CHICAGO - Governor Rauner is the hands down favorite of Chicago legacy media editorial boards in the March 20th IL GOP gubernatorial primary - the same Chicago media that boosted Democrat Barack Obama from a lowly state senator to new heights every time he ran for office, including President of the United States. Twice.
Chicago Tribune also endorsed JB Pritzker in the Democrat primary:
… [Gov Rauner] urged a two-year property tax freeze for homeowners. He pushed for changes to workers’ compensation to grow jobs. He requested legislative votes on term limits and redistricting reform, proposals wildly popular among voters. He said he would adopt Senate President John Cullerton’s pension ideas to reduce costs.
...He is the first governor to unflinchingly stand up to Madigan. The war for Illinois’ future — will a death spiral or an economic rebound prevail? — endures. And if voters elect any Republican, Madigan will again try to make that governor fail. If that governor is Rauner, you know your governor won’t stop fighting.
…In this primary, Rauner is endorsed.
Daily Herald endorsed Chris Kennedy in the Democrat gubernatorial primary:
…Rauner has shown that he can buck the state’s Democratic tendencies. And, he is completing a four-year legislative learning curve from which he presumably has found out something about what doesn’t work — and what does — both to stop a wholesale onslaught of Democratic measures and to promote at least a degree of limited-government Republican principles.
So, the outlook for Republicans in this primary is clear and persuasive. Vote for a candidate whose divisive brand of confrontational conservatism would divide the party, continue the futile obstructionism of the past four years and ensure a loss in November. Or, elect a candidate who has demonstrated his commitment to the fundamental values of the party and has had the opportunity to learn productive ways to advance them.
We’re putting our hopes on the latter. Gov. Bruce Rauner gets our endorsement for the GOP nomination for governor in the March 20 primary.
…The governor signed a bill overhauling the way public schools are funded in the state, reducing inequities that punished schools in poorer communities for generations. It was his signature achievement.
As part of this school funding reform effort, Rauner teamed up with Cardinal Blase Cupich to create a private school scholarship program. We opposed the measure, seeing it as a taxpayer give-away to private schools, but it was popular with Republican legislators and voters. In a Republican primary, it counts as a solid achievement.
Rauner also signed the Future Energy Jobs Act, which promises to make Illinois a leader in creating clean energy jobs, such as in the fields of solar and wind power. The bill was derided by critics as a bailout for Exelon’s nuclear power plants, but it was supported by environmentalists and consumer groups. The new law looks to Illinois’ future, not the past, and Rauner should brag about it.
His opponent, State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) was not viewed favorably by any of these three news sources.
