82 Comments - Honeybear - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:37 pm: He just can’t help himself can he? Poor poor Governor. So powerless. So helpless. He’ll be helpless to dictator Madigan. - Ducky LaMoore - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:37 pm: If the GOP loses seats, that makes Madigan a dictator? Can Illinois have two dictators??? 1/2/s - Huh? - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:38 pm: “I want to be the most powerful politician and dictator of the State, but Madigan is standing in my way.” Fixed it for you. - very old soil - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:38 pm: Will someone please give this man a copy of the Illinois constitution. - Annonin' - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:39 pm: after spankin’ him for the StopGap we think Rickey was tryin’ to give him a chance to back out. BigBrain fails to take openin’ Meanwhile the voice of thoughtful negotiatin’ rings clear. - 47th Ward - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:41 pm: ===he will run again=== How does his wife feel about THAT? - Stark - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:44 pm: Starting to think Rep. Lang had a point when he mentioned IL might never have a budget while this man is governor. Through 2018. - Rabid - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:44 pm: What level of support will my govenor girth trump with? - AC - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:48 pm: I’m confused by Rauner’s situational ethics. Only Madigan would be a dictator with a true supermajority. If Rauner were to have that level of political control, it would be fair, just and good. Of course anyone opposing Rauner is “controlled by Madigan” even if they’re sworn enemies of Madigan. - Lucky Pierre - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:49 pm: Rep Lang knows the Governor or the Senate won’t approve the House budget but of course that is the fault of the Goveror not the face it had a 7 billion dollar deficit. - Norseman - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:50 pm: His re-election run was a given by most. Rauner loves power - although he complains so frequently that he doesn’t have it. The money will be flowing like Niagara Falls in 2016 & 2018. Mrs. Rauner, you may have to sell a home. - The Captain - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:51 pm: Maybe there were other parts of the conversation that didn’t make it on to Twitter but it’s kind of remarkable to me that he’s contemplating the possibility of the House Dems picking up seats but not the possibility that the House Republicans win the chamber. I mean why’s he paying for all this if he doesn’t think it has a decent chance of making his life as Governor easier? The Republicans basically don’t fundraise anymore, they know Rauner will pay for everything so they have mostly stopped trying. Whatever the Gov pays in taxes to support government programs he doesn’t agree with has to exponentially pale in comparison to what he’s paid to subsidize the Illinois Republican party so he can be the governor of a non-functioning state and to support a legislative Republican caucus that began with historically low members and can only hope to get negligibly better. A hobby this expensive ought to be more fun or at least produce better results. - Macbeth - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:51 pm: Man, I want to play poker with Bruce.\ He’s on tilt. Full, full tilt. He can’t help himself. He’ll gamble. He’ll gamble. I love it! Bruce, let’s play cards. Seriously. You’re someone any shark would love to play. You’re a fish, my friend. You’re a little fish in a big, big pond — with a couple of sharks just waiting, waiting, to watch you slide in your bet. - ILPundit - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:52 pm: Rauner basically says if Madigan wins seats, then he (Rauner) is powerless. He also says he’s running for reelection The cognitive dissonance is strong with this one - Just Chilling - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:55 pm: Carthago delenda est, eh Bruce? - Mama - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:59 pm: “Go. Rauner tells Tribune editorial board he will run again.” Dear Mother of God, please help us! - Lester Holt's Mustache - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:02 pm: Dictator Madigan might be the only chance of getting any kind of budget done before 2019, if only because the Republicans will pick up just a couple of seats this fall and we’ll all be be right back where we are now. Rauner will say “see, republicans picked up X number of seats and so that is a clear mandate to pass my turn around agenda”. Madigan and Cullerton will say “Illinois voters again elected a majority of democratic candidates to the house and senate, and so doing issued a mandate that the governor give up his demands for his turn around agenda”. - Wensicia - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:06 