Bruce Rauner Doesn't Owe Anybody Anything....And That Scares People In Power

They knew it wasn't going to be easy.  But, once we elect Bruce Rauner next week, both Bruce and Diana Rauner say it will be 'worth it'.

Let's close this thing strong, Illinois.

Stand with Bruce Rauner and let's actually change some things here in Illinois.  Vote now if you can.


H/T to CapFax

Wait! Taxman Isn't The 1st 'Super Hero' Of This Political Cycle

Over on CapFax, Rich Miller posted an image of Governor Pat Quinn as 'The Taxman' as part of his regular caption contest post.

We just want to point out that the Taxman isn't the first political super hero that has made an appearance this fall.  He may be the first 'caped' crusader, but look no further than Mike Frerichs as 'The Gaffeman' for the other Illinois political super hero.   In lieu of a cape, Gaffeman rocks a sash and earmuffs of course.

Check out the adventures of Gaffeman at http://www.gaffeman.com/.

Our Experience Last Night...

Mike Frerichs' guys chimed in - but it was way, way, way too late.

Us Yesterday Watching the Madness Unfold Courtesy Of the Frerichs Campaign

Let the backpedaling begin by the Mike Frerichs for Treasurer campaign!

What's The "Republic Party", Mike Frerichs?

You couldn't script a campaign narrative better than the one that Treasurer's candidate Mike Frerichs and his brain trust down in Champaign have been pulling off.

If you wanted to sum up the campaign in one word it would be:  bumbling.

They CONTINUE to make mistake after mistake.  Sure...lots of them are small things - like using 'compliment' instead of 'complement', but when you add them all up it shows a clear pattern of ineptitude and laziness.

Today, in a breathless response posted over on Rich Miller's Capitol Fax, Mike Frerichs points out that Tom Cross is a member of the "Republic Party".  Not the "Republican" or even the "GOP".  Nope.  The "Republic Party".  Check it out on this post:

Seems as if someone - *ahem* the campaign press guy -  has been spending too much time wading into the comment section over there to take the time to actually craft an intelligent, and error-free response?

Guess they're still going to need that proofreader after all, eh?

Capitol Fax Picks Up The Craigslist Posting For A Copywriter In Champaign

Wandering around on the web last night and we made a stop as we usually do at Rich Miller's Capitol Fax.

Our reaction upon seeing the post about the Craigslist job posting for a Statewide political campaign?

And Now...Mike Frerichs' *Own* Campaign Staff Spell His Name Wrong As Part of "Rapid Response"

Looks like the Mike Frerichs campaign staffer tasked with 'triage' in the Capitol Fax comments fat-fingered his own boss' name.  Yes: His.Own.Boss.

Based on the content of the comment, it is VERY clear that either someone directly ON the Frerichs for Treasurer payroll or a big, big supporter of his posted this.  No one else would go to these lengths.

Might help bolster your point next time if you actually spell the big guy's name right, DateNight aka Frerichs campaign sock puppets.

This Is NOT The Way Mike Frerichs Wanted To Celebrate His Birthday

 Our favorite latex salesman candidate for Illinois State Treasurer woke up this morning - on his 41st birthday - and took a long, hot shower.  He had to keep his 'crying face' away from everyone.  Our sources sent us this footage:

A birthday is supposed to be a happy day, right?  But, when you're running for State Treasurer and you wake up to reading this complete dismantling of your campaign by Capitol Fax's Rich Miller in Crains, you can't help but take a shower-cry.

From Crains' Chicago Business:

Back in January, state Sen. Michael Frerichs formally kicked off his campaign for Illinois state treasurer and posted a video online touting the fact the he’d ended “free, lifetime health care for state legislators.” 

Actually, Frerichs had voted against that bill in the General Assembly. Frerichs’ campaign had to pull the video and replace it with a new one, even though he’d been planning his formal launch for at least a year. 

In April, Frerichs appeared to flip-flop on his long-standing position that the comptroller’s and treasurer’s offices should be merged. 

“People have said to me,” Frerichs told a WBBM Radio interviewer, “‘Wouldn’t it just be a lot more efficient if we just had one financial officer?’ And I’ve said yes, we could become very efficient, efficient like the city of Dixon, Illinois, who just had one chief financial officer and she was able, from this small little town, over several years to take something like $52 million away from them.” 

Frerichs was quickly forced to restate his support for the office merger.

