As Illinois voters prepare to head to the polls for the March 20 primary elections, the nonprofit Illinois Family Action (IFA) is getting the word out to voters about their candidate endorsements and recommendations.
In a recent Illinois Family Spotlight podcast, the organization's executive director, David Smith and IFA writers John Biver and Laurie Higgins discussed some of the state's top races including the GOP governor's race between incumbent Bruce Rauner and Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton).
"God gave us this amazing gift of self government and to be good stewards of that gift that he has given us, we need to be active members in the political process," Smith said as he started out the podcast.
One discussion during the podcast included an outline of Rauner's campaign ads including what the group calls attempts to tie Ives to House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago).
"Anyone who has been paying attention in Illinois, we know that he (Madigan) wouldn't align himself ... probably wouldn't be caught dead in the same room with her (Ives) ... because their politics are so different," Smith commented in the podcast.
Smith then followed up by asking Higgins about her recent article where she outlines what she calls the "five big lies" in Rauner's campaign ads.
"Rauner's campaign ads are so deceitful that they alone should disqualify him from office," Higgins said during the podcast.
"I took all five of his campaign lies and exposed them, researched them ... and he just hammers those five again and again and again. I don't know how the guy sleeps at night," she said.
Among the issues Higgins calls out in Rauner's ads as being false are naming Ives as a career politician, Ives' alleged support of Speaker Madigan's 32 percent income tax increase, the claim that Ives is opposed to property tax freezes and the claim that Ives is supported by the same "union bosses" as Madigan.
"Michael Madigan is the face of the problem down in Springfield but it seems to me that Bruce Rauner keeps using him as the scapegoat," Smith commented. "He's earned his nickname, Pinocchio Rauner."
"We both know that negative campaign ads work," Smith said to Biver.
"If Jeanne Ives ... if she had his wallet and if she was in his (Rauner's) chair at the time that would have not have passed," Biver said referring to the override on the governor's tax increase veto.
During the podcast, Smith, Higgins and Biver also addressed the GOP candidates for Illinois attorney general, Erika Harold and Gary Grasso.
The IFA has not officially endorsed either Grasso or Harold, however Smith personally gave Grasso his endorsement during the podcast.
"They both are taking similar views on all the big issues whether its corruption, or marijuana or whatever, but Grasso seems a little more solid in his answers and Erika Harold, surprisingly, to some of us who have known her for a long time, is acting a little squishy," Biver said during the podcast.
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