March 5, 2014 By: Mark Glennon
Over the past two days five labor unions contributed an additional $485,000 to the “Republican Fund for Progress and Jobs,” which is using the money to fund the ad campaign against Bruce Rauner, Republican candidate for governor. Details are linked here.
The fund is not Republican. Last month the Illinois Republican Party, by unanimous vote of its State Central Committee, issued a formal cease and desist against the group, demanding that it stop using the word “Republican” and Republican trademarks. The fund is also supported by the Democratic Governors Association, which the Illinois Republican Party told to stay out of the Republican primary. The group’s ads have “contained personal attacks and messages specifically designed to confuse and mislead Republican voters,” according to the Illinois GOP.
Where’s the media coverage on this? Have we seen even one question asked about it in the debates among candidates? As we asked before, can you imagine the outrage if conservative groups and the Republican Governors Association were funding an ad campaign under the label “Democratic”?
Update, March 6, 2014: The group is said to have now dropped the word “Republican” from it’s name. Seems like a tacit admission of its initially phony pretense. Again, why no media coverage on it?
A set of state lawmakers want to extend CPS’ current school closing moratorium to February 1, 2027 – the same year CPS is set to transition to a fully-elected school board. That means schools like Manley High School, with capacity for more than 1,000 students but enrollment of just 78, can’t be closed for anther three years. The school spends $45,000 per student, but just 2.4% of students read at grade level.
Hopefully, all media will get the message, in Illinois, too.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois’ highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don’t want to touch the tax’s cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans’ tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more.
Let them piss their money away on Dillard. This will be a great turning point to see them lose big on this, and Dillard disgraced over it.