Longtime Chicago Sun-Times political reporter Dave McKinney resigned from the newspaper Wednesday, saying he was pulled from his beat by "bosses" of the paper's editor and publisher Jim Kirk and was placed under what he described as "house arrest" as possible retaliation for co-authoring an unflattering article about Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner.

In his resignation letter to Michael Ferro, chairman of Wrapports, which owns the Sun-Times, McKinney said he was placed on leave two days after the Oct. 6 Rauner story, and was told that his exile might be permanent.

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"It was pure hell. Kirk told me that his bosses were considering taking me away permanently from the political and Springfield beats," McKinney wrote to Ferro. "He offered up other potential jobs at the paper, all of which I considered demotions."