Rahm and Rauner. Rauner and Rahm.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Bruce Rauner could have made beautiful music together. Instead, there has been nothing but discord.

Theirs is as petty and unproductive a feud as we have seen in modern Illinois politics. In shorthand, Rahm and Rauner became Rahm versus Rauner, replete with fighting words that got in the way of progress.

Emanuel’s surprise announcement Tuesday that he will not seek re-election likely sapped the venom from the feud. Behind them now is the lost potential that two of the most powerful leaders in the state could have leveraged, if only their egos and narrow political agendas had not gotten in the way.

Read the rest at chicagotribune.com.

David Greising is the president and chief executive of the Better Government Association, joining the BGA in 2018. For nearly a century, the BGA has fought for honest and effective government through investigative journalism and policy advocacy.

Greising’s career started at the City News Bureau of Chicago, with stops at the Chicago Sun-Times, Business Week magazine, the Chicago Tribune and Reuters. He was a co-founder of the Chicago News Cooperative and worked briefly as a consultant to World Business Chicago. Today, Greising writes on government issues in regular columns for the Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business.

Under Greising’s leadership, the BGA has played a key role in uncovering public corruption amidst the wide-ranging federal probe, starting with an in-depth report about Ald. Ed Burke’s conflicts of interest before the federal charges against Burke. The BGA also has exposed waste and fraud at O’Hare and the proliferation of corruption and poverty into Dolton, Lyons and other Chicago suburbs. The BGA’s policy team has led calls for ethics reform in Chicago’s City Council and in state government.