116 Comments - Commonsense in Illinois - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 8:46 am: So, is the Governor’s new inner-circle to bring people in, or keep people out? - PublicServant - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 8:46 am: Apparently, with Rauner, the buck, so to speak, doesn’t stop anywhere near him, or he would’ve been the first to resign. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 8:48 am: The sad part in all these resignations is that they have no choice, given the option is to sit by quietly and watch the RaunerS systematically tear down the political apparatus, the governing levers, with the end game to take down a whole state. You are loyal to the Crew that brought ya, and when you turn on them and the goals they thought you all shared, you have to walk. All the best to Mahoney. With Z, Goldberg, “ck”, Lance, now Mahoney… the IPI couldn’t have imagined a better takedown of the governing. - Free Set of Steak Knives - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 8:48 am: Sinking ship manned by Captain Ahab and Lt. Bligh. - Alex P. Keaton - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 8:49 am: Wheels have come off - illinois - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 8:49 am: In baseball, the manager gets fired. In politics, it is the team. Play ball! - Fax Machine - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 8:54 am: It’s all so weird - as soon as his re-election chances start to look up (he gets to campaign against Madigan’s tax hike plus no more “where’s the budget?”), he makes a series of unnecessary decisions that severely lower his odds of re-election. If he was going to do a hard right turn, why couldn’t he wait until after his potential re-election? He’s not going to be able to pass any of the IPI agenda for the next 18 months, so why do this now? - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 8:57 am: - Fax Machine - Diana and Bruce have had enough of the phony, and are betting being callous and thoughtless, through the IPI Crew brought on board will be enough to win in 2018, or enough to destroy what they want gone, if they do lose. It’s ideology now, not politics. - Phil King - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:03 am: CapFax commenters are almost entirely insiders. The Governor hired a bunch of inside business as usual staff for the last 2.5 years. They’ve failed to bring the radical change he promised because they were groomed by the system that needs to be changed. The Governor is finally delivering on his promises. “Shake Up Springfield.” None of these people will be missed outside the small bi-partisan clique that has ruined Illinois for 40 years. - Fax Machine - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:07 am: Phil - what are they going to Shake Up in the next 18 months with a Dem GA & Comptroller? - illini97 - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:14 am: Phil King, it’s not just that he’s hiring the IPI, it’s that IPI will craft his message. They’re going to be putting Rauner into ad-ready quotes for the next 16 months. For both sides. - Phil King - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:15 am: Fax Machine, Governors have a lot of unilateral power. And now that Madigan has made clear he will never compromise on anything, and 15 Republicans have shown that they will sell out on everything, I would expect a turn towards what he can do on his own. - Real - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:16 am: Fax Machine Not to mention the republicans that rebuked him. Rauner and his staff can’t do anything to them in the next 18 months. - Real - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:17 am: Phil King Saving the state is not selling out. If Rauners agenda was so good he would not be holding the budget hostage to have it passed. - Ducky LaMoore - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:20 am: ===And now that Madigan has made clear he will never compromise on anything=== Four year property tax freeze got zero Republican votes. - Fax Machine - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:20 am: Governors do have a lot of unilateral power, but a lot of that depends on appointees who need Senate confirmation. True, he can decide not to spend money appropriated to agencies under his control, but since the Comptroller is a Dem he can’t hold independent agencies & units of Government hostage. - Phil King - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:23 am: ==holding the budget hostage == This never happened. He made clear he would accept two outcomes: 1) Balanced budget with current revenues 2) Tax hike budget with significant reforms The reforms were not leverage for a budget. The GA wanted a tax hike and Rauner told them what they had to do in order to earn his signature. Governor’s have no obligation to hike taxes just because the GA wants it. - Blue dog dem - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:25 am: Ducky. Zero Republican votes tell you that the established Republican party loves taxing the working poor and middle classes as much as the Dems. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:26 am: Rauner is inexperienced in politics, and he reasserted his ideology after he failed to deal with members of his own party. This shows an arrogance which may be acceptable in business but which are not compatible with US politics. In the last analysis, he gambled and he is losing. - Real - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:27 am: Phil King Nobody is accepting Rauners agenda but the simple. Tax hike with reforms such as term limits but no canpaign finance reform? Term limits help Rauner buy more seats. Campaign finance reform prevents that. We see Rauner is in it for himself. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:29 am: Oh - Phil King -, lol… ===2) Tax hike budget with significant reforms=== You can’t give a required element. Either you’re willfully ignorant or blissfully unaware. Rauner’s own budget required, (not optional) a revenue increase. ===Rauner told them what they had to do in order to earn his signature.=== … so they override Rauner with first 16, then 11 in the end to override. “Why?” Rauner was holding the state hostage and the GA had enough… Bipartisanly. ===Governor’s have no obligation to hike taxes just because the GA wants it.=== … except Rauner’s own budget required a revenue increase, so there’s that, lol - Arsenal - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:30 am: ==The Governor is finally delivering on his promises. “Shake Up Springfield.”== Heh. With staffers from a 15-year-old political think tank. How revolutionary! He’s finally getting away from *those* political insiders and now picking *these* political insiders! - Hieronymus - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:31 am: @9:23 and he cravenly refused to offer up an honest budget proposal based upon then current revenues and his agency heads were unable to identify what cuts could be made to meet them. Try again. - Ducky LaMoore - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:32 am: @Phil King You must love Pat Quinn. You see, he actually proposed two budgets before the 2011 tax hike, one that included new revenues and one that didn’t. Rauner only proposed budgets that were billions out of whack. - Arsenal - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:33 am: ==I would expect a turn towards what he can do on his own.== You might expect that, but by your account he’s hiring a bunch of “political outsiders” who can’t pull that off. - Fax Machine - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:40 am: Kudos to the 11 Republicans who voted to override. Often it takes years or decades for the courageous to get vindication. For them it took a week. - Howwastheplaymrslincoln? - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:45 am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ7RvRPCSWM This reminded me of the state of the State if Goldberg was Mufasa - Phil King - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:45 am: ==… except Rauner’s own budget required a revenue increase, so there’s that, lol == His second introduced budget, not his first. GA never even touched his first budget. Rauner was trying to be reasonable and play by their rules. That was his mistake. ==Pat Quinn. You see, he actually proposed two budgets before the 2011 tax hike, one that included new revenues and one that didn’t== A political stunt attempting to show the “necessity” of a tax hike, because his no tax hike plan intentionally gouged key Democratic constituencies. Rauner also had his “Budget Stabilization Act” to give himself emergency powers. If we’re counting one, let’s count the other. - Rich Miller - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:50 am: ===His second introduced budget, not his first=== LOL http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20150507/BLOGS02/150509877/civic-federation-rips-unrealistic-rauner-budget - The Captain - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:52 am: For the staffers that are leaving, some by choice while others less so, my biggest regret for them is the bubble they’ve had to operate in for the last few years. This Governor’s office was much more insular than most recent ones. The Governor has criticized Republican legislators for socializing with Democrats after hours in Springfield and in this administration that mindset led to seeing fewer executive branch staff at social events. Now that many of them find themselves in need of a new job it’s unfortunate that their networking opportunities were limited during their time in the administration, relative to staffers who performed similar roles for previous administrations. Hopefully they land on their feet. - Real - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:52 am: Phil King I’m not going to expose this i Illinois house republican that was one of the 15 that voted on Madigan’s budget, but he/she told me that Rauner’s own budget should not be called a republican budget. I got the message through facebook messenger. - Well then - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:52 am: Phil King aka IPI? - Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:52 am: @Phil King — You and your ilk mimic the Stalinist mindset perfectly. All that matters is ideological purity, fealty to a set of abstract principles. The reality of governing, of checks and balances, of making a government work … to complicated. - Snucka - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:52 am: Say what you will: the man still has unlimited funds and will be a tough out. The Dems can’t just mail (pun intended) it in. - Juice - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:53 am: Phil King, both Rauner’s first budget and his “Budget Stabilization Act” made the budget appear balanced by reducing the pension contribution by billions of dollars, thus kicking the can down the road. So not sure why that should be counted. - Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 