By Illinois Review
From 2007-2015, Bob Fioretti served as a Democratic Alderman for Ward 2 on the Chicago City Council.
In 2012, Fioretti proudly voted for President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, saying “no question about it…and I’m proud of it,” during an Election Day interview outside of a polling station.
In 2013, Fioretti was a founding member of the Chicago City Council’s Progressive Caucus – a group comprised of the most progressive Democrats at City Call.
Today the Progressive Caucus’ Political Action Committee is funded in large party by labor unions including the SEIU Illinois Council, AFSCME Illinois Council No. 31 and the Chicago’s Teachers Union.
In 2019, the Progressive Caucus targeted the business community and proposed tax increases to address the city’s budget crisis.
And in 2020, the caucus called for the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park, tweeting, “Thanks to the hard work of Black, Brown and Indigenous youth, a monument to hate and discrimination has come down. The legacy of Christopher Columbus is not what Chicago stands for and this is a step in the right direction.”
In 2014, Fioretti and the Progressive Caucus introduced a measure to raise the minimum wage in the City of Chicago to $15 per hour.
In 2015, Fioretti ran unsuccessfully for Chicago Mayor.
During an interview with the Windy City Times as a mayoral candidate on December 19, 2014, Fioretti said, “I was one of the first aldermen to come out for marriage equality…I’ve always been a strong supporter of civil unions and marriage equality.”
In that same interview, Fioretti also expressed his support for the transgender community, stating, “it’s a community that needs assistance, help and recognition.”
In addition to the video interview, Fioretti also submitted his answers to a Windy City Times Candidate Questionnaire stating that “a woman should have a right to choose what is best for her own body, and I fully support all legislation that keeps abortion safe and legal.”
On March 29, 2015, Fioretti endorsed Chicago Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel for re-election, saying, “I will be casting my vote for Rahm Emanuel.”
In 2016, Fioretti ran for Illinois State Senate District 5 in the Democratic Primary, losing to incumbent Patricia Van Pelt by 35 points.
In 2018, Fioretti ran for Cook County Board President in the Democratic Primary, losing to incumbent Toni Preckwinkle by 21 points.
Fioretti also proposed changing Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago to Obama Plaza, in honor of the 44th President of the United States during a press conference in December 2018.
In 2019, Fioretti ran for Chicago Mayor in the Primary, where he finished in 12th place.
Lighfoot would win the runoff election against Preckwinkle by 47 points – becoming Chicago’s 56th Mayor.
In 2020, Fioretti ran for Cook County State’s Attorney in the Democratic Primary, where he finished in fourth place – losing to Kim Foxx by 45 points.
During a state’s attorney candidate questionnaire for the Patch, Fioretti wrote that he’s “proud of my progressive record and history. Co-founder of the Progressive Caucus in the City Council, early supporter of same sex marriage, $15 minimum wage….strong supporter of women’s reproductive rights…”
Foxx would defeat Republican Patrick O’Brien by 15 points in the General Election.
And in 2022, Fioretti ran for Cook County Board President against Preckwinkle again – only this time, as a Republican, after years of humiliating election defeats running as a Democrat.
And Fioretti would lose to Preckwinkle again – this time by 38 points.
But despite Fioretti’s record as a Democrat, and his longtime support of issues like abortion, same sex marriage and transgender rights – and the fact that he last ran as a Democrat in 2020 – that didn’t seem to bother Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy, who hosted a fundraiser for Fioretti last October and made a personal donation to his campaign on September 2, 2022.
The State Board of Elections website even lists a $5,000 donation from the Illinois Republican Party to ‘Fioretti for Cook’ on November 1, 2022 – which is presumably for mailers.
The website also lists a $70,000 donation from the Illinois Republican Party to ‘Hart for DuPage’ on October 18, 2022 – presumably for mailers as well.
In October, the IL GOP sent out a pro-choice mailer on behalf of Hart’s campaign with the words, “Paid for by the Illinois Republican Party” – representing a direct violation of the Illinois Republican Party Platform.
What’s missing? Contributions from the Illinois Republican Party and Don Tracy to conservative grassroots candidates.
Supporting Fioretti is also a direct violation of the Illinois Republican Party Platform, which promotes pro-life and pro-traditional family values and principles. And nowhere does the party platform discuss support for abortion, same sex marriage and transgender rights.
And Tracy should know better as the leader of the Illinois Republican Party.
However, Tracy’s support for Fioretti and Hart isn’t a surprise.
After all, in 2002, Tracy ran in the Illinois Primary for the 50th State Senate District as a Democrat.
