Rauner lashes out at Quinn over IDOT scandal
Tuesday, Sep 16, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
Coming off a weekend where he’s reportedly down in the polls, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner launched one of the harshest attacks yet against Gov. Pat Quinn, likening Quinn to a crafty political patronage boss who heads an “Outfit” that’s steeped in cronyism.
Rauner described himself as decidedly different: “I’m nobody that nobody sent,” he said.
Looking down at prepared remarks, Rauner read off a lengthy attack on Quinn and a patronage hiring scandal at the Illinois Department of Transportation, saying Quinn has failed to fire more than 60 percent of those who were deemed political hires at the agency.
“This scam, perpetrated by Pat Quinn has got to end,” Rauner said. “Pat Quinn is not the folksy, bumbling fool he’d like us to think he is. He knows what he’s doing. He knows what he’s done.”
Rauner said if elected, he would partner with Michael Shakman to work out a settlement that includes a federal hiring monitor. His remarks came after Quinn on Friday released the names of more than 100 clouted state transportation employees who were part of what the state’s top ethics watchdog dubbed an improper hiring scheme. Quinn also said he would keep the 103 IDOT employees on the payroll.
* Video…
* Rauner’s comments referred to this Friday AP story…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration hired more than 60 percent of the Illinois Department of Transportation workers whose employment was deemed improper by a state watchdog, a document released Friday shows.
The IDOT document shows that 173 of the 245 people hired as “staff assistants” since 2002 still work for the state, including 161 at the transportation agency. […]
An IDOT spokesman said none of the remaining employees will be fired, as Rauner has demanded.
…Adding… The Quinn campaign notes a mathematical error in the AP story. They didn’t subtract the 58 “staff assistants” laid off by Quinn.
* And speaking of the Shakman case, this is also from the AP…
Gov. Pat Quinn contended in a federal court filing late Monday that a court-appointed monitor is not necessary to ensure compliance with political hiring bans, as suggested by an anti-patronage attorney.
In the filing by the attorney general’s office, Quinn says his response to allegations of political hiring in the Department of Transportation has been “prompt, appropriate and aimed at a long-term solution to preventing any such improprieties in the future.” […]
Quinn said he ordered that all Transportation Department executive-level staff members undergo training on proper hiring practices; that the department employees receive written performance evaluations on an annual basis; the creation of a merit board to “ensure the integrity of all personnel matters” and provide greater accountability and transparency, and a moratorium on the creation of positions that can be filled with political hires until the inspector general’s recommendations are implemented satisfactorily.
“Despite plaintiffs’ contentions, the uncontested facts do not demonstrate a widespread patronage problem,” the filing
* Rauner campaign response…
“This is a flagrant betrayal of the public’s trust,” Rauner said. “If Pat Quinn was willing to brazenly mislead a federal court, there is no reason to start trusting him now.”
Protecting cronies, public deception, misleading the courts - those are not supposed to be the actions of a governor.
Those are the actions of someone leading the outfit - and make no mistake about it, Pat Quinn is leading a patronage and cronyism outfit in Springfield and Chicago.
* Related…
* Tribune editorial: A management problem? Give us a break. This was a patronage hiring scam, pure and simple. And Quinn owns it.
* News-Gazette editorial: Gov. Quinn should have wiped the entire slate clean. The decision to allow some to stay reveals a disturbing double standard while the lawsuit challenging the layoffs demonstrates a deceitful political calculation. That’s exactly the wrong message to send to the public.
* Rauner’s call for firings of ‘illegal patronage hires’ would affect many in Springfield
- Kasich Walker, Jr. - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 10:40 am:
** “I’m nobody that nobody sent,” he said.**
Wink, wink.
- AlabamaShake - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 10:41 am:
**Pat Quinn is not the folksy, bumbling fool **
Did Rauner really say that Rauner is not a bumbling fool?
- Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 10:46 am:
== I’m nobody that nobody sent ==
That is part of Rauner’s appeal to many after so many years of leadership by people who were “sent”.
They feel Rauner has a better chance of being independent and doing right because he cannot be bought.
- Kasich Walker, Jr. - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 10:47 am:
Maybe the Rauner ads will be more effective if he has his wife linking Quinn with Blagojevich 4 or 5 times in a 60 second spot before taking the dog out for a walk.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 10:50 am:
===Rauner described himself as decidedly different: “I’m nobody that nobody sent,” he said.===
“Arne?”
“Bruce?”
“Yeah, he how are you. I just wanted to follow up on my Daughter and that Payton Prep business. She got denied, so I was wondering, if someone can vouch for her, for me..,”
Yep, that “Bruce”.
