CHICAGO (AP) – Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner offered conflicting statements Tuesday on a political cartoon critics have called racist, first saying he didn’t have anything to add to the discussion “as a white male” before walking it back hours later.
The first-term Republican had repeatedly said he hadn’t seen the image, which depicts a black Chicago schoolchild begging for money from a suit-clad white man who has cash stuffed in one pocket. The cartoon was circulated online last week by the Chicago-based Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank Rauner has links to.
Lawmakers widely criticized the image, with Republicans and Democrats standing up in opposition on the Illinois House floor last week. The image, meant to illustrate inequity in school funding, was removed hours later.
Rauner’s spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick, said in a Tuesday afternoon statement that the governor has respect for lawmakers who have concerns, but he’s also heard from black residents “who found truth in the imagery and do not find the cartoon offensive.”
“The cartoon was removed days ago. And the governor – as a white male – does not have anything more to add to the discussion,” Patrick said in a statement first sent to Chicago’s WMAQ-TV. “The fixation on this cartoon and the governor’s opinion of it has been disappointing.”