Pritzker Funds, Hides Behind Democratic Governors Association Attacks

CHICAGO — For three months now, J.B. Pritzker's re-election campaign has hidden behind a special interest group funded in part by the governor's inherited fortune to attack the Republican who, if he makes it out of the June primary, could win — Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin.

Last week, Republican leaders called out the billionaire for being "too afraid" to put his name on a new attack ads paid for by the Democratic Governors Association, an "independent voluntary political organization organized to support Democratic governors" that Pritzker gave $250,000 in December.

The DGA's smarmy attack ad, called "Crime," singled out Irvin from the pack of Republicans vying to represent the GOP on the top of the November ballot.

"Richard Irvin has been a defense lawyer, profiting by defending some of the most violent and heinous criminals. Domestic abusers. And sexual assault," the narrator says.

"Tell Richard Irvin to stop pretending to be tough on crime and start supporting policies that keep people safe."

Everything about the ad is offensive. Or it should be. And particularly to Democrats, given recent events on Capitol Hill.

The 30-second spot also accused Irvin of being a friend to "child pornographers" for representing someone charged with that crime in court.

For a group supporting Democratic governors, the campaign attack ad sounded a lot like the absurd arguments of Republican U.S. senators who floated the false notion that Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (a former criminal defense attorney whose appointment Pritzker supports) is sympathetic to creeps who watch kiddy porn.

In America, where people accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty and have a constitutional right to an attorney, representing a criminal against felony charges is a necessary part of our justice system.

Even those accused of domestic abuse. Ask House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch, who has been arrested but never charged with domestic violence, according to former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office.

Or former House Speaker Michael Madigan campaign operative Kevin Quinn, who needed a lawyer after being accused of sexually assaulting a co-worker.

A person charged with "reckless homicide" shouldn't be denied a defense attorney, either.

Ask Mayor Richard M. Daley's nephew, R.J. Vanecko, who hired a defense attorney after he was charged with killing a guy with a single punch.

It's enough to make you wonder if the Democratic Governors Association — and Pritzker via his checkbook — is actually arguing that participating in a person's right to defend themselves against their accusers in a state with a long history of wrongful convictions makes Irvin soft on crime.

Illinois House Minority Leader Jim Durkin called the "illegitimate" claims in the attack ad an attempt by the DGA to meddle in the GOP primary.

He chastised Pritzker for not having the guts to claim the "false attacks" that he partially paid for.

"Instead of being a man and putting his name on these false attacks, Gov. Pritzker chooses to hide behind political insider groups by forcing them to meddle in the GOP primary on his behalf," Durkin said in a news conference. "It's classic Gov. Pritzker. He avoids accountability, and he thinks he can use his inheritance to silence his critics and buy his reelection."

Pritzker's administration shrugged.

“How the DGA uses their money is up to them,” a Pritzker spokesperson told Politico.

Well, since Pritzker donated $250,000 to the DGA, the group also called the African American Republican an "empty suit," a "puppet," "pawn" and "clown" controlled by the will of his "anointer," billionaire Ken Griffin, a white man, who so far has donated $20 million to back Irvin's campaign against Pritzker's more than $130 million (so far) self-funded war chest.

They've likened Irvin to a candidate who “doesn’t know where he stands" on issues and is "parroting big donor Ken Griffin's agenda."

"Richard Irvin is hiding in a back room studying Ken Griffin’s talking points so he doesn’t embarrass his big donor when he opens his mouth," DGA senior communications adviser Christina Amestoy said in a news release.

Frankly, some of the DGA's attacks sound a lot like the rhetoric of one of Irvin's Republican opponents in the June primary — Trump mega-donor Gary Rabine — who came right out and said he thinks Aurora's Black mayor, a descendant of enslaved people, is "bought and paid for."

Think about that:

The DGA is spending Gov. Pritzker's money to help fund political attacks against Irvin that sound like they're coming from folks who wear MAGA hats, and the billionaire says he's fine with it.

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, wrote and produced the Peabody Award-winning series "Time: The Kalief Browder Story." He was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docuseries on CNN and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary "16 Shots.

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