Prairie State Purge Continues: Rauner’s on his Third Chief of Staff in Three Months

Rauner Fires New-Old Chief of Staff; Under Her Tenure, Rauner Vetoed School Funding

 Another Friday staff turnover story for Governor Bruce Rauner. This time, Rauner announced the departure of new-old Chief of Staff Kristina Rasmussen, brought in back in July to overhaul his operation after Rauner saw his budget veto overturned by fellow Republicans. Rasmussen’s initial hiring came in the midst of a massive staff turnover that saw at least 20 staffers leave the Governor’s operation with many replaced by right-wing Illinois Policy Institute staff.

The experience has gone poorly. Just one month later, many new staffers were fired after Rauner refused to look at a cartoon the legislature found offensive.

Much of Rasmussen’s tenure was devoted to debate over the state’s education funding formula. On August 1^st, Rauner issued an amendatory veto of SB1, a fact he fails to mention in his new ad, sparking a crisis in the state as schools struggled to stay open. The Illinois Policy Institute’s fingerprints were all over Rauner’s amendatory veto, and lawmakers found the rewrite too extreme to support. Lawmakers ended the crisis by working with each other, leaving Rauner and his amendatory veto on the sidelines.

Now, Rauner wants to take credit for the bill’s passage. What coincidental timing.

“Summer turns to fall and Bruce Rauner’s operation is still in shambles,” said DGA Illinios Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Rauner is trying to make everyone forget about his disastrous summer but voters will remember how his veto threatened schools’ ability to stay open. Bruce Rauner can try and fire all the staff he wants, but he can never escape responsibility for his failed leadership.”