* WSIL TV sat down with Gov. Rauner yesterday…
When asked about his relationship with Madigan and whether the two of them could sit down and talk, Rauner said he had spent “hours and hours and hours” meeting with the speaker.
“When I first met him eight years ago, I asked him what his goal was for improving the quality of life for the people of Illinois. You know what he said to me? He laughed and said ‘I don’t have a goal like that.’ He said ‘I do two things: manage power and make money for managing power,’” said Rauner.
I asked the House Speaker’s spokesman for comment. His e-mailed reply…
Sounds like another election night phone call to me.
You’ll recall that Rauner said on election night that he had spoken with Madigan about the future, but actually hadn’t.
* Meanwhile, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle talked about the governor yesterday…
In a discussion about Rauner’s promise to veto a school funding bill that he has called a “Chicago bailout,” Preckwinkle called the governor “profoundly inept and mean-spirited.”
“I’ve lived in Chicago for 50 years. In that time Jim Thompson was governor, Jim Edgar, George Ryan. I disagreed with them sometimes, but I never thought they were unfit for their jobs or evil people. That’s where I am with this governor, and it’s profoundly disturbing,” Preckwinkle said in an interview with WLS-AM’s Bill Cameron, to be aired on Sunday’s “Connected to Chicago.”
Cameron asked Preckwinkle, who is also a ward committeeman with the Cook County Democratic Party, if she really meant “evil.”
“Yes, this is a person who cut funding for autism programs on National Autism Day,” Preckwinkle said.
- Red Rider - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:14 am:
Big rain headed to the Chicago area this morning, maybe he should skip the corn.
- The Way I See It - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:14 am:
That conversation with the Speaker has the sane ring of utter horsehockey as the standing ovations from the black churches.
As far as what Preckwinkle said, what do you make of a man who clouts his daughter into a Chicago Public School, then refers to CPS teachers as illiterates, CPS schools as prisons, and then vetoes a bill which would provide pensions for the teachers who educated his daughter?
- hisgirlfriday - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:17 am:
Neither comment is helpful to productive governance and both just serve to stir up passionate partisans and enrage opponents.
But I know Rauner is lying about a fake conversation with Mike Madigan as he’s a serial fabulist.
I don’t know whether Preckwinkle is lying that she thinks Rauner is evil.
- Not Rich - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:17 am:
It is plain and simple: I have heard this from many Republican legislators, the Governor LIES.. anyone that knows how close MJM keeps things to the vest, would know that the Gov is nowhere close to the truth on this statement. Sad.. very sad, more apparent each day : he is Blago with money..
- Too Much to Handle - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:18 am:
May be over the top, but Rauner’s statements appear to be boldfaced lies where Preckwinkle’s comments reflect things that actually happened.
- My New Handle - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:20 am:
I can understand that Rauner is lying, but don’t understand why Preckwinkle’s assessment is wrong. Her “rhetoric” seems under the top if anything.
- Diogenes in DuPage - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:20 am:
It’s amazing to me that Rauner is winning the PR war so handily with the public at large — especially when, if one reads just a fair amount of political reporting, his actions in office point to a mean-spiritedness in leadership that is unparalleled in Illinois.
- Shark Sandwich - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:20 am:
‘I do two things: eat apples and thwart extreme right wing agendas, and somebody coughed on all the apples at the store today..’
- Da big bad wolf - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:20 am:
So Preckwinkle thinks that Thompson, Edgar and Ryan weren’t evil men. OK
- Louis G Atsaves - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:21 am:
Evil? Ho hum response to a truly vile comment. Governor doesn’t care (Yingling). Ho hum.
Holding up sending SB1 to the Governor for signature/veto/AV? Good politics.
Illinois. Laughing stock of the nation.
- Stones - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:21 am:
Hard to envision Madigan actually saying this to someone he had a casual relationship with. Given the Governor’s Trump - like track record with these types of statements, I’m inclined to say it’s BS.
- A Jack - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:21 am:
Governor,
Snark is not helpful and just gives you the appearance of not being serious about governing. If you really want to be the Governor, stop being the class clown.
- Leon Despres - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:24 am:
Agree with others — Rauner’s “rhetoric” consists of distorting the truth (isn’t there a word for this?) to rationalize his own personal dislike of someone, while Preckwinkle’s only offense is speaking the truth and its role in her personal dislike of someone. Apples and oranges.
- Slash and Burn - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:25 am:
No way Madigan is going to say something like that to Rauner. If he had, I’m thinking Rauner would have chosen a better venue to disclose that conversation. Maybe a duct tape commercial.
- Trapped in the 'burbs - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:26 am:
It’s a very confusing day for me. First, I have to agree with Toni Preckwinkle about something. Next, the Tribune editorial board writes a piece on Preckwinkle that’s accurate, fair and on point. I’m going to sit in a dark room all weekend with a cool compress on my forehead. Fortunately, Rauner stayed consistent with his detached ramblings.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:27 am:
===You know what he said to me? He laughed and said ‘I don’t have a goal like that.’ He said ‘I do two things: manage power and make money for managing power,’” said Rauner.===
“… You know what… ”
No. What. Tell me “what”. What don’t I know?
This is usually a big cue that Rauner is either beginning a big fib, or is beginning a big boast that Rauner has proven in over 2 1/2 years he (Rauner) can’t deliver.
“He laughed and said ‘I don’t have a goal like that.’… ”
This is believable, as Madigan is pragmatic and might survey the field and see what is doable and move that as a later strategy shows itself, like with SSM and waiting for the ripeness of the moment, then “finish”
So, like all good fibs, they start with the plausible…
“..He said ‘I do two things: manage power and make money for managing power,’” said Rauner. … ”
Ok, let’s get to the fib.
“Manage power”. This is the coupling of truth to an untruth.
Madigan has made his career on two votes. One for Speaker. One for the Rules of the Chamber.
So to recap, Rauner has two plausible truths… now the fib…
“… and make money for managing power,’” said Rauner. … ”
For anyone to believe this, you need to ignore a few important things.
1) Madigan isn’t prone to speaking off the cuff about.. money.
You’d have to buy that Madigan is flippantly discussing how he makes money with a man “he just met” according to Rauner.
Rauner’s own words, “When I first met…”
Hmm.
2) Madigan a isn’t old school close to the vest person
Madigan allegedly has no cell phone, and to just riff off that, he’s more Paulie Cicero, more often, than Michael Corleone.
You have to buy that Paulie Cicero is going to discuss his business so brazenly with a man he just met, again, against type and years of examples that just don’t make this ring true.
It’s more than Rauner and the phony Election Nite phone call, this is Rauner’s persona and ticks and tricks to make his phony seem believable.
Also notice, Rauner has nothing “concrete” to say positive, but will say “we talk, we sit”, very benign. Rauner gets all too specific when going negative, like “verbatim quotes” in the negative. Another tell.
So, it’s “two truths and a fib”
Usually that’s a game to get to know someone, but in this instance with Rauner it tells me all I need to know about him.
- a drop in - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:29 am:
“It’s amazing to me that Rauner is winning the PR war so handily with the public at large — especially when, if one reads just a fair amount of political reporting, his actions in office point to a mean-spiritedness in leadership that is unparalleled in Illinois.”
–see Trump, President
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:32 am:
Dunno what happened…
“2) Madigan is an old school close to the vest person”
Apologies.
- Tommydanger - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:38 am:
Hyperbole and fabrication have now been normalized. I don’t why anyone would be surprised by it either.
Its on display everyday from the most powerful man in the world and it has happily found additional converts in Congress and statehouses throughout the country.
- DeseDemDose - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:40 am:
Rauner and Preckwinkle just spoke the truth.
- DeseDemDose - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:41 am:
Rauner Lied and Preckwinkle just spoke the truth.
- Langhorne - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:44 am:
Whether you have known him for 15 minutes, or 15 years, there is no way you can think of these words coming out of MJMs mouth. Especially to rauner. It’s just completely ridiculous. May as well say the monster ate the cookies.
- wordslinger - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:44 am:
So Madigan gave up the goods to Rauner on the Master Plan in their very first meeting?
Rauner missed his calling. He’s like Super-Oprah or Jedi Baba Wawa.
These wild whoppers; Rauner either thinks you’re way stupid, or he has some serious Blago-like condition.
As to Preckwinkle, I don’t think Rauner was inept, at all, in his squeeze the beast strategy. The goal was destruction and it was very effective.
Websters: Evil, adj., profoundly immoral and malevolent.
Signing contracts with social service providers with no intention of ever paying them, causing thousands to lose their jobs and hundreds of thousands to lose services?
What do you call that?
- Phil King - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:46 am:
==but don’t understand why Preckwinkle’s assessment is wrong.==
That’s because you’re a blind partisan.
I found the criticism of conservative constituent correspondence with legislators on this blog particularly hypocritical.
For 2 years people here have been claiming Rauner is attacking working people or holding social service providers hostage. That type of rhetoric doesn’t exactly lend itself to compromise.
- Roman - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:49 am:
Toni: You have your own problems to worry about, like bailing out your pal Joe Berrios (who might be consider “evil” by some) and saving your beverage tax.
Bruce: There’s not a person alive who believes Mike Madigan said that. If you’re going to lie, as you have with increasing frequency lately, I suggest you stick with fibs that reside within the realm of being possible.
- Norseman - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:50 am:
Great response from the Speaker’s office. Rauner loves this false conversation gimmick.
- Fixer - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:52 am:
Who let the governor write his own responses again?
- Chicago Cynic - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:57 am:
Even for Rauner that’s a pretty huge whopper. There’s zero chance Madigan said, “I make money for managing power.” Zero. Zilch. Nada. Total fabrication.
As to the Preckwinkle comment, I know a lot of Dems and even some GOPers who absolutely would agree with that statement. Cruel. Heartless. Mean. Demonstrably accurate. But “evil” is out of line?
- Political Animal - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:01 am:
If you’re criticizing Rauner and defending Preckwinkle, you’re a blind partisan. The extreme rhetoric by the Left, especially Democrats with official positions of power, has been a driver of the toxic political climate these last two years.
You want someone to compromise with you and yet you claim they’re “holding people hostage” and “attacking working people.”
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:01 am:
===For 2 years people here have been claiming Rauner is attacking working people or holding social service providers hostage. That type of rhetoric doesn’t exactly lend itself to compromise. ===
Um, dude, the governor used that exact same hostage language yesterday about SB 1. Did you miss that all-important messaging meeting because you were commenting here? /s
- Timmeh - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:07 am:
==You want someone to compromise with you and yet you claim they’re “holding people hostage” and “attacking working people.”==
You’re absolutely right. Telling the truth can negatively affect your ability to compromise.
- Joe Bidenopolous - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:08 am:
===If you’re criticizing Rauner and defending Preckwinkle, you’re a blind partisan.===
I am a partisan but not a blind one and I wholeheartedly disagree with this assessment. Preckwinkle stated a fact about autism funding and an opinion about Rauner (evil). Rauner told a lie that is absurd on its face.
- wordslinger - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:10 am:
PK and PA, your posts are virtually identical.
Make an effort, gang, don’t phone it in. Youre too good for that. Show your creativity.
But while youre both together, perhaps you could identify where Gov. 90%-Isn’t-Good-Enough was seeking compromise?
Maybe ask Sen. Radogno.
- Arsenal - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:11 am:
==It’s amazing to me that Rauner is winning the PR war so handily with the public at large==
Eh, his approval ratings are consistently underwater, and he can’t even hold a Republican caucus together on “don’t raise taxes”. He’s doing better than Madigan, but that’s a bit like being a better baseball player than Michael Jordan.
- City Zen - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:14 am:
Toni Preckwinkle, perched atop a teetering stack of soda cases, casts judgment on the souls below…
- Pelonski - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:18 am:
I just don’t understand the motivation of some journalists. You have a Governor make a statement right in front of you which is hard to believe, but if true, would be major news, and you just let it sit there? How do you not have about ten follow up questions for the Governor to flesh out the story? There is a difference between being a journalist and taking dictation.
- Marty Funkhouser - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:25 am:
==“When I first met him eight years ago, I asked him what his goal was for improving the quality of life for the people of Illinois. You know what he said to me? He laughed and said ‘I don’t have a goal like that.’ He said ‘I do two things: manage power and make money for managing power,’” said Rauner.==
There’s no way Madigan said that to Rauner. But that doesn’t mean it’s not factually correct.
- Roman - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:27 am:
This just in…another lie from Rauner. To the SJ-R edit board this morning:
”(Cullerton) has told my Senate colleagues that Speaker Madigan has ordered him to sit on the bill. .. He takes his orders from Speaker Madigan.”
C’mon. Even if that were true, does anyone believe for a second that Cullerton would admit it to a Senate Republican that he was taking orders from Madigan?
Governor, please stop lying.
- Archpundit - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:31 am:
—— ‘I don’t have a goal like that.’ He said ‘I do two things: manage power and make money for managing power,’
I only know of one guy who talks like that and it isn’t Madigan. I do want to know what is wrong with the guy who does talk like that however
- Reality Check - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:31 am:
How is there even a speck of equivalence between these statements?
One is a very strong rhetorical attack on someone’s official actions. The other appears to be a complete lie.
There’s no comparison here.
- Demoralized - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:33 am:
==you’re a blind partisan==
==The extreme rhetoric by the Left, especially Democrats with official positions of power, has been a driver of the toxic political climate these last two years.==
You criticize people for being blindly partisan and then make a blindly partisan comment. And I’m sure you don’t even realize you’re doing it.
- Demoralized - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:35 am:
==That type of rhetoric doesn’t exactly lend itself to compromise.==
Yeah, the Governor’s rhetoric has totally created an atmosphere in which to compromise. Are you kidding me? You Raunerites are a piece of work.
- DuPage Bard - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:37 am:
Preckwinkle did her self no favors and should not be calling out on air her personal opinions. He’s still Governor at a minimum until January 2019 and possibly January 2023. As a public servant she needs to work with everyone no matter what her personal thoughts.
Lying Bruce Rauner. That response all day. Trump sunk Ted Cruz by saying that over and over. No other response necessary.
- DuPage - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:40 am:
@- Diogenes in DuPage - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 9:20 am:
It’s amazing to me that Rauner is winning the PR war so handily with the public at large — especially when, if one reads just a fair amount of political reporting, his actions in office point to a mean-spiritedness in leadership that is unparalleled in Illinois.
That’s what Rauner’s unlimited money buying continuous attack ads are doing. He is literally buying his PR.
- Illinois O'Malley - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 10:53 am:
Rauner winning the PR battle is not surprising…see Dave McKinney Sun-Times example
- City Zen - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 11:10 am:
==It’s amazing to me that Rauner is winning the PR war so handily with the public at large==
Is it? At the end of the day, folks just look at their tax bills.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 11:11 am:
===Is it? At the end of the day, folks just look at their tax bills.===
And an inept Rauner let it happen…
- Aldyth - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 11:14 am:
Trump has demonstrated that you can make up wild stories and outright lie and hold onto the support of your base. It appears that Rauner is emulating Trump.
- Anonymous - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 11:29 am:
Good for Toni.
- Earnest - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 11:42 am:
Earnest met with Bruce Rauner eight years ago and Rauner said –no, even as snark I can’t bring myself to lie like he did.
- anon2 - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 12:01 pm:
> ‘I don’t have a goal like that.’ He said ‘I do two things: manage power and make money for managing power,’” said Rauner.
If Mike Madigan said that to Bruce Rauner, I’ll eat his Carhartt. You can hate the way Madigan does business, but to think he of all people would say that seems pretty ridiculous.
- Anonymous - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 12:32 pm:
“what’s essentially true is virtual reality. technology to wipe out the truth is now available. not everybody can afford it but it’s available. when the cost comes down look out!”
–From Bob Dylan’s liner notes to the folk song “Lone Pilgrim” on his “World Gone Wrong” album (1993).
- walker - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 12:48 pm:
An obvious outright lie by Governor Rauner. Anyone who believes such a statement knows nothing about either man. Enjoy your self-serving myth making.
As to Toni, I wouldn’t express such a dramatic opinion on another’s values, but she has some basis for feeling that way. An over the top opinion is different than a false assertion of what someone actually said.
- Quiet Sage - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 12:56 pm:
12:32 pm was me.
- JP Altgeld - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 1:33 pm:
Highly unlikely MJM would’ve offered that kind of truth and honesty to someone he barely knew.
- Mighty M. Mouse - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 2:40 pm:
==he is Blago with money==
You’re absolutely right Not Rich. Or we could say he’s Trump with less money. Potatos, potatoes…
What you can’t do is use the psychological word that describes him. So many people have no idea what that term actually means that they take any use of it as if it was just an ad hominem attack.
- Fredo Corleone - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 2:42 pm:
I don’t believe Madigan said it, for the simple reason that snakes can’t speak.
As for Toni, she should be quiet and try to fix Cook County, a big chunk of which is ready to implode. Rauner isn’t the reason people are fleeing Chicago. They’ve been doing it for years.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 2:44 pm:
==he is Blago with money==
A case made almost 3 years ago.
- Mighty M. Mouse - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 3:06 pm:
==he is Blago with money==
==A case made almost 3 years ago.==
Alas, to no avail. Just try warning people…it’s not good enough. They need to fully experience it for themselves. But then of course it’s too late.
- Langhorne - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 3:57 pm:
Wow. Its hard to count the lies today.
Stockholm syndrome, everyone is in fear of madigan.
Madigan tells cullerton to sit on the bill
Imaginary quote–I manage power and I make money from managing power.’ I want to throw up my lunch.–that all sounds so delusional. And it shows no control of him being staff. Messaging has gone too wztreme to be believable. Pandering to the base, but not expanding the base
- ste_with_a_v_en - Friday, Jul 21, 17 @ 4:10 pm:
Preckwinkle: “A profoundly inept and mean-spirited governor. I’ve lived in Chicago for 50 years. In that time Jim Thompson was governor, Jim Edgar, George Ryan. I disagreed with them sometimes, but I never thought they were unfit for their jobs or evil people. That’s where I am with this governor and it’s profoundly disturbing.
Convicted felon George Ryan who’s greed led to the death of children..not evil. Rauner..evil
The gall of that lady