* Bruce Rauner is already taking a bit of heat from his Republican gubernatorial rivals over his very close ties to Mayor Rahm Emanuel...

It’s Rauner, after all, who advised Rahm in the late ‘90s to make his fortune as an investment banker and who hired him to represent GTCR in the purchase of a home-security company from SBC Communications. Proceeds from that deal, among others, put the Clinton operative, who had no prior business experience or education, on the fast track to earning $18 million in under 3 years. Fortune in place, Rahm sprinted down the road to elective office.

Rauner’s genuine chumminess with Rahm will not help the venture capitalist in the Republican primary, and neither will Rauner’s contributions to Rahm’s campaigns.

* Carol Felsenthal digs up another…

On April 17, 2012, before Rauner announced his exploratory committee for governor, the American Jewish Committee, at a dinner at the Ritz Carlton Chicago, honored Rauner with its Civic Leadership Award. More than 400 people attended, a AJC record. Mayor Emanuel introduced/roasted Rauner and presented him with the award.

Two people who were there that night told me that Rahm was extremely funny and that he mentioned that he and his family vacation at Rauner’s ranch in Montana.

That would be a nice little advantage for Rauner next fall, but, needless to say, not so much during the primary.

* Also, I did a quick Google search for the two men and found this speech by then-Congressman Rahm Emanuel in the Congressional Record on June 1, 2004…

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate my good friend Bruce V. Rauner of Chicago and the Rauner Family Foundation for being honored by the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago, which is awarding Bruce with its prestigious Humanitarian Award at the Second Annual Hometown Heroes Awards breakfast. […]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of the Fifth Congressional District of Illinois and indeed all of Chicago, I am privileged to congratulate Bruce V. Rauner and the Rauner Family Foundation for this impressive honor, and I applaud the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago for bestowing this celebrated award on such deserving recipients.

It’s just the usual congressional boilerplate stuff, but the glowing language praising Rauner might not look so good when it’s referenced in a negative TV ad - that is, if anybody ever runs one.

…Adding… Frank Zappa’s “Montana” has been in my head since I wrote this post. I forgot how great the guitar solo is…

Gonna be a dental floss tycoon