39 Comments - Mama - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 1:42 pm: Whatever you do - don’t blame me for financial mess I made out of IL. - phocion - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 1:44 pm: The core message must poll well. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 1:45 pm: The guy spent twenty years and thousands of dollars bankrolling Richard M Daley and now he’s concerned about the “machine” not working for evvybody? Chutzpah. - Ghost - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 1:48 pm: Said the gov while signing 20mil in checks to Proft and elected officials who promised to do his bidding….. Was his nose growing Airplane style? “there may be a slight problem…… - Anonymous - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 1:49 pm: “Broken…” Drink. - Rabid - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 1:50 pm: “we have a broken political system” fascinating - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 1:53 pm: Lots of Pineapples… “Governor, you’ve accomplished none of your agenda, there’s now a tax increase, schools aren’t funded yet, what will change in a secknf term?” “Bruce Rauner failed” Right? Exactly right. How does Rauner’s word salad chip away at his 63% disapproval? Rauner has said this for 3 years, lol - Professor - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 1:55 pm: Spoken like a true demagogue. Is this the leadership that Illinois needs? Divide - us against them. The nation has Trump and Illinois has Rauner. - Upstate - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 1:59 pm: 47th Ward is right. Rauner was a huge, consistent backer of Richard M. Daley. Must have discovered only recently the parade of horribles he cites today. He was also a leader and big funder of the Chicago Public Education Fund, which has helped lift CPS schools to record academic success over the past decade by focusing on recruiting, developing and retaining top principals. But now he’s renouncing his own work. Now, suddenly, the schools are “terrible.” - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:01 pm: ===“We’re up against an incredibly powerful political machine in Chicago…”=== “… and I clouted my Denied Winnetka-living Daughter into CPS’s Payton Prep with it, thank goodness…” - Fake Bruce Rauner - Annon3 - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:02 pm: Red meat for the masses never grows old at the Illinois State Fair! - illini - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:04 pm: And what else would any of us expect him to say? After all, he only knows one verse of the song and he sings it every day. One would think by now that he would know the whole song that he could regale us with - or learn a different song. - Century Club - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:05 pm: Racially coded BS that puts dividing and hating for political gain over any semblance of the common good. - Keyrock - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:12 pm: He also gave $250,000 to Citizens for Claypool. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:15 pm: Says Mr. Pay-to-Player, who made his fortune in Chicago and was one of the biggest bank rollers of Daley, Emanuel and Claypool. He was pretty sweet on the city when he was at World Business Chicago and the Chicago Convention and Tourism Burueau. Even praised Madigan, Quinn and Cullerton back then. Rauner’s lying and hypocrisy really know no bounds. Looks like he’s going to run an old-timey Chicago dog whistle campaign, like some back-bench Mushroom. How’s that for branding on the old North Shore cocktail circuit? - DownstateKid - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:29 pm: Let’s break this down: Just look at the unemployment. 4.9 percent or 41/50 largest metros. Look at the terrible schools. CPS is junk status with current borrowing rates costing the district 70k per day. Look at the violence in Chicago. More murders than L.A. and NYC combined, highest total murder rate, but ONLY 8th in per capita rating. Look at the taxes going through the roof in Chicago. Highest sales tax in the country, which is regressive. Unpopular soda tax, 32% increase in income tax, 2nd highest property taxes in nation behind NJ and corporate taxes up to 7% to boot. BGA/Politifact: True - JC just saying... - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:30 pm: Says the same guy who helped some of those “machine” politicians when it served his personal agenda. Oh please stop acting like a spoiled brat and lead if at all possible. - Rod - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:31 pm: Well Willy, the Governor’s daughter Meg and my own daughter graduated from Payton, they are both doing well by their free public educations at one of the very best high schools in America (https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/illinois/districts/chicago-public-schools/payton-college-preparatory-high-school-6604). The Governor and his wife have every right to be proud of Meg, she was in fact recognized as Academic All-Ivy leaguer as an athlete in 2017 https://news.dartmouth.edu/news/2017/07/10-student-athletes-earn-academic-all-ivy-recognition. My own daughter is pursuing her PhD at the U of Cal Davis. So the Governor knows better than to just trash CPS as a whole, but he does it for political reasons obviously. Even the high school that is named after him, a CPS charter, while not at the level of Payton does well by many students as do other CPS schools. The problem CPS has, Springfield School District 186 has, and many other school district in Illinois have is with low income students from fragmented families in particular. We all know these students cost more, require attention, social services, and aggressive pre-school programs. The Governor knows this because his wife has spoken about this issue while he was present in meetings where I have been present along with many others. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:35 pm: This. Is. Hysterical… ===Just look at the unemployment. 4.9 percent or 41/50 largest metros.=== Rauner? No solution. Vetoed state budget. ===Look at the terrible schools. CPS is junk status with current borrowing rates costing the district 70k per day.=== Rauner? No solution. Rauner vetoed education budget devices. ===Look at the violence in Chicago. More murders than L.A. and NYC combined, highest total murder rate, but ONLY 8th in per capita rating.=== Rauner? Vetoed Illinois State Pokice funding, including crime lab funding and training. ===Look at the taxes going through the roof in Chicago. Highest sales tax in the country, which is regressive. Unpopular soda tax, 32% increase in income tax, 2nd highest property taxes in nation behind NJ and corporate taxes up to 7% to boot.=== Rauner couldn’t stop a tax increase, overridden by both chambers, bipartisanly. “What will be different in a Rauner second term?” lol - DownstateKid - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:38 pm: Rod, One issue I have in CPS, but specifically Payton, Northside Prep, Jones Prep etc. is these schools aren’t truly public. Any child living in Old Town cannot attend them, but must test basically in the 99 percentile. So while I have immense pride at the fact at Payton was named the top public high school in America, it isn’t exactly true to call it public. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:42 pm: DK, test scores aren’t everything when it comes to getting into Payton Prep. Ask Rauner, he knows another path. - Roman - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:44 pm: He is certainly not the first Illinois politician to exploit regional differences, but no one has weaponized it to the extent he has. He’s got nothing else to run on. History will not judge him well. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:46 pm: (Sigh) - Rod - Show some class. Unless the Daughter clouted herself in the school, leave her name out of it. According to the Inspector General, the RaunerS clouted their denied, Winnetka-living Daughter over a worthy child. The daughter’s scores didn’t meet the criteria, there was no Principal Preference list either. ===So the Governor knows better than to just trash CPS as a whole, but he does it for political reasons obviously. Even the high school that is named after him, a CPS charter, while not at the level of Payton does well by many students as do other CPS schools.=== Then Diana and Bruce, instead of clouting their own denied Winnetka-living Daughter over a worthy child, with finite seats, and send her to Rauner Prep. ===The Governor knows this because his wife has spoken about this issue while he was present in meetings where I have been present along with many others=== Diana’s phony brand has taken a beating lately, I wouldn’t lean too hard on her phoniness. After all, Diana says it’s a brand. Crain’s article… http://bit.ly/2fLXOxR If you’d like, I’ll pull up the WTTW interview where the inspectors general explains it… - northsider (the original) - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:58 pm: Core Message: It’s broken & I alone can fix it. After I figure it out. - DownstateKid - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 2:59 pm: Wordslinger, I forget the full story, but Rauner likely used the Principal’s discretion. He did what any rational person would/should have a done which is look out for the best interest of his child. I’m not gonna retrial a story from 2014, but I’ve already started building relationships with CPS employees to get into good schools as a precaution. Due diligence and all that. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 3:04 pm: ===get the full story, but Rauner likely used the Principal’s discretion. He did what any rational person would/should have a done which is look out for the best interest of his child=== The RaunerS didn’t. Read the Crain’s link ===However, Sullivan told The Associated Press on Thursday that Rauner didn’t use the formalized principals’ process. CPS policy says that principals of selective high schools can use discretion for up to 5 percent of incoming freshmen Sullivan said Rauner contacted then-CEO Arne Duncan’s office, had at least two conversations with a chief aide, and the admission status was changed after the aide called the principal. “She’s a very bright kid. She was close and just didn’t make it,” Sullivan said of the initial rejection. For exclusive schools such as Walter Payton, numerous factors including race, grades, attendance and test scores are considered=== - Chris Widger - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 3:06 pm: I both completely agree with Rauner’s thesis and see no reason to believe that he, or anyone in this state, can represent a way out of the problems he describes. As an aside, it is still so weird to me that these comments regularly rag on Rauner for “clouting” his kid, but also generally think the state should give extra money to CPS, the system that allows for clouting. If clout is wrong, doesn’t it take two to clout? Can we condemn Rauner in one breath and not at the same time demand CPS reform? - wordslinger - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 3:06 pm: –I forget the full story…– LOL, You forgot $250K and having Duncan lean on the principal? And that the Rauners lived in Winnetka? Got any more lectures about Rauner’s fight against “the Chicago Machine?” - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 3:08 pm: ===Can we condemn Rauner in one breath and not at the same time demand CPS reform?