Rauner making bid for South Side votes

CHICAGO (WLS) -- In the race for Illinois governor, Republican Bruce Rauner is making another bid to win votes on Chicago's South Side. He just opened a new office on East 79th Street.

A Republican campaign office on the black South Side of Chicago is a rarity. Rauner opened his office there with some fanfare Friday afternoon during what has been a controversial week for the candidate.

As barbecue smoke wafted over the Chatham neighborhood and soul music on speakers, Rauner was welcomed in the heavily democratic South Side ward.

"We're here because we're going to work for every family, every voter in every community throughout the state of Illinois," Rauner said.

At the news conference, the candidate was asked about Thursday's federal indictment of two former executives at a firm in which Rauner's company had invested.

"Behavior inside large organizations, unfortunately, is not always perfect, and if they're guilty they should serve jail time," he said.

The latest scandal follows earlier problems at Rauner-controlled companies and recent questions about his offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands.

"Over and over again, candidate Rauner dodges accountability and responsibility," said Governor Pat Quinn.

In Springfield Friday, Quinn repeated his call for Rauner to release his Federal tax return and criticized Rauner's business acumen.

"These are not good businesses, these are bad businesses and we don't want to bring in these kind of people to our state government in Illinois," said Quinn.

Last week, the wealthy businessman promised to deposit $1 million in an African-owned credit union.

He was asked Friday if he was trying to buys black votes with dollars last week and ribs and chicken this week.

"We are all about reaching out to the voters," Rauner said. "We celebrate in the campaign process and we have food at most of the campaign offices. We're all about getting volunteers out, this is all part of the process."

During the news conference, Rauner was not asked about the tax issue alluded to by Gov. Quinn Friday. Rauner is on the record as saying he will release his 2013 tax return on October 15. He has not said whether or not he will include the details or schedules in that return.