* If you happen to be watching today’s Bears game, you may have just seen a new ad featuring Bruce Rauner and Mike Ditka. From a press release…
Bruce Rauner just launched a new television advertisement and digital campaign featuring Mike Ditka.
Visit www.DitkaTough.com to watch the ad and learn more.
The spot aired moments ago during the Chicago Bears regular season opener against the Buffalo Bills.
* If you weren’t watching, or were channel surfing during the commercial break, here it is…
That’s one of the best Ditka ads I’ve seen in a long while.
I’ll open comments on Monday.
* Crain’s ran a story not long ago about Ditka’s broad appeal…
Seventy-one percent of sports fans in the United States know who Mike Ditka is, according to New York-based Q Scores Co., which polls 2,000 fans ages 13 to 64 nationwide every six months. That makes him the second-most-recognizable sports figure with strong Chicago ties, behind only Michael Jordan (87 percent) and more prominent than Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (68 percent), former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher (62 percent) and Bulls guard Derrick Rose (61 percent). […]
Mr. Ditka’s agent, Steve Mandell, declines to say how much his client pulls in, but industry experts peg his annual take at $2 million to $3 million. Messrs. Jordan and Rose likely are the only Chicago sports personalities who earn more each year from product deals. In the 32 years since he became the Bears’ head coach, Mr. Ditka, 74, has made far more than he earned playing or coaching and still commands up to $250,000 per national brand endorsement, according to media buyers who have worked with him. […]
Mr. Ditka’s reputation as a hard-nosed, working-class American also stretches across generations, says Stormy Simon, co-president of Salt Lake City-based Overstock.com, which used him and former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon in a series of ads in December. The coach, her research showed, even connected with kids born after Mr. Ditka’s coaching career ended.
“They didn’t know his success from football. They knew him as ‘Juice Box,’ “ she says, a reference to his character in the 2005 movie “Kicking & Screaming.” “He’s just this guy who keeps himself relevant in various ways.”
…Adding… Pearson…
Ditka, who has licensed his name for clothing, wine, Bloody Mary mix and sausages, was not paid for the spot, Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf said in an email.
…Adding More… From a Democratic strategist…
I can’t recall the last time I saw polling for Ditka, but I guarantee you he isn’t a strong mover with independent women in the suburbs. It’s a dumb strategy, just like most of the TV spending in that race.
…Adding Even More… The Sun-Times points out that Ditka can’t vote for Rauner because he’s been registered to vote in Florida since 2000. But…
Rauner campaign spokesman Mike Schrimpf told Early & Often that Ditka’s voting credentials shouldn’t be issue now since they weren’t four years ago – when Ditka endorsed Quinn over Republican Bill Brady and appeared in an ad for the Democratic governor.
“Pat Quinn certainly thought he was qualified in 2010,” Schrimpf said. […]
Quinn’s campaign publicly sidestepped slamming the revered former Bears coach for not being registered to vote in Illinois and endorsing Rauner.
“Only a billionaire with a $140,000 wine club membership could afford to run such expensive ads during the Bears game,” Quinn campaign spokeswoman Izabela Miltko said in a prepared statement.
“Not to mention, if Mr. Rauner is such a Bears fan, why’s he a part owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers?” she said.
The 2010 Ditka endorsement of Quinn is here.
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* In case you’re keeping track, today’s $2 million contribution brings the Republican Governors Association’s tally to $6 million since the GOP primary.
* And, of course, the DGA was out with a quick response…
Money speaks for money and now that billionaire Bruce Rauner’s plans to eliminate the minimum wage are out-of-the-bag, it’s time to circle the wagons, and the wine casks. The people of Illinois are seeing through Rauner’s phony “everyman” act and no amount of money will hide the fact that his policies favor the super-rich at the expense of working families.
…Adding… More Friday news…
…Adding More…. That A-1 Rauner filed today included a $1.5 million contribution to himself.
…Adding Still More… Just two weeks ago, Rauner’s campaign was pushing about 500 ratings points a week in Chicago. I’m told by one source that he’s now up to 1,596 points in the city, but told by another that it’s more than that.
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Reader comments closed for the weekend
Friday, Sep 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Instead of a song today, do yourself a favor and listen to Amanda Vinicky’s “extended version” of her story on Arenzville’s Burgoo festival. I know that might not sound like much, but it’s fine story-telling.
So, click here and, again, scroll down for the extended version. You’ll probably never hear it on the radio.
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* Like I wrote earlier today, both parties do this because it works. And in this case, she has a valid point about using taxpayer funds…
Congressman Bill Foster used thousands of taxpayer dollars to deliver a mailing to his constituents that is a complete misrepresentation. Foster described how unfair it is that some millionaires pay lower tax rates than middle class families. What Congressman Foster failed to disclose was that as one of the 50 wealthiest members of a Congress and a multimillionaire, he paid no taxes in 2011 and when he did pay taxes, he paid a lower rate than most middle class families.
Foster has routinely supported higher taxes on Illinois citizens while refusing to pay his own. It is quite literally the height of hypocrisy.
Foster’s taxpayer-paid mailing blares: “When millionaires can pay a lower tax rate than middle class families, it’s bad for our economy, and it’s just plain wrong.”
Darlene Senger, a single mom and Republican candidate for Congress, said Foster’s misrepresentations are insulting and his use of taxpayer dollars to deceive his own constituents is beyond the pale.
“For one year, Bill Foster paid no income taxes and when he did, even as a multimillionaire, he paid less than middle class Illinois families. And now, he is using taxpayer dollars to denounce the same practice he engaged in without disclosing the facts to his constituents,” said Senger. “The simple truth is Bill Foster is being deeply disingenuous and the voters of the 11th Congressional District deserve better than a taxpayer-funded mail piece littered with misrepresentations.”
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Have we hit bottom yet?
Friday, Sep 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Earlier this week, a guy working for Bruce Rauner tried to interest me in running a story on Gov. Pat Quinn’s “minimum wage challenge.” Quinn did a fly drive-around this week to promote the challenge, so the Rauner guy wanted to point out that lots of campaign dollars were being spent on the show and wondered why it didn’t factor into his minimum wage spending limit?
I said that was kinda silly. The challenge is mainly about food and other small expenses. Totally symbolic, of course, but bringing up that other stuff just seemed juvenile.
* But the Quinn campaign just made the same sort of argument…
How Many Cases of Wine Can Bruce Rauner Fit In His “Trashcan” Suburban?
CHICAGO - Bruce Rauner was seen stepping out of what appears to be a 2015 LS Model Chevrolet Suburban, despite claiming that he drives a 1990s “trashcan van” in his latest ad.
Here’s the video.
A 2015 LS Suburban has a maximum cargo volume of 121.1 cubic feet.
A case of wine usually has a width of 10 inches, a length of 12 inches, and a height of 12 inches, which had us wondering…
How many cases of wine can fit in Bruce Rauner’s “trashcan” Suburban?
Volume of a 2015 LS Suburban:
121.1 cubic feet = 209, 260.8 cubic inches
Volume of a case of wine:
10 x 12 x 12 = 1,440 cubic inches
209,260.8 / 1,440 = 145.32
That’s right. Bruce Rauner can fit about 145 cases of wine in his Suburban.
Oh, for crying out loud. What does being driven to an event have to do with his beat up old van?
Man, I’m glad it’s Friday.
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Meetings held, no progress yet reported
Friday, Sep 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Republicans weren’t invited to these meetings, but Sen. Andy Manar’s education funding formula overhaul legislation was the object of several summertime discussions in the House…
A number of top Democratic House lawmakers have been quietly meeting to discuss a proposed overhaul of Illinois’ dated school funding formula, which, if approved, would direct more state money to poorer rural districts at the expense of wealthier suburban districts.
Members of the group told The Associated Press the meetings came at the behest of House Speaker Michael Madigan, whose chamber declined to take up the issue last spring despite its passage by the Senate and widespread calls for the first revamp of the formula in nearly two decades.
