Exposing Richard Irvin’s Hypocrisy on Crime

Irvin Praised Public Safety Package As Mayor

Richard Irvin’s blatant hypocrisy continues. This time, he’s flip-flopping on a bill he lauded as mayor and wrote a letter in support of, but has repeatedly railed against as a candidate for governor.

• Richard Irvin in February 2021, when Gov. Pritzker signed the initial piece of his public safety package into law:  “I strongly support the bill’s goal” 

• Richard Irvin in March 2022 on Newsmax: “the first thing that I do as governor is work hard to repeal [the criminal justice package].”

As the Chicago Tribune noted, “Irvin’s letter threatens to undermine the key positioning he has taken in his bid for the GOP nomination in June and the right to take on Pritzker in the Nov. 8 general election. It also represents the latest dichotomy in positions taken by Irvin as Aurora mayor versus Irvin the Republican candidate for governor.”

The only thing that changed between Irvin’s two statements is his decision to launch his campaign for governor — a campaign bankrolled by the “tough-on-crime” megadonor Ken Griffin.

This isn’t the first time Irvin’s own “tough-on-crime” platform has been debunked as completely bogus. Irvin was exposed by a non-partisan watchdog for lying and overexaggerating crime statistics from his time as mayor, a move that the group called, “misleading and disingenuous.” 

Irvin also flip-flopped from saying he supports Black Lives Matter “strongly and passionately,” to saying “all lives matter” — a clear dog-whistle for the far-right — in a campaign ad. The Illinois House Legislative Black Caucus Chair called out Irvin’s flip-flop as “patently unacceptable, cold, and timid” in an op-ed.

In the two months since he’s entered the race, Irvin has dodged or flip-flopped on big questions from COVID to abortion to his history of voting in Democratic primaries.

“Richard Irvin has made clear he’s willing to say or do anything that’s politically expedient for him,” said DGA Senior Communications Advisor Christina Amestoy. “He’s dodged every critical question and let an ultra-conservative, megadonor pull the strings of his campaign — who knows where he really stands on the issue of crime and public safety. His spinelessness makes him unequivocally unfit to serve as governor.”