As your faithful correspondent, I was compelled to read Governor Bruce Rauner’s recent essay on why he vetoed the state budget. The piece was conveniently located on the editorial page of my Chicago Tribune, home delivered as always.
Two questions immediately popped into my mind when I read that passage. First of all, when did Rauner start referring to his administration in the third person? And second, is Illinois’s economy really in decline? I had to wonder after seeing those CEO salaries—which I really will get to shortly.
OK, I must admit that I didn’t randomly choose that example. As you may recall, Rauner’s old investment company owned a nursing-home chain that was hit with more than $1 billion in such judgments. However, when families of the dead relatives tried to collect, they discovered that the nursing-home company had been sold to a retired graphic artist named Barry Saacks, who said he didn’t know he owned it. It was one of my favorite revelations to emerge from last year’s gubernatorial campaign.
Number two on the list was Peter Liguori, CEO of Tribune Media, who raked in about $23 million in salary and compensation. Rounding out the top five were Richard Gonzalez of AbbVie ($22 million), Irene Rosenfeld of Mondelez International ($21 million), Samuel Allen of Deere ($20 million), and Mick Dumke of the Reader. Sorry, Mick—I’m just kidding. Somehow you didn’t make the list.
