* Sun-Times editorial…
“Nobody tells me what my policies are, nobody.”
So said Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday when asked why he has hired a bunch of ideologues from a far-right advocacy group, the Illinois Policy Institute, to run his office.
But Rauner’s reply was a misdirection. The question was not whether the IPI might tell him what to think. The question was whether the governor, by hiring reductivist worshipers of libertarian philosophy, was revealing his own true intellectual colors. The question was whether Rauner was about to double-down on an ideologically-driven approach to governing — as opposed to, you know, living in the real world — that already has done tremendous damage to Illinois.
On Monday we got the answer: You betcha. […]
Some people pursue a life of simple-minded purity, like those libertarian heroes in an Ayn Rand novel. Other people — the ones who get big things done — see the world as it is, complicated and messy. They are more pragmatic.
Our governor might want to give it a try.
* The Tribune’s John McCarron…
Gov. Bruce Rauner is 60 years old and ought to know better than to throw in with the ideologues. Yet that’s exactly what he’s done by firing much of his senior staff and replacing them with a bunch of right-wing cranks from the Illinois Policy Institute. Having been out-maneuvered on a new state budget by the Democrat-controlled legislature, Rauner is dropping any pretense of bipartisanship and doubling down on a simplistic anti-labor, anti-government politics. Some argue these were his true colors all along, but it’s a juvenile move nonetheless.
Granted, the Illinois Policy Institute is no John Birch Society. Can’t be because the Red menace faded with the fall of the Soviet Union and rise of state-capitalist China. Now the supposed enemy of freedom and prosperity is Big Labor and its unholy alliance with Big Government — an alliance led in these parts by a devil incarnate known as House Speaker Michael Madigan.
So we’re in for another season of name-calling and heroic posturing, beginning this summer with a showdown over who is supposed to foot the pension burden of the Chicago Public Schools. This is one of the more complex public policy issues in memory, involving city-state agreements reached years ago as to Chicago’s outsized share of special-purpose grants and the mayor’s appointive control of the CPS board — not to mention how those pension funds got so far in arrears.
* Jim Nowlan…
The IPI employs about two dozen policy “analysts” as well as lawyers who fight oppressive regulations on small business. The IPI also has a stable of newspaper op-ed writers and a radio network to push its agenda.
I put “analyst” in quotes because, like many advocacy groups of both right and left, IPI’s approach is conclusion driven. To wit: Illinois could have enacted its recent budget without a tax increase. Then the so-called analysts go out in search of a narrative to buck up the conclusion. […]
Now that they are inside and running Illinois state government, I hope the IPI management team takes a problem-solving approach to its work.
But I am not optimistic. Ideology thrives on rigidity. It is not good at governance.
* Sun-Times…
“There’s been a lot of writing and talk about staffing. It’s the tempest and the teapot. There’s nothing changing. My positions have been clear. I am a strong advocate for the people of Illinois. I want to change our government so it actually works for people and put our children and our families first. Political insiders, the privileged inside government, the folks who make their money from political power, we need to battle against them.”
Rauner contended “sometimes you need fresh troops to engage in the battle.”
Carl was not among several communications staffers at the press conference on Monday, which was the governor’s first Chicago media availability since his staff shakeup. Since July 10, there have been at least 20 administration exits — both firings and resignations in protest. The transition hasn’t been easy. After being asked to come back into the Thompson Center’s Blue Room to make an introduction to reporters, the staffers learned they were locked in.
“I have a key!” a staffer said quickly before they made their exit.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:30 am:
===Carl was not among several communications staffers at the press conference on Monday, which was the governor’s first Chicago media availability since his staff shakeup.===
Editing her own, weeks ago, blog posts took longer than expected?
Why wouldn’t Diana and Bruce want her there?
Maybe there wasn’t a great WWII Germany reference that worked yesterday?
Right? Exactly right.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:30 am:
So, they had to be forced to introduce themselves to reporters? Obviously a sign of that good relationship with the media they have on their Rauner draft resumes….
- just sayin' - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:32 am:
While I’m no Rauner fan, I hardly think the likes of the Chicago Sun-Times which is bleeding cash like a sieve and which recently sold for one dollar (entire company), should be lecturing anyone about how to run anything.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:33 am:
Tempest and the teapot? Force de jour?
What’s next, people in glass houses sink ships?
- slow down - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:36 am:
We desperately need a Governor that can build a consensus on long list of difficult issues. Sadly, we have a governor who is an ideologue and who still thinks he’s the private equity overlord who gets to tell everybody what to do.
He’s exactly what this state doesn’t need and can’t afford.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:40 am:
‘Tempest and the teapot’..’Force de jour’ - Norm Crosby Linguistic Seminar grads. These are truly the knives that came to the gunfight.
