Oct. 28--In a close governor's race where every vote is coveted, Libertarian candidate Chad Grimm is positioned to be a spoiler, but it's a label he rejects.
"It's just not true," Grimm said. "We've pulled from Democrats, we've pulled from Republicans, we've pulled from independents, we've kind of pulled from anybody. And if one person's a spoiler, then why isn't somebody else a spoiler to me?"
Republicans tried to knock Grimm off the Nov. 4 ballot because they feared he could attract votes that otherwise would have gone to Rauner. But that effort failed, and now voters who don't like Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn will have two choices. In addition, Grimm could give voters a place to lodge a general protest vote -- a sort of pox on either party -- after months of TV attack ads by Quinn and Rauner.
Grimm is getting some late help from International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. State election board records show Grimm reported that the union gave his campaign $30,000 Oct. 8.
The labor union has endorsed Quinn and contributed more than $500,000 to him since January 2013. The group's campaign contribution to Grimm indicates that the union sees helping the Libertarian candidate as a way to take votes away from Rauner, who ran on an anti-union platform during the primary campaign but has toned down his rhetoric since then. Operating engineers union spokesman Ed Maher declined to comment on the campaign contributions.
A Chicago Tribune poll published last week had Rauner at 45 percent and Quinn at 43 percent -- within the poll's 3.5-percentage-point margin of error. Grimm had 4 percent -- support Rauner would love to have running in a Democratic state where Republican candidates historically have had little breathing room if they're going to win a statewide election.
Political scientist Chris Mooney sees a parallel between this race and the 2006 Illinois governor contest. Eight years ago, Democrat Rod Blagojevich sought a second term against Republican challenger Judy Baar Topinka in a contest that also included Green Party candidate Rich Whitney.
Blagojevich won with 49.79 percent to 39.26 percent for Topinka. But Whitney received a hefty third-party total of 10.36 percent, benefiting from more than a few votes cast in protest against Blagojevich and Topinka, who both ran highly negative campaigns.
This time around, Democrats were able to knock the Green Party slate off the ballot.
The voter with a "vague amount of awareness" looking for a different option than Democrats and Republicans may believe "Libertarians are somehow conservative and Greens are somehow liberal," whether or not those perceptions hold up with a particular candidate's stances, said Mooney, the director of the University of Illinois' Institute of Government and Public Affairs.
A third-party candidate's ability to draw votes doesn't matter when one candidate wins by a landslide, Mooney said, but it can have an impact when the race is close.
"The trouble with these third-party candidates in close races is that people too easily assume that they know" which major-party candidate will be hurt the most, Mooney said.
Grimm, 33, of Peoria, describes himself as a manager of two family-owned fitness clubs who wants to fight for the middle class.
He said the state income tax should be returned to 3 percent or, if possible, eliminated altogether, saying people would have more money to spend and Illinois would increase sales tax revenue. Grimm said he would push cost-saving ideas including across-the-board cuts in agencies and abolishing the state's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which he says unfairly picks winners and losers among businesses through tax breaks and incentives.
The candidate also would pardon people imprisoned for "victimless crimes" like simple possession of drugs or a firearm, an idea he said also would save money. Grimm supports legalizing marijuana use and is a staunch supporter of gun rights, saying "any infringement" on carrying or possessing firearms goes against the U.S. Constitution.
In August 2007, north suburban Kildeer police arrested Grimm on drunken driving charges after he registered a 0.21 percent blood alcohol level, more than twice the 0.08 limit, according to court records.
The records showed Grimm admitted to a drunken driving charge in court and received a year of court supervision. That type of sentence allowed him to avoid getting a conviction on his driver's record when he successfully completed the term without any further violations. He was fined $2,000, records showed.
Grimm said he made "stupid decisions" and "should not have been behind the wheel." He said the experience reinforced his views about the need to readjust the state's priorities.
"I didn't hurt anybody and I was taken to jail," he said. "I was put in a cage when I harmed no other human being. That got me thinking, and that's kind of why I have such a deep passion about people that are doing time in prison for victimless crimes."
Grimm said he would reduce the state's pension debt by eliminating pensions for future state workers but giving them an option of a 401(k)-type investment plan. He said current workers should be allowed to join an "opt-out system" that would stop deductions from their paychecks and give them credit on future income taxes that would match the amount of money they've contributed to retirement plans over the years. Grimm said those already retired would be able to keep current benefits.
The bid for governor is not Grimm's first foray into politics. He was elected as a Republican precinct worker in Peoria in 2012, according to a Peoria election official. That same year, Grimm filed to run as a Libertarian for the Illinois House but was knocked off the ballot before the general election. Last year he ran for Peoria City Council and lost, getting 19.3 percent of the vote, officials said.
While winning on Election Day is out of reach, Grimm could greatly help the Libertarian Party by getting at least 5 percent of the statewide vote. That would gain the Libertarians the designation of an established party, and its candidates would need to collect fewer signatures to get on the ballot in the next election.
"We just need to get rid of the 'wasted vote syndrome' because it's not a wasted vote," Grimm said. "A vote's a choice. A vote is something that you can feel good about. It's not a gamble. It's not a horse bet. It's not who you think's going to win or anything like that. It's where your heart is, and you vote for who you believe in."
rlong@tribune.com
Twitter @RayLong
