A former business partner of Gov. Bruce Rauner is suing Rauner, but all court records in the case are being kept secret — allegedly at the governor’s request.
The lawsuit against Rauner was filed last week by Harreld “Kip” Kirkpatrick III and the Kirkpatrick Capital Partners Fund, according to Cook County Circuit Court records. […]
He said the lawsuit was filed as a “result of a dispute with a former partner” — namely Rauner, according to a memo that Kirkpatrick sent to Vistria employees. […]
“In consultation with our legal counsel, we do not believe the lawsuit should be sealed and we are hopeful that a judge will deny Gov. Rauner’s attempt to keep it from public view,” Kirkpatrick added.
While the exact allegations remain unclear, the lawsuit against Rauner is tied to how settlement proceeds from a Michigan lawsuit were divvied up.
Kirkpatrick Capital Partners paid $10 million in 2011 for a 20 percent stake in what’s now Troy, Mich.-based United Shore Financial Services, according to the Michigan lawsuit.
Kirkpatrick served as the firm’s CEO from 2011 to 2013, but relations between him and the company’s founding family soured.
In 2015, Kirkpatrick Capital sued United Shore and Jeffrey and Mathew Ishbia, members of the founding family that remains the majority owner. The Ishbias, the lawsuit claimed, pulled the plug on Kirkpatrick’s efforts to sell the company — which by then was valued by Raymond James Financial Services at $400 million to $525 million. At least four firms expressed interest in buying the company in early 2013, but the Ishbia family suspended the sales process because it “did not want to give away so much of this newly created value to” Kirkpatrick Capital, the lawsuit says.
This morning the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times both wrote stories about Governor Bruce Rauner’s involvement in a lawsuit that he’s requesting to stay secret. Rauner is being sued by Kirkpatrick Capital, a firm he was still invested in 2016. From what little is known, the story feels familiar – Rauner and the other Kirkpatrick Capital investors intended to invest in an existing company quickly sell if off at profit while undercutting the owners.
“In 2015, Kirkpatrick Capital sued United Shore and Jeffrey and Mathew Ishbia, members of the founding family that remains the majority owner. The Ishbias, the lawsuit claimed, pulled the plug on Kirkpatrick’s efforts to sell the company — which by then was valued by Raymond James Financial Services at $400 million to $525 million. At least four firms expressed interest in buying the company in early 2013, but the Ishbia family suspended the sales process because it ‘did not want to give away so much of this newly created value to’ Kirkpatrick Capital, the lawsuit says.
‘The parties understood that Kirkpatrick Capital was not making a long-term investment in Shore,’ Kirkpatrick’s lawsuit against United Shore said. ‘Kirkpatrick was investing in Shore with the understanding that Shore would be marketed for sale in the near term.’”
Bruce Rauner leaned on his business acumen during the 2014 campaign, but investigative reports found that companies Rauner invested in were pushed into bankruptcy or stripped down for profits. Flash forward three years to when Governor Rauner called on the legislature to sustain his budget veto even though it would push the state into junk bond status, and a pattern emerges.
“Bruce Rauner sold voters a bill of goods when he said as a businessman he would turn the state around,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Just like he did in business, Rauner racked up Illinois’ debt and was pushed the state towards a fiscal cliff all for political profit. Now he wants to hide his true record from the public but it’s too late. Voters know they are worse off under three years of Rauner’s failed leadership in action.”
Today, the Illinois Republican Party launched the 2018 Madigan Retirement Plan. The initiative will specifically target members of the Illinois House and Senate who empower their political boss, Mike Madigan. Through the 2018 Madigan Retirement Plan, the Illinois Republican Party will also offer unprecedented support to local GOP organizations by providing innovative grassroots tools, enhanced digital and data integration, and targeted support for local Republican candidates in an effort to defeat Democrats at every level who empower their party leader, Mike Madigan.
The longest serving House speaker in United States history, Mike Madigan was first elected to the Illinois House in 1970 and rose to the speakership in 1983. In 1998, Madigan was elected Chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois. At the end of his current term in the House, Madigan will have been a member of the Illinois General Assembly for 48 years, speaker of the House for 34 years, and chairman of the Democratic Party for 21 years.
Today, the Illinois Republican Party received a $4,450,000 contribution from Governor Rauner’s campaign to launch the 2018 Madigan Retirement Plan. In total, the Illinois Republican Party has received $6.6 million from Governor Rauner’s campaign this year.
Below is a statement from Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider on the 2018 Madigan Retirement Plan:
“Four decades in power is long enough, and with Governor Rauner’s support, Illinois Republicans can ensure 2018 is Mike Madigan’s last year as Speaker. Governor Rauner has shown time and time again that he is committed to revitalizing the Republican Party in the state of Illinois. Thanks to Gov. Rauner’s unprecedented commitment, we are now closer than ever to retiring Speaker Mike Madigan once and for all.”
