters to assess his fitness for office.
And then the Tribune proceeds to try and figure out what, if anything, is wrong with him. Go read it and report back.
“How about, let’s have a wager on the World Series?” Rauner said in front of Wrigley Field, standing next to Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts.
“If the Cleveland Indians are victorious, I’ll bet you I’ll deliver to you an extra-large Chicago-style deep dish pizza and a case of terrific Chicago-brewed microbrew beer,” Rauner said.
Rauner joked that Kasich will never get that food.
“You’re not going to get that delicious food and beer,” Rauner said. “We’re going to eat it here. Because you know what? The Cubs are going to win.”
Kasich posted his own bet on Facebook, saying he’d send Rauner “fan favorites from Cleveland” if the Indians lose.
Kinda lame, but any time that Rauner can get into a news story with a national figure who isn’t Donald Trump is a good day.
* Meanwhile…
U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-Cubs) and Sherrod Brown (D-Indians) made a bet today on the outcome of the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians. If the Cubs win, Brown will bring beer from Cleveland’s Platform Brewing Company to Durbin’s office. If the Indians prevail, Durbin will deliver beer from Chicago’s Goose Island Brewery to Brown’s office.
Really? With all the great Chicago microbreweries out there Durbin picks an InBev beer?
Maybe I have missed something, but I have never heard what the Republicans think will happen if Madigan is gone? I get that right now that would require them to win a majority. But if MJM just dropped the mic and walked off, do they think the caucus would rush to Rauner’s agenda? I just don’t get it.
It’s mainly just a schtick. Madigan is spectacularly unpopular. The Republicans think that unpopularity can move voters, so you go with what you think will work. Campaigns are different from governance.
My beef isn’t so much with the Republicans (campaigns are campaigns) but with supposedly sentient editorial boards and columnists who’ve never once pondered the above question.
And, yeah, it’s not like an overwhelming number of Democrats are ever gonna be eager to whack organized labor and the trial lawyers hard and cut off people from workers’ comp benefits.
* Springfield is one of those areas where newspaper endorsements can have an impact, especially in races that are totally within Sangamon County. So this surprise endorsement of Democrat Tony DelGiorno over Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez might possibly move the needle a click or two…
Jimenez, the 99th district incumbent, began her career as a television journalist before going to work for state government, including communications jobs for the state treasurer, state comptroller and House Republicans. She was serving as chief of staff to first lady Diana Rauner before moving to the state House. DelGiorno is a lawyer and a member of the Sangamon County Board.
Jimenez cites her top priorities as education and solving the state’s budget crisis. She backs the governor’s desire to tie parts of his turnaround agenda to passage of a budget. She correctly takes the approach that the state needs to get its spending under control before considering additional revenue. But despite her background as a state government employee, she struggled to convey any of that inside knowledge or provide many specifics on some of her objectives. Her answers hewed to more partisan lines.
DelGiorno, by contrast, offered numerous specifics on policy, including practical ideas such as reinstating a lapsed state tax credit for research and development and looking to emulate a New York program that encourages new businesses to expand or relocate there through tax breaks and partnerships with higher education institutions. He does support redistricting and, seeking to dispel the notion that he’s a pawn of Madigan, said he’d support someone else as House speaker if he faced opposition. That’s not likely to happen, but it’s encouraging that DelGiorno did say he would support term limits for legislative leadership.
In this race, based on preparedness and specific ideas, DelGiorno earns the edge and the endorsement.
Sounds like Sara has been too closely handled. She’s smart, she’s been around the process for years and generally knows her stuff. I was shocked at that editorial.
You’ll recall that DelGiorno recently touted an early October poll which had him trailing by just 5 points, 43-38. 38 is a very long way from 50 plus one. But the unions are making a big push for him on the ground that doesn’t show up in his relatively weak campaign finance disclosures.
Jiminez, on the other hand, is getting big bucks from the GOP. Stay tuned.
