Gov. Candidate JB Pritzker Trolls Rauner With Giant Clock Mascot
By aaroncynic in News on May 26, 2017 7:41PM
Billionaire and Illinois gubernatorial challenger JB Pritzker speaks with reporters at a labor rally outside a nursing home in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. Photo by Aaron Cynic.
Gubernatorial Democratic hopeful and local billionaire JB Pritzker began trolling Gov. Bruce Rauner with an anthropomorphic clock Friday, part of a larger multimedia effort by the campaign to explicitly lay the state’s budget crisis at the feet of the governor.
"Time is running out for Bruce Rauner to take responsibility for the crisis he has created and even though he runs away from reporters, Bruce Rauner won't be able to hide from Tick Tock the Budget Clock,” Pritzker campaign spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh said in a press release.
Illinois is creeping closer to 700 days without a budget, and it’s likely the legislature will adjourn next week without reaching an agreement. Since the inception of the impasse, Rauner has sought to blame arch-nemesis House Speaker Michael Madigan and other legislative Democrats for not signing off on pieces of his ham-fisted ‘Turnaround’ agenda, a “pro-business” package of legislation and other austerity measures.
@BruceRauner And of course, Tick Tock was on hand to remind Rauner about the crisis he created. #Day695 #twill pic.twitter.com/dTWIBNwOdA
— CrisisCreatin'Rauner (@RaunersCrisis) May 26, 2017
‘Tick Tock,’ a character reminiscent of ‘Quinnochio,’ a costumed character commissioned by the Rauner campaign to follow around former governor Pat Quinn, or Quinn’s own ‘Squeezy the Pension Python,’ turned up at a Rauner event in south suburban Orland Park today. The character is a part of a larger effort by Pritzker called “Crisis Creatin’ Rauner,” which the campaign says is to hold “Rauner accountable for this crisis of his own making and the families, schools, and social service agencies that continue to pay the price.”
Meanwhile Rauner, who has totally not been campaigning while touring the state, released another digital ad Friday that’s also definitely not a campaign video. Called “How We Got Here,” the video features more sweeping theatrical music and quick clips from news stories, all but making it a trailer for a sequel no one wants to watch.
“For the past two and a half years, Gov. Rauner has taken on the Madigan Machine and stood up to its tax-and-spend agenda,” said the Illinois GOP in a statement.