* Meanwhile, a DuPage County Board member running for retiring GOP Rep. Mike Fortner’s seat launched on Rauner today…
Tonia Khouri, candidate for State Representative in the 49th District releases the following statement:
I consider myself a free-market conservative and pro-life.
Being a loyal Republican for 30 years makes this decision difficult and sad. However, I cannot in good conscience support our current governor, Bruce Rauner. He has made decisions that financially hurt our state like the Chicago school “bailout” and the expensive “sanctuary state” bill. However, the final straw was allowing taxpayer-funded abortions on demand. The financial and moral consequences of HB40 will haunt this state for years to come.
If we continue down this path, not only will Illinois be financially bankrupt, it will be morally bankrupt as well.
Therefore, I stand in unity with conservatives, with pro-lifers, and those who feel betrayed by our governor’s recent actions and will not be supporting Bruce Rauner for Governor.
It’s not too late to save our state - we just need the right people in Springfield to do it.
* As Mark Brown rightly notes, most of these inmates will eventually be released, so it’s in all of our interest to make things better…
On Tuesday, lawyers representing 12,000 mentally ill prisoners in Illinois asked a federal judge in Peoria to force the state to meet its agreed obligations to provide them with adequate mental health care.
The state’s “deliberate indifference to serious medical need” constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, the inmates’ lawyers argue.
The filing comes a week after a court-appointed federal monitor advised state corrections officials by letter that poor psychiatric care continues to create a “state of emergency” in Illinois prisons.
The lawyers want U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm to enforce a settlement agreement reached in May 2016 with Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration promising to overhaul mental health care in the prisons.
The court monitor, Dr. Pablo Stewart, a psychiatric consultant from San Francisco, credits the state Department of Corrections with making “substantial improvements” to its mental health care delivery system during that time.
But Stewart said those improvements have been undermined by the department’s “grossly insufficient and extremely poor quality of psychiatric services.”
Those services are “exceedingly poor and often times dangerous,” Stewart wrote.
Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle predicted “painful” budget cuts and forecast a rough budget battle ahead as she suffered her biggest public defeat yet: Wednesday’s repeal of the much-maligned sweetened beverage tax.
“I’ve been in public life for almost 30 years,” Preckwinkle, a former Chicago alderman, told reporters. “I know that if you’re in public life, you need to make difficult choices.”
The Chicago Democrat, who is seeking a third term, blamed Wednesday’s 15-2 vote by commissioners to repeal the penny-per-ounce tax on “tax fatigue,” and said the effort “bore the brunt” of other recent tax increases both in the county and state. Only Commissioner Larry Suffredin of Evanston and Jerry Butler of Chicago voted to keep the tax in place. […]
Describing a nationwide “anti-government sentiment,” Preckwinkle said it makes it difficult for governments to raise the revenues they need to deliver services.
“I think people understand what their city, town and village does. It’s police and fire and garbage,” she said. “We need to help residents understand we’re the basic social safety net.”
Some pretty darned liberal Democrats were up in arms about that tax, so I don’t think the backlash was about an “anti-government sentiment” in general.
* Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) had been one of just two three out of 15 House Republicans who either retired or attracted a primary opponent after voting for the income tax hike. Hammond got a primary opponent today. Two guesses who’s backing him…
Joshua L. Griffith has announced his Republican candidacy for State Representative of the 93rd House District pledging to oppose the political classes’ tax hikes.
Born and raised in Knox County, Joshua Griffith joined the Army at 17 and served for 11 years before retiring as a Sergeant First Class and returning home.
“Illinois has the highest taxes in the nation and the politicians only plan is force us to pay more,” said Griffith. “Families are fleeing Illinois because they can’t afford to stay. We need a State Representative who will stand up for our interests, not do the bidding of Mike Madigan and the Chicago Democrats.”
Griffith is running to replace incumbent Norine Hammond, who was hand picked to join the General Assembly and appointed to the seat in 2010.
After seven years in office, and another decade as legislative aide, Hammond is most famous for joining with Mike Madigan and Chicago Democrats to pass a 32% income tax hike earlier this year.
Rep. Mike Unes (R-East Peoria) is the last one standing, in case you were wondering. ADDING: Rep. Charles Meier also doesn’t have an opponent.
Donald Moore, a retired U. S. Marine and current Madison County Board member, today announced his campaign for State Representative in the 108th district to strengthen conservative leadership and conservative convictions in Springfield.
Moore is running to provide voters with a principled and fiscally conservative alternative to incumbent Representative Charlie Meier. Moore said Meier, a registered Republican, joined the ranks of Speaker Mike Madigan and Chicago Democrats to pass a 32 percent income tax hike built into a budget that does not recognize that Illinois continues to spend more money than you already send them in taxes.
