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Rate Bruce Rauner’s new TV ad: “Corruption”

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* From the Rauner campaign…

Bruce Rauner’s campaign launched a new ad today highlighting Pat Quinn’s record of cronyism and corruption.

“Pat Quinn took over for Rod Blagojevich and picked up right where he left off,” Rauner campaign spokesman Mike Schrimpf said. “Quinn doubled Blagojevich’s illegal political hiring program and now Quinn’s at the center of federal criminal investigations by two United States Attorneys.”

* The ad…

* The script…

Voiceover: “One hundred years of corruption and counting.”

Pat Quinn: “We do not need a governor of Illinois who is ethically challenged.”

News Anchor: “A criminal grand jury is investigating Governor Pat Quinn.”

Pat Quinn: “We’ve restored integrity and honesty.”

News Anchor: “The findings come on the heels of Quinn defending himself in another investigation.”

Pat Quinn: “I promised to restore integrity – and we have.”

News Anchor: “Another day, another political scandal for Governor Quinn.”

Voiceover: “First Blagojevich. Now Quinn. Can we afford four more years?”

…Adding… Quinn campaign response…

After billionaire Bruce Rauner’s week of desperation began with a demonstrably false ad accusing people of killing babies, slinked into a witch hunt led by the Rauner forces that did nothing but expose their own political motivations and culminated with a fact-free debate “whiff” in Peoria, Quinn for Illinois Deputy Press Secretary Izabela Miltko had this to say:

“Let’s be clear - there’s only one candidate in this race with a real record of corruption and that’s Republican billionaire Bruce Rauner.

“Time and again, Mr. Rauner’s businesses engaged in bribery, fraud, neglect, abuse and outright corruption under his watch, in his name and for his profit.

“Each and every time, Bruce Rauner cashed out before the wrongdoing was exposed, leaving others to clean up the mess.

“As his record is exposed and the public finds out about the REAL Bruce Rauner, we can only expect more desperation and more money spent to try to buy facts that aren’t there.”

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:39 am

Comments

Why wasn’t this playing all summer?

Bruce Rauner - What’s he thinking?!

Comment by ChrisB Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:42 am
I get that Quinn has a few other ethical issues, such as IDOT hiring. But Sandack’s comment yesterday that NRI wasn’t corruption, just incompetence, kind of throws a wet blanket on these flames. If the usual GOP attack dogs think it’s not a fair allegation…

Comment by Commander Norton Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:44 am
Someone jog my memory, didn’t we already have a 100 Years of Corruption ad or is my mind just mush from all the ads running together?

Comment by Anon Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:46 am
C- says nothing new. I am sure this ad was supposed to have quotes about NRI but they failed to deliver. Too bad Sandack got his line wrong so they couldn’t use that in there.

Nice graphics, though.

Comment by Come on man! Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:46 am
To the Ad,

The music is so loud. It overpowers, and the continual flashing back and forth, got tedious.

I, personally, don’t know if this continuation moves more “undecideds” or if reinforcing the red meat to those you already “have” this Ad will make a difference.

The Rauner Crew confuses me, insofar as “we are less than 30 days out, is this leading to the closing argument?”

If the close for Rauner is to go after Quinn, continually, on corruption, what is the positive close and narrative, given these 15 months of the positive being “I’m not Quinn”

It’s a “C+”, above the Gentleman’s “C”, but the music, the images flashing, and narrative choice, it’s actually “C+”

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:46 am
It’s a pretty good ad but… the DCFS ad is much more attack orientated. Anyway, Rauner now has to convince/ scare people into thinking that Quinn/Madigan are planning more income tax hikes along with more toll increases. If Rauner can convince the voters of that… he’s got a chance.

Comment by Steve Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:47 am
I think we all know by now that Rauner’s real problem with Blago and Quinn is that the graft hasn’t been on a grand enough scale.

Comment by too obvious Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:47 am
man,i missed the centenial, when was it?(old age teachers fund?)

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:47 am
Still seems to me the better argument is incompetence than corruption.

Comment by OneMan Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:48 am
I suspect Sandack’s comment is pretty accurate — and probably is what most voters (and perhaps many GOP) actually think.

Bruce plays the corruption angle heavy, and it’s gonna resonate with voters in the wrong way. It’s just Rauner doing his usual thug-talk. Little substance. Mismanagement? Maybe — but given Rauner’s own substantial track record of mis-managing, it’s not gonna mean much.

