By Mark Weyermuller -
Monday, Republican candidate for Illinois governor Jeanne Ives received several standing ovations as she addressed the City Club of Chicago. It was a public policy forum lunch held at Maggiano’s in River North.
Ives spoke for about 25 minutes on a wide range of topics, including her television commercial which some are calling controversial. Most of the speech outlined why Bruce Rauner has failed as governor and why he is unelectable. The event was moderated by board member Frank Paul, with Ed Mazur doing the introductions.
After the address, Ives took about a dozen written questions from the audience. My question received a large ovation before she even answered it. I asked, “How can we see a debate on television between Ives & Rauner?” She answered that after the Tribune forum which was shown only online, that Rauner would never attend another debate. The link here shows the Tribune forum last week along with a John Kass column saying, “Ives Crushes Rauner in Tribune Governor Debate.”
After lunch, Ives held a news conference in a separate room with a large contingent of Chicago and national media present. Most of the questions pertained to her "Thanks, Governor Rauner" commercial with no questions about her other ad that ran during the Super Bowl. One reporter asked if her commercial had actors or a a real transgender person in it. My understanding is the ad was made by a production team, so Ives did not have specific details. All in all, Ives took each question from the aggressive media with direct aggressive answers.
Governor Bruce Rauner has been invited numerous times to speak at the City Club but has never accepted. He might be the only major political figure to not speak or even attend a forum here. The forum in the past has featured Rahm Emanuel, Paul Ryan, Joe Walsh, John McCain, Mike Ditka, Dick Durbin, Barack Obama, Mark Kirk, Rocky Wirtz, Tom Ricketts, Pat Quinn, Tammy Duckworth, Bill De Blasio, Mike Madigan, and even Donald Trump to name a few.
Here is a full video of the Jeanne Ives address on the City Club of Chicago website.
The primary is Tuesday, March 20, 2018 with early voting starting as early as next week.
Caption: Weyermuller with some from the Chicago Northwest Side GOP Club including Ammie Terrell-Kessem running for State Representative
Mark Weyermuller is a small business owner, real estate professional, and conservative activist in Chicago. He is a citizen journalist and regular contributor to Illinois Review. Mark can be heard weekly on the radio in a "man on the street segment" at 2:31pm as a regular guest on the Stephanie Trussell Show heard Saturday afternoons 1-3pm on the 50,000 watt WLS-890-AM.