PRITZKER: Under fire from own staff |
That’s
the case these days for Bruce Rauner. The Illinois governor tried the same tactic
that worked in 2014 when he first ran for office – he invested his own money into
winning.
BUT
NOW THAT he’s seeking re-election, it doesn’t seem to be enough. It’s now plainly
obvious why Democratic establishment types were eager to have J.B. Pritzker as
their gubernatorial nominee. He has put $146.5 million of his own money into an
opposition campaign – which is a record for political spending.
So
the Republicans who want to avoid becoming politically irrelevant in Illinois
following the Nov. 6 elections are now behaving like magicians – to whom the
secret of their acts isn’t any real magical powers, but a strong ability to
misdirect.
Get
people to focus their attention on one issue or aspect – and not notice some
action that really explains their trick.
In
this election cycle, it seems that “discrimination” will be the issue that Rauner-backers
will want us all to pay attention to.
A
LAWSUIT FILED late Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago tries to make it
claim that the Pritzker gubernatorial campaign is discriminating against its
workers who happen to be black, or of Latino ethnic origins.
RAUNER: Can this lawsuit help him? |
“J.B.
Pritzker for governor has a serious race problem,” the lawsuit states. As
though we’re supposed to believe that all non-white voters ought to cast ballots
for Bruce in order to look out for our interests.
It
seems that the bulk of non-white campaign workers are used by the Pritzker
campaign in non-white neighborhoods. The campaign supposedly has but one actual
field office based in such a neighborhood, and it supposedly is so unsafe that
Pritzker himself has yet to visit.
All
of this may actually be true. But it strikes me as being a batch of hooey,
rather than any kind of legitimate campaign issue.
IF
ANYTHING, I’D be surprised if the Rauner campaign has any stronger physical
presence in similar neighborhoods. Or actually, if ANY Republican running for
office is bothering much to campaign in ways to try to appeal to non-white voters.
OBAMA: His old staffers amongst those suing |
In
this case, stirring up some doggie poop to try to build resentment against the
Pritzker campaign won’t get any significant number of votes for the Rauner
re-election bid. But I’m sure he hopes it will make his hard-core GOPers a
large-enough faction to prevail on Nov. 6.
So
when I read the statement from Illinois Republican Party executive director
Travis Sterling that says, in part, “Pritzker’s actions don’t back up his
words. Here we have his own staffers, seasoned political operatives, alleging
racial discrimination and harassment,” I can’t help but be skeptical.
AND
WHEN HE says, “It’s finally time for J.B. Pritzker to answer for his actions,”
I have to cackle sarcastically.
How many lawsuit fans are also Trump backers? |
For
many of these Republican operatives are the same kinds of people who are
desperately trying to ignore so many of Donald Trump’s inane comments and
actions that are nothing more than appeals to the bigoted nature of a segment
of the electorate. In large part because they have little objections to such
ideals themselves.
Now
I’m not going to be naïve enough to claim J.B. Pritzker is high-minded and
moralistic; although I have noticed that throughout the years of his political
financing, he tends to give his money to candidates who do fight for such
ideals.
We
can only hope that gives him some sense of what is right and what he should
strive to achieve if he actually wins political office himself. Irregardless,
we still need to dump Rauner, who can’t even appease the ideologues amongst us
and still has all those anti-labor hang-ups that brought about his stubborn
actions that have made a total mess of Illinois’ government in recent years – a
fact that no amount of money can cover up.
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