Texas Gov. Rick Perry is headed to Chicago next week on a corporate raiding mission in which he hopes to corral some of the state’s finest companies and get them to move or expand down Austin way. His message is blunt — Illinois’ business climate is “not unlike a burning building on the verge of collapse” — and local officials here are just as subtle in their responses.
“I think his efforts in Illinois will be as successful as his presidential campaign,” shot back Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. “I spent some time with Rick (visiting U.S. troops) in Afghanistan. He’s a big talker.”
Said Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a message relayed via his spokeswoman, “Imagine the jobs they’d bring in (to Texas) if they had a governor who could remember all three parts of his three-part plan.”