“I’m running for office to bring our conservative values and principles to state government,” said Don Moore. “Our families deserve to be represented by a leader who will stand up and not waiver when it comes to seeking a fiscally conservative approach to solving Illinois’ debt problem.”
Charlie Meier voted in opposition to Governor Rauner and with Speaker Madigan to pass a 32 percent tax hike that will cost the families of Madison County an additional $70 million in higher taxes. It will cost the families of Clinton County $9.6 million, St. Clair County $56.5 million, and Washington County $3.8 million in more taxes.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Speaking of which…
Potential gubernatorial challenger Jeanne Ives adds $10K from Illinois Liberty PAC, currently chaired by Pat Hughes.https://t.co/08dmki1YEt
* Let’s do some other campaign stuff while we’re at it. BND…
St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly’s first quarter as a congressional candidate has garnered more than $350,000 in campaign contributions, including some from a top Democrat.
The campaign also said it’s the best off-year quarter by a challenger, according to its research.
Kelly, a Democrat hoping to unseat U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, in the 12th congressional district in the 2018 election, has received more than 900 individual contributions. […]
According to Federal Elections Commission data, Kelly’s first quarter of fundraising on the campaign trail was better than any quarter by C.J. Baricevic, who was the Democratic nominee for the 12th district in 2016.
The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) released the following statement following Sharon Fairley’s announcement that she would be running for Illinois Attorney General. Fairley most recently served as the chief administrator of the Chicago Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
“Sharon Fairley was recently appointed as Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s police oversight chief, but is already looking for a promotion. The Civilian Office of Policy Accountability was literally open ten days before rumors began circulating the she was likely to leave,” said RAGA Executive Director Scott Will. “Not exactly the qualities you look for in a leader of a critical law enforcement agency, let alone the top law enforcement officer of an entire state. Illinois needs an attorney general that actually wants to do the job.”
When it came Madigan’s control as [Illinois] Democratic Party Chair, will candidates work with the Speaker of the House in their bid for the governor’s seat? Ahern states, “some people say he has more power than the governor.” She asked about the candidates’ relationships with him.
Tio Hardiman rebukes Madigan:
“We need a governor who will stand up to Mike Madigan and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. We don’t get a governor to stand up to politics as usual in Illinois, it’s the same powers over and over,” he continues. “Once I become Governor, I believe Mike Madigan will retire because I don’t believe he wants to deal with me.”
Biss adds, “Mike Madigan has been the Speaker for way too long and it’s held us back. It’s held the Democratic party back.”
As one of the hundreds in attendance, community activist Wallace ‘Gator’ Bradley was miffed at the ant-Madigan comments. “I don’t think anyone should be afraid to stand with anyone who stands with them and what they feel is better for Illinois. That was a question in the debate. In the end, whoever becomes the nominee, they’re not going to turn away Madigan or Berrios’ support,” says Bradley, who is a supporter of Pritzker.
So, Gator Bradley defended… Madigan and Pritzker? Yep.
There was a time not long ago when Gator Bradley was considered pretty darned controversial. I asked the Pritzker folks today if Bradley had a role in the campaign and was told “Nope.”
As nationwide reports of dicamba-related damage to soybeans and other crops continue to climb, the American Soybean Association reiterates its commitment to find a solution to the issue.
This issue isn’t going away — in fact, it’s only getting worse. There are now a reported 2,242 complaints affecting 3.1 million acres of soybeans in 21 of our 30 soybean-growing states, and we expect that number to continue to rise.
Lawsuits against Monsanto continue to pile up pushing state agriculture boards to look into new regulations for next year that include cut off dates for application and strict times during the day for spraying.
Among the dozens of lawsuits against Monsanto, a large class action suit involving farmers from ten states including Illinois.
New versions of the herbicide dicamba developed by Monsanto and BASF, according to farmers, have drifted across fields to crops unable to withstand it, a charge authorities are investigating.
As the crisis intensifies, new details provided to Reuters by independent researchers and regulators, and previously unreported testimony by a company employee, demonstrate the unusual way Monsanto introduced its product. The approach, in which Monsanto prevented key independent testing of its product, went unchallenged by the Environmental Protection Agency and nearly every state regulator. […]
In this case, Monsanto denied requests by university researchers to study its XtendiMax with VaporGrip for volatility — a measure of its tendency to vaporize and drift across fields.
The researchers interviewed by Reuters — Jason Norsworthy at the University of Arkansas, Kevin Bradley at the University of Missouri and Aaron Hager at the University of Illinois — said Monsanto provided samples of XtendiMax before it was approved by the EPA. However, the samples came with contracts that explicitly forbade volatility testing. [Emphasis added.]
In Illinois, retired biologist Lou Nelms who operated a prairie seed nursey and was a researcher at the University of Illinois, has documented damage to oak trees across the state from dicamba and filed numerous complaints with Illinois Department of Agriculture and Department of Natural Resources. […]
But, in the cases of oak tree damage, internal Monsanto emails indicate that the company has tried to shift blame away from dicamba to other pesticides.
