{"id":13526,"date":"2015-04-28T12:54:02","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T17:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=13526"},"modified":"2015-05-03T09:36:59","modified_gmt":"2015-05-03T14:36:59","slug":"illinois-gov-bruce-rauners-refusal-to-answer-questions-riles-reporters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/illinois-gov-bruce-rauners-refusal-to-answer-questions-riles-reporters\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Bruce Rauner&#8217;s refusal to answer questions riles reporters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0Meredith Wilson, video by Andrew Fowler<\/p>\n<p>If it was part of Gov. Bruce Rauner\u2019s agenda to court the press during his speech at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers conference in Chicago, it didn\u2019t quite work out.<\/p>\n<p>Rauner, a businessman who made his fortune in private equity, gave the keynote speech on Saturday, the final day of the conference, to a nearly-full ballroom, pitching his ambitious agenda to transform Illinois.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nHe opened his speech with a request to reporters to help him pass his reforms, asking for the press\u2019s support three times during his 15-minute speech.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m here because I think you guys can help us spread the message here in Illinois,\u201d Rauner said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13578\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13578\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/sabew-logo-300x104.jpg\" alt=\"SABEW logo\" width=\"300\" height=\"104\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13578\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13578\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. business editors met in Chicago April 23-25.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He described the many problems he saw plaguing the state: outmigration, falling real income, low job creation, huge budget deficit and a pension crisis. Rauner reiterated his belief that mismanaged government is at the heart of the state\u2019s issues, and laid out a few of his plans to shrink bureaucracy, root out cronyism and address the state\u2019s fiscal woes.<\/p>\n<p>He stressed that conflicts of interest created by unions and lawyers contributing to election campaigns was a major cause of corruption.<\/p>\n<p>After the governor wrapped up his speech, he declared he wouldn\u2019t answer any questions from the audience. An audible groan rippled through the crowd. As he left, several reporters followed him into the hallway.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe title=\"VIDEO: Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner declines to answer questions from room of journalists\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/126012465?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>One reporter asked whether a private businessman\u2019s $2.5 million contribution to Rauner\u2019s campaign constituted a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey don\u2019t have a contract with the state,\u201d Rauner replied curtly.<\/p>\n<p>The reporter was referring to Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, who made the donation to Rauner\u2019s campaign in June.<\/p>\n<p>Marty Wolk, president of SABEW, was taken aback by the governor\u2019s quick exit.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_25924\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25924\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25924\" src=\"http:\/\/sabew.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/FullSizeRender.jpg\" alt=\"Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (Meredith Wilson\/Medill News Service)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25924\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (Meredith Wilson\/Medill News Service)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cIt surprises me that he couldn\u2019t read the room full of national journalists and not expect to take questions,\u201d Wolk said.<\/p>\n<p>According to Wolk, it was a difficult process to get Gov. Rauner to appear at the event. He explained that all speakers know beforehand that their comments are on the record and are expected to take a few questions, given their audience is a room full of business journalists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn hour before he arrived, his advance person said no questions from the podium, but that he would be available for 15 minutes afterward to meet people,\u201d Wolk said. Rauner left immediately after his speech.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor a public figure to say, \u2018I want you to help me sell this story\u2019 and not understand it\u2019s a two-way conversation, and not take questions? It fundamentally misunderstands the role of media in this age. In any age,\u201d Wolk said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Gov. Bruce Rauner speaks at business editors&#8217; conference. This story first appeared on the <a href=\"http:\/\/sabew.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">SABEW conference site<\/a>. (Andrew Fowler\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0Meredith Wilson, video by Andrew Fowler If it was part of Gov. Bruce Rauner\u2019s agenda to court the press during his speech at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers conference in Chicago, it didn\u2019t quite work out. Rauner, a businessman who made his fortune in private equity, gave the keynote speech on Saturday, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":13576,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,436],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-spring-2015"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gov. 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