9:54 am: Too complicated. (Correcting above.) - Fax Machine - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:01 am: Snucka - he was in such a good spot for re-election - he was going to be able to campaign on a simple message he truly believed in, and now he’s throwing it all away with these unforced errors. It’s absolutely inexplicable to any rational person. - Anony - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:02 am: Juice, how many actual voters will know what you posted at 9:53? Few, and most post here…. Rauner will be able to run against the “Madigan” income and gas tax increaes, without the pain of no current budget. - @MisterJayEm - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:06 am: Shorter IPI spin: “Rauner was held back because he surrounded himself with people who knew how things get done in Springfield. Now that they’ve been purged, and he’s assembled a team of people with no governing experience whatsoever, there’s nothing standing between Rauner and his pure & perfect success.” – MrJM - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:06 am: ===Rauner will be able to run against the “Madigan” income and gas tax increaes, without the pain of no current budget.=== Meh. A very smart, nimble, wise campaign would from now until July 2018 remind everyone. “You like that. Rauner vetoed it” “More troopers? Rauner vetoed that.” “Social services being paid? Rauner vetoed that” “Higher Ed getting a full year of funding? Rauner vetoed that.” Where o where can Rauner go and say “I support this” with a budget he vetoed and overridden? A whole year now… Rauner can’t claim a single thing (SB1 and K-12 funding still hanging out there, but I digress… ) that requires a budgetary dollar. So, there’s that. - Just Observing - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:08 am: Asking out of ignorance. Why would a body man be forced out over the budget outcome? What impact does the body man have on furthering the Gov.’s agenda? This just seems like the Gov. being vindictive. - Earnest - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:10 am: >It’s all so weird - as soon as his re-election chances start to look up (he gets to campaign against Madigan’s tax hike plus no more “where’s the budget?”), he makes a series of unnecessary decisions that severely lower his odds of re-election. This has been my reaction too. I see some good comments in response to Fax’s observation. I think Rauner’s way too smart and strategic to simply be reacting, but this seems more like preparation to win a primary, not a general election in Illinois. >1) Balanced budget with current revenues Phil, my beef with this one is that he would never give us any inkling what he’d want that to look like, not even through his department heads. It makes me doubt it is something he wanted or would support. - JS Mill - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:12 am: =CapFax commenters are almost entirely insiders.= LOL. Not true, but truth may not be an obstacle for you. =He made clear he would accept two outcomes: 1) Balanced budget with current revenues 2) Tax hike budget with significant reforms The reforms were not leverage for a budget.= 1) The governor proposed three budgets. 2) Every proposed more spending than revenue. 3) The governor is not a King, he does not get whatever he demands when he demands it. he isn’t a CEO either, which in the current culture seems to function much like a monarchy. 4) Governing requires skill not demands followed by tantrums. 5) “Reform” does not mean what you think it does and has become one of the most abused terms in the English language by politicians like Rauner. 6)Rauner’s economic policies have not “worked” anywhere in the last 36 years. 7)Kansas,Kansas,Kansas,Kansas. We are not Kansas unless Rauner gets his way. The biggest issue is that IPI “insiders” like you need to go and find a little qualified data that would demonstrate that Rauner’s/IPI’s economic vision has worked. Anywhere. I would accept a foreign example within the last 100 years. He had worker’s comp. Wrong as it is for the state to touch local government, he could have had something with property tax. Pensions do not need to be “reformed”. We need to pay our bills even though many of you IPI “insiders” want to welch on our commitments. - Anony - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:15 am: OW - that’s what that should do. But the spending on those things is still happening. The only “pain” from the budget (to the average voter) is the tax increase. - Real - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:17 am: By Rauner hiring top IPI staff he only hurt his chances for reelection. His dem opponent now has years worth of IPI articles to look through and use against Rauner. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:21 am: ===But the spending on those things is still happening.=== lol, tell that to the universities. Good try thou. ===The only “pain” from the budget (to the average voter) is the tax increase.