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The governor’s reelection message

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Illinois

* Tony Arnold asks “After A Rough Summer, Can Rauner Turn Around His Turnaround Agenda?” His conclusion…

But as Rauner moves forward after a politically gruelling summer, he doesn’t sound like he’s abandoning some parts of his Turnaround Agenda. In a statement, Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for Rauner’s reelection campaign, touted the governor’s record when it comes to school funding, criminal justice and energy.

But she also made a point to say that key parts of the agenda will be at the center of his reelection campaign.

“It will be clear that the choice next November will be between a governor who will keep fighting for better schools, property tax relief, term limits and to rollback the Madigan tax hike or an opponent who will protect the status quo and keep taxes high,” Kukowski wrote.

Trouble is, he promised the very same things in 2014, including rolling back the tax hike. But he’ll be right to say that almost all the Democratic candidates are talking about the need for even more taxes.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 9:39 am

Comments

Perhaps he can tell us what happens if the tax hike is rolled back. He doesn’t really want that to happen, but it’s a good talking point.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 9:47 am
===“It will be clear that the choice next November will be between a governor who will keep fighting for better schools, property tax relief, term limits and to rollback the Madigan tax hike or an opponent who will protect the status quo and keep taxes high,”===

“Governor, you promised all that just 3 short years ago, and you accomplished nothing in these realms. What will be different in a second term?”

- Fake Bret Baier, rolling his fake eyes as Fake Bruce Rauner giggles… nervously.

A really savvy campaign would have that Bret Baier interview sliced, diced, massaged and shaped… with a single tag line…

“What would be different in a second term”

Ouch, Rauner Crew. Ouch.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 9:50 am
Just wait until he gets back with all the answers for a brighter future and a cookie in every coffee cup.

Comment by Red Rider Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 9:52 am
I don’t find Tony Arnold to be all that insightful

Comment by Molly Maguire Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 9:53 am
This fellow is a ‘One Trick Phony’. It’s all about money - grab it, grow it, and occasionally use it for high profile charities to confuse the peons, aka the other 98.6%. A very disagreeable personality.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 9:58 am
Rauner’s message could be compelling — if no one brings up the deliberate, misanthropic attacks he made on the people for nearly three years with squeeze the beast.

Somebody might mention that, I hope.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:00 am
As of this moment, Bruce Rauner has yet to sign a full year budget, funding his agencies, higher education, and paying bills accrued.

That’s 3 years.

No signed budgets.

None.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:02 am
If Rauner really wanted to “roll back the Madigan tax hike” he wouldn’t have quickly vetoed it so it could be overridden like the very next day. Pretty weak.

Comment by Grandson of Man Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:06 am
I do believe the Gov is truly focused on term limits - he’s leading by example.

Comment by We'll See Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:16 am
“Please vote for me, I failed you once and can fail you again!”

Comment by Precinct Captain Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:17 am
With no accomplishments to run on all he can hope for is to try and fool enough people to believe the same stuff as they did four years ago. Well that and a weak candidate to come out of the Democrat primary.

Comment by SOIL M Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:17 am
His counter argument to what would be different in a second term would have to be something along the lines of needing more seats and the obligatory “because Madigan” dropped here and there.

He’ll use the needing a second term thing to try to win more seats in both chambers. I don’t necessarily think that’ll work, but as OW says, he’s obsessed with messaging and I could see him going this route.

Comment by Fixer Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:17 am
I remember Governor Quinn’s rockstars making a similar argument.

No, the election will not be a choice. It will be a referendum on the incumbent. An incumbent who has made a number of large errors that cannot be forgiven because he cannot bring himself to admit he has made any mistakes.

He is in fact, announcing that he is doubling down on his failed policies, strategies and tactics.

Comment by Juvenal Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:22 am
It will be interesting to see if Mr. Rauner’s re-election campaign will include advocating for his highest priority T/A items, namely “right to work”, elimination of prevailing wage laws and the destruction of organized labor. Dishonest by deliberate omission, Mr. Rauner didn’t address these items in his election campaign as he would have been defeated had he done so. He has virtually no accomplishments to justify his re-election but the state is in worse condition by nearly every measure.

Comment by kitty Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:23 am
— a governor who will keep fighting for better schools —

Obviously he was not referring to any of Higher Ed. Or is that not considered to be a part of our States schools?

Comment by illini Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:25 am
We all want lower taxes, but not lower services.

Every reporter, every time, should just ask Rauner what he will cut in order to have lower taxes.

Comment by RNUG Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:26 am
“property tax relief,”

No meaningful property tax relief will come without an income tax hike. That’s the hard truth, Gov. Gaslight.

Comment by Nick Name Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:26 am
Nothing changes.
All message, and the same message, all the time.

Words–poll tested
Deeds–protect the brand, starve the beast

Events can interfere–afscme contract, court cases, the unexpected.

The cycle is just beginning, and i am already sick of two words:
“Fight”, as in, sue scherer will fight waste, and fight for you.
“Plan”, as in, JB or any of them have a plan to do X or Y, go to my website.

Comment by Langhorne Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:36 am
Rich is right .. All Rauner can say is the Democrat candidates are talking of even higher taxes. Will Illinois become more like California without the great weather or become something closer to New Hampshire? The state with the most poor taxes has high state income taxes. The wealthiest state has no state income tax.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article172973181.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-americas-highest-earning-state-20170913-story.html

Comment by Steve Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:39 am
Looking at Rauner’s approval rating, you might think he’ll get slaughtered during the next election. Remember that Pritzker is an establishment candidate. He’s like Hillary in a way. Anointed, but no enthusiasm. Rauner made mistakes but voters think Illinois still needs reforms.

