June 02--Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday lashed out at Gov. Bruce Rauner, comparing the Republican governor's call for Downstate Democrats to stand up against the Chicago machine to Donald Trump's "playbook of demonizing one group of people for his political advantage."
The statement came a day after Rauner played up a theme of regionalism in trying to isolate Chicago Democrats from Downstate members of their party as he tries to win portions of his economic agenda and perhaps strike a broader budget deal.
"We've got to get the folks here, in Champaign County and in Sangamon County and throughout the state to stand up and vote for their districts, not for Speaker (Michael) Madigan and (Senate President) John Cullerton and the Chicago political machine that they are loyal to," Rauner said Wednesday at the administrative offices of a school district in east-central Illinois.
Emanuel, who is in Washington, D.C., for meetings, responded Thursday with a news release in which he returned to his recent theme of criticizing Rauner's leadership bona fides. The mayor likened his onetime vacation friend to the polarizing Republican presidential candidate, who has drawn headlines for promising to deport millions of illegal Mexican immigrants and build a wall to keep them out.
"Yesterday people across the state were looking for solutions," Emanuel's statement reads. "Instead of uniting the governor was dividing. Instead of leading he was playing politics, pitting parents and students in one part of the state against parents and students in another. Right now schools across Illinois need a leader, and instead Bruce Rauner is following the Donald Trump playbook of demonizing one group of people for his political advantage."
Rauner is likely to offer a response when he appears in suburban Itasca this afternoon as he wraps up a two-day tour of the state.
The Trump comparison is one Rauner has been trying to avoid. Both are wealthy, my-way-or-the-highway businessmen campaigning on a message that their private-sector experience can help turn around the economy. Last month, Rauner said he would not formally endorse the controversial Trump for president and would not attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
After the Illinois primary March 15, Rauner told students in Wilmette that he was "horrified" by the rhetoric in the Republican campaign, saying "it's ugly and it's nasty and it's weird." But Rauner never singled out Trump. Risking Trump's wrath could prove unwise -- a single needling tweet or throwaway attack line in a speech would reverberate throughout Illinois and could weaken Rauner in his long political battle against Democrats.
On Wednesday, the governor was in campaign mode as he attacked Madigan and Cullerton while trying to assign blame for the General Assembly's failure to pass a school spending bill before the spring legislative session ended Tuesday night. With lawmakers on the ballot in November, the governor is attempting to set campaign themes Republican candidates can use to try to chip away at Democratic majorities in both houses of the state legislature.
To Downstate audiences, Rauner likened a failed school funding plan pushed by Senate Democrats to "a billion-dollar Chicago bailout."
Emanuel, meanwhile, has been trying mightily in recent weeks to broaden his push for reforms to the state school funding formula that Chicago Public Schools needs to make a looming teacher pension payment. The mayor has argued repeatedly that the current formula hurts not just Chicago, but many school districts around the state that have high numbers of low-income students.
The Trump comparison marks the second time Emanuel has publicly ripped Rauner in a week. On Friday, after Rauner vetoed a city police and fire pension bill the mayor has long sought, Emanuel issued a strong statement saying "Rauner just told every Chicago taxpayer to take a hike." Lawmakers overrode Rauner's veto on Memorial Day, handing Emanuel a big win.
The mayor also brought up Rauner's wife, Illinois first lady Diana Rauner, during a Friday radio interview as the governor was prepping his pension veto. Emanuel cited the fact that Diana Rauner's Ounce of Prevention Fund early childhood education nonprofit organization had joined a lawsuit against the state over a lack of funding during the 11-month budget impasse.
"Is it any accident that his wife's own organization sued him?" Emanuel asked during the interview with WLS-AM 890's Bill Cameron. "So you asked me this and I say, look, think about this. Part of being a leader is people being able to work with you and trust you."
Asked Tuesday if he regretted bringing a politician's spouse into the argument, Emanuel acknowledged he "got hot" when he spoke Friday about his onetime vacation pal Rauner. He stopped short of apologizing, however.
"First of all, Ounce of Prevention did sue," Emanuel said. "I'll take ownership if I got hot. But that doesn't hide the fact that Ounce of Prevention sued, which does tell you, in my view, that the lack of trust in what's in the breakdown has led to organizations, not just Ounce of Prevention, others. And I should have been, noted Ounce of Prevention and not the first lady. And that I own, and I'm responsible for."
jebyrne@tribpub.com
