Our Opinion: Dillard in Republican primary for governor
By The Editorial Board - The State Journal-Register
Today marks the final installment of The State Journal-Register's political endorsements for the March 18 primary races, and we end our series with the office that leads Illinois government and its tens of thousands of employees.
Illinois' reputation is that of a state that lives beyond its means, is not friendly to business and is rife with corruption.
Of the candidates who met with the newspaper's editorial board, one best exhibited the skills, experience, spirit of cooperation and reasoned approach needed to right Illinois' sinking economic ship and lead the state toward a more prosperous era.
Kirk Dillard and his running mate, Jil Tracy, are endorsed.
Dillard, a suburban state senator from Hinsdale since 1993 and former chief of staff for former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, has a record of moderate views on fiscal and economic matters involving the state. In a state whose books are so dramatically out of whack, why look for moderation in a leader? Because reason and moderation — not heavy-handed, uncompromising pledges to take a jackhammer to Illinois government — are how good leaders get things done.
Dillard honed some of his political skills in the Edgar administration and counts the former governor among his allies. Edgar served two terms as governor and enjoyed high approval ratings. A person doesn't rise as far as Dillard did in the administration of one of the state's most competent and popular governors without having skills to back it up.
Dillard wisely chose Tracy, a state representative from the central Illinois community of Mount Sterling, as his running mate. Tracy has been in the legislature since 2006. Her family owns Dot Foods in Mount Sterling, and she was born and raised in southern Illinois, giving her a unique appreciation for all parts of Illinois. Of all the running mates in this primary, Tracy has the most experience in state government and would be the best lieutenant governor to take over for the governor should he become unable to serve.
Dillard said he will not raise taxes on Illinoisans and that he believes the state's tax system is “archaic.” He supports a low, flat income tax. He did not vote for the temporary 67-percent income tax hike, and he believes it should roll back as scheduled. However, he also told the editorial board he understands the state has to keep its options open in terms of revenue to replace the expiring tax and said he wants to see what the magnitude of the budget hole is before firming up a plan of action. That's an honest response to Illinois' fiscal reality.
Economic development is a priority for Dillard. He is an advocate for businesses large and small and said the state is over-regulated, a common complaint of business owners. He knows how to work with the General Assembly to rebuild the state's economy.
“I want a state where I don't have to offer incentives to anybody to stay here. We're the capital of the Midwest,” he said.
Dillard vowed to boost state employee morale and to work with unions. He also pledged to lead by example when it comes to government ethics — something Illinois can't hear enough.
And when it comes to Springfield, Dillard, who has family ties to central Illinois, will be a champion for the capital city. He lives downtown when he is here, and he favors state fairs here and in Du Quoin to feature Illinois agriculture. He has relationships with local government officials, and he wants to see the hub of state government returned to Springfield from Chicago. He said he would encourage cabinet members to live here.
Of the Republican candidates for governor we interviewed — Dillard, Bill Brady and Dan Rutherford — each has an agenda for improving Illinois. But Dillard has the best combination of skills, record of working with both sides and rational approach to get the job done.
Editor's note: Chicago candidate Bruce Rauner did not accept repeated invitations to meet with The State Journal-Register editorial board.
State Sen. Kirk Dillard today won the backing of the state’s largest state employees’ union, giving him a trifecta of endorsements from Illinois’ most powerful public sector unions.
The Hinsdale Republican hopes the union backing will bolster his campaign for governor with less than two weeks before the March 18 primary, but the support of public unions is controversial among many conservatives, particularly as Winnetka businessman Bruce Rauner has spent months of campaigning and a bevy of TV ads criticizing “government union bosses.”
“He rejects the demonization of public employees — the teachers, state police and correctional officers, caretakers for those with disabilities, and thousands of others who provide the vital public services that Illinois citizens demand,” AFSCME Council 31 President Henry Bayer said in a statement.
Dillard, Rauner, state Sen. Bill Brady and Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford are set to meet for another debate at 6 p.m. today on WGN.
Brady and Dillard in particular have sharpened their attacks on Rauner as the televised debates give them valuable TV face-time with voters to compete with Rauner’s ad campaigns.
Dillard’s teachers union endorsements have come with campaign cash, including $150,000 reported yesterday.
Rauner, by comparison, gave his own campaign $1 million earlier this week and $1.3 million last week.
The decision came after polls conducted throughout Sangamon County showed strong support for the Dillard-Tracy team. The polling results showed that the Dillard-Tracy team nearly "doubled up" the percentages on the second-place finisher.
“The results suggest that Dillard is very popular in this county.” said Sangamon County Republican Central Committee Secretary Bruce Stratton.
