Quinn, Rauner square off for final governor debate

CHICAGO -- Governor Pat Quinn and Republican challenger Bruce Rauner faced off in their final debate before the November 4 election Monday night.

We had to get some answers to question posed but unanswered during previous debates and we also had to break some new ground.

The governor seemed to be answering "yes" when asked if he'd seek a tax increase whether he wins or loses November 4.

"I've already talked about it last March in my budget," Quinn said. "I said we should maintain the income tax rate."

Rauner did answer when asked if he'd threatened a fired female executive who threatened to sue him.

"I absolutely did not ever say those things," he said.

But the wealthy private equity investor could not list one of his hundreds of companies that actually created jobs.

"There are hundreds and hundreds of companies there, many of them have gone public," Rauner said. "The point is there are so many."

Rauner's wealth, he admits in the hundreds of millions, was an issue throughout.

"He doesn't take any responsibility when things go wrong with his chain of companies," said Quinn. "He just takes the money and runs."

"You don't judge a person's heart by the size of their wallet," said Rauner.

Rauner criticized the governor for not choosing City Treasurer Stephanie Neely as Quinn's running mate and promised to hire Neely in a Rauner administration.

"Stephanie Neely, I know her. She's talented, she's a super star, I wish she was a Republican, she's not," Rauner said.

Rauner promised to hire Neely in his administration, but the governor again cited businessman Rauner's hiring record when it comes to African Americans.

"He couldn't find an African American executive to serve in his firm. I think that says a lot about the kind of hiring he's going to do in government," Quinn said.

Rauner acknowledged his support for "right to work," or opportunity zones, as he now calls them. And the candidates renewed their now-familiar disagreement on raising the minimum wage.

"We're going to raise the minimum wage this year, we're going to get it done," Quinn said.

"He's a phony on the minimum wage. He's playing political football to make it a political issue in the campaign," countered Rauner.

During his post-debate news conference, Rauner was able to mention one of his many companies that had created jobs. He mentioned Actient, a North Shore healthcare company financed at one point by Rauner's firm, GTCR.

However, he was not able to provide any details about how many jobs that firm had created when it was owned by GTCR.