Rauner fact-checked on jobs claim
Tuesday, Nov 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Mark Maxwell on Gov. Rauner’s campaign tour…
The incumbent Republican replayed many of his greatest hits from his 2014 campaign during his two stops in Decatur and Champaign on Monday, but he struggled to defend his own record on job growth since he took office.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show Illinois ranked 48th in job growth nationwide between September 2016 and September 2017. Only two states ranked lower during that stretch and they lost jobs.
Rauner acknowledge the state’s economic troubles, but said the problem predates his tenure.
“I could say that we have added 150,000 new jobs since I became governor,” Rauner said of his first three years in office. That figure doesn’t match seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which list new jobs in Illinois at 119,000 since January of 2015.
Rauner’s campaign later replied to our request for clarification via email saying his jobs figure was only meant as a rough estimate, and pointed out that the official federal numbers don’t account for non-seasonally adjusted data.
* Meanwhile, IWT has been giving the governor a lot of grief for this comment…
* The full quote…
People say, well, we didn’t have a budget for two years, that caused a problem. That’s not the case.
What’s happened is 35 years of deficits has caused our problems.
And so he fixed that by… doing what, exactly? He took an admittedly bad situation and turned it into a disaster for more than two solid years. You don’t fix a structural budget problem by piling on more debt and close to a billion dollars in interest on backlogged bills.
- Anon - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:06 am:
oh, man. that could be a commercial. Blago’s tracker got a few JBT comments on camera (veterans and funerals) that, while not completely in context, became killer commercials. my guess is that this becomes an ad.
- @MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:09 am:
Of the jobs Rauner claims, one in five is fictional.
– MrJM
- GA Watcher - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:10 am:
Amen, Brother Rich. The Dems should hammer him on the point you make over and over and over.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:14 am:
Yesterday, Rauner said the damage from not having a budget was Madigan’s fault. Today, there was no damage from not having a budget.
The dude should never go off script. He can’t think on his feet.
- IllinoisBoi - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:15 am:
Rauner says “we created jobs.” Who are we, and what did we do to create such an anemic number of jobs?
- Sugar Corn - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:15 am:
but…MADIGAN!
but..PAT QUINN!
What a sorry excuse.
- PublicServant - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:17 am:
===And so he fixed that by… doing what, exactly? He took an admittedly bad situation and turned it into a disaster for more than two solid years. You don’t fix a structural budget problem by piling on more debt and close to a billion dollars in interest on backlogged bills.==
He’s never been happier according to Diana.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:20 am:
Here’s what I know…
Dems are concerned about income taxes released, property taxes of others and small ball gnatty-like diversions to appease 47 supporters that go out of their way to watch digital ads.
Holding Rauner accountable just isn’t “small ball” enough.
You’d think professionally run campaigns would have enough to do making the easiest of cases with Rauner’s hypocrisy and fibs to make strong cases for themselves.
The exact reason “Pat Quinn failed” worked… was Rauner continually framed himself as the choice outside Quinn and then pivoted back to the “Careerfellas”
It’s flat out embarrassing that three alleged campaigns tasked to defeat Bruce Rauner finds their time to small ball each other more “sensible”… instead of going after Rauner…
… for income tax… for property taxes… for a failed Rauner Administration
I won’t hold my breath, I’ll wait for another ridiculous small ball gnatty point will be the focus instead of going after Rauber when he says things Iike this.
Y’all are running for Governor.
Rauner, as governor, says stuff like this.
Take it to him already.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:21 am:
Is “can’t think on his feet” the same as “can’t keep his lies straight”? Pretty much, I’d say.
- whatthewhat - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:28 am:
We haven’t had 35 years of deficits. We did have some prosperous years, mainly under Republican governors, but we didn’t save for rainy days.
- Langhorne - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:32 am:
Campaign season
–all messaging, all the time
–lies are ok, if you talk fast enough
–madigan
–droppin’ g’s
–plaid shirt, vest, jeans
So, he needs 4 more years to do what he said he would do…4 years ago? He left out right to work, and no social agenda…
Words i hate: fight, conversation, plan, drivin’, transformative,broken, corruption
- trudat - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:33 am:
If Rauner wanted to cut spending and make a fiscal change, he should have spent more than a millisecond focusing on consent decrees and court orders. The vast majority of areas he wants to cut or claims he can cut are subject to consent decrees. As best I can tell, he has never directed his administration or the Attorney General to work to end those decrees and court orders. He’s done the exact opposite. He goes to court and agrees to terms that are counter to his supposed agenda and obligates the state to spend more. More than half of the state budget is tied to a consent decree or federal court order. At the same time, he works to shut down the facilities and resources that are necessary if Illinois is ever going to operate independent of the federal courts.
- Henry Francis - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:58 am:
Ok Guv, none of these problems are your fault. Got it.
Then let’s ask a question famously asked by the greatest Republican of our life times, Ronald Reagan: “are you better off than you were four years ago?”
If we asked the people of Illinois that question, heck let’s just ask the tax payers of Illinois (the folks you truly work for), that question, what do you think their answer will be?
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 12:01 pm:
Trump and Rauner have three things in common:
1- They tell lies that are easily rebuked and they do it constantly.
2- They are wealthy
3- It is NEVER their fault.
If I were the ILDP I would hammer him on that.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 12:37 pm:
That’s not the case? He needs a reality check. I don’t even know how he says that with a straight face.
- Ron - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 12:57 pm:
“are you better off than you were four years ago?”
My family is better off.
- DeseDemDose - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 1:37 pm:
Ron, Do tell?
- Rabid - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 2:18 pm:
not having a budget for two years caused nine downgrades govenor junk
- Rabid - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 2:42 pm:
Of course our familys are better off, just look at deputy munger
- Mama - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 9:19 pm:
The Dems should ask the voters: Is IL better off than it was 4 years ago? If the answer is no, it is time for a change.