Rauner has pricey VIP inauguration packages
Tuesday, Dec 16, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner’s inaugural festivities will include a dinner at the Capitol, a concert at the Prairie Capital Convention Center and a free event at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.
The Winnetka Republican launched a website Monday with a schedule for the 2015 inauguration.
Rauner takes the oath of office during a ceremony Jan. 12. Rather than the traditional inaugural ball that evening, he’s planning a concert with a yet-to-be-named “famous musical act” at the PCCC.
Concert tickets are $125. Tickets for an inaugural dinner and reception are $1,000 per person.
Other events are free. They include admission to the museum on Jan. 11 and an open house with Rauner and other elected officials at the Old State Capitol on Jan. 12.
The website is here.
* I told subscribers almost two weeks ago about some expensive “VIP” packages that the Tribune reports aren’t advertised on Rauner’s new website…
Illinois Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner has announced the first details of next month’s inaugural festivities, including an offer of lead sponsorships at $25,000 and dinner at $1,000 per person.[…]
The not-for-profit inaugural committee formed for the event has listed a range of sponsorships providing special VIP seating to various events with levels ranging from $2,500 to $25,000.
Sponsorships of $10,000 and $25,000 offer tickets to a “private after party” following the Sunday dinner and to a special post-inaugural governor reception and dinner the following day. Those events were not listed at the inaugural committee’s event and ticket website, illinoisinauguration.com. […]
Among those named as honorary co-chairs for the inaugural event was David MacNeil, the founder and CEO of Bolingbrook-based MacNeil Automotive Products Ltd., which manufactures WeatherTech car mats. MacNeil gave $218,750 to Rauner’s campaign, state records show.
…Adding… The headline for this post was changed after a commenter pointed out that if you look beyond the inauguration schedule page, and click the “menu” button in the upper right-hand corner, you will see the list of “sponsorship” opportunities…
Inaugural Lead Sponsor $25,000
Included Benefits:
• 1 Table (8 tickets) to Official Inaugural Dinner on Sunday, January 11th with VIP seating
• 4 Tickets to Private after Party on Sunday, January 11th
• 4 Tickets to Inaugural Ceremony on Monday, January 12th with VIP seating
• 4 Tickets to Governor Reception & Dinner on Monday, January 12th
• 4 Tickets to Inaugural Concert on Monday, January 12th
• Listed as Lead Sponsor on signage at Inaugural Events, in Inaugural Program, on other printed materials and website
Inaugural Supporting Sponsor $10,000
Included Benefits:
• 4 tickets to Official Inaugural Dinner on Sunday, January 11th
• 2 Tickets to Private after Party on Sunday, January 11th
• 2 Tickets to Inaugural Ceremony on Monday, January 12th with VIP seating
• 2 Tickets to Governor Reception & Dinner on Monday, January 12th
• 2 Tickets to Inaugural Concert on Monday, January 12th
• Official Recognition in Inaugural Program
Inaugural Sponsor $5,000
Included Benefits:
• 4 Tickets to Official Inaugural Dinner on Sunday, January 11th
• 2 Tickets to Inaugural Ceremony on Monday, January 12th with VIP seating
• 2 Tickets to Inaugural Concert on Monday, January 12th
Capitol Sponsor $2,500
Included Benefits:
• 2 Tickets to Official Inaugural Dinner on Sunday, January 11th
• 2 Tickets to Inaugural Ceremony on Monday, January 12th with VIP seating
• 2 Tickets to Inaugural Concert on Monday, January 12th
- so.... - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 8:59 am:
Sure they are. Right here: http://illinoisinauguration.com/sponsorships/
- Stones - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:00 am:
That explains why those WeatherTech floor mats approach a couple of hundred dollars per set!
- x ace - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:02 am:
VIP Sponsorships and Seating sounds like same old Shake Down, not ” Shake Up “, eh ?
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:07 am:
Isn’t this like when the “High Rollers” come into a restaurant and the waiter/waitress knows to not give out menus because the High Roller knows what “specials” they can special order?
Once again, the phoniness and hiding and two rules just seeps out.
Why not be proud and advertise that insiders can get special access?
That’s right, Rauner lives one way, campaigns another, hypocrisy is the order of the day.
Let me be very clear;
If the “Committee” (lol) wanted to have all these tiers and special access events, and they completely disclose the existence, I woukd have zero beef. None.
It’s the utter phony “shake up” premise and this “off the menu” money access that is hidden because it corrupts the narrative of being a non-insider.
