* Columnist George Will essentially endorsed Bruce Rauner for governor in 2014…
Illinois voters can choose Rauner and term limits, or the acceleration of stagnation and the end of the pleasure of complaining.
* And Will was ecstatic about Rauner’s inauguration in February of 2015…
The most portentous election of 2014, which gave the worst-governed state its first Republican governor in 12 years, has initiated this century’s most intriguing political experiment. Illinois has favored Democratic presidential candidates by an average of 16 points in the last six elections. But by electing businessman Bruce Rauner, it initiated a process that might dismantle a form of governance that afflicts many states and municipalities.
* And when the impasse was really hitting home in August of 2016, Will stuck up for his guy…
Seated in his office in Chicago, wearing neither a necktie nor a frown, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is remarkably relaxed for someone at the epicenter of a crisis now in its second year and with no end in sight. But, then, stress is pointless when the situation is hopeless. Besides, if you can ignore the fact that self-government is failing in the nation’s fifth-most populous state, you can see real artistry in the self-dealing by the Democrats who, with veto-proof majorities in the state Legislature, have reduced this state they control to insolvency.
* And then Will framed Rauner’s reelection in November of 2017…
“I love a fight,” says an ebullient Rauner, whose rhetoric cannot get much more pugnacious. He calls Madigan “the worst elected official in the country” and Madigan’s machine “evil.” The nation has a huge stake in this brawl because the “blue model” is bankrupting cities and states from Connecticut to California, so its demolition here, where it has done the most damage, would be a wondrous story enhancing the nation’s glory.
Maseng Communications, which is run by Will’s wife, Mari Maseng Will, was given a contract by the Rauner campaign this past spring.
* June 27, 2018…
* George Will column on July 5, 2018…
The Supreme Court is especially admirable when correcting especially deplorable prior decisions, as with the 1954 school desegregation decision rejecting a 1896 decision’s “separate but equal” doctrine. It did so again June 27, overturning a 41-year-old precedent inimical to the First Amendment.
* Gov. Rauner press release today…
Gov. Bruce Rauner today announced the 2019 recipients of the Order of Lincoln, which is the state’s highest honor for professional achievement and public service.
“These distinguished individuals make us proud to be Illinoisans,” Rauner said. “They have honored us with their achievements in medicine, business, the arts, the law and sports, so it is only fitting and proper to bestow upon them the state’s highest honor.” […]
“While the recipients’ work spans many fields, all have the traits of Abraham Lincoln in common,” Rauner said. “They possess tremendous talent. They are great leaders, great community servants and great lovers of Illinois.” […]
George F. Will is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post who also is a regular contributor to NBC News and MSNBC. Will is also a prolific writer of books about national and international relations, politics, government, and the sport of baseball. Titles include “The Pursuit of Happiness and Other Sobering Thoughts,” “Statecraft as Soulcraft,” and “One Man’s America: The Pleasures and Provocations of Our Singular Nation.” Will was named Best Writer by the Washington Journalism Review in 1985 and one of the 25 most influential Washington journalists by the National Journal in 1997. He grew up in Champaign.
…Adding… I changed the headline because the governor has no direct role in naming these awards. From the governor’s office…
The Lincoln Academy of Illinois is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan, and self-perpetuating organization established in 1964 to recognize the outstanding contributions made by living Illinois citizens, whether by birth or by residence.
The laureates are selected at a called meeting of the Regents and General Trustees, a group of no more than sixty distinguished Illinoisans in attendance, from the nominees submitted. There is a vote to determine those most deserving to honor as Laureates of the Academy, thereby conferring upon them the Order of Lincoln.