The emails were written by company lobbyists who shared them with the Illinois agriculture department. The emails were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Nelms filed more complaints in August about damage at the Sandra Miller Bellrose Nature Preserve, an area officially recognized by the Illinois Natural Preserve Commission, and at the 412.7 acre Revis Hill Prairie, an official state natural area.
The Monsanto correspondence followed Nelms filing complaints with the department.
Nelms filed one of his complaints, on the morning of August 16, with the Department of Natural Resources about dicamba damage to oak trees at the state nature preserve Funk’s Grove.
Funk’s Grove, about 10 miles south of Bloomington, Illinois, is one of just 654 undisturbed natural areas in the state of Illinois. The 25-acre forest is famed for its sugar maples and the syrup they produce. The nature preserve, a popular destination along the famed Route 66, is also home to oak trees hundreds of years old.
But this year, the leaves on the historic oak trees “cupped” and died, exhibiting clear signs of harm from either 2,4-D or dicamba, which is the most widely used weed killer of this type, Nelms said.
Just one hour later after Nelms’ August 16 complaint, Jeff Williams, a Monsanto lobbyist based in Springfield, Illinois, sent an email to Dave Tierney, the regional director governmental affairs in Des Moines, Iowa.
In the email, Williams wrote he had talked with Warren Goetsch, deputy director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, and Wayne Rosenthal, the director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources the night before.
With the landmark education funding legislation that Governor Rauner signed into law, Illinois has its first-ever scholarship tax credit program to help children receive a better education, in addition to the highest level of public education funding ever.
The scholarship program is specifically designed to help Illinois’ neediest children. Only students whose families earn less than 300% of the poverty level are elligible for the scholarships. Programs such as this have been praised by education advocates as empowering for low-income children.
The Democrats running for governor, however, all opposed the scholarship program. And the candidates spoke out in opposition to the compromise bill that passed the legislature and was signed by Governor Rauner.
J.B. Pritzker promised to do away with this program, taking away school choice from the thousands of low-income children it is designed to help. He continues to tout his opposition as well as his running mate’s ‘no’ vote on the compromise.
Chris Kennedy and Ameya Pawar also oppose providing low-income children with the opportunity to choose what educational opportunities are best for them. According to them, providing Illinois’ neediest families with the ability to choose the best education for their children is “wrong.”
State Sen. Daniel Biss not only voiced his opposition, but cast his vote against the compromise bill. Biss called it “absurd” to include a program that directly benefits needy communities in the state.
Time after time, the Democrat gubernatorial candidates have shown that they do not stand on the side of the people. Their united opposition to historic reform is a clear example that their policies are wrong for our children and wrong for Illinois.
Andy Manar sold out to Chicago politicians when he proposed a new school funding formula this year. Manar actually proposed cutting numerous school districts that Manar represents. Carlinville, Staunton, and Hillsboro would have seen cuts of about half a million dollars. Taylorville would have seen nearly a million dollars less in funding from Manar. In fact, Manar wanted to give Chicago Public Schools a 500 million dollar bailout.
Those district figures McMillan mentions are apparently the same ones that Gov. Rauner used to tout his own school funding proposal which went absolutely nowhere…
* Rep. Avery Bourne, a Republican who represents half of Sen. Manar’s district (and would usually therefore be considered a McMillan ally), penned this op-ed with Manar in September…
One main Republican concern under the previous version of school funding reform was that Chicago would have received its pension payment through the school funding formula, skewing education dollars to Chicago Public Schools first. Under this compromise, Chicago still does well — like all other underfunded school districts. The bipartisan agreement pays downstate teacher pensions in full and moves Chicago’s pension costs out of the school funding formula, treating that district like every other school district in the state. Chicago also is given the ability to raise its property taxes so that it will support its own schools locally, just like every other district in the state.
One main Democratic concern under the governor’s amendatory veto of the previous version of school funding reform was his move to strike several provisions that protected underfunded schools in future years from potential cuts. The bipartisan agreement keeps these provisions intact, ensuring that the state continues to make underfunded schools its highest priority with the goal of eliminating our worst-in-the-nation inequity gap.
In short, this compromise treats all 852 Illinois school districts the same and will benefit every school district and every student in the state.
Changing that pension language as the Republicans demanded actually increased the amount of money going to CPS.
* McMillan got his $500 million number from the ILGOP…
Mike Madigan and his political allies are trying to hold schoolchildren hostage in order to force through a $500 million Chicago bailout without reform.
And that brings us to the top of this post, which has the ILGOP praising the new law (which gives CPS more than the Democrats asked for) and bashing the Democrats for opposing it.
* But it’s not just the Republicans. From the Pritzker campaign’s response to Rauner’s new TV ad…
According to Bruce Rauner, Illinois is a pile of dirty socks and pizza and he is the parent cleaning up after Illinois families. We get that it’s hard to run a campaign without accomplishments, but it’s generally best not to both lie and insult voters in a single ad. The truth is, Bruce Rauner pitted communities against each other, vetoed the school funding formula, and then forced other leaders to clean up his mess
Except, as noted above, Pritzker didn’t support the final bill. He did support an earlier version of the bill, however and got blasted for it…
“J.B. Pritzker’s support for SB1 in its current form is all about politics, not the children. He knows that a Chicago bailout hurts children across Illinois by redistributing their tax dollars towards a broken pension system without reform, but he doesn’t care. Pritzker is willing to hurt children in order to maintain his good favor with Mike Madigan’s Chicago machine.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
In advance of tomorrow’s sentencing for Patrick Edwards, who along with a group of nine others, has been convicted of robbing more than 100 guns from an unsecure Chicago train line, Chris Kennedy and Ra Joy will speak about the violence that plagues our communities and the access to guns that pass through Chicago’s rail yards.
They will be joined by Cook County Commissioner Jesús “Chuy” García, anti-violence advocates and families that have been affected by gun violence.
I’ve heard him talk about this before, but this event will put the issue in focus.
A federal judge today sentenced a convicted felon to ten years in prison for stealing hundreds of firearms from a cargo train on the South Side of Chicago and selling more than a dozen of them.
On April 12, 2015, ANDREW SHELTON and several acquaintances burglarized the cargo train while it was parked overnight in a railyard in Chicago’s Avalon Park neighborhood. The cargo train was en route from a Ruger factory in New Hampshire to Spokane, Wash. The thieves broke locks on a train car and walked off with approximately 111 firearms, with Shelton keeping 13 guns for himself. He quickly sold the 13 firearms on the black market.
To date, law enforcement has recovered 19 of the 111 stolen firearms at various locations and crime scenes in Chicago and the surrounding area.
A suburban Chicago mother of seven is accused of urging Facebook followers to kill a gang member-turned-FBI mole for his role in a sting that put an associate of hers behind bars on charges he tried to sell semi-automatic rifles stolen from a freight train, court documents show.
Iesha Stanciel, 38, faces federal cyberstalking charges for the threats, as well as a gun charge after she was arrested carrying a bag containing one of the brand new AR 15-type assault rifles stolen from the Chicago train that had stopped overnight at a Norfolk Southern yard on Sept. 18, 2016, according to a federal complaint examined by The Associated Press this week. […]
That 2016 theft angered residents near the South Side rail yard because it came a year after the theft of 104 Sturm, Ruger & Co. guns, which quickly fell into the hands of gangs. After the 2015 heist, aldermen sought assurances from Norfolk Southern that such thefts wouldn’t happen again.
At a sentencing hearing last week in that 2015 case, Judge John Tharp said criminals prize new guns because they’re hard to trace and he said their theft contributed to “an epidemic of violence” in Chicago. A prosecutor told the court there’s a little-known “subculture” of thieves who regularly rob trains in the nation’s busiest rail hub.
It was Stafford’s arrest that led Stanciel, just days later, to start posting the Facebook threats that included the informant’s name, court papers said.
Whew.
* These train burglaries have long been a problem. A small sampling..
* May 2014: I-Team: Assault rifles stolen from freight train in Englewood
* November 2016: 2 Investigators: Gun Thefts Continue At Chicago Railyards: Chicago Ald. Pat Dowell was so concerned about railyard gun heists that last year she wanted to hold a public hearing to question railway representatives. But she tells the 2 Investigators the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and railyard giant Norfolk Southern “strongly encouraged” her not to go public for fear she would expose serious security deficiencies. Dowell held off. Now, it’s happened again.
* January 2017: How modern day train robberies are bringing more guns to Chicago
* March 2017: Railroad thefts and guns: A deadly mix in Chicago
* March 2017: Gang Thieves Use Rail Yards As Shopping Malls, Steal Scores Of Guns
Come out and help protect your second amendment rights and maybe even win a gun. By supporting this event you are helping to support and elect candidates that realize your constitutional rights are not a gift from the government.
We will be starting the night off at 5:30pm with appetizers at 6:00pm.
Dinner will be served at 7:00pm with gun raffle ticket sales being sold from 5:30 until after dinner when the drawings will start.
A $2,000 check makes you a “2nd Amendment Sponsor” and gets you 10 dinner tickets, a full-page ad in the program, 10 dinner raffle tickets for a Mossberg shotgun, 6 raffle tickets with the chance to win one of three 22 rifles. You’ll also get a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 SPTII 223…
Lake County Republicans are moving ahead with a fundraiser where at least a dozen firearms will be given out to donors Friday night, less than two weeks after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history in Las Vegas. […]
Mark Shaw, the Lake County GOP chairman, said the first-of-its-kind event for local Republicans would proceed as scheduled because it had long been in the planning stages. The Oct. 1 shooting of concertgoers in Las Vegas by a sniper at the Mandalay Bay hotel killed 58 people and wounded hundreds of others.
