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Health & Fitness

Rauner's gubernatorial campaign not Fast & Furiouis; just Fib & Fortune

I won't call Illinois GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner a liar regarding his fervent denials that he'd advocated moving back Illinois' $8.25 an hour minimum wage to the federal wage of $7.25. But he's now selling Illinois voters more Whoppers than Burger King. In radio appearances, newspaper op eds and TV ads paid by his billion dollar fortune, Rauner is claiming he never advocated reducing Illinois' minimum wage; that any statements to the contrary were just flippancy, not policy positions; and that he really wants to raise Illinois' minimum wage to $10.00 an hour.
 
But political rookie Rauner has failed to grasp the long arm of electronic media which never forgets and never forgives a candidate's clear and unmistakable utterances.
  
     December 11, 2013; Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce candidate forum: "I will advocate moving the Illinois minimum
     wage back to the national minimum wage."
 
     September, 2013; Gibson City candidate forum: Rauner states he is "adamantly, adamantly against raising the minimum wage."
 
But that was 2013. In this election year of 2014, its not cool for a fabulously wealthy first time candidate to be advocating even more economic pain to the thousands of folks just trying to survive on inadequate minimum wage jobs. Besides being a prevaricator about his now certified position to roll back Illinois' minimum wage, Rauner's call for a $10.00 minimum wage is utterly hollow and phony. How so? He's tied it to having the legislature enact his entire program to make Illinois, in his mind, more economically competitive. That is typical Republican blackmail: give me what I want and I'll help the needy.
 
Illinois voters don't have to plow through old video of Governor Quinn when it comes to deciphering his policy positions about helping the workin' and want-to-be workin' folks who get to choose our next governor. And they will not be persuaded by a billionaire who drops million after million to create phony ads showing him pointing to an $18 watch claiming its time for a change. They're smart enough to know the $1,000 Rolex is on ice with the $1,000 bottle of champagne for the Fat Cats Victory Party planned for November 4. What Rauner hasn't grasped is that these voters are "adamantly, adamantly" against sending Fib and Fortune to a tenth luxury house in Springfield.  

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