=== Tell that to the downstate GOP legislators that voted to override. They said different. The ones with universities knew better too. - Anony - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:26 am: OW - yep, Rauner’s not gonna run any commercials in the next election. Lol. Actually, he’s going to run thousands of them, saying the things I posted and others. I’ll mark you down as unswayed. We’ll see if it works on others. - Michael Westen - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:26 am: Rauner’s slogan for the remainder of his term: “Kill the survivors!” - Soccermom - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:27 am: Really? His body man? If I were his Carhart distributor, I’d be plenty worried right about now… - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:30 am: ===We’ll see if it works on others=== 58% Rauner “disapproval” That’s before Rauner holds K-12 hostage from opening. That’s before the HB40 veto. That’s before Labor galvanizing Rauner at the ballot box. Meh. Again, Rauner is a failed governor, not unlike the failed governor Candidate Rauner defeated. - Lance Mannion - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:31 am: –”Pensions do not need to be “reformed.”– Delete your account. - Anony - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:36 am: OW - is that 58% a poll of adults, registered voters, or likely voters? You could very well be right that he’ll not be re-elected. But his electoral strategy is likely close to that described. He’s going to run against Madigan. - Arsenal - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:36 am: ==and was asked to find an agency to move to== This is the kinda thing that they hammered Pat Quinn. And look, I don’t want Heavers to be out on the street, but Rauner’s perpetuation of the Springfield status quo is quite something. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:40 am: - Anony - http://bit.ly/2uAxPzr ===But his electoral strategy is likely close to that described. He’s going to run against Madigan.=== Funny thing is, Madigan won’t be in the ballot. With a 58% disapproval, Rauner needs to find positives, and no signed budget for three consecutive fiscal years ain’t a good base to jump from to make those numbers move. - Whoelse - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:43 am: Rauner understands what he is doing. He just has not figured out Illinois politics yet. Sadly with his new crew he most likely never will. I have said this several times. What BR does any more does not matter. He has taken himself out of the conversation here in Illinois. - From the 'Dale to HP - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:43 am: I hope, for Kyle’s sake, he didn’t sign anything. - Roman - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:45 am: == Why would a body man be forced out over the budget outcome? == I’m guessing he was brought to the dance by Z/Goldberg. Don’t think the IPI team wants any of their holdovers in the inner sanctum. - Anony - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:52 am: OW - thanks for the link. Registered voters. Madigan is never on the ballot, except in his district. I’d submit that his large presence has had an impact on races in the past. Rauner will run against him. When the “outsider” Democrat wins the primary, s/he is going to have to answer the Madigan question and state independence from Madigan. When that happens, Rauner’s stance will be…do you believe this outsider is really independent of Madigan? - Honeybear - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:52 am: I now think that Rauner knows he can’t win re-election. Z was allowed to move on with blessings. He needs a heartless new crew to cause as much damage to the “administrative state” as possible. It is dark Bannonism. Destroy the workforce. Destroy the agencies. It will take s decade to rebuild Perfect environment for big business profit The big companies are just fine. IPI crew is not to govern IPI is for Malum in se. Layoffs ,closings, geographical transfers Downsizing and a bit of outsourcing. And most of all The great labor war - From the 'Dale to HP - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:53 am: Firing everyone who knows anything about anything is… it’s not smart and a horrible way to run a business. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 10:57 am: ===When the “outsider” Democrat wins the primary, s/he is going to have to answer the Madigan question and state independence from Madigan. When that happens, Rauner’s stance will be…do you believe this outsider is really independent of Madigan?=== Nope. See: Munger, Leslie v Mendoza, Susana I’ve seen this movie. Statewide, running Madigan v. Rauner, with turnout factored in, Rauner isn’t looking all that great to statewide voters, when choices are upon them. Then there’s Trump, his number in Illinois, and Rauner’s 58% disapproval. Rauner needs Trump voters, but there aren’t enough to win solely with them, but can’t alienate them by ignoring Trump with Rauner continually ignoring Trump. Munger-Mendoza set the table. - Real - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 11:06 am: That’s before Rauner holds K-12 hostage from opening. That’s before the HB40 veto. That’s before Labor galvanizing Rauner at the ballot box. Meh. Again, Rauner is a failed governor, not unlike the failed governor Candidate Rauner defeated. ===== That’s also before Rauner veto’s the minimum wage hike bill. More voters voted for a minimum wage hike than those that voted for Rauner. - Soccermom - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 11:12 am: Does anybody know whatever happened to Rod’s old “Reform and Renewal” banner? Maybe Rauner could start using it… - Ginhouse Tommy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 11:12 am: When Brady and Durkin as the Gov. to keep Mahoney on and he leaves anyway it means that the lines of communications with the Governors office have been cut off completely. Don’t expect to see anything accomplished in the next year and a half. This also