* Related…
* Bernard Schoenburg: DelGiorno apologizes for backer’s vulgar Facebook post
* Early voting increases every year as people figure out they can do it. Some folks see it as a sign of intensity, and that could be true, too. But there’s a natural trend here…
In Chicago alone, 17,493 voters had already cast ballots as of about 5:30 p.m. Monday, on the first day of expanded early voting. That beats a city record of 15,000 early voters on Day One in 2012, according to Chicago Board of Election Commissioners spokesman Jim Allen. Another 22,000 voters have already voted early — as Chicago voters were able to vote at a “super site” in the Loop beginning on Sept. 29. That marks the earliest early voting had begun before an election in Illinois.
Illinois also had more than 7.9 million active registered voters as of Monday — beating the state’s previous high total of 7.8 million registered voters in the 2008 election during Barack Obama’s first presidential election, according to Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman Jim Tenuto
OK, that shows intensity.
* And it turns out that Chicago accounts for most of that net state increase since 2008. According to the city elections board this morning, 1.497 million Chicago voters were registered in 2008. As of a week ago, the city was at 1.570 million registered voters.
The city’s elections board spokesman Jim Allen said his office processed “several thousand” online voter registrations over the weekend, which aren’t included in those totals. Allen also pointed out that there’s still a lot of time for voters to register, including grace period and election day. He estimates that the city has seen a net gain of 100,000 registered voters since early August. That number, of course, doesn’t include people who have changed their registration after they’ve moved.
Keep in mind that Chicago’s population has not significantly increased during that same time period.
In DuPage County, which typically leans Republican, 9,272 ballots have been mailed in, with just three voters using early voting. In Lake County, which also has a conservative tilt, 1,619 have early voted, with 10,742 mail in ballots already received of 31,976 requested.
Keep in mind, however, that Barack Obama won DuPage and Lake counties the last two cycles.
* More from the Chicago elections board…
Vote By Mail numbers are up: over 76,000 applications and more than 13,000 returned. That’s far many more applications to Vote By Mail in either 2008 or 2012.
Again, this could be a sign of intensity, but part of it could be that people are figuring out they can vote early and shut off the madness while they await the 2016 Sweet Meteor of Death.
…Adding… Press release…
A record number of suburban Cook County voters took advantage of the first day of Early Voting on Monday, shattering all previous marks for the day.
On Monday, 25,579 suburban Cook County residents voted throughout the 52 Early Voting sites in suburban Cook County and at Cook County Clerk David Orr’s downtown Chicago office. An additional 838 people registered and voted through Grace Period registration.
The previous record for the first day of Early Voting was set in the 2012 Presidential Election, when 13,779 suburban Cook County voters cast their ballots on Oct. 22, 2012.
“This is an incredible testament to the rising popularity of Early Voting,” Cook County Clerk David Orr said. “Whether it’s voting early at one of our 52 sites throughout Cook County, or voting from the comfort of home via a mail-in ballot, Cook County voters appreciate the options they have. There are contests and initiatives up and down the ballot that are generating a lot of interest from voters, who obviously want to make sure their votes are cast.”
From the very beginning, Republican congressional candidates in moderate districts have been hesitant to embrace Donald Trump. Now, two weeks before Election Day, some of those Republicans are threatening to sue TV stations for running ads that link them to the GOP presidential nominee.
Five candidates ― Reps. Bob Dold (R-Ill.), Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), David Jolly (R-Fla.), John Katko (R-N.Y.) and Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican running for an open seat that’s currently occupied by his brother ― contend that certain commercials paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee provide false or misleading information by linking them to Trump.
All five Republicans have, at some point, said they don’t support Trump. And all five have a bit of a case: The DCCC ads do use some creativity to tie them to Trump. […]
Dold demanded the removal of an ad that claimed he was privately raising money to defeat Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The DCCC was referencing an event Dold headlined called “Beat Hillary at the Distillery.” Dold says the money only went to local candidates.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is awarding one-time bonuses worth a total of between $3 million and $4 million to non-union workers whose bosses say are doing exceptional work.