pm: IL Gov Rauner tells his PR firm, the Tribune editorial board, he will run again. Fixed - frisbee - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:07 pm: Can we start printing the Oswego Willy ‘18 yard signs now? - illini - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:08 pm: Third attempt - Our last General Election is barely over - our next is not for close to 5 months - and we are already talking about November of 2018!!!!! How much more madness must we inflict on ourselves? - Demoralized - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:09 pm: Yes, @Lucky, the Governor is simply the victim in this whole mess. You and the Governor let us all know when he wants to act like a big boy and accept some responsibility. - WETHEPEOPLE - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:09 pm: I don’t stronger majorities in the GA as a problem; that might be what it takes to get things moving in Illinois. One catastrophe i can’t see is Ruaner having a second term. - illini - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:11 pm: @ frisbee - I’ll even circulate petitions downstate. - Whatever - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:11 pm: Dictator Madigan? Did anyone tell Sen. Cullerton about this? He might want to change his ways a little, or he might be sent to a re-education camp. - illini97 - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:11 pm: “On the subject of him spending millions to fund campaigns and PACs: Rauner responds, “Yes, I have and my wife isn’t very happy about it”" Is it because she’d rather they keep the money or because she knows it could be helping the social services her husband is strangling? - Demoralized - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:12 pm: I’ve said this before but it should be repeated. If the Governor is so impotent that he believes he is nothing but a victim and can’t do anything then perhaps he should resign. The Governor has said multiple times that he is irrelevant by telling anybody that will listen that Madigan controls the world. If you are that incompetent to be able to figure out how to govern with the hand you’ve been dealt then you aren’t as smart as I thought you were. - AC - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:13 pm: I thought Madigan was already all-powerful with the supermajority Rauner keeps touting. /s - BBG Watch - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:14 pm: == “On the subject of him spending millions to fund campaigns and PACs: Rauner responds, “Yes, I have and my wife isn’t very happy about it”” Is it because she’d rather they keep the money or because she knows it could be helping the social services her husband is strangling? == Or he planned on helping on the CPS /s - Norseman - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:17 pm: The Oswego Willy for Gov is gaining ground! - Ghost - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:19 pm: there has been a 6bil hole from letting the tax rate decrease, every year w/o a leader and a budget builds that debt, as that debt grows so does the tax money needed to get rid of it. it wont magically go away in bankruptcy. Rauner is creating the most unfriendly business environment and budget debt he cann all ao he can demand pensions be cut for state workers. think anout, he is savaging the economy just to make it so bad he can steal retirement money from middle class state workers. that my friends is true evil. meanwhile the state economy will crash under mr buisness…. like every buisness he has run to date. - South Illinoisian - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:22 pm: Me thinks Brucie is being just a wee bit dramatic. - JS Mill - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:25 pm: =A hobby this expensive ought to be more fun or at least produce better results. = Maybe this is EXACTLY the result he is looking for. Frightening as it may seem, as we go a long it seems that is what he wants. - northsider (the original) - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:28 pm: Something’s either missing in the tweets or in the Governor’s thought process. - Huh? - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:28 pm: “If the GOP loses seats, that makes Madigan a dictator” Of goody, a repeat of the Blagojevich administration when the GA went around him. - Wensicia - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:30 pm: Who would be best to challenge Rauner in 2018? I’d say Preckwinkle. - Rabid - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:34 pm: My govenor makes himself impotent , (citing godwin’s law?) - Chicago 20 - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:34 pm: How fast can we set a one term limit on Governor’s in Illinois? /s - illinois bob - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:37 pm: @Dem =If you are that incompetent to be able to figure out how to govern with the hand you’ve been dealt then you aren’t as smart as I thought you were.