In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Tracy’s family-owned business, Dot Foods – where he is an owner, donated to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
And recent revelations uncovered by Illinois Review reveal that on September 4, 2020 – just months before his election as chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, Tracy made a personal donation to Citizens for Judge Emily Sutton – a Democrat running for Circuit Court Judge in the 9th Judicial Circuit of Illinois.
And in 2014, during an interview with Illinois political reporter Bernard Schoeburg, Tracy admitted that he’s actually an “independent,” and when reflecting on his 2002 state senate campaign, he said, “I thought I could be more independent as a Democrat in a county where the Democrat Party was weak.”
In other words, Tracy’s a political opportunist, and he is guided not by principles, but by whatever is convenient and gets him the most influence.
Sounds just like his pal Fioretti. After all, they do share similar winning records.
Don’t know what to make of this article Illinois Review.
It comes across like trying to troll against Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy, but, “like a poor marksman” the target keeps being missed, for a variety of reasons.
Bob Fioretti running for Cook County Board President as a Republican. I went and checked the Official Canvass for last year’s primary from the Cook County Clerk, and no Republican filed for county board president, or any other Cook County Board countywide office.
Which means, Fioretti had to be slated post-primary by the Cook County Republican Party Chairman Tom Morrison, with the support of the Cook County Republican City of Chicago ward committeepersons and suburban Cook County township committeepersons, to be on last November’s general election ballot.
So why no criticism of the Cook County popularly elected Republican leaders for SLATING Fioretti post-primary in the first place?
And I also thought it was state law that someone who cast the Democratic primary ballot in the same election cycle could not be slated in the other established party’s ticket. If that law is still on the books, then Fioretti either cast a Republican ballot last June, or didn’t vote in the Democratic primary. If that law’s still in place, and Fioretti cast a Democrat ballot last June, the Cook County Democrats would have been all over that in court.
Don Tracy didn’t have to financialy support Fioretti, but had Fioretti not been on the ballot, it’d be a non-issue. Morrison was running for reelection to the Cook County Board, so maybe he wanted a board president candidate to help him?
Then comes the open DuPage County board chairman election last year, and the support for Republican nominee Greg Hart, who was a member of the DuPage County Board. Hart won his primary last June over then-DuPage County Board Member Pete DiCianni of Elmhurst, and it was a convincing win with Hart winning just under 60% of the Republican primary vote countywide in the 2nd largest county in Illinois.
Sadly, Hart switched to pro-choice AFTER the primary, and his flip-flop on right-to-life was very sad given it was politically motivated, and AFTER primary voters cast their Republican ballots. While many Republican nominees stripped their campaign websites of their “pro-life” stances after winning the primary, I know of none other who did the flip-flop Hart did.
All of that said, while the Illinois Republican Party platform remains pro-life, there is no rule or by-law prohibiting the state party, or any organization using the Republican name to back the Republican nominee, no matter their stances on any issue, including Life. All indications, the state party, and the local parties, support the ENTIRE REPUBLICAN ticket. Hart won his primary fair-and-square. It was after the primary when Hart came-out as pro-choice.
Also, while Illinois Review highlighted the transfer-out to Hart for DuPage political committee of $70K from the IL GOP, in that same quarterly report, Hart for DuPage transferred-in to the Illinois Republican Party a total of $240K last October, prior to the $70K transfer-out.
I don’t know how the mechanics of the accounting works between the state party and a local candidate like Hart, but going by the 4th Quarter campaign disclosure report of the IL GOP, Hart transferred-in far more money then the IL GOP transferred-out for the Hart mailing. The $240K Hart for DuPage transfer-in to the IL GOP is in the record, but this was omitted in the article.
All of the money didn’t avail Hart, who lost the DuPage County board chairman election to then-state Rep. Deb Conroy, and flipping the DuPage County board chairmanship to Democrat after decades of Republicans holding the DuPage County board chairmanship.
Respectfully, Illinois Review please do better.
The removal of the Columbus statue was only the beginning. The “Woke” mob’s next likely target is Chicago’s historical landmark, the DuSable/Michigan Avenue Bridge. This architectural monument enrages the leftists and the anarchists because it celebrated the pioneers who were garrisoned at Fort Dearborn and those who were massacred in the “War of 1812.” The original settlers of Chicago were not diverse enough to satisfy multicultural revisionist who hate US history, so the bridge has been targeted by vandals who have defaced the dedication plaques on the 103 year old bridge. Graffiti and stickers have marred the bridge. Maybe the next step will be to paint the Wrigley Building or to remove the statue of George Washington from Wacker Drive.