Jeanne Ives argues there’s really only one conclusion voters can derive from all of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s genuflecting.
“The fact that Gov. Rauner is attempting to assign fault, means that his first term was a failure,” Ives, the Wheaton state representative running against Rauner in the GOP primary, said in a recent press release. “It was a failure because he betrayed campaign promises and conservative values at nearly every decision point.”
In the wake of Rauner recently lamenting he hasn’t always felt in complete control of the state during his first term, Ives took great exception with Rauner recently by outlining his “Top 10 victories.”
Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner
In the release, Ives argued “the truth is that Bruce Rauner did things not even Democrats would do when Pat Quinn was governor and they had supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly.”
With that, the 52-year U.S. Military Academy graduate and mother of five offered, in her own words, “Benedict Rauner's Top 10 Betrayals in 2017” in the release.
1. Folding to House Speaker Madigan (D-Chicago). From state Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard), House Republican floor leader: "I personally observed him badly botch negotiations with the General Assembly on a variety of subjects, finally getting to the point where Gov. Rauner couldn’t even be in the same room as House Speaker Mike Madigan. Madigan is the one guy who Rauner promised to stand up to, but he can’t or won’t even enter the arena for that fight."
2. HB40. From the man who said he had ‘no social agenda,’ Rauner told Illinois families he would veto the legislation. He committed to the GOP legislative caucuses that he would veto the legislation. Instead he became the first governor in U.S. history to initiate taxpayer funding for abortion on demand, all nine months of pregnancy. This creates a new, open-ended entitlement at a time when Illinois has $16 billion in unpaid bills to vendors and social service providers.
3. Sanctuary state. "Benedict Rauner" joined leftist governors like California's Jerry Brown in designating Illinois a "sanctuary state," the effect of which is inhibiting the cooperation between local, state and federal law enforcement.
4. Trans birth certificates. From the man who said he had "no social agenda," Rauner signed legislation to allow individuals to change the sex listed on their birth certificate.
5. Public sector utility bailout. Rauner negotiated a $2.35 billion bailout of a company that makes over $2 billion in profit a year – that doesn't make sense. Since Illinois produces 40 percent more electricity than we consume, our residents are subsidizing cheaper power to residents in other states.
6. Bailout of Chicago Public Schools pensions. "Benedict Rauner's" $100K wine club buddy (Chicago Mayor) Rahm (Emanuel) said of Rauner's bailout: "Chicago Public Schools got everything he wanted and more."
7. Rauner promised the state income tax would be down to 3 percent by the end of his first term. Instead, it's back up to Pat Quinn levels at 4.95 percent. Rauner saw 15 of his bought-and-paid for House Republicans vote with Madigan to pass the 32 percent increase while he sat impotently by.
8. Same old politics. Rauner won't answer questions about the dismissal of his former general counsel and a memo surfaced suggesting that Rauner was intent on using state resources for political purposes, one of the bases that sent two former governors to federal prison.
9. No action on the state’s two largest issues – pensions and property taxes. In a 2014 campaign ad, Rauner blasted Quinn for property tax rates that were the second highest. Today, according to the Wall Street Journal, property taxes in Cook County and Chicago’s collar counties are the highest in the country outside of California and the Northeast.
10. "I am not in charge." Rauner ended the year with a Freudian slip, admitting that he has ceded control of Illinois to Madigan and Chicago Democrats.
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