One Week Later, Rauner Admin Offers Excuse for Ignoring 2016 Quincy Report

Rauner Primary Opponent Launches Attack Ads on Gov’s Mishandling of Quincy Vets Home

Governor Bruce Rauner’s mishandling of the Legionnaires’ outbreak at Quincy is becoming more problematic by the day. Rauner’s primary opponent, State Representative Jeanne Ives, launched a tough attack ad questioning Rauner’s assertion he “would not do anything different” after 13 deaths at the state-run facility. And one week after dodging a legislative committee hearing on the issue, Governor Bruce Rauner’s head of Veterans’ Affairs offered excuses why a 2016 report calling for new piping at Quincy was ignored. Director Erica Jeffries told WAND:
“‘It (the report) came out in the summer of 2016 which is about seven months after the CDC guidelines came out.  We thought it was important to take the recommendations of the foremost experts on Legionnaires’ disease and so that’s the plan we implemented,’ she said.”
Eighteen months later and after several more people became sick, Jeffries requested a pipe replacement plan as an “emergency” project even though, she wrote, “it was not specifically recommended by the CDC.”
Was it a mistake to ignore the engineers’ 2016 suggestions?
“While Democrats and Republicans agree the Legionnaires’ outbreak at Quincy was mishandled, Bruce Rauner is still in denial,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Thirteen veterans died and Rauner and his administration continue claiming they would not do anything different. Rauner failed the veterans at Quincy, and now he fails the public by refusing to be honest with the people.”

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