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* Tribune…
The Illinois AFL-CIO holds a regularly scheduled meeting of its leaders in Springfield on Tuesday, with trade unions expected to push for an unusually early endorsement in the Democratic primary for governor, sources said.
J.B. Pritzker, the billionaire investor and entrepreneur, has the backing of several major trade unions, and they want the labor umbrella group to endorse him now in an effort to try to narrow a field of candidates that also includes businessman Chris Kennedy, state Sen. Daniel Biss of Evanston and Northwest Side Ald. Ameya Pawar.
But some service unions — ones that have some of the most direct involvement in state government under Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner — have been urging a wait-and-see attitude while the race develops. Some think that the contest needs to play out longer and that their unions have established procedures for making political endorsements.
* Crain’s…
The three public-sector unions that reportedly want to take more time to review the field are AFSCME, the Illinois Federation of Teachers and SEIU.
“We’re not going to vote ‘yes’ for any endorsement tomorrow,” said AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall. “The feedback we’ve received from our members is that Bruce Rauner has been a disaster. But we’re just at the beginning of our process” of backing a Democrat.
Local SEIU chief Tom Balanoff has made similar comments.
IFT isn’t saying anything, but knowledgeable sources say the group’s board does not favor an early endorsement.
This is not a weighted vote. It’s a headcount roll call. And there are a ton of trade and craft unions out there.
* Politico…
Despite some pushback within labor and protests from fellow Democrats, the state’s umbrella group for organized labor, the AFL-CIO, is preparing its endorsement vote today. There was significant arm-twisting behind the scenes in the last several weeks, but two sources again told us that if the vote is called today, that means the votes are there for J.B. Pritzker.
Subscribers know more.
*** UPDATE *** From the ILGOP…
“It’s clear that this is an attempt by Mike Madigan to coalesce Chicago machine support behind his preferred candidate, J.B. Pritkzer. Madigan knows Pritzker is a fellow crooked insider who will raise taxes and support his Chicago agenda.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
This morning, Politico Illinois is reporting that J.B. Pritzker has the votes to receive the AFL-CIO’s endorsement – a whopping 288 days before the Democratic primary, before any debates, and without a proper vetting process.
Politico notes “there was significant arm-twisting behind the scenes in the last several weeks.”
It’s clear this is an attempt by Mike Madigan to coalesce his insiders and special interests around a crooked candidate who will play ball with his Chicago agenda.
After all, J.B. Pritzker is already on tape showing his corrupt colors.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 9:09 am
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When the Speaker speaks, unions listen.
Comment by Fax Machine Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 9:13 am
It could be a mistake to rush the endorsement. A few years ago, the IEA went all in for Blagojevich’s gubernatorial re-election and it proved to be an embarrassment.
Comment by Retired Educator Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 9:17 am
===- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 5, 17 @ 2:37 pm
If Pritzker says he will fund the Illinois Dems, win or lose in March, then wait.
If Pritzker says “I win, I fund. I lose, I walk”, then this week might be a good idea… to proceed as planned.
“Yeah, I am that cynical… “===
I stand by this, I understand the “why” by Labor…
… the issue for me, it’s an easy one…
Two in five Labor households voted Rauner in 2014.
How can the marrying of Pritzker and Labor… now… and “now” as Pritzker and Crew aren’t handling oppo dumps particularly too well.
Labor needs to drag Pritzker, mathematically in votes, through the finish line in March.
That’s first and last right now. The “2 in 5 households”, that’s the long-term working that Pritzker and Crew need to build upon now, and build towards March and if Pritzker wins, beyond March.
“If Pritzker says he will fund the Illinois Dems, win or lose in March, then wait.
If Pritzker says ‘I win, I fund. I lose, I walk’, then this week might be a good idea… to proceed as planned.”
We’ll see how this works.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 9:19 am
If this happens a major source of potential campaign cash for Kennedy, Biss and Pawar is taken off the table, their path gets much harder. Kennedy has been doing well with his national fundraising, but now that becomes more important. For Biss some of his calculation on getting in had to include potential labor money, about half of the $10 million that went into LIFT came from labor, it will be interesting to see if/how this changes his own personal thinking on his viability. He walked away from the Comptroller’s race when viability became an issue, I’m not sure his path in this race is easier or more plausible than the Comptroller’s race.
