Billionaire Ken Griffin, an ardent foe of billionaire Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, declared Wednesday he was “all in” to back a candidate running to defeat the governor next year.
But Griffin did not say who he would support.
Griffin, speaking at the DealBook Online Summit hosted by The New York Times, sounded perturbed that Pritzker’s camp called him a “liar” last month after he criticized Pritzker over the issue of rising crime in Chicago and said he was considering moving his investment firm out of Chicago during an event at the Economic Club.
“He called me a liar,” Griffin said Wednesday. “It’s all about politics for him. It’s not about people.”
“I’m going to make sure that if he runs again, that I am all in to support the candidate who will beat him,” Griffin said. “He doesn’t deserve to be the governor of our state.”
Griffin made no mention of which candidate he believed could defeat the first-term Democratic governor, who has announced a run for a second term.
Four Republicans have announced their candidacy for the GOP nomination: Gary Rabine of Bull Valley, state Sen. Darren Bailey of Xenia, former state Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo and Jesse Sullivan of Petersburg.
In addition, Republican U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis of Taylorville and Adam Kinzinger of Channahon have said they are considering a potential bid for governor.
Griffin’s remarks were the latest in a long-running feud between him and the governor. Griffin is the state’s wealthiest person, worth $21 billion according to Forbes. Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, is worth $3.6 billion according to Forbes.
In last November’s election, Griffin spent $53.75 million to oppose Pritzker’s signature agenda item, a proposed constitutional amendment rejected by voters to change the state from a flat-rate income tax to a graduated-rate levy. Pritzker spent $58 million to encourage its passage.
In the 2018 governor’s race, Griffin gave one-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner $22.5 million in his losing reelection effort against Pritzker, who spent more than $170 million of his own money on his own campaign. Griffin gave Rauner $13.5 million in the Republican’s winning 2014 effort.
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In its response to Griffin’s comments, Pritzker’s camp, as it did following the Economic Club event last month, referred to Griffin’s support of Rauner, whose unsuccessful anti-union agenda clashed with Democratic lawmakers, leading to a record-setting two-year budget standoff that helped decimate social services including funding for violence prevention.
“Ken Griffin financed Bruce Rauner’s disastrous tenure as governor and now he is eager to once again elect someone who would hold our budget hostage, waste taxpayer money, ruin our credit rating, and destroy programs that keep our residents healthy and safe,” Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Natalie Edelstein said in a statement.
Pritzker’s camp called Griffin a “liar” after he said the governor turned down his requests for National Guard help last year amid social unrest in downtown Chicago.
Pritzker did at some point deploy the Guard, primarily for street control activities. But Zia Ahmed, a spokesman for Griffin, said Pritzker’s call-up of the Guard did not follow Griffin’s request to deal with downtown disturbances in August.
“I told him to deploy the National Guard, and he goes, ‘It won’t look good for there to be men and women on Michigan Avenue with assault weapons,’ ” Griffin said last month. “‘If that saves the life of a child, I don’t care.’ And he doesn’t care.”
Pritzker responded then by saying, “I’m not sure why he made the false remarks that he made.”
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