Yesterday, GOP U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk called out both his Democratic rival and his own party's gubernatorial nominee for having no tax liability in 2009. Today, Gov. Quinn did the same, echoing Kirk's argument that those receiving a state paycheck should pay some form of state income taxes -- even if the tax code doesn't require them to in a given year.
What a weird campaign issue this one has turned out to be. (My full thoughts on the "controversey" can be found here.)
GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mark Kirk said today that those drawing state salaries "out to pay tax," referring to both his Democratic rival, Alexi Giannoulias, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady.
Alexi Giannoulias' U.S. Senate campaign released a Jeopardy!
themed website this morning called "Who Is Mark Kirk?" The "game"
highlights the North Shore Republicans less-than-favorable policy
positions and resume exaggerations. Check it out.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias has been
subpoenaed by Rod Blagojevich's attorneys to appear at the former
governor's corruption trial.
A couple of weeks ago, we noted that National Stonewall Democrats, an organization dedicated to
electing pro-LGBT candidates to office, had highlighted 30 of their favorite federal candidates from across the country and was asking supporters to whittle that list down to twelve. These final picks would then receive on-the-ground organizing support from the group. Today, they announced the results and U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias made the cut. This means the Stonewall Dems will place an organizer on the ground here in Illinois to rally local chapters around this race.
On a related note, the Giannoulias campaign released this new video of the candidate talking at length about LGBT equality issues:
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias' new web ad, unveiled today, raps GOP rival Mark Kirk for avoiding reporters since the news broke about his resume exaggerations. Check it out below:
After releasing their latest statewide numbers for the U.S. Senate and governor races earlier this week, Public Policy Polling notes today that the Democratic candidates here in Illinois are struggling more than most among Obama voters:
Only 50% of Obama supporters are currently committed to voting for
Giannoulias and just 48% say they'll cast their votes for Quinn.
No other Democrat we've polled on recently has been getting less than 60% of the Obama vote.
Another state bond rating downgrade, another instance of Mark Kirk trying to blame U.S. Senate rival Alexi Giannoulias for the Illinois budget crisis:
"While many are focused on the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, Illinois families are focused on the state debt crisis right here in Illinois. Alexi Giannoulias stood by and watched as our state's debt skyrocketed and our pension liabilities spiraled out of control. [...] [N]ow his failure to do his job as State Treasurer could cost our state even more. The recent downgrading of Illinois' credit rating by Fitch and Moody's should be a major wake-up call to the citizens of Illinois. We need fiscal leadership at the federal and state level to rescue our state and turn this economy around."
Again, as Kirk's own YouTube Channel proves, Giannoulias has not simply "stood by and watched." He has been a vocal and longstanding supporter of increasing the income tax rate in Illinois (while simultaneously reducing the property tax burden) to generate much-needed revenue and help plug the deficit. It's unclear what more Kirk would like to see him do in his capacity as state treasurer. It's also unclear what Kirk supports doing to solve the crisis.