“With the specter of additional dollars going away, and that’s a very, very real specter, there has to be a way to allocate money to the districts most in need,” said Rep. Frank Mautino, Madigan’s point person on budget issues. “We have to have something in place to make sure the districts with the highest poverty and least available wealth don’t fold.” […]
Steve Brown, Madigan’s spokesman, said the speaker has not been directly involved but planned to “rely on their work product as it comes along going forward.”
Mautino, whose office is in the same suite as the speaker’s at the capitol, noted that a number of financial issues will play into the school funding formula debate, including whether lawmakers vote to extend the temporary tax hike and the fate of a judicial challenge to the state’s pension crisis solution.
“Nothing exists in a vacuum,” he said.
The reform’s concept is quite good. Base funding on poverty levels. But the practical political problems with this reform are obvious. Some districts are gonna lose state money, so it has to be a very, very gradual transition because there’s no extra money lying around to ween the “losers” off and boost funding for poorer districts.
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* After showing Democrats like Pat Quinn and Mike Frerichs closing the gap in recent days, We Ask America is showing the opposite happening in the US Senate race…
State Sen. Jim Oberweis trails three-term U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin by 10 percentage points in a new Reboot Illinois poll.
Oberweis, a Sugar Grove Republican best known statewide by the family dairy company that bears his name, had trailed Durbin by 13 and 15 points in Reboot Illinois polls on June 12 and July 30. An Aug. 27 poll by the Chicago Sun-Times’ Early & Often political portal, also conducted by We Ask America, found Oberweis trailing Durbin by 7.3 percentage points, 47.8 percent to Oberweis’ 40.5 percent.
The Reboot Illinois poll, conducted by We Ask America on Sept. 4, is based on automated phone calls with a random sample of 1,014 likely Illinois voters statewide, including 28 percent of responses from cell phone contacts. It has a margin of error of +/-3.08 percentage points and party split of 38 percent Democrats, 26 percent Republicans and 36 percent independents.
“After conducting three U.S. Senate polls in 10 days, the results have varied from a 7-point to a 10-point lead for Democrat Dick Durbin,” said Gregg Durham, chief operating officer of We Ask America. “While these recent polls show gains in favor of challenger Republican Jim Oberweis, there is still a lot of time left for game-changing movement.”
Sen. Durbin did himself no favors by refusing to release his own poll results the other day.
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The attacks may be working
Friday, Sep 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* ABC7 Chicago, January 8, 2014…
“Anyone who wants to see more people going back to work should support lowering the minimum wage,” John Tilman, Illinois Policy Institute, said.
* Now, compare that tone to ABC7 Chicago’s report yesterday…
At the Conservative Illinois Policy Institute to which Rauner is a major contributor, Ted Dabrowski said raising the minimum wage does not address the state’s real problem.
“What’s the best way to help those who can’t get jobs? And what’s the best way to create jobs rather than be talking about the minimum wage per se?” Dabrowski said.
…Adding… From John Tillman…
Hi, Rich,
Hope you had a good summer. To be clear, our position has not changed on min wage. The more recent comments were in context of Rauner’s blueprint release, not an alteration of our position.
See link for our position - same as it has always been.
http://www.illinoispolicy.org/analysis-of-gop-gubernatorial-candidate-bruce-rauners-bring-back-blueprint/
John
I never said the position changed, just the tone.
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Our collective inferiority complex
Friday, Sep 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
“It’s so Illinois.”
The tweet picking up steam on the Internet Friday morning was not alluding to the state’s prairie farmlands, Chicago sports teams or even hot dogs without ketchup.
Instead, Illinois immediately popped into one scholar’s mind when asked to reflect on the corruption revealed during the scandalous trial of former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, who were found guilty of numerous offenses Thursday.
* The quote…
“I think Jefferson would be appalled that in his own commonwealth, this guy could be gifted a Ferrari [ride]. It’s so Illinois or Louisiana,” said Clay Jenkinson, a renowned humanities scholar and expert on Thomas Jefferson who hosts a radio show called “The Thomas Jefferson Hour.”
* I searched Twitter for the phrase “It’s so Illinois” and came up with 17 hits as of this writing.
Yep, 17. But that warrants a story in the Trib.
Besides, who cares what some guy in Virginia says? StateIntegrity.org gives Virginia an “F” for risk of corruption. Illinois got a “C.”
So, bite us, dude.
…Adding… Not to mention, we haven’t had an Illinois governor as thoroughly and openly corrupt as Virginia’s McDonnell since Gov. Small in the 1920s. McDonnell was absolutely brazen. He made Rod Blagojevich look like a statesman.
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* From the Bruce Rauner campaign earlier this morning…
Day 8: No Quinn Response on Illegal Hires
It’s been more than a week since Pat Quinn began dodging questions about dozens of illegally hired patronage cronies who remain in state jobs. These are the same illegal hires that denied hard-working Illinoisans – especially our veterans – the opportunity to compete for state jobs.
Who is Pat Quinn protecting? Why are dozens of illegally hired cronies still working in the Quinn administration?
* The campaign also pointed to this News-Gazette editorial…
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner has challenged Quinn’s enthusiasm for correcting the abuses that occurred during his tenure as well as that of his predecessor Rod Blagojevich. Rauner says “dozens” who were hired illegally remain on the IDOT payroll in contravention of Quinn’s order to clean house, suggesting that those with more clout were protected while those with less were sacrificed for public relations purposes. […]
Gov. Quinn has admitted that what occurred on his watch was inappropriate and pledged to put an end to the wrongdoing. If he does not follow through on his promise [to clean house], the damage to his credibility will be significant.
* The governor was pressed again on the matter today…
Obviously, he knows there are still “tainted” folks on the IDOT payroll. It’s a dodge, but it buys him some time.
*** UPDATE *** Rauner campaign…
Quinn Doesn’t Deny Illegal Hires Still at IDOT
“While Pat Quinn is unwilling to fire his illegal patronage hires, Illinois voters will get a chance to fire Pat Quinn in November.” – Rauner spokesperson Mike Schrimpf
Earlier this morning, Pat Quinn was confronted about dozens of illegally hired patronage cronies who remain in state jobs. Despite dancing around a series of questions, Quinn never denied the facts. Instead, he said he would ask his new transportation secretary to “review it.”
Review it? Pat Quinn told the people of Illinois he had already reviewed it and led the people of Illinois to believe that he took decisive action.
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On wine, wealth and bipartisan bashing
Friday, Sep 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Eric Zorn…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign is arguing this week that his Republican challenger Bruce Rauner’s membership in an exclusive California wine club is evidence that Rauner is “out of touch” with “hardworking Illinois families.”
I disagree.
I think it’s evidence that Rauner is out of touch with reality.
Zorn then goes on to describe several studies which had similar results. For instance…
A French experimenter asked more than 50 wine experts to evaluate and compare a glass of red wine and a glass of white wine in 2001. None noticed that the “red” wine was just the white wine with few dots of food coloring in it.
Conclusion…
Of course some wines are objectively better than others — smoother, more flavorful and so on.
But the correlation between price and quality is so demonstrably weak that you have to question the judgment of anyone, no matter how rich, who spends tens of thousands of dollars and more on the liquid equivalent of astrological forecasts.
* John Kass addresses it as well…
Lately, Quinn has been slamming Rauner for paying six figures to belong to a fancy wine club. What Quinn deftly forgets to mention is that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat, was in that revealing photo toting Rauner’s bottle of pricey wine.
His conclusion…
A guy that rich can’t be bought. And Illinois is drowning in the backwash of big government sins. If something isn’t done soon to cut spending, we’ll all be on a raft floating toward Texas.
So is Rauner too wealthy to be governor?
I’d say no.
Except Rauner keeps saying he wants to increase spending by billions on education, infrastructure, IDNR, etc.
* CNBC’s Robert Frank writes about the wine club, as well as other races around the country featuring wealthy candidates…
The new scarlet letter in politics is “R”—as in “Rich.”
From Hillary Clinton to congressional, gubernatorial and state-legislature candidates around the country, wealthy candidates are getting pummeled on the campaign trail because of their large fortunes. Once seen as symbols of the American dream, today’s wealthy candidates are trying desperately (and often awkwardly) to deny their wealth and appear as middle class, everyday Americans. […]
Even before the current election cycle, millionaire candidates weren’t faring well. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 263 millionaire candidates who put at least $500,000 of their own money into their campaigns have run for congressional office since 2002. But 84 percent of them lost.
