Rauner Announces Exploratory Committee For GOP Gubernatorial Run

By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 5, 2013 6:40PM

Businessman, venture capitalist, long-rumored GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner announced this morning he was establishing an exploratory campaign committee to help him determine if he intends to enter the race next year.

Rauner said in a press release this would not be a traditional campaign, only a traditional "listening" campaign.

”After spending several months talking with local and national leaders in business, education reform, and politics, and crisscrossing the state attending Lincoln Day Dinners and other events, Rauner is now entering a more intense period of consideration of a potential candidacy. For the next 60 days, Rauner will significantly increase his events and meetings, while looking to make a final determination on a candidacy well in advance of the March, 2014 primary election.”

As expected, this is one of the “various civic engagements” Rauner referred to when he spoke with Crain’s last month about eventually stepping down as chairman of the board at Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism office. Rauner has been an adviser to Mayor Rahm Emanuel on matters ranging from school reform — he famously railed against the Chicago Teachers Union during last year’s teachers’ strike. Rauner told Crain’s “the city now realizes” the importance of spending money on marketing in tourism, although we aren’t so sure Choose Chicago will spend that money wisely.

Rauner’s 20-member exploratory committee is teeming with advocates for big business, less government regulation and charter school advocacy. Among them is Illinois Republican Party leader Jack Roeser, who is leading a movement to have party Chairman Pat Brady removed for his support of marriage equality legislation in Springfield.