MATT DIETRICH
AUG 29, 2014
Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign debuted a new ad Thursday that minces no words about challenger Bruce Rauner’s stance on the Illinois minimum wage.
“Billionaire Bruce Rauner wants to cut the minimum wage,” the 30-second spot intones as a montage of minimum wage workers rolls across the screen.
Here’s the ad:
So does Rauner really want to lower the minimum wage?
Back in December at a candidate forum in the Quad Cities during the Republican primary race, Rauner said he favored reducing Illinois’ $8.25-an-hour minimum wage to the federally mandated $7.25 minimum.
“I will advocate moving the Illinois minimum wage back to the national minimum wage,” Rauner said. That comment was included in an Illinois Radio Network report that only gained significant attention when it was picked up up by the Chicago media in January. No sooner did those remarks become public — generating swift backlash from nearly all sides — than Rauner backtracked. His campaign first said Rauner would favor increasing the state minimum wage if the federal minimum wage also went up.
While Rauner’s minimum wage stance has evolved considerably since January, Quinn has done everything in his power to ensure the December remarks stick.
As the new Quinn ad debuted on Illinois airwaves, both he and Rauner appeared at the Metropolitan Planning Council’s annual luncheon in Chicago. In separate sessions, each candidate answered a series of questions from WBBM-AM 780 political reporter Craig Dellimore on topics specific to MPC’s mission (transportation infrastructure, housing, water management, efficient government, jobs and public finances).
Afterward, Quinn and Rauner took questions at brief press conferences. The candidates’ positions on minimum wage was front and center:
VIDEO: Quinn, Rauner on Illinois minimum wage
OK, for the record forever, there it is. Though he got caught when tape surfaced of him stating otherwise last year, Bruce Rauner does not want to cut the minimum wage. He also does not want to raise the state minimum wage (now $8.25, $1 an hour higher than the federal minimum) unless the legislature passes business reforms.
Those business reforms are tort reform (to better protect businesses against lawsuits), workers compensation reform (Illinois has among the highest workers comp rates in the country) and tax reform.
I should note that those all are things that Republicans in the Illinois General Assembly have long sought. There was a major workers comp overhaul two years ago, but it lacked a component known as “causation” — a legal standard that would require employees filing workers comp claims to prove their injury happened on the job. Whether Rauner, if elected, succeeds in getting any of his desired business reforms will depend on his skills in negotiating with a Democrat-controlled legislature (and, specifically, with House Speaker Michael Madigan).
What a race this is.
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Matthew Dietrich is Reboot’s executive editor. An award-winning journalist, Dietrich is the former editorial page editor of the State Journal Register in Springfield. He believes in holding our politicians accountable. Read Dietrich’s take on the leadership vacuum that sent Illinois sinking. You can findReboot on Facebook and on Twitter @rebootillinois.