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* JB Pritzker a year ago…
“One of the things you may or may not like about my candidacy is I’m not raising money. The reason that I chose not to do that was predominantly because Bruce Rauner, who people think self-funds, actually takes tens of millions of dollars from the Koch brothers’ network,” Pritzker recently said.
“And I want you to know that when I stand up in front of you and tell you that I’m for a progressive income tax, and that I’m gonna fight for $15 and that I’m gonna make sure we legalize marijuana, that those are the things I really believe,” Pritzker said. “And there’s nobody who’s gonna call me in the middle of the night who backed me, who wrote me a check or something, who’s gonna say to me ‘You can’t do that thing you said you were gonna do because we won’t back you in the next election.’”
* Last week…
Democrat J.B. Pritzker’s governor campaign reported more than $120,000 in donations, ostensibly aimed at his “Blue Wave Illinois” effort to help build the state party and help its lower-ballot candidates in November.
The donations reported Wednesday include $89,200 from Robin Loewenberg Tebbe, chief marketing officer of the Magellan Development Group. She’s been a past donor to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, giving him a total of $10,700 in contributions in 2014 and 2016.
Pritzker received an additional $25,000 from Chicago attorney and consultant Sheli Rosenberg. She’s previously given nearly $44,000 to retiring Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s campaigns since 2006 and an additional $40,650 to the abortion-rights group Personal PAC since 2000, state campaign finance records show.
* So, I asked the Pritzker campaign how the candidate reconciles his statement swearing off contributions last year with his current fundraising, even if it is for his “Blue Wave Illinois” campaign. The response from Galia Slayen…
JB has been an independent leader and thinker his entire life and that won’t change when he is governor. While JB continues to fund his own campaign, he is proud to be supporting Democrats up and down the ballot with field, digital, and fundraising through Blue Wave Illinois 2018. This is a statewide, grassroots operation ready to beat Bruce Rauner, elect candidates who will fight for working families at all levels, and lay a foundation of both donors and volunteers that will help elect Democrats for years to come.
I’m thinking that’s not really an answer.
I’ve asked the Rauner campaign for a response.
*** UPDATE *** From Will Allison at the Rauner campaign…
Pritzker is fully embracing his corrupt relationship with Mike Madigan by funding Madigan’s candidates.
Well, at least he stayed on message.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:19 am
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I’m expecting more “not really an answer” from JB in two years when reminded he promised not to support a gerrymandered map.
Comment by lake county democrat Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:25 am
When you are spending $200K a day…
You are spending the equivalence of real people buying a house… every single day… even billionaires have buyers remorse.
Each work week, the 5 days, is a million dollars spent.
The wordy, lengthy, non-answer ignores what Pritzker promoted in his pre “the cost of a house a day” personal spending, and attempts to make it about “we’re all in this together” as a blue wave thingy, but maybe it’s simply Pritzker is looking at the $400K he’s spending on Saturday and Sunday and wondering “you know, others can help with this”… before the work week begins again and another $1 million is lost to… whatever.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:26 am
As long as he is giving the donations to other Democratic candiatates I don’t see the problem? If he raises more money than he gives out, then it is an issue.
Comment by Seats Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:31 am
Madigan.
Blue Wave.
Madigan.
Blue Wave.
Madigan.
Blue Wave…..
…repeat this process for 91 more days or until all of Illinois locks themselves in a padded room. Which ever comes first.
Comment by Shelby Thomas Weems Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:32 am
Seems like instigating to me. The fundraised money is not going to be used for the JB for Governor campaign. It’s going toward the blue wave campaign.
Comment by Real Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:34 am
===The fundraised money is not going to be used for the JB for Governor campaign===
“I’m not raising money.”
Doesn’t matter where the money is going. He said what he said. And now he is raising money.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:44 am
Nit Picking.
Comment by DeseDemDose Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:45 am
Blue waves lead to erosion. A large enough blue wave devastates the land and its occupants.
Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:48 am
When Pritzker said he wouldn’t do fundraising, he was talking about his own campaign. This is not going back on his word. The Rauner campaign, as might be expected, finds Madigan and corruption in everything.
Comment by Christopher Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:52 am
It tough when you takeover a whole political party.
It’s expensive. Some may call it a money pit, flushing good money after good money, waking up every morning, knowing that $200,000 will vanish by the time you go to bed, and it will happen tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that…
‘Nember when that Pritzker aide bragged about spending ‘x’ number of times over ‘whatever’… yeah… me too, that was awesome… until someone goes to bed Friday night knowing this work week a million dollars is gone.
Now, Diana and Bruce, after $40+ million of their own money, and parking an additional $20 million, they demanded “no $&@#% problems” from their own party. Radogno and Durkin obliged.
Ya think Cullerton and the SDems will comply? They will most likely keep their majority “because math”.
Ya think the HDems and Madigan will comply? The diversity of that caucus keeps uniformity from devolving the diversity.
So… raise money.
It’s almost noon now. That’s $100K Pritzker spent, another $100K this afternoon to come.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:56 am
I’d love to see an official statement from the Pritzker campaign titled “JB Clarifies Position on Middle of the Night Calls” Unless it’s the groomer for my many dogs I will not take the call.
Comment by peteypablo Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:56 am
Did anyone think he would bankroll the entire democratic party forever? i see no issue.
Comment by What's in a name? Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:59 am
Oh, I get it. “it depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.”
Comment by Pesponsa Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 12:05 pm
Pritzker should be raising money. Self-funding is a mistake, because it’s not about the dollars themselves. Voters who contribute, are voters who are committed.
Comment by West Sider Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 12:07 pm
===Did anyone think he would bankroll the entire democratic party forever?===
So, just March 2018 to July-ish / August-ish 2018?
