Rauner's Shake Up Express Fueled By Wall Street Donations

By aaroncynic in News on Jan 14, 2014 3:00PM

While Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Rauner has spent a lot of time talking trash about union clout in public schools, the millionaire’s foundation flexed its own capital clout at a Chicago prep school. The Sun-Times reports the Rauner Family Foundation dropped a $250,000 donation to the Payton Prep Initiative after Rauner pulled some strings to get his daughter admitted into Walter Payton College Prep. After his daughter was first denied entry in 2008, the millionaire venture capitalist phoned then-CPS CEO Arne Duncan, and days later the principal of Payton pushed through Rauner’s daughter’s application.

When the Sun-Times first brought the matter to light, Rauner told its editorial board the issue was “stuff that doesn’t matter.” Two weeks ago, campaign spokesperson Mike Schrimpf said the candidate’s daughter “was admitted off the principal’s list, the same way many students have been admitted.”Rauner's opponents for the GOP nomination circled their wagons. State Sen. Kirk Dillard told CBS:

"If Mr. Rauner is the Republican nominee, there will continue to be a drip, drip, drip of stories about how he uses his incredible wealth to not only make money but to get his way."

The criticism of Rauner using his clout to get his daughter into Payton has placed him on the defensive. Rauner told CBS 2 he doesn't regret getting his daughter admitted into the prestigious high school. “There’s nothing to apologize for that, there’s nothing wrong with it, and I would do it again and again."

For a gubernatorial hopeful shaking a big populist hammer, making every effort to appear like a “regular guy” however, this is stuff that matters.

According to a 2010 investigation by the Chicago school’s inspector general, the admission of Rauner’s daughter was just one of many based on “political clout, favoritism, preferential treatment and violations of selection and enrollment practices and policies.” The Rauner Family Foundation gave $500,000 to the Chicago Public Schools Foundation two months prior to the gift to Payton. When Rauner isn’t terribly busy calling for a reduction in the minimum wage, he can head off for a weekend of fly fishing in Montana with Mayor Emanuel.

Rauner’s been trying to push the “average Joe who’s not a career politician and will stand up for the little guy” image. According to a recent profile from the State Journal Register, Rauner told a group of prospective voters in Albion that he didn’t “need” to add the Governor’s mansion to the list of his impressive real estate portfolio and doesn’t even want a career in politics. “The reason I’m here is (that) I was born and raised here — and we’re going down the drain,” he said.

But donning a fleece vest and dining on Raisin Bran while parking your luxury campaign charter bus outside a Super 8 motel is about as genuinely connected to “the people” as clearing brush on an expensive ranch in Texas. The reality behind Rauner is that he’s just as connected as any other career politician thanks to cold hard cash.

Leaving his own millions aside, Rauner has an impressive campaign war chest containing more than $8 million. His donor list reads like a who’s who of well connected, extraordinarily wealthy private investors, equity firms, real estate moguls and more. From the “in kind contribution” of a “personally owned bus” from an executive at a large real estate developer to more than $90,000 from executives at the Henry Crown Company, the Shake Up Express is fueled primarily by Wall Street. The hammer swings both ways, as Rauner himself has poured plenty of money into Illinois politics, donating tens of thousands of dollars to a long list of various candidates and PAC's statewide as well as both the Illinois Republican Party and local Republican committees.

Rauner definitely doesn’t need the job as governor of Illinois (by his own admission he’s worth “hundreds of millions of dollars") but he’s already had a long career in politics. The man might not be a career politician, but his checkbook—along with the bank accounts of plenty of his investors—has plenty of experience.