* You should really click here and watch all of Gov. Rauner’s interview at the Chicago Tribune editorial board. It’s very interesting.
With that in mind, the governor again said yesterday that he has zero involvement with the Illinois GOP’s attacks on Speaker Madigan. This passage is from the Tribune’s coverage, with emphasis added by me…
Asked whether the attacks on Madigan could undercut efforts to reach a compromise to end the stalemate, Rauner said, “I don’t think it matters one way or the other.”
“This is the life we’ve chosen. We all live in a world — I take incoming every day. … I couldn’t care less. Say what you want,” he said.
“That’s one of the best advices Rich Daley ever gave me: He said, ‘Don’t read any press about you and don’t watch any of the ads’ and I never have, I never have. And you know what? Life is good. Just spell my name right. I don’t really care. And anybody on the other side thinks, ‘Oh, I’m a politician but you can’t say anything mean about me otherwise I won’t negotiate?’ Oh come on. Grow up. I mean, we’re not in third grade,” he said.
* From another part of that Tribune interview when the governor was asked about his veto of the Chicago teacher pension subsidy and its impact on CPS employment as transcribed by me with emphasis added…
“Well, this is one of the ways I’ve been disappointed in you guys, but this is the media. Chicago has been responsible for its own teacher pension for a hundred years, OK? Allright, so let’s not think this is some, you know, a hundred years. And Chicago has received $250 million extra since at least the mid 90s, I’d have to go back and get you the exact year. $250 million in our school funding formula. A block grant that no other district gets. It’s above and beyond any of the standard stuff because they cover their own teachers pension. They have not been at a financial disadvantage. They claim that this is wrong, they’re abused, they’re treated different, and they are different because they fund teacher pensions and they get extra money because of that. There’s been a deal, there’s been an understanding. […]
“So, the headline is: ‘Bruce Rauner caused furlough days in CPS.’ No. No.”
- Roman - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:30 am:
Who still want to argue this guy is nothing like Trump?
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:33 am:
“And you know what?”
What. What Governor. What do I know? What do I need to know Governor?
That tick he has, especially when he is defending himself in his eyes is such a ridiculous manner to seem to be thoughtful.
The takeaway for me is Rauner is thin-skinned, and is willing to hurt people, this time Chicago students, purposely with that veto, and he tried to be Tommy Tough Guy that he doesn’t care what people or the press says… as he uses what people and the press say as a way to pint to his fee-fees are hurt.
It wasn’t reporter wrong, Governor, you hurt Chicago students. You just don’t like it when it’s pointed out with your thin skin.
And you know what? Thems the breaks.
- Delimma - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:35 am:
His hands are bigger, but the egos are the same.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:36 am:
You know what? Both OW and Roman are right.
I used to think Rauner was Blagoish. Now it’s clear he’s far more Trumpy.
- Saluki - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:37 am:
picking nits.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:37 am:
–“This is the life we’ve chosen.”
Again with the Hyman Roth. How cinematic. Beats dealing with reality.
“That’s one of the best advices Rich Daley ever gave me.”
Dartmouth guy obviously took English lessons from Daley, too.
He seems to be upset about all the scrootens he’s getting, though.
- LizPhairTax - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:38 am:
Advices?
Is unneccesary pluralizing the new g-dropping?
“I really don’t care”
No kidding.
- MSIX - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:39 am:
=I mean, we’re not in third grade…=
Could have fooled me with those ridiculous ads and email blitzes. Very third grade-ish.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:42 am:
If Rauner sees himself as Hyman Roth, Frankie “Five Angels” had Hyman Roth’s number…
“Your (Michael Corleone) father did business with Hyman Roth, he respected Hyman Roth… but he never *trusted* Hyman Roth!”
Rauner has proven time and time again, so maybe Rauner is right, he’s Hyman Roth(?)
- slow down - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:43 am:
So a man who has spent something like $100 million attacking his political opponents tries to portray himself as a statesman who rises above all the petty politics, and then is quickly exposed as a nakedly political creature willing to say whatever he needs to say to win. That sadly is our Gov in a nutshell.
- Lew - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:44 am:
He has a need to be right.
- Keyrock - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:45 am:
Pour 2 parts Trump into 2 parts Dan Walker. Fold into 1 part Blago, and let set for 10 minutes. Add 2 parts Jon Corzine. Bake at 440 degrees over fire set with tens of housands of $100 bills. Remove when state is thoroughly burned.
- Telly - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:48 am:
As Rich would say, another victim heard from.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:50 am:
The new normal is unqualified liars in high office.
- Archiesmom - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:54 am:
You can tell he came out of venture capital. Those dudes have no ability to negotiate at all.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 9:54 am:
The “and you know what” bit is intended to show ‘em he’s one of ‘em. John Kerry tried that at one point, but the windsurfing
videos kind of ruined that gambit. “And you know what? Drop pin’ g’s is gettin’ easier - it’s remembering to bring ‘em back at the wine club that’s tough”.
- A Jack - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 10:01 am:
So he takes advice from a Chicago Democrat mayor, but ignores advice from a Republican Governor, Jim Edgar. That does not sound plausible to me. I suspect he made that up.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 10:04 am:
–You can tell he came out of venture capital.–
Pardon, but that’s a misconception and the reality is very important to understanding how the guy operates.
Rauner wasn’t a guy risking capital to build things for the long run.
He was a vampire capitalist; he’d identify often-distressed going concerns whose parts were worth more than their whole, swoop in and then bleed them dry.
He didn’t build things, he didn’t manage them to operate more efficiently and grow, he busted them out and walked away.