“Unfortunately, obviously, the tragic events in Las Vegas happened and the fact that we had a dinner scheduled for the 13th of October, that’s been something that’s been in the works for over a year,” Shaw told the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday. […]
“Only the right-wing Republicans would be having something like this at this time. If you truly believe in the 2nd Amendment and that it was a terrible situation in Las Vegas, you probably could easily cancel something and nobody would think bad of you,” said [Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan, the Lake County Democratic chairman], who had been unaware of the fundraiser until asked about it by the Tribune.
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Las Vegas Law Enforcement Assistance Fund, according to the Tribune.
*** UPDATE 1 *** The governor has been dodging reporters’ questions on gun control since the Las Vegas shootings. This, however, gives the issue a state angle for reporters to pursue…
Bruce Rauner has donated $16,000 to the Lake County Republican group hosting this gun giveaway https://t.co/7vpe7tf6GV
*** UPDATE 2 *** More fodder for Rauner questions…
Earlier today, State Representative Scott Drury (D-Highwood) introduced legislation to ban the sale, manufacture, possession, transfer or importation of bump stock devices – firearm equipment that essentially converts a semi-automatic weapon into a machine gun. The shooter responsible for the recent devastation in Las Vegas, Nevada used bump stock devices to fire his ammunition at a much more rapid pace than would otherwise have been possible. The devices allow a shooter to increase his firing rate from between 45 and 60 rounds per minute to between 400 and 800 rounds per minute.
“Machine guns are illegal in Illinois,” said Drury. “Common sense dictates that a device that essentially converts firearms into machine guns should also be illegal.”
Since the Las Vegas massacre, there have been bi-partisan calls for a ban on bump stock devices. Drury says his proposal answers those calls. According to Drury, he intentionally limited the scope of the proposed legislation to bump stock devices to allow the public to see which legislators truly support a bump stock ban. “There is nowhere to hide,” said Drury.
Drury has long advocated for more responsible gun laws, and currently is a co-sponsor of legislation requiring the licensing of gun dealers. In 2013, Drury successfully raced to make sure towns throughout a major part of his legislative district imposed assault weapons bans and regulations notwithstanding an NRA-backed law that sought to eliminate towns’ abilities to exercise local control on the issue. “The NRA’s legislation gave towns 10 days to implement assault bans or forever lose the right,” said Drury. “In that short timeframe, we accomplished what the NRA thought would be impossible – we acted quickly and won, preserving local control in the process.”
Drury says it is again time to act swiftly. “Illinois has the opportunity to take the lead on a national issue of critical importance and help save lives.”
Drury’s legislation is House Bill 4112.
*** UPDATE 3 *** This was sent a couple of hours ago, but I never got it…
In the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in American history, Lake County Republicans are moving forward with a party fundraiser that hopes to draw crowds by raffling off a host of firearms. But Bruce Rauner has been silent on his own party’s controversial fundraising tactic.
If history is any indication, Rauner will likely have nothing to say. Two days ago, Rauner refused to speak out about mass shootings, saying he has “no obligation to comment” on national issues. Last week, Rauner dodged reporters’ questions for days on his position on gun legislation and what he would do to keep Illinoisans safe.
“While Bruce Rauner refuses to tell Illinoisans how he will prevent mass shootings in our state, his party is raffling off guns just weeks after the tragedy in Las Vegas,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This is a shameful insult to American families still mourning and should be immediately condemned by Rauner, the top Republican in our state.”
* Chris Kennedy spoke at the Mom+Baby governors candidate meet and greet yesterday. I didn’t see anything on his Twitter page about it, but I’m told about 30 moms and 10 kids had to wait at least half an hour for him to arrive. And it went downhill from there. From a few text messages that were forwarded to me…
He was a hot mess. Shirt barely tucked in. He had on biking shoes. He spoke about Trump the entire time. Crazy!
It was embarrassing. He misquoted stats that our members corrected him on. He got called out on lack of supporting single payer and marijuana legalization
He also starting talking education inequity and misspoke on the cps funding. It was nuts.
* Well, it came up again during the recent gubernatorial forum hosted by Our Revolution Illinois…
Mary Ann Ahern: Mr. Kennedy, you had received criticism after an event Downstate called Mom and Baby. You were late to the event, some of them felt, some of the moms there at the event felt you disrespected them. You’ve also been somewhat reluctant to take reporter’s questions unless it’s a one on one setting. Do you have what it takes for a high-profile governor’s race?
Chris Kennedy: I hope so. [Laughter]. Um, as for the Mom and Babies interaction, I’d say that the people in Vernon Hills would be shocked to know that they now live in Downstate.
Ahern: Sorry. Correction.
