Threats of violence, controversial ads mark final days of Illinois’ gubernatorial race

[November 04, 2022]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Things are heating up in Illinois’ gubernatorial race just days before the Nov. 8 election.

Late last month, a man left a threatening voicemail for Republican state Sen. Darren Bailey, saying he would mutilate and kill Bailey and his family. Scott Lennox is charged with felony counts of threatening a public official and harassment.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker condemned such threats, saying on Twitter it’s unacceptable and hate has no home in Illinois.

“The violent rhetoric and division we're seeing across our country is unacceptable,” Pritzker said on Twitter. “Hatred in any form has no home in Illinois."

Bailey agreed with Pritzker, saying such threats should never be tolerated.

“Yet, he is the very person that is creating a lot of this division,” Bailey said Thursday outside the Clay County courthouse. “And as a matter of fact, it was perceived, I believe, one of his ads that this person was watching when he got so angry at me.”

Prosecutors told The Chicago Sun-Times that the ad made Lennox angry, leading to an argument between Lennox and his friends. Lennox allegedly then left the voicemail on Bailey’s Springfield office line.

Earlier this week, Pritzker’s campaign sent the Bailey campaign a letter asking the Republican challenger to accept the election results next week.

“Election denialism is a dark plague that threatens the very foundation of our democracy,” the letter said. “In this time of unparalleled division, it is important we as campaign leaders, along with our candidates, promise to respect Illinoisans’ wishes.”

Bailey said Thursday he already stated that he would accept election results and encouraged people to become poll watchers.

Pritzker is expected to host President Joe Biden in the Chicago area Friday for a get-out-the-vote rally. Biden this week characterized those who question election outcomes as threats to democracy.
 

“As I stand here today, there are candidates running for every level of office in America – for governor, Congress, attorney general, secretary of state – who won’t commit, that will not commit to accepting the results of the election that they’re running in. This is a path to chaos in America. It’s unprecedented,” Biden said. “It’s unlawful, and it’s un-American.”

Side-by-side: State Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker. - Greg Bishop / The Center Square, BlueRoomStream

Bailey said such rhetoric is dangerous.

“Someone stands up and calls someone [running] for office a threat to democracy, that’s what I consider extreme and I think this man is extreme,” Bailey said. “And I think the people of Illinois know it and I think they’re going to show it next Tuesday.”

Bailey early voted Thursday and took questions outside the Clay County courthouse where he won his circuit-court level challenge to Pritzker’s COVID-19 executive orders in the summer of 2020.

Adding to the heated final days, a new video ad critical of incumbent Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s comments on years-old FBI wiretaps is making a splash.
 

The ad is from People Who Play By The Rules PAC, primarily funded by billionaire Richard Uihlein. It dips into a recorded call between Pritzker and then-governor Rod Blagojevich about a replacement for the Senate seat being vacated by then-President-elect Barack Obama.

“Newly released FBI recording of Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker is causing a deep split in the African-American community,” a TV news anchor says in a clip from 2018.

“Of all the African Americans I can think that are sort of like qualified as least offensive, it’s Jesse White,” Pritzker is heard in the taped call. “Emil [Jones] is a little more crass.”

A narrator closes the ad by saying “punish Pritzker for his racism.”

Secretary of State Jesse White, who isn’t seeking reelection, put out a statement for voters saying Pritzker doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. White called the ad offensive and urged voters to ignore it.

“To manipulate a taped phone conversation and to use it in a political commercial, as it reflects the Governor’s views, is highly offensive,” White said in a statement sent from a private email address. “I strongly encourage the people of Illinois to ignore this desperate political ad.”

Pritzker’s campaign told a political blog if the ad is an attempt to suppress the Black vote, it must be coming from a losing campaign.

Greg Bishop reports on Illinois government and other issues for The Center Square. Bishop has years of award-winning broadcast experience and hosts the WMAY Morning Newsfeed out of Springfield