Comment by The Captain Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 9:29 am
@OW
If the unions haven’t already beaten it into those 2/5 members heads that “Rauner is the end of our way of life”, they deserve to lose. We all knew this was a problem the day it happened.
Comment by LiberalInQC Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 9:33 am
===If the unions haven’t already beaten it into those 2/5 members heads that “Rauner is the end of our way of life”, they deserve to lose. We all knew this was a problem the day it happened.===
… and yet, I still hear about how a smattering of union members still think beating Quinn, now, was good
For Labor’s own sake, I’m sure they hope you’re right.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 9:37 am
It’s much too early in the cycle for endorsements. Ordinary people( union members, for example), aren’t paying attention to the 2018 election yet. We don’t know who all the candidates even are yet. We definitely don’t know all their positions, qualifications, or dirty laundry. I’m gonna laugh off any endorsement made this early as not credible.
Comment by Thoughts Matter Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 9:39 am
AFSCME and IFT (via AFT) are all under the same AFL-CIO corporate umbrella as the labor unions that endorsed JB. Bad coordination and organization on union management’s part to have such disjointed endorsements to begin with.
Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 9:43 am
Maybe it’s too early to play this game but I think Biss should run for Assessor instead of Governor. He has enough money in his account for the run and Berrios name is so negative he would very likely win. Plus having a PhD in math is a great story.
I just don’t see Biss raising the money or getting the earned media he needs for Governor.
Comment by Fax Machine Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 9:53 am
Willy
Since you brought up Pritzkers pocketbook, how much of a risk is going to far attacking him.in the primarie? Obviously they all want to win but if they push past politics into the personal realm do they risk shooting their own feet?
Hard to ask a guy you just spent months calling corrupt, etc. For a check.
Comment by Mason born Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 9:57 am
I say to wait longer and vet more.
At the same time, Republican voters rallied around Trump. He ripped off students, possibly stiffed workers, said he forces himself on women and other shortcomings that didn’t dissuade voters. They were like, “He may be a ‘blank’ stain (rhymes with flit), but he’s our blank stain.”
Democratic voters and others may need to have that defiance also and not be so “pure.”
I still say, be careful, but if they decide, fight like heck. Learn from Republicans. Remember what’s at stake.
Comment by Grandson of Man Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 10:14 am
Captain,
You said, “Kennedy has been doing well with his national fundraising.” That’s actually untrue. As Rich pointed out today, he went to California and only raised 50k instead of 500k. His current quarter fundraising is actually going quite poorly. He’s only reported about 200k on the a1s through yesterday. He needs millions to compete and he ain’t getting it. This inability to raise money on his own could be one of the many reasons the unions ain’t impressed with ck.
Comment by Anon0091 Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 10:34 am
==If this happens a major source of potential campaign cash for Kennedy, Biss and Pawar is taken off the table==
This money was never gonna be there for Biss. That’s been one of his challenges from jump street.
==If the unions haven’t already beaten it into those 2/5 members heads that “Rauner is the end of our way of life”, they deserve to lose.==
People define their “ways of life” in a lot of different ways. Downstate trade unionists see cultural issues as pretty central to it. Maybe not enough to combat a well-made dollars-and-cents argument, but enough to make it not-so-simple.
Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 10:37 am
The ILGOP’s statement is offensive to me, calling Pritzker names. There might be lots of names to call Rauner, but he can clearly fall on the issues alone.
Comment by Christopher Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 10:43 am
Must be a good thing if the Raunerites are whining about it already. Obviously a Pritzker nomination makes them very nervous.
Comment by Tough Guy Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 10:52 am
The disconnect between rank and file and labor leadership may be on full display later today. As Chris Kennedy is helping to generate record crowds in areas he visits, proving that he can be a vote-getter up and down the ticket, and on the heels of new revelations about blagojevich and pritzker, labor leaders want to do an early endorsement?
Comment by downstate dem Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 10:54 am
=== You said, “Kennedy has been doing well with his national fundraising.” That’s actually untrue. ===
If you don’t count the money he’s given to himself he’s actually raised more money from addresses outside Illinois than inside Illinois, so while his fundraising isn’t especially impressive his out of state fundraising has been better than his in state fundraising.
Comment by The Captain Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 11:27 am
Christopher, you’d better man up. Sorry if name calling in politics hurts your fee-fees. To quote the great Chicago humorist Finley Peter Dunne, “Politics ain’t beanbag.”
