Vallas knocks Rauner on business record, Cayman Island investment

Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign again knocked Republican Bruce Rauner on Sunday for a lack of transparency in his business record and accused him of not taking enough responsibility for private equity giant GTCR while he was chairman.

“He is not a businessman that creates jobs or a product or improves services. He is a businessman that improves profit,” Quinn’s running mate, Paul Vallas, said at a news conference Sunday outside Rauner’s campaign headquarters in downtown Chicago.

The Democratic lieutenant governor hopeful criticized Rauner for not taking responsibility for legal problems at GTCR subsidiaries, including a bankrupt nursing home accused of patient neglect and a brokerage firm that allegedly defrauded clients of millions of dollars.

“He brags about being a hands-on businessman, who handpicks the executives and puts them in positions of responsibility,” Vallas said. “But once controversies emerge, he’s a hands-off CEO with five degrees of separation.”

It was the latest jab from Quinn’s campaign, which has also demanded Rauner release his complete tax returns to show he’s fully complied with U.S. tax laws.

Rauner has released 1040 forms with no attachments for 2010, 2011 and 2012. He sought an extension for filing his 2013 taxes, which he has said he will do by Oct. 15.

The Rauner campaign fired back Sunday, pointing to the federal investigation of Quinn’s failed $54.5 million Neighborhood Recovery Initiative.

“This is typical mudslinging from a flailing campaign trying to cover up the fact that Pat Quinn picked up right where Rod Blagojevich left off,” Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf said in an email to the Chicago Sun-Times.

He added: “Vallas knows Pat Quinn has broken every major promise Quinn made as governor — that’s why this campaign continues to try to distort the truth.”