He personally denied a worthy child, by having his Denied Winnetka-Living Daughter, being “sent” by a call to Arne Duncan.
It’s beyond the pale how so out of touch this man is to the life he has led.
- Illannoyed - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 10:51 am:
The IDOT patronage issue seems to be allowing Rauner to pivot back to his central message about “shaking up Springfield.”
- hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 10:54 am:
So its come to this. Rauner attacking Quinn for NOT BEING a “bumbling fool.” Lol.
But I can kind of feel for him on this. Just as a pure politics matter how do you convince voters who have a hardened perception of your opponent as a well-intentioned incompetent that he has actually been a corrupt mastermind this whole time?
- William j Kelly - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 10:54 am:
Of course rauner wants Rahm’s tool shackman ‘right in there with him,’ how else would rauner know what to do without Rahm’s cronies?
- Frenchie Mendoza - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:00 am:
This from Rauner’s mouth? He’s the bustout, strongarm king — the manager who “succeeds at everything” and takes responsibility for nothing.
And he’s trying to channel Rakove as if he’s experienced in politics. He’s nobody — that much is true. But in Rakove’s content, Rauner’s tough-guy image is all dependent on the thugs he hires for “protection.”
Come on, Rauner. You can’t channel Machine tough when you ride a bagger, drink 100K wine, and go frollicking on the outskirts of Yellowstone with the rich and richer.
Please. All I need to know is that you called up Arne to get a daughter in a school where she didn’t belong. That’s about connected as they come — and you don’t even acknowledge you put a more deserving kid out of the spot you took? That’s tough all right. Yeah, real tough.
- downstate hack - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:00 am:
Too little too late. Rauner’s team let this campaign get away from them, and it is going to be hard to catch up. Should still be hitting Quinn hard on the tax increases and little to show for them. “It’s the economy Stupid”
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:03 am:
It is a set up.
The Feds take over this scandal starting next month. It will make Rauner look prophetic and Quinn look like - uh…
Guilty as sin.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:04 am:
This is more evidence that Rauner doesn’t understand the inner workings of government. You cannot fire people just willy nilly. I suppose he is free to do that if he wants but a lawsuit will follow that he would lose.
- Meanderthal - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:04 am:
That is more like it. When Pat Quinn is fighting Mike Shakman, Pat Quinn will lose every time.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:05 am:
Wait, I thought Ken Griffin sent him.
Somebody really ought to explain to Rauner that we don’t want nobody that nobody sent. Duh.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:08 am:
==fire people just willy nilly. I suppose he is free to do that if he wants but a lawsuit will follow that he would lose==
Obviously Quinn understands the inner workings of government quite well, pay for legislators, pension “reform”, retiree health care, IDOT layoffs etc… How have/are those lawsuits working out?
- A guy... - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:11 am:
This is where you start sinking the “3’s”. It’s irrefutable. No one can deny it. It plays into the pension scandals with some of these folks the honest state employees and retirees can’t stand either. This could be a category of people they despise even more than Rauner. Who knew they might have a common enemy; The Patronage Kings and Queens. If he keeps developing this one and it winds up in earned media along with ads, it could be a devastating drop. Not just with people who change their minds, but people who the Dems are counting on to just decide to stay home. Ads don’t always have that outcome, but news does.
- Jerry Hubbard - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:12 am:
I ran into a guy who knew Pat Quinn from the neighborhood. They used to play cards together. I asked him what he thought of PQ? He said Quinn cheated any chance he got.
Hmmm…maybe there’s something there. Quinn may really not be the honest doofus he pretends to be.
Taking an honest look though, look only at Pat Quinn’s tenure. Does he deserve re-election? The answer is simply…NO.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:17 am:
– The feds take over this scandal starting next month.–
What are you talking about?
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:18 am:
@Anonymous:
Ahh, the dopey “yeah, but” argument.
Those examples reiterate the point I was trying to make. Thanks for demonstrating my point.
- too obvious - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:21 am:
So silly. Rauner’s people, just like most Republicans in this state, don’t care about alleged patronage abuse. They just want the patronage Quinn now has.
- steve schnorf - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:24 am:
It was a patronage scam, no doubt about it. “By whom” hasn’t really been answered yet. The “why” is pretty self-evident. And the Governor in office always owns it. But that doesn’t change the fact that, regardless of the editorializing, he almost certainly can’t just “fire” most of the remaining people without being a Rod Blagojevich, and my guess is after 6 years in office, even Rod would have understood that. You get lawsuits, and you lose them, and you reinstate people with back wages, ad nauseum.
- Willie Stark - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:27 am:
Bruce Rauner: “Those are the actions of someone leading the outfit.”