- Boone's is Back - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:42 am:
Most insightful input that I saw was from Jim Nowlan. Particularly because he served in the House as a Republican and worked in the Thompson administration. Definitely ain’t high praise of the Gov’s moves….
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:43 am:
===should be lecturing anyone===
If the owner wrote the editorial, I’d agree. But you could easily say the same thing about the Tribune editorial board. Its parent company has had some serious financial “issues.” Somehow, I doubt you’d use that argument.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:45 am:
Clumsy process to be sure. Clumsier than it needed to be by a long shot. I just don’t believe that they were expecting a “warm” reception. I’m not sure it even matters to them. Media is used to dealing with whoever has the info. They’ll adjust. They always do.
It’s amazing beyond this blog and people truly engaged, how few people are paying this any attention. It feels like they’ve just had enough and they’re ignoring it all on purpose. Weird.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:48 am:
Diana Rauner wasn’t pleased with the Staff and Crew that helped her husband win, and tried to save the state from them both.
Nope. Diana Rauner likes the IPI just as much as Bruce. How telling is that, given Diana is president of a social service that was owed $7+ million and lauded the Pritzker family (Democratic candidate for governor JB Pritzker too) for bailing her out.
Now these new hires?
Welp, you have one that had a job “for a whole afternoon”…
You have another that wants to be the face, voice, the Comms stand in for Bruce who thought using WWII Germany in her thoughts all those… weeks… ago… still there, but doesn’t make an appearance yet…
You have a Crew who forgets to introduce themselves, locks themselves in rooms, sends releases hours after events, ignores natural disasters until they can’t ignore them anymore…
… and the IPI takeover overshadows these failures as the Democrat Diana Rauner and Bruce are worried about how they are viewed sharing martinis and Manhattans… because they look “bad” to the elite?
Where is the good messaging?
Where is the better staffing?
Where is the insightful Crew?
Hmm.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:48 am:
===I just don’t believe that they were expecting a “warm” reception===
On the contrary, the reception has stunned them.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:50 am:
@Boone’s is back: Nowlan has a better resume than any of the IPI people. Too bad he’s the one on the outside now.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:51 am:
===I just don’t believe that they were expecting a “warm” reception. I’m not sure it even matters to them.===
Huh?
One of the reasons Diana and Bruce wanted the changes was for better relations with the press, not a more combative, less professional, or less respectable feeling from the press with these changes.
Your comment makes no sense.
- Norseman - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:52 am:
“I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with… geometric logic… I’d have produced that key if they hadn’t …”
With a nod to OW.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:53 am:
==On the contrary, the reception has stunned them.==
I accept your account of this. Ill-prepared youth then. They shouldn’t have been expecting warmth. On a good day that’s not what the media exudes.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:55 am:
==One of the reasons Diana and Bruce wanted the changes was for better relations with the press==
OK. If you say so. That reason, whether stated or not, appears to be well down the list to me.
I’ll be over here continuing to make no sense.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:57 am:
===One of the reasons Diana and Bruce wanted the changes was for better relations with the press, not a more combative, less professional, or less respectable feeling from the press with these changes.===
To elaborate more…
I’m guessing Diana and Bruce have been confused why editorial board after editorial board… Proft’s papers… IPI… “@StatehouseChick”… John Kass… all these messaging tools and still Diana and Bruce felt uncomfortable at Winnetka cocktail parties.
The mistake is… it’s not that the messaging, even getting more and more messaging as a thought… isn’t working.
It’s the message.
Diana and Bruce are indeed confused.
“Why aren’t people embracing out destruction?”
Welp, look matchup new Crew and Staff as your new messengers.
How are they going to help where Z, Goldberg, and “ck”, couldn’t?
That’s the RaunerS fail.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:57 am:
==OK. If you say so. That reason, whether stated or not, appears to be well down the list to me.==
It wasn’t OW who said so, it was Rauner himself. Out of his own mouth. That seems it was pretty high on his list.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 10:59 am:
===OK. If you say so.===
… or Sneed, or… lol.
- Norseman -, you earned some frozen strawberries. Well played… that’s the… key.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:00 am:
==It wasn’t OW who said so, it was Rauner himself. Out of his own mouth. That seems it was pretty high on his list.===
Ah, so now you believe him?
- A guy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:02 am:
==… or Sneed, or… lol.==
And today…you’re quoting and citing Sneed?
Wow, that’s worth a bookmark. Oy.
- just sayin' - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:02 am:
“But you could easily say the same thing about the Tribune editorial board. Its parent company has had some serious financial ‘issues.’ Somehow, I doubt you’d use that argument.”
Au contraire Rich. Absolutely I’ll say the exact same thing about the Chicago Tribune. No one there should be lecturing anyone about running anything either. Just waiting for John Kass to make up a cutesy nickname for the IPI crew.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:04 am:
===Ah, so now you believe him?===
… and now you don’t?
