Illinois Governor-Elect Bruce Rauner Received Cash From Firms Managing State Pension Money

[G_j]

http://www.ibtimes.com/illinois-governor-elect-bruce-rauner-received-cash-firms-managing-state-pension-money-1722669

[e-mail] on November 12 2014 3:11 PM

Illinois Governor-elect Bruce Rauner accepted more than $140,000 worth of campaign donations from executives affiliated with firms in which Illinois pension systems have investments, according to documents reviewed by the International Business Times. The campaign donations flowed to Rauner despite state and federal rules designed to prevent pension investment managers from donating to candidates for public offices that oversee state pension systems. As governor, Rauner will now appoint the trustees who oversee Illinois’ pension investment decisions.

When IBTimes first presented the campaign finance documents to officials at the Illinois State Board of Investment late last week, they said they had never been asked about the donations. Days later, those officials announced they are now conducting a formal review of the system’s private investment managers to see if they complied with campaign finance disclosure requirements.

The announcement of the review came at the same time the SEC’s top enforcement official publicly suggested that the agency will be be intensifying its scrutiny of the relationship between political contributions and public pension investments. That relationship was a central theme in the Illinois governor’s race when Rauner’s opponents questioned whether his personal campaign contributions and payments by one of his portfolio companies unduly influenced state investment decisions.

Rauner's campaign did not respond to an interview request from IBTimes.

Rauner is a longtime private equity executive whose firm, GTCR, manages public pension money. Financial disclosure documents show he still retains ownership stakes in 15 GTCR entities. Though Rauner said he retired from the firm in 2012, SEC documents show he retains a partnership stake in at least one GTCR subsidiary. The two state pension systems he will now oversee as governor list GTCR as managing state money.

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[louis-t]

1. Foxes guarding the henhouse.

I really think being a crook is a requirement to get elected for repugs.

[pscot]

2. Be a first if he was indicted before the innagural

The Republicans are raising the bar.

[riderinthestorm]

8. Crooked Illinois politics as usual nt

[surrealAmerican]

3. Why does this not surprise me at all?

I still don't understand why people voted for him.

[AngryAmish]

5. Because it wad a choice between having cancer or being septic.

No matter what, we eat a bag of assholes.

[roamer65]

4. Who's the lieutenant governor-elect?

That person just may be your next governor, Illinois.

[City Lights]

6. Nothing about this barrel of slime surprises me.

He is as shady as they come. Why more people couldn't see it is beyond me.

[Sienna86]

7. Why am I not surprised?

The next few years are going to be interesting.

[Martin Eden]

9. Rauner's private equity firm GTCR (R for Rauner) ...

... briefly owned the company I've worked for 21 years. My boss -- a senior vice president and self described "very conservative guy" -- said there's no way in hell he would vote for that man.