Did Bruce Rauner Call Madigan, Cullerton? Sort of …
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner declares victory during his election night gathering while incumbent Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is yet to concede on November 4, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. Rauner leads by over 170,000 votes with 98 percent reporting. (Photo by John Gress/Getty Images)
John Dodge
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By John Dodge
CHICAGO (CBS) — Was Bruce Rauner caught in a lie, just moments after becoming the governor-elect of Illinois?
Or was it really just a debate over semantics?
With apologies to Bill Clinton, it depends on what your definition of “phone call” is.
In his victory speech, Rauner said he called Mike Madigan (crowd boos) and John Cullerton and told them that he wanted to work with them to solve Illinois’ problems.
As Chicago Sun-Times first reported, aides to House Speaker Madigan and Senate President Cullerton said there was no phone call.
It turns out, according to a Rauner aide, that the new governor did place a phone call to Madigan and left a voice message.
A Rauner staffer spoke with a Cullerton aide on election night, the Sun-Times reported.
Back to the definition of a phone call: “an instance of speaking to someone on the phone or attempting to contact someone by phone.”
So, yes, Rauner did call Madigan, but he also left many with the impression that he spoke with both legislative leaders.
The campaign denies that.
Why is this important?
One, it doesn’t leave a very good first impression with the Democratic leaders who hold large majorities in Springfield.
More importantly, Rauner needs to be up front and totally transparent with the people who elected him to lead Illinois out of a massive fiscal crisis. Voters bought into his message that the “wants to shake up Springfield.”
And, so far, he hasn’t provided many details on how he plans to accomplish that, while increasing funding for education and creating jobs.
The state is billions of dollars in debt and has the worst credit rating in the country.
The first test of that leadership comes later Thursday, when he holds is first news conference.