Kennedy: That’s OK. I mean, truthfully, they were, a number of them were interviewing for jobs with JB Pritzker and a lot of the criticism came out of that job application process [Pritzker shakes head “No”].
I go to multiple events every day. I’ve had enormous amounts of press exposure, I grew up in a very exposed family, and I’m very comfortable with other people. I don’t know what you’re looking for in terms of an answer but I’ll take you all on one at a time or all at once, either way I’m prepared, so thank you.
Hey Rich! How are you? My org Mom+Baby was slammed again by Chris Kennedy. See this link for the video and check out the 30 seconds starting at an hour into the video. He is blaming our org and the moms for his campaign issues.
Below is the statement that I made on FB in response and the comments. I also showed some additional posts our members put out too.
Facebook friends as you know I am the founder and President of Mom+Baby, a non profit organization that is non-partisan and helps women get involved in the legislative process. Yesterday at a Gubernatorial Forum that we sponsored Chris Kennedy stated that we were being paid by JB to ruin his campaign. These are lies!
We have taken the time to meet with all the candidates through our programming called Legislative Coffee Dates. We met with Chris on July 18th for a Legislative Coffee Date. He showed up over 30 minutes late, was disheveled, spoke poorly and did not share key democratic values like taxing and regulating marijuana. Had he shown up on time he would have known he was in a room of power house women and not at a playgroup meetup. The majority of our members are business owners. During the forum he stated that our members tried to get jobs from JB’s campaign. This is not true! Our members have full plates of their own and love volunteering on campaigns but none attempted a job on a gubernatorial campaign.
Chris would have understood the issues that mattered to our members but he neglected to listen. He was disrespectful to our members and assumed because we are women we were not educated on the issues at hand in our state. He treated us like we were ignorant and his continual lack of care and respect for women and moms disgusts me and our members.
I support JB for Governor. I am not paid by JB, I do not work for JB’s campaign. I support the rights of women and children. Mom+Baby has not endorsed any candidate for governor and we will not be endorsing anyone. If you have questions on my stances, the board’s stances or want to get involved more in our politically active organization let us know. Women matter and we will not allow any candidate or legislator to mistreat us! Www.mombabychicago.org #WeAreTheStorm #MomPlusBaby#WSWConference
Kennedy seemed genuinely perplexed about why this ever became a story in the first place. He said members of the group posed for photos with him for 20 minutes after the July event. He apparently thought it went well.
As noted above, one of his critics mentioned that he wore “biking shoes,” which seemed like a show of disrespect. Kennedy said, however, that an attendee had spoken about her work to expand biking and he showed her his shoes and told her he’d biked to work that very day.
He said he was told that one of the women at the event was interviewing with JB Pritzker’s campaign.
“The truth is some people have disrupted my events who were interviewing with JB,” Kennedy said.
* I checked with the Pritzker folks and they confirmed that no one from the group had applied for a job or had been interviewed about a job with the campaign.
* Last year it was President Obama endorsing Juliana Stratton over Rep. Ken Dunkin. This year it’s Keith Ellison. From a press release…
U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, who also serves as the Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee attended the campaign launch of Dilara Sayeed, candidate for State Representative of the 5th District.
Sayeed is running for the 5th District seat to be vacated by Lieutenant Governor candidate Juliana Stratton. Sayeed is a community leader and former Chief Education Officer of the Golden Apple Foundation. She would be the first Muslim to be elected to the Illinois state legislature, and only the third in the country.
“You need to have state legislators willing to stand up for public education, to stand up for key issues,” Ellison said. “We’ve got to have state legislators who can be unrelenting and not back down. Dilara is stepping into [this work]. Step into it with her, because you are rolling with the right person.“
Ellison praised her efforts. “She’s reaching out to people, to communities, and we have to be there. Not for her sake, but for all of ours. Dilara, I’m very proud of you.”
“I’m blessed to be able to call Congressman Keith Ellison my friend,” Sayeed said.
Sayeed’s campaign is off to a fast start, raising $50,000 in two weeks from over 60 contributors.
“She’s the real deal,” said Reverend Leslie Sanders, senior pastor of Hope Presbyterian Church. “She has the knowledge, the political skills, and what matters most is that she cares.”
Pastor Joaquin Barry led the guests in prayer. He called on the community to work together and asked for God’s Grace to carve a path to victory.
The campaign launch was held at Sunshine Enterprises, a community incubator in the district that trains and equips local entrepreneurs. One of Sayeed’s key campaign issues is a focus on bringing business and economic revitalization to communities and supporting talent in the 5th District.
“One of the platforms of our campaign is that we shouldn’t call it the American Dream, it should be the American Promise,” Sayeed said. “If people work hard, if we try and are persistent, and if we follow the rules - then we should be able to build a life. My husband and I have been fortunate to build a life…and my career has been about being a bridge so that others can build that life too.
