Friday, July 24, 2015

A first for Illinois as Republican governor fights anti-Semitism in state pension systems.

By Rob Janicki
Illinois Governor, Republican Bruce Rauner, a political novice and governor only since January 2015 has been shaking up the State of Illinois since the day he became governor.  His latest exploit is nothing short of an exceptional act in a liberal Democratic state with Democrats in control of both houses of the legislature.

Bruce Rauner became the first state leader to sign into law “historic” legislation that makes it illegal for any taxpayer-funded public pension fund to invest in any company that participates in the fiercely anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Rauner was joined at the signing ceremony by Jewish community leaders and other lawmakers who backed the bill, which was a first in any U.S. state legislature.


Rauner came from the world of business and not just any kind of business.  With a degree in economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School, Rauner worked for the private equity firm of GTCR for more than 30 years, starting in 1981 and retiring as CEO in 2012. Between his retirement from GTCR and becoming governor, Rauner had opened an office for a self-financed venture firm, R8 Capital Partners. Rauner also served on the boards of several non-profit NGO's.

Somewhere along his career path, Rauner developed a desire to enter government to exercise his business skills in downsizing state government and removing the corrupting influence of state unions.  So far, Rauner has been quite successful in implementing his vision of conservative government.

Rauner's latest effort, noted above, had one distinct objective and that was to fight anti-Semitism in state pension systems that had been investing in companies that had taken to adopting BDS (boycotting, divesting and sanctioning) practices in regard to investments in Israeli business firms.

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