Weak — and now ineffective.

Comment by Macbeth Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:49 am
Good ad.

Bad timing. It is going to be hard to not assume after the hearings that there is anything there.

That being said he is referenceing the Criminal investigations and not the LAC hearings.

They do need to drop the 100 year thing it is almost as goofy as Quinns 350 rnds from wednesday.

Comment by Mason born Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:49 am
I hate to say it, but I think this is a very good ad. The most effective corruption ad yet from the Rauner camp. I think ChrisB makes a good point: Rauner should have been playing this ad all summer.

Comment by Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:51 am
Can “we” afford four more years?

Rauner can afford four more ads.

Probably more.

At this point of the campaign Chicago network affiliates crave Rauner more than erectile dysfunction.

Comment by Kasich Walker, Jr. Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:53 am
It plays well in the quad cities where our county board resign amidst corruption allegations, accompanied by the conviction of our democratic sheriff and states attorney, coupled with countless inside attacks of cronyism with the Jacobs and Bustos dynasties. the dont’t call it crook county for nothing and Quinn is considered part of that machine by folks in this area.

Comment by Oracle Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:54 am
Decent ad. Who knows if it will be enough-there was quite the cloud around Blago when he was re-elected in 2006.

Comment by k3 Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:55 am
=== the DCFS ad is much more attack orientated===

That ad is no longer running, and I don’t think it ever ran much anywhere except on the web.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:56 am
I don’t get the 100 years line. It’s forced and confusing.

Can you sell Quinn as a corrupt crime lord to undecideds? I have my doubts.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:59 am
===…the dont’t call it crook county for nothing…===

Hmm.

===… our county board resign amidst corruption allegations, accompanied by the conviction of our democratic sheriff and states attorney, coupled with countless inside attacks of cronyism with…===

Does that make your county, “CorruptRock Island”?

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:59 am
After watching that debate last night…this may be all Rauner can do. Spend and spend more on negative ads as he has little to offer otherwise. Rauner looked out of his league last night and that is not the leadership persona he was attempting (pretending) to present. The cameras don’t lie!

Comment by 2 Cents... Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 9:59 am
Bad ad. Rauner’s pinning 100 years of corruption on Quinn, who hasn’t even been directly implicated in anything.

Rauner loves to accuse others of corruption, almost to a fetish point, but flippantly brushes off the corruption that involved his businesses by saying basically, “Oh well, bad things happen sometimes in big organizations.”

My grade is D, but if it moves voters, then higher.

Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:00 am
Rauner should’ve stuck with the incompetence angle. No one (at least not enough people for Rauner’s sake) thinks Quinn=Blagojevich.

Comment by chi Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:01 am
It strikes me as odd that Rauner is trying so hard to tie Quinn to Blagojevich. He was already under indictment in 2010, and voters still went with Quinn. It seems like these attacks would have been more relevant during that campaign.

At this point, people know that Blago was his own brand of crazy and that Quinn had nothing to do with the sort of behavior that landed people in prison.

Comment by Snucka Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:02 am
desperate, false, desperate….yawn…

Comment by Loop Lady Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:02 am
You know, I really don’t think irony works in these spots. Letting the opponent communicate his own message is way too big of a risk. I get that they’re trying to undermine it, make it seem unbelievable, but the point is way too subtle and the cost is way too high — again, you are letting the opponent put across his message in your spot, on your dime!

Rauner did it before, showing Quinn repeatedly saying “I’m the jobs governor.” Quinn did it in the summer with the spot where he Rauner repeated “I love Illinois.” Now you have Rauner letting Quinn repeat positive message on integrity.

It would seem Quinn learned this strategy is a flop. I hope Rauner never learns.

Comment by Reality Check Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:02 am
One Man is correct. Quinn is nice and sincere but he is extremely incompetent.

Comment by The Colossus of Roads Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:03 am
This ad could hurt Quinn. How much? Who knows.

It’s mostly nonsense, but that’s par for the course.

It has been hard to push him off his “good-guy” pedestal so far. But where’s the tipping point?

General performance of Illinois, and need for change is still Rauner’s primary route to power.

Comment by walker Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:04 am
I think this ad — particularly after a hearing at which even Republicans said there was no corruption — has backfire potential. Quinn can respond to this ad by saying, “Rauner is attacking my character/integrity, and it’s not true. Even Republicans say it’s not true.”

It might be a way for Quinn to regain what he lost in terms of public perception of him as a generally good guy, regardless of performance.

Comment by VM Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:05 am
Also, I see this Ad and think to last night and his “bi-partisan” baloney.

Putting Cullerton and MJM in Ads to make a point on Quinn, who they ignore more often than not, is not going to lead to what Rauner sells as his bi-partisan history, unless cash is involved, and a ROI for Bruce can be great.

Then there’s MJM and Cullerton with Blago too…

Governing is hard when you have good relationship bases…

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:05 am
Didn’t the last ad say it didn’t matter if he was corrupt?

Make up your minds guys.

Comment by hisgirlfriday Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:06 am
It is definitely repetitive, but the point needs to be hammered home.

Quinn has constructed a public persona of a “populist” reformer who works outside of the regular Democratic organization. Of course that is all so much political hypocrisy for those who are familiar with the real Quinn will tell that his most steadfast ally in Chicago is Emil Jones, Sr., who maintained a working relationship with Blagojevich long after other politicians were estranged from him.

Comment by Under Further Review Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:07 am
It is a good attack ad.
I don’t like attack ads.

Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:11 am
Has any research been done about whether people get saturated with ads on a political race?

It feels like once a certain amount of ads get run, the ads start losing ability to make people feel anything but annoyed.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:13 am
If 10% to 15% of Illinois voters are really undecided — how can that be? — and they’re semi-conscious in front of a TV, all Rauner ads have the potential to hurt the Quinn campaign.

At least Rauner provides plenty of material if the Quinn campaign has the dough to fire back.

Comment by Kasich Walker, Jr. Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:16 am
The pro-Quinn interpretation of this ad is that Rauner is implying there’s a scandal but…

Said scandal is:

a. Too complicated to explain
b. Too minor or trivial to upset anyone
c. Or something phony that the corporate media was willing to go along with

If there’s some scandal that’s bad enough people should vote against Quinn, why is Bruce Rauner keeping it secret in this TV ad?

Comment by Carl Nyberg Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:19 am
I would like Mr. Rauner to know that former Gov. Blagojevich will not be getting my vote this year.

Comment by MikeMacD Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:19 am
Where are the undecided voters?

In the military? Hospitals? Nursing homes? Working 18 hours a day? Campaigning for legal cannabis in Oregon or Alaska? All of the above?

How many are there?

Comment by Kasich Walker, Jr. Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:26 am
Can someone please tell Chip and the gang that this rod stuff did NOT work four years ago. Wait, Chip wasn’t here four years ago. Is anyone around Bruce from Illinois?

Comment by history lesson Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:29 am
Incompetence would work much better, but the Chicago/Cook County folks have lived with corruption and incompetence for years and seem to just shrug their shoulders.

Comment by Apocalypse Now Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:29 am
At last night’s debate it was pointed out that the overwhelming interest of voters sending questions focused on jobs. I think every educated voter has concluded that there is corruption in the Quinn administration - but how is that new?
My take is that voters who consistently vote for one party will find reasons to continue doing so. But the negative attack ads can be effective only for a small number of voters who will decide between corruption, incompetence or a lack of a credible alternative. That may be a coin toss. I doubt that the attack ads will stop, but doubt too that they will motivate voters to show up.

Comment by Skeptic Cal Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:31 am
I’m a broken record on this. Should have run in June. Had it run in June I would give it a B-. Running now I give it a C-. Too vague.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:33 am
D-
Mitt is proving that he can piss $ away faster than someone with a urinary infection
Downstate crossover voters got their 3 piece of Mitt financed hate mail.
Large chunks of AA community now viewing NRI witch hunt as attack on their community groups and lite toungued Sandeck helps confirm.
Someone get Mr. Shrimp another donut
Fire, Aim, Ready!

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:33 am
I think the weakest part of the ad is including Cullerton and Madigan in the opening scene–if you’re elected governor, you have to work with these people, Bruce. How does a generic smear campaign make me think you can do that?

Comment by the koala Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:35 am
@Skeptic Cal — “I doubt that the attack ads will stop, but doubt too that they will motivate voters to show up.”

That must be the desired outcome of the Rauner campaign — suppress the vote for Quinn.

I haven’t seen a Rauner ad yet that could motivate an undecided voter to get out and vote for Bruce.