In 2012, of the 48 millionaire self-funded candidates who ran for congressional office, only 12 won.
As the Center for Responsive Politics said, “Though they don’t lack for money, self-funded candidates typically lose at the polls.”
* Rauner is clearly a different breed of rich candidate. But you can plainly see how effective this attack is by simply looking at what the Republicans have been doing to Hillary Clinton over the past few months.
John Kass engaged in it himself not long ago…
Hillary stands for people who are “dead broke” but also have multiple homes.
She bragged about it to a purring Diane Sawyer of ABC News, saying she really knows what it’s like to struggle. It happened when her husband, former President Bill Clinton, left the White House.
Will someone have the decency to please cue the sad violin as Hillary recounts the ordeal of the multiple homes?
And remember, Democrat Brad Schneider was hit in a recent radio ad for being one of the wealthiest members of Congress. Also, Dick Durbin has been repeatedly derided as a “millionaire” by none other than his millionaire opponent.
The issue is used by both sides because it works. Plain and simple. Ergo Rauner’s efforts to highlight his $18 watch, Carhartt jacket and beat up old van.
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Poll: Cross down to single digits
Friday, Sep 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* It looks like suburban Cook and Chicago are reverting to form. As we saw earlier this week, Gov. Pat Quinn is now slightly ahead in suburban Cook in a We Ask America poll, the first time that’s happened all year.
And a new We Ask America poll also shows significant tightening in the state treasurer’s race. Rep. Tom Cross’ lead has slipped from 21 11 down to just six points. He’s now leading 43-37.
The sample was more Democratic than the firm’s recent Quinn poll, which could account for some of the slippage. Cross did around as well in the new poll as in the July poll with Downstate and collar county voters. The real changes are in Chicago and Cook…
* Chicago, July: Frerichs 52, Cross 25, Undecided 23
* Chicago, September: Frerichs 57, Cross 17, Skopek 4, Undecided 22
* Suburban Cook, July: Cross 45, Frerichs 34, Undecided 20
* Suburban Cook, September: Frerichs 44, Cross 36, Skopek 5, Undecided 15
Most of those Chicago undecideds will break toward Frerichs, and so will a substantial amount of the suburban Cook vote.
So, Frerichs is likely in the hunt, and that million dollars he’s planning to spend on TV won’t hurt at all.
* Meanwhile, Tom Kacich had a fascinating angle on the endorsement of Cross by the Illinois Chamber this week…
Cross, a state representative and the former leader of the Illinois House Republicans, Thursday renewed his pledge as treasurer to prepare a quarterly report on the state’s financial condition, to establish a government integrity unit in his office and to require the Legislature to pass a balanced budget. If it doesn’t, he said he would file a lawsuit.
“We’re in unprecedented times. We’ve seen from a financial standpoint a state that’s close to collapse and I think we need to use these offices in nontraditional ways,” Cross said.
He said he wouldn’t hesitate to file suit if a Republican Legislature passed or a Republican governor signed a budget that was out of balance. He declined to comment on whether he thought Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner’s budget proposal was balanced.
Emphasis added for obvious reasons. No way could Cross back up Rauner’s numbers without losing all credibility.
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* Natasha Korecki…
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner, under the gun this week for admitting he belongs to an exclusive wine club that costs upward of $100,000 to join after portraying himself as the frugal $18 watch wearer, had a new everyday Joe ad teed up.
In this one, Rauner talks about his “trashcan van,” which he says he’s owned for 20 years — with “almost 200,000 miles.”
“I’ll live in Springfield, sell that state plane and drive my van to work because the Capital needs a good trash can,” Rauner says in the ad, chiding Gov. Pat Quinn for using a state plane to fly to Springfield.
* The ad…
* DGA response…
This is from the phony with a $100,000 extra parking spot. The ad is as insulting as it is incredulous. Voters beware.
*** UPDATE *** Quinn campaign…
“Mr. Rauner’s attempt to deceive voters into not thinking that he’s an out of touch billionaire with 9 homes and a $140,000+ wine club membership is offensive. But it’s not as offensive as the fact that his policies always benefit the very wealthy at the expense of the rest of us, whether it’s his heartless belief that the minimum wage should be eliminated or his plan to tax consumption of food and medicine. We don’t think voters will be fooled.”
Food and medicine taxes? A new front against Rauner appears to be opening.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The Rauner campaign responds to the food and medicine tax allegation…
This is a lie. Bruce’s growth plan only modernizes how we treat services - not goods like food and medicine. And in fact, Bruce explicitly said that he would exempt “medical services” and “day-to-day items like Laundromats, day care centers, barber shops and animal care.”
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Take that, Hoosiers!
Friday, Sep 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the US Appellate Court’s unanimous opinion yesterday that Indiana’s and Wisconsin’s gay marriage bans are unconstitutional…
Indiana has thus invented an insidious form of discrimination: favoring first cousins, provided they are not of the same sex, over homosexuals. Elderly first cousins are permitted to marry because they can’t produce children; homosexuals are forbidden to marry because they can’t produce children. The state’s argument that a marriage of first cousins who are past child-bearing age provides a “model [of] family life for younger, potentially procreative men and women” is impossible to take seriously.
At oral argument the state‘s lawyer was asked whether “Indiana’s law is about successfully raising children,” and since “you agree same-sex couples can successfully raise children, why shouldn’t the ban be lifted as to them?” The lawyer answered that “the assumption is that with opposite-sex couples there is very little thought given during the sexual act, sometimes, to whether babies may be a consequence.” In other words, Indiana’s government thinks that straight couples tend to be sexually irresponsible, producing unwanted children by the carload, and so must be pressured (in the form of governmental encouragement of marriage through a combination of sticks and carrots) to marry, but that gay couples, unable as they are to produce children wanted or unwanted, are model parents—model citizens really—so have no need for marriage. Heterosexuals get drunk and pregnant, producing unwanted children; their reward is to be allowed to marry. Homosexual couples do not produce unwanted children; their reward is to be denied the right to marry. Go figure.
Oof.
Judge Richard Posner wrote the opinion, naturally.
* By the way, Gov. Pat Quinn weighed in on the decision yesterday…
“This ruling is another victory for all people of our great country.
“In Illinois, we do not discriminate when it comes to love and marriage. Since the marriage equality went into effect in our state in June, couples across the Land of Lincoln have been able to marry freely and equally.
“We won’t stop until everyone in America has those same rights and protections under law. We set a model for the country in Illinois and now Wisconsin and Indiana will become the 20th and 21st states to enact marriage equality.
“Our country was founded on the desire to embrace all people and today is another step forward.”
* As did Equality Illinois…
The unanimous U.S. Court of Appeals ruling today in Chicago for the freedom to marry was a clarion call for Midwestern political leaders including Bruce Rauner of Illinois to end their stubborn opposition to marriage equality.
Equality Illinois demands that Bruce Rauner, the Republican nominee for governor, apologize for his pledge to repeal marriage rights and declare that he supports full marriage equality for same-sex couples.
“Bruce Rauner cannot hide behind his ‘no social agenda’ rhetoric when he has said clearly on the record that he would have vetoed the Illinois Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act had he been governor,” said Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois, the state’s oldest and largest civil rights organization advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Illinoisans.[…]
“The U.S. Court of Appeals spoke unequivocally in declaring that marriage discrimination hurts families, harms children, and is ultimately unconstitutional. Bruce Rauner’s explanations in defending his opposition to marriage rights are exactly what the court unanimously rejected, and it is both irrational and unconstitutional,” Cherkasov said.
“These political leaders do not have to wait for a further ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court to act. Gov. Pat Quinn and a majority of the Illinois House and Senate understood that when they passed the freedom to marry in Illinois,” said Cherkasov. “If Bruce Rauner doesn’t have the conviction to do what is right for families and children, then he doesn’t have what it takes to be the governor of the Land of Lincoln.”
No response yet from the Rauner camp.