Comment by phocion Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 11:29 am
===As Chris Kennedy is helping to generate record crowds in areas he visits, proving that he can be a vote-getter up and down the ticket===
As with signs, votes only count when they’re counted, not ny the number of yard signs or crowd sizes.
Further, Kennedy hasn’t shown any propensity to raise ANY significant monies (yet… I’m deferring to Mike Kasper, lol) in the 8-10 million needed to get thru a primary.
Once again - downstate dem -, you put out there things that are way too easy to knock down.
When will Kennedy have legislators’ back, like Pritzker?
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 11:36 am
===Since you brought up Pritzkers pocketbook, how much of a risk is going to far attacking him.in the primarie? Obviously they all want to win but if they push past politics into the personal realm do they risk shooting their own feet?===
Kennedy is in it for him, Biss won’t be going back to the Senate, Pawar is term limiting himself…
No risk, actually, they’re all betting on themselves(?)
With respect.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 11:39 am
Willy,
Good point. It seems like a Pyrrhic victory to win while handicapping yourself for the General but I get your point.
Comment by Mason born Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 11:50 am
- Mason born -
You’re welcome, and here’s why I think what I do, to go next level too…
… when you have nothing to lose, and the end game to defeating Rauner too… I don’t see any of these candidates not wanting Rauner gone in the end. The only person, Pritzker, that could have really sour grapes losing, after the ILGOP is done with JB, I can see even Pritzker deciding, “We need Bruce gone” too
To the ILGOP,
===
It’s clear this is an attempt by Mike Madigan to coalesce his insiders and special interests around a crooked candidate who will play ball with his Chicago agenda.
After all, J.B. Pritzker is already on tape showing his corrupt colors.===
This “works”, only because the Pritzker Crew hasn’t even come close to putting the Blago tapes to bed.
I’d expect MOTS… more of the same.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 12:00 pm
===the Pritzker Crew hasn’t even come close to putting the Blago tapes to bed===
And how are they supposed to do that? They exist. They can’t be erased. He’s just gotta muddle thru like Rauner did every time he got totally thwacked with oppo in 14.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 12:03 pm
Pritzker is the only one with enough money available to take on Rauner. Rauner used unlimited amounts of money to carpet bomb the airwaves with attack ads, winning the election. The Democrats are going to have to fight fire with fire. (money for attack ads)
Comment by DuPage Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 12:08 pm
===And how are they supposed to do that? They exist. They can’t be erased. He’s just gotta muddle thru like Rauner did every time he got totally thwacked with oppo===
They could make clear that when quid pro quo was insinuated and pressed, JB didn’t take the bait. Not really discussing this and formulating a counter to the obvious, the purposeful silence, less the two responses, there isn’t much of a feeling of a want to address it to move on.
Your point is on point, Rich. Yep, they will have to muddle thru, JB has to eat this, own this, and own the result that Rod was charged, tried, convicted on many counts, numerous counts, but none pertaining to JB, and JB faced no charges as a result of these calls. The tapes ain’t going away.
Then, like Rauner, you spend $20 million on ad after ad trashing a failed governor and the others in the primary.
The lack of changing the subject with the monies, as Rauner did with just about every possible attack he had… I’d start with that.
I’m sure the Pritzker Crew sees the pearls of wisdom I have here, finding it’s value and worth the same as if it were given with $3.50 for coffee and a side of a unasked strategy, lol
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 12:24 pm
In gubernatorial contests since 1982, Madigan is 3-6. His two winners were Blagojevich and Quinn.
Do you want him selecting the candidate?
Comment by Say What? Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 12:31 pm
phocion:
A man who was a longtime City Councilman in my hometown, later became its Mayor, and was the father of my best friend in school once told me “always take the high road.” Name-calling isn’t needed.
Comment by Christopher Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 12:55 pm
“*** UPDATED x1 - ILGOP blames Madigan ***”
The last several years in a nutshell.
– MrJM
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 1:06 pm
Re: the Blago-Pritzker tape. The question is: who called whom? Blago was calling around seeking deals back then. If Blago initiated the call to JB, sounds like JB did nothing wrong.
Comment by anonymous Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 1:25 pm
JB initiated the call to Blago. Bank on it.
Comment by phocion Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 1:47 pm
==In gubernatorial contests since 1982, Madigan is 3-6.==
How much were any of those nominees his guys, really? Netsch and Poshard came up through the Senate…
Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, Jun 6, 17 @ 4:07 pm