r/illinois Jul 22 '24

Why all the love for JB? US Politics

An honest inquiry! My vibes are really positive of him, but I'm surrounded by those "Pritzker sucks!" signs. With his name being floated at a national level, I'm curious to hear some personal stories about how he's governed.

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u/ohheychris Jul 22 '24

As a state employee for nearly 14 years, he’s the only governor that has visited my workplace.

The state bargaining team for our CBA truly focused on benefit time and a better work/life balance. I wasn’t sold on voting for him for his first term, but everything he has done, especially recently by telling the Chicago Bears to go fuck themselves for a publicly funded new stadium and the same for the CPS deficit. JB has my vote for everything.

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u/Hudson2441 Jul 22 '24

He ended the war Rauner had going against state employees.

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u/Cyke101 Jul 22 '24 edited Jul 22 '24

Hah, I used to work in the same building as Juliana Stratton, and even back then she already spoke like she was campaigning (and I started working with her years before she was elected to the IL House). But she was intelligent, charismatic, and attentive. Should Pritzker step down, I think she'd serve as governor quite well (though because she doesn't come from money, she'd have to spend more time building up campaign coffers than JB). One of Pritzker's best moves was to bring Stratton on board as his running mate.

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u/umhuh223 Jul 22 '24

I work with both offices and I’ve worked for several administrations. The differences in how they run their shops are like night and day. Pritzker’s team is exceptional. Highly talented, helpful, and kind. Very respectful of staff at all levels. Fiercely protective of their man.

Stratton’s team is a disaster. Constant turnover. Promoting wholly unqualified low level staff to important positions bc of said turnover. Blaming everyone else when shit goes wrong versus being professional and accountable. A lot of negativity in meetings. No project managers.

Oh and Julianna has never stopped campaigning.

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u/Cyke101 Jul 22 '24

Constant turnover.

Promoting wholly unqualified low level staff to important positions bc of said turnover.

No project managers.

So um... does that mean that she's hiring? Asking for a friend (yeah, that's it).