Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s political adversaries seized on the moment. | Brian Cassella/Getty Images ‘It looks kind of skeevy’: Illinois governor shamed by cash giveaway

CHICAGO — It isn’t easy to stun political insiders in a city with a rich history of corruption. Here, cash bribes are stuffed in brown paper bags, a long line of aldermen have gone to prison and a city council member was once famously caught on a wiretap proclaiming: “most aldermen, most politicians are hos.”

But an incident at a Sunday church service involving the governor and a mayoral candidate may have just done it.


Gov. Bruce Rauner, who’s campaigning as an anti-corruption crusader, today found himself fending off attacks on his own ethics after attending an event where a political ally handed out $300,000 in cash.

The cash giveaway happened after the Republican governor spoke to a church on Chicago’s South Side on Sunday along with Willie Wilson, a onetime presidential candidate and 2019 challenger to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Both Rauner and Wilson, political allies, addressed the congregation with the governor stating: “We’re honored to help you pay your property taxes. Happy to do it.” It was a reference, his campaign later explained, to Rauner’s work with Wilson’s private foundation.

Wilson then stood inside the church holding stacks of cash and handed out bills to passersby.

Wilson told POLITICO that the money was from his foundation — and that $100,000 of it came from Rauner himself.

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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.

“It looks kind of skeevy,” said Ken Menzel, general counsel at the Illinois State Board of Elections, who noted he did not have enough information to make a call one way or another on the matter. “If that were the threshold for Illinois politics, the chambers would be empty.”

Rauner stepped up his criticism of Wilson on Monday, saying he didn’t know of the plan to hand out cash at the event and condemned Wilson for doing so.

News of the cash hand-outs from a candidate to potential voters harkened back to Chicago’s rich tradition of smoked-filled backroom deals, secret payoffs and a line of aldermen who’ve served prison time.

“It’s always happened, it just depends on what scale, what magnitude … Situations close to this but smaller in scale were prevalent back in the day. Not to this magnitude and not to this openness, but yes, I’ve seen this before,” said Burt Odelson, an election attorney for 45 years.

Odelson said while he wouldn’t declare a crime had been committed, it got close to the line.

“Vote buying was put in the statute for a reason. The General Assembly didn’t want anyone influenced by direct cash money in their pocket.”

A Rauner campaign spokesman said the governor’s remarks referenced the work of Wilson’s foundation and were not a reference to giving out money.

“Governor Rauner has supported the Willie Wilson Foundation to help people hurt by the rigged property tax system in Cook County. He was not aware that any cash was going to be handed out at the event,” campaign spokesman Alex Browning said Monday. “The governor respects Dr. Wilson’s philanthropic pursuits, but believes distributing cash is inappropriate for any candidate seeking public office.”

On Sunday evening, Rauner’s team would only issue a statement regarding the governor’s attendance at the event.

Rauner’s political adversaries seized on the moment.

“So let me get this straight. @BruceRauner , the sitting governor of the state of Illinois went to church yesterday and watched as $100,000 of his own money was handed out in front of him,” J.B. Pritzker’s campaign manager, Anne Caprara said over Twitter. “A sitting governor who regularly rants against corruption in Springfield, but somehow thinks that handing out cash to voters after a campaign speech does not smack of corruption????”

The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, which monitors Illinois campaign activity, say there’s nothing outright illegal about Wilson giving out money to help people.

“But there definitely are ethical questions that need to be asked,” said Eric Bradoch, a reporter and analyst for the non-partisan public interest group. “Is it right for a governor to go to an event where he knows charitable donations are being made and also at the same time promote himself as a candidate for governor?”