Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan certainly claims that this is the case, and though Rauner's office has already issued a rebuttal, it isn't very convincing.
Rauner funded a challenger to Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan, Jason Gonzales. Gonzalez lost handily.
Rauner funded an incumbent democrat, Rep. Ken Dunkin, who had broken ranks with the democratic leadership and lost to his democratic opponent, Juliana Stratton.
Rauner funded Bryce Banton, an opponent to an incumbent Republican, Sen. Bruce McCann, who has broken ranks with Rauner to support a bill that would require binding arbitration in the event state employee unions can't reach agreements with management. McCann won.
Rauner didn't lose everywhere. In an open House district, Rauner's favored candidate, Brad Halbrook, defeated Jim Acklin, who had been backed by former Republican Governor (and Rauner critic), Jim Edgar.
Informed comments adding to this report (or subtracting) are particularly welcome . . .
All of this, despite his strong stance on education.
ReplyDelete"The one thing I won’t back down on – the one thing that’s non-negotiable for me – is increasing education funding."
-Bruce Rauner 2016
http://wqad.com/2016/02/17/what-governor-bruce-rauner-said-in-his-illinois-budget-address/
I can't believe it.
Of course, he wants to increase funding - once research universities are eliminated and colleges become trade schools allied to the employment needs of the State - as Scott Walker envisages the Wisconsin system - then money will be available to train future "job creators." Don't think that he will not attach his "turnaround agenda" to the 2017 budget as he has done for this one. So don't expect any funding unless universities reflect Rauner's business minded agenda.
ReplyDelete