The latest endorsement comes as the campaign is gaining a variety of other major endorsements including those from the Illinois Education Association, the Illinois Teachers Federation, the Illinois Retired Teachers Association and the Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
This is the fourth county-level endorsement/ straw poll showing the regional diversity of the Dillard-Tracy team. The duo have notched the Republican Assembly of Lake County, McLean County and won a decisive 70 percent victory at the recent Jackson County poll,
“We are extremely pleased to receive the endorsement of the Sangamon County Republicans. This is huge endorsement because Sangamon is rich with Republican primary voters,” said Representative Jil Tracy, “Senator Dillard and I are committed to ensuring that the seat of Illinois government is Springfield and helping bring crucial government jobs back to the capital city.”
The Dillard Tracy team had previously announced the endorsements of former Illinois Governors Jim Thompson and Jim Edgar. Senator Dillard served as Chief of Staff to Governor Edgar and as Legislative Director for Governor Thompson.
Local Sangamon County leaders like, State Representatives Raymond Poe, Rich Brauer, State Senator Sam McCann, former Senator Larry Bomke, County Auditor Paul Palazzolo and former Senator and Springfield Mayor Karen Hasara have also endorsed the Dillard-Tracy team.
State Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Hinsdale Republican, touted an endorsement Wednesday from the Illinois Retired Teachers Association, further looking to educators to help carry his primary election campaign for governor.
“They’re a motivated voting group this time around,” Dillard said.
Dillard’s teachers union backing so far has included a $50,000 check for his cash-strapped campaign, though that amount pales in comparison to Rauner’s TV ad spending.
Rauner gave his campaign $1.3 million earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Illinois’ AFL-CIO on Wednesday lodged an ethics complaint against Rauner with the state’s executive inspector general, arguing Rauner should have to stop giving his campaign money immediately.
The union argues Rauner’s investment firm, GTCR, has done business with the state managing pension funds, and state law doesn’t allow contractors to give to candidates who could award contracts if elected.
In this case, Rauner is both the contractor and, if elected governor, would be responsible for most state contracts.
Rauner’s camp dismissed the move as desperation.
“It’s clear that Pat Quinn’s allies are now beyond the point of desperation,” Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf said in a statement. “The complaint fails on its face and is conceptually ridiculous.”
The retired teachers group includes about 36,000 and pointed to Dillard’s vote against a package of steep pension benefit cuts as a key reason to support him.
“This is the first time we’ve endorsed any gubernatorial candidate,” President Bob Pinkerton said.
In picking up backing from teachers, Dillard references his late father’s career as a high school history teacher in Hinsdale. His father died the weekend before the primary election in 2010, where state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington narrowly beat Dillard to win the nomination.
Rauner, Dillard, Brady and Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford of Chenoa will meet in a debate this evening that will be televised on ABC 7.
He’s been visiting Western Illinois University for years, but Thursday was probably more special than usual.
The state senator and his running mate first stopped at Macomb Mayor Mike Inman’s home, then met potential voters at Aurelio’s and finally stopped at Western Hall to see the women’s basketball team close out a win against Denver.
“I get back to WIU several times a year, so it’s always good to get back here,” Dillard said. “It was very heartening to have people from all over McDonough County and Western Illinois come out. We have great support here, the College Republicans are phenomenal, (as are) the local Republican organization and Rep. Noreen Hammond, so it’s great and it was great to have Mayor Inman and Melissa open their home for us. That’s the kind of community Macomb is and was when I was a student. It’s a place of wonderful people; that’s why I’d recommend any student anywhere attend Western Illinois University.”
In order to secure the Republican nomination for governor, Dillard will have to beat out fellow Senator Bill Brady, Treasurer Dan Rutherford and businessman Bruce Rauner at the primary election on March 18. Dillard said that he is more qualified than the three other candidates, and went as far as to say that his opponents are “unelectable.”
“There are three reasons why people should support Kirk Dillard and Jil Tracy,” Dillard said. “No. 1 is that we’re tested and prepared. I was Gov. (Jim) Edgar’s chief of staff, and working with a Democrat legislature made this state live within its means, it left a budget balance surplus of 1.5 billion. And our unemployment rate was below the national average.
“Secondly, Jil and I have a plan to make us a destination economy for people that create jobs. We will bring back our economy and make Illinois the economic capital of the Midwest.
“Last but not least, Govs. Jim Thompson and Edgar have said that we are the only team that can beat Pat Quinn,” he continued. “Treasurer Rutherford has had some problems. Sen. Brady ran last time and he proved that he was unelectable, there was just a recent story on the front page of the Chicago Tribune that had him voting for legislation that impacted his family’s business — that’s not good. And Bruce Rauner is really a Chicago Democrat, he’s not a Republican. We need geographic balance, Jil Tracy and I are the right team for the Western Illinois region, but also the right team for Illinois. But the bottom line is we’re the only team that can beat Pat Quinn and move this state forward. The other three men are unelectable.”
