Mystery, solved!
After some confusion, Michael Madigan's spokesman says he finally found the voicemail that Republican Governor-Elect Bruce Rauner alleged to have left for the Democratic House Speaker on Election Night. A search revealed that Illinois' incoming CEO had placed a message to a Madigan staffer under an unknown number.
"Why he called that number I'm not sure," Steve Brown tells Ward Room, adding that staff was "very busy" fielding calls from people they knew.
Brown reiterated that "there was no conversation" between Madigan and Rauner as suggested by the latter on Tuesday night when he told a roomful of supporters that he'd dialed up the Springfield power broker and fellow Democrat/Senate President John Cullerton. He said he told them: "This is an opportunity for us to work together. ... We will not accept the status quo."
Earlier this week, a Rauner rep denied that his boss meant to imply that he had direct conversations with Madigan and Cullerton in the moments before his Election Night address.
