Today Was the First Day for the Gov. of Illinois’ New Aide. It Was Also His Last, After Anti-Gay Tweets Revealed.

GOP Governor Having Trouble Keeping Office Staffed

Monday was the first day of work for Illinois GOP Governor Bruce Rauner’s new “hand-picked” staffer. It was also his last. After a report in Politico, Rauner’s new aide, known as a “body man,” who would have traveled with the governor and been responsible for his schedule and other tasks, was reportedly fired, according to both Politico and the Chicago Sun-Times. 

“He repeatedly used the word ‘faggot’ and in one, says ‘I bet you liked that #fag,’ responding to someone who Tweeted: ‘saying insanity bent me over and raped me would be an understatement,'” reports Politico, which identified the man as Ben Tracy, and posted several screenshots of the now locked account.

“You stole that from me, homo,” reads one tweet. “And yes, I know that last tweet was gay as shit,” reads another.

“To the Indian people in the library: SHUT THE FUCK UP,” reads still one more.

Another tweet asks if “Maybe body slamming reporters is the winning formula for republicans [sic]” in Illinois.

The Sun-Times also reports the “tweets were reposted by @RadicalCandorIL – a parody account that has criticized the governor since the rash of firings began last week.”

But some took the hiring itself as mounting evidence of Rauner having trouble. The Chicago Sun-Times reports “Rauner staffers ‘dropping like flies’ in wave of firings, resignations.”

“Gov. Bruce Rauner’s trusted policy chief kicked off another week of tumult in the administration on Monday, becoming the latest high-level staffer to leave the governor’s staff under protest,” the paper reports. “That brings the total number who have left since last week to at least 20.”

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Photo of Gov Rauner by JanetandPhil via Flickr and a CC license