THE ILLINOIZE: Inside party leadership battles...Bailey and Eastern Bloc splitting over Kinzinger "censure"...Candidate slating deadline...Fixing Irvin
June 26, 2022
Good morning, Illinois.
My latest Shaw Media column discusses the direction and tone of Governor JB Pritzker’s re-election effort, especially on the issue of abortion. Every time I cite polling indicating abortion isn’t a top issue for a majority of voters (and two thirds of voters fall squarely in the middle on the issue), I find myself getting attacked. So, bring it on.
Speaking of attacks, if you were ever wondering why there’s a sense downstaters don’t like people from Chicago, it’s because there are people from Chicago who write arrogant, elitist drivel like this.
Governor Pritzker is out of his COVID quarantine. He does not have any public events on his official or campaign schedules. Sen. Darren Bailey will hold a 1pm news conference in Springfield to criticize the Pritzker administration’s handling of DCFS.
We’ll also be doing something tomorrow that I’d like to make a weekly thing, but I’d like your thoughts and input. We’ll be doing a live stream at noon tomorrow on our YouTube page (here or here) as well as our social media channels like Facebook (here) and Twitter (here) around noon tomorrow. I assume the conversation will track along the lines of abortion and assault rifles. I hope you can tune in. Otherwise, it should be saved and you can go back and watch anytime.
Thank you all for your support in this…odd…year. We’re going to keep pushing hard on legislative and political issues the rest of the year. I’m re-learning that being tough doesn’t usually make you a lot of new friends, but I can handle it.
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Let’s get to it.
INSIDER BATTLES OVER CONTROL OF DEMS, GOP
A longstanding proxy battle between Governor JB Pritzker and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin is rearing its head again in the battle for control of the Democratic Party of Illinois while Republican gubernatorial candidate Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) is working to leave his imprint on the GOP.
Reportedly, Rep. Lisa Hernandez (D-Cicero) is the candidate backed by Pritzker and House Speaker Chris Welch to challenge Congresswoman Robin Kelly (D-Matteson). Kelly was selected party chair after former House Speaker Michael Madigan resigned last year. She was chosen over Pritzker’s selected candidate, Chicago Alderwoman Michelle Harris.
Because of the way federal fundraising rules work, Kelly is severely limited in the way she is allowed to raise money for the state party, cramping efforts to build a non-Pritzker cash war chest headed into an election.
Pritzker played in numerous State Central Committee primaries in June, spending around $300,000. Three of his candidates won, including Sen. Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake), who defeated incumbent committeewoman and Lake County Democrat Chair Lauren Beth Gash, but it isn’t clear yet if the Governor rustled up enough of a weighted vote to elect his choice.
Neither Hernandez or a spokesman for Kelly returned messages from The Illinoize Monday.
While no Democrats want Kelly or Hernandez to wield the kind of power Madigan used as DPI Chairman, it seems as if both Pritzker and Durbin want to fill the gaps left by the former Speaker.
Meanwhile, there’s a rancor among Republicans that GOP nominee for Governor Darren Bailey is pushing his own slate of candidates for the Republican State Central committee.
Bailey’s team has been pushing a slate of loyalists to run for state central committee seats. While Democrats have voters directly cast ballots on the races, Republicans use weighted votes from the elected precinct committeemen throughout each district.
We’re told there has been a level of malcontent between the Bailey camp and state party after Illinois GOP officials rejected the applications for some Bailey loyalists seeking seats on the central committee.
“As has been the case in past elections, the party has made determinations regarding the eligibility of each applicant based on the party’s bylaws and in the very simple, straightforward state central committee application,” said Illinois GOP spokesman Joe Hackler. “Applications that do not meet those considerations are removed from consideration.”
A source close to the Bailey campaign says the far-right conservative is not looking to replace Illinois GOP Chairman Don Tracy, but instead to use his power as the nominee to build a state party in Bailey’s image.
But the meddling isn’t sitting well with some central committee members.
"The way for candidates to unite a party after a combative primary election is not to take sides in intra-party contests in local counties or congressional districts,” said Laura Pollastrini, of Hampshire in Kane County, the GOP State Central Committeewoman for the 14th District. She was moved into the new 11th District via redistricting and is unopposed to remain on the central committee. “[The Bailey campaign] should be reaching out to those who did not support them in the Primary and welcome them into the fold as we march towards November, united as the Grand Old Party."
While the central committee races often appear to be “inside baseball,” they play a significant role in fundraising, organizing, and directing each party.
BAILEY, THE EASTERN BLOC, AND KINZINGER
My friend Rick Pearson of the Chicago Tribune had a story yesterday that raised my eyebrows…
A group of downstate lawmakers aligned with Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey on Monday asked the Illinois Republican Party to censure U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger for his actions on the select House committee investigating the role of Donald Trump, who backs Bailey, in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
In a statement, the five-member ultraconservative Illinois Freedom Caucus contended Kinzinger, a six-term Republican from Channahon, has “offered up little but incendiary language, wild exaggerations and personal opinions as so-called evidence of his baseless claims.”