About 1,100 merit-compensation employees are in line to each receive a $3,016 bonus under the plan. […]
Rauner’s office said that left a potential pool of about 2,000 employees eligible for the bonus. In order to qualify, an employee had to receive an “exceptional” rating on his or her evaluation. Rauner’s office said about 1,100 employees got that rating. […]
Although the state is delaying payments to many organizations and vendors because of the traditional fall slowdown in tax collections, the bonus payments are being made. Rich Carter, spokesman for Comptroller Leslie Munger, said the bonus payments can’t be differentiated from regular payroll when agencies submit payroll information to the office for payment.
On the WMAY News Feed, Democrat Susana Mendoza questioned how Governor Bruce Rauner can hand out more than $3 million in bonuses at a time when the state is billions behind on its bills.
And she says Republican Comptroller Leslie Munger won’t speak out about it… because Mendoza says Munger is in Rauner’s pocket after accepting millions from the governor and his rich friends.
The most segregating school district border in the country separates Detroit and Grosse Pointe, two municipalities with a long history of inequality. The 1974 Supreme Court case Milliken v. Bradley dealt with a desegregation plan that included majority-black Detroit and its nearly all-white, suburban neighbor districts, Grosse Pointe among them. In that case, the Court held that desegregation could not be ordered across the school district lines drawn by state and local governments. In essence, the Court declared school district borders to be impenetrable, even when cross-district efforts are necessary to achieve meaningful integration.
When the case was filed in 1970, the poverty rate among all residents of Grosse Pointe was 3%. Detroit’s poverty rate was five times that. Things have only worsened since; Detroit’s poverty rate is now 7.5 times Grosse Pointe’s.
* It may surprise you to learn that the 10th most segregating school district border (out of 33,500 such borders in the entire country) is right here in Illinois between the Silvis-area Carbon Cliff Barstow School District 36 and Geneseo’s Community Unit School District 228.
To compile the list, EdBuild compared poverty rates, median property values and median household incomes between neighboring school districts. Here are some of the findings:
• Carbon Cliff-Barstow has a poverty rate of 45 percent while Geneseo has a poverty rate of 6 percent. The average rate across Illinois is 15 percent.
• The median property value in Carbon Cliff-Barstow is $96,300. In Geneseo, it is $147,000. The median for the state is $130,800.
• The median household income in Carbon Cliff-Barstow is $32,273. In Geneseo, it is $62,197. The median for the state is $57,000. […]
Geneseo is mostly white and has just a 4 percent minority population. Carbon Cliff has 10 times more minority students. […]
All third through eighth graders enrolled in Illinois public schools take the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, tests in the spring.
The state average showed that 29 percent of students met and 4 percent exceeded expectations; 28 percent approached, 24 percent partially met and 14 percent did not meet expectations.
In Geneseo, 30 percent met and 2 percent exceeded expectations; 34 percent approached, 24 percent partially met and 11 percent did not meet expectations.
In Carbon Cliff-Barstow, 11 percent met expectations and none exceeded expectations; 27 percent approached, 35 percent partially met and 27 percent did not meet expectations.
Originally, Chicago Board of Ethics Executive Director Steve Berlin ruled that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and any of the 50 aldermen who take advantage of the Cubs’ offer to buy playoff tickets at face value could go in their official capacity. That meant the aldermen would have to use the tickets themselves and be acknowledged by the team by having their names announced or displayed on the digital billboard in center field.
The new policy would only allow aldermen to buy the tickets at face value if they performed a “ceremonial duty” such as throwing out the first pitch, marching onto the field with other officials or making a speech. […]
The city bans public officials from accepting gifts worth more than $50. Since the tickets to the World Series are selling for thousands of dollars, accepting the tickets at face value would violate that provision of the city’s ethics code.
If the Cubs had offered aldermen tickets at face value, and any aldermen accepted, it could have triggered fines between $1,000 and $5,000.
The Cubs have since withdrawn their offer of face value tickets.
* The Question: Do you agree with this new city ethics policy? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Dan Proft will tell you he was “one of the more despised people” on his college campus.
Since then, he’s been dubbed everything from a “bad apple” to a “carnival barker” by fellow Republican operatives.