Comment by Mr B. Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:50 am
And we are certain GovJunk will not spend any of the dough raised by the tax hike. Right?

Comment by Annonin' Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:53 am
===Remember that Pritzker is an establishment candidate.===

This is not remotely true. Pritzker has not been in politics, working his way up from Dog Catcher to … You may be using your terms incorrectly.

===He’s like Hillary in a way. Anointed, but no enthusiasm.==•

“Anointed”? The others are running as outsiders, not wanting to be “anointed”, some even calling the idea of endorsements “bad”

Are you watching the same race?

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:54 am
““It will be clear that the choice next November will be between a governor who…rollback the Madigan tax hike”

That ship has sailed. Ain’t nothing rolling back.

“or an opponent who will protect the status quo and keep taxes high”

A more effective message is raise taxes even higher.

Comment by City Zen Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:59 am
If Rauner had taken “yes” for an answer, the tax hike would have been temporary then if re-elected he could have actually taken credit for it being rolled back.

Comment by Michael Westen Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 11:21 am
You are all sooo certain Rauner will lose in November 2018. Remember this is Illinois where voters have no idea whats goin on. Rauner just might pull this off because of the front porch theory. If I cant see it from my front porch, it dont matter.

Comment by Generic Drone Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 11:22 am
Kirsten Kukowski…touted the governor’s record when it comes to school funding, criminal justice and energy.

School funding - vetoed it.
criminal justice - nibbled at the edges
energy - ComEd rate hike.

Comment by Jocko Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 11:56 am
@Mr B… “Rauner made mistakes” Now that’s a big understatement. I laugh at all these folks who think term limits is some kind of magic bullet that once implemented we will see a significant improvement in a few years. There ae 35 states that have no term limits what so ever and many of them are doing pretty well with their finances. It does make a good talking point because voters tend to like that idea. It won’t fix Illinois though. A good start would be to start paying down our debts, something the current Governor has been very reluctant and in no hurry at all to do.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 12:49 pm
“Crisis isn’t a pit. Crisis is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail and never get to try again. The fall breaks them.”

Will Littlefinger Bruce get to try again?

Comment by IllinoisBoi Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 2:16 pm
Once again; what will the Democrats say? Rauner is so ineffective that we blocked all his reforms and jacked your taxes despite his veto? Good luck.

Comment by Robert the 1st Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 2:28 pm
My status quo over your status quo.

Comment by walker Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 3:20 pm
==what will the Democrats say?==

We were the adults in the room and we stopped the bleeding from the wounds the Governor inflicted.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 3:29 pm
What are the Dem candidates going to do to fix property taxes? What are the reforms Dems want to implement to fix our broken system, besides not letting Madigan practice law? What will make Dem candidates more successful than Rauner on implementing anything? What will Dem candidates do to revitalize Central and southern Illinois?
Bruce is using dog whistle Chicago corruption, reform government, Madigan etc.
Until a Dem candidate can show why their plan will work and is better Bruce is still ahead.
Also to be the champ you have to beat the champ. Points rarely go the challengers way in a title fight.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 3:42 pm
I wouldn’t underestimate him. There was little to no outrage when he held us all hostage–he picked us carefully to avoid outrage. He’ll blame the tax hike on Madigan and the only success he’s had is in painting Madigan as the bad guy. I don’t want him for a second longer as our governor, but I think he may get his second term anyway.

Comment by CCP Hostage Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 3:53 pm
In politics, being responsible or being “the adults in the room” doesn’t score you many points. How else could IL get where we are? Rauner gets to use the Democrats’ own strategy against them.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 4:19 pm
Rauner’s re-election message will be that the Dem’s thwarted his reforms and over-rode his veto, raising taxes - he under-estimated their power, but fought the good fight against the Machine during his first term, but unfortunately could not overcome their support of “the status quo”. If you vote out enough D’s and replace them with R’s, however, the Governor will be able to eliminate all of the fraud and waste the Dem’s stopped him from eliminating during his first term. May work.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 4:32 pm
=== What will Democrats say? ===

Is Illinois heading in the right direction, or is it off track?

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 4:49 pm
Who’s overriding vetoes and blocking reforms? Your question will likely be Rauner’s new campaign slogan.

Comment by Robert the 1st Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 5:13 pm
===Your question will likely be Rauner’s new campaign slogan.===

No.

The real campaign blowback Rauner will get hammered and shook with a sitting 63% disapproval is…

“What would be different in a second term”

And listing failure after failure… after miserable failure.

As… governors own.

They always do.

Otherwise… Rauner wouldn’t be polling below 40% approval… and over 60% disapproval.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 5:17 pm
=No.=

I’m willing to bet $1000 that I’m right on at least one of Rauner’s 2018 catch phrases OW. Or at least a gift card to Boones’ Saloon. Not saying it’s honest, fair or right. But the Democrats gave Rauner one heck of an edge when they override him for the income tax. He needed it too, but they let him have the talking point he opposed it.

Comment by Robert the 1st Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 9:57 pm
===I’m willing to bet…===

No.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:00 pm
LOL. Fine, no bet then. I’ll buy you a drink still.

Comment by Robert the 1st Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:08 pm
=== I’ll buy you a drink still===

… and I… would reciprocate.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 10:29 pm