Gov. Bruce Rauner requested a sit-down with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune, and covered a range of grievances in his hour-long conversation.
He blamed Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for not supporting the governor's agenda, he said House Republicans were not principled enough, and he seemed disappointed that Illinois no longer had a crisis he could leverage to pass his business-friendly, union-weakening agenda.
“We had the possibility of a transformation for the state with the crisis that we had — if we had a principled caucus. It’s the primary reason I ran. We had the opportunity for a massive transformation. We lost that,” Rauner told the Tribune.
Meanwhile, Rauner and his administration are still under fire for Legionnaires' disease deaths at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy; a computer transition meant the state cut off food stamp benefits for thousands of people, just before the holidays; and Illinois is no longer the fifth-largest state in America (congratulations, Pennsylvania).
Sean Crawford hosts with regular panelists Charlie Wheeler and Brian Mackey, and guest Rick Pearson of the Chicago Tribune and WGN radio’s The Sunday spin.
State Week | December 22, 2017
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