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* During a hearing in Springfield today, Sangamon County Judge John Belz said the pension reform case should be fast-tracked because of the Supreme Court’s decision that government employee health insurance premiums were protected by the state Constitution and couldn’t be raised. Kurt Erickson has details…
Belz told attorneys gathered for a hearing Thursday that the court’s decision in the health insurance case was like “an elephant in the room.”
“I can’t stick my head in sand and act like it isn’t there,” Belz said. […]
“As fast as we can move it along within reason the better,” Belz said.
“This can be wrapped up by the end of this year,” said attorney John Fitzgerald, who represents a group of retired teachers.
…Adding… From We Are One Illinois…
“Our members had an encouraging day in court, and we’re hopeful that this will be resolved soon in our favor. The Kanerva decision confirmed our long held belief that the pension protection clause of the constitution is absolute and without exception.”
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* I really like the visual quality of Bobby Schilling’s new TV ad…
* Script…
Bobby Schilling: “I know these roads—lived here my whole life. I know our people, our places, and our perseverance. I know our struggles—and our successes. This is my home. This is where Christie and I are raising our 10 kids. It’s where I started our family restaurant. I know first-hand how Washington makes it hard for families and workers, and I want to stop it. I’m Bobby Schilling, and I approve this message because I know we’re all on this road together.”
*** UPDATE *** From the Cheri Bustos campaign…
“Bobby Schilling’s first ad is a blatant attempt to hide the ‘Real Bobby Schilling’s’ record of putting the Tea Party first and Illinois middle class families last. In Congress, Schilling voted to protect tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas, to end the Medicare guarantee for seniors and walked out of a public meeting with workers whose jobs were shipped to China. Now he’s making a six figure salary working for one of his campaign contributors helping wealthy Chinese businessmen game the immigration system. If this is what he means by ‘leading by example’ Illinois working families will reject him once again this November.”
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* Cumulus, which owns several Chicago radio stations including WLS, has decided to no longer air a radio ad paid for by the New Prosperity Foundation which targeted Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider. We discussed the group’s two radio ads yesterday. The offending line was this…
Finally, last month, after promising to release his tax returns, Schneider offered the public only a one-page summary that hides his wealth and then barred reporters from obtaining the actual return, like nearly every other member of Congress does.”
* But the Schneider campaign pointed to several media stories like this one…
Both U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-10th) and his Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Robert Dold, have released their 2013 tax returns to the Journal & Topics Newspapers.
So, the ad came down, but you can still listen to it here if you want…
No response yet from the New Prosperity Foundation.
…Adding… From Staci McCabe at the Schneider campaign…
“This false ad goes down as just another example of Republicans willing to say anything to elect their reliable Republican ally Bob Dold.”
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Crossover appeal
Thursday, Sep 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Two new Reboot polls…
* Jesse White leads 61-26-5, with 7 percent undecided
* Lisa Madigan leads 54-30-5, with 7 percent undecided
White’s support among Republicans is 37 percent and he’s getting 55 percent of independents. Madigan is supported by 23 percent of Republicans and 49 percent of independents. Madigan’s opponent doesn’t have the cash to change that dynamic, but isn’t giving up. From a press release…
Republican Attorney General Candidate Paul Schimpf held a press conference [yesterday] and called on Attorney General Lisa Madigan to recuse herself from giving legal advice on all matters involving the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (“NRI”). Madigan has told the media that she doesn’t believe she has a conflict of interest.
“Ms. Madigan’s inability to understand that there is a conflict of interest in this situation calls into question her competence to serve as Attorney General for the State of Illinois,” said Schimpf. “Her belief is contrary to the fundamentals of practicing law as defined by the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.7 on Conflicts of Interest. Ms. Madigan, as Attorney General, was in a position to provide oversight on this program and failed to do so – a fact not in dispute. She is a material witness in the investigation of the failed Neighborhood Recovery Initiative and needs to recuse herself as soon as possible in this matter.”
There’s been little to no coverage of AG Madigan’s role in NRI. She was, indeed, on the board that oversaw the program. A bit more is here.
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Insidery campaign stuff
Thursday, Sep 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Greg Hinz takes a look at Gov. Quinn’s field operation…
Meet Nellie Sires, a “proud resident of Rogers Park since 2004″ — and the field director of Mr. Quinn’s re-election campaign. Over the next two months, her job is to ignore the daily back and forth of the brawl with GOP nominee Bruce Rauner and, using the latest analytics and tracking methods, identify millions of Quinn fans and potential Quinn fans and get them to the polls. […]
Over coffee, she told me that Mr. Quinn hopes to replicate much of the neighbor-on-neighbor style of organizing that Barack Obama used so successfully in 2008 and 2012.
The model depends on first using the state’s database of roughly 7.3 million registered voters and then figuring out which ones are most open to Mr. Quinn’s message.
To do so, the campaign is employing a variety of high and low tech, everything from working closely with Chicago political leaders, especially in African-American wards, and hiring a Chicago- and Washington-based “big data” company, Civis Analytics, which built the Quinn campaign’s model.
* Meanwhile, WBEZ has been running a series of stories about political types who are rarely profiled. From the station’s opposition research piece…
“You don’t win races by just telling people what a wonderful person you are,” said Dennis Gragert, a veteran Democratic opposition researcher based in Chicago.
Gragert and several other opposition researchers say they abide by the rules and ethics of what’s fair game. Most important, they say attacks against a candidate must be verifiably true, and they can’t be too personal or you could face a backlash, like with the hairdresser ad. Every oppo researcher contacted for this story said they had turned down work that required them to dig up information about an opponent they thought was too personal.
All in all, the opposition researchers who spoke with WBEZ say they sleep just fine at night, because all those negative ads actually work, even if voters say they hate them.
Still, even Gragert does betray a moment of empathy.
“Sometimes I think about, if that was me on the other end, would I like that?” he said. “All right, that’s not for me to like, it is - it is reality. It’s not something where you say, well that shouldn’t be the case. That is the case.”
* Voice-over artists…
“When you’re doing voice-over work, it’s almost as though you have no life, when you’re doing political campaigns,” said Wanda Christine Hudson, who has been doing voice-over work for more than four decades.
Wanda Christine - as she’s known professionally - says working campaigns is a lot different than her usual commercial or video game voice-over gigs: Political season means abruptly cancelled lunch plans, sleeping by your phone and voicing ads in the dead of night.
* Pollsters…
“Good pollsters don’t tell a candidate what to say,” McGrath said. “The political graveyard is scattered with failed candidates who try to be something they weren’t. And it’s not in our interest to use a poll to tell somebody to be something they’re not.”
McGrath says voters can sense when candidates are faking it. And dishonesty doesn’t poll very well.
I know you’re busy, but all of the above pieces are worth a full read.
…Adding… A few more stories from Campaigns & Elections…
* Is Twitter ruining young press operatives?: Far too often, operatives are lured into snarky back-and-forth Twitter duels that seem all-important and exciting, but fail the most basic test of campaigns. How does this get me votes? If it doesn’t get you votes, it doesn’t matter.
* Searching through the attack ads: When campaigns deluge television viewers with an inescapable 30-second ad, campaigns usually see a subsequent spike in searches online concerning that message. Research conducted in 2012 found that 64 percent of persuadable voters had used a search engine to fact-check claims made by political candidates.
* 5 essential practices for reaching inboxes
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* From the twitters…
* Rauner campaign response…
“We didn’t know a person’s income level was a qualification for office. Pat Quinn thinks only corrupt career politicians who have screwed up Springfield for decades are qualified to lead our state. The people of Illinois know better than that.” - Rauner spokesperson Mike Schrimpf
* The Question: On a scale of one to four, with four being the best, please rate the Rauner campaign response. Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
survey services
*** UPDATE *** Vallas has walked back his comment…
Later, Vallas sought to clarify his comments, telling the Tribune in an interview that it was not Rauner’s wealth that should disqualify him as governor but that “his wealth informs his policies.”
“Whether it’s his promising to eliminate the minimum wage, or taxing consumption, or slashing funding for public schools, it’s clear who Bruce Rauner benefits in his policies,” Vallas said. “It’s that his wealth and his experiences seem to be driving and seem to be informing his policies.”
