Last evening, delver rootnose had a short post last evening that asked who was behind an attack ad against Bernie Sanders. One of the first commenters mentioned that Ken Griffin, the richest resident of the state of Illinois, was one of the main principals of the SuperPAC behind the ad. Zaid Jilani of the Intercept has published a piece in The Intecept entitled “Hedge Fund Billionaires Fund Super PAC Ad Against Bernie Sanders and the Minimum Wage Hike” In this article, Jilani details just who is behind this Super PAC.
Progressives and others interested in good government should learn Ken Griffin and his record. He doesn’t have as high of a profile as the Koch brothers, but he is just as dangerous to the progressive agenda. Perhaps you know that billionaire Ken Griffin made a $2.5 million dollar donation to fellow billionaire Bruce Rauner which an Illinois newspaper termed the largest single donation in an Illinois governor’s race in the post-Watergate era. Perhaps you’ve heard about how he provided his private jet for candidate Bruce Rauner to use in his gubernatorial campaign in 2014. Don’t believe for a moment that he did this out of the goodness of his heart. Ken Griffin stands to make lots of money if Rauner’s right to work “reforms” get passed. Ken Griffin is also one of the billionaires behind Karl Rove’s American Crossroads Super PAC.
Clearly Ken Griffin is a plutocrat interested in thwarting democracy. As a hedge fund owner he stands to lose some of his profits if Bernie Sanders’ 0.5% speculation fee is passed to make public colleges and universities tuition free. Take the time to read Zaid Jilani's piece it’s a short piece and worth the effort. But I want to direct you to a 2012 interview that Ken Griffin gave to the Chicago Tribune’s Melissa Harris which shows just how much our democracy has been corrupted by money.