In some ways, Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) regards news that some Republican leaders have resulted to “rigging” the GOP endorsement process to favor Gov. Bruce Rauner as a backward compliment to the challenge she is posing to him in the upcoming Republican primary.
“We know they’re taking us seriously,” Ives told Prairie State Wire. “We know that they realize we’re offering the voters a real difference in terms of what we stand for.”
Still, Ives knows nothing will come easy. In one recent instance, Republican leaders at a Palatine Township Republican Organization endorsement session charged that Chairman Aaron Del Mar, a longtime Rauner supporter and 2016 appointee of his to the Illinois International Port District, argued he wasn’t required to provide other group members with rules for the meeting.
Eyebrows were also raised when Rauner won the Cook County Republican endorsement over Ives despite her winning 55 percent of the city vote.
“The Palatine meeting was a complete sham where they stuffed the ballot box with votes reminiscent of the way Democrats have been known to do things,” she said. “The Cook County vote was also a complete crock. I believe it speaks to the desperation our opponent is feeling.”
Through it all, Ives vows she won't be deterred.
“We’ll spend the next several weeks before election day traveling the state, pushing our message forward,” she said. “We’re still up on all the media platforms and we’re concentrated on directly talking to the people.”
But in the end, Ives said it all comes down to one hardcore reality voters need to remember when they go to the polls on March 20.
“The bottom line is you can’t trust Gov. Rauner,” she said. “He lied to a cardinal, he’ll lie to anyone and he’s lying now about my record,” she said.
Ives said Rauner’s recent dubious distinction of being tabbed “The worst Republican governor in America," based on a National Review survey is well earned.
“I supported Gov. Rauner back in 2014 and he’s proven to be nothing like the candidate he presented himself as or the governor he vowed he would be for the state,” she said.
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