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Rate the new cable TV ad

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* As I told subscribers this morning, Illinois Policy Action, which is run by the folks at the Illinois Policy Institute, has a new cable TV ad blasting the proposed progressive tax, calling it a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Rate it…

Subscribers have the specific ad buy data, but it’s about $94K and targeted at specific House districts. The ad is in addition to another ad buy by Americans for Prosperity Illinois which I told you about last week. Both ads target specific rates that have not yet been formally proposed and probably won’t ever be. Also, this idea, as we talked about last week, is pretty much dead.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 9:45 am

Comments

My three month old sneezed and drooled on my arm at this, which is about the nicest thing I can say about it.

It’s a ridiculous attempt to replicate Bush 04’s extremely good wolf ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU4t9O_yFsY

Comment by Will Caskey Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 9:50 am
That is one creepy ad.

Initially, it seems to reek of paranoia — “they’ve got a secret plan . . .”

And then there is the whole “woman at risk” thing of the woman walking alone. The subject is supposed to be a tax, but the message is some woman is going to bitten by wolves?

Overall, an absolutely terrible ad.

Comment by Smoggie Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 9:54 am
If you are a liberal Democrat - you hate it, because it calls into question the integrity of politicians, government and legislators.

If you are a conservative Republican - you hope it will persuade voters to see that politicians, government and legislators have no integrity.

For everyone else - it reminds us that Illinois is broke and looking for anyone with money to take it from. It reminds us that those in Illinois government raised taxes on us in the dark of night, last minute, and in a lame duck session. It reminds us that the guy making the “fair tax” argument is the same guy who orchestrated the last tax heist.

Hey - we all know Illinois is broke. Believing it will be fixed by raising taxes on millionaires has already proven to be incorrect in other states who did it. Calling it fair doesn’t make it fair, just because you trust the party in power deciding who gets screwed - uh, fairly.

It is an effective ad because it uses polling showing that Illinoisans don’t want to pay more taxes for their crappy, corrupted, untrustworthy on taxes, government.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:02 am
Smoggie, I had the same reaction. It felt both sexist and overly sexualized. We’re talking about tax policy, for freak’s sake.

Comment by Commander Norton Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:03 am
With the Madigan proposal of last week sounding the death knell for the fair tax the IPI is sort of wasting their money.

Comment by Great Caesar's Ghost Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:03 am
Standard fare, for AFP, IPI and their ilk.

Lie about what is “proposed” and preempt whatever might actually be proposed with fear. “Death panels” all over again.

There’s not even a grain of truth in the $18K figure, as far as any real proposals are concerned.

It works for those who already are afraid, and blame it on government.

Comment by Walker Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:04 am
It isn’t paranoia in Illinois to believe that our state legislators have a secret plan to raise our taxes - because that is what damn well happened to us, remember?

Geez, some people will trust anyone, even when those people have demonstrated to be completely untrustworthy.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:05 am
I do kind of like the Native American flute at the end.

Comment by Dan Johnson Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:06 am
People who believe the 2011 temporary income tax hike will become permanent must also be paranoid. The words of politicians must always be taken at face value.

Comment by Laissez Faire Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:09 am
Some real “Twilight” fans over there at IPI. Who knew?

Are they talking about a referendum for a Constitutional amendment for a graduated income tax?

Hard to tell, because there’s no sourcing (which would be tough, I guess, since it’s so secret).

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:10 am
@VanillaMan: Geez, some people will trust anyone, even when those people have demonstrated to be completely untrustworthy.

Which exactly describes folks who listen to Koch Brothers fronts (IPI, AFP, etc).

Comment by Reality Check Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:12 am
Setting aside the details of the supposed tax proposal, this ad is still an opportunity to throw a bone to their paranoid anti-government base and maybe grow the membership list a bit. So from an IPI perspective, it’s not a total waste of money. They’ll need an army of pitchfork carriers in the fall, and this is one way to start recruiting.

Comment by Elo Kiddies Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:21 am
=Which exactly describes folks who listen to Koch Brothers fronts (IPI, AFP, etc).=

Let’s compare lying and being untrustworthy from your buddies Mike Madigan and Quinn.

Mike Madigan knew he was going to increase income taxes before the election, and without declaring this in the election he passed it in the lame duck session with a lot of “replacement” House Dems due to “early” retirements of his buddies like Kevin Joyce. He didn’t give the Dem candidates those spots because he didn’t want them to carry the baggage of him voting for it. Sure. I’m going to trust THAT guy regarding only taxing millionaires after he’ll have the power to raise progressive taxes on EVERYONE IN ILLINOIS. What have the Koch’s, AFP and IPI donoe to rival that?

And how about Quinn, during the election, he promised voters that he’d veto any income tax over 33%. He signed one at 67% increase a couple month later. The Koch’s AFP, and IPI haven’t done anything as misleading and dishonest as a that. Tell me what you know about what they’ve done that rivals Quinn’s betrayal.

Seems like its time for your OWN “reality check”!

