Staffers Accuse JB Pritzker Campaign Of Racial Discrimination

CHICAGO — Campaign workers on JB Pritzker's campaign for Illinois governor filed a civil suit in federal court Tuesday accusing the front-runner of racial discrimination and harassment against black and Latino staff members. Filed three weeks before Election Day on behalf of 10 current and former employees, the complaint describes the Pritzker campaign as a "cesspool of racial discrimination and harassment."

Their lawsuit said most black and Latino staff were "herded" into areas in the South and West sides of Chicago, called POD 4, where they were subjected to unsafe working conditions and denied the same benefits as white workers.

"Contrary to the candidate's many public avowals, rather than working to meaningfully address discrimination, racism is perpetuated, condoned and ratified by the campaign," said the complaint, which made multiple references to J.B. Pritzker's comment regarding the "least offensive" black candidate in a 2008 wiretapped conversation with imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

One staffer, a former campaign worker for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and a Florida gubernatorial campaign, traveled over 1,000 miles to work for Pritzker in Illinois and was "one of the few blacks not herded into POD 4," according to the suit. She was later informed by the campaign that she had been hired to meet a "black female organizer quota," it said. She was assigned to work in Peoria and stay with a family that was "friendly to the campaign."

However, when the Peoria Pritzker supporters found out the field organizer was black, they refused to let her stay with them.

"As a result, she was forced to sleep in her car and at the campaign office," the suit said. Eventually Pritzker's director of field operations found her a hotel "in an unsafe part of town."

When the staffer complained she did not feel safe, she was advised of the campaign's "financial budget" and "told to 'make due,'" according to the complaint. (Pritzker's campaign spent about $520,000 a day last quarter and the billionaire first-time nominee has spent more of his own money on the race – $146.6 million – than any candidate in U.S. history.) The lawsuit said a local Democratic Party chair told the campaign cheaper rates could be arranged at safer hotels in Peoria, but the campaign refused to allow it. The staffer eventually resigned her position.

Workers assigned to the campaign's South Side office also had safety concerns, according to the complaint. A Foot Locker next door was robbed twice in a week, two other nearby stores were robbed, the field office was "cased," a young woman was raped outside the office's back door and there was an exchange of gunfire outside its back door – all during daylight hours.

An alderman offered free space to the workers at a safer location, but the campaign rejected the request, the lawsuit said. The campaign also rejected requests to work remotely after dark, which the campaign also denied. The suit said black and Latino field organizers were denied the ability to telecommute – unlike white staffers.

When staffers asked why Pritzker never visited their office, they were told "he'll visit when they stop shooting."

Some of the other allegations in the suit:

• Field organizers were assigned racist tasks like "go round up 40 black guys."
• Using "crass and racially discriminatory language."
• Attempting to "intimidate and harangue" black and Latino organizers for asserting their constitutional rights.
• Campaign officials placed personnel in positions for which they were unqualified "solely to act as overseers and stifle the complaints" of minorities.

Mandatory cultural sensitivity training was held Sept. 12 as a result of "numerous and ongoing complaints of racial discrimination," according to the suit. However, staff was told to tell black and Latino staffers "not to say anything stupid," and all field organizers were required to turn in their cell phones, which never happened at any other meeting.

Attorney Jeanette Samuels said there were complaints from additional campaign workers, but some were concerned with the consequences of being named publicly in the complaint.

"It was originally more people," Samuels said. "Some people just wanted to provide information and didn't want to be part of the lawsuit. Other people felt comfortable moving forward with the lawsuit."

Samuels sent a letter to Pritzker's campaign Friday offering a settlement to resolve the complaints. It asked for all the policy changes mentioned in the suit and pegged the "actual and punitive damages" at $7.5 million. The settlement offer expired Monday, according to a copy of the letter provided by Samuels.

The three-count suit asks a court to order the campaign to take measures to prevent and discipline discrimination, including leaving job openings posted for a "reasonable period of time." It requests that Pritzker, if elected governor, be ordered to appoint a "chief diversity officer to oversee and audit the executive branch's employment practices," establish a meaningful anti-discrimination policy and award back pay and attorney's fees to the field organizers.

“To be clear, this is just not true," said Pritzker in a statement Wednesday. "I am incredibly proud of our campaign, how diverse it is, and how inclusive our administration will be.”

Pritzker's pick for lieutenant governor, Rep. Juliana Stratton (D-Chicago) said the offer was "not a good faith effort." Stratton, who is black, said in a statement that she "couldn't be prouder to be on the ticket with JB" and said the majority of the campaign's senior staffers are black.

"The incidents listed in this complaint are baseless and make offensive claims in regard to several members of our staff," said Stratton. "We stand by our staff and that’s why we are not afraid to litigate this to the fullest extent of the law."

Pritzker's opponent, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who trails the challenger by double digits in every public poll, said the allegations are serious and "need to be investigated." He brought up, as he has throughout the campaign, Pritzker's wiretapped conversations with Blagojevich and suggested the Democratic nominee has engaged in a pattern of discrimination.

"He was trying use his inheritance to buy elected office. He used the language of racists in that phone call. He was on tape using the language of racists, and he very specifically called African-American elected officials ‘offensive,’" Rauner told reporters Wednesday. "So I am not sure that anybody should be surprised that his campaign may have engaged in discriminatory practices."

Speaking to reporters Wednesday evening, Pritzker said Rauner would say or do anything anything to try to win re-election. He said the claims in the suit were false and he intended to litigate the matter. When asked if he had visited the office mentioned in the suit, Pritkzer said he could not speak about the South Side office in question because his campaign has so many of them.

"I've been all over the state to many diverse communities," he said. "I've been, really, everywhere that you can go, I think, in the state of Illinois."

Pritzker directed questions about the specifics of the lawsuit to campaign spokespeople and said he has a long record of philanthropic endeavors and public policy positions that have benefited the black community in Illinois.

"I know that the African-American community knows who I am and knows that I will fight for them when I'm governor," Pritzker said.

Read complete lawsuit: