Madigan Rep: Rauner Didn't Call on Election Night

That's not what the governor-elect said!

Michael Madigan's spokesman says that the Democratic Illinois House Speaker didn't speak with Bruce Rauner on Election Night, refuting remarks the Republican governor-elect made in his victory speech.

"There was never a conversation," Steve Brown tells Ward Room, quipping that he looked for "voice mail, smoke signals, Post-it notes on the refrigerator" to no avail.

A Rauner representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Late Tuesday, a triumphant Rauner announced he'd just "placed two very important phone calls" with Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, another powerful Democrat, telling them: "This is an opportunity for us to work together. This is an opportunity for us to come together on a bipartisan basis to solve the problems, the challenges, facing the families of Illinois. This is our time, this is a transformational period. We will not accept the status quo."

Cullerton and Rauner did not exchange words, either. The state senator's rep confirmed to the Sun-Times that aides for the politicians had spoken—not the politicians themselves.

Meanwhile, a Rauner rep said his boss "left a voicemail for the Speaker" and had not suggested that he'd talked directly with Madigan and Cullerton in the moments before his Election Night address.

Brown said Madigan's office could not locate the voicemail in question.

Perhaps Rauner got swept up in the moment and embellished a bit? Either way, thanks to Madigan, he's in for a bumpy ride come 2015.

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