Then...the Truth Team's video of IEA's 'endorsement' (we use that term lightly based on what they said at the event) made the piece.  You can go read the whole thing yourself.  If you're backing Mike Frerichs, it isn't pretty.  

Capitol Fax Covers Democrat Mike Frerichs' "Great Event" Tweet

In addition to national outlets like the Washington Examiner and local outlets like the Madison County Record covering the latest in Mike Frerichs Candidate for Illinois State Treasurer gaffes on social media, Illinois "Top Dog" blogger and political reporter Rich Miller at Capitol Fax just posted the Frerichs' 'tweet heard round the state' on CapitolFax.com.

As you can see in the screengrab above...he called it "unfortunate".

Priceless!  But...the joy over here at the Illinois Truth Team doesn't stop there.  You have to wade into the comments to see some real gems.

(Click on each quote images of these to make them bigger if you need help reading them.)

From OneMan:

From Oswego Willie:

From Angry Chicagoan:

From Anonymous:

Even More Oswego Willie:

And...more Anonymous:

Illinois State Taxpayers Funding Rich Miller's Capitol Fax?

Over on the Illinois Mirror (and shared broadly on the Illinois Review), Eric Kohn uncovers a nice little nugget about how much the State of Illinois is paying each year to Rich Miller and his Capitol Fax publication.

In a piece titled "Here's some government spending we can cut, Rich Miller", Kohn writes about how Miller doesn't think cuts are the answer to our problem in Illinois.

So, Rich Miller can’t find any government spending to cut, eh? I think I might have found a place to start: 

In FY2013, Rich Miller’s Ahead of Our Time Publishing received $44,000 (UPDATE/CORRECTION: $19,900 in FY2012, $41,000 in FY2013, $34,000 so far in FY2014) in taxpayer money for subscriptions to Capitol Fax. 

That’s right, your money is paying for politicos and government functionaries to read his political gossip. 

For some context, Illinois per capita income is $29,519, and the media household income is $56,853. 

Now, of course, cutting $41k in spending isn’t going to balance the budget or fix our pension crisis. But just remember that when you hear Rich Miller saying that we can’t cut spending without doing great harm, he’s talking — at least in part — about the harm that would come to his bank account.

Listen...this seems like a tempest in a teapot.  AKA:  cost of doing business in state government.  We need our government officials (elected and staff) to be informed, don't we?  That costs $40K?  So be it.

What about other media consumption?  What do the numbers look like for things like Crain's Chicago Business and the Chicago Tribune or....even Comcast cable?  Bet there are a lot of cable bills being paid by the State of Illinois from various offices.  The whole Comcast Newsmakers program is a built off the vanity of elected officials.  But...we still pay them, don't we?

Dem Watch: Mike Frerichs "The 5th Beatle" - Caption Contest

Last week, we posted this photo of Democrat candidate for Treasurer Mike Frerichs on the Truth Team.  Check out our post here.  Hilarious stuff...

Here's a screenshot of our post.

Now, Rich Miller at Capitol Fax is using it as part of his 'caption contest'.

For those of you who like to pile on Mike "Tall Tales" Frerichs, you'll enjoy the comments.  Head there now.

Mike Frerichs Caught Lying in Annoucement Video

Things have gone from bad to worse for Senator Mike Frerichs.  He launched his campaign yesterday (remember..even Bill Clinton weighed in!) and things have gone south since.

Rich Miller, at Capitol Fax has taken notice that the Frerichs for Treasurer Campaign has had to take down their announcement video.  Because, in it, Mike lied.

In his video, he claims that he was a big boy and was a leader by working to end 'free lifetime healtcare for legislators.'  Unfortunately for Mike Frerichs, he actually voted against that bill.  Bummer for him.  At least the video product guys get a few bucks out of the deal for having to cut another video.

CapFax has the details and even a comment from Mike "Standing Tall" Frerichs himself where he said that they 'messed up'.  But the dagger in story is this:

But, really, the goofiest thing about this mistake is that Frerichs has been running for treasurer for a year now. He’s had all this time to prepare the “perfect” official rollout and he blew it. That’s a seriously amateur mistake for a guy who claims to be running a top-notch campaign. There’s just no excuse for this stuff.

And, remember folks.  This guy - Mike Frerichs...who in his *announcement video* isn't telling the truth wants to be your latex salesman Illinois State Treasurer.