Tale of two Illinois candidates: Rauner spends six figures for wine, Quinn uses push lawnmower in latest ad

Brendan Bond
Sep 3, 2014

It’s no secret Bruce Rauner is the richer of the two Illinois candidates for governor. And with his wealth comes the ability to enjoy some of the finer, more expensive luxuries in life. That includes wine from a club with a six-figure initiation fee.

Washington Post political columnist Philip Bump takes a humorous look at Rauner’s wealth and the wine he drinks.

Writes Bump:

Illinois gubernatorial candidate and venture capitalist Bruce Rauner (R) is wealthier than you. Ha ha, you say, how do you know? And I answer: Because he belongs to a wine club that costs as much as $150,000 to join. For wine. Which — a wealthy person like yourself may not be aware — sells at Trader Joe’s for a little over two dollars. (Editor’s note: While Philip may drink two dollar wine, he does not speak — or imbibe — for all of us.)

Rauner admitted that he belonged to the club to reporters including the Chicago Sun-Times’ Natasha Korecki on Tuesday. Last week, the Chicago Tribune reported on Rauner’s ties to Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, noting that the two had been seen walking down a path, Emanuel carrying a bottle of Napa Valley Reserve. NVR, as we’ll call it because it’s funny to try and minimize ostentatious things to which we ourselves could never be privy, is a private wine club that invites members to “collaborate with the winemaking team on every detail of your wine, from blending to barrel toast.”

NVR is run by winemaker H. William Harlan, also known by the more-pedestrian handle “Bill Harlan” when talking to the press — as demonstrated when he was profiled by Worth.com, a site that “addresses the relevant financial, legal and lifestyle issues unique to high net worth individuals” like yourself. According to Worth’s Karen MacNeil, NVR is one of Harlan’s several successes, in which “more than 600 members have each paid a $150,000 initiation fee to join, affording them, among other privileges, the right to buy the wine.” Ha ha some right! “Look, if you give me $150,000, I will let you buy some of this wine.” Well, hell, can’t pass up a deal like that. Sign me up.

One final important point to make, that will probably cast Rauner’s economic situation in a slightly different light. During the exchange in which he admitted his apparent membership in Bill Harlan’s NVR, the Sun-Times reports that the cost of admission is only $100,000. This could very well have been shorthand, but in the interests of journalistic integrity, we must note it. After all, perhaps Rauner did spend $50,000 less than we assumed. That will probably inspire quite a bit of sympathy from Illinois voters, the average annual household income of whom was about $55,000 a year in 2013. And most of them, we understand, use that income to buy 27,500 bottles of wine from Trader Joe’s, having no other option.

Before you run out to your nearest Trader Joe’s, you may have noticed Bump referenced a Tribune piece on the relationship between Rauner and Emanuel. Chicago Tribune reporter Monique Garcia did a follow-up to that story, looking in to the potential ramifications Rauner and Emanuel’s personal relationship might have on a political relationship. According to Rauner, it’s a nonissue.

Writes Garcia:

Republican governor candidate Bruce Rauner said Tuesday that he has worked together for years with Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel, but declined to discuss how their personal relationship might affect their political one.

Asked how close he is to Emanuel, Rauner said the story “is old news” and noted he has worked both with the current mayor and his predecessor, Richard M. Daley. Rauner has also supported both mayors with campaign donations.

“Mayor Emanuel and I disagree on many things, Mayor Daley and I disagreed on many things,” Rauner said. “But we also have worked together productively. And you know what, to solve problems in Springfield we need a leader who will take the arrows for some tough decisions but who will work together on a bipartisan basis with Democrats and Republicans to get things done. I have a proven track record of doing that.”

New Quinn ad misses some spots while mowing the lawn

Garcia also reports on Quinn’s reaction to the news of Rauner’s wine club membership. The governor calls his political opponent “out of touch” with Illinois voters. The news coincided with the release of a new ad depicting Quinn’s everyman image by showing Quinn cutting the lawn as an analogy to him cutting state government. The ad leaves some information out, though, according to Garcia:

In one part of the ad, Quinn tells viewers “We’re selling nine state airplanes.”

What Quinn didn’t say was that he unveiled the idea of selling off state planes following Republican criticism that the state flew in prairie chickens from out of state to help replenish the dwindling population of the birds in Illinois. Rauner also got into the act, standing next to a cage of ordinary farm chickens during a news conference to help drive home the point.

So far, the state hasn’t sold one plane since Quinn outlined the plans June 30, in part due to bureaucratic hurdles.

In another part of the ad, the governor taps into an old standard when he says: “I suspended legislators’ pay along with my own.”

Last year, Quinn vetoed funds out of the state budget to pay legislator salaries after lawmakers left Springfield without passing a bill to address a $100 billion government worker retirement system debt. While the move garnered the governor populist headlines, the move did not pass legal muster in court.

Lawmakers eventually got the money that Quinn had held up, and it was repaid with interest. Quinn also collected his back pay once lawmakers passed pension reforms in December, and now the changes he signed into law are facing serious challenges in court.

The full ad of Quinn using a push mower to cut the lawn can be seen below: