Ex-Gov. Rauner at portrait unveiling: ‘Most gentlemen hanging here did not go to prison’

More than four years after completing a tumultuous single term as Illinois’ chief executive, Bruce Rauner returned to Springfield on Monday to see his portrait unveiled in the Capitol, where it will hang alongside those of some 40 other governors — most of whom, he quipped, “did not go to prison.”

The flippant nod to the state’s sordid history of corruption came during a small ceremony in the Hall of Governors in front of about 70 supporters. The former Republican governor, who lost a 2018 reelection bid in a landslide to Democrat J.B. Pritzker, kept it light as he talked about his time in office, from 2015 to 2019.

”It was difficult. We had many challenges. I lost 22 pounds and most of my hair,” Rauner said. “And it was very stressful. My hair has not come back. It’s continued to, like, run away. I’ve gained back most of the weight, so that’s good. I don’t have any stress in my life anymore, so it’s been a little easier.”

He repeatedly noted how he was honored to have his portrait on the wall, while also misidentifying the artist, Richard Halstead, as “Charles,” a gaffe that former Illinois first lady Diana Rauner walked over to gently correct during his roughly 14-minute talk.

Among those in attendance were Rauner’s lieutenant governor, Evelyn Sanguinetti, former Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs, state House GOP Leader Tony McCombie of Savanna and state Republican Party Chair Don Tracy.

“Some scalawags among us will say, ‘well no, it’s like a post office,’ you know, with the wall of the ‘most wanted,’ or whatever,” Rauner said to a few laughs. “Most gentlemen hanging here did not go to prison. A few did. A few did. But most did not.”

Conspicuously absent in the Capitol is a portrait of disgraced ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of federal corruption charges and later sent to prison. While there are portraits of other Illinois governors who went to prison — George Ryan, Otto Kerner and Dan Walker — a state law that took effect after Blagojevich’s 2009 impeachment barred the state from setting aside funds for his portrait to be hung in the Capitol.

Rauner’s portrait shows him in a dark suit coat with a state of Illinois lapel pin, a light blue dress shirt and no tie, a wardrobe that spoke to his standard business-casual appearance while in office. His right hand is in his pants pocket and his left hand is in a semi-closed fist at his side.

”I’ll correct a misperception. My left hand in the first rendering did not contain either a glass of bourbon. … It might have had a bottle of Stag beer, but it did not have a glass of bourbon, did not have a scalp of a corrupt Illinois politician,” Rauner said.

Rauner’s return to Springfield was somewhat of a homecoming as, unlike both his most immediate predecessors and Pritzker, he spent a lot of time living in the Executive Mansion.

He and his wife raised $15 million in private donations, some of it their own money, for renovations and improvements to the stately mansion. The former governor said Monday he paid for his portrait out of pocket but declined to say how much it cost.

A mega-millionaire equity investor, Rauner largely bankrolled his 2014 campaign when he defeated incumbent Pat Quinn, ending 12 years of one-party Democratic rule in the executive branch and both houses of the Illinois General Assembly.

Rauner’s four years in office were dominated by a historic war over the state budget that decimated social services and left public colleges and universities without critical state funding. He had a toxic relationship with his chief political nemesis, longtime Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Madigan’s record-setting reign as House speaker ended in 2021, and he now awaits trial on federal corruption charges.

Rauner now lives in Florida, and said he comes back to Illinois every September for a dove hunt and also travels the nation with his wife to visit their six children. Rauner said he works with entrepreneurs to start companies and is a trustee for a nature conservation group.

A major fundraiser for the Illinois GOP when he lived in the state, records show that as of February, he has given nearly $1 million to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for the Republican nomination for president in 2024.

Diana Rauner is in Chicago full time helping run a not-for-profit organization that helps disadvantaged children, her husband said.

Pritzker continues to blame Rauner for many of the state’s ills, including problems with social services that went unfunded during much of the Republican governor’s tenure. Rauner took a pass when asked for his response to Pritzker’s criticisms of his leadership.

“Today I don’t really want to talk politics and partisanship,” said Rauner. “Today I just want to say thank you.”

But he did tout the 2017 Invest in Kids legislation, which provides what are effectively public subsidies, in the way of tax credits, for children from low-to-moderate income families to attend private schools. The program was not included by Democrats in the upcoming fiscal year 2024 budget, though Pritzker has said he would consider keeping it, in modified form, if lawmakers approve it in the fall legislative session.

Rauner said if the state stops funding the program, it’d be “a huge step back” to “empowering parents” to choose schools for their children in Illinois

Rauner also couldn’t stop himself from taking a dig at the Pritzker’s administration’s boasts about how the state has earned several credit rating upgrades in recent years.

“Credit agencies love tax hikes,” Rauner said. “And they love federal bailouts.”

Chicago Tribune’s Rick Pearson contributed from Chicago.

jgorner@chicagotribune.com

©2023 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.