“My problem isn’t the wealth, my problem is that his policies are being driven by his wealth and driven by his private business practices. That’s my fundamental problem with Bruce Rauner and the approach he is taking and it’s in stark contrast with what drives Pat Quinn.”
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And here it is again…
Thursday, Sep 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a press release…
The Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, one of the oldest statewide business organizations in the nation, is issuing its first ever endorsement for the office of Treasurer and is backing Republican candidate Tom Cross. Illinois State Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Maisch said Cross’ commitment to balancing the budget and fighting corruption will serve taxpayers and employers well.
“Tom Cross has distinguished himself as a leader in the fight for responsible, accountable government,” said Maisch. “As House Republican Leader, he fought for common sense lawsuit reform, worked to reduce burdensome regulations and vigorously opposed the Quinn income tax increase. Tom Cross is exactly the type of Treasurer we need to protect taxpayers. Cross’ plans to demand a balanced budget, and take on corruption and fraud are among the reasons we took the historic step of endorsing him for Treasurer.”
* But check out the main subject matter of the Mike Frerichs campaign response…
Rep. Tom Cross is the ultimate Springfield insider, voting over the past 20 years with the special interests and against the interests of Illinois families. In return, lobbyists showered Tom Cross with more than $22,000 in free meals in recent years, but those meals were likely cooked and served by minimum wage workers whose income isn’t keeping up with rising costs thanks to Tom Cross who has opposed raising the minimum wage three times.
Now we know that Tom Cross’ closest ally and one of his biggest donors, Bruce Rauner, would abolish the minimum wage altogether if he could. Those are not the values that Mike Frerichs was raised with in Central Illinois or that he will bring to the Treasurer’s office.
The Illinois Chamber of Commerce is part of a group of business interests that are working against raising the minimum wage from $8.25 to $10.00 in Illinois. Rep. Tom Cross has not voted to raise the minimum wage three times in his 20-year Springfield career (2003, 2006, and 2014). If Rep. Cross had his way, the minimum wage in Illinois would still be $5.15 as it was in 2003 when he first voted against raising it.
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* Earlier this morning, we discussed Brian Mackey’s column which contained some quotes from Bruce Rauner about the government’s role in the economy. He made those remarks during a 2011 panel discussion. A labor union source found another Rauner quote from that same panel. The pre-candidate was asked “Could you talk about the increasingly unequal distribution of wealth in this country?” Rauner’s response…
“You know, we can complain about it, we can try to tax more, redistribute income, whatever. Or encourage more unionization, which is, or raise the uh, another standard one, let’s raise the minimum wage.
“Those are all in a lot of ways counter-productive, in my opinion.”
Video…
Like I told you yesterday, prepare to hear more about this issue as the campaign progresses, not less.
The full video is here. The above quote starts around the 1 hour, 28 minute mark. But what the union guy didn’t include was the last part of the quote…
“What it’s really about is education.”
Rauner was arguing that education was important to the knowledge-base economy. He’s right about that part, although I don’t see how cutting state and local revenues will accomplish his goals. But, whatever, the rest of his comment opens him up yet again to claims that he’s a heartless plutocrat.
By the way, Rauner also said there’s “a financial tumor growing” in the nation, caused by public sector unions.
* Meanwhile, apparently the Illinois economy didn’t crash in the late 00’s because the world economy crashed. Nope, it crashed because the state gradually raised its minimum wage…
The minimum wage in Illinois rose four times between 2006 and 2010. Unemployment rates climbed, along with home foreclosures and the number of families living in extreme poverty.
The rest of the column is pretty good, though…
They know that state and federal welfare programs punish workers who move up the pay scale. Federal benefits for housing assistance or food stamps or day care start to drop off once someone is earning about $22,000 a year. Take a promotion, and you’ll lose your child care subsidy. It makes no sense.
The politicians here and in Washington, D.C., know that affordable housing is a scarcity. They know expanding the earned income tax credit to younger workers would put real money into the pockets of the working poor.
They know that reducing mandatory minimum prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and giving businesses more incentives to hire people with criminal records would enable millions of men and women to better care for their families. The Tribune’s Jon Yates recently wrote of a man who didn’t qualify for the Chicago Transit Authority’s ex-offender apprenticeship program because his criminal record wasn’t current enough. Yes. True story.
* And, on a related note, from the twitters…
That’s two, two Illinois ballot issues in one, in case you’re keeping score at home.
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Unclear on the concepts
Thursday, Sep 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WICS TV…
The legislators in charge of the investigation into Gov. Pat Quinn’s anti-violence program say they have not received all the emails they subpoenaed in July.
This morning, the Legislative Audit Commission went to the Department of Central Management Service in Springfield to supervise the search, and to make sure they can get all the information.
But the Governor’s Office told them they cannot access the system because of attorney-client privilege. […]
The Legislative Audit Commission says despite the setback, they will continue to pursue the emails. The federal investigation into the program is also reviewing emails as well.
Actually, no. The Legislative Audit Commission officially said no such thing, and it was a single member, GOP state Rep. David Reis, who went to CMS yesterday…
Rep. David Reis, R-Willow Hill, was not given access to state email systems by officials at the state Department of Central Management Services, who cited state and federal law and security concerns as the basis for their decision.
“The governor’s office and Gov. Quinn himself have repeatedly stated that they want to be open and transparent, and that anyone involved with this failed program should be open and forthcoming,” Reis said in a prepared statement. “What we witnessed today was a denial of my rights as a legislator to review state records. Quinn’s people are not following his own orders.”
Legislators do have some privileged rights, but, as we’ve discussed before, they can’t just break the law…
A CMS spokeswoman confirmed a visit by Reis and an accompanying computer forensic analyst to the agency’s Springfield offices Wednesday that lasted “several minutes” but referred questions to a letter acting CMS Director Simone McNeil sent to Reis on Tuesday.
“As a matter of security and because federal and state laws protect much of the information we possess, we cannot legally grant you or your expert access to our email systems,” McNeil wrote in her letter to him.
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* Brian Mackey in Illinois Issues magazine…
Rauner insists his proposals — including a gradual roll-back of the income tax hike, restrictions on lawsuits and an expansion of the sales tax to include some services — would spur growth in the number of jobs. [Richard Dye, an economist with the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs] says it’s possible for tax policy changes to sometimes — “not generally, but sometimes” — have an effect on jobs. But there are many other factors that more directly affect a state’s employment: “the overall economic condition, the capital stock and education level of the state, the national economy, incentives by other states, and so on,” Dye says. “All things that are beyond the governor’s control.”
So why do candidates claim prowess in job creation? “The advantage to the candidate is that most people don’t read the economics literature,” Dye says. “There is this vague association [between] the time a particular politician is in power and what happens to the economy.” Lubotsky amplifies this point, acknowledging that job claims would be useful to candidates for advertising purposes: “They can’t go out and say, ‘You should vote for me, but honestly, what I do won’t have much of an effect.’ ”
He’s right. Few politicians would make such a statement. But a private citizen might.
Back in 2011, years before he declared his candidacy for governor, Rauner participated in a panel discussion at Dartmouth College on the future of the U.S. economy. After nearly an hour, conversation turned to the risky investor behavior that led to the Great Recession and the federal government’s role in regulating financial markets. Another panelist asked Rauner: “We had a giant financial crisis in which the financial sector caused a huge recession that haunts us to this day … shouldn’t we try and fix some of the problems that created the situation?”
Rauner said the government was making things worse. Then — and this is the key moment — he opined on the nature of large economies: “We’re talking about free markets. Markets are cyclical. Get over it. We’re not going to predict it. We’re not going to stop it. We’re not going to control it. That’s what it is.”
Rauner 2011 acknowledged that economic downturns are inevitable and opined that governments can do nothing to control them. Rauner 2014, however, seeks to blame Quinn for not taking the right steps to address Illinois’ economic woes. Rather than telling voters to “get over it,” he’s attempting to harness their anger to propel him into high office.
Discuss.
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* The DCCC is using clips from the infamous video of Rep. Mike Blost blowing up on the House floor against him. Pretty effective, if you ask me…
* Script…
Bost: These damn bills that come out of here all the damn time…
Announcer: Mike Bost keeps melting down in Springfield
Bost: … you should be ashamed of yourselves. I’m sick of it.