Comment by Kasich Walker, Jr. Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:37 am
Kasich

I’m not sure the undecideds are tuned out. I’m fairly undecided not because i don’t pay attention but because i don’t want to vote for either of these two.

Neither has sealed the deal. Quinn can’t tell me how the next 4 years are going to be different thent he last 4. Rauner can’t tell me what 4 years of him means except some vaguely hammer shakey thing. Both sides like to tell me what they think the other side will do if they win. Unfortunately for them i tend to use a lot of salt towards their analysis and consider 80% of it merde.

Comment by Mason born Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:37 am
“I am sure this ad was supposed to have quotes about NRI but they failed to deliver.”

Exactly so.

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:46 am
There are no allegations that Gov. Quinn put any bribes in his pocket. That’s what the public understands as corruption. And that’s why this smear won’t stick.

Comment by Anon Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:48 am
@Mason born –

Good points, and I can understand why you might choose to write in a candidate or not vote.

I share Quinn’s vision for the state — it’s based on struggling for cooperation amongst disparate groups within our state and nation, not on dominating others or proving self-worth in a marketplace arena where everyone is out to prove themselves better than their neighbor.

Comment by Kasich Walker, Jr. Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:51 am
It’s a pass. It’ll hurt. Who knows how much at this point. Everything is redundant now.

Comment by A guy... Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:53 am
Kasich

Oh i’ll vote i just haven’t decided who for. Of the three one is out. The only question is do i vote for Grimm or the other and risk 4 years of regret.

Comment by Mason born Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:55 am
There’s less than a month until Election Day and the only things we’re still waiting for from Bruce Rauner are:
1) Any evidence of Pat Quinn’s alleged “corruption”,
2) A mathematically coherent budget plan,
3) A single example of an ad-worthy business success, and
4) Final answers on questions of a) reproductive choice, b) same-sex marriage, c) medical marijuana, and d) the minimum wage.

But other than that…

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:56 am
@ Mason born– an “if” is missing from my comment at 10:16 am.

…IF they’re semi-conscious in front of a TV….

People get tired.

Comment by Kasich Walker, Jr. Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 10:59 am
MrJM - brilliant and concise as always.

Comment by PoolGuy Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 11:09 am
I preferred the earlier “incompetence or corruption” version of the attack to this ad version. For voters who have come to believe that Quinn and his administration heads’ shady operations have been and will continue to be a disaster for this state, the debate over details of why and how he turned out to be so bad is less important. This ad is a C. But don’t kid yourselves that NRI is the only “corruption” image of Quinn and his agencies out there. A careful read of this blog over the past year or so including contributions from political insiders proves that.

Comment by Responsa Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 11:13 am
Did anyone notice the bead of sweat rolling down PQ’s cheek as he’s saying “integrity…and honesty”

Comment by The Elderly Man You Used to Love Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 11:25 am
Pretty decent ad, but it appears to be about a dog that isn’t hunting

Comment by steve schnorf Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 11:37 am
No problem with Governor Pat Quinn. Bruce? The state cant afford 4 years of him or his brand of corruption.

Comment by Del Clinkton Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 11:40 am
Pat doesn’t look a day older than 95.

As OneMan said, they should stick to the incompetent line. Now that’s believable!

Comment by Norseman Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 12:14 pm
OneMan “Still seems to me the better argument is incompetence than corruption.”

Kind of hard to argue incompetence when people voting for Quinn are one in the same

Comment by THEGUN Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 12:17 pm
===Kind of hard to argue incompetence when people voting for Quinn are one in the same===

You are a Dope.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 12:38 pm
It has a “where’s the beef” problem created by a string of newscaster clips with no actual allegations addressed.

Comment by Percival Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 1:50 pm
Okay - this isn’t about the TV ad, but I just heard the radio ad about DCFS and murder, murder murder on XRT.

I feel like I need to take a shower.

I’m not a 100% fan of Pat Quinn, but wow. That is a deep low in negative political advertisements. It is so awful, feels like a parody of negative advertising.

IMHO Rauner did not need to go anywhere near this low to make his point. PQ has been more of a lame duck Gov throughout his administration than overtly corrupt. To paint him this way make the Rauner campaign look desperate.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 2:20 pm
DONE! Rauner wins, if this gains traction. Wow that will resonate with voters. PQ better scramble a counter-ad linking Rauner and Stu Levine…

Comment by Reformed Public Servant Friday, Oct 10, 14 @ 3:02 pm