That’s barely two quarters of a year.
lol
So, the Pritzker aide who bragged to Politico that they’d spend double whatever Rauner put up can’t fund things, as they said they would, longer than… 18-23 weeks?
lol
They said no fundraising, they said it.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 12:11 pm
Its good to see that Rauner’s campaign got two Madigan’s into one sentence. That is a stellar Madigan-to-all-other-words-ratio.
Comment by Montrose Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 12:22 pm
–Did anyone think he would bankroll the entire democratic party forever? –
LOL, I imagine more than a few hoped so. He’s one of the richest cats on Earth.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 12:22 pm
Whether he wants to or not any candidate / party has to do some base level fundraising just to avoid atrophy amongst there/it’s supporters.
Comment by Concern Dem Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 12:27 pm
==LOL, I imagine more than a few hoped so. He’s one of the richest cats on Earth.
I agree many hoped for that–but it’s a horrible strategy for a party. See: Rauner, Bruce, Proft, Dan & Republicans
Comment by Archpundit Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 12:30 pm
===That is a stellar Madigan-to-all-other-words-ratio.
If they don’t have a contest in the Rauner campaign office for this, they should.
Comment by Archpundit Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 12:31 pm
If he really believes in the progressive tax he would have spent enough of his own money to make sure it was on the ballot this year. All I see from him and his fellow Democrats is the Illinois income tax going up again and other misc. tax increases and user fees.
Comment by Arock Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 12:44 pm
I’m not saying Will Allison is a bot, I’m just saying I’m concerned about his job security because he could so easily be replaced by one.
Comment by The Captain Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 12:56 pm
To be a “Man of the people”, I guess it means you have to take their money. It’d be rude not to, right?
Ugh. He’d be better off funneling it to Charity or the Pension Funds.
Comment by A guy Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 1:09 pm
1.4% is being hypocritical, with his vast wealth, he doesn’t need to go begging for bucks, but he does it anyways. JB funneling the money to the party is nothing.
Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 1:12 pm
I always thought that the reason the Dem’s wanted Pritzker is that he could fund his own campaign against another almost billionaire and it wouldn’t drain money from the Party or from Labor for that matter for all their other races.
That’s what he’s doing. I never believed he alone was going to fund every single Dem on the ballot all up and down the ticket. That’s ridiculous and incredibly lazy. So I see no problem with the Blue Wave campaign. I honestly see no problem with this. Makes sense to me.
Comment by Sideline Watcher Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 1:38 pm
= I never believed he alone was going to fund every single Dem on the ballot all up and down the ticket. =
That is exactly what he said he would do. He also said he wouldn’t fund raise.
Another unforced error by the JB crew.
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 2:03 pm
JSM, exactly what I came here to post. Thanks.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 2:09 pm
This is such a classic rich guy move you can’t help but be impressed.
I truly think the people making excused for him don’t understand how insanely rich he is. They literally cannot conceive it and that’s why even the left most party in this country and the right most party only disagree on raises taxes by a percent or two.
Comment by Evanstonian Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 2:46 pm
You guys are totally missing the point of raising money for the Blue Wave effort. Let me illustrate with Rauner.
The entire GOP other than Proft became dependent on Rauner. The result will be that once Rauner loses, the party has no financial base to fall back upon. They will need to spend years rebuilding that base. It’s the reason they were so desperate for the two million dollar infusion. They became dependent and they were broke when he didn’t come through.
JB ain’t that dumb. He doesn’t want the party solely dependent. He wants everyone to have a stake in the broader party effort. This is healthy. And for what it’s worth, I always interpreted his “I won’t raise money” to be for HIS campaign. He’s not. This is party building money.
Comment by Anon0091 Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 3:57 pm
===You guys are totally missing the point of raising money for the Blue Wave effort.===
Hmm…
===Doesn’t matter where the money is going. He said what he said. And now he is raising money.===
Being an aplogigist for Pritzker?
Lots of words to talk away “I’m not raising money” but is… now raising money.
So are you saying not to trust JB’s own words?
Sure sounds like it.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 4:01 pm
It’s the same impulse he felt when he tore toilets out of the mansion next store. Rich guys just can’t seem to resist it. No amount of money is enough to these guys, and spending it works against their grain.
I’ve got xx billion. I don’t need to raise money. I’ve got enough to…..”miss a few grand, and raise money even though I said I wouldn’t”.
So dumb.
Comment by A guy Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 4:25 pm
–I’m not saying Will Allison is a bot, I’m just saying I’m concerned about his job security because he could so easily be replaced by one.–
So easily.
Actually, Mattel could whip up one of those See N’ Say toys that would do the trick.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 4:38 pm
- City Zen - Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 11:48 am:
Blue waves lead to erosion. A large enough blue wave devastates the land and its occupants.
I wonder how long this person worked on this absurd non-response…I hope not long?
#WastedDays&Nights?
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 4:46 pm
“Being an aplogigist for Pritzker?
Lots of words to talk away “I’m not raising money” but is… now raising money.
So are you saying not to trust JB’s own words?
Sure sounds like it.”
No, I’m saying you’re missing the obvious context of what he said and when he said it. He was clearly talking about HIS race and not other Democrats. Are you saying he should just fund the entire GOP the way Rauner did and put Ds in the same precarious position Rs are in today? That doesn’t make any sense.
Comment by Anon0091 Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 9:52 pm
===Are you saying he should just fund the entire GOP the way Rauner did and put Ds in the same precarious position Rs are in today? That doesn’t make any sense.===
Keep up.
Pritzker said he wasn’t going to do any fundraising.
Pritzker is now doing fundraising.
Is that too difficult for you to grasp, or…
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 10:18 pm
Over the next 3 months, JB will stumble and stumble. This happens when you have not done much except write checks.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 9:14 am