Rauner Continues to Stonewall about Quincy Outbreak as More Fall Sick from Legionnaires’

Today, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced that two more people tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease at the Quincy Veterans’ Home. Just days ago, Governor Bruce Rauner told two different editorial boards that he “would not do anything different” in the aftermath of a Legionnaires’ outbreak that killed 12 in 2015. A WBEZ investigative report raised questions about how Rauner’s administration managed the outbreak. 

While he praises his office’s handling of the outbreak, his administration is hampering a legislative inquiry and Rauner is questioning testimony from workers that they had to hear about the outbreak from media reports. And, Rauner still has not addressed his own role in the response to the outbreak.

“Through this whole crisis, Bruce Rauner has refused to be open and forthright with the people of Illinois over how his administration handled the Legionnaires’ outbreak,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Instead, his administration has stalled inquiries and deflected legitimate criticisms from the residents’ families and home workers. Rauner has failed to show leadership on any issue of mismanagement.”