= Dem, you need SOME kind of leverage to get ANYTHING you want from Madigan. Letting the sick, disabled and needy suffer, or even the school kids, doesn’t bother Madigan a whit. No leverage there. He tells his buddies at AFCSME, SEIU, IEA, IFT and CTU that he’s hurting the kids and those using state services in order to force a huge tax increase on Rauner that will allow them to get far more than rate of inflation compensation increases, so they don’t have a problem with that. If they’re “furloughed” they’ll likely be granted back pay once the tax increase kicks in. No leverage there. The only things that could create leverage on Madigan is taking the profit out of his tax appeal business, limiting his hiring and contractor clout, and moderating labor compensation increases, and that’s what Rauner’s turn around agenda is all about. Ya don’t play chicken with Madigan, cause he doesn’t care who gets hurt as long as it isn’t him, and he’s pretty invulnerable in the system he’s set up over decades. The only question left is how far Madigan will push Rauner’s nose in it when he agrees to concede to Madigan’s tax increase demands to keep his patronage empire running. - @MisterJayEm - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:38 pm: “How does his wife feel about THAT?” I no longer believe there is any disagreement in that household. Some people wear a farmer costume as their gimmick, some people surround themselves with poor kids. Different happy talk as associated with each; but in both cases, it’s just a gimmick. – MrJM - illini - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:40 pm: I think MrJM is on to something - my suspicions for some time. - Anon221 - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:42 pm: I don’t think Dr. Rauner will be smilin’ and saying spouse Bruce has no social agenda for those ‘18 ads. - Iron Lady - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:43 pm: Start passing the OW petitions. I’ll sign. - Anon221 - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:44 pm: MrJM- if she appears in the ad campaign defending his actions to date, then the truth will be known for certain. - go sox - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:45 pm: his mouth says trump could have impact on legislative seats but his checkbook says he’s trying to pick some up. - Anonymous - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:52 pm: -Veto -Amendatory Veto -Reduction Veto -Line-item Veto -60 days to take action on a bill -Executive prerogative not to spend money appropriated by the legislature. -Authority to reorganize state agencies by executive order. -etc. The Illinois Governor’s office is one of the most powerful in the nation. You’re not a bystander and you’re not a victim, Bruce. Govern! - DuPage - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:56 pm: By 2018 there won’t be much left of the hostages. - Langhorne - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:00 pm: Its never brucies fault. Ever. Trump wont help, but its brucie, and almost two years of his deadlocked incompetence and suffering, that will lose seats. He just admitted that, no matter how much he spends, he can lose seats. ” madigan bad” increases negatives, but doesnt carry elections. Governin’ would be refreshing. Jim, christy, how are things lookin’? - Demoralized - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:07 pm: ==Dem, you need SOME kind of leverage to get ANYTHING you want from Madigan.== It’s been a year and a half. If he hasn’t figured it out by now he never will. Other Governor’s have managed to figure out how to get something done. ==Letting the sick, disabled and needy suffer, or even the school kids, doesn’t bother Madigan a whit== It apparently doesn’t bother the Governor either. We wouldn’t be in this situation if either of them cared. ==to get far more than rate of inflation compensation increases== Ugh. This again? You tell us all what salaries you think everyone deserves and then perhaps I can respond. ==that’s what Rauner’s turn around agenda is all about== Rauner’s turnaround agenda includes items that he will never get. There are not going to be any substantial changes when it comes to unions. Such changes aren’t going to pass the General Assembly. So the Governor is continuing to waste his time on things that aren’t going to happen. He’s already wasted a year and a half on that mission. Is he going to waste four years on it? I hope not. - Anonymous - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:13 pm: Raj ears greatest supporter for him running again is Blago. Rauner is the only guy that can actually fall lower in public esteem that The Hair Jerk. - Henry Francis - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:19 pm: Folks, we have seen Dr. Rauner mad. Don’t you remember? When Bruce insists on wearing that old and ugly shirt. Just like she got over that, she’ll get over this. - Lester Holt's Mustache - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:20 