50 grand? Not bad. She may need it. Tregg Duerson, the son of the late Chicago Bears great Dave Duerson, has loaned his campaign $51,000 so far.
The economic lifeblood of this rural whiz-by of a town is frozen French fries. And bacon. And fabricated steel, ethanol, hydroponic tomatoes, the production of passenger cars for METRA.
About 16,000 freight cars roll through each year, picking up and delivering grain and other goods. Soon, boutique whiskey distilled in a onetime downtown theater will also be added to the local gross domestic product.
And just maybe, someday in the not too distant future gleaming new Toyotas and Mazdas could come rolling off a production line that Illinois hopes will be built on what is now 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans.
Tiny Rochelle, 80 miles west of Chicago at the intersection of Interstates 88 and 39, is on an industrial roll, blissfully ignoring a common narrative among political and business elites that economically maligned Illinois is circling the toilet bowl. […]
Jason Anderson, who heads Rochelle’s business development agency, says the supposed bad rep of Illinois hasn’t hobbled recruitment efforts a bit.
“No one we’ve dealt with has ever brought that up,” said Jason Anderson, who leads the Greater Rochelle Economic Development Corporation (GREDCO), which has attracted companies like Nippon Sharyo, Boise Cascade, Tyson Foods, and Hormel. The town is also home to a 1,200 acre intermodal rail park run by Union Pacific, a shipping point that often sends goods to the Pacific Rim.
Establishment Republicans are getting squeezed to death from within. In what should be nirvana — all-party control of Washington — they instead are jammed daily between a president who routinely ridicules them for ineptitude — and Steve Bannon, who’s recruiting hardliners to extinguish their very existence.
Why this matters: The Breitbart News chairman and former White House chief strategist is building a nationwide coalition that — in the words of a former Trump White House official — could “wreak havoc” across the map “if Bannon is even halfways successful.” […]
Bannon is also exploring gubernatorial and House races.
As Bannon told Fox’s Sean Hannity this week: “Nobody’s safe. We’re coming after all of them.”
One can’t help but wonder whether any disaffected Republicans in Illinois have reached out to him yet.
CME Group Inc. has a message for Illinois legislators who see the $47 billion global derivatives trading giant as a piggy bank to help solve the state’s fiscal woes.
Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy said that the exchange is less rooted in its historical home of Chicago because it now barely relies on face-to-face dealing in trading pits. CME has no plans to leave the city, he said in an interview Tuesday.
“If you were to whiteboard it today, you probably wouldn’t pick Chicago, and it’s nothing against the city,” he said. “We’re here for legacy reasons, and now that we are here for legacy reasons, it makes complete sense” to stay.
Just last year, politicians went searching for new revenue to fix a budget crisis, with some floating the idea of taxing trades on CME’s exchange. It wasn’t adopted. […]
Enough lawmakers in Illinois — which has the lowest credit rating of any U.S. state — get that taxing CME isn’t the solution, he said. And those who don’t should remember the company isn’t tied down: It’s pared back real estate holdings in the area and the shift to electronic trading means CME could move anywhere. The exchange, more than ever, is a virtual operation currently based in a data center in Aurora, Illinois, just outside Chicago.
The whole interview is worth a read, so click here.
Today, the JB Pritzker campaign released a new TV ad, “Commitment.” The ad shows Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White talking about his support for JB for governor.
“JB has spent his life standing up for what’s right, fighting against discrimination, working for criminal justice reform, and being a national leader for early childhood education,” said Secretary of State Jesse White in the ad. “JB’s the one I trust for governor.”
“I’ve known Jesse for more than a quarter century, and I count myself among the many he inspires,” said JB Pritzker. “Together, we’re going to fight to put Springfield back on the side of working families and get Illinois children the education they deserve. Jesse White is the very definition of a public servant and I am so proud to have standing with me in this campaign.”
The governor worked to cut through decades of delay and gridlock to sign a compromise bill that results in record levels of public education funding, a first of its kind tax credit scholarship program for low income students, and more funding for school districts that need it most.
Improving education was a major reason why Bruce ran for governor. Years before running for governor, Bruce and his wife, Diana, had spent years working to improving education in Illinois schools by supporting early childhood development, charter and choice schools, better teacher training and merit pay.
Now, Bruce is fighting for reform throughout Illinois, working to clean up the mess the Madigan Machine created, one step at a time. It won’t be easy, but Illinois is home — and home is worth fighting for.
*** UPDATE *** Galia Slayen at the Pritzker campaign…
According to Bruce Rauner, Illinois is a pile of dirty socks and pizza and he is the parent cleaning up after Illinois families. We get that it’s hard to run a campaign without accomplishments, but it’s generally best not to both lie and insult voters in a single ad. The truth is, Bruce Rauner pitted communities against each other, vetoed the school funding formula, and then forced other leaders to clean up his mess