The caucus members are part of what’s known informally as the “Eastern Bloc” of House Republicans, a group that includes Bailey and has encouraged separating Chicago from the rest of the state, contending the city and its Democratic leadership is at odds with their rural, conservative culture. The group also has opposed vaccine orders and other pandemic mitigation mandates.
The group includes Rep. Chris Miller (R-Oakland), the husband of MAGA-immersed Congresswoman Mary Miller (R-Oakland). Chris Miller’s truck, sporting an Oath Keeper’s sticker on the window, was parked in front of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Also, the statement that Kinzinger and the January 6 committee is using “incendiary language, wild exaggerations, and personal opinions as so-called evidence of baseless claims” proves these guys are either living on another planet or simply don’t own televisions.
From what I’m told, and may be most notable considering the source of the nonsense in their claims, is that GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey has no role in jumping into the ongoing Trump/Kinzinger kerfuffle. Those I spoke to yesterday seemed to realize wading into the mess doesn’t help Bailey at all in November, so he’s distancing himself from the attacks. We’ll see if he does so publicly if asked today in Springfield.
AT PETITION DEADLINE, SEN. DIANE PAPPAS WON’T SEEK FULL TERM
Appointed Sen. Diane Pappas (D-Itasca), who lost a race for re-election to the House in 2020 and was appointed to replace former Sen. Tom Cullerton, who resigned in disgrace, will not seek a full term in the Illinois Senate.
Yesterday was the last day to file paperwork to be slated for the November campaign and Pappas did not file in the new 24th Senate District. She would have gotten a rematch with Rep. Seth Lewis (R-Bartlett), who defeated Pappas in 2020 and was redistricted out of his House district, prompting a run for Senate.
Instead, former DuPage County Board member Laurie Nowak was slated by local Democrats to challenge Lewis.
The new 24th Senate District is considered quite swingy. President Biden won the district by 8 points in 2020 and Governor Rauner won the district by around 6 points in 2018.
The vast majority of filings Monday were in longshot districts, but here are a few of note:
Republican Maria Vasquez filed to challenge Sen. Scott Bennett (D-Champaign). Vasquez is a strong Bailey supporter and Bennett’s district was strengthened for him in redistricting. Gov. Pritzker won that district by around 23 points in 2018.
Podcast host Heidi Henry filed in the 75th House district. Rep. David Welter (R-Morris) was defeated by Bailey supporter Jed Davis in the primary. Governor Rauner won the district by around 15 points four years ago.
Park Ridge City Clerk Sal Raspanti filed to challenge Sen. Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) in the 28th Senate district. Gov. Quinn seemed very cautious to let them win. Pritzker won the the district by around 11 points four years ago.
Lake Villa Trustee Allena Barbato will challenge Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) in the new 32nd district.
WHAT WOULD HAVE FIXED THE IRVIN CAMPAIGN?
The epic collapse of Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin’s campaign for Governor, which was buoyed by $50 million from billionaire Ken Griffin, goes down as one of the more disastrous campaigns in Illinois politics in recent memory.
While both Republican Andy McKenna for Governor in 2010 and Democrat Blair Hull for U.S. Senate in 2004 spent oodles of their own cash ($24 million for Hull, McKenna was in for around $3 million), Irvin’s campaign blew millions of dollars that belonged to the richest person in the state and his nearly single benefactor. Furthermore, Irvin was considered far and away the favorite to win the GOP primary against low name ID, poorly financed competition. Hull, you may remember, was beaten by some guy named Obama.
I was asked on a radio show this weekend on Quad Cities Public Radio how I would have run Irvin’s campaign differently. To be fair, I’ve never managed a statewide campaign and nobody has written me $50 million in checks to do whatever I want with.
Here were some of the best responses:
The consultants running the show simply chose the wrong candidate. A candidate that voted in a majority of Democratic primaries over last ten years plus said nice things about Pritzker was never going to be acceptable to the Republican vote, no matter how much money was spent or how vicious the attacks were against party regulars and fundraisers.
The real question is did the consultants screw up because they no longer understand Illinois because they left a couple years ago or never did because they are from Atlanta/DC or did they knowingly fleece Griffin for as much money as possible?
Answer the damn Trump question, did you or didn’t vote him. Either you say you voted for him or go home. Being an anti Trumper is a non starter in 2022.
Respect the voter . (Ultimately something [Mike Z, Griffin’s campaign guru] doesn’t do. No respect for voters)
Mr. Griffin let himself to get led down the road of no return. Obviously a smart guy, but politics is a different game than finance. He let his distaste for Pritzker get in the way of good judgment.
Even with $50M the fundamental challenge is while most political people knew Irvin was a Republican, he voted in Democratic primaries.
You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. He is/was not governor material and should not been enabled by Griffin to take up some much of the primary season.
What did we miss? Drop me a note at patrick@theillinoize.com.
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