Governor “The Buck Stops Elsewhere” Rauner Called Out For His Lack Of Accountability

Two Years In And Rauner Refuses To Admit He May Have Something To Do With The Budget Mess 

Illinois is 694 days into a budget crisis and Bruce Rauner spent last night and this morning on a media blitz to falsely claim he, sitting Governor Bruce Rauner, had no part the state’s failure to pass a budget. On WTAX with Dave Dahl, Rauner was asked TWICE what responsibility he bore for the state’s troubles – and failed to take any responsibility.

Harry Truman he is not.

Transcript via CapitolFax:

     DAVE DAHL: You talk about finger-pointing. When you were a candidate, you said, “I’m going to take the arrows.” And you’ve been governor now for more than two years, I’m not sure I can identify an arrow that you’ve taken, as opposed to: it’s the unions, it’s the speaker, it’s the comptroller, it’s the Democrats. Where am I wrong on that?

    GOV. RAUNER: Well, you know what I’ve been governor, Dave, for two years. It’s really dog years, it’s like fourteen years, but it’s two years. And we’ve changed great things on issues that we can control. We’ve brought down spending in government, we’ve cut spending, we’ve got new contracts with government unions — 18 new union contracts that are innovative and save taxpayers’ money. We’ve transformed the technology use inside our government. We’ve transformed criminal justice. We formed Intersect Illinois and recruited thousands of new jobs here to Illinois. We’ve done great things.

    But where Speaker Madigan’s majority can block us, they’ve blocked us at every step. Their answer is not what’s good for the people of Illinois, it’s whatever can block the governor. And that’s what the speaker has done — and his allies. They blocked the Fair Foundation for here in Springfield to fix up the fairgrounds. They blocked the Thompson Center sale up in Chicago. They blocked the I-55 managed lane on the highway. They blocked a balanced budget. They blocked workers’ comp reform.

    They don’t want to change the system because they created it over the last 35 years. They don’t want to admit that the system is broken. They don’t want to change it. They and their buddies in the political class are making a lot of money in the current system, but your average family — and I just saw that our middle class is down dramatically over the last 30 years in Illinois, middle class down dramatically in Illinois because the political class and Speaker Madigan are doing well and the working families aren’t.

    That’s why we’ve got to change and we’ve got to stay strong on it.

    DAHL: In two plus years, can you name a time where, “You know what, I messed up,” or “the buck stops with the governor,” or “that’s on me” or “I took an arrow?”

    RAUNER: Boy, well in terms of taking arrows, I take arrows every day. We’ve got, all of us have a duty to change the system and provide a better future for the people of Illinois. That’s why we’re in office. And this should be public service. This should not be a way for elected officials to make money, accumulate power from their position.

    I’m a volunteer, Dave, and I believe in term limits. I’m fighting for term limits. I would term limit myself at two terms no matter what else happens. And I’m not taking any pay, I’m not taking any pension. People should be in office for public service. And as part of public service what we should do every day is to think about: what’s the right answer for our children and our grandchildren? What’s the best answer for Clifford and his classmates in school? What’s the best answer for the young people of Illinois?

    And what’s not the right answer is more deficit spending. What’s not the right answer is more debt. And it’s immoral that over the last 35 years under Speaker Madigan’s control we’ve got 180 billion dollars of debt. That is immoral. That is not fair to our kids — my kids, your kids, Dave — and we’ve got to change the system. And those folks who say: well let’s just raise taxes, like the Senate did yesterday, and things will be okay, we’ll get a balanced budget. You know what? The budget will be out of balance within a year or two, and we will have pushed more jobs out, we will have raised the cost of living on the families of Illinois, and we will continue our broken system. We cannot allow that to happen.

“Today Bruce Rauner confirmed that while he’s been sitting in the Governors chair for two years, he has not acted like one,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Governors pass budgets, stand up for their citizens, and take responsibility for their own failures and Bruce Rauner has not performed any of those tasks. Governors lead, and Bruce Rauner’s failure to do so is causing the state to slide backwards. Illinois families deserve accountability.”

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