There's a good reason for Bruce Rauner's deer-in-headlights look.
Bruce Rauner, chairman of R8 Capital Partners and the former chairman of the private equity firm GTCR, based in Chicago, is running on his business record as the Republican candidate to unseat Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. He's supposed to be one of those "job creators" so deserving of huge tax breaks the Republicans are always talking about. So this should have been a real softball debate question for him: "Mr. Rauner, can you give us specific examples, maybe one or two, of successful companies owned by you that actually have created jobs in the state of Illinois, and how are you going to use that experience to attract businesses into the state and actually create jobs in Illinois?"
His reply:
We've built one of the most respected, most successful investment companies in America at my firm. We've helped create hundreds of successful businesses.
Well, then. Here's moderator No. 2: "Yeah, I have a follow up, actually, to Erica's question. You never gave us an example of a company—one specific example over those 32 years—where you created any jobs." The reply?
Rauner: I'd encourage you to come to the website for my old firm. There are hundreds and hundreds of companies there, many of them have gone public….
Moderator #2: But you don't remember any?
Rauner: …the point is there are so many.
And out of those hundreds and hundreds he can't point to a single one that created just one job? Seems like if you're a job creator, you'd have binders full of examples of the job=creating you did, examples right at the ready for what is going to be the inevitable debate question.
Let's elect some Democratic governors with true jobs agendas. Your $3 will help.
Defeat Mitch McConnell in just two hours. Sign up to make GOTV calls to Democrats.
Seems like Rauner might be a bit of a fraud on that whole job-creating thing. That's not too much of a shocker though. This isn't a guy who cares particularly about workers. He wants
"right to work" zones—designated areas where businesses can avoid taxes and regulations that, you know, protect workers. He's also gotten in some political trouble for saying
Illinois should reduce its minimum wage, a position he's been backpedalling from for months now.