Morning Spin: $50,000 gets ‘gold’ sponsorship of Rauner dinner featuring Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

March 02--Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield. Subscribe here.

Topspin

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the state GOP already are planning past his March 20 primary race against state Rep. Jeanne Ives, announcing a fundraising dinner in April featuring Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Tickets for the fourth annual Illinois Republican Party Governor's Dinner in Chicago start at $500 per person and go all the way up to $50,000 for the honor of being a "gold sponsor." That includes four tickets to a "private roundtable," 10 reception tickets with a photo and a "premium" table for 10 for dinner, according to an invitation.

The money raised will go to the Illinois Republican Party, which Rauner has largely funded in recent years.

Rauner featured Walker and two other neighboring Republican governors in a TV ad in which they mockingly thanked Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan for helping to improve their states' economic climates at the expense of Illinois.

Another Republican governor who was featured in Rauner's ad, Missouri's Eric Greitens, faces a May 14 trial date in St. Louis on felony charges of invasion of privacy for allegedly taking a picture of a woman while she was partly nude and taped to exercise equipment. (Rick Pearson)

What's on tap

*Mayor Rahm Emanuel's schedule wasn't available.

*Gov. Bruce Rauner will visit the Warren G. Murray Developmental Center, then later attend an Illinois Department of Corrections event in Murphysboro.

*The Democratic governor candidates will debate on ABC-7 tonight. (More on that below.)

*Rauner primary challenger state Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton make stops in the Quad Cities and Galesburg ahead of a handful of southern Illinois events over the weekend.

*The Service Employees International Union Illinois Council will endorse state Sen. Kwame Raoul in the Democratic attorney general primary at a Chicago news conference. (More on that below, too.)

From the notebook

*Pelosi backs Lipinski: Democratic political newcomer Marie Newman has been backed by progressive groups and even two Illinois members of Congress in her bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski.

House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, though, says she's with Lipinski, the seven-term lawmaker from Western Springs.

Pelosi was asked about Lipinski as she walked out of a Washington news conference Thursday.

"Dan Lipinski, do you support his re-election?" she was asked.

Pelosi paused.

"Yes, I do," she replied.

The 3rd Congressional District takes in a swath of the Southwest Side bungalow belt and dips deep into the south and southwest suburbs. The district is solidly blue, and the only candidate on the GOP primary ballot is Holocaust denier Arthur J. Jones of Lyons, whom the Illinois Republican Party chairman has disavowed.

*SEIU to endorse Raoul: State Sen. Kwame Raoul will receive the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union Illinois Council as he seeks the Democratic nomination for attorney general. The union represents roughly 150,000 health care, child care and nursing home workers.

SEIU Healthcare Illinois president Greg Kelley cited Raoul's legislative record and said the group believes Raoul "will fight for us and our core values of economic, racial and immigrant justice for all, not just the powerful few." (Monique Garcia)

*Debate, part deux: Just as people start to kick back and start their weekend plans, the Democratic candidates for governor will debate live on TV tonight, one day after they did the same thing on the radio.

All six candidates are booked for the ABC-7 debate, which will air starting at 7 p.m. on the station's 7.2 digital channel, as well as on its main channel at 10:35 p.m. Univision Chicago will carry the debate in Spanish on Saturday at 5 p.m.

This matchup is the last one for billionaire entrepreneur J.B. Pritzker, Kenilworth developer Chris Kennedy, state Sen. Daniel Biss and the crew before the availability of early voting expands significantly on Monday.

*What's new is old: President Donald Trump has called a video games summit at the White House, after saying in the wake of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting that the "level of violence on video games is really shaping young people's thoughts."

This will sound familiar to followers of Illinois politics. It was 14 years ago when then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich proposed banning the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors.

"I don't believe that my 8-year-old daughter has a constitutional right to cut somebody's head off in a game that she plays," Blagojevich said at the time.

Courts later ruled that she did indeed have that right, striking down Illinois' video games law.

*Correction: The Thursday "Morning Spin" misidentified the Robert Creamer who gave $5,000 to Democratic governor candidate Chris Kennedy. Creamer is the CEO of Geneva Trading.

*On the "Sunday Spin": Chicago Tribune political reporter Rick Pearson's guests are Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery on the Janus v. AFSCME lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court; Lipinski on his re-election race; and Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios on his re-election contest. The "Sunday Spin" airs from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on WGN AM-720.

What we're writing

*Democratic race to succeed AG Lisa Madigan becomes battle to stop Pat Quinn.

*Democratic governor debate: Kennedy says Pritzker used 'the language of racists' on Blagojevich call.

*Why a Michigan man joined Syria militia to fight Islamic State: "This felt like something intense and meaningful."

*$184 million loan on Kushner-owned Loop office tower faces scrutiny.

*Berrios skips hearing on his property tax assessment practices weeks before election.

*Jesse Jackson Jr. to judge: Let me sell the home where my wife and kids live.

*Former NFL linebacker knocks child-size mannequin to floor as lawmakers consider banning tackle football for young people.

*Legal marijuana question a step closer to being on November ballots in Illinois.

*South Loop parking rules could change amid small crowds at Wintrust Arena.

*Laid-off Cook County Jail commanders sue Sheriff Dart, allege retaliation over union effort.

What we're reading

*Cupich says it's up to Springfield bishop whether Durbin should receive communion.

*Iconic Wrigley Building expected to go up for sale, could fetch more than $200 million.

*Boy Scouts to expand background checks to all adults chaperoning 3-day events.

*Springfield has a summer baseball team named after small turtles, and the Beach Boys are playing in their stadium in May.

Follow the money

*Ives reported adding $408,500 in contributions, $300,000 of which came from transportation leasing executive Vincent Kolber of Chicago. Kolber has now given $410,000 to Ives. She also got another $25,000 from trade-show exhibition firm founder William Dixon of Wheaton, for a total of $75,000 from him.

*Kennedy reported another $245,000, including $100,000 each from attorney Robert Berner and Thomas Scott, CEO of investment company CA Ventures.

*Track Illinois campaign contributions in real time here and here.

Beyond Chicago

*Trump announces tariffs; Dow drops.

*Questions remain about Melania Trump's visa.

*What gun control proposals might gain traction in Washington?

*Putin brags about nukes.

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