So who is the one-time gubernatorial primary candidate and conservative radio show host, and why is he behind an influential super PAC that receives millions from big-name donors like shipping magnate Richard Uihlein and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner?
Proft’s Liberty Principles super PAC has become a chief conduit for allies of Rauner to influence legislative races across the state without any restrictions.
Super PACs are allowed to accept unlimited sums of money that they can use to campaign for or against candidates — as long as they don’t coordinate with candidates themselves. Unlike Super PACs, most other campaign fundraising committees in Illinois have contribution limits.
* One of the complaints that I regularly hear about Proft’s TV ads is that they’re so cheaply made. He doesn’t put much money into content, so a lot of them look like ads created for small businesses in Downstate media markets. Like this one, for instance…
That announcer sounds like somebody right out of Decatur TV.
I suppose, however, that one could say the amateur look of the ads helps them stand out. Everything else is so darned slick these days.
* Several campaign professionals have mocked this Proft spot, which is now running on Chicago broadcast TV…
It’s the exact opposite of slick. Maybe it’s so unslick that people turn off the message. Then again, I once bought a chair from This Is It Furniture because of the store’s “Where you always get a free onion” TV ads.
There’s a slight problem with the woman’s wardrobe. It’s not her fault, at all, but some people have a real pet peeve about that sort of thing and the director or somebody in the production staff should’ve caught it.
I long ago realized - to my chagrin, since I have a face and body far more suited for radio - that one thing out of place during a TV interview can completely distract viewers from what you’re trying to say. That’s even more true in the age of high definition television.
* So the cheapness of Proft’s ads may work against his message because people have come to expect higher quality in campaign spots.
But some of them stand out for me because they’re the opposite of slick. I kinda like that approach, which should be obvious by looking at this website. I don’t utilize the services of million-dollar consultants. And yet it still somehow works.
There are costs and benefits of re-electing incumbents vs. sending newcomers. If re-electing an incumbent in your district means continuing to empower Madigan, think twice. If it means giving Madigan a supermajority that can ram through budgets that spend beyond Illinois’ means, think thrice. If it means letting Madigan override gubernatorial vetoes to curry favor with special interest groups, think some more. If it means helping Madigan block reforms that even his own Democratic members support, think about sending a new representative to the Illinois House.
Voters have indicated they want term limits, in part to oust politicians such as Madigan. We don’t have term limits in Illinois because he won’t allow the issue to come to a vote.
So if you’re among those who want to oust him as speaker, there is only one way to do it. You have to end the relationship with lawmakers such as Deb Conroy of Villa Park and Michelle Mussman of Schaumburg and Sam Yingling of Grayslake who have strong and capable Republicans running against them.
Breaking up is hard to do. But prolonging and enduring the dismal status quo of Illinois government is harder.
* This quote is by “a GOP operative with knowledge of Rauner’s political operation who asked for anonymity”…
“If Trump is 17, 25 points down, I don’t know how we do in these [state legislative] races. In a presidential year, we normally wouldn’t have an opportunity. We think that Mike Madigan is the great equalizer.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner has pushed off an impending and potentially budget busting day of reckoning to resolve a toxic 2003 state bond deal—to the day after the fall 2018 election in which the Republican is expected to seek a second term.
The governor had been facing a November 27 deadline to renew letters of credit that back the safety of investing in the $600 million bond issue, a procedure fraught with unusual difficulty because of the state’s prolonged budget standoff and fiscal crisis. Expiration of the letters threatened to trigger a termination of bank agreements and require an accelerated repayment of the bonds that could cost as much as $1 billion.
But under a recently announced agreement, four banks will acquire and hold the debt until November 7, 2018. Interest and fees will be close to the current rate of 6.79 percent, according to a senior Rauner administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Given the state’s credit rating and financial condition, we got a good deal,” the official said.
That buys time to come up with alternative financing schemes to mitigate financial pain, but absent that the state could still find itself in a similar bind when the new agreement with banks expires on Nov. 7, 2018, according to a supplement to the state’s most recent bond offering document.
