Rauner’s first ad since announcing re-election bid says ‘thank you’ to Mike Madigan

One day after using a video to announce his re-election run, Republican Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is calling in help from his neighboring GOP governors.

In a new video released Tuesday, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb are saying thank you to Illinois Speaker of the House Mike Madigan for raising taxes and blocking Rauner’s agenda.

“Big fans here,” Greitens says in the video. “Cheeseheads love you,” Walker says as they talk about how their states are growing jobs and their economy.

Rauner and Madigan have been at odds since the 2014 election, which culminated in a two-year span with no state budget. That ended this summer when the House voted to override Rauner’s veto to approve both a new budget and an increase in the state tax rate from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent.

The ad drew a response from Madigan’s office:

“Illinois’ balanced budget is a bipartisan compromise between Republicans and Democrats who worked together to move beyond the governor’s political games and end his 732-day budget crisis. Rauner’s crisis created billions of dollars in unpaid bills, pushed Illinois to the edge of junk bond status, and shuttered social service providers throughout the state. Even now, after a bipartisan group of lawmakers agreed to make the tough decisions the governor was unwilling to make, Governor Rauner would still rather play political games than work cooperatively to repair the damage he has done.

“The governor’s ad highlights his own failure to lead, and fully embraces the race to the bottom being led by his role models from states where middle-class wages are a fraction of what they are in Illinois. It’s deeply disappointing that Governor Rauner would rather work with right-wing governors from other states than with legislators seeking bipartisan compromise right here in Illinois. But his actions ultimately reaffirm our resolve in the Legislature to continue our work in a bipartisan way without the governor’s involvement – just as we have for many months now.”

This story was originally published October 24, 2017 at 11:04 AM with the headline "Rauner’s first ad since announcing re-election bid says ‘thank you’ to Mike Madigan."