Topspin Gov. Bruce Rauner covered a lot of ground during his Tuesday appearance before the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, outlining what he says would be different if he is able to win a second term and criticizing both his fellow Republicans and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Near the end of the hourlong session, the governor was asked if he had bad messaging during his time in office and what he could do about it. "In some ways, that's the most important question," Rauner replied. "I think we're losing the messaging to a significant degree," he added, before offering some reasons why. For starters, Rauner acknowledged he is the governor and therefore he naturally gets blamed if something goes wrong. Then, the governor echoed President Donald Trump (though as per usual, Rauner did not mention him by name). "There's bias in the media," Rauner said. "For sure." Reason No. 3: "It's very, very difficult to talk to 12 and a half million people about a topic that's complex in any effective way," he said, referencing Illinois' population. "I've tried my best to get out there and do groups and go on the radio and TV, etc., and talk to editorial boards. And what gets printed ... or published or televised versus what I say, it's not always related." That Rauner is interested in messaging is no surprise to people who follow state politics. During his original staff shake-up this summer, the governor turned to the Illinois Policy Institute, a think tank with a free-market message that aligns with the governor's worldview and has spent years developing a public relations infrastructure via newspapers, radio and the internet. "We just need to get our friends and our neighbors and our allies to stand up together and message on this issue," the governor said at an event at the time. "Everything we're fighting for is a win for the people of Illinois, and we've got to message that together." That new crew was replaced not long afterward after a series of missteps. And the governor has spent millions of dollars on TV advertising since appearing on the political scene. A year ago, he put $50 million more in his campaign fund. Back to the question posed to him Tuesday. During his answer, Rauner mentioned the "Ask the Governor" segments on public radio station WBEZ-AM 91.5 that he appeared on earlier this year. "I loved it, and I got a lot of hostile, nasty questions ... and it was great. And people tell me that I handled it reasonably well," he said. "And in fact what the feedback I got was it was going a little too well. And some of the powers that be didn't want me going on there. That was really more of a Democrat station and not a Republican station, and my message was actually getting through." Rauner suggested he was told "well there's an election coming soon and we think we should end these." "The nature of our system where influential people are in different positions related to other people, it's very difficult to change," said Rauner, who did not offer specifics. The station's CEO had a different take, saying it is "committed to providing voters with fair coverage of all candidates." "WBEZ and Governor Rauner's team agreed that the 'Ask the Governor' segment would have a limited run and end by Labor Day, as it would not be fair to gubernatorial candidates of all parties to allow the governor an hour of airtime each month during the election campaign," Goli Sheikholeslami said in a statement. What's on tap *Mayor Rahm Emanuel has no public schedule. *Gov. Rauner will be in the Loop to sign legislation to lower limited liability company filing fees. From the notebook *Ricketts snubbed: Although Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts had been under consideration to lead the influential Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank announced Tuesday that someone else got the job. New President Kay Cole James was on President Donald Trump's transition team after serving as director of the Office of Personnel Management under President George W. Bush. Ricketts had been up for the No. 2 job at the Commerce Department but withdrew his name from consideration, saying his family business interests posed potential conflicts of interest. (Katherine Skiba) *Orr endorsement rattles assessor candidates: Cook County Clerk David Orr says his appointee to the county Electoral Board will sit out election cases involving the assessor's race, after candidates complained that he has a conflict of interest. Orr endorsed asset manager Fritz Kaegi's Democratic primary bid against incumbent Assessor Joe Berrios and challenger Andrea Raila. Raila's petition signatures to get on the March ballot have been challenged, and the fight over such cases are handled by a board in the Election Division of Orr's office. Raila says that's a conflict of interest. In response to Raila's complaint, Orr said Tuesday he will tell his appointee to the three-member Electoral Board, Daniel Madden, to recuse himself from cases involving the assessor race "to prevent any distraction." But Raila's attorney, Frank Avila, said Orr should remove himself entirely from the process by having it moved to another jurisdiction. And Berrios campaign manager Mario Lopez also called for Orr to recuse himself "from all electoral proceedings regarding the Cook County assessor's race." The other two members of the board are appointed by State's Attorney Kim Foxx and Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown. (John Byrne) What we're writing *Rauner lays out how second term will be different, blames Emanuel for first-term failures. *Trump EPA pick for Midwest cut enforcement, scrapped climate change information in Wisconsin. *Strategist Robling touted volunteer work for College of DuPage while then-chairwoman paid his son's tuition. *What does the tax bill mean for you? *Illinois Republicans and Democrats in Congress stick with their parties on tax vote. *Chicago to pay $20 million to settle code-of-silence lawsuit over fatal crash caused by drunken cop, sources say. *How well can you do on a Chicago news quiz? (We aced the political questions.) What we're reading *Failed Bridgeport bank sold, millions in uninsured deposits at risk. *Old main post office owner lands $500 million construction loan. *There's a 40 percent chance Chicago has a white Christmas. Follow the money *The Democratic Party of Illinois reported $139,800 in contributions. The party's chairman, House Speaker Michael Madigan, reported $52,700, and his Democratic Majority Fund reported $65,700 more. *Track Illinois campaign contributions in real time here and here. Beyond Chicago *Republican tax bill moves closer to Trump's desk. *Likely no DACA vote, or government shutdown. *Punishing North Korea for cyberattack could be hard. *Single vote decides Virginia House race. | 
