Rauner faces war on two fronts as Republican challenger Ives attacks

Dec. 05--Gov. Bruce Rauner and his new Republican opponent wasted little time going after each other Monday, with Illinois' chief executive suggesting state Rep. Jeanne Ives is a "fringe" candidate and the upstart challenger contending the governor "betrayed our party."

The challenge from the GOP's conservative wing marks the latest political reversal for Rauner, a private equity investor who four years ago used his vast personal wealth to vault from obscurity to the governor's mansion and rebuilt a long-moribund Illinois Republican Party along the way.

This time around, the little-known Republican governor candidate is Ives, 53, a three-term lawmaker from Wheaton who graduated from West Point and served in the U.S. Army. Perhaps best known at the Capitol for throwing rhetorical bombs, Ives has said same-sex marriage advocates are "trying to weasel their way into acceptability," called transgender rights "junk science" and declared she's "not interested in providing child care to people where you don't even know the paternity."

Ives' challenge means Rauner, 61, now finds himself waging a war on two political fronts as he seeks a second term in 2018. Not only will Democratic governor hopefuls continue to attack his every move as they try to win their party's March primary, but Rauner is forced to spend money and time trying to fend off a challenge from inside a party he had single-handedly controlled until just a few months ago. A strong showing by Ives would further weaken the political standing of Rauner, who already faces a tough road to re-election in a decidedly Democratic state.

Buffeted by controversy after controversy since Republicans broke with him to pass a state budget after more than two years of stalemate, Rauner showed signs of the stress Monday.

Hours before Ives filed her paperwork with the State Board of Elections, the governor dismissed the challenge by a "fringe" candidate and said he had "the best chance of anybody in the state to win the general election."

But as he took questions from reporters in Chicago after a speech to the Illinois Farm Bureau, Rauner, who's been governor since January 2015, also made an unusual declaration.

"I am not in charge. I'm trying to get to be in charge," said Rauner, who argued that the person in charge was powerful Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan and Democratic legislative majorities that blocked virtually all of the governor's first-term agenda. Rauner went on to say that Madigan was running a "Mafia protection racket" and "rigged" the Democratic governor primary, a race in which billionaire J.B. Pritzker has amassed top endorsements.

For her part, Ives chided Rauner for his approval of legislation expanding abortion, transgender and immigrant rights and increasing education funding to Chicago as supportive of Madigan and akin to the actions of an "Ivy League gender studies professor."

"He's betrayed our party. And you know what, you cannot buy back trust after a betrayal," Ives said in Springfield.

Earlier, Ives sought to link Rauner to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

"He wants people to believe that he's been fighting Mike Madigan, but he actually instituted a very social and economic liberal agenda supported by Chicago Democrats, like his friend, Rahm," Ives said on a WIND-AM 560 program hosted by her political mentor, Dan Proft, an unsuccessful candidate for the 2010 GOP governor nomination. "He hasn't been fighting Mike Madigan. He's been doubling down on the things (Madigan is) wanting to do."

Rauner has come under increasing pressure from various elements of the Republican Party. Last week, the conservative National Review featured Rauner on its cover, calling him "The Worst Republican Governor in America." On Monday, Rauner called the article a "political hit piece."

Ives has said she was moved to challenge Rauner after the governor in late September signed into law a bill that would expand taxpayer-subsidized abortions for women covered by Medicaid and state employee group health insurance. Rauner had contributed to abortion-rights causes, but in 2014 told conservatives he would not pursue a "social agenda."

Ives' home base of Wheaton, where she previously served on the City Council, is one of the last remaining outposts of hard-core conservatism in a DuPage County that has been evolving away from its traditional Republican leanings. That has afforded her the opportunity to be outspoken, often controversial, in her views.

In a 2013 interview on a Catholic talk show, Ives described same-sex partnership as "a completely disordered relationship" and accused gay marriage advocates of "trying to weasel their way into acceptability so that they can then start to push their agenda down into the schools, because this gives them some sort of legitimacy."