That date, coming one day after the next election for governor, carries significance for a political leader who has often chastised opponents for putting off tough decisions.
In June 2015, Rauner criticized Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s pension reform proposal as a “kick-the-can-down-the-road approach.” And during budget negotiations in May, he called on lawmakers to stay focused, stay disciplined and “don’t kick the can.”
Saqib Bhatti, a policy analyst at the Roosevelt Institute, a liberal-leaning think tank, said Rauner’s administration also now seems to be entering delay mode on resolving problems with the bond deal rather than confronting them directly.
“They’re kicking the can down to the end of the governor’s term where it may not be his problem,” said Bhatti.
The senior administration official said the expiration coming a day after the 2018 election is merely a coincidence. Two years is standard for these types of deals. “We would have gone longer if we could get three or four years,” the official said.
The union’s Marc Poulos, who heads the Fight Back Fund, says the amendment merely would require that money raised for transportation go toward transportation. Some groups like the Metropolitan Planning Council agree.
But according to Chicago Budget Director Alex Holt, the city might lose discretion over at least $250 million a year in local taxes—not counting the $49 million it gets annually in state gas taxes. (Poulos confirms that’s the case.) That money gets used for many things, including libraries, she says. At the same time, it’s not certain that expenditures for snow removal, streetlights and other items would be eligible under the proposed amendment. “The language just isn’t clear,” Holt says.
The folks at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning raise other concerns. Though Wisconsin and other states have adopted “lockbox” amendments in recent years, the Illinois version fails to specify planning as a qualified cost, gives little attention to increasingly important intermodal transportation and makes roadwork a higher priority over transit work, according to the agency. It’s also unclear how passage would affect state capital bond issues that depend on various revenue streams.
There was a time when Personal PAC, the women’s reproductive rights political action committee, included 17 Republicans in the Illinois House and six in the Senate among those supporting access to birth control and abortion.
The late Republican state Rep. Rosemary Mulligan of Des Plaines was one of the committee’s biggest advocates and even vacationed in France with Personal PAC President Terry Cosgrove, a Morton Grove native.
Personal PAC still considers itself bipartisan, and moderate Republicans still exist. But Cosgrove says increasing partisanship in state politics and a spike in the amount spent on races mean that, for the first time, the PAC counts no Republicans among those publicly supporting its mission.
Cosgrove’s PAC plans to spend more than $1.5 million on 18 legislative races. Eleven are in the suburbs.
Among those Cosgrove says will be getting up to $250,000 in funding: Democratic state senators Melinda Bush of Grayslake, Tom Cullerton of Villa Park and Laura Murphy of Des Plaines, and state representatives Sam Yingling of Round Lake Beach, Deb Conroy of Villa Park and Michelle Mussman of Schaumburg.
Judging from recent political advertisements which clog my mailbox each and every day, I am so glad that I did not decide to run for public office this year.
If I had run for office, I can just see the bold headlines that would appear under the worst photo of me that they could find:
• He pocketed over $1 million in taxpayer dollars!
• He socialized with convicted murderers, rapists and known drug dealers!
• He accepted free meals, free office space, and free parking all at taxpayer expense!
• He took orders from four notorious convicted felons!
And all of these statements are true! However, the opposition would conveniently leave out a few other pertinent facts:
1) Yes, I worked for the Illinois Department of Corrections for 32 years. (That $1 million spread out over 32 years comes to an average of $31,250 per year.)
2) I did have a case load of murderers, rapists and drug dealers with whom I interacted on a daily basis.
3) Yes, my lunches, parking, and office space were “given” to me free of charge.
4) As a state employee, I did follow the orders given to me by Governors Kerner, Walker, Ryan and Blagojevich, all four of which went on to serve prison terms.
Like so many ads, they contain a truthful statement which becomes horribly twisted when taken out of context.
That’s not far off the mark. He might have a future in politics.
* When you’re a House Speaker with a statewide approval rating somewhere in the 20s and all of your candidates are getting tied directly to you with millions of dollars in advertising, your only play is to drag the other side as far down into the muck as possible.
