After
a staff shakeup that sent four members of the governor’s press office out the
door, the acting spokeswoman for Gov. Bruce Rauner says that the governor’s
chief of staff still has the governor’s confidence.
“Kristina
Rasmussen is the governor’s chief of staff and, yes, he has confidence in her,”
acting spokeswoman Elizabeth Tomev wrote in an email in response to questions
about Rasmussen’s job status.
Four
other staffers, however, submitted resignations announced Thursday morning, less than two months after they were hired. The resignations came after a communications
pratfall early this week that forced the governor to disown a statement sent to
the media by his press office in response to questions about the governor’s
response to a cartoon published by the Illinois Policy Institute that was
widely condemned as racist. Rasmussen came to the governor’s office last month
from the policy institute, as did two of the four employees in the communications
office who resigned.
The
cartoon showed an African-American youth begging for money for Chicago schools
while a rich white man said he had none to give, even though he had a pocket
filled with cash labeling the money as TIF dollars. The cartoon, which has been
removed from the policy institute’s website, refers to a controversy over
school funding. Under Rauner’s preferred plan, cities that have created
tax-increment financing districts, which can reduce the amount of money
available for schools, would not get as much money for schools as under a bill
passed by the legislature. The African-American youth depicted in the cartoon
bears a resemblance to Little Black Sambo, which is considered a racist image.
In
the written response distributed Tuesday to the media, Laurel Patrick, one of
the four employees who has resigned, wrote “(T)he governor – as a white male –
does not have more to add to the discussion. The fixation on this cartoon and
the governor’s opinion of it has been disappointing.”
Hours
later, Rauner walked it back, issuing a statement saying that Patrick’s email “did
not accurately reflect my views. I can understand why some people found the
cartoon offensive.”
On
Thursday, Rauner repeated his statement almost verbatim, telling reporters in Naperville “I understand
why some people are upset by it.” As the Naperville press conference was ending, reporters
pressed, asking Rauner what he thought of the cartoon. “Is the cartoon
inappropriate?” a reporter asked loudly. “Yes or no.” The governor didn’t
respond. “My job is not to comment on every cartoon and every political
statement that comes from outside my administration, and I will not do that,”
Rauner said at one point during the press conference that followed the signing of a pension bill.
Rauner
said that Diana Rickert, one of the communications employees who resigned,
drafted the email that was sent by Patrick. Brittany Carl and Meghan Keenan,
who were both in the communications office, also resigned. Rauner said that Rasmussen did not see the email before it was sent to the media. Carl made headlines
after her hiring last month when reporters discovered that she had once
compared abortion to Nazi eugenics in a blog post before she was hired by the
governor.
Patrick
previously had worked for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Rickert and Keenan
had both worked for the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank,
before they were hired last month in a staff shakeup that saw more than 20 employees of the governor’s office leave. Several were replaced by policy institute employees. During the Naperville press conference,
Rauner sharply disputed a reporter’s contention that the policy institute as
his “go-to” think tank.
“I
challenge the premise of the question,” Rauner responded. “A very tiny fraction of our administration is from that organization. And in no regard does that organization speak for me or our administration. And I do not lean on them for any particular issue or policy.”
Rauner also took issue with a reporter’s use of
the term “turmoil.”
“I
disagree with the characterization of turmoil,” Rauneer said. “Change comes as
part of any organization. … We’ve had some changes in the communications department
and that’s all the changes there are.”
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Aug 24-30, 2017.
