* Sept. 18, 2015…

Illinois officials admit they were caught off-guard by the wave of Legionnaires’ at their veterans’ home in Quincy. […]

“August 21st we shut down the water, we removed aerators from all the showers, we shut down our fountains, we started issuing bottled water. We wanted to be sure our residents were safe,” [said Illinois Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries].

* WBEZ last night…

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s own administration formally rebuked the state agency overseeing the Quincy veterans’ home for how it told staffers about the fatal Legionnaires’ disease outbreak after workers there got sick in 2015.

The workplace safety reprimand issued by the state Department of Labor, first obtained by WBEZ, focused on a pair of emails Illinois Veterans Home administrators blasted out to state workers that seemed to downplay the threat of the disease.

The agency reproached the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, which oversees the home, saying it “failed to effectively notify all employees” about the outbreak just as it was taking hold.

That Feb. 8, 2016 finding undercuts the insistent public claims by outgoing Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries that her department was “very clear” in its Legionnaires’ warnings to staff in Quincy.

But the Aug. 22, 2015 mass email to Quincy workers — which Jeffries has pointed to as proof the home’s workforce was informed early about the outbreak — downplayed the severity of the epidemic and failed to alert staff that two Legionnaires’ cases had already been confirmed by that time.

* From that August 22nd e-mail to Quincy veterans’ home workers, sent the day after the remediation began…

l’m sending this email to answer questions and concerns staff have had regarding UNCONFIRMED Legionnaires’ Disease at the Elmore building. Please reassure staff that this in is an UNCONFIRMED diagnosis and precautions are being taken per directive. I want to reassure all staff that if we truly felt there was an issue with Legionella we would not put the Residents or Staff at risk. I ask that you please not panic and do not discuss this with the residents.

* From the Illinois Department of Labor’s findings…

The employer failed to effectively notify all employees of the outbreak or instructed them as to proper precautions to avoid or eliminate exposure in a timely manner. It was discovered that although a mass email was sent to employees informing them of the outbreak, not all employees had email, and subsequently were not able to be informed until sometime after the first email was sent.

* DGA…

A few months ago, Governor Bruce Rauner appeared before the Herald & Review Editorial Board and criticized recent Quincy Veterans Home workers’ testimony as “false” and “politically motivated attacks.” Workers testified the state failed to inform them about the 2015 Legionnaires’ outbreak at the home, which they learned about from media reports.

(Watch Rauner before the Herald & Review Editorial Board)

“Question: But I think, maybe what we’re getting at is that the staff found out on media reports in Quincy, right? That was some of that testimony.

“Rauner: Well you see that’s false. You see there’s a lot of misinformation and I think politically motivated attacks going on. I don’t want to get into that. The reality is, we took strong immediate action. Communicated with employees and that was put out, Erica Jefferies put out that clear statement about how they communicated. There’s a lot of politics getting played right now.”

Last night, WBEZ dropped a bombshell report that directly contradicts Rauner’s assertations. The station reported that Rauner’s own Department of Labor investigated and “formally rebuked” the Department of Veterans’ Affairs for failing to “effectively notify” staff members about the outbreak. Emails at the time “downplayed the severity” of the outbreak and reassured staff that they “would not put the residents or staff at risk” if they felt there “was an issue” with Legionnaires’. Since 2015, 8 home workers have fallen ill with and 13 home residents died of Legionnaires’ disease.

“Bruce Rauner got caught lying about what his own administration knew was true — they botched the response to the deadly Quincy Legionnaires’ outbreak,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Rauner’s knee-jerk need to deflect blame only does a disservice to the 13 people who died at the Quincy Veterans Home.”

* Pritzker campaign…

While Bruce Rauner continues to deny wrongdoing and cover up his fatal mismanagement of the Quincy Veterans’ Home, a newly-released report details his own Department of Labor’s recognition of the administration’s failure.

After two sickened Quincy workers filed complaints with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Rauner’s Labor department was forced to begin an investigation that found Rauner’s VA staff “failed to immediately notify employees of the outbreak” and even misled them on the severity of the crisis. A health expert told WBEZ, “That’s not how you manage an outbreak… [it’s] a breach of ethical standards.”

“Bruce Rauner’s own administration knows the Legionnaires response was an abject failure that cost 13 people their lives and jeopardized many more,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Staff on the frontlines were left in the dark, the administration downplayed a crisis spiraling out of control, and heroes and spouses died because this governor failed.”