===And today…you’re quoting and citing Sneed?===
As - Anonymous - points out, it was Rauner too.
I was having fun with the cite and that your lacking to find where it can be found.
It was a two-fer for me.
- ArchPundit - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:05 am:
==On the contrary, the reception has stunned them.
Seasoned political operatives might have been able to warn them about this….
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:07 am:
===Just waiting for John Kass to make up a cutesy nickname for the IPI crew.===
I believe he refers to them as his “unnamed sources.”
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:09 am:
Diana and Bruce?
Why the obsession with Diana OW? Way over the top with your frequent over the top personal comments about the Governor’s wife and daughter.
Not one single commenter mentions the family but you.
Really uncalled for
- Skeptic - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:10 am:
“Ah, so now you believe him?” Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
- ArchPundit - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:11 am:
===I believe he refers to them as his “unnamed sources.”
I’d say he lets them write his columns, but even IPI writes better than Kass.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:14 am:
===Why the obsession with Diana===
Keep up, please.
I keep reading about Diana being important in these decisions.
Use the google.
Bruce, himself, said his daughter had perfect scores, not me. You should ask Bruce why he inserted his daughter into the clouting. Bruce also said Diana may have made a call on the clouting too, not me.
You need to read more, get up to speed, lol
- blue dog dem - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:14 am:
To the post and SunTimes editorial….that has already done tremendous damage to the state of Illinois.
I have personally thought we were damaged beyond repair pre-Blago. Blago made it worse. Quinn put a bandaid on. And well…Rauner, that rascally fiscal conservative added gas to the fire.
Are there different levels of ‘broken’?
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:15 am:
Agree OW 10:57. They wanted a crew that could more effectively sell/bamboozle the media on their message - they must believe a less intelligent, cruder, more arrogant, less tolerant crew could better connect with the media they abhor. This is the brilliance emanating from the Rauner North Star.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:23 am:
Willy, here is the very first quote in the very first story quoted at the very top of Rich’s story here…
==“Nobody tells me what my policies are, nobody.”==
That’s not what I believe you tell the media when you want to engage in hopeful foreplay.
Maybe this is a backhander, but I’m genuine when I say, I believe you far more than Sneed or Kass, or many of the others. Heck man, today you just cited “Anonymous” in your response to me…yep “Anonymous”.
It gave me the “Willys” (no relation to you) to even answer that handle.
Now. Game time is 1:20pm. You’re on Second today and batting in the 3 hole. After all I’ve done to get you in this game, get some BP and take some grounders and play like a champion today.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:25 am:
===They shouldn’t have been expecting warmth. On a good day that’s not what the media exudes.===
“#FakeNews”?
It’s the Press’ fault that the new hires aren’t welcomed warmly?
Oh boy.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:30 am:
The new staffers, who escorted out previously loyal staffers with all the warmth of ice water in Alaska, expecting to be greeting warmly by others. That’s rich.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:31 am:
–It’s amazing beyond this blog and people truly engaged, how few people are paying this any attention. It feels like they’ve just had enough and they’re ignoring it all on purpose. Weird.–
It’s amazing how you always discover that your viewpoint is shared by the masses. Weird.
- TA - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:32 am:
If you just read the comments here you’d think Illinois Democrats dominate the media and state politics and really can’t stand conservatives in power. Wait…
- Free Set of Steak Knives - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:34 am:
=== a bunch of right-wing cranks from the Illinois Policy Institute ===
LOL. Doesn’t Rickert have a column in the Chicago Tribune?
Too funny.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:35 am:
==It’s the Press’ fault that the new hires aren’t welcomed warmly?==
What? There’s no “fault” or not. It’s not what they do. Maybe fawning, drooling, sportswriters occasionally, but not regular newsies. Not in my experience. Not in decades of being close by and in plenty of news conferences. Their best posture is to be open-minded. Not warm.
- Free Set of Steak Knives - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:36 am:
=== The IPI employs about two dozen policy “analysts”…I put “analyst” in quotes because… ===
I put “analysts” in quotes because I don’t think a single one of them has an actual degree in any of the subject areas they are supposedly “analyzing.”
- A guy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:38 am:
==It’s amazing how you always discover that your viewpoint is shared by the masses. Weird.==
Nah. What’s really amazing Sling, it that it took you so long to get here to share your brand of warmth. Everyone is jonesing for your smartness. Especially me.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:44 am:
==as opposed to, you know, living in the real world ==
==the ones who get big things done — see the world as it is, complicated and messy. They are more pragmatic.==
The Governor has failed miserably because he has refused to understand reality. He’s never been interested in the doable. As long as he continues to fail to recognize the reality of the situation he’ll continue to fail as a Governor.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:48 am:
===Now. Game time is 1:20pm. You’re on Second today and batting in the 3 hole. After all I’ve done to get you in this game, get some BP and take some grounders and play like a champion today.===
When I don’t play 2nd Base today for the Cubs at Wrigley, how is your snark making sense?
