Rauner And Pritzker Clash In First One-On-One Debate

CHICAGO — A multi-millionaire and a billionaire walked on to a stage Wednesday in Chicago and proceeded to argue over which of them would be better for the middle class. The second televised debate for Illinois governor was the first time incumbent Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic challenger J.B. Pritzker appeared alone together, and there were no shortage of sharp attacks. Both candidates accused the other of lying and corruption during the hourlong debate, which featured questions from reporters and opportunities for the two men to address each other directly.

On a week where the front-runner was found to have engaged in a "scheme to defraud" taxpayers and promised to return more than $330,000 in tax breaks and the governor is accused of mishandling multiple public health crises, the two had plenty of fresh ammunition to use to take aim at one another during the debate co-sponsored by WLS-TV, Univision and the League of Women voters.

Rauner repeatedly accused Pritzker of "cheating" on his taxes while planning to raise taxes on the public when elected, citing a confidential inspector general's report completed last week and obtained this week by the Chicago Sun-Times. Pritzker's campaign has dismissed the report as politically leaked. During the debate, he denied wrongdoing but said he returned the money because there was just over a month before the election.

"I don't want to distract from the real issues affecting working families across the state of Illinois," Pritzker said. "That's why I repaid that." He said the governor was focusing on the report to "distract from his own failures."

Pritzker also accused Rauner of covering up the outbreak of Legionnaires' disease at the Illinois Veterans Home and failing to respond to reports of cancer-causing emissions from the Sterigenics facility in Willowbrook. The company was owned by Rauner's former investment firm, although he denies any interest in the company.

"Don't you think you owe the people of Willowbrook an answer?" Pritzker asked the governor. "What do have to you say to them about the fact that they've gotten sick during the time that you've been intransigent on a company that you bought and you owned?"

Rauner aimed to keep the focus on what he described as the two biggest challenges facing the state, taxes and corruption. He brought up the 2008 FBI wiretaps of Pritzker seeking office from imprisoned Gov. Rod Blagojavich, saying it demonstrated the Democrat was both corrupt and racist.

"I am being challenged by an individual who inherited billions, has never had a real job in his life, has cheated the tax system to dodge taxes, may well come under criminal investigation," Rauner said.

"He is trying to buy political office, he's trying to buy the governorship to be something for the first time in his life because if he wasn't a trust fund baby he would be nothing." The man who made millions in private equity – or as Rauner describes it, working for "teachers and police officers"– complained he was being outspent 3-1 by the billionaire.

Much of the debate focused on taxes. Rauner charged Pritzker with seeking to raise taxes on everyone by changing the state's flat income tax system to a graduated progressive tax. Pritzker accused Rauner of raising property taxes and supporting a regressive flat state income tax.

"He's defending the most unfair income tax system in the nation. That's was Illinois has. People at the bottom are paying 13 and 11 percent and people at the top are paying about half of that," Pritzker said, citing the combined effect of property, sales and income tax. He said the state needed a "fair tax system," although he continued to avoid disclosing any specific rates or tax brackets, repeating his position the details would need to be worked out later with the legislature.

Rauner repeatedly suggested Pritzker's tax policies were hypocritical in light of revelations Pritzker that he managed to appeal millions of dollars off of the assessed values

"Mr. Pritzker is advocating for tax hikes for the people of Illinois – everyone in the state – while he has been cheating on his taxes. It's already been established by the Cook County Inspector General, he has cheated on his property taxes in a scheme to defraud, possibly criminal behavior. He has also inherited billions of dollars, kept it offshore, so he has not paid his income taxes in America or in Illinois."

Rauner repeated that Pritkzer "represents everything that's broken in Illinois."

"You're lying," Pritzker said. "Just not telling the truth." Pritkzer took credit for creating "thousands of jobs" through his venture capital investments and the Chicago-based 1871 tech incubator and said Rauner made his fortune through buying companies and firing people to increase profits.

Pritzker, who has already funded his campaign to the tune of nearly $150 million plus millions in donations to state and local Democratic Party political committees, said the race was worth the unprecedented cost.

"With all the money that gets spent in politics, in this race, Illinois is worth it. To wrest control of the state from Bruce Rauner and the Koch brothers right-wing network and their desire to lower wages for working families in the state," Pritzker said. "It's worth it."

Other topics discussed during the hourlong debate included immigration, sexual harassment and campaign finance reform. Pritzker criticized Rauner for refusing to accept Syrian refugees after they were vetted by the federal government. Rauner criticized Pritzker for not condemning House Speaker Mike Madigan earlier after his top aide and other members of his political organization were accused of harassment. Neither said it was unhealthy that voters will be asked to choose between two candidates with such immense wealth (and more than a dozen houses between them.)

"Bruce Rauner and I are not in the middle class," Pritzker said. "We ought to make sure that those who are wealthy in the state should step up to the plate."

"I pay my taxes," Rauner said. "You don't."

"You are hiding money in the Cayman Islands," Pritzker responded. "You moved money abroad. That is what you did."

Hours before the debate, WBEZ reported Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office has opened a criminal investigation into the handling of a deadly outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease at the state-run veterans' home in Quincy. The probe will examine whether any laws were violated and whether the public was "informed in a timely and appropriate manner."

Earlier this week, a WBEZ report showed Rauner's deputy press secretary in August 2015, Lindsay Walters, told staff not to make any public statement about the outbreak during a six-day delay after state officials were aware of a growing epidemic that killed 14 and sickened dozens of other residents and staff. Walters is now a deputy press secretary in the Trump Administration.

Pritzker led Rauner by more than 20 percent among likely voters, according to poll conducted last week by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University. It showed 49 percent support for the Democrat and just 27 percent in support of the incumbent Republican governor. Another 17 percent were undecided and third party candidates Sam McCann and Kash Jackson each picked up 4 percent.

When broken down by party, only 67 percent of Republicans said they would vote for Rauner, while 81 percent of Democrats told pollsters they would vote for Pritzker. Jackson and McCann were excluded from Wednesday's debate because neither of them had reached 10 percent in any public polling.

A final televised debate will be held Thursday, Oct. 11 in Quincy, sponsored by WGEM and the Illinois Broadcasters Association.

Watch the full WLS-TV, Univision debate:

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