pm: As Juvenal explained in the bankruptcy post, Bruce will have a lot of money to burn in 2018 but it may not be enough if he gets tagged with the “racist” label and it can be made to stick. He can blame a lot of problems on Madigan, and justifiably so in some cases. But between the downstate vs. Chicago rhetoric, helping out future farmers while pushing CPS towards bankruptcy, and fighting for programs like the road fund while letting social services burn - he opens himself up to the accusation. If that happens, no amount of James Meeks, Evelyn Sanguinetti and Cory Brooks commercial appearances are going to help with suburban Illinoisans who previously held their noses and voted for him over Quinn. - Arthur Andersen - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:21 pm: Don’t be silly, Vote for Willy! To the Post, some of you folks must have slept through Economics 101. Governors can’t “savage the economy.” - steve schnorf - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:22 pm: Bob, you say some truly odd things. 24 months ago, the unions weren’t Madigan’S friends. In fact, many of them were working hard to help (now) Governor Rauner defeat Pat Quinn, with whom they had a real bone to pick. If people are going to debate things, they pretty much have to pick a lane and stay in it. That sometimes seems to be a foreign concept to you. In politics your allies and opponents are to a large extent transitory, based on what you have done for them/to them lately. The unions aren’t always “his buddies” nor he theirs, any more than the health care providers, higher education, k-12, or any one else. they migrate to where their interests are best served at any given point in time. They are in at least somewhere fungible. In picking up one you frequently drive another away. I’ve always felt the more informative way to look at it it is, “why is group A aligned with politico Y right now?” - steve schnorf - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:24 pm: Jesus, that was a jumble. I’m not even going to try to fix it. Make out of it what you may. - Southern Illinois Hoopdee - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:31 pm: Huh is on to something comparing Bruce to Rod. Both are going to return run around by the GA. Both are in over their heads. Both sought to gain control from Mike and Rauner is going to lose much like Rod did. Some will cite the power granted to the governor in the IL Constitution. If anything, that just makes the case of Madigan being one of the great political chess players we have ever seen in IL. Maybe the best ever. - Illinois bob - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:37 pm: I’m pretty good with translating jumbles, Steve. I do get your point. I think you’d agree that unions campaign workers and contributions are an integral part of Madigan’s power base, as well as contractors and trail lawyers. He needs to be “their guy” to be successful. How much he has to kow tow is dependent on how much his rivals are willing to give. he would have had a real problem competing with Rutherford or the other guy had he been elected. In the last cycle unions wanted Rutherford elected in the worst way. When he had his “problems” they were too ponderous to move quickly to stop Rauner. Right now unions have no where else to go than Madigan, so he has no reason to solve this budget issue quickly from a political power perspective. That was my point. - Soccermom - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:41 pm: All I want to do is join a campaign and start working full-time on stopping Trump and Rauner. #NeverTrump #NevermoreRauner - thoughts matter - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:42 pm: Dear Governor … a little less campaigning, a lot more governing. You haven’t shown any interest in the actual job, just the campaign. - Illinois bob - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:43 pm: @Dem ==Dem, you need SOME kind of leverage to get ANYTHING you want from Madigan.== It’s been a year and a half. If he hasn’t figured it out by now he never will. Other Governor’s have managed to figure out how to get something done. WE AGREE ON THAT. WHAT’S GOING ON IS POINTLESS AS FAR AS I CAN SEE. ==Letting the sick, disabled and needy suffer, or even the school kids, doesn’t bother Madigan a whit== It apparently doesn’t bother the Governor either. We wouldn’t be in this situation if either of them cared. I CAN’T DISAGREE WITH THAT. ==to get far more than rate of inflation compensation increases== Ugh. This again? You tell us all what salaries you think everyone deserves and then perhaps I can respond. SURE, DEM. I’LL BE HAPPY TO DO A COMPENSATION EVALUATION OF EVERY PUBLIC JOB IN THE STATE JUST TO SATISFY YOU… ==that’s what Rauner’s turn around agenda is all about== Rauner’s turnaround agenda includes items that he will never get. There are not going to be any substantial changes when it comes to unions. Such changes aren’t going