Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/07/24/class-4-felony.html
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I’m more interested in how they managed to get $300K into that Church.
They didn’t just go to an ATM and take it out.
anecdote:
years ago a friend of mine bought someone’s collection of stuff for about $90K.
the seller wanted CASH and despite my friend OWNING part of a bank, we had to drive around to 3 different branches scooping up all the cash they had on hand.
I was then tasked with driving a grocery bag filled with $85K (lots of small bills!) to the seller.
I was NOT comfortable with that. And yet somehow these clowns are comfortable with $300K sitting around?
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Rauner appeared at a campaign rally at a South Side Chicago church, where the organizers literally handed out $300,000 in cash to prospective voters, saying he was “helping with their property taxes.” $100,000 of the money came from Rauner’s personal fortune, and the other $200,000 came from fellow Republican politician Willie Wilson.
Rauner says the money was handed out after he left and that he wasn’t aware it was going to happen.
Huh. That must be kind of nice.
I mean, I don’t have a personal fortune. If fifty bucks went from my account without me knowing about it, there’s a very good chance I’d notice at the end of the month.
A tenner here or there could slip by, but fifty bucks is probably the lower tipping point where I find myself looking back over my accounts and suddenly remembering an evening was more expensive than I’d assumed…
But this guy’s excuse is apparently that his tipping point would be $100,000.
“Hey honey! I was just putting the washing in the machine, and I found $100,000 in one of the pockets! Shall we treat ourselves this weekend?”
For future reference, if anyone from his campaign ever reads this, the correct response would be more along the lines of:
“$100,000!!!?! What the!?!? We need to find out what happened, because that’s a serious chunk of change. We’ll get right on that and let you know how, who, what and why on this one. Thanks for pointing it out to us!”
Honestly, at this point I’m not really sure whether I’m railing against the ridiculous division of wealth in our society, or the fact that he’s corrupt enough he thinks $100,000 is simply a normal price for him to do business…
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No. The word is criminal. It is literally the most criminal thing you could do to get votes. Anyone known to have been involved should be arrested, with handcuffs, and faced with substantial jail time, and prosecutors should strive to make sure no candidate who benefited from this is allowed on a ballot paper.
It’s fucking enraging that anyone would suffer this to be talked about as a gray area. Democracy does not exist where candidates can pay voters. The scenario where that’s up for debate is “never”, and the threshold amount is “$0”.
ffs
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That’s some serious cash. My anecdote is only ten percent of that: Once, I was buying a camper trailer for $8500, and had to have cash for the purchase. I wasn’t too comfortable with that, either.
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I lived in Illinois when George Ryan went to jail and Rod Blagojevich was governor. By illinois standards, handing out $300k at a campaign rally is less corrupt than your average Illinois governor.
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Looks like they’re going to need to expand the Illinois Governors’ Wing at the penitentiary again.
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In Illinois the standard is shoeboxes.
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Um, so what the hell did he think was going to happen with his 100K in cash?
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Statistically, you’re more likely to go to jail after being Governor of Illinois than for armed robbery.
We’re 3 of the last 5? Might be more.
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I’ll bet a lot of people don’t see anything wrong with this. Republicans are always complaining about how diversity and multiculturalism and accepting different lifestyles leads to a breakdown in morals, but then they vote for a pussy-grabber and try to buy elections. I’ll bet the guy also just gets a slap on the wrist, but those folks who got the money will remember him come election day, so he will have successfully bought votes.
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Rauner in prison is a sweet thought, but if I remember right, it was lust for $ that sent previous ones to the clink. Rauner is already a billionaire.
And I highly doubt this one event will send him to prison. Even if he’s charged, I’d guess he could buy his way out of it.
ETA: As the OP’s linked article says,
While election experts indicated the governor was not in the legal peril — Rauner was not present as the cash was being dispensed – the governor still faced an onslaught of criticism from adversaries on Monday.
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It goes back a bit farther than that. I think we’ve had 4 or 5 now go to jail, and another couple dodge charges or get acquitted.
ETA: Fucking hell, Paul Powell
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And with those new Trump IRS rules on nonprofits not having to disclose donors to the IRS - Putin can illegally support any politician he wants. Again.
Of course - you know they’ll be a big cut taken by the guy who gives out the cash. And - who’ll know?
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How does that even work? Won’t people just take the money and then vote for whoever they planned on voting on anyway? It should only work if you have the means to find out how people vote and punish those who vote “wrong”, or do enough people have a misplaced sense of loyalty so they stay bought?
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Rauner is up for re-election, having spent his tenure bashing unions, reneging on his promises to raise the minimum wage and calling for a reduction in progressive income taxes on high earners and an increase in regressive sales taxes primarily targeting low earners (he’s also had some progressive policies like funding education and infrastructure, ending deceptive anti-abortion practices, and championing marriage equality and LBGTQ rights).
So, a textbook neoliberal?
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Because it is Illinois politics, I would take a Politico story (not the most unbiased source) with a grain of salt.
I mean, it is ok with the Board of Elections 
. The state is effed and I don’t believe any or news source concerning state politics. I don’t like Rauner or the other dude running either.
Bus fare. His aides told him it was for bus fare, and being a billionaire who’s never taken the bus, he figured it probably cost about the same as chartering a Learjet.
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