Ya know, it’s ok to do this in the white hot light of disclosure.
It is.
It’s only embarrassing when you go out of your way to keep it from the sunshine.
- Good Morning - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:10 am:
Actually I think this is a cool idea “Rather than the traditional inaugural ball that evening, he’s planning a concert with a yet-to-be-named “famous musical act” at the PCCC.” Ted Nugent perhaps?
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:11 am:
All good, full disclosure, carry on!
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:17 am:
It is a special day at the government trough! It is a time to celebrate, make important powerful new friends, pretend to enjoy their company and fill those databases with new contacts!
The prices seem very reasonable. Those contacts can be worth millions.
As far as I can see, any of the packages are cheaper than the Governor-Elect’s wine club!
- Mason born - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:19 am:
Always found these tasteless no matter who of whatever party does it.
- walker - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:23 am:
Turning Springfield into Washington.
Rauner team might as well act “as if.”
- Wordslinger - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:34 am:
I’m with Mason. From president on down, they seem to get bigger and more self-important every time out, regardless of the populist rhetoric.
And those that pay for the party get treated like any other citizen, right? Royal pretensions in a democratic republic are inherently corrupting .
For Reagan’s second inaugural, it was so bitterly cold (by no-fortitude DC standards) that they cancelled all events ands he just took the oath under the Dome.
Done and done, Get to work.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:38 am:
My Favorite Things! - Rogers and Hammerstein, enhanced by VanillaMan
Gubernatorial dining with limited admittance
Powerful contacts that cost just a pittance
Inaugural packages for Illinois Kings
These are a few of my favorite things
Fresh friendly contacts to government boodle
Overpriced chicken on noodles and strudel
Wearing a Carhartt eating buffalo wings
These are a few of my favorite things
Republicans shocked at the new governor’s bashes
Ignoring how Illinois can avoid budget crashes
Silver haired geezers pretending its Spring
Hoping they each can discover that Ka-Ching!
After the Dome fights
And the Truth stings
When the Governors sad
I hope he remember his Inaugural Fling
And remembers how we’ve been had!
- Norseman - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:42 am:
Darn, I was so looking forward to going to the Inaugural Ball and dancing with Diane.
- Give Me A Break - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:46 am:
I wonder if the big concert is really nothing more than Rich showing his fovorite bands on YouTube on a big screen.
- Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:48 am:
For $25K you can buy a house in Springfield.
- Wordslinger - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:48 am:
What’s the guess on the music?
If I recall, Ted Nugent’s peculiar brand of patriotism and family values were popular among the Sangamon GOP a while back.
Im guessing some generic Nashville hat act like Trace Adkins. No real iconoclasts like Willie or Merle.
But if you really want to get a whole lof shaking going on, the Killer is still around. Maybe call down to the Metro East and see if Chuck Berry will do a double bill (Chuck requires cash up front).
- Mittuns - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:51 am:
I thought that said Carhartt Sponsor for a second. The IL-CEO elect better start selling a lot more barley to pay for this.
- AC - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:52 am:
He needs William Shatner to perform Common People at the concert.
- Mason born - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:53 am:
Well said Word.
Always thought if you really wanted to be a class act take the oath, thank the voters for the trust they have placed in you, and then get to work.
If you do anything have a truly public meal for anyone (including the homeless) who shows up paid for from the remains of your campaign fund.
Then again what do I know.
- Mason born - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:54 am:
Michelle
Depending on the area of town you can buy more than 1.
- Streator Curmudgeon - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:54 am:
My budget will let me sit on an orange crate on the Old Capital building lawn.
- k3 - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 9:59 am:
$$$$haking up $pringfield
- Johnnie F. - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:07 am:
Why so much money? Thought the Baron didn’t need anyone’s money and won’t be beholden to Springfield “insiders”.
- Amalia - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:19 am:
and so it begins.
- Soccermom - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:32 am:
Tickets to PQ’s inaugural were free.
- Walter Mitty - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:37 am:
Meet the new boss…same as the old boss…
- MrJM - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:38 am:
A yet-to-be-named “famous musical act”?
– MrJM
- haverford - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:40 am:
This is going to sound naive, but where is this money going? My memory is the same as Soccermom’s - wasn’t the 2011 inaugural free?
Also, from the Trib article:
“”We are planning for an open and accessible event that everyone will enjoy,” Rauner said in an email to supporters Monday.”
Lowest possible price point is $125, right?
- Cassandra - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:45 am:
Amazingly clunky for a sophisticated member of the financial and social Chicago elite, and that includes lots of Democrats, mostly Democrats, I might add. Maybe not so sophisticated? Why not just have a fundraiser for the Mansion redo. There will be a Mansion redo, right?
- Anonymoiis - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:45 am:
According to the website there are other events that are free
- Soccermom - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:45 am:
Not to mention — for $125 you sit in an assigned seat and listen to music. So you can’t do any of the networking that an inaugural generally enables. Yuck.
The Soccerfamily is unable to attend, unfortunately.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:45 am:
For $50,000, you can share the Rauners’ bed in the governor’s mansion on inaugural night.
- quincy - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:46 am:
A true republican give me your vote middle and Ill take care of the rich and forget about you until I need you in four years. Good job George oh I mean Brue.
- quincy - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:48 am:
A true republican give me your vote middle class and Ill take care of the rich and forget about you until I need you in four years. Good job George oh I mean Brue.
- Soccermom - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:59 am:
When you make me miss Rod, something is terribly wrong…
(from the wayback machine…)
Gov.-elect Rod Blagojevich is planning two days of free and bargain-basement priced inaugural festivities next month in Springfield that will contrast sharply with the exclusive, $1,000-a-ticket inaugural ball thrown four years ago by Gov. George Ryan.
Besides a $35-a-person ball, Blagojevich will host a music-filled barbecue open to the public, an open house at the Governor’s Mansion and an interfaith religious service.
It’s all part of Blagojevich’s desire to open the Jan. 12-13 festivities to the public rather than keep them limited to political insiders and others responsible for Blagojevich’s victory. Unlocking state government to provide access for the common man was a prominent theme throughout Blagojevich’s campaign.
It’s also a throwback of sorts to the extremely accessible prices charged to inaugural revelers by Jim Edgar, Ryan’s predecessor, at his first inaugural in 1991. Edgar also threw an open house at the mansion and then followed it up with a $35-a-person public inaugural reception and a $20-a-person inaugural ball.
- DieboldxWire2.0 - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 10:59 am:
$ 10k to play. Bargain really.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 11:11 am:
Rauner is from Winnetka and Fall Out Boy is from Wilmette. Eight miles. That would be amazingly sick and wonderful!
DO IT!
- quincy - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 11:20 am:
Hot Rod move over Bruce is on his way or he can have George old bed
- Keyser Soze - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 11:29 am:
Just a bit pricey. Where will Springfield house all of the swells? And, by the bye, Elton John is still around.
- Mittuns - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 12:17 pm:
@VanillaMan: Fall Out Boy would be very appropriate for Rauner.
From “Sugar We’re Goin Down”:
Am I more than you bargained for yet
I’ve been dying to tell you anything you want to hear
Cause that’s just who I am this week
Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We’re Goin Down: http://youtu.be/uhG-vLZrb-g
- Loop Lady - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 1:00 pm:
Spend at least $2500 for a Springield inaugural?
If I spend more than $3 on a drink and $10 on dinner in Springpatch, I’m overspending….
Honestly, is anyone truly surprised?
- vole - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 1:59 pm:
Conspicuous consumption moves from the gated homes in the outer ring to the inner ring of Springfield. You want to be in the circle or out of the circle? Price tags make it easy. For many it is but pocket change.
- Jake From Elwood - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 2:34 pm:
Something about Bruce Rauner just screams $125 for a Hall and Oates concert.
I can’t go for that. No…no. No can do.
- sal-says - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 4:25 pm:
Seems like a super rich guy still has to find a way to make a buck after being elected by regular, not-so-rich folks. Sets the tone for this administration pretty early?
- DuPage - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 4:46 pm:
“The governor will be accessible, ready to take time to listen to your concerns”.
Rauner theme song, “If you got the money, I got the time. If you got no more money, I got no more time”.
- Wordslinger - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 7:05 pm:
I doubt that people in Springfield will be surprised to see that Rauner is already walking back the pledge to move into the mansion, just like every other governor.
Rauner says it needs some work.
Of course, but is it uninhabitable, the whole big place? Are the work crews going to hit the ground in such force and massive numbers on Jan. 13 that there won’t be a room to lay his head?
Does anyone still fall for this gag every four years?
- G'Kar - Tuesday, Dec 16, 14 @ 8:19 pm:
I think I could swallow these prices (but not be able to afford them) if they announced that all money raised w/b used to help repair the mansion.