Past birthday wishes for the Governor have gone unfulfilled: Progressive income tax, Senate President Kimberly Lightford, and DPI Chairwoman Michelle Harris

It’s usually sad when birthday wishes don’t come true. But when it comes to Governor JB Pritzker’s unfulfilled wishes – the failures are embarrassing. We hate to be a downer on the Governor’s birthday, but let’s take a look at how JB’s hopes have often go awry:

Birthday Wish #1: Implement a massive tax hike on Illinoisans via the Tax Hike Amendment of 2020.

• Unfortunately for Pritzker, his hopes of higher taxes met the will of the people who soundly rejected his progressive tax proposal at the ballot box in November 2020. This was a high profile defeat for the Governor and cast massive doubt about his future agenda and the effectiveness of his political team. Even so, we know this remains his #1 birthday wish again this year – he’ll never stop trying to raise taxes – which is why we will work overtime to defeat Pritzker in November.

Birthday Wish #2: Elevate Senator Kimberly Lightford to Senate President.

• After the retirement of longtime Senate President John Cullerton, the race was on to see which Democratic senator would take his place. The contest was whittled down to Senators Don Harmon and Kimberly Lightford. Pritzker publicly and privately pushed hard to elect Lightford to the position but was rebuffed by a majority of the Senate Democratic Caucus who nominated Don Harmon instead. The defeat was an embarrassing and unexpected one at the hands of supposed legislative allies.

Birthday Wish #3: Elect Chicago Alderwoman Michelle Harris to be Chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Illinois.

• Pritzker tried to impose his wishes again to anoint Chicago Alderman Michelle Harris as Chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Illinois (DPI) after his old ally Mike Madigan had to go away quietly. The new chair was elected by the state central committee of the DPI and again, the Governor found that while his inherited billions will spend, his political capital will not. Instead, Congresswoman Robin Kelly, backed by US Senator Dick Durbin, edged out Harris and was elected DPI Chairwoman. This was another stinging defeat for the Governor that left him wondering if any of the “friends” at his birthday party actually like or respect him.

We wish we could say we hope for the Governor’s dreams to come true in 2022 – but we don’t. The people of Illinois can’t afford Pritzker’s wish list of higher taxes, coddling criminals, and more corruption.

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