With just under 200 days remaining until the primary in February, I wanted to give you an update on my campaign travels throughout Illinois.
I will be a Governor for all of Illinois, and over the next six months, you'll see me all over the state. We are however going to be spending a good portion of my campaign weeks in the Chicago metropolitan area. Just as we have done Downstate, we are assembling a first-rate campaign team in Chicago, suburban Cook and the collar counties. If you have suggestions for events I should attend, be sure to pass them along via email.
With some interruptions to deal with the state's budget crisis in Springfield, I've been in the Chicago area much of this month, starting with Fourth of July parades in Wheaton and Glen Ellyn. I've also spoken to the Kane County Republican Central Committee and found some good support there, as well as New Lenox Township in Will County and Lake Villa Township in Lake County.
Earlier this month I met with local business leaders in Jacksonville and members of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce to discuss issues affecting their businesses and what can be done to make Illinois more attractive for job creation and retention. I also had the opportunity to attend a meeting of the Cook County chapter of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly and talk about some of the concerns facing Latino families with local Latino leaders.
Last week I was back in session in Springfield. The Governor has now signed an operating budget for Illinois, meaning that employees, vendors and service providers are being paid. Unfortunately the Chicago Democrats and the governor have leveraged our children's future to accomplish what they call a balanced budget. Mark my words, this budget is a fiscal disaster and leaves our state worse off, our children worse off, and sends a bad message to businesses trying to save jobs for hard-working Illinoisans.
I look forward to seeing you all somewhere along the campaign trail over the next few months. Thanks for all you do.
-Bill Brady
Republican Candidate for Governor
5:10 PM
If you ever wondered where you could go to find answers to the issues, the Heritage Foundation's website askheritage.org is as good as any. There information on public healthcare is factual and straight to the point. For instance, private health insurance plans will be crowded out of the market by the government. Plain and simple. Premiums will go up too, maybe by as much as $460 per person. Just those two facts alone have shown me that government run healthcare is not good for private insurance companies. What other private sector healthcare area will government destroy?
1:23 PM
On Sunday, July 26th, I attended my good friend and colleague Henry County Treasurer Rich VerHeecke's annual fundraiser held at the city park in Geneseo. I was certainly glad to see such a great turnout and to see several folks who supported me in the state senate run last year. Rich has this every year and his support is fantastic. Rich and I are good friends and I was really glad to see him.
I spoke on Bill Brady's behalf and received a good response. Bill's campaign is doing well as he has made several radio shows.
Picture: rich and me
10:03 AM
No doubt Republicans face a challenge in 2010 despite the one-party rule problems in Illinois and elsewhere around the nation. Like Bill Brady said on Saturday the 25th in Springfield, "It's not going to be a cakewalk." I agree. We as Republicans have been given some excellent opportunities. However we need to capitalize on them so that more jobs will come into Illinois.
Pollster John Zogby said the Republican Party has to appeal to the fast-growing demographic groups. Zogby founded his company in 1984 and has a marvelous reputation. He is a good pollster. He said the GOPers have to appeal to Latinos and African-Amercans. His findings include that 40 percent of Americans consider themselves conservative, 20 percent say they are liberal, and 40 percent say they are moderate independents. The key word to me is independent. Some in the Republican Party favor recruiting these independents to join the GOP. Good Luck! They don't generally want party affiliation. I know, too bad for us.... but as a candidate I first know who to campaign to. We have to think of those 40 percent who are on the fence and have the votes to get a candidate elected. My experience has been that most people say "I vote for the person." Zogby refers to these 40 percent independents as the big middle.
Do they like conservative values? Generally yes. They want low taxes and they want controls on spending and they want good schools. They also want something to show for their tax dollars. I agree. We as Republicans must give the electorate candidates who have that "something" which appeals to voters.
We need alternative plans to counter what the Democrats have to offer. An alternative energy plan is a good start. We have to "ramp up" these efforts in order for us to win seats. Growth has to happen for us, not happen around. We have to be part of the growth!
Pollster John Zogby said the Republican Party has to appeal to the fast-growing demographic groups. Zogby founded his company in 1984 and has a marvelous reputation. He is a good pollster. He said the GOPers have to appeal to Latinos and African-Amercans. His findings include that 40 percent of Americans consider themselves conservative, 20 percent say they are liberal, and 40 percent say they are moderate independents. The key word to me is independent. Some in the Republican Party favor recruiting these independents to join the GOP. Good Luck! They don't generally want party affiliation. I know, too bad for us.... but as a candidate I first know who to campaign to. We have to think of those 40 percent who are on the fence and have the votes to get a candidate elected. My experience has been that most people say "I vote for the person." Zogby refers to these 40 percent independents as the big middle.
