* From earlier this month…

Frustrated with a lack of legislative progress, a group of agriculture leaders is bypassing the General Assembly to form a private foundation to support the state fairgrounds in Springfield and Du Quoin.

Characterizing it as a completely private initiative, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner applauded the effort, which was announced Tuesday morning during Agriculture Day at the state fair. […]

“The wonderful thing for the people of Illinois is now private citizens – farm families, community leaders, agriculture executives – are stepping forward to take the leadership on this initiative,” Rauner said. “We’re not going to wait. … The General Assembly won’t do it; private citizens are going to do it.”

* From a Rauner press release at the time…

Leaders in the agricultural community established the Illinois Fairgrounds Foundation to promote, support, assist, and sustain the Springfield and Du Quoin State Fairgrounds. The foundation will be led by a volunteer board representing a diverse cross section of the agriculture industry. Board members will engage with private sector business organizations and individuals to develop strategies to raise private funding, coordinate with the Department of Agriculture to plan projects and determine the Fairgrounds’ needs, and serve as ambassadors for the revitalization and improvement of the Fairgrounds and their agricultural heritage.

* Today…

When Gov. Bruce Rauner announced during last month’s Illinois State Fair that a nonprofit foundation had formed to help pay for upkeep of the state fairgrounds in Springfield and Du Quoin, he touted it as an effort of private individuals in agriculture and business.

“This is not going to be a government agency in any regard,” Rauner said in announcing the foundation on Agriculture Day at the fair. “This is all private money, all private management, all private control.”

But emails and other records released to the Springfield bureau of Lee Enterprises newspapers under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act show that officials with the Illinois Department of Agriculture and the Rauner administration were heavily involved in the group’s formation. […]

Records show that state officials have been meeting since at least early June to discuss the foundation and played a role in assembling the organization’s board. State officials also put together a “Facts & FAQs” document detailing how the foundation would function and set the agenda for a conference call with board members five days before the effort was publicly announced.

The governor was most certainly hyperbolic during the unveiling, but somebody had to get this thing off the ground and the original story included this quote from John Slayton, a bank vice president who’s been involved with the fair’s Sale of Champions for years…

“Gov. Rauner really took the lead,” Slayton said, “and he’s the one that gets credit for the formation of this foundation.”

Even so, if they’ve already put together the details about how the foundation would function it’s not really a privately led organization.

…Adding… The governor’s office claims that “individuals reached out” to the Department of Agriculture asking to be involved if the bill creating the foundation passed. When the bill failed to move, the governor’s people say they “helped bring those individuals together so they could create a foundation.”