Comment by Arizona Bob Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:26 am
Looks like Reality has been watching the Harry Reid channel. As Vanilla has clearly pointed out, there is no reason to continue to trust the Illi lie Legislature. And to keep doing it because they have a D after their name is beyond reasoning.

Comment by Fan Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:32 am
Like most Republican and especially conservative messaging in Illinois for the last 323423423 years, they think their audience is a cpac crowd that never misses church when their audience (people that they can persuade) in Illinois is pro choice/independent/efficient but not really smaller government supporting voters. The word tax does not turn these people on, nor does an image of a wolf.

Comment by shore Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:34 am
Votes might not be there right now in the House, but 5 weeks is a lot of time. The actions of AFP/IPI certainly suggest they’re don’t share the “dead” sentiment.

Comment by ChinaTown Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:35 am
@Arizona Bob, welcome to the site. Pay attention and you will learn that to call me a “buddy” of Madigan and Quinn shows only your laughable ignorance.

Next.

Comment by Reality Check Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:37 am
It’s disruptive to the point of inspiring you to watch it. It will come across as overly dramatic to some folks. It will strike a serious tone with others. It remains to see where the “prey” in the middle are. Probably a solid B. As analogies go, it’s not as direct as I’d like and the wolf/sheep theme is a bit cliche. The only problem is that in politics “cliche” always works.

Comment by A guy... Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:40 am
So your paranoid conspiracy isn’t wolf-based, it is Koch-based, right? Uh - “Reality Check”?

And do you really wish to include yourself because you listen to them? How is being open minded, bipartisan or in disagreement somehow untrustworthy in comparison to the state legislators who we know, and they admit, raised our taxes in a surprise lame duck session most voters hated?

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:41 am
“If you are a liberal Democrat - you hate it, because it calls into question the integrity of politicians, government and legislators.”

If one is a *parody* of a “liberal democrat”, one might defend the crooks and losers amongst the elected, but an *actual* liberal democrat has no more time for graft and other dishonesty by the elected than anyone else.

Anyone who thinks that the Daleys, the Berioses, and their ilk are “liberal democrats”, instead of ’21st c. Tamany Hall Dems’ is smoking something that’s still illegal in Illinois.

Comment by Chris Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:49 am
More wasted donor dollars so that these organizations appear to be relevant and donors pretend to be engaged. Next they will be claiming that they stopped another massive tax increase when in reality it was never going to happen in the first place. Geez!

Comment by Here we go... Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 10:50 am
C-…..Not persuasive - never tried to explain the assertion that anyone making $18K would see a tax increase.

Comment by veritas Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 11:14 am
Illinois Policy Institute?

Yeah, right.

They should practice spelling ‘i-n-s-i-g-n-i-f-i-c-a-n-t’ because they are epitomizing it each day.

John

Comment by John Boch Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 11:22 am
Excellent choices in images. Give the ad an A.

“Dancing With Wolves” was one of my all time favorites, and the woman taking a walk in the woods resembles the hacker “Root” portrayed by Amy Acker in the CBS series “Person of Interest”

I’d guess that those who will visit the unfairillinois.com site after viewing this ad have probably already been there a few times. If not, they’re probably trying to figure out unfairillinois donor information.

Comment by Hans Sanity Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 12:07 pm
I just watched the ad again.

I’d lower the grade to B, maybe even B- or C+.

The voice over doesn’t scare anyone and the wolf howl sounds more like the producer asked the narrator to howl.

I guess I was excited because the rest of the ads CapitolFax readers have been asked to rate, with the possible exception of Brady’s dogs and wife kiss, were quite bad.

If you ignore the voice over, the wolves look friendly.

Comment by Hans Sanity Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 12:14 pm
“It reminds us that those in Illinois government raised taxes on us in the dark of night, last minute, and in a lame duck session.”

In the dark of night in full view of all the press in the state and all over the news.

“It isn’t paranoia in Illinois to believe that our state legislators have a secret plan to raise our taxes - because that is what damn well happened to us, remember?”

A “secret plan” in full public view with a candidate than ran and won on increasing taxes. Yes, your paranoia and delusions are misplaced and incorrect.

Comment by Precinct Captain Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 3:29 pm
The wolves do look kind of friendly. The point is probably right, once the door is open to a progressive tax, it’s not just the rich that are going to be hit.

Comment by midway gardens Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 4:07 pm
What I don’t like about the Illinois Policy Institute is they will not reveal who their primary sources of funds are.
“How do you get paid?” is usually one of the first questions I ask anyone trying to sell me something, be it an item or an idea.

Comment by BenAround Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 6:11 pm
Talk about preSUMPtuous in its’ CLAIMS–and that’s just it–claims, NOT facts. Same old blah from the scared Uber Rich Runners of Illinois trying to instill fear and their OWN scare TACtics into the Vast Majority run-of-the-mill Gentry class. Pretty lame–not impressed at all.

Comment by Just The Way It Is One Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 7:29 pm
18k cutoff? Phew, in the clear!

Comment by grad student Monday, Mar 24, 14 @ 9:33 pm