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Rauner attended Quincy campaign event after Quincy veterans’ home presser

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* Most media coverage of Gov. Rauner’s hastily arranged Quincy press conference yesterday was pretty favorable. Quincy Herald-Whig…

Two months after pledging to help find money for upgrades at the Illinois Veterans Home, Gov. Bruce Rauner was back Thursday, calling for construction of a new state-of-the-art facility on the Quincy campus.

“We want to make this the best veterans home in America,” Rauner said. “All I care about is that our veterans are well cared for.”

The state posted a request for proposals for a master planning contract Thursday. This fall, officials hope to choose a design and know how much it will cost to build “a world-class facility.”

Several Veterans Home residents of the home applauded Rauner’s announcement and were pleased to hear that the home, which was founded in 1886, will continue to serve the needs of veterans.

* SJ-R…

Gov. Bruce Rauner is looking into buying a new home for veterans in Quincy, as well as adding a new building to the existing veterans’ home campus. […]

“We’ve gotta move. We can’t let any more risk occur here,” he said. “These Legionella bacteria, they’re tough to eradicate but we will never give up.”

Rauner said the state is looking at buying a nursing home a few blocks from the current one in Quincy that has been vacant for a year.

* AP…

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration says it will hire architectural and design teams by summer to redevelop the Quincy veterans’ home campus hit by a Legionnaires’ disease crisis.

Michael Hoffman is Rauner’s senior adviser with oversight of the Quincy situation. He told a news conference in Quincy Thursday that the long-term goal is to build state-of-the-art living quarters for Quincy residents to reduce the chance of Legionella bacteria.

* WGEM TV…

As for the Sycamore facility proposal, Senator Jil Tracy expressed concerns about using the facility after a hearing in Chicago last week. However, on Thursday, she said trusts experts who would make upgrades and make sure veterans are protected. The old Sycamore facility is listed at just under $800,000, according to Hoffman, who said the state has the money now to buy the facility, but would need additional appropriations for modular housing that could also been needed for veterans to live in during future construction.

* But…

Pressed on when exactly the administration would attach a price tag to what Rauner envisions, Hoffman said, “We’re not going to give a number at this time. But as soon as we have a plan, as soon as we have a reliable number, we will share that with the public, the General Assembly, and certainly pursue the federal option, as well.”

* Purely by coincidence, I’m sure…

QUINCY — Adams County Republicans convened a political pep rally Thursday night in Quincy and brought in some heavy hitters to lead the cheering.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft were among the featured speakers at the annual Lincoln-Reagan Day dinner at the Town and Country Inn and Suites. […]

Rauner, who spoke during the social hour before hurrying to another speaking engagement at a similar Lincoln-Reagan Day event in Pike County, acknowledged he will be facing a big battle himself to get re-elected.

The press conference was thrown together, but the political event had been on the governor’s schedule for quite some time. Click here.

…Adding… What may have happened here is that Rauner realized he had to schedule something at the veterans’ home if he was going to be in town for a campaign event or he’d look horrible.

* Pritzker campaign…

Yesterday, Bruce Rauner said “nothing has taken long” about his fatal mismanagement of the Quincy Veterans’ Home that took 13 lives, but a public health expert disagrees.

From WBEZ: ‘Beginning Of An Epidemic’: Email Shows State Waited 6 Days To Publicize Legionnaires’ Outbreak:

One of the nation’s top infectious disease experts said it’s “mind boggling” that the state would wait six days to notify the public about the initial outbreak at the Illinois Veterans Home.

“I think it’s really inexcusable,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Center for Health Security in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. “It takes you six days from seeing an epidemic to tell people that you’re seeing an epidemic? That’s six days that you’ve allowed that disease to spread in a manner that probably wouldn’t have happened if you would have known earlier because people would have been taking action. People would have been asking questions.

“If you know there is an epidemic, you need to tell people immediately,” Adalja said.

“Bruce Rauner and his administration intentionally withheld information that could have saved lives in Quincy and let this crisis spiral out of control for years,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This failed governor forced staff and residents to rely on media reports for information, and his continued refusal to take responsibility for his fatal mismanagement is an unconscionable moral failing.”

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 9:47 am

Comments

–“We’ve gotta move. We can’t let any more risk occur here,” he said.–

What an epiphany he must have had, discovering the obvious after all this time.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 9:55 am
I get the sense Bruce still doesn’t know what the state does or is supposed to do or could do.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 9:59 am
Isn’t there a half built veterans home some place? Why not finish that building?

Comment by Huh? Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 10:04 am
Huh.
Yes. It’s in Chicago. You know how much Bruce loves Chicago.

Rauner stopped the project, which already had its own problem.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/brown-illinois-veterans-home-delays-construction-flaws-budget-impasse/

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 10:09 am
Bruce is 100% focused on campaigning, in his own words. This is the sole reason anything is happening in Quincy. He had three years to address the issue while governing and chose not to.

Comment by KL Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 10:20 am
==Yes. It’s in Chicago. You know how much Bruce loves Chicago.==

And to be fair, moving from Quincy to Chicago might be quite an ordeal for elderly guys needing pretty constant medical care.

Comment by Arsenal Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 10:20 am
This isn’t sticking as much as it should, the way NRI did to Quinn and cost him the election. The Dems are blowing it.

Comment by Politix Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 10:31 am
Nah it’s not political. maybe he can blame the Veteran’s home on Ives and Madigan in his final commercial.
He better hope something gets done and he gets some Dems on his side on this issue before November. If not, those commercials will be brutal.

Comment by DuPage Bard Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 10:31 am
===This isn’t sticking as much as it should… The Dems are blowing it===

It’s the primary. If anyone’s blowing it it’s Ives.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 10:32 am
Thought GovJunk ssaid he was goin’ to paly Jarts with the Vet’s Home residents after his presser?
Guess we misheard
BTW National Review not mention Quincy Vet Deaths when endorsin’ CommandIves.

Comment by Annonin' Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 10:38 am
Did he really go to Pike County or was that just a dodge so he could skip out of Quincy without getting any more questions about the Veteran’s Home?

I’m skeptical mainly because if Rauner doesn’t already have Pike County and it’s 3,000 GOP votes locked up, he’s in bigger trouble than I thought. And if he doesn’t know that most of the 3000 Pike County Republicans are going to vote for Ives regardless of this visit, then he’s not as bright as I thought.

Pike County? A week out and he’s in Pike County?

Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 10:46 am
Ah yeah… good point, Rich.

Comment by Politix Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 11:01 am
Rauner is like a hamster in an exercise wheel: lots of frantic running, the appearance of going somewhere (maybe only in his own mind), but still in that darned cage at the end of the day.

Comment by Archiesmom Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 11:16 am
Really happy that some action words are finally out there for the veterans and their families.

Comment by Barrington Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 1:19 pm
“as soon as we have a plan, as soon as we have a reliable number, we will share that with the public”

You mean to tell me that for 3 years Rauner did nothing to solve the problem at Quincy VA Home? Good God… you could have at least formulated a plan to fix the problem 3 years ago.

Comment by Mama Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 4:29 pm
“Adams County Republicans convened a political pep rally Thursday night in Quincy and brought in some heavy hitters to lead the cheering.”

Has Adams Co. not figured yet that the governor is not going to help them?

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Mar 16, 18 @ 4:33 pm