According to Tracy, it is essential for not only Illinois that the duo of Tracy and Dillard are elected, but it is especially important for the Western Illinois region in particular.
“It’s good to be running with Sen. Dillard who knows so much about WIU, and I can tell you that it would be a real asset for the region if we had a governor like Sen. Dillard who is a WIU alumnus, and a lieutenant governor from West Central Illinois,” Tracy said.
“It would be a big step for this region because we know it so well, and we’re hoping that everybody around here can support us because they know us, and we have a proven record that we’re tested and prepared to make Illinois work again.”
Tracy also has a personal connection to Western Illinois, as her husband attended the university. However, Dillard isn’t the only Republican candidate to claim he has the interests of Western Illinois in mind.
When Brady visited campus on Feb. 6, he promised that if elected governor he would release the funds already allocated to Western to fund the building the building of the Performing Art Center that the university has planned to build for years. Brady said that current Gov. Pat Quinn was “holding Western Illinois hostage.”
But Dillard said that not only is he frustrated that the money has already not yet been released to Western, but that he also was essential in trying to get funding for the building in the first place.
“I was instrumental in arranging the first meeting with former Gov. (George) Ryan to get the performing arts center here,” Dillard said. “I’m the former alumni council president of this university, and I was there at the initial meeting where we went in and made our presentation with Rep. Hammond, and the late Rep. Myers in the governor’s office, and it is unconscionable that Pat Quinn has not released that money. He came to campus, that building should be built, and we should be on our way to seeking state support for a science building, so Gov. Quinn should have released that money years ago.”
Aside from the interests of the Western Illinois, Dillard and Tracy have specific goals for the state, most notably fixing the current economic toil in Illinois.
“Over and over again we keep hearing that people want to see the economy return (to Illinois) and have people have an opportunity for better jobs in Illinois, and that’s what we’re going to work for,” Tracy said. “That is the key, they’ve seen a decade of decline in the state and they want it turned around, they want to see strong leadership in the governor’s office.”
How is Dillard going to turn the economy around? If elected, he wants to completely change the current tax system, manage the budget the way that worked for him in the past, and slash welfare from those that he says are not qualified to be on it.
“First, (we need) a top to bottom overhaul of our tax structure. It is unfair, and we’re a state that is overtaxed in many areas. Secondly, I want the lieutenant governor to be also the repealer, someone who takes and meets with businesses small and large and family famers about what regulations stifle their economic development. And then, I’m going to manage the state’s budget as I did as Gov. Edgar’s chief of staff where we left a 1.5 billion dollar surplus.
“I’m going to purge our welfare roles of anyone who does not have eligibility to be on them. Illinois has tens of thousands of people who are bilking the welfare system of this state. For fairness to taxpayers and those who truly need the services, I must make sure that you do not get on Medicaid or any state welfare programs unless you are legally eligible. The Democrats have not cleaned up and stopped fraud in welfare.”
Currently, businesses are afraid to expand to Illinois because of the harmful reputation the state has amassed, according to Dillard. If elected, Dillard claims that he will not only fix the economy, but he will also find ways to create new jobs to keep the economy stimulated.
“The best way to create jobs in Illinois is to have a tax climate that makes us competitive with the rest of the Midwest,” Dillard said. “We also must have an overhaul of what we call our worker’s compensation system, so that businesses don’t pay three to four times more than surrounding states for their insurance. And we need to not overregulate businesses. We need to regulate at the speed of business, not the speed of government.
“And last but not least, I’ve got to end the cadence of corruption that has tarnished Illinois’ reputation. We can never forget that people are afraid to have a business in Illinois because of the tawdy reputation of Chicago and the Rod Blagojevich years, and state government, and I have to lead by examples on ethics.”
Speaking of ethics, Illinois has infamously gained a reputation of having corrupt politicians, most notably, the governor. Four of the previous seven Illinois governors have been sentenced to jail time, including Otto Kerner, Dan Walker, Ryan and most recently Blagojevich.
According to Dillard, There will be no scandals if he is elected governor, and he has said that he has already taken steps to ensure the permanent removal of corruption from Illinois politics.
“I sponsored the first ethics changes in more than 25 years in Illinois. My law required that all donations of $150 be put online and be reported within 48 hours. I also stopped politicians from spending their campaign funds for personal use. And I know for a fact that my law was used by the United States government to help track