Republican candidate for governor Bruce Rauner is distancing himself from the resignation of longtime Chicago Sun-Times Springfield reporter Dave McKinney. McKinney quit Wednesday, blaming the Rauner campaign for "intimidation and interference" in his reporting.
Rauner says his campaign didn't cause McKinney to quit. The Springfield bureau chief resigned Wednesday after he says the paper tried to push him out of his political beat.
McKinney says the Rauner campaign tried to kill a story that detailed allegations of a former business associate. In a sworn affidavit, the business partner says Rauner threatened her and her family.
Rauner's campaign failed to stop the story, but the campaign alleged McKinney had a conflict of interest because his wife is a Democratic political consultant. McKinney says his wife works on out-of-state campaigns and took special precautions to avoid any involvement in the race for governor.
After being temporarily suspended, McKinney says he resigned because the protections between journalists and management had eroded, as Rauner had once been a part-owner of the paper.
But Rauner says he's not involved.
"I don't know, I don't know all the issues in that. I've had no involvement with that. Our campaign expressed concern with an article we thought was extremely misleading and badly done but that goes on with media outlets all the time, there's nothing unusual about that."
--- Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner
Rauner's campaign wished McKinney well, and the candidate says the campaign did nothing wrong.
"I know that our campaign staff was very upset and talked with reporters and I believe editors at the Sun-Times about that particular article but that's part of the standard process, went through the proper channels. It sounds like the Sun-Times has internal management issues and I have no interest getting in the middle of that, that has nothing to do with our campaign."
--- Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner
Rauner was a part-owner of the Sun-Times' parent company until he sold his stake last year. After three years of not endorsing candidates, the paper's editorial board endorsed Rauner Sunday.
