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News Roundup: Rauner Suffers Embarrassing Defeat  

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Crain’s Chicago: “What, exactly, was the point of all this, Governor?”

Newspapers and opinion writers across the state laid out the facts clearly – Bruce Rauner suffered a humiliating defeat when members of his own party passed a budget over his objection, then overrode his reckless veto. Bruce Rauner still has not signed a full-budget as Governor of Illinois. Worse, he showed himself as a reckless executive, willing to sacrifice the state’s future for his own political gain. He drove the state to the brink of financial ruin, then vetoed a bipartisan budget without any plan or consideration for the consequences of his actions. Two-and-a-half years into his term, Bruce Rauner has not shown he is capable of governing.

The reviews of Bruce Rauner’s embarrassing loss are in:

Crain’s Chicago Editorial Board Headline: “What, exactly, was the point of all this, Governor?”

Crain’s Chicago Editorial Board: “Rauner presided over all of this—and, at key moments in the spectacle, could have prevented it. Not a good look for a man who ran as a business-minded pragmatist, a dealmaker who would put the needs of regular Illinoisans first and reject petty partisan politics.”

Fmr. Governor Jim Edgar: “He’s the governor, and he’s the one responsible…The damage that has been done in the last two years is extensive, and it’s going to cost to get that resolved.”

Steve Vogel, The Pantagraph: “Yet the ugly fact is that Illinois is in much worse shape today than 29 months ago when Rauner became governor, his first elected office.

Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board: “Gov. Bruce Rauner has little to nothing to show for his first two years in office. A backlog of unpaid bills has run up to $14.7 billion, public universities are teetering on the edge of losing accreditation, and a state budget finally became law on Thursday — it’s about time — but only after the Legislature overrode the governor’s ill-considered veto.”

Quad City Times Editorial Board: “Rauner’s veto earlier this week was a mistake, even more so now that several General Assembly Republicans aided in its override.”

Crain’s Chicago Editorial Board: “In the end, Rauner’s stance on the budget compromise revealed how political this supposed ‘non-politician’ has actually become…The governor vetoed the budget legislation when it came to his desk. He did this knowing the chances were very, very good that his veto would be overridden.”

John Kass, Chicago Tribune: “And Rauner lost, big time.”

Quad City Times Editorial Board: “And by and large, Rauner didn’t get much of what he wanted, a significant political defeat after more than two years.”

New York Times: “It was a defeat for Mr. Rauner, a former private-equity executive who had never held political office before he promised to ‘shake up Springfield’ and was elected governor in 2014.”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Board: “Ending the budget stalemate also represents a loss for Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s agenda to restrict public-sector unions. It’s clear that Republicans were the ones who blinked, with 10 GOP House members joining 61 Democrats voting to override Rauner’s veto.”

New York Times: “Now he is the second Midwestern governor in recent weeks, along with Sam Brownback of Kansas, to face an override supported by some in his own party.”

Christopher Mooney, Director at The University of Illinois: “It’s hard to really point to a lot of strong accomplishments…Is it enough to say, ‘I worked hard for you. I couldn’t get it done, but keep me and I’ll keep working at it?’ Or does he look like an ineffectual bumbler that’s driven the state into the toilet?”

Greg Hinz, Crain’s Chicago: “His veto of an income tax increase and state budget was overridden by the General Assembly, with 11 members of his own party defecting to repudiate him. The state he leads still teeters on the edge of junk-bond status. Its economy lags those of the region and the nation. He’s seemingly too scared to even say the name of the president of the United States, and is about to face re-election with little or nothing in the way of real accomplishments to cite.”