Kennedy accuses Illinois Dems of blocking candidacy
The race for governor seems to be focused on ousting incompetent Republican incumbent Bruce Rauner, but the real battle is between the two Democrats, Chris Kennedy and J.B. Pritzker to win party backing for the March 20, 2018 Democratic Primary
By Ray Hanania
It’s a war between a billionaire J.B. Pritzker and a multi-millionaire Chris Kennedy.
Chris Kennedy comes from a well known and wealthy American iconic family, the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, but his money doesn’t even come close to the money behind his Democratic rival for governor, J.B. Pritzker.
Pritzker, who has funded groups, candidates and organizations for years with his money, is a multi-billionaire, while Kennedy is only a multi-millionaire.
It made sound trivial — they are both rich and wealthy — but the difference is driving the election for the Democratic Party nomination.
Kennedy has been a socially conscious public servant from a family that has done so much for America. His uncle is the former President John F. Kennedy who was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. His father served as JFK’s U.S. Attorney, fighting the mob, and organized crime and corruption in the nation’s unions, and later was elected the U.S. Senator from New York, elected in November 1964 and assassinated himself during the presidential election on June 6, 1968, by a Palestinian angry with the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip one year earlier.
Yet while Pritzker has been cozying up to the Democratic Party leadership and spending big bucks on expensive and early TV commercials trying to get voters acquainted with who he is — he’s always been somewhat in the backdrop despite huge donations that have created iconic institutions in his family name — Kennedy was out there serving food to the poor and fighting for civil and human rights.
Kennedy announced months before Pritzker, but Pritzker seems to have taken the perception lead with his commercials that inundate TV viewing, especially in the Chicagoland area.
In a recent release, Kennedy complained that “powerful forces” in the Democratic Party are steering backing towards Pritzker.
Whomever wins the March Democratic Primary election will face off with Gov. Bruce Rauner on Nov. 6, 2018 and it is certain that Rauner, despite his own multi-billion dollar investments and his former ownership of the racist Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, will most likely lose that election.
But many view Kennedy as the stronger candidate to challenge Rauner and Pritzker the weaker candidate, although that will be determined in the March primary contest. Pritzker has some bright ideas and it will be interesting to see how the election contest evolves.
Here is the release that Kennedy put out this past week:
Politico reported yesterday, “There’s mounting evidence” that “powerful forces within the Democratic establishment” are steering political support to get behind billionaire J.B. Pritzker.
In 1960, party insiders tried to push my uncle John Kennedy out of the race for president, but he took his message directly to the primary voters.
The thing about history is, if you don’t learn from it, you are doomed to repeat it. If a group of political insiders think that they can bypass the voters and select a nominee, they have learned the wrong lessons from 1960 and from last year’s presidential primary too.
I am going to take our message of radical change to the voters in Illinois.
Insiders don’t want to hear the truth and they don’t like me because I’m the one telling it. They want to silence us because we threaten the status quo. But that’s not going to stop me from working to bring change to a system that hasn’t been helping families and residents across Illinois for a long time — and I hope it won’t stop you either.
We need a government that works for the people of this state: a property tax system that can’t be abused by the wealthy and insiders, fair funding for our public schools, expanded voter access to include more people in our political process, and comprehensive tax reform that includes a progressive income tax.
Please contribute today to help spread our message of radical change across the state — and show the political insiders that we won’t be intimidated or silenced.
The people of Illinois are angry about the current state of our politics, our government, our economy, and our leaders. For many, the politics of the establishment, the economy of the establishment, and the representatives of the establishment have become the enemy.
Our current leaders have a choice: they can bury their heads in the sand — or they can embrace the change needed to rebuild the future of our state and renew the promise of the American Dream.
I know where I stand, and I’m grateful you’re with me.
Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.
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