- Cubs in '16 - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 10:07 am:
===He has a need to be right.===
Yes. He also resents being second-guessed and having to obtain approval from the co-equal branches of government to get what he wants. In his mind he’s smarter, wealthier, and more powerful than any of us rubes so why won’t we all just get on board with his vision of how things should be?
- c'mon, man - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 10:16 am:
“life is good”. Maybe it is for the .01%.
- Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 10:16 am:
He reads headlines, not stories.
Big difference
- northsider (the original) - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 10:34 am:
He keeps forgetting this part of Roth’s philosophy:
“What I am saying is, we have now what we have always needed, real partnership with the government.”
- TominChicago - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 10:41 am:
He sounds like Trump
- Anonymous - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 10:45 am:
Perhaps Richie Daley should have read his press. CPD ran wild under him, financial deficits skyrocketed, parking meter and Skyway fiascos (Skyway toll is now 5 bucks each way — thanks privatization!), patronage scandals. Hardly the model leader for Brucie.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 10:51 am:
Remember, “The Governor doesn’t give a ( expletive deleted ) what anyone thinks.”
- Rabid - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 10:56 am:
Goldie reads it to him
- Chicago parent - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 11:04 am:
Rauner is either lying or he really doesn’t know the truth.
CPS does not get more–it gets less. It gets less because the state spends $4 billion a year in teacher pension subsidies for every school district except Chicago. That’s FOUR BILLION.
Doesn’t take a math genius to understand how that skews overall education funding between Chicago and the rest of the state. The governor’s “extra $250 million” is chump change compared to the absence of pension subsidies that every other school gets.
- Arsenal - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 11:04 am:
== And you know what? Life is good.==
That’s pretty good fodder for a campaign ad right there.
- Ratso Rizzo - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 11:07 am:
== And you know what? Life is good.==
I think Emily Miller has something to say about that.
- GOPgal - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 11:13 am:
Rauner is the polar opposite of Trump.
Trump is a doer who knows how to lead. Enormous army of grassroots supporters. Rauner refuses to lead, apparently doesn’t know how, and has no supporters beyond his payroll and appointees. Plus unlike Trump, Rauner has really never built anything beyond his own fortune via paper shuffling financial games.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 11:30 am:
No, the Governor didn’t create the problems. However, the Governor did veto the bill that led to some of the actions taken by CPS.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 11:31 am:
To add . . .
One trait of a good leader is to accept responsibility when things go bad. I’ve yet to see the Governor exhibit that trait.
- cdog - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 11:32 am:
I am with GOPgal, for sure.
Rauner is an ideologue and he is usually wrong-minded because nothing is ever ideal.
So far, his legacy is disturbing.
- AlfondoGonz - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 11:38 am:
“Trump is a doer who knows how to lead.”
I’ll be as delicate as I can…what do we say around here? Don’t mistake activity for movement?
Anyone who thinks Trump knows how to lead has never led themselves. A leader has empathy. A leader has reason. A leader has concern for those under his or her command. A leader will sacrifice him or herself before others. Every decision a leader makes rests heavily on his or her head.
A dictator says “We’re doing this, OK, and if we don’t, [insert threat].”
- DuPage Bard - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 11:40 am:
Go get em Bruce! It’s all about having tiger blood in your veins and winning!
- The Captain - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 11:49 am:
The political reaction, first from the Governor’s press office and now usually from the Illinois Republican party, that is always so over the top reactionary does not suggest that the Governor is going to be able to live up to his own advice once the Democrats actually start running a counter-narrative.
- Anon - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 12:24 pm:
=== They (CPS) have not been at a financial disadvantage (because of the $250M block grant) ===
The Governor suggests that the State has been fully covering the employer’s pension contribution for CPS. That’s as false as Trump’s claim the Russians didn’t hack the DNC.
- Rabid - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 12:53 pm:
Incoming, the gold rule is not those with the gold make the rules. If you are human what does that make the speaker
- jimk849 - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 1:24 pm:
Rauner has a political record Trump does not yet. Can not compare yet.
- Honeybear - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 1:43 pm:
“Life is good” ? Smell it sniff sniff
Privilege is the scent that emanates from every pore.
Life is good when you cannot see, hear , or feel the suffering of others.
As Baldwin said
“I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do”
- JS Mill - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 2:02 pm:
=He didn’t build things, he didn’t manage them to operate more efficiently and grow, he busted them out and walked away.=
Didn’t we call them “corporate raiders” back in the day?
- JS Mill - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 2:07 pm:
=The governor’s “extra $250 million” is chump change compared to the absence of pension subsidies that every other school gets.=
Which is “chump change” ion comparison to the disproportionate funding CPS gets from the state compared to every other district through the Chicago Block Grants.
If CPS had to use the same funding formula everyone else uses their funding levels would be as much as $500 million lower.
Their block grant does not change even as property values increase and enrollment decreases. For the rest of us, that is a formula for losing funding, but not CPS.
In addition, CPS taxes based on 10% fair market value for property. When the multiplier is applied the rate is about 20% when the rest of us (outside of Cook County) pay based on 33 1/3% of fair market value.
CPS gets a reasonable deal from the state relative to what everyone else gets in our underfunded world.
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Feb 2, 17 @ 6:54 pm:
Saying “Downstate gets a $4 billion teacher pension subsidy” is a bunch of hooey. 75% of that is payment on the unfunded liability, not the cost of pension benefits.
Nobody ever wants to talk about this, but CTPF/CPS received the better part of a billion dollars (from FY 96 until Rauner stopped it) for pension contributions and they used it for retiree healthcare subsidies.