Throwback Thursday: Rauner Disses Bloomington-Normal, Gets Caught, Blames Others for “Spinning” His Words

All week, Governor Bruce Rauner has dealt with the fallout over his dis of the Champaign-Urbana workforce – he was called out by local officials and forced to apologize, but quickly tried to deflect blame by claiming his words were “taken out of context.” A similar scene played out just over a month ago when Rauner was caught badmouthing another central Illinois town as undesirable for job creators and tried to blame his opponents and the media for “spinning” his words.
For months, Rauner told the story about how no one wanted to move into a Bloomington-Normal automotive plant as a metaphor for the state’s economy. Rauner’s story made no sense considering he had attended a ribbon cutting at the same plant a year previously. Confronted with his lie, Rauner tried to blame his “political opponents” for “spinning up a bunch of kind of false spin in the media and the blogs and with a reporter in Springfield.”
“History seems to be repeating itself with Bruce Rauner – first you dis a local town and then you try and blame someone else,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “As evidenced by his three-year budget crisis, Rauner’s always been more focused on playing political games than working for the betterment of Illinois families.”

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Background:
State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg Headline: “Rauner again claims no company would take car plant”
Bloomington Pantagraph Headline: “Local officials: Rauner wrong on Rivian”
WGLT Headline: “Rauner Tries To Clean Up Remarks On Rivian”
CapitolFax Headline: “Governor tries to defend Rivian comments”