The Griff that Keeps on Griffing

Hedge-fund plutocrat Ken Griffin may be gone but he is not forgotten.

Readers of this blog will recall that after failing to defeat Lake County favorite-son Mark Curran in the primary election,

All the Justice Money Can Buy

Ken Griffin moved his Illinois investment firm, Citadel, to Florida:

Parting Griff

Griffin had better luck at the polls two years ago. Did you vote to defeat the Illinois Fair Tax in 2020? Your LakeCountyEye sure did. Why? Because Ken Griffin said so:

For billionaire Ken Griffin, it was well worth spending $54 million to ensure he and other rich Illinoisans wouldn't have to pay more tax. By the time Illinois voters streamed into voting booths on Election Day in 2020, Griffin, then Illinois' wealthiest resident, had made sure they'd heard plenty about why they should not vote to raise taxes on him and the state's other rich people. His tens of millions paid for an unrelenting stream of ads and flyers against an initiative on that year's ballot, which would have allowed Illinois lawmakers to join 32 other states in setting higher tax rates for the wealthy than for everyone else.
Ken Griffin Spent $54 Million Fighting a Tax Increase for the Rich. Secret IRS Data Shows It Paid Off for Him.

That $54 million turned out to be a good investment. Griffin would have been taxed an estimated $51 million every year, had the ballot measure passed:

the new state tax increase, which aimed to raise the rate from 5% to 8% on the highest incomes, would have cost Griffin around $51 million every year in extra tax.
Ken Griffin Spent $54 Million Fighting a Tax Increase for the Rich. Secret IRS Data Shows It Paid Off for Him.

Counting just the past two years, Griffin saved himself $102 million. At a cost of $54 million, that adds up to $48 million in Ken Griffin's pocket and nothing in the Illinois treasury.

Note to Ops: That's why Griffin is a billionaire hedge fund manager and you're not.