One of the state’s wealthiest men, whose business acumen and whose track record as a master transactor and venture capitalist sold voters on his abilities, now claims he is just now finding how truly awful Illinois’ financial condition is.
Bruce Rauner has been preparing for the transition and is warning Illinoisans to brace themselves for bad news.
One of his fellow Republicans, a veteran legislative leader, is not skeptical.
“Now that he’s been elected, he has access to all those documents,” says Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont), “so he really is able to put actual numbers on paper and see what the real situation is.”
Is this information available only to outgoing Gov. Pat Quinn – and, now, to the man who beat Quinn?
“The fact that the state’s in bad shape is widely known, that’s for sure,” answers Radogno. “The actual numbers in the agencies, and how they’re allocated, is not generally known to people outside the information.”
Two weeks after outlining how bad the state’s financial quagmire is, Rauner Tuesday said it’s even worse than he thought, accusing the Quinn administration of phonying up the budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30.
The job Rauner spent millions of his own money to get is his effective Jan. 12.