Announcer: Now Bost wants to be in Congress.
Bost: Enough! I feel like somebody trying to be released from Egypt. Let my people go!
Announcer: He’d make Washington … worse.
*** UPDATE *** RNCC response…
Nancy Pelosi’s campaign arm, the DCCC, is up on TV today with a new ad highlighting Mike Bost’s dedicated service to his constituents. As most Southern Illinois families know, Springfield is a disaster and under the Quinn-Madigan machine, folks are suffering. Thankfully, Mike Bost has been a leader in Springfield and has stood up to the Democratic cronies who try to push large tax hikes and bills that are bad for the state through with zero transparency.
Bost said enough is enough. Hopefully the DCCC will continue to run these ads which highlight Bost’s dedication and hard work.
NRCC Statement: “You can tell this TV ad was made by folks in DC who are out-of-touch with what’s really happening in Southern Illinois. While Nancy Pelosi may think Mike Bost’s dedicated service is strange, the families that have continued to vote for him throughout the years appreciate his passion and efforts to keep Pat Quinn’s toxic agenda out of Southern Illinois.” – Katie Prill, NRCC Spokeswoman
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Quinn again dodges the question
Thursday, Sep 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Umm…
Asked if all the [IDOT] employees whose hiring aroused concern had been fired, Quinn insisted he had addressed the matter.
“I acted on that the moment I learned about that,” he said. “I appointed a new secretary of transportation to carry out the rules exactly as they should be.”
That wasn’t even in the ballpark of a straight answer. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of those folks still on the state payroll. The Rauner campaign pounced…
In fact, Quinn has not acted. Dozens of illegal hires still remain in positions at IDOT. And Quinn refuses to explain how his subversion of veterans hiring preferences is any different than Rod Blagojevich’s. […]
”Pat Quinn clearly has no intention of ending illegal patronage inside his administration; he’s just waiting until November to ratchet up the corruption. At a time of record job losses and sky-high veterans unemployment, Pat Quinn cares more about keeping his cronies happy than letting Illinois workers compete for state jobs.” - Rauner campaign spokesperson Mike Schrimpf
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* Just imagine the TV ad this’ll inspire…
In a newly unearthed radio interview, Republican private equity investor Bruce Rauner admitted earlier this year that he once favored the outright elimination of Illinois’ minimum wage. […]
While acknowledging that he once supported an elimination of the minimum wage, Rauner said later in that Jan. 10, 2014, interview on Bloomington-based WJBC-AM that either ending or reducing the state’s minimum wage to the lower national standard, as he advocated during a candidates’ forum in the Quad Cities last December, was ill-advised on his part.
“I have said, on a number of occasions, that we could have a lower minimum wage or no minimum wage as part of increasing Illinois’ competitiveness. I’ve said that many times,”
“It’s a mistake for me to focus on lowering the minimum wage or eliminating it because there are better ways to increase Illinois’ competitiveness,” Rauner said at the time.
Yeah, he claimed his earlier position was a “mistake,” but he said what he said and it’s now fair game.
* I was out with a totally non-political friend last night who makes the minimum wage caring for the developmentally disabled at a central Illinois group home. I received a text from the governor’s campaign about the story and read Rauner’s quote aloud.
It didn’t go over well. At all. The first thing my friend said was, “That’s just great, I’m getting a pay cut.”
* Raw audio. Start listening at about the one-minute point…
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the DGA…
“This is the most revealing moment of Bruce Rauner’s candidacy. Throughout this campaign he has been a master of disguise - veiling his elitist and exploitative philosophies with flannel shirts and a cheap watch. But Rauner can’t hide from his own damning advocacy against real people living from paycheck to paycheck. By supporting the elimination of the minimum wage, Bruce Rauner has distinguished himself as the most dangerous candidate that Illinois’ working families have ever seen.”
From the Quinn campaign…
“We’re not surprised to learn that Republican billionaire Bruce Rauner advocated to eliminate the minimum wage this year.
“This is his real position, the one he’s trying to hide from voters to get elected.
“While Mr. Rauner originally said his comment about cutting the minimum wage was ‘flippant,’ this little-noticed audio clip proves otherwise. This is the real Bruce Rauner and this is what he truly believes.
“Whether he’s dropping $140,000 on a luxury wine membership or pushing to eliminate the minimum wage, Bruce Rauner is the most out-of-touch candidate for Governor in Illinois history.”
No major-party gubernatorial candidate in modern Illinois history has openly advocated for eliminating the minimum wage. Bruce Rauner is an out-of-touch Republican billionaire who got rich at the expense of the rest of us. His plan for Illinois would benefit the very wealthy like him while hurting working people. Bruce Rauner isn’t looking out for us.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Illinois Freedom PAC…
Rauner Again Caught Lying About Minimum Wage Position
Chicago, IL - This morning the Chicago Sun Times reports on billionaire Bruce Rauner’s admission he has advocated for eliminating the minimum wage on multiple occasions. Rauner made the admission during a January 10th radio interview with WBJC and also said he’d advocated for lowering the minimum wage. From today’s Sun Times …
“I have said, on a number of occasions, that we could have a lower minimum wage or no minimum wage as part of increasing Illinois’ competitiveness. I’ve said that many times,” Rauner told WJBC host Scott Laughlin.
However, he told the Chicago Sun Times at the very same time that he’d never called for cutting the minimum wage. From the January Sun Times piece…
“I never said that. I said we should tie the minimum wage in Illinois to the national minimum wage. I didn’t use numbers. I didn’t use $7.25. I didn’t say any of that,” Rauner said.
“Billionaire Bruce Rauner has been exposed once again for his blatant, repeated falsehoods and his disdain for hard working families,” said Neal Waltmire, Communications Director for Illinois Freedom PAC.
Rauner has been caught giving false and misleading statements when it comes to his budget, his outsourcing record, his Cayman Islands accounts, and the clout scandal involving his daughter’s admission to an elite public school.
*** UPDATE 3 *** IFT President Dan Montgomery…
“The more voters learn about the Real Rauner, the less we like,” said Dan Montgomery, President of the IFT and a high school English teacher of nearly 20 years. “The news that Bruce Rauner favors eliminating the minimum wage is appalling and demonstrates how completely out of touch the billionaire is with working families. He talks a good game in his empty TV commercials, but Bruce Rauner owes Illinois voters a real explanation for this extreme position and his fairy tale budget proposal, which would blow an $8-billion dollar hole in the state budget and force larger class sizes and devastating cuts to our public schools. Illinois families deserve better.”
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* Rick Pearson is a state treasure…
Local property taxes have long been among the most unpopular forms of taxation. In 1978, then-Gov. Jim Thompson engineered a nonbinding ballot proposal called the “Thompson proposition” that proposed limits on state and local taxes. It also served as a driver for voter turnout in Thompson’s first re-election campaign, though no action was taken.
Charles Wheeler, a longtime statehouse reporter and professor of public affairs reporting at the University of Illinois at Springfield, questioned whether the lack of details from the Rauner camp on the property tax [freeze] and other issues were part of a “cynical” election strategy.
“I can’t believe they’re as uninformed as these things make them sound. It has to be they’re counting on the rest of us being uninformed and taking this nonsense at face value,” Wheeler said.
“Do they want to freeze the levy, freeze the rate, freeze assessments?” Wheeler asked. “How much money does the state get from property taxes? How much goes to the state? Nothing — not a penny.”
Go read the whole thing. Good, solid stuff.
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Frerichs reserves $1.1 million of TV time
Wednesday, Sep 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* A million dollars doesn’t buy a huge amount of TV time (Rauner is spending over half a mil this week in Chicago alone), but it’s more than Tom Cross has to spend, for sure…
State Sen. Mike Frerichs, D-Champaign, has reserved $1.1 million worth of TV air time in his bid to become Illinois Treasurer, the campaign has confirmed to Early & Often. […]
In June, he closed out the second three months of the year with $1.3 million in his campaign account. By comparison, Cross had about a $500,000 balance for the same period.
“This commanding financial advantage allowed the Frerichs campaign to reserve fall TV time at a significant discount,” a campaign statement reads.
