Politics & Government

Gov. Candidate Bruce Rauner: It is Totally Within Our Ability to Fix Illinois

Rauner, who has a master's degree from Harvard, says the only way to restore Illinois to prosperity is to create a "booming economy" and prioritize education.

By Karen Chadra

Illinois is ranked among the worst states in the country in unemployment, debt, taxes, credit rating, crime and education funding. Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner says he is "willing to take the arrows" to restore our state to prosperity. 

Rauner, a self-made businessman who has never run for public office, said corruption in Springfield has caused Illinois to enter a "debt spiral," and the only way out is to reverse course dramatically. He believes government should be run more like a business, with competition, contract negotiation, cost cutting and problem solving at the heart of reform.

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"Taxes are rising, the tax base is eroding, businesses are leaving, schools are deteriorating, talented people are leaving the state. If we don't have a booming economy, we can't afford great schools, healthcare, a social safety net. We can't afford anything we really care about," Rauner told a crowd at Elmhurst College Monday night. 

"It's totally within our ability to do it. We control our future."

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Rauner has been on a "listening tour," traveling 20,000 miles over the past five months throughout Illinois meeting with educators, health care professionals, farmers and small business owners.

"Our people are terrific," he said. "Our problems are not our people. It's our politicians and our politics in Springfield that are broken."

Rauner said Illinois government is "fundamentally corrupt." He is running to accomplish four things:

  • To make Illinois the No. 1 state for economic growth and job creation
  • To make Illinois government the most efficient, effective, transparent state government in America
  • To make education in Illinois the best in the U.S.
  • To institute term limits for politicians in Springfield

Education

Rauner, a staunch supporter of education reform, believes a strong educational system will go a long way to solving many of the state's ills.

"Nothing we do as a community is more important than educating our youngest citizens," he said. "Everything depends on that: Democracy, economy, competitiveness. For every challenge we face—poverty, unemployment, crime—education is a major component of the answer to solving our problems. We have been treating education as the bottom of the spending priority rather than the top. That's a crime."

It's not just K-12 education that needs to be prioritized, he said. It should include veterans retraining, job training, community colleges, vocational schools, "the whole strategic spectrum of education and training in Illinois."

"We should be world class, and there is no excuse for anything less," he said.

Great teachers should be acknowledged with merit pay, parents should be able to choose to send their children to charter schools in order to drive competition, education should start earlier than kindergarten and state standardized testing must not be "dummied down" to make it look like students are progressing, he said.

Public Pensions

He said he is in favor of a 401k type retirement plan for public workers. Public employee benefits in Illinois are "completely unaffordable and too generous," he said. "Even (Gov. Pat) Quinn has publicly acknowledged that our government workers get paid 23 percent more on average than government workers in the five states around Illinois. Layer in the pension on top of that, it's just unfair."

Teacher tenure doesn't make sense, he said. 

"Why do teachers get a job for life? One-third of the teachers in the system shouldn't be, and we can't do anything about it. We have to attract great teachers by rewarding them well" through merit pay.

He said special-interest groups make their money from the government. 

"They own Springfield. They control it. They take their taxpayer funded union dues and donate it to the politicians," he said. 

Breaking Through Barriers

With Speaker of the House Michael Madigan in charge, people have asked Rauner how he will be able to get anything done. He said he has studied what the best governors in America have done and has the "best labor attorneys in the country" working for him. He said the Illinois governorship is one of the strongest in America, with powerful executive order ability, and line item veto and amendatory veto powers.

"You control the checkbook, spending, contract negotiations as governor," he said. "If you're willing to be tough, have a steel backbone to look out for the interests of taxpayers, you can get major things done. We haven't had a governor willing to do that in a long time."

Building talented teams of leaders is key to reform, he said.

"I will recruit the most talented people in Illinois to take over pieces of government and run it like a business," he said.

Changing Illinois will require cost cutting, contract negotiations, business recruiting and problem solving—skills he says he has acquired over his 32 years in business. He said he knows running for governor will subject his family and businesses to scrutiny, but he has a "thick skin" to withstand attacks.

"Politics in Illinois is not a mud sport, it's a blood sport," he said.

Rauner, who grew up in Deerfield, retired last fall as chairman of the private equity firm GTCR, citing a desire to become more involved in political and civic activities. He and his wife, Diana, are active supporters of education reform, including the movement to expand charter schools and support teacher training. He has gotten early endorsements from Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman and Chicago Rev. James Meeks.

His was the first talk in Elmhurst College's series, Fixing Illinois: A Great State’s Problems and Promise. All gubernatorial candidates have been invited to speak as part of the series.

Other Republicans who have announced their candidacy for governor include 24th District Sen. Kirk Dillard and Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford


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