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Republican governor candidate Bruce Rauner is broadening his attacks on Gov. Pat Quinn to accuse the Democrat of abuse, neglect (and) tragic mismanagement in the deaths of children whose families had previous contact with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

The accusations were made in a new, one-minute Rauner radio ad that contends Quinn administration failures include the deaths of 95 children in which the states child welfare agency had reported having contact with the victims families within the prior year.

The radio commercial comes from a Rauner campaign that has had a heavy television presence, including three TV ads that were introduced last week. On Monday, Quinn launched two new TV ads, including one featuring First Lady Michelle Obama, who is scheduled to campaign with the governor Tuesday.

Rauners radio ad, one of two now airing in Chicago, cites allegations of illegal patronage hiring raised by a state inspector general and federal grand jury probes into a $54.5 million anti-violence grant program Quinn began shortly before the 2010 election.

But the worst part? Quinn isnt just costing us dollars. Hes costing us lives, a female narrator says. Under the direct responsibility of Quinns Department of Children and Family Services, 95 Illinois children died. Abuse, neglect, tragic mismanagement. Ninety-five innocent children who depended on Illinois gone. Forever.

The figure used by the Rauner campaign is a reference to numbers obtained in a joint Sun-Times-WBEZ FM investigation which found from 2011 to 2013 there were at least 95 instances in which DCFS had contact with the child or family within a year of the childs death.

Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson called the ad a false and malicious attempt to smear the governor. She contended Rauner was cynically using for political purposes an agency that intervenes in emergency life and death situations involving at-risk children.

To imply the governor is somehow responsible for the deaths of children in the horrific circumstances that this agency enters into while trying to save lives is despicable and a new low, she said.

Another one-minute Rauner radio ad plays off an earlier TV spot that attacked the combined 100-year service of Democrats Quinn, House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton and imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Quinn countered with his latest TV ads, including one featuring Michelle Obama noting his support for raising the states minimum wage and attacking Rauners suggestion that he would reduce Illinois income tax rates to 2010 levels within four years. Quinn wants to make permanent the states 2011 Democratic-passed income tax hike.

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Rauner radio ad hits Quinn on DCFS deaths