* The AP picked up the Illinois Policy Institute cartoon controversy…
Still, the image put a spotlight on Rauner and his links to the institute. Rauner, a wealthy businessman, donated to the group before he became governor and recently hired several top aides from the organization including his spokeswoman, Diana Rickert, and former Policy Institute president Kristina Rasmussen, who is his chief of staff.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s onetime chief of staff, issued a joint statement with city school officials accusing the governor’s “brain trust at the Illinois Policy Institute” of contributing to the school funding debate by publishing an “unambiguously racist cartoon.”
Rickert said Thursday that Rauner hadn’t seen the cartoon and wouldn’t comment on it.
“It’s a terrible thing for people to be bringing up now,” she said. “To be accusing somebody falsely of racism, or try to insinuate that people in this office are racist, is disgusting when the country is trying to recover from this tragedy.”
Pretty full-throated defense of her current and former employers.
* The governor said on WBEZ this morning that he hadn’t seen the cartoon, but he’d heard about it. He claimed that a radio host on WVON yesterday said he didn’t think the cartoon was racist and neither did his listeners. WVON, of course, is one of the nation’s most famous African-American radio stations. But the host, Maze Jackson, has close ties to former Rep. Ken Dunkin, who was backed by Rauner forces in his Democratic primary last year.
* Meanwhile…
Numerous state legislators will be joining civil rights and social justice organizations tomorrow to protest a recent Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) editorial cartoon that has been universally condemned by Democratic and Republican members of the General Assembly.
Attendees are calling on Governor Bruce Rauner, who has financially supported the IPI and recently hired high-ranking officials from the organization, to join the Democrat and Republican elected officials who have publicly condemned the racist cartoon and are demanding the IPI publicly apologize for the drawing.
Who: Illinois State Representatives, civil rights and social justice organizations
What: Protest Against Rauner-Backed Illinois Policy Institute’s Racist Cartoon
When: Friday, Aug. 18, 2017, 10 a.m.
Where: Illinois Policy Institute Headquarters, 190 S. LaSalle St., Chicago
* Pritzker campaign…
Just days after Bruce Rauner refused to call attacks by white supremacists in Charlottesville terrorism, Rauner‘s allies at the Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) published a flagrantly racist cartoon to advance their divisive agenda. While members of both parties rebuked the cartoon from the House floor this week, Bruce Rauner’s chief spokeswoman — who was hired directly from the IPI — said that Rauner hadn’t seen the cartoon and then flatly denied that it was racist.
Rauner’s silence comes despite close ties to the Institute, with many of his senior staff coming directly from their ranks. The IPI has since pulled down the cartoon, but refuses to apologize.
“When Bruce Rauner was asked to take a principled stand on the white supremacist rally and terrorist attack in Charlottesville, he waited for Donald Trump before giving a half-hearted response,” said Pritzker campaign communications director Galia Slayen. “Now, Rauner’s refusal to respond to an obscenely racist cartoon from the Illinois Policy Institute is on a similar plane of moral bankruptcy. This is what happens when you staff your administration with radicals from a far-right think tank and would rather divide and pit communities against each other than help this state heal. There aren’t two sides to what happened this week — there is right and there is wrong — and it is abundantly clear which side Bruce Rauner and Donald Trump are on.”
…Adding… Tweet from after Rauner’s WBEZ interview…
*** UPDATE 1 *** DGA…
For all the time that the Governor’s office has spent talking about or hearing about the IPI cartoon, it’s strange that Rauner never found the time to actually look at it. Weird how that works.
Governor Rauner has had a tough week. On Monday, he failed to call the attack in Charlottesville “terrorism.” And it was not until Wednesday that Rauner finally criticized President Trump for his incredibly insensitive comments about Charlottesville.
“This is Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership in action,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Governor Rauner would rather defend his political allies than tackle a sensitive subject head-on. This is not new - Illinois families have repeatedly seen Rauner dodge on issues of importance to them but politically inconvenient for Rauner. From his awkward comments on Charlottesville to his belated criticism of President Trump, Governor Rauner spent the week failing the leadership test. Today is just another example.”
*** UPDATE 2 ***
*** UPDATE 3 *** To some, the fact that Gov. Rauner wore a Maze Jackson t-shirt during the Bud Billiken Parade might possibly help explain the WVON angle…
