Pritzker, Rauner spar over veterans’ home, Blago ties in ad duel
Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic challenger J. B. Pritzker have to win contested primaries before they can square off in November — but you wouldn’t know it from their latest explosive TV ads.
The Republican governor and Democratic billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist remain focused on one another rather than their primary challengers, with Rauner accusing Pritzker of “shady, insider dealings” with disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Pritzker blaming Rauner for the deaths of 13 people at the Quincy veterans home.
“When a governor doesn’t take charge, people die, and 13 veterans and spouses have now lost their lives because Bruce Rauner failed to lead,” Pritzker said in a statement about his latest ad.
The Rauner campaign says it wants Pritzker to “come clean” about his conversation with Blagojevich that was caught on an FBI wiretap. Pritzker’s campaign, in turn, is arguing he was never accused of wrongdoing in the matter.
The Chicago Tribune last year revealed secretly recorded conversations in 2008 between Blagojevich and Pritzker, taken from federal wiretaps during the period investigators suspected Blagojevich of trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by then Presidentelect Barack Obama.
The 60- second Rauner ad includes audio of the wiretap, featuring Blagojevich telling Pritzker about a scenario in which Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan could be senator and Pritzker could be attorney general.
It’s the first time the wiretaps have made it to a TV campaign ad.
“JB was never accused of wrongdoing, and putting selectively edited nineyear- old tapes on air won’t change that,” Pritzker spokeswoman Galia Slayen said in a statement.
Pritzker’s campaign released two ads online Wednesday. “Playing Politics” accuses Rauner of attacking Pritzker as a way to avoid defending his own record and will begin airing in major TV markets on Thursday.
The second ad features media coverage of Rauner’s reaction to the Quincy veterans’ home outbreak, where 13 residents have died of Legionnaires’ disease since July 2015, and will be on TV “in the near future,” his campaign said.
“After staying at the Illinois Veterans Home at Quincy for a week — where he drank the water, and lived and showered in a typical resident room — Governor Rauner held a nearly hourlong press conference today, answering every question from the press about how to fix this problem,” Rauner spokesman Will Allison said. “It’s time for J. B. Pritzker to come clean about his conversation with disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich about an apparent quid pro quo.”