Do they like conservative values? Generally yes. They want low taxes and they want controls on spending and they want good schools. They also want something to show for their tax dollars. I agree. We as Republicans must give the electorate candidates who have that "something" which appeals to voters.
We need alternative plans to counter what the Democrats have to offer. An alternative energy plan is a good start. We have to "ramp up" these efforts in order for us to win seats. Growth has to happen for us, not happen around. We have to be part of the growth!
3:55 PM
State Senator Dan Rutherford form Pontiac has announced his candidacy for Illinois State Treasurer. Rutherford serves on the Senate Financial Institutions Committee. He is a private
sector business executive with the ServiceMaster Company, a position he held prior to being elected to the General Assembly.
"The State of Illinois is in a fiscal mess. We have seen one party dominate the Legislature, the Governor's Office, the City of Chicago and Cook County
governments. Chicago has the highest sales tax of any city in the country. Now
we are seeing the Democrats passing legislation which would create a new tax on
services, state-wide. It's time that the State's Chief Financial Officer be
vocal about the repercussions the one party dominance has created," noted
Rutherford.
Here is the youtube link to Dan's announcement.
Dan does have statewide name recognition since he ran for Secretary of State in 2006. I support Dan in his run and wish him well.
8:19 AM
Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General and daughter of Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, will not run for governor. What does this mean? Well for starters this could help the GOP nominee in a big way. The attention that the Madigans would have brought to the gov race could have been overwhelming. Thanks to Joe Birkett for throwing his hat in the ring to run for A.G. This gives Madigans their own theater since Ms. Madigan might have some explaining to do as far as the former governor is concerned. Frankly, Joe's timing is perfect!
The shift in the gove race could bring much attention to the GOP primary. I feel the attention will be focused on the GOP since we have plenty of ammo to blast away at the Democrats. However the GOP needs to focus on concrete solutions brought on by too much one-party rule from the Democrats in Illinois. The shift has been with the Democrats obviously, but what have they done? More taxes and fees (more revenue) but with more spending! Hence a larger budget gap that has cost Illinois jobs and job security and has left about a 700,000 population gap (people that have left Illinois since the 2000 census).
We as Republicans have to lead. Lead for more jobs and less taxes and less spending. Our improvements to infrastructure have to continue and we have to keep driving the point that we do have solutions..... it's just that our solutions have been squashed by the Democrat majority in the state legislature and a Democrat governor. It really is that simple.
I have posted already that I am for Bill Brady for Governor. Bill has the solutions such as the budget rollback and a spending cut across the board that would eliminate waste. I am a regional coordinator for Bill and I feel he is our best choice for a Republican to be the next governor.
The shift in the gove race could bring much attention to the GOP primary. I feel the attention will be focused on the GOP since we have plenty of ammo to blast away at the Democrats. However the GOP needs to focus on concrete solutions brought on by too much one-party rule from the Democrats in Illinois. The shift has been with the Democrats obviously, but what have they done? More taxes and fees (more revenue) but with more spending! Hence a larger budget gap that has cost Illinois jobs and job security and has left about a 700,000 population gap (people that have left Illinois since the 2000 census).
We as Republicans have to lead. Lead for more jobs and less taxes and less spending. Our improvements to infrastructure have to continue and we have to keep driving the point that we do have solutions..... it's just that our solutions have been squashed by the Democrat majority in the state legislature and a Democrat governor. It really is that simple.
I have posted already that I am for Bill Brady for Governor. Bill has the solutions such as the budget rollback and a spending cut across the board that would eliminate waste. I am a regional coordinator for Bill and I feel he is our best choice for a Republican to be the next governor.
7:15 AM
I am pleased to announce that my good friend and fellow county official in Illinois, Joe Birkett has announced his candidacy for Attorney
General. Joe is currently the State's Attorney of DuPage County (the county seat is Wheaton). I have known Joe for just over 7 years. We had an excellent discussion at last year's Illinois Republican Convention. We talked about the need for more public service from state government in Illinois.Joe made a terrific speech at the convention. His dedication is to be admired. Thank you Joe for making the committment to run!!
7:23 AM
Jonathan Wallace is setting up a question and answer session with Republican 17th Congressional District candidate Bobby Schilling. This is tenative, but put Thursday, July 9 on your calendar. This is planned at the Moline Public Library at 6 PM.
See Jonathan's blog for more information.