Bruce Rauner brings back Illinois? With Bill Daley– Business as usual
By Elaine Earles
Chicago Defender Reporter
Let’s just say that Rauner’s reign is going to be interesting. According to the Chicago Tribune’s over the top endearing acknowledgement of Rauner’s gubernatorial triumphant, “Illinois voters demanded a new direction” and “this blue state rose up angry.” Well they failed to mentioned that they woke up to discover that 3000 Chicago election judges were misdirected to the wrong polling site by a bogus robocall falsely informing them that they had to report for training, or they would not be able to serve on Election Day. This one act compromised the opportunity for many early voters to exercise their right to vote. Who does that?
The Tribune went on to say “Businessman Bruce Rauner said he would shake up Springfield, and voters said: Bring on the earthquake . . .” Are they serious? The count was close and more like a slight tap especially when you consider those voters who were not able to vote because of the robocall that shutdown their polling place. It’s something to think about. I mean who intentionally creates chaos to prevent voters from casting their ballot?
Then the Tribune states, “We trust that the power structure—House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton, the lobbyists and the state employee union bosses—will not be able to ignore Rauner.” The question is what on earth was the writer thinking? Do they really believe that union bosses run the state? The Tribune shut down their unions a long time ago.
Next they said, “Too many people in Springfield don’t trust employers enough to give them the tools to grow and prosper so people can work and, yes, generate revenue to pay for the government we need.”
My question is why would anyone who worked at the Tribune when Sam Zell was at the helm still have faith in capitalism? But the statement that really got me was, “Rauner, he gets it. Springfield, get ready to rock and roll.”
I’m telling you if I didn’t know better I’d think that the Tribune had written a satire but no, they were in fact serious. So I had to think just how is Rauner going to pull off his remix of Obama’s campaign driven by Hope and Change disguised as a Compassionate and Competitive Illinois to restore the state we love? Of course we all want to know how Rauner, the corporate raider is going to do anything with compassion. So who will he choose as his advisors and consultants?
Imagine my shock when he announced that Bill Daley, younger brother of Mayor Richard Daley who spent a year in Washington with Obama as his Chief of Staff and as Secretary of Commerce with the Clinton’s administration from 1997-2000.
Interesting uh? Bill Daley is more of the Rauner type than not. His private sector positions includes membership on the Executive Committee of JP Morgan Chase & co., and now works as a managing partner for Argentiere Fund LP, a Swiss-based hedge fund “whose principal place of business,” according to a recent Tribune article, “was a post office box in the Cayman Islands.”
But there Bill Daley was, standing front and center as part of the transition team Rauner introduced at yesterday’s press conference. It makes one wonder because he was in the race for Governor until he dropped out September 16, 1013. So did he and Rauner plan this all a long? They share much in common. It’s possible. They could have agreed that Rauner had a bit more personality and a better chance to win, just like the reality TV show Survivor, where would be competitors team up and make a deal to guarantee their survival. I’m just saying real life is stranger than fiction. The point is, Rauner’s just another politician full of hot air when it comes to change. He tooted, ‘out with corrupt politics and in with fresh new blood’ but if Daley is any indication of the new then we have a problem understanding just how Rauner defines new. Bill Daley is as about as much of an outsider to Chicago and Illinois politics as his brother Mayor Daley. He’s been an insider all of his life.
So now is the time to speak the truth. Rauner is not the nobody from nowhere as depicted in his campaign commercials as opposed to a consummate insider whose firm once made millions managing state pensions funds during Governor Rod Blagojevich’s administration. Just connect the dots.
The transition team is a sign of where Governor Rauner wants to lead this state. So if you look at the Reverend James Meeks a big voucher supporter who Rauner has on the team makes it clear that he he intends to make good on his pledge to privatize public education.
It’s clear that Rauner and Meeks have plans to grow a strong economy by providing higher salaries for charter school administrators, and lower pay and benefits for teachers. It means that public schools will get the short end of the stick. And this they will do without a middle class.
The appointment of Bill Daley tells us that it’s business as usual in the state of Illinois. You can’t get any more transparent than that.
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