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* Peoria Journal Star editorial…
On May 1, our president reportedly surpassed the 3,000th falsehood of his term in office thus far, fewer than 470 days in at a rate of 6.5 lies per day — though he’s picked up the pace over the last couple months — according to the Washington Post’s Fact Checker squad.
As Bloomberg put it, “How did we go from a president who could not tell a lie to politicians who cannot tell the truth?” We’ve fallen a long way in almost 230 years.
Evidently Illinois’ governor would not be outdone. Last week Bruce Rauner told something of a whopper at an event in Chicago regarding the status of the former Mitsubishi plant in Normal, according to reporting in Springfield’s State Journal-Register.
“We tried to get another … car manufacturer to take over the plant” following the Japanese automaker’s departure in 2016, Rauner said. “No one would come in. No one would even take the plant if we gave it to them, because our regulations are so hostile to business and our taxes are so high.”
Just one catch, of course: In fact the central Illinois plant was purchased by Rivian Automotive, an electric car manufacturer, early last year. The Rauner administration touted that when it happened. Rivian potentially could receive nearly $50 million in state tax credits, thanks to a deal negotiated by Rauner’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Rauner visited the place a few months later.
To be sure, vehicles aren’t rolling off the Rivian assembly line yet. The company employs a fraction of the workers Mitsubishi did in its heyday here. Nonetheless, the governor’s information was clearly wrong. It wasn’t the first time. He continues to dance around it. When the facts don’t fit the narrative — Illinois is broken, only I can fix it, in this case — you make something up. […]
Once upon a time in this country, honesty was a virtue, and character destiny. This stops when voters stop rewarding it. Meantime, what are we teaching our children?
* DGA…
“Another week and instead of leadership, we get more lies from this failed Governor,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “The fact is that Bruce Rauner’s entire election campaign is built upon lies and deflections to explain away three years of failed leadership.”
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, May 18, 18 @ 10:31 am
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They aren’t lyin’ about Rauner’s lies. Just sayin’.
Comment by PublicServant Friday, May 18, 18 @ 10:36 am
This is the lie the paper wanted to focus on for their rebuke. Rauner has a long list of “whoppers.” These will continue until he’s out of office.
Comment by Norseman Friday, May 18, 18 @ 10:36 am
The momentum of blow back from Rauner’s constant pandering to the under-educated and uninformed is picking up nicely. You can only whine, lie and fail for so long before it catches up with you.
Comment by El Conquistador Friday, May 18, 18 @ 10:41 am
= You can only whine, lie and fail for so long before it catches up with you. =
Yet Trump’s approval rating has actually crept upward recently…
Comment by cover Friday, May 18, 18 @ 10:43 am
I sometimes wonder what came first, the wealthy getting away with lies or liars attracting wealth?
Comment by Dome Gnome Friday, May 18, 18 @ 10:44 am
I think this will be the week when you look back and see downstate Illinois turned on Rauner, you can trash Illinois in general but you can’t go into specifics. Unless it’s Chicago of course, then you can veto legislation and end up giving them more money.
Comment by Almost the Weekend Friday, May 18, 18 @ 10:45 am
Nice that it is finally starting to get acknowledged if only a trickle.
Comment by JS Mill Friday, May 18, 18 @ 10:45 am
El Conquistador - exactly right. Money and bloviated ego trump basic morality. PJS cites Trump “…..average 6.5 lies per day..” That’s the ones that are recorded. I hope we see a long overdue taking Rauner to task for his lies and deceptions. Reporters need to be at least half as steamed as those who read their stuff.
Comment by Anonymous Friday, May 18, 18 @ 10:48 am
Rauner believes in the George Costanza ethos….It’s not a LIE if YOU believe it.
Comment by Big Joe Friday, May 18, 18 @ 10:55 am
“No one would come in. No one would even take the plant if we gave it to them, because our regulations are so hostile to business and our taxes are so high.”
Apparently, that is true.
Giving it to them for free was too high of a price.
The State had to PAY them to take the building in the form of $50 million in tax credits.
Comment by Occam Friday, May 18, 18 @ 10:57 am
I’ve always believed that character comes first and politics come second. That seems to be overlooked a lot in today’s political discourse.
Rauner (and Trump) lie because they believe they can do so without consequence.
Comment by Pundent Friday, May 18, 18 @ 10:58 am
“The State had to PAY them to take the building in the form of $50 million in tax credits.”
Wisconsin has to pay Foxconn $3 billion in incentives, for an initial 3,000 jobs and the prospect only of 13,000 jobs. And that’s supposedly a pro-business state. Oklahoma, Kansas and Louisiana had to pay multibillion-dollar corporate interests via tax cuts, and it backfired.
Middle America just gave multibillion-dollar corporations a massive tax cut. I don’t know about others, but my cable and phone bills have gone up. Now I’m notified that I’m getting ready to be switched to a lower speed because of excessive high-speed data usage when the usage has been the same. ??? Where’s my trickle-down savings?
Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, May 18, 18 @ 11:35 am
How can you do business with a guy who lies all the time? Are you going to go out on a limb for a guy simply cannot be trusted? Look at Radogno.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, May 18, 18 @ 1:50 pm
I, too, believe the public is best served by public officials who speak accurately in public gatherings. But this notion that misstatements and misrepresentations is something new in American life is utterly delusional. They’ve always, lied, they lie now and they’ll lie tomorrow. To pretend otherwise is simply partisan fantasy.
Comment by jim Friday, May 18, 18 @ 2:01 pm