to pass the General Assembly. So the Governor is continuing to waste his time on things that aren’t going to happen. He’s already wasted a year and a half on that mission. Is he going to waste four years on it? I hope not. ONCE AGAIN, WE AGREE. THE QUESTION IS WILL MADIGAN LET HIM GET OUT AND SAVE FACE, OR WILL HE PUSH HIS NOSE IN IT. - Lester Holt's Mustache - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:48 pm: steve - first let me nominate your first sentence for “Understatement of the Year: Comment category” award here on Capfax. Secondly, to your post - I get what you’re saying, but I still don’t understand what he’s getting at with his actions of late. For a governor who is supposedly trying to help elect state republicans this year and says he is running for re-election in two years, shouldn’t he be trying to keep from alienating very large voting blocks? The AA community and labor aren’t going to be with him, I assume he knows that much - but by going out of his way to antagonize the poor (who rely on social services) and Chicagoans in general (whom he at least needs to sit on their hands this fall, and needs at least some votes from in 2 years) he seems to be working hard at driving away more voters than he picks up. Doesnt he realize that he’s picking up rural votes downstate, which he already has, and driving away those he needs to get him where he wants to go? - NormCit - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:49 pm: Okay… So when does the federal intervention start? For the average citizen this has gotten beyond ridiculous. - Anonymous - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 4:51 pm: Geez, don’t you wish this guy had taken up golf or shuffleboard in his dotage? Or, since the governor chooses to bring his wife into the discussion, try to be like Bill and Melinda? They’re amazing humanitarians. Bruce and Diana, not so much. Seriously, you’ve made your fortune, the kids are raised, and in your last act you just go about sabotaging state government for an agenda you can’t articulate the benefits of in any big-kid way? What’s your problem, man? - WhatIsThis - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 5:03 pm: Regardless of political position I’m surprised he hasn’t used a logical scenario of identifying formula changes that would increase per pupil funding in relation to the population density of CPS along with targeted taxes by city of Chicago. This would not cover all of the costs and there will still be cuts 5-15% but not this scorched earth mentality of bankruptcy that really plays into the narrative of the other party. Really he’s sabotaging his own party by throwing out these ultimatums that have no concrete foundations. The fact that he’s even announcing running again right now is a sign that perhaps he’s loosing it. Any psychologists or health professionals willing to give an arm chair analysis? - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 5:36 pm: Wow. Where to begin? First, every discussion of dictators ought to begin with Aaron Schock. It was Schock who, at Rauner’s innauguration, warned us of the governor-elect’s dictatorial tendencies. Of course, Schock is no longer with us. Leading some to remark that Governor Rauner is less like Cincinnatus and more like the Queen of Hearts. The beheadings will continue until morale improves. The rhetoric is so over-the-top that many missed what is really is going on here. This isn’t about the possibility of Madigan becoming dictator. Everyone knows the legislature is like trying to herd cats. Heck, Madigan just fell short of passing a budget in the veto proof Senate. No, what Rauner’s doing here is a brilliant piece of expectation-setting. The odds of House Democrats picking up more seats is so remote that Democrats aren’t even dreaming of it. It will be a miracle if Democrats only lose the Franks seat. In fact, any chance of Democrats picking up seats is completely out of Democrats hands, and has nothing to do with Trump. Trump will do very well downstate, in Avery Bourne’s seat, wojcicki-Jimenez, Kay, Bryant. If those legislators lose, it is 110 percent because of Rauner. That is why they are making the almost unprecedented move to pull Mike Z into the campaigns in June, to put his heralded downstate political skills to work. Even if he manages to hold those seats, picks up a couple of House Democrats, Rauner will only be shooting par for the course. He still won’t be any closer to passing his tax increase - Jack Franks’ replacement won’t be a Yes vote either - and he will still be a long, long way from his promise of a GOP majority in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly. Which, BTW, still would not put him any closer to passing his turnaround agenda or his tax hike. In fact, I think he will be further from both. - JackD - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 5:37 pm: Who are these trail lawyers Illinois Bob keeps writing about? - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 