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Williamson opinion: “The GTCR Group orchestrates the ‘Bust Out’ scheme” and “has all the makings of a legal thriller.”
Bruce knows of which he speaks. Looks like a campaign starting to melt down, just as the Quinnsters and their allies finally seem to be getting their acts together.
- Keyser Soze - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:28 am:
This is slightly off point but it seems that both campaigns are being run in the gutter. The other day a political reporter asked me “when was the last time that you heard Rauner offer a positive proposal?” I had no answer. But, the same applies to the Quinn campaign. I wish that either of the candidates would give us a reason to vote for him rather than against his opponent. Wouldn’t that be refreshing?
- Skeptic Cal - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:34 am:
Steve Schnorf hits it squarely. And as for lawsuits, has anyone noticed that the OEIG says in his report that his findings are only “REASONABLE CAUSE” and certainly not adequate proof of the facts that would apply in court. He defines it as “more than suspicion … but less than actual proof.”
What a low level of credibility for such an important issue. The bottom line is that in court, these conclusions may be subject to serious challenge.
Still odd that the OEIG could not find even reasonable cause to believe that the Governor’s office was behind this scheme.
- A guy... - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:35 am:
Schnorf, I agree with that assessment, yet it still puts Quinn in a terrible place. Now we’ve got to live with the corruption because it’s truly institutionalized corruption. Ack!
- Sir Reel - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 11:46 am:
Quinn “ordered” training, written evaluations, etc. Been there done that. Every time an administration is caught it rolls out such stuff to show it’s on top of it.
Unfortunately it never works or lasts. Political hires continue to show up often not for a vacancy. If a Governor wants people hired they are hired.
All these responses just burden regular employees and supervisors with more paperwork.
- ugh - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 12:05 pm:
I wouldn’t trust a word of a report written by the OEIG. Everyone needs to take a breath and figure out what actually happened before those are working get canned. Ridiculous.
- Skeptic - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 12:08 pm:
Sir Reel @ 11:46- That’s the way the world rolls, Dems, Reps, Government, non-Government. It goes kind of like this:
1) Auditor finds a problem.
2) Audtiee develops and implements “Awareness Training”
3) Employees roll their eyes, attend the “training” and grumble about the monumental waste of time.
4) Auditor checks the item off the list.
Problem solved.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 12:14 pm:
You cannot fire people just willy nilly. I suppose he is free to do that if he wants but a lawsuit will follow that he would lose.
Apparently, firing people, holding legislators’ pay and passing unconstitutional pension laws that are later thrown out, at a higher ultimate cost in attorneys fees, back pay, etc. than directly addressing the issue in a legal way, is good politics for both parties in this state.
- Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 12:22 pm:
^ Six Degrees of Separation ^
FTW. You deserve to do a mic drop after that one.
It’s the nature of this entire campaign. Both are living in glass houses on many of these issues.
- Mighty M. Mouse - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 12:41 pm:
===I ran into a guy who knew Pat Quinn from the neighborhood. They used to play cards together. I asked him what he thought of PQ? He said Quinn cheated any chance he got.===
Quinn never was one to play cards, and just exactly what neighborhood? A 100% made-up lie — you must be a Rauner supporter!
- A guy... - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 1:31 pm:
Mouse, 40 years ago I can remember him playing cards (lunchtime at work, everyone played) I don’t remember him cheating. Of course, I can’t remember him winning either. I doubt he cheats at cards. That probably is not the truth.
- Soccermom - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 4:09 pm:
“the neighborhood”? You mean Hinsdale?
- A guy... - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 4:36 pm:
===Soccermom - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 4:09 pm:
“the neighborhood”? You mean Hinsdale?====
S-mama, it’s been a long time since he’s called Hinsdale home. I suspect the person offering that probably untrue story meant his current city digs. For my part, it was Hillside where we played cards and did not cheat.
- the Cardinal - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 4:52 pm:
The employment scandal happened on PQ watch its his no matter the spin. Same as the issues BR has with some of his dealings. Question at the end of the day Nov 4th is who was more believable in their explanations.
- Anon Today - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 7:44 pm:
I am interested in how many of “staff assistants” got rammed through before December 31, 2010. Members hired after this date fall into Tier 2 State Retirement.
- Mighty M. Mouse - Tuesday, Sep 16, 14 @ 9:01 pm:
===Mouse, 40 years ago I can remember him playing cards (lunchtime at work, everyone played) I don’t remember him cheating. Of course, I can’t remember him winning either. I doubt he cheats at cards. That probably is not the truth.===
THAT sounds like the truth, — Thanks, A guy…
I stand corrected.