means that discipline within that office just went out the window. - Anony - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 11:20 am: OW - I’ll note again…..I’m stating what I believe will be Rauner’s strategy in the next election. Your responses seem focused on whether this strategy will be successful. Two different things…. Do you have a different take on what Rauner’s strategy will be? - CharlieKratos - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 11:21 am: What’s Madigan’s move next year? Make sure every R has a D running against them? Maybe even the “safe” districts? Minimal outlay just to get a D on the ballot just in case voters decide “anyone but an R”? - EVanstonian - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 11:39 am: The tactics and desired outcomes are different, but this looks more and more like Mitt Romney’s time in Massachusetts every day. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 11:48 am: Looms like Rauner’s new body man endorses strong arm tactics with reporters: https://twitter.com/btracy11/status/867970381516124160 That should go over well as an ice breaker on the road. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 12:00 pm: ===Digital Director… and Deputy Press Secretary… also resigned today…=== The messaging Staff is now walking. Rauner can out some of the IPI or state party messengers there(?) If this is a total takeover, overt and transparent, might as well consolidate early. - Flynn's mom - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 12:02 pm: This is real life, not a position paper? Can the IPI deal with real world issues or just theories? - wordslinger - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 12:06 pm: PK, what’s your day job, writing Civil War textbooks for the Texas public schools? - Lt Guv - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 12:58 pm: PK, I want your drugs. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 1:08 pm: Mr. Tracy seems to be busy deleting and blocking his Twitter account. The internet is forever, Ben. - Chicago Cynic - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 1:22 pm: What’s the tally up to? Firings? Resignations? - Free Set of Steak Knives - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 1:24 pm: Rickert is gonna bring in her own people, leaving now with a shred of dignity is smart. That said, she came on board in 2016, long after the petals was off the rose. - Real - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 1:34 pm: I wonder if Rauner is giving some of these people the option to resign or be fired so that he doesn’t look so heartless in the public eye. It seems he wants the IPI to run Illinois govt. - pawn - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 1:37 pm: I saw the call-outs on Ben Tracy from Radical Candor. What is he blocking and deleting? Sounds like a bunch of racist and homophobic stuff from the context. Anyone? - ILGOV2018 - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 1:40 pm: Hey Lucky Pierre, how do you feel about Rauner now? - Honeybear - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 1:43 pm: I wonder if we’ll see agency heads leaving? - Southern Guy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 1:57 pm: Rich, is Randy Pollard still around? - Johnny Gianni - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:35 pm: Holy cow this is quite a housecleaning. All sales final- everything must go. - Mama - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:49 pm: It appears Rauner is the new Trump. - Mama - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:52 pm: =- CharlieKratos - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 11:21 am: What’s Madigan’s move next year? Make sure every R has a D running against them? Maybe even the “safe” districts? Minimal outlay just to get a D on the ballot just in case voters decide “anyone but an R”? = CharlieKratos, challenge every Republican in the election is exactly what the Dems need to do. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 2:57 pm: How soon til Radical Candor claims its first victim? - The first to go? - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 3:02 pm: So the new body guy apparently has racist and homophobic tweets. What’s the record for shortest duration as a personal aide? - Thoughts Matter - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 3:23 pm: 21 out of how many? Still not seeing why the Gov not getting his way was these people’s fault. It’s his policies and wants that are wrong. IPI staffers won’t make his policies and wants any less wrong. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 3:26 pm: That’s 21 gone because a governor thought holding a hostage state made sense in dividing the Democratic Party by dividing social service and labor…. … that and never understanding when a win was there for the taking… and that building off wins makes an Administration a winner. That’s 21… so Rauner won’t take the blame. “Whew” indeed. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 3:32 pm: 21…and counting - wordslinger - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 3:33 pm: –21– Three more makes a full case. Volume, volume, volume. It will be worth watching where the new peeps land on the payroll. Rauner has been known to ghost personal staff members in the agencies. I mean, I’m sure they will be radically candid about it. - the Cardinal - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 3:40 pm: A lot of institutional knowledge walking out the door. Hope they newbies can find the washrooms and coffee machine in the Dome. Oh and the 3rd floor back offices. Havers is a good guy deserves better than “find a spot” SMH - JS Mill - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 3:58 pm: =–”Pensions do not need to be “reformed.”