News Local/State

LISTEN: Three Democratic Candidates Attack Throughout Final Debate

 
Democratic candidates for governor JB Pritzker, Chris Kennedy, and Daniel Biss meet for a final debate at the City Club of Chicago.

Democratic candidates for governor (from left) JB Pritzker, Chris Kennedy, and Daniel Biss meet for a final debate at the City Club of Chicago. WTTW-TV

The three Democratic front-runners in next week’s primary election for governor went for each other’s throats in their final debate on WTTW-TV last night.

JB Pritzker, Daniel Biss, and Chris Kennedy talked over each other as much as they did about each other during the Channel Eleven debate.

Here’s an unedited take starting with Pritzker followed by Biss and then Kennedy.

PRITZKER: You haven’t stood up for the middle class: pensions, you’ve taken money away from neighborhood public schools to give it to charter schools. I mean, you’re not who you say you are.

BISS: So listen, I’m not gonna sit here and be lectured on who’s a progressive by the guy who’s throwing money off-shore to avoid taxes and profiting off the Dakota Access Pipeline. I’m not gonna sit here --

KENNEDY: Then let me lecture you.

BISS: Well we can talk later.

Bob Daiber, Tio Hardiman, and Robert Marshall are also on the ballot but did not participate.

Pritzker is spending the final days of his campaign for Illinois governor defending his attachment to offshore trusts and companies.

The Chicago Tribune recently detailed that Pritzker - or his associates - own several offshore companies in the Bahamas.

Their assets are not subject to U-S taxes unless they’re moved into the country.

At Wednesday night's debate, Pritzker denied the companies were set up to dodge paying federal or state taxes.

“Those entities were not created by me. They were created by trusts that I do not control, trusts that are entirely dedicated to charitable giving,” he said.

Biss called him a “fraud.” And Chris Kennedy - who was also mentioned in the Tribune story - denied having offshore accounts.

You can hear the full debate by clicking "listen" at the top of this story.