And when you’re a governor with an approval rating somewhere in the 30s and a presidential candidate imploding before your very eyes, your only play is to depress the other side’s vote as much as you can by dragging the other side as far down into the muck as possible.
In the 117th House District race, incumbent John Bradley, a Democrat from Marion, as well as his Republican opponent Dave Severin of Benton, have been hit with these sex offender ads. One of the ads against Severin opens with a woman named Julie Yana speaking into the camera.
“I’ve worked with sex offenders for over 14 years. I don’t feel a child ever recovers from being a victim of a sexual predator,” she says as a picture flashes of a young girl comforting a younger child with a stuffed animal between them, both with sad looks on their faces. Then a picture of Dave Severin’s face flashes on the screen.
“The sexual predator is very much a danger in everyone’s community,” continues Yana. “I would not feel safe for Dave Severin being a state representative for this area.” Yana then goes on to explain her reason, that Severin is against funding to track sex offenders and owns a business that hired a sex offender.
Yana declined comment to the newspaper. According to the Department of Human Service’s website, Yana is an administrative assistant at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in Anna. She also is president of a local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the labor union representing most state workers. […]
Severin vowed to rise above the fray. But it wasn’t long after his letter that an ad paid for by the Republican Party began airing on local networks against Bradley portraying him as sympathetic to sex offenders as well. A spokesman for Severin said the candidate wasn’t wasn’t aware that Republican Party officials had created that ad and asked that it be removed. But it continued to run for days after that.
As described in a column by Rich Miller, publisher of the Capitol Fax newsletter, that ad opens with footage of a Chicago anchorman saying, “Federal prosecutors now accusing a former state representative of possession child pornography.” A photo then flashes of former state Rep. Keith Farnham and a narrator says, “Unspeakable abuse from a Springfield Democrat.” In 2014, Farnham, of Elgin, resigned from office and pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.
Footage of Rep. Bradley then appears on the screen and an announcer says, “But as Madigan’s top lieutenant in Democrat leadership, John Bradley stood by as the predator committed heinous crimes on his state computer.
“The sex assault victim was an infant,” the anchorman says, and the commercial closes with the narrator saying that Bradley wrote “a check to the predator’s campaign just to strengthen Madigan’s power. Cowardice so despicable you have to wonder, how does John Bradley sleep at night?”
Among a multitude of contributions Bradley has made over the years, he did give $1,000 to Farnham, but that was three years before Farnham’s arrest, according to Miller. “Nobody had a clue what was going on with Farnham back then,” Miller, a longtime observer of Illinois politics, wrote in his column.
You should go read the whole thing because the premise of the story is whether legislators from the two parties in southern Illinois can ever patch up their differences after this campaign season is over.
I would just say this about the premise: If you want to polarize legislators so that they stick together along party lines during a long, protracted and bitter war, there’s no better way to do that than by doing this sort of stuff.
With little more than two weeks until Election Day, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s personal investment in eroding the ranks of legislative Democrats led by House Speaker Michael Madigan has grown to nearly $46 million, state campaign finance records show.
The massive influx of cash represents the election-year battle lines playing out in Illinois after more than a year of fighting between Rauner, the first-term governor, and Madigan, the nation’s longest-serving speaker, over the future of the state.
Democrats hold supermajorities in the House and Senate and have been able to stymie Rauner’s economic agenda, which calls for changes in laws that would weaken traditional Democratic allies in organized labor and among workers’ compensation attorneys. The Democrats’ refusal to move on those issues led to a lengthy budget stalemate, which culminated in a temporary spending plan that expires Jan. 1. […]
All told, Rauner, his family and his campaign fund have doled out $45.8 million in political contributions this year. Of the $29 million the Illinois Republican Party has raised this year, nearly $21 million has come from Rauner and $4 million this month through Durkin’s campaign fund.
* But the Illinois Republican Party disputes that story…
“Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s personal investment in eroding the ranks of legislative Democrats led by House Speaker Michael Madigan has grown to nearly $46 million.”
