Rod Blagojevich

Biss Campaign Blasts Pritzker With Spending Calculator

Biss campaign calls out "outrageous spending"

Democratic gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Daniel Biss' campaign launched a calculator Monday that shows how quickly Democratic opponent JB Pritzker’s campaign spending would burn through your salary.

The calculator, found at JBspends.com, also features quick facts about how quickly Pritzker would spend various amount of money, ranging from tuition at state universities to average household incomes in different communities.

“JB Pritzker is spending $49.2 million to try to buy this election,” the website reads. “See for yourself what else this amount of money could buy.”

The Pritzker campaign spends $100,000 in 16 hours, 34 minutes, according to JBspends.com. The spending rate is collected from the campaign’s average daily expenditures from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2017, according to a press release from the Biss campaign.

The site was created to call attention to Pritzker’s “outrageous spending,” said Tom Elliott, the Biss campaign’s communications director.

“When you have someone who doesn’t have to go out fundraising like Daniel does, it’s not a fair election,” Elliott said.

The Pritzker campaign retorted with a statement calling Biss's record as a state senator into question, echoing recent ads from the campaign.

“Dan Biss led the unconstitutional effort to strip teachers, nurses, and state workers of their pension benefits, and tried to strip wages from young people who fall behind on student loan payments,” a Pritzker campaign spokeswoman wrote in the statement. “Biss can try and distract from his record now, but his calculations have never added up for working families, and voters deserve to know the truth.”

The Biss campaign launched JBspends.com less than two weeks after the Pritzker campaign created DanBiss.net, which criticizes Biss for his voting history regarding schools, pension and student loans.

The Pritzker campaign also released a new television ad Monday boasting some of the endorsements Pritzker has received, such as those from Planned Parenthood and Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth.

In light of backlash surrounding comments Pritzker made in a 2008 recorded conversation with former Governor Rod Blagojevich, Pritzker’s lead over Biss dropped to 3.3 percent in a poll conducted last week by Victory Research.

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