– Delete your account.= Bite me. Pensions are doing exactly what they were designed to do. The past ILGA’s and governor’s made calculated decisions not to fund the pensions. Tier II reduced the costs short term and long term. Since Tier II the annual cost of the pension (not debt payment) has gone down nearly 25%. That is huge. From nearly $2 billion to $1.5 billion. It is just math “Lance”. Again, bite me. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 4:03 pm: 22. It looks like the newest one is the first IPI to go. That didn’t take long https://twitter.com/maryannahernnbc/status/887053830143266817 - Anon E. Moose - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 4:15 pm: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/17/bruce-rauner-ben-tracy-homophobic-tweets-240640 - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 4:18 pm: @RadicalCandorIL - 1 Rauner / IPI - 0 So there’s that. - Fax Machine - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 4:20 pm: Is young Mr Tracy who was hired & fired a member of the Tracy family (Jill, Don, etc)? - G'Kar - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 4:21 pm: Was Tracy on the job long enough to qualify for a pension?/s - Bootleg Carhartt Designer - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 4:21 pm: The Night of the Long Knives continues. - JS Mill - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 4:21 pm: =@RadicalCandorIL - 1 Rauner / IPI - 0 So there’s that. = Ouch, that is gonna leave a mark. Especially for the governor without a social agenda. - Clark - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 4:44 pm: As soon as the 2nd update was posted, I clicked on Ben’s Twitter and scrolled down a little bit and thought to myself, he’s going to get in trouble real fast. Does anyone check social media before they make hires anymore? - Swift - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 4:46 pm: Nice how the new hires are spinning Tracy’s firing. The “tweets are unacceptable” is their line, which implies, to me, they are not acceptable because of spelling errors and grammar usage or just general poor quality. Laurel Patrick’s response to Politico on the firing seems to be seeking a pat on the back for firing the dude. - Spliff - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 4:53 pm: does not working for the administration mean he is on the campaign payroll? - Michelle Flaherty - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 4:54 pm: The Senate keeps trying to deliver SB 1 to the governor’s office only to find everyone’s been fired … again. - Veil of Ignorance - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 4:54 pm: Never understood folks who tweet inappropriate stuff…don’t they know that only POTUS can get away with that stuff? - Anon221 - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 5:11 pm: Nice to see IPI draws the line on decency and civility at some point… RE Tracy’s record hire/fire day. /S - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 5:17 pm: It would be interesting to uncover who vouched for the body man’s character. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 5:36 pm: Governor is competing against trump for biggest joke in the country. - wordslinger - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 5:41 pm: Re The Body Man updates: There are a lot of former Rauner insiders now out on the street plus other GOP types disgruntled by the way things have been going down who might have all sorts of “insight” into the new hires and the way the administration operates. With so many, I’m guessing some will now want to share. - Thinking - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 5:50 pm: State Senator Jil Tracy has a son named Ben according to her bio. Not saying it is the same person, just staying she has a son named Ben. - Henry Francis - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 5:56 pm: Word - I was thinking the same thing, but I would assume if any of them do share, it would be anonymously. They know better than anyone what the Guv is capable of doing to people who cross him. Just ask Christine Kirk. - CookR - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 6:15 pm: Ben Tracy is no relation to Jil Tracy or any of the Tracys from the prominent family in Western IL. - Soccermom - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 6:16 pm: I am supposed to be working, but I am obsessed with all this. What the actual heck? - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 6:32 pm: Quick question, he was fired from Rauner’s team but does that mean he goes back to IPI? Seems IPI didn’t care about this prior to him being hired by Gov so he can have his job back there right? - Lemon&Lime - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 7:21 pm: Randy Pollard is a dud….If Rauner fires Pollard Rauner has a better chance of carrying downstate Counties. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 8:09 pm: Randy Pollard is a great man. - Amalia - Monday, Jul 17, 17 @ 8:45 pm: (Over) Due Diligence Jeez, checking a Twitter feed is beyond basic. - Da big bad wolf - Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 7:55 am: Is it too late to get Kyle Haevers back? Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.