Governor candidates focus on business, hiring

Illinois' gubernatorial campaigns clashed over business dealings and state hiring Monday, with Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn's running mate accusing Republican businessman Bruce Rauner of profiting "from fraud" and Rauner calling hiring under Quinn's Department of Transportation a "scam."

Both campaigns - locked into one of the most competitive governor's races nationwide - intensified focus on issues previously in the headlines.

Rauner blasted IDOT hiring days after Quinn's administration released a list of agency employees who were initially hired under a title that's been the subject of a federal lawsuit and state inspector general's report.

The report released last month found that 245 workers hired as "staff assistants" since 2002 were employed in a process that often skirted state rules prohibiting hiring based on political connections. Quinn has said he addressed hiring issues by calling for a systemic review, abolishing the position and laying off those still holding the title. IDOT officials announced Friday that more than 150 initially hired as staff assistants now work for the state in other positions, mostly at IDOT.

Rauner said Quinn should fire those them - pointing to individual examples in news reports - and vowed to work with a federal hiring monitor if elected. Rauner is making his first bid for public office.

"This scam, perpetrated by Pat Quinn, has got to end," Rauner, of Winnetka, told reporters. "Pat Quinn is not the folksy, bumbling fool he'd like us to think he is. He knows what he's doing. He knows what he's done."

Quinn administration officials have said the problem was not with hiring but with the work done once the individuals were at IDOT. Quinn's campaign said Monday that Rauner was "clearly getting very desperate with more falsehoods and name calling."

Meanwhile, Quinn's lieutenant governor running mate, Paul Vallas, called attention to APS Healthcare Inc., a company that was majority-owned by Rauner's former firm. The state of Georgia and the federal government alleged the company failed to provide services it was paid for. Without admitting fault, APS agreed to a 2011 federal settlement for $13 million.

Vallas said issues with the company and another Rauner firm, GTCR, had a stake in showed a pattern of how the multimillionaire earned his wealth.

"Bruce Rauner has no credibility when it comes to addressing waste, fraud and abuse, in fact, he has profited from fraud and abuse at his company," he said in a statement.

Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf said Rauner wasn't on the board at APS and played no role in managing the company.