"To not have a mother and father is really a disordered state for a child to grow up in," she said, "and it really makes that child an object of desire rather than the result of a matrimony."

Last summer, attending the annual cruise for Family PAC, a conservative political action committee that supports what it calls "traditional values and limited government," Ives used a similar theme in railing about transgendered people.

"Well, I'm concerned about our children," she told cable TV's "Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz" at the time.

"I mean, honestly, this whole idea that transgenders have rights, which is a, something that is made up from the media, needs to be challenged. We need to have that challenged because our public schools are really being taken over by that type of ideology," said Ives, using her fingers for "air quotes" as she said the word "transgenders."

On Monday, she referred to "junk science on transgenderism." Rauner approved legislation this year making it easier for transgender people to change the gender listed on their birth certificates.

Her comments on the House floor often have a hard edge. During a September 2015 debate on a spending bill for child support, Ives said she wanted tougher income verification and was "not interested in providing child care to people where you don't even know the paternity."

"And that means, you better know who the daddy is and whether or not he can afford that child," she said.

Unlike Rauner, who seeks to avoid discussing President Donald Trump and national issues, Ives is an unabashed supporter of the president, speaking at a recent "Make America Great Again" rally in Rockford and embracing the White House crackdown on people living in the country illegally.

"I think instead of alienating somebody like President Trump, we need to listen to what his administration is asking for because we need their support," she told WBEZ-FM 91.5, adding, "I obviously support his idea that states need to comply with federal law when it comes to immigration because that is a federal issue."

Trump's Justice Department has sought to cut off law enforcement grant funding to cities that adopt protections for those in the country illegally and has viewed warily a law signed by Rauner that prevents people from being held by law enforcement based solely on their legal status.

In her nascent campaign, Ives has sought to avoid discussing controversies surrounding her socially conservative beliefs and put the focus on economic issues. An ardent foe of tax increases, she has blasted fellow Republicans who helped Democrats enact a state spending and tax hike plan. She also has said Rauner's calls for a property tax freeze should be replaced with property tax cuts. And, like the governor, Ives called for a rollback of the state's income tax hike.

"I imagine some people want to focus on the wrong things," said Ives when asked in Springfield about her prior statements on social issues. She added that "we need to talk about the fiscal mess that we're in" because "that's what Illinoisans care about."

Kent Redfield, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said Ives is seeking to tap not only unhappy social conservatives but economic free-marketers along the lines of Trump's appeal to those concerned about their employment and faith-based values.

"The only way her candidacy makes sense is if she can get those dissatisfied with economic issues to say that four more years of Rauner is going to mean four more years of getting nothing done and wrecking the state -- and that Republicans need a different champion for those causes," Redfield said.

"At the same time, she obviously will be picking up social conservatives, but does that generate enthusiasm? I don't know ... whether she can become visible and then viable," he said. "I think it's very difficult given Rauner and all his money."

Also Monday, three Democrats filed for attorney general, where Lisa Madigan is not running again. Former Chicago police civilian authority chief Sharon Fairley, Chicago Park Board President Jesse Ruiz and attorney Aaron Goldstein of Chicago joined former Gov. Pat Quinn, Sen. Kwame Raoul and former prosecutor Renato Mariotti, Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering and Rep. Scott Drury of Highwood.

Erika Harold of Urbana, who is backed for the GOP attorney general nomination by the state Republican Party, was joined by last-day filer Gary Grasso, a DuPage County Board member from Burr Ridge.

Republicans also filled out their statewide slate, with Jim Dodge of Orland Park running for treasurer, former Rep. Darlene Senger of Naperville for comptroller and Jason Helland of Mazon for secretary of state.

Democrat Jesse White is seeking his sixth term as secretary of state. Democratic state Rep. Michael Hastings of Tinley Park also filed in case White retired, but said Monday evening that he has no intention of challenging White.

Garcia reported from Springfield.

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