FACT CHECK:
1. Since the day after the 2014 election, Bruce Rauner has made $31,574,500 in political contributions to various campaign entities. Additionally, at the end of third quarter, nearly $5 million remained in the Citizens for Rauner campaign account.
2. Meanwhile, Mike Madigan Democratic legislative candidates have schemed to raise over $56 million.
HOW IT WORKS:
To calculate Democratic fundraising, many news outlets simply look at how much the Democratic Party of Illinois has raised during the quarter and report that figure. The problem with this type of analysis is that Democratic legislative candidates typically receive campaign funds that never pass through the Democratic party campaign committee itself.
How does Democratic fundraising work in reality?
House:
Mike Madigan controls four interconnected campaign funds. This money can be distributed to campaigns in unlimited amounts. Madigan currently has an estimated $13.5 million stored in these funds.
Madigan also uses over 20 select House members in uncompetitive districts as “piggy banks” to store cash. Madigan has primarily funded House candidates by directing these “piggy banks” to transfer money directly to targeted races.
For example, Reps. Anna Moeller, Marty Moylan, Kathleen Willis each transferred out half a million dollars to Democrats in competitive house districts over the last quarter. These transfers have accelerated in recent days.
Additionally, Democratic House members spent much of 2015 receiving large contributions from trial lawyers, special interests, and unions – even if they had no opponent.
The result of this is that most of the Democrats’ spending never passes through the Democratic Party of Illinois or its related campaign funds.
So how much money do the House Democrats have to spend on 2016?
The answer – at least $41 million. This is the sum total of the money that targeted house candidates have raised this cycle, the money Madigan currently has in his accounts, and the money the Democrats have stored in “piggy banks” and other house accounts.
This is a low ball estimate for Democratic spending capabilities, since it does not include any money that outside groups, trial lawyers, special interests, and unions still plan to contribute.
Raised by Targeted Democratic House Candidates this Cycle: $16.6 million
+ Remaining in Madigan’s Four Funds – Estimated $13.5 million
+ Remaining in Non Competitive Democratic House Candidates: $11.5 million
= Minimum House Democratic Spending Capacity: $41.6 million
Senate:
Senate Democrats also have raised much of their money outside the party structure, mostly from trial lawyers, special interests, and unions. So far, targeted Democratic Senate candidates have raised $10.3 million. But John Cullerton still has $4.5 million in the funds he controls. Cullerton relies significantly more than Madigan on coalescing campaign contributions into his committee, Senate Democratic Victory Fund. The Senate Democrats have at least $14.8 million to spend on 2016.
This is again a low ball estimate, since it does not include any money that outside groups, trial lawyers, special interests, and unions still plan to contribute.
Raised by Targeted Democratic Senate Candidates this Cycle: $10.3 million
+ Remaining in Cullerton’s Three Funds: Estimated $4.5 million
=
Minimum Senate Democratic Spending Capacity: $14.8 Million
Democratic House candidate John Bartman was appointed to the ballot in July when Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) dropped out of the race to run for McHenry County Board chairman. Bartman is not getting help from the House Democrats, who appear to have all but conceded.
Rep. Franks’ district is solidly Republican. President Barack Obama lost it by 8 points four years ago. Franks has been able to win it because, well, he’s Jack Franks. He talks a good Republican line back home and takes some high-profile votes against his own party. Bartman is no Jack Franks.
Even so, the Republicans say they want to “drown” any possible chance that Bartman may have, particularly in a year like this. So, they’ve launched a negative cable TV blitz, with similar ads on radio and in the mail. As of October 21, Republican candidate Steven Reick had reported $187,000 in contributions since October 1st, which is about $65,000 more than he and the Republicans spent in this district during the entire third quarter.
“You can always judge a person by who their friends are,” the spot begins. “Take John Bartman, a hand-picked 2003 IDOT patronage hire of disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and chosen political tool of Mike Madigan. Under Speaker Madigan’s watchful eye, Barman will be forced to raise your property taxes to fuel more wasteful government spending for his political boss. You pay more and Bartman will side with his boss.”
As we’ve discussed before, the Republicans truly believe they have found the magic elixir this year by constantly invoking the horribly unpopular Speaker Madigan’s name.
GOP Rep. Dwight Kay, for instance, was quoted in the Belleville News Democrat last week as saying: “The first thing we need to do to get the budget balanced is to see that Mike Madigan goes home.”
That’s a pretty tall order, but if it works electorally and the Republicans hold onto their incumbents like Kay and pick up some Democratic seats, they’ll undoubtedly say that Madigan has become so toxic to his own members that it’s time for him to go.
Some of the Republican ads I’ve seen this year mention Madigan’s name even when it’s not particularly relevant to the ads’ messaging. Perhaps the inclusion gives the attack added weight because Madigan is so unpopular. It’s also likely designed to keep the Republican “theme” going regardless of content. But I have also come to suspect it’s being done so they can claim that they used Madigan in almost all of their negative ads and that’s why they prevailed over the Democrats.
And, hey, if it doesn’t work, well, just look at Gov. Rauner’s comments throughout the summer and fall for a preview of what they’ll say the day after the election.
The governor has repeatedly pointed to Madigan’s “undemocratic” legislative district map, which he says has “rigged” the election against the Republicans. You gotta figure he’ll use that as his excuse if Madigan comes out on top, as well as infinite references to Donald Trump’s expected miserable performance.
But, wait. Aren’t quite a few pundits saying that Trump’s repeated refrain that the election will be rigged hurting him further by depressing his base of support?
They could be right, but Gov. Rauner has added a twist.
“We’ve got a system that is rigged,” Rauner told WAND TV’s Doug Wolfe in late August.
But then he did something that Trump isn’t doing. He talked about a solution.
“We’ve got gerrymandered districts that are shaped like spaghetti noodles in many cases designed to protect incumbents.” So, Rauner said, to fix this, Illinoisans need to support reforms, like redistricting and term limits.
And whenever Rauner says this, he adds that the best way to get those reforms is to elect more people who will work with him, mainly Republicans. And the worst thing to do is to vote for anyone associated with his arch enemy Speaker Madigan.
So, what Rauner is doing is quite clever. He uses Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric without all that “nasty” Trump baggage.
Of course, if Trump does unintentionally depress his own base, that would be really bad news for Rauner, who is counting on that base to turn out and vote his way—which is one reason why he won’t say anything that directly criticizes Trump.
What’s that old saying about the best-laid plans?
Jack Franks the Democrat was able to avoid defeat for 18 years in a Republican district, which makes Rauner’s argument about redistricting reform look just a little silly. The point is, though, strange things happen in politics. Stay tuned.
And the “strange things” admonition is exactly why the Republicans are spending money on what should be a surefire winning district in McHenry County.
[Bumped up from Friday to Monday for visibility and comments opened.]
* Gov. Bruce Rauner and his wife Diana have contributed $9 million to House Republican Leader Jim Durkin’s campaign fund. Ken Griffin contributed another $3 million to Leader Durkin. Click here to see the disclosures.
Griffin, the state’s wealthiest man and a major Rauner ally, gave another $2 million to Comptroller Leslie Munger this evening. Click here.
Statement from Susana Mendoza, Democratic nominee for Illinois State Comptroller regarding Comptroller Leslie Munger receiving MILLIONS from Governor Rauner and his billionaire friends
“This is an overwhelming lack of independence for a constitutional office holder. Comptroller Munger is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Governor’s office. Governor Rauner, whom Comptroller Munger should be serving as a checks and balance to, has now given her a $1 million buyout check to his self-proclaimed wingman, and just two of his friends have now given her $7 million. By shamelessly accepting any of these funds, she has demonstrated her utter lack of independence and complete reliance on her political sponsor. The only way for Leslie Munger to keep the constitutionally mandated independence of the Comptroller’s office and not subvert the state constitution in the eyes of the voters is to give back this $1 million takeover bid from Governor Rauner and the $7 million from his two billionaire buddies. The comptroller’s office should not be for sale.”
