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A couple of tiny cracks appear

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* You don’t often see Gov. Rauner criticized by the Decatur Herald & Review editorial board, so this is interesting…

Have you seen Gov. Bruce Rauner lately?

Sure you have. It’s been hard to miss those TV ads in which the plaid-wearing executive chides lawmakers for their “duct tape” spending solutions.

And last week, with the Legislature on spring recess, the first-term GOP governor was crisscrossing the state on a two-day tour. He delivered stump speeches and had photo ops at restaurants and businesses in Chicago, Springfield, Quincy and Champaign. Two weeks ago, he was in Decatur.

So is Rauner campaigning?

He insists no, saying the tour, which was funded by his campaign, “has nothing to do with the election” in November 2018.

We’re not that naïve.

We think the whole thing highlights what’s fundamentally backwards about how the budget impasse is being handled by our elected officials. Rauner is on a PR blitz instead of what he should be doing full time – working with Democratic lawmakers to find common ground.

* And the same goes for the Rockford Register-Star…

“On the road again, I just can’t wait to get on the road again. The life I love is talkin’ duct tape with my friends, I just can’t wait to get on the road again.” — Willie Nelson, mostly.

Why stay in Springfield to work on a state budget when you can tour the cornfields and coffee shops of Illinois?

We are talking about Gov. Bruce Rauner, of course, who this week made a campaign jaunt around Illinois a year and a half before the November 2018 election, and nearly a year before the March 2018 primary.

At a series of stops from the Chicago suburbs to Rockford, Springfield, Quincy, Champaign and southern Illinois, Rauner littered our state with dropped “g’s” instead of using them at the ends of the words on which they belonged.

Rauner insisted that his tour of the state had nothing to do with the election, but The Associated Press said it was paid for by his campaign and our newspaper did not consider his appearance with local Republican officials at The Machine Shed in Rockford to be newsworthy.

* The Daily Herald isn’t ready to take such a step, however…

The 2018 gubernatorial campaign season has begun, which means whatever hope there is of solving Illinois budgetary issues before next year’s election will not likely be coming from the party leadership.

The Democrats will say Gov. Bruce Rauner has failed to do anything substantive in two years. Rauner will make the same claim of the Democratic leaders. The rest of us will be tempted to lapse into despair that the brakes will be stuck on Illinois government for another year and a half.

The only glimmer of light — and it is admittedly faint — lies with legislators, the rank and file who are elected promising to enact change in Springfield, but who too often get absorbed into the herd soon after they are sworn in, scarcely to be heard from again.

The leaders won’t solve this issue. The legislators must.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 3:10 pm

Comments

Suggestion for Rauner’s “non” campaign song-

I Stand Alone (From The Quest for Camelot)

I know the sound of each rock and stone,
I embrace what others fear,
For you were not to roam
in this forgotten place,
Just the likes of me
are welcome here,

Everything breathes
and I know each breath,
To me it means life,
to others it’s death,
It’s perfectly balanced,
perfectly planned,
More than enough for this man…

Like every tree stands on its own,
Reaching for the sky
I stand alone,
I share my world
with no one else,
All by myself,
I stand alone,

I’ve seen your world
with these very eyes,
Don’t come any closer,
don’t even try,
I’ve felt all the pain
and heard all the lies,
But in my world
there’s no compromise,

Like every tree stands on its own,
Reaching for the sky
I stand alone,
I share my world
with no one else,
All by myself
I stand alone,
All by myself
I stand alone.

Lyrics by Steve Perry

Comment by Anon221 Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 3:25 pm
Kudos to the H&R and RRS! Restaurant quality.

Comment by Cubs in '16 Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 3:26 pm
Where Rauner continued the narrative against Pat Quinn that “Pat Quinn failed”, the Rauner complete phoniness, costumes and dropping “Gs”, will only enhance and highlight how “Bruce Rauner fails” and sooner or later, everyone gets tired of a phony.

I’m warmed by some light and heat breaking through the cracks, but where o where is the Unified Democratic Message of “Bruce Rauner Fails” and #DoYourJob?

Where are each and every Democratic Candidates deciding to “agree”…

“It’s about Bruce Rauner purposely hurting the people of Illinois, and we all agree this must end”

Focus on the Governor.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 3:30 pm
If you’re “not that naive,” then you should realize after more than two years that the governor is accomplishing his goals that are “doable.”

Those goals are greatly reducing the state role in public universities, community colleges and social services. Rauner’s rhetoric is designed to disguise those goals as they would be unpopular to much of his base.

The explosion of debt in GRF operating funds under Rauner ensures that those areas will not be restored during his tenure to FY15 levels.

He knows what he’s doing. This could not happen by accident.

How do you like that, Downstate voters? You’re taking the worst of the beating.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 3:35 pm
“[Our] newspaper did not consider his appearance with local Republican officials at The Machine Shed in Rockford to be newsworthy.”

Rockford Register-Star to Rauner: Do your job.

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 3:37 pm
Rauner’s campaignin’ brought so much attention because it is so rare to see him intentionally listening to people. It shouldn’t be newsworthy or suspicious for a leader to be out in the field, hearing from constituents. But Rauner carries himself in such an arrogant manner that we assume this tour is a “campaign” tour.

There is nothing nefarious about visitin’ a diner in Quincy. But Rauner’s lack of empathy makes these normal acts look out of character.

Comment by State Sen. Clay Davis Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 3:48 pm
=How do you like that, Downstate voters? You’re taking the worst of the beating.=

Nothing of note has closed yet. Small drips and drabs here and there but no EIU or even a DL facility has closed that people would notice. You ask 10 people on the street in Champaign if they’re affected by the budget impasse, 8 of them would not have a clue about it.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 3:48 pm
There’s a problem with the Rauner campaign part II. Although the duct tape commercials try to convince us otherwise, he’s no longer the outsider. He’s been in the job for two years. He’s taken the “status quo” and made it demonstrably worse. And there’s nothing in his messaging that suggests that four more years would be any different.

Comment by Pundent Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 4:06 pm
The Governor is a charlatan, touring the state promising things that he knows will never be delivered by him. He told us that his business experience and negotiating skills would be used to bring Illinois back. The only skills he has when it comes to governing is intimidating members of his own party and alienating members of the other party. He’s just an arrogant, stubborn and temperamental plutocrat who wishes to bring the Koch brothers vision to Illinois.

Comment by The Dude Abides Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 4:08 pm
Until every newspaper in the State, on the same day, runs an above the fold headline “Governor, Do Your Job b”, nothing will change.

And if the newspapers do that, they should continue it Evey day until we have a budget … with the number of days without a budget as part of the headline.

It’ll never happen … but it will take that amount of public push-back to even start to put pressure on Rauner.

Comment by RNUG Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 4:18 pm
Is RRS really that much of a surprise? I thought they were the lone paper for Quinn in ‘14.

Comment by Arsenal Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 4:32 pm
==Nothing of note has closed yet.==

I’m not sure the folks of Sparta would agree, and certainly closing the ISM caused plenty of agita.

Comment by Arsenal Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 4:33 pm
–Nothing of note has closed yet.–

There have been layoffs all over in higher and among contracted social services plus state vendors aren’t getting paid.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Apr 14, 17 @ 4:39 pm