I am beginning to lose my already-weak enthusiasm for Bruce Rauner (candidate for governor). He may be a sharp, shrewd, successful businessman, but I think he's stumped on what to do with/for Illinois.
The guy is loaded with money.
And brains.
And talent.
But, Illinois is a mess.
Last week, he held a press conference with some chicks.... I mean chickens.... to lay-out some of his vision for Illinois's financial situation.
It was a weak presentation. Staged for show.... rather than substance.
Read the reactions below from a variety of media/news sources.
Rauner gets ripped.
Rauner gets reamed.
Rauner gets ridiculed.
Out for now....
Matt
* Paul Merrion: Rauner offers few specifics to challenge Quinn on Illinois budget: “He says he has a plan, and this isn’t a plan. It’s not even an introduction to a plan,” says former GOP state Rep. Jim Nowlan, a retired professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs. “It’s a mistake because it’s going to be ridiculed.”
* Doug Finke: Rauner budget is definitely, um, something - Well, people demanded budget information from Bruce Rauner, and last week he finally came out with something. Just what it was depends on your perspective.
* Kurt Erickson: One of his ideas is to sell off most of the state’s fleet of airplanes. He says we shouldn’t be paying thousands of dollars to fly people when they can drive between Springfield and Chicago for $65 one way. That figure seemed odd. According to our calculations, the state employee mileage reimbursement for driving between the Capitol and the main state office building in Chicago is about $114 one way. Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf said the figure was based on a lower mileage reimbursement rate used by members of the General Assembly. That’s fine, but that doesn’t account for the various attorneys, legislative liaisons, agency directors and others who must trek between the two cities to do the state’s business.
* Mark Brown: Rauner should be red-faced over meager reform ‘Blueprint’: I found it fairly dumbfounding on Thursday when Rauner, with three caged chickens at his side, completely laid an egg with his first attempt to show there’s some substance behind the slick campaign that won the Republican primary.
* Carol Marin: Bruce Rauner’s game of chicken: You don’t found and grow a private equity enterprise like GTCR. — the “R” stood for Rauner — without a granular understanding of how to make money in the most sophisticated ways possible. And so it is amazing — if not disheartening — to read the mere pamphlet that the Rauner campaign took more than a year to produce. It’s a brochure, not a plan. And specifics? It’s just the same old campaign trope.
* Matt Dietrich: Rauner’s budget plan is mighty thin gruel: But for a candidate who has promised innovation that will “shake up Springfield,” this was beyond disappointing.
* SJ-R editorial: Rauner’s blueprint falls a few billion short: In the end, what Rauner presented is 11 pages of populist talking points. Quinn has taken heat for floating plenty of populist ideas of his own through the years, but he also has had to deal with very real, very difficult issues during his time as governor. Fiscally conservative Rauner should take no pride in putting forth such superficial ideas.
* WSIL: Bruce Rauner Unveils Unspecific Reform Plans: “It’s pretty clear that he’s got to say more. If he’s not going to raise taxes, then I think he owes the people of Illinois some specifics about what he wants to cut. It’s not going to be pleasant, nobody’s going to like it, but it’s time people be told the truth,” says David Yepsen with the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.
* WICS: Democrats and Republicans React to Rauner Budget Plan: “How does he plan to make up for the loss of $7 billion of revenue when the income tax expires at the end of the year?” [former Republican State Senator Larry Bomke] said.
* NBC5: Most amusingly, a Twitter parody account — dubbed The Rauner Chicken — has surfaced to mock Rauner’s poultry gimmick and all squawking thereof.
* Chuck Sweeny: Bruce Rauner’s 10-point plan: One thing Illinois has in abundance is fairy dust, enough to supply all the Disney theme parks.