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HomeIllinois NewsWeyermuller: Rauner backs away from debate with challenger Jeanne Ives

Weyermuller: Rauner backs away from debate with challenger Jeanne Ives

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Governor Rauner with former IL GOP Chairman Pat Brady

By Mark Weyermuller –

Monday night Illinois State Representative Tom Morrison asked Governor Bruce Rauner if he would debate his primary challenger Jeanne Ives. Rauner replied that he would see her at the Chicago Tribune. He may had been referring to appearances before the editorial boards which is not a debate forum.

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So as of today, there are no IL GOP gubernatorial primary debates scheduled. Four years ago the governor appeared in several debates before the primary and also skipped a couple including radio debates hosted by WIND 560-AM and WLS 890-AM. They both had a empty podium on the stage.

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The Governor appeared Monday evening before about 90 people, including some media. Side note: Monday night was the 45th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, a Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion on January 22, 1973. Rauner has been under fire for signing HP 40 supporting taxpayer funding of abortion in Illinois.

 This from the Lincoln Forum and Chicago Athletic Association website: 

Illinois’ newest bipartisan public affairs group, the Lincoln Forum, continues its monthly event series in the new year- where some of the most influential, engaging minds in politics and policy will speak on the most important issues facing Illinois and the nation – always at the Chicago Athletic Association hotel.

As the race for who will become the next governor of Illinois heats up, the Lincoln Forum and Chicago Athletic Association hotel are excited to announce that Governor Bruce Rauner will be the first speaker in 2018.

The Lincoln Forum and its monthly events – founded by Former ILGOP Chairman Pat Brady, Prominent Democratic Strategist Eric Adelstein and Communications Strategist, Tracy Slutzkin – provide a much needed platform for a diverse group interested in sound public policy and bipartisan solutions.

Many are calling for a debate between Rauner and Ives so Republican primary voters can hear the issues and see their choices. The primary is Tuesday, March 20th, 2018 with early voting starting  March 5, 2018. 

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19 COMMENTS

  1. President Trump (a person that Governor Rauner seldom wants to acknowledge) skipped a debate after participating in many others.
    Thus far, Rauner has committed to no debates with Ives.
    Not an apt comparison.

  2. I’m very interested in Illinois’newest bipartisan public affairs group, the Lincoln Forum. In that it is a bi-partisan group makes me very skeptical of what type of person would ever attend such a group. Surely not those who believe strongly in what their own parties stand for; accordingly, the Lincoln Forum would be attended by middle-of-the-road individuals who believe that bi-partisanship is a good thing, and that compromise is good even if detrimental to this nation. I don’t see any good that could come out of a bi-partisan group. The League of Women Voters touts itself as a bi-partisan group, yet it’s left-wing in how it operates.
    As far as Rauner not willing to debate Ives, this is all anyone needs to know to realize that Rauner is not fit to hold office. He doesn’t have the guts to face the firing squad. Jeanne would be good at calling Rauner out for who and what he it. As the saying goes, if you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen. The same applies to Rauner.

  3. The bottom line is conservative voters should vote for Representative Ives. And if she should not prevail in the GOP primary, sit out the election with regard to the gubernatorial line.
    We were conned by RINO Rauner last time – but as The WHO sang in 1971, “We won’t get fooled again.”
    A leftist Democrat or leftist Rauner?
    Not my fight.

  4. Even the libtards at Capitol Fax are beginning to take notice of Rauner’s invisibility. Fewer and fewer media opportunities and on those rare occasions when he does appear (like the Groundhog fearing to see its own shadow), the Governor refuses to accept questions.

  5. Clint, I disagree. I hope that Rep. Ives will win her primary. If she loses, please don’t skip that section of the general election ballot. Instead, I hope that you’ll help the statewide slate of Constitution Party candidates get on the ballot. They’ll need to get at least 25,000 signatures between March 27 & June 23. If all Illinois conservatives vote for their governor candidate, he or she will get at least 25% of the vote. That race will have at least five candidates.

  6. How can you possibly say that billionaire Bruce Rauner’s North Shore, megabucks corporatist people, are the same as the grass-roots conservatives backing Rep. Jean Ives?
    Rep. Ives is pro-life. Rauner wants IL taxpayers to support abortions.
    Ives is for immigration-control. Rauner signed a bill making Illinois a “sanctuary state” for illegal immigrants.
    Rauner’s wife, Diana not only prompted him to appoint liberal Democrats to his administration and various state commissions, but she cajoled him into a major contribution to the leftist, pro-illegal immigrant, Hebrew American Immigration Society.
    Do you doubt that?
    Well here’s the Diana and Bruce HIAS donors plaque in Lincolnwood, IL:
    https://chicagolampoon.blogspot.com/2014/08/rauner-major-donor-to-illegal-alien.html
    Bruce Rauner has so antagonized the Republican/conservative voter base – that he is almost certainly going to become a “one hit wonder,” in Illinois politics.
    He cannot possibly win another general election.