Election 2014: Gov-elect Bruce Rauner says he called legislative leaders - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

….Rauner said he’d already taken steps in that direction.

“Just a few minutes ago, I placed two very important phone calls,” he said. “I called Speaker Madigan. I called President Cullerton and I said to them this is an opportunity for us to work together. This is an opportunity to work together on a bipartisan basis to solve the problems, the challenges, facing families in Illinois.”

However, Cullerton and Madigan said through spokesmen that those comments weren’t made directly to them. A Cullerton spokesman said a Rauner campaign staffer contacted a member of Cullerton’s staff, but Rauner and Cullerton did not speak directly to each other.

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown went further. Not only did Madigan and Rauner not speak to each other, he said, but there’s not “any indication that any phone associated with Mike Madigan got a call. So that never happened from our end of it.”

Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf stuck by Rauner’s statements.

“He left the speaker a voicemail and called the Senate president,” Schrimpf said.

Schrimpf added that he was in the room when the call was placed to Madigan.

He did not address why Rauner indicated in his remarks that he had spoken to both Cullerton and Madigan when he had not.

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Area business leaders named to Governor-elect Bruce Rauner’s transition team - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

naming a transition team of advisers that includes Rockford native Rob Funderburg, chairman and owner of Alpine Bank; Gloria Cardenas Cudia, president and founder of the Salsa Business Network in Rockford; and former White House chief of staff Bill Daley, a Democrat.

“In a nutshell, its basically outreach,” Cudia said of the transition team members’ role. “His priority is to stay connected to the people. He wants to listen, and we are going to be his ears.”

Cudia, a Republican and precinct committeeman, was first introduced to Rauner by former U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo in February 2013. She talked to Rauner on behalf of small-business owners and soon became active in his campaign.

“I’m very pleased to see some of the local members that will be part of his transition team,” Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey said. “That’s going to be good for our community and I think we have a real opportunity to take advantage of that.”

Rauner’s transition team also includes former Gov. Jim Edgar, Republican U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock and former Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard, another Democrat.

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