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*** UPDATED x1 *** You gotta be kidding me
Wednesday, Sep 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This is the sort of stupid crud that too often passes for “reform” in DC. Roll Call reports that Congressman Brad Schneider’s new TV ad might be in technical violation of federal election law…
Twenty-one seconds into “Together,” the congressman begins his disclaimer: “I’m Brad Schneider and I approve this message because we’re all in this together, accountable to each other.” But the voiceover is coupled with two shots: one of part of the side of Schneider’s face in a shadow as he drives a car and a second shot of him quickly entering a building through a revolving door and barely showing his face.
According to the Federal Election Commission, disclaimers can be conveyed one of two ways:
A full-screen view of the candidate making the statement (11 CFR 110.11(c)(3)(ii)(A)); or
A “clearly identifiable photographic or similar image of the candidate” that appears during the candidate’s voice-over statement. (11 CFR 110.11(c)(3)(ii)(B)).
This particular ad doesn’t fulfill the first requirement and may not fulfill the second requirement.
The Schneider campaign claims the law was followed. The ad in question is here.
I suppose there are reasons for this particular law, and we have our own weird laws and rules here (particularly regarding petition signatures). But, geez.
* Also, please raise your hand if you believe that the fine folks at Roll Call found this on their own by scrupulously timing this one particular advertisement out of the many hundreds currently running all over the nation?
Anybody?
I’ve become a firm believer in labeling opposition research for what it is. Just about everybody passes it off as “journalism” and I’ve come to believe that’s just flat-out deceptive.
*** UPDATE *** We may now know where that oppo came from…
Brad Schneider has landed himself in hot water for potentially breaking Federal Election Commission rules. Nathan Gonzales with Rothenberg Political Report/Roll Call unpacks the possible violations below.
The issue is with Brad Schneider’s shadowed face during the disclaimer – an ironic blunder given Schneider’s ongoing attempts to hide information about his tax returns and so-called small business experience.
It looks like Brad Schneider has a lot more work to do to introduce himself to the 44% of constituents who haven’t seen him do enough to form an opinion about him.
Emily Davis
Deputy Communications Director
Congressional Leadership Fund
…Adding… Apparently, the reporter did find it on his own. My apologies. I get pitched silly little dingy stuff like this every day.
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* The Libertarian Party’s battle to stay on the ballot isn’t over yet. An attorney affiliated with the Illinois Republican Party has filed a motion for judicial review of the State Board of Elections’ ruling allowing the Libertarians ballot access. You can read the motion by clicking here.
Rauner foe Doug Ibendahl is not amused…
The appeal was filed the day before Rauner told reporters he was “outraged” and “appalled” over multiple reports that Rauner supporters employed openly armed men in an effort to get Libertarian Party petition signers and circulators to recant their previously sworn representations.
.
The Libertarian Party last week filed criminal complaints with the Office of the Cook County State’s Attorney and the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. Governor Pat Quinn has also called for a full investigation.
.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rauner apparently hasn’t lifted a finger to clean up his own house. At his August 28 press conference, Rauner claimed ignorance and pointed all fingers at the Illinois Republican Party – despite the fact that at least one of Rauner’s salaried campaign staffers was working closely with the armed muscle.
.
Now that Rauner’s camp has moved the ballot access fight to Springfield, it will be interesting to see what kind of “ammunition” his muscle employs next.
* The Libertarians don’t have much time left to file a response. We’ll see what happens.
But, as they say, never bring a knife to a gun-fight. And this obviously is one.
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Quinn, Rahm tout minimum wage issue
Wednesday, Sep 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The minimum wage publicity push is just beginning, so get used to it. Expect to hear lots more about it as the weeks click by. Raising the minimum polls sky high and, of course, there’s that non-binding referendum this November which is designed to bolster turnout.
The general rule of thumb I use is that when my commenters start getting sick of discussing an issue, then it’s just barely starting to penetrate into the rest of the state. So, yeah, you’re sick of hearing that Rauner is rich. Well, most people don’t really know that yet. So, they have to keep pounding and pounding until the message finally burns in. Same with the Democrats’ support for the minimum wage. Like I said above, get used to it.
From a press release…
Governor Pat Quinn today will visit with local residents in communities across Illinois to talk about the importance of raising the minimum wage. The Governor will visit local cafes and fast food restaurants in Kankakee, Champaign, Decatur, Peoria, Galesburg and Rock Falls, to visit with workers and talk about their experiences.
The Governor is taking the minimum wage challenge this week, living off $79, the average amount someone working full time on the minimum wage in Illinois earns per week after housing costs, transportation and taxes. This budget will cover Governor Quinn’s food and living expenses from Sunday, Aug. 31 through Saturday, Sept. 6.
“Those who think that this challenge is a gimmick should spend one day in a minimum wage workers’ shoes,” Governor Quinn said. “Over the past few days I’ve only experienced a small taste of what it’s like to live on minimum wage. Our workers are making painful choices every day. I couldn’t even buy my niece a birthday card - can you imagine what it’s like for a family getting by on minimum wage come Christmas time?”
Raising the minimum wage in Illinois is part of the Governor’s commitment to drive economic growth, alleviate poverty and ensure all workers are treated fairly. Governor Quinn has a plan to raise the minimum wage in Illinois to at least $10 an hour. By increasing the Illinois minimum wage to $10 an hour, a half-million Illinois consumers will make an extra $4,800 a year and much of that extra income will be spent at local businesses on food, clothing and furniture, providing a strong boost to the local economy.
Nearly two-thirds of small-business owners support raising the federal minimum wage because they believe it will help the economy and, in turn, enable them to hire more workers, according to a poll conducted by the Small Business Majority. Leaders from large companies such as Costco, Starbucks and Stride Rite also have supported increasing the minimum wage as a way to reduce employee turnover and improve workers’ productivity.
* From the mayor’s office…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel today signed an Executive Order requiring City contractors and subcontractors to pay employees a minimum wage of $13 per hour for contracts advertised after October 1, 2014. The hourly wage will be indexed to inflation and increase proportionally on a yearly basis thereafter.
“A higher minimum wage is essential to putting a financial floor beneath our hard-working families,” Mayor Emanuel said. “With this Executive action, we’ll help ensure that nobody who is contracted to do work with the City of Chicago will ever have to raise their children in poverty.”
The Executive Order is the first step taken by the City to ensure that all employees contracted with the City of Chicago are provided with sufficient wages for a shot at the middle class. It applies to all service contracts, including construction contracts, advertised after October 1, 2014.
“We made the decision long ago to pay our employees a decent wage that enables them to support their families,” said Deborah Sawyer, President and CEO, Environmental Design International. “Raising the minimum wage is not only good for my employees, but helps reduce worker turnover and improves workplace morale – which helps my bottom line as a small business owner.”
Approximately 1,000 contracted employees will benefit from this Executive Order. These workers are typically employed as landscapers, maintenance workers, security officers, concessionaires, and in custodial services.
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Quinn slammed for criticizing “job creators”
Wednesday, Sep 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This is a $100,000 “targeted online buy” from Americans for Prosperity Illinois. Rate it…
…Adding… Script…
The American dream.
Success.
Security.
That’s what Illinois’s governor should want for all of us.
Does Pat Quinn?
He criticizes job creators and business owners for their hard-earned success
He’s raised taxes, increased spending, and hasn’t solved the pension crisis
And while Illinois loses jobs – and paychecks – Pat Quinn’s taken millions in taxpayer dollars as an Illinois elected official
Call Pat Quinn and tell him to focus on helping people get ahead, instead of demonizing those who do.
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Today’s quotable
Wednesday, Sep 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Erickson…
Two years after drawing the ire of downstate voters with his plan to shutter prisons and other state facilities, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is now highlighting those closures in a new television ad. […]
State Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, said the ad shows Quinn is more worried about garnering support in Chicago than in areas south of Interstate 80 where most of the facility closures took place in 2012 and 2013.
He predicted the governor could see a repeat of his 2010 performance when he won just three downstate counties — Jackson, Alexander and St. Clair.
“I’m glad I’m not running this year,” said Forby, who is not up for re-election until 2016.
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Non-denial denial
Wednesday, Sep 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tom Kacich took note of the Politico story claiming that the DCCC was pulling out of the race against Congressman Rodney Davis…
But the DCCC still lists Callis’ campaign in its top-tier “red-to-blue” category and hasn’t canceled any of the TV time it has reserved for Callis, starting later this month.
Asked for a comment on whether the DCCC was yanking its support for Callis, spokesman Brandon Lorenz wrote, “Judge Callis is running a strong campaign talking about her record of reform and holding Congressman Davis accountable for keeping perks like his taxpayer-funded gym during his government shutdown.”
Not really a vote of confidence for Callis.
That’s an understatement.
* Meanwhile, Davis is running his second intro ad, and it’s pretty good…
* Script…
I’m Toryn Davis.
Next year I’ll be a freshman in college.
I’m a little nervous but excited to get away from my brothers.
It’s also a little scary to think about how much college costs.
That’s why I’m so proud of my dad, Rodney Davis.
In Congress, he’s fighting to make college more affordable and working just as hard to create jobs, so we all have a better future.
Even them. (points to her brothers, Clark and Griffin).
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Bo-ring
Wednesday, Sep 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Give his campaign credit for a quick turnaround, I suppose, but Gov. Quinn’s new Web ad doesn’t live up to the hype of this press release…
A new Web ad from the Quinn for Illinois campaign features a recent headline from The Washington Post that, “Bruce Rauner spends more on wine than average Illinois households spend on everything.”
The Post piece follows Rauner’s admission that he had paid the more than $140,000 fee to join an exclusive Napa Valley wine club, where he helped to found the winery. The Post notes that the average Illinois household income is about $55,000.
Watch the new Web ad here.
Rauner has outraged Republicans and Democrats with his disingenuous attempt to misrepresent himself, dressing up in Carhartt jackets and touting an $18 watch.
In fact, the billionaire owns nine homes, paid $100,000 for an extra parking spot at one of his extra homes, and owns 23,000 acres (the size of Naperville) in Wyoming and Montana. He took in $53 million in 2012 alone.
Between bottles, Rauner has proposed cutting the minimum wage.
*No fancy wine was harmed during the filming.
* Man, is this thing ever boring…
I can’t stop yawning.
* National political writers and bloggers jumped all over this story. Bloomberg, WaPo, TPM, USA Today, Politix, MSNBC, Wonkette, etc. all got in on the gag. Yet all we get is a bottle of wine poured into a glass?
C’mon. Y’all can’t do better than this? It’s a Web ad. People won’t watch Web ads unless they’re somehow interesting. This ain’t.
Maybe they should have a glass of wine or two before brainstorming the next one.
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Quinn still has base problems
Wednesday, Sep 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* A new Reboot Illinois/We Ask America poll has Bruce Rauner leading Gov. Pat Quinn by eight and a half points, 45.5-37 with 7 percent going to Libertarian Chad Grimm. That’s down from Rauner’s 14-point lead in late July’s poll. Grimm may be having an impact here.
For the first time in a very long time (if ever) in a We Ask America poll, Quinn is actually leading Rauner in suburban Cook County, albeit by just a half a point, with Grimm taking 5 points. But Quinn is still getting slaughtered among self-identified independents 47-29. Rauner is stomping Quinn 57-32-6 in the collars and 52-24-9 Downstate.
* But the immediate problem for the governor is Democrats…
Compare that to Rauner’s showing with Republicans…
* Another problem he absolutely has to deal with is women…
Men tend to vote Republican, even in this state. If you’re a Democrat, you have to win the female vote. Period.
* From the pollster…
“As I’ve seen in other polls recently, the race for governor is tightening up,” said We Ask America Chief Operating Officer Gregg Durham. “Undoubtedly, the presence of a Libertarian candidate gives voters who aren’t happy with their choices an outlet for their frustration, and it appears to be hurting Rauner more than Quinn. Nearly 12 percent of the self-described independents chose Grimm; a situation that probably won’t last…but where will they end up?”
* Methodology…
This Reboot Illinois copyrighted poll asked respondents, “If the election for governor were held today, would you vote for Democrat Pat Quinn, Republican Bruce Rauner, or Libertarian Chad Grimm?” The poll is based on automated phone calls with a random sample of 1,064 likely Illinois voters statewide. The poll, conducted by We Ask America on Sept 2., 2014, has a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points. 29% of responses are from cell phone contacts.Party split of respondents: 35% Democrats, 27% Republicans, 38% Independents
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JBT maintains strong lead
Wednesday, Sep 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* A new poll from We Ask America has Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka leading Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon by 20 points, 51.4 to 31.5, with the Libertarian Party candidate receiving 8 percent. A July 31st poll had JBT’s lead at 19 points, without including the Libertarian Party candidate.
From Reboot…
The best news for Topinka came in one of the few categories where she trailed Simon, the daughter of Illinois Democratic icon Paul Simon. While Simon led Topinka by nearly 9 points among Chicago voters, Topinka was the choice for 34 percent of respondents in Chicago. A Republican candidate who can win 20 percent of the vote in Chicago has a strong chance of winning statewide.
“Despite the Libertarian candidate’s relatively strong performance, incumbent Republican Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka continues to distance herself from Democrat Sheila Simon,” said Gregg Durham, chief operating officer of We Ask America. “If Topinka’s extraordinary strength in Chicago holds, it will be tough for Simon to close the gap.” […]
The Sept. 2 poll included 29 percent of responses from cell phone contacts and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent. Among respondents to the poll, 35 percent identified themselves as Democrats, 27 percent said they were Republicans and 38 percent said they were independents.
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* More magic ponies…
* Illinois Observer…
Local government finance experts have, however, panned Rauner’s proposal as unworkable and unrealistic because it would hamstring municipalities and school districts alike in their efforts to manage budgets in which routine inflation, for example, drives up costs.
“Mr. Rauner may be financial wizard in private business, but the property tax freeze idea betrays a total lack of awareness of municipal finance,” a suburban Cook County mayor told The Illinois Observer. “It belongs in the category of bizarre pipe dreams.”
Ah, but bizarre pipe dreams sell.
Policy aside, tapping perennial voter frustration over high property taxes and their routine increase is good politics – and a potential windfall for political consultants who would need to persuade voters either way.
*** UPDATE *** Quinn campaign response…
In response to a deceptive new television ad by Republican billionaire Bruce Rauner, who improperly filed for three property tax exemptions, former Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan issued the below statement:
“In his deceptive new television ad, Bruce Rauner fails to mention that the Rauner Tax Plan would blow an $8 billion hole in the state budget and cause localities to enact the biggest property tax hike in Illinois history.
“The cuts in state funding for education made necessary by the Rauner Tax Plan would shift the financial burden for school districts to local property taxes. This would leave no choice but to send property taxes sky high.
“Mr. Rauner should stop deceiving voters.”
In reality, Governor Quinn, who opposes property tax increases, has made the tough decisions to restore fiscal stability to Illinois, putting the state in a position to provide more funding for schools and reduce reliance on property taxes.
Houlihan served as Cook County Assessor from 1997 to 2011 and before that served in the Illinois House of Representatives and as an aide to Chicago Mayor Harold Washington.
While Assessor, Houlihan fought to lower unfair property taxes that hurt families and businesses, instituting a 7% homeowner exemption. These efforts sought to decrease reliance on the property tax to fund education and other important services, a key priority for Governor Quinn as outlined in his 2014 State of the State address.
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* From AFSCME Council 31…
Four years ago, Scott Walker became governor of Wisconsin and launched an all-out assault on public employees. He pushed through legislation stripping state, university and city/county workers of their right to bargain collectively. The impact was immediate and devastating.
Now, billionaire CEO Bruce Rauner is running for Illinois governor and vowing to copy Walker’s extreme agenda. Our neighbors to the north have a personal message about what this would mean for AFSCME members here. Watch this brand-new video to hear directly from public-service workers in Wisconsin
After you’ve watched, here are three steps you can take to help spread the word and make a difference:
In unity,
Roberta Lynch
Executive director
AFSCME Council 31
* The video…
Discuss.
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