=== lol, who hasn’t called for reform? Pick up your straw man, it’s making a mess. - Rod - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 3:23 pm: Like the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) in Elgin these high schools are designed for the highest performing students. My daughter for example ended up with a perfect ACT math score as did amazingly several other Payton students who graduated the year she did. These high schools are without question academically difficult, but there are also low income students who make the cut and get in, for example Payton does have 30% low income students. I believe there should be more low income students in a school like Payton considering he overall pool of students in the City and CPS with a complex admission process linked to family incomes in specific areas of Chicago tries to get more low income students eligible for Payton and other selective high schools, even ISMA has adopted a diversity plan. The problem is higher income children regardless of race go into the academic competition better prepared than low income students, Meg Rauner and my own daughter without question had that advantage. I know Willy will argue Meg had a clout advantage too, but her performance at Dartmouth is also evidence that she is a very bright person. If we closed down these academically elite programs around Illinois, not just Chicago, we would have a revolt of the high performing students families against the school districts. Parents of high performing students feel very much that they worked hard to help their children become academic success stories and their children are getting their just rewards. The same thing also applies to more or less academically elite programs at some suburban high schools. Hinsdale Central High School has groups of students who generally take honors or AP classes for example, as do many other high schools. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 3:36 pm: - Rod - I asked you not to put her name out there. You did. You have no class. ===…will argue … had a clout advantage…=== It was her lone advantage. I cited clearly. ===However, Sullivan told The Associated Press on Thursday that Rauner didn’t use the formalized principals’ process. CPS policy says that principals of selective high schools can use discretion for up to 5 percent of incoming freshmen Sullivan said Rauner contacted then-CEO Arne Duncan’s office, had at least two conversations with a chief aide, and the admission status was changed after the aide called the principal. “She’s a very bright kid. She was close and just didn’t make it,” Sullivan said of the initial rejection. For exclusive schools such as Walter Payton, numerous factors including race, grades, attendance and test scores are considered=== You are not the Inspector General. Unless you are saying the inspector general was wrong and prove it, just stop. Please, after repeatedly naming the child, do not engage me, personally on this again. Thank you. - Cheswick - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 3:43 pm: The quoted excerpt has “Diana’s brand” written all over it, specifically the absence of Madigan’s name. - Rod - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 4:16 pm: Willy the Governor’s daughter has a name, some of those of us who where Payton parents know it as do her friends and classmates. She is a real person, and I just don’t agree with you. Her achievement at Dartmouth is clear, the advantages she has are also clear. As are the social economic advantages of some of the other students who graduated from Payton and done well. Willy I don’t think you have demonized the Governor’s daughter, you disagree with what the Governor did to get her into Payton, so did a lot of people in Chicago. But using the Governor’s daughter’s name is hardly wrong, she does have one. By the way my daughter’s name is Alexandra who went to Payton, just for the record. There is no blogging protocol to protect the names of adult children of elected officials, and I am clearly not writing hostilely about the Governor’s daughter. Your concept of my reference to Meg by name is simply beyond me Willy. - Jocko - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 4:17 pm: [a] political machine in Chicago that’s run for the benefit of politicians and their cronies…like me. But as Diana can attest, I’m no longer that guy. See, look at this plaid shirt and belt buckle. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 4:20 pm: - Rod - Do not try to engage me again. You have no class. It’s not up… to you… to publicly have her name out there. Speaks volumes about you. The inspector general made clear what you can’t refute. - Deputy Registrar - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 5:00 pm: Rod– The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) is in Aurora, not Elgin. My kid is a 2001 graduate. - DeputyRegistrar - Wednesday, Aug 16, 17 @ 7:45 pm: She wasn’t clouted in, either. - Benniefly2 - Thursday, Aug 17, 17 @ 7:24 am: Honestly, I would rather pay what Chicago/Cook County would charge me in real estate taxes than what DuPage is currently charging me. I would save a few thousand a year. So when is the governor start attacking DuPage as ‘broken’? - NorthsideNoMore - Thursday, Aug 17, 17 @ 9:10 am: We need an Arnold Schwartzeneger ? He could right the ship curtail the taxes and terminate any of the nay sayers. Of course the hired help would need to be careful …but meh. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.