Opinion by John T. "Red" Ryan
JUST WHEN IT seemed that politics and elections would be off center stage for at least a little breather, we find that the first term for Governor, Bruce Rauner, will be up with the inauguration of the next administration sometime in January, 2019. This next 4 years could be filled by Rauner, or by whoever else wins it. Bringing us to that point of this next term will be the March 20, 2018 Democratic and Republican Primaries; which will be followed by the General Election of November 6, 2018. That certainly would appear to be a lot of politicking ahead but it doesn't even take into account the long days and weeks of campaigning, debating and near constant bombardment of the airwaves with those political ads.
AS OF THIS writing, we have several candidates and potential candidates on the Democrat side. Most prominent in the news and in the Madison Avenue world of Advertising are the incumbent Republican, Governor Bruce Rauner (himself) and Democrats Christopher Kennedy and J.B. Pritzker. Of these two Democrats (there are several other possibles), only Kennedy has held any public office; with that being the non-elected, appointed Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois. Kennedy is the son of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of the late John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States.
THE EXPERIENCE OF J.B. Pritzker includes no elected office or public service; but rather extensive experience and successes in the private sector. Born as "Jay Robert" Pritzker, he got his underclass degree from Duke University and his Law degree from Northwestern University. He has operated a private investment firm right here locally, in Chicago.
IF ONE WERE to judge just who is running and how the still distant Illinois Gubernatorial race is going by the volume of political advertisements on the television stations, you'd conclude that it was a Pritzker vs. Rauner match-up. The airwaves are filled with minute spot pitches for getting your vote by both of these two men. As of the time of this writing, we've seen not hide nor hair of any commercials for Christopher Kennedy, nor any other candidate, regardless of party affiliation. The mode of attack demonstrated in both men's approach is very unusual and oddly enough, quite similar.
IN THE SEVERAL commercial spots offered by the Pritzger camp, the theme is that of painting him as a reformer. He is the guy you want and we need in Springfield. According to their campaign's message, Illinois needs a good "house-cleaning" and Pritzker is your man for the job. The one central flaw in the whole operation here is that their campaign both blames and attacks the incumbent Governor Rauner's administration; which has not yet hit the three year mark. The true target of any political attacks should be those who have run both the State Senate and the State House of Representatives for the past 40 or 50 years.
OUR CURRENT STATE Chief Executive, Bruce Rauner, much like J.B. Pritzker, has a background in business. Following his graduation from Dartmouth College and receiving an MBA from Harvard University, he got into investment banking, while at the same time serving without salary for Chicago tourism and for improvement of public education.
THE ONE GREAT flaw and potential Achilles Heel in the Rauner campaign for re-election as Governor lies in internal conflict within his own party. Whereas the incumbent Governor paints himself as a "reformer", he doesn't align himself with President Trump; who is also bent on "draining the swamp" of Washington, D.C. Much like so many in the G.O.P., he distances himself from "the Donald"; even recently refusing to discuss who he had supported in the2016 Presidential Election. If Bruce had any intestinal fortitude, he'd own up to Republicanism and to the Trump administration.
UNTIL SUCH TIME we have a sort of "free for all" and nonsensical brawl of reformer vs. reformer fighting for the Governor's mansion.
NOTE: We have to take this time to examine that word "Gubernatorial" which is the adjective form of "Governor". We wonder how it acquired such a dramatically different spelling. After all, we're taught that a "Guber" was a peanut; so does this mean that a Governor should "work for peanuts?
AS OF THIS writing, we have several candidates and potential candidates on the Democrat side. Most prominent in the news and in the Madison Avenue world of Advertising are the incumbent Republican, Governor Bruce Rauner (himself) and Democrats Christopher Kennedy and J.B. Pritzker. Of these two Democrats (there are several other possibles), only Kennedy has held any public office; with that being the non-elected, appointed Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois. Kennedy is the son of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of the late John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States.
THE EXPERIENCE OF J.B. Pritzker includes no elected office or public service; but rather extensive experience and successes in the private sector. Born as "Jay Robert" Pritzker, he got his underclass degree from Duke University and his Law degree from Northwestern University. He has operated a private investment firm right here locally, in Chicago.
IF ONE WERE to judge just who is running and how the still distant Illinois Gubernatorial race is going by the volume of political advertisements on the television stations, you'd conclude that it was a Pritzker vs. Rauner match-up. The airwaves are filled with minute spot pitches for getting your vote by both of these two men. As of the time of this writing, we've seen not hide nor hair of any commercials for Christopher Kennedy, nor any other candidate, regardless of party affiliation. The mode of attack demonstrated in both men's approach is very unusual and oddly enough, quite similar.
IN THE SEVERAL commercial spots offered by the Pritzger camp, the theme is that of painting him as a reformer. He is the guy you want and we need in Springfield. According to their campaign's message, Illinois needs a good "house-cleaning" and Pritzker is your man for the job. The one central flaw in the whole operation here is that their campaign both blames and attacks the incumbent Governor Rauner's administration; which has not yet hit the three year mark. The true target of any political attacks should be those who have run both the State Senate and the State House of Representatives for the past 40 or 50 years.
OUR CURRENT STATE Chief Executive, Bruce Rauner, much like J.B. Pritzker, has a background in business. Following his graduation from Dartmouth College and receiving an MBA from Harvard University, he got into investment banking, while at the same time serving without salary for Chicago tourism and for improvement of public education.
THE ONE GREAT flaw and potential Achilles Heel in the Rauner campaign for re-election as Governor lies in internal conflict within his own party. Whereas the incumbent Governor paints himself as a "reformer", he doesn't align himself with President Trump; who is also bent on "draining the swamp" of Washington, D.C. Much like so many in the G.O.P., he distances himself from "the Donald"; even recently refusing to discuss who he had supported in the2016 Presidential Election. If Bruce had any intestinal fortitude, he'd own up to Republicanism and to the Trump administration.
UNTIL SUCH TIME we have a sort of "free for all" and nonsensical brawl of reformer vs. reformer fighting for the Governor's mansion.
NOTE: We have to take this time to examine that word "Gubernatorial" which is the adjective form of "Governor". We wonder how it acquired such a dramatically different spelling. After all, we're taught that a "Guber" was a peanut; so does this mean that a Governor should "work for peanuts?
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John T. “Red” Ryan is a retired Chicago police officer and Garfield Ridge resident.
Very nice article Mr. Ryan I hope no relation to the former Gov. But all and all very nice.
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