5:46 pm: JackD: The trial lawyers are the folks you turn to after one of Walt Disney’s alligator’s eats your kid or Toyota sells you are car they know has defective airbags, leading to your wife’s death, For reasons I am sure you understand, some republicans seem to vilify them. - Rabid - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 6:16 pm: Wow announce your candidacy before your first budget. I don’t want excuses I want results - Anonymous - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 6:20 pm: Rauner is the last, best hope this state has of returning to stability and financial sanity. - the old man - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 6:26 pm: The more money spent by both sides sure does help the economy of Illinois, now if both parties would just take that model to state government Illinois could be a great economic engine once again. - South Central - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 6:48 pm: Our governor cannot manage to accomplish the most basic of his duties–creating a budget–yet his plan is to run again. That’s arrogance and lack of self awareness served up on a plate. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 7:17 pm: @Anonymous 6:20: As the Paul Simon Institute pointed out, the fiscal policies of the state of Illinois were no less sane than the electorate prior to Rauner. The governor has destabilized our economy, cost our economy jobs, and increased our credit card debt to unprecedented levels. We have learned what most economists could have told you: an unbalanced budget is better than no budget. With an unbalanced budget, you might have a runaway wagon train, but at least your hands are still on the reins and you can still get things under control. No budget is more like Thelma & Louise holding hands, closing their eyes and stepping on the gas. - Union thug - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 7:44 pm: Anonymous you forgot the snark tag /s see that simple - Daniel Plainview - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 7:46 pm: I can’t imagine being an adult with this many excuses. I guess that’s what the silver spoon nourishes. - Dale Cooper - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 7:51 pm: So did Rauner just indirectly admit that Madigan doesn’t have a super majority? - The Boss - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 7:53 pm: As another Bruce once said, “Baby I was born to run” the problem is that this Bruce does not know where he is running to or for, Forest Gump on steroids - DuPage Dave - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 8:34 pm: Once again, Rauner is a complete and utter disappointment. I didn’t vote for the guy, never understood his appeal, don’t get his constant whining. But you hope whoever gets elected governor would - you know– govern. At least have a clue as to how to do the job. - Stones - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 9:29 pm: Correct me if I’m wrong but if the Governor truly feels that it’s likely the Democrats will pick up seats, wouldn’t he be wise to cut his deal now (while he has more strength)? This just reinforces my belief that he wants to just play the blame game. - Wading in... - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 9:54 pm: If the Democrats do, in fact, pick up seats this coming election, is there any chance Republicans (those left standing, anyway) take those losses , compounded by Rauner’s stating he’s already planning for four more years, as their queue to take their party back, or at least begin rebuilding it? Or, can Rauner stick around as long as he desires? - Mama - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 10:02 pm: - Ghost @ 3:19 pm:- I think you might be on to something here, but I pray you are wrong. - Tom K. - Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 10:54 pm: ==never understood his appeal== That’s easy, his appeal was that he was “anti-Madigan”. Dem’s had complete control of the House, Senate, and Governor’s chair for the 12 years prior to Rauner. How did that work out for Illinois? So, voters thought, “How much worse could it be?” Now, instead of the “change” people thought they were voting in, they have gridlock. From a purely selfish standpoint, I’m actually sorry that Quinn wasn’t re-elected, it would have been easier to jettison my home when the time comes, and watch the inevitable mushroom cloud from a safe distance instead of being at ground zero. - Delbert Grady - Tuesday, Jun 21, 16 @ 8:15 am: Not sure why people thought the cafeteria manager in the nursing home could run the state. He inherited money like the national guy. At least the guy who started the big social network earned his keep. - Huh? - Tuesday, Jun 21, 16 @ 8:39 am: The State has barely survived the last year and a half under the “administration” of 1.4%. If this lack luster braggart wins another term, I fear for the state of the State. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.