Gov. Bruce Rauner: “I’m not in charge”

At a hotel luncheon on December 4, Gov. Bruce Rauner of Illinois told event guests and the media that despite being governor of Illinois, he’s “not in charge” of the state. Instead, he said, House Speaker Mike Madigan has been calling all the shots.

While Rauner claims he’s not in charge, we beg to differ. He’s been the state’s chief executive for nearly three years and “in charge” of a lot of damage. Here are just a handful of examples. If Rauner wasn’t in charge of these, who was?

• Early in his term of office, Gov. Bruce Rauner rushed to privatize state employee and retiree health benefits administration out-of-state, creating a stew of problems and wasting millions of dollars.
• For two years Rauner refused to compromise on a state budget, allowing a backlog of bills to surpass $16 billion and overseeing the decimation of public higher education and social services for the most needy.
• The budget he introduced was more than $3 billion out of balance.
• Rauner was certainly in charge of hiring a team of “all stars” who he then fired and replaced; only to fire and replace a new team shortly thereafter because they issued statements that were not his own.
• Despite the willingness of more than 40,000 state employees to bargain in good faith and reach a compromise that is beneficial to both workers and Illinois families, Rauner walked out of state contract negotiations and refused to come back to the table.
• Rauner has vetoed a slew of important legislation, including protections for students from predatory lending and protections for women seeking equal pay for equal work.
• It was Rauner—wasn’t it?—who created a costly $60 billion Medicaid managed care overhaul with NO legislative or public oversight.