* As I’ve already told subscribers today, the Illinois AFL-CIO has decided to remain neutral in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Hynes’ press release just arrived, so I figured it was time the rest of you heard the news…
In a major rebuke to a sitting Democratic governor, particularly one who touts his dubious record on job creation, the Illinois AFL-CIO chose today not to make an endorsement in the race for the Democratic nomination for governor. The federation of Illinois labor organizations voted 58-42 in favor of challenger Dan Hynes.
“Rather than offering the expected formality of endorsing the sitting Democratic governor, the Illinois AFL-CIO today instead issued Pat Quinn a stinging rebuke by opting not to make an endorsement in the race for the Democratic nomination,” Hynes campaign communications director Matt McGrath said. “Make no mistake, this is a direct reflection of the Governor’s lack of leadership and inability to create jobs. No matter how many ribbon cuttings Pat Quinn attends and takes credit for, the working men and women who actually build and repair our communities and infrastructure clearly know better.” […]
“The events of recent days add up to one thing: more and more people are alert to the fact that Dan Hynes has the vision and the ideas to lead our state forward, and our campaign has real momentum,” McGrath said. “The budget continues to be a mess and unemployment is at record highs, and Dan is the one candidate offering real solutions, with the record and competence to see it through.”
I’ve asked the governor’s campaign for a response and will post it here as soon as it arrives. SEIU and some other big unions have gone with Quinn, so the governor should’ve had the advantage, particularly since he’s an incumbent governor who signed the first capital bill into law since George Ryan’s days.
* Gov. Quinn reacts to Dan Hynes receiving the Illinois Federation of Teachers’ endorsement…
Quinn said he was “disappointed” he didn’t get the teachers’ backing.
“You always want to try to get every endorsement you can,” he said.
As the campaigns march toward the February primary, another plum teachers’ union endorsement is still up for grabs: the 133,000-member Illinois Education Association. If the union makes an endorsement, it won’t be until after a January board of directors meeting, said union spokesman Charles McBarron.
The IEA often stays out of statewide primaries, but this is a hot one and it’s always possible they could jump in. Stay tuned.
* Mary Mitchell slams Mayor Daley for refusing to endorse Todd Stroger for reelection…
When you consider how much Stroger’s father, John Stroger, stuck his neck out for Daley when Daley needed it the most, the about-face is nothing short of appalling.
The elder Stroger stuck his neck out for Daley time and time again. I agree that there’s a serious debt there that can never be fully repaid, but John Stroger was county board president for quite a while and the son was dragged across the finish line and given every chance to prove himself. He screwed up. Debts only last so long, particularly political debts to somebody who had nothing to do with the original debt and who has so thoroughly screwed up his family’s formerly solid name.
* Democratic US Senate candidate David Hoffman took questions on Daily Kos yesterday. As usual with posts like that, not much actual news was made.
There were a couple of interesting moments, however. Alexi Giannoulias’ campaign has hired Georgia Logothetis, better known as former front-page DKos blogger “Georgia10.” Logothetis and other Giannoulias backers were fully engaged during the discussion, rebutting Hoffman’s polling claims and posting Giannoulias’ positions on various issues. Hoffman’s campaign did the same to Giannoulias over at DKos last Saturday, so turnabout was fair play, I suppose.
The other item of interest to me was finding out that Hoffman has hired former Democratic congressional candidate John Laesch, who ran against former Speaker Denny Hastert and lost and then lost the Democratic special primary to Bill Foster. As longtime blog readers know, I’m not exactly a fan. He’s also probably looking for a little revenge on Giannoulias, whose endorsement of Foster inspired this Laesch retort…
Laesch shrugged off Giannoulias’ endorsement, calling him “just a wealthy guy who bought himself an office.”
But the pièce de résistance - for me, at least - was this comment by Laesch…
“Abraham Lincoln, I don’t know if you know this, he didn’t [free the slaves] for the right reason, social justice. He just did it because so many white people were out of work because they couldn’t compete with slave labor.”
Whew.
Nice hire, dude.