From Crain’s Chicago Business:
A Chicago Sun-Times reporter hired former federal prosecutor Patrick Collins to investigate whether the campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner tried to interfere with his employment after the newspaper ran a story unfavorable to the politician.
Mr. Collins said in an interview with Crain’s that the Rauner campaign attempted to retaliate against Sun-Times political reporter Dave McKinney after the paper ran the story about Mr. Rauner allegedly verbally threatening a top executive of a company controlled by Mr. Rauner’s onetime investment firm. Mr. Rauner denied that report through a spokesman.
Mr. Collins, who represented the U.S. attorney’s office in the prosecution of former Republican Gov. George Ryan, declined to comment on exactly what the retaliation against Mr. McKinney may have entailed. Mr. McKinney declined to comment.
In response to Crain’s story, Chip Englander, Mr. Rauner’s campaign manager, emailed a statement to Crain’s dated Oct. 18. In it, Mr. Englander contends that the Sun-Times’ decision to publish Mr. McKinney’s story was “irresponsible” for reasons the campaign expressed earlier in that story, including that the executive’s allegations were tossed out of the court proceedings during which they came to light and that other statements contradicted them.
Read more: Crain’s
