Uh-oh Dan Rutherford just got caught breaking 1 of the 2 Political Sexy Time no-no's

Don't get caught with a dead girl or... a Live Boy.

Politics is a mean, nasty business. Allegations that Illinois State Treasurer and Republican Governor Candidate Dan Rutherford engaged in "official misconduct" have lead to revelations about Rutherford's relationship with a male employee of the Treasury Department.

The Chicago Suntimes is reporting that Dan Rutherford has taken multiple overseas trips with his 28 old year male personal assistant, Josh Lanning. Dan and the young Josh have taken trips to Australia, Israel, China and South Korea.

During each trip, Rutherford received his taxpayer-funded salary, as did his executive assistant, Josh Lanning. The Chinese People’s Institute for Foreign Affairs paid for Rutherford’s trip to China. The Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago paid for the trip to Israel, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea, paid for Rutherford’s trip to Korea.

The previous Treasury Secretary Republican Judy Baar Topinka, who served 12 years as claims she never travelled overseas, nor has she as Illinois State Comptroller.

Rutherford denied the trips were vacations saying they served educational purposes.

There are numerous photos of Rutherford and Lanning relaxing and taking interesting day trips and the two repeatedly shared a room on all of these unusual overseas excursions.

Personally, I hate this. Dan Rutherford has always denied being gay. I hate that Dan Rutherford is going to go down because of his personal life choices. If he is or is not gay shouldn't matter. But, being gay is a terrible sin to conservatives. To me the only way that Rutherford's sex life is at all relevant is if he made political decisions against equality or used his political offices to support homophobic positions. 

Rutherford is opposed to gay marriage on religious grounds, although he was the only Illinois Republican to vote for civil unions. So, I could understand people whom Rutherford has harmed by virtue of his office being okay with his outing.

As details have not be released I'm theorizing the case against Rutherford hinges on him sexual harassing members of his errr, staff and/or giving preferential treatment/special favors for his "personal assistant" Josh.

Of importance is what kind of quid pro quo Rutherford promised these foreign governments, who paid for these trips, if he became the next Governor of Illinois? Sweetheart trade deals? Taxpayer assistance and infrastructure to any foreign business which moves an operation here? Passage of Right-to-Work-for-Less Legislation?

Whatever the outcome, Rutherford's gubernatorial aspirations are most likely done.

Bruce Rauner's crimes make him a Quintessential Republican, as the Illinois Governor's Race heats up

Republicans Dan Rutherford and Kirk Dillard have alleged that the latest revelations about GTCR Nursing Home negligence make the Billionaire Bruce Rauner unfit to be the Republican Candidate for Governor in Illinois.

Quite the contrary, Bruce Rauner's willingness to kick old people to the curb and swipe their savings are in direct accordance with established Republican Orthodoxy.

Conservatives and Republicans love criminals; especially as their Governors. Chris Christie, Bob McDonnell are just the latest caught abusing their office for personal gain or vendetta.

Now, Bruce Rauner is a special case. Here in Illinois, the Plutocracy sees a chance to install one of their henchmen in the Governor's Mansion in Springfield.

His career reads much like Mitt Romney's in that he used accounting gimmicks and vulture capitalism to make money. Rauner's firm has been managing the largest Illinois Public Pensions since the 1990's consequently we now have unfunded pension crisis as Rauner has been steadily swindling the Pensions.

When the Nursing Home Industry came within sights of Vulture Capitalists in the late 1990's and early 00's, Bruce Rauner's GTCR firm saw another spigot of taxpayer funds they could pilfer. Which, just like with public pensions, is exactly what Bruce Rauner and his Wealth Management Fund did. They stole millions of Medicaid Dollars marked for Nursing Home Care and provided worse services.

From 1999 to 2003, GTCR and THI began acquiring nursing homes with funding from GECC, Ventas and other lenders. THI became one of the nation’s largest health care operators with more than 220 facilities and more than a billion in revenue at that time. 

When Medicare money for residents’ rent flowed into the THI account, GECC and Ventas took their share before monies were available to cover payroll, supplies, utilities, etc. for the hundreds of nursing homes, according to evidence presented at trial. Insider operators and former employees began suing GTCR/THI over poor management, as did nursing home residents and their families because of what was described as abysmal care.

Rauner's firm then engaged in active negligence, in order to run their 200+ facilities into insolvency because who cares what happens to the senile old people families can't afford to look after because they were working two jobs each to try and stay afloat during the Ultra-Reactionary Piss Down Your Back Reaganomics era?

Republicans are not in Government to help people, unless you mean Romney People (i.e. Corporations) they are in Government to ensure that wealth is transferred upwards and regular Americans are shackled into Corporate Bondage.

There's nothing fresh, innovative or helpful for Illinois residents coming from Republicans. Illinois has seen their Republicans on the federal level defend taxpayer welfare going to Oil Companies while they also vote to eliminate the Clean Air and Water Act, so those self-same Companies can then dump petcoke or other toxic byproducts into Lake Michigan or where ever they please.

Now, after these latest despicable revelations about the thieving Bruce Rauner came back to the forefront of the Illinois Governor's Race, Dan Rutherford has suddenly found himself in trouble from allegations made by a former attorney who worked for Bruce Rauner.

Rutherford announced — during a hastily called news conference — that a treasurer's office employee who has made "allegations of misconduct" against him was being represented by an attorney who had been on Rauner's payroll. Rutherford said the attorney demanded $300,000 on the employee's behalf to "walk away and keep it under wraps."

Dan Rutherford has also said the issue involves "allegations of personal misconduct" which was looked into by an internal Illinois Treasury Department investigation. The general counsel for the treasurer's office Neil Olson, said outside counsel and a consultant firm had been retained for an independent probe because the treasurer is the accused.

I haven't and won't speculate about what the allegations against Dan Rutherford are because going through people's underwear drawers looking for smut and sniffing crotches is a Republican tradition.

As for Kirk Dillard, I've had personal contact with the man during a fundraising dinner for a State Representative Sandy Pihos. I suppose I could set the scene but the gist is when a person with juice,a DuPage County Judge, walked nearby Dillard pivoted his big belly away and turned a cold shoulder towards myself and someone else who had been asking him difficult questions regarding the Pension crisis.

No matter what Republican wins the nomination for Governor in Illinois we are going to be faced with the prospect of a rapacious servant of the Rich who will be an implacable foe to the Working Man and will use the Awesome Power of Government to transfer as much wealth as possible into the coffers of the Vulture Capitalist Class.