Rauner Staffer Fired On 1st Day After Homophobic, Other Offensive Tweets Surface

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jul 17, 2017 9:49PM

That was fast. The man hired to be Gov. Bruce Rauner's new so-called "body man"—or close personal aide—was fired the very same day he was brought on after racially inflammatory and homophobic tweets were spotted on his Twitter account.

The ex-aide, Ben Tracy, apparently deleted the tweets in question and quickly locked his page; but several screenshots were preserved and tweeted by the Radical Candor account, which has been caustically jabbing at the Rauner administration's recent tumult. Politico acquired and published screenshots, also. (They were posted here.)

Tracy used gay slurs multiple times, tweeting "bet you liked that, f*g," and "no, he's a f**got," among other homophobic tweets. There were also racially insensitive tweets, like "To the Indian people in the library: SHUT THE F--- UP!" and "There is a black dude and white girl on a date in this movie...white girls mom came along...haha not racist just funny."

Tracy also mocked the body-slamming of a reporter by now-Congressman Greg Gianforte of the Montana State House at one point in the timeline.

Warning: a tweet below contains unedited profanity

Tracy was terminated on Monday, mere hours after he started his role.

"These tweets are unacceptable," Laurel Patrick, Director of Communications for Rauner, told Chicagoist via email. "The individual in question is no longer an employee of our Administration."

The governor's office has been in a state of upheaval more or less since Rauner's budget veto was overridden. At least 20 staffers have either been fired or resigned from Rauner's office since last week, according to the Sun-Times.

But this one... How did no one catch this in the vetting?

[H/T Capitol Fax]