===That’s not what I believe you tell the media when you want to engage in hopeful foreplay.===
When you overhaul your Crew that got you elected and you gut out, wait for it, a “think tank” of operatives, is t the logical questioning… “Is that what you think, what IPI says, or are you changing your ideology?”
IPI is a think tank. They ain’t makin’ widgets.
===Heck man, today you just cited “Anonymous” in your response to me…yep “Anonymous”.===
… and did so, as you point out… ignoring the words that Bruce told us.
See how that worked? You e now tried to make it about… the messengers.
lol.
The only thing missing was a WWII German reference. Rauner has a “staffer for that”(?)
- Whatever - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:56 am:
So, Rauner fires his staff because he doesn’t like how his admin is being portrayed, hires a bunch of inexperienced ideologues to improve “messaging”, and since their installation, the entire narrative has been drive by his staff changes, their extreme views, and the office’s general incompetence. Well done.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:59 am:
==When I don’t play 2nd Base today for the Cubs at Wrigley, how is your snark making sense?==
You’re the one who made me dream this and hope it comes true for you. Now you’re crushin’ your own dreams.
I hope that young woman survives this process and goes on to do a really good job. Because she can.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 12:04 pm:
===You’re the one who made me dream this and hope it comes true for you. Now you’re crushin’ your own dreams.===
Actually, it was in reference to me being a spokesperson for the governor of the 5th largest state in America or a cap sigh for the office. Me playing for the Cubs today was more likely than that ever happening.
You can read, right?
===hope that young woman survives this process and goes on to do a really good job. Because she can.===
Right now she’s surviving.
Not at press events, but surviving.
If the Administration wants her there, then let her be there. It wasn’t the best not having her there, attending, if they want her to stay.
Hiding a Comms person because of what she wrote? Hmm.
- Grandson of Man - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 12:17 pm:
“Political insiders, the privileged inside government, the folks who make their money from political power, we need to battle against them.”
But poor Bruce, so underprivileged, with those decades of low state income tax and managing those collectivist, insider public employee pensions, in and out of Illinois. Give me a bleepin’ break.
Rauner came into government to wage war against the people he made as enemies. He sees people in black and white. He and the IPI are the good people, the crusaders, and people who’ve earned a living working for the government are villains.
How dare people who work for the government advocate politically for themselves, their families and each other? What do we think this is, democracy? Only Bruce can pump millions of dollars into politics as a sitting governor and the ultimate insider.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 12:22 pm:
==Hiding a Comms person because of what she wrote? Hmm.==
They’re either offering a little protection or greasing the skids to get rid of her. I’m hoping for the former.
- Baloneymous - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 12:27 pm:
You mean witless protection?
- Black Balled - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 12:33 pm:
Just remember the word ‘Locusts’ like Honey Bear uses perfidy. I hope the Illinois Republican Congressional Delegation understands these terms. From what I hear, this is their landing grounds. It is an advertisement waiting to happen. “Rauner’s destruction of Illinois has now gone national.’ The locusts ruined the ILGOP for personal gain. It is time to stop their migration.
- Team Warwick - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 2:10 pm:
Jim Nowlan’s article said it spot-on exacto.
ive worked with him on school funding issues he’s very knowledgeable and usually accurate.
IPI’s track record is to “sell the implausible to the uninformed. Venture capitalistas sell their investments to both uninformed and informed investors.
Most of the time this group has overestimated the pool of uninformed people they are “messaging” to, and end up messaging instead to the informed with a “duh” message, thereby looking foolish.
- Black Balled - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 3:29 pm:
Jim Nowlan is a class act. He gets the ground game and also the big picture. Hey OW - you ever met Jim? or do you just comment?
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 3:39 pm:
===Jim Nowlan is a class act. He gets the ground game and also the big picture. …you ever met Jim? or do you just comment?===
If I knew the purpose of what you asking or the why, that might help, lol
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Jul 25, 17 @ 11:19 pm:
–Sneed is told that out of 120 workers in the governor’s office, 15 staffers left, which included seven firings and eight resignations.–
I wonder who told Sneed that there are 120 staffers in the governor’s office. ITAP lists just 50.
Purvis and Munger are personal staffers stashed on the payroll of other agencies. Are there really dozens of other ghosts, to hide the true cost of the governor’s personal staff?
http://accountability.illinois.gov/Employees/Agency/Employees.aspx?Year=2017&Agency=310
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 26, 17 @ 1:12 am:
Rauner, like trump, seriously who didnt know what he was?