Illinois’ Governor Rauner: Past as Prologue
(Given recent events, this is
a revised blog first released in February of 2016.)
Marcus Licinius
Crassus (115 – 53 BC) early on recognized his enormous wealth could buy him an
army and quite possibly the consulship of ancient Rome. In fact, his military victories over rivals
and enemies allowed the proscription (seizure) of their assets for his own – a
swift kind of vulture capitalism with a sword.
On his way to seek what he believed to be his earned right
as consul of Rome, businessman Marcus Crassus had the Appian Way adorned with
the crucified bodies of slaves who had been bold enough to revolt: exactly one
hundred and seventeen paces between each, seventeen crucifixions per mile on
either side, six thousand suffering souls along three hundred and fifty miles
of roadway.
Twenty of the slaves were held up along the march to Rome,
so they could construct the crosses, unseen by their fellows marching
ahead. After they were done with their
toil, they were crucified.
Like today’s business-savvy politicians, he well knew the
importance of coercive control and hidden agendas. The last thing Crassus
wanted was another revolt, another Spartacus – a cornered adversary.
Now, according to released emails in which Rauner
characterized CPS principals and “managerially incompetent” and instructors as
“illiterate,” his spokesperson Lance
Trover has been forced to admit that the governor’s thoughts were hasty or
intemperate or even “inaccurate.” If you
are a public school teacher – especially in Chicago – it’s kind of like the dutiful
Roman soldier dealing with a horrified group of captives who had happened to
look back too soon.
And now it’s out.
Hidden tantrums and vicious slanders between Rauner and his wealthy
advisors/friends – Zell, Pritzker, Emanuel, Griffin, etc. A man who has accidently uncloaked his naked,
venomous aversion for all things public – schools, workers, human services.
In Robert Harris’ historical narrative Imperium, Cicero recalls how the savvy Crassus lined the pockets of
his close friends by sending teams of slaves into burning neighborhoods and
offering to buy the owners’ endangered homes for next to nothing. When the owners agreed and ran away with
their belongings, teams of slaves with water pumps would arrive and quench the
flames. The buildings could then be sold
to friends at a profit but still cheap enough to provide for their own later
fiscal enhancement.
…Like promising to declare bankruptcy once one takes over
the Chicago Public Schools while CPS is desperately seeking bond purchases to
pay for much-needed cash. The resultant
jump in interest rates will cost the taxpayers dearly but earn capitally for
fellow investors.
Ironically, just like 73 BC, in 2016 AD it’s good to have
friends in high places; but the repeating of history can also have its darker
and quirkier sides.
For while Marcus Crassus hoped to be named singular consul
of Rome, the highest political office of the state upon his return from various
victories, he was instead forced to share that power with his most-hated rival
Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus), who upon return to Rome declared his own
victories surpassing those of Crassus’.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
All we need at this point is a Turnaround Agenda…
But if past is indeed prologue, can we expect much to happen
differently when Governor Rauner takes the podium – one week after Obama’s
return to Springfield and the President’s call for a cessation of partisan
bickering – to give his annual State of the Budget speech to the General
Assembly?
Probably not one iota (sorry, it’s a Greek theme – so,
blame the Field Museum).
During his campaign to become Governor, it is estimated
Rauner personally spent nearly $36 per vote (or nearly $24 million of his own
wealth in the last three months of his race for the gubernatorial race). By the way, according to Rauner that would be
less than 5% of his assets.
“Overall,
Rauner's campaign spent $65.3 million since it began in March 2013, and the
Republican received more than 1.8 million votes in his general election victory
compared with nearly 1.7 million votes for Quinn, who was seeking a second
elected term. That translates to $35.83 per vote for Rauner…The documents also
showed Rauner raising more than $40 million the last three months of 2014,
including $22 million from Oct. 1 to Election Day.
Of
that $22 million raised, Rauner accounted for nearly $13.5 million out of his
own pocket. That amounted to nearly half the $27.6 million in personal funds
Rauner contributed.
Since
winning election, Rauner has given his campaign fund an additional $10 million
in personal funds and two wealthy allies, hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin and
businessman Richard Uihlein, combined for another $10 million. The $20 million
is aimed at helping promote Rauner's still-unstated agenda as governor and
helping buttress Republican state lawmakers to support it.”
More personal money and generous gifts by Sam Zell provided
for additional $millions in anti-Madigan commercials during the spring and
summer of 2015. In one of his earliest
interviews before the election of 2014, Rauner described in absolutes just what
he will do when elected. “We need to end
the current pension structure and protect it…and we should offer them a range
of choices so they can choose for themselves what sort of retirement they’d
like to have…”
International Business Times reported in August of 2014 that
candidate Rauner had said as early as 2013 that as Governor he “might have to
take a strike and shut down the government (in Illinois) for a few weeks and
kinda redo everybody’s contract. That’s
a possibility I will do proudly.” Later
on, Rauner rescinded his comments.
By June of 2015, the Sun-Times reported Rauner had changed
his mind once again, and he had instead instituted an agenda (or rescinded his
earlier rescission) that would
administer pain to many “but the change
will be worth it.”
The other afternoon on the radio, Representative Lou Lang of
Skokie reviewed Rauner’s wasteland of broken services in Illinois: “He (Rauner)
is holding college students hostage; he’s holding universities hostage; kids
with epilepsy or autism; people with mental health needs; legal immigrants who
need services from the state; senior citizens – in short, he is disrupting the
social service community in Illinois to the extent where services are
closing. Folks who provide addiction
programs everyday are shutting down, and not only are we not providing these
services but we’re losing jobs in Illinois because the Governor who says he’s
the ‘Jobs Governor’ is actually purposely shutting down those businesses.”
But if you are a Marcus Crassus – like the commercial
suggests – it’s what you do.
Back to where I started:
While crucifying slaves along the way to Rome, Crassus often encouraged
those who would work with him in his political future to come out and meet him –
see his work.
Demanding approval from a very nervous and captive young
orator named Marcus Cicero for his brutal actions along the highway, Crassus suggested
pointedly that his violence would at least prove a deterrent for those who
might disagree with him in any way.
A startled Cicero shrewdly agreed that no one, not any great
general or statesman throughout civilized history, could have come up with such
a plan.
