Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is naturally pushing for Chicago to land Amazon's HQ2, with all of its development potential and high-paying jobs. But he is also in favor of St. Louis, in case Chicago does not pan out.
Not long after Amazon made its announcement, the governor said he would participate in efforts to persuade Amazon to pitch its tent in Chicago, despite his well-known testy relationship with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago Tribune reports.
"St. Louis is also competing, and we have a major population center in Metro East," Rauner said. "We have major strategic transportation advantages in Metro East around the St. Louis area ... if St. Louis has some benefits that they bring in terms of their overall package, we want to make sure that Illinois is positioned to be a great benefit of that."
The governor has not yet made a trip to Seattle to pitch either Chicago or St. Louis, though officials from Chicago, Deputy Gov. Leslie Munger and economic development chiefs recently did so.
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