Rauner tries to reframe with economic message, opponents say he's rewriting history

Coming off a year of bruising political defeats, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner delivered a State of the State speech Wednesday with an election-year message that economic progress is within reach with a little cooperation at the Capitol.

If only for a half-hour, Rauner set aside his harsh attacks of just two days earlier, when he’d called the speaker of the House “corrupt” and warned Illinois was “on the verge of becoming Detroit, hollowed out by corrupt politicians, massive job loss, massive tax hikes.”

In its place, the governor rattled off a list of what the state can brag about — a host of U.S. presidents, 36 Fortune 500 companies and even Twinkies all hail from here. Rauner pointed to Chicago’s bid to land Amazon’s second headquarters, saying that effort, like fixing the state’s financial woes, “is not a prize one wins alone.”

“It takes a collaborative effort, a forget-about-the-politics-and-roll-up-our-sleeves kind of approach,” Rauner said. “It requires a laserlike focus on economic development and job creation and a bipartisan dedication to restore public trust.”

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-bruce-rauner-state-of-the-state-speech-20180131-story.html

Additional coverage of the speech from other media sources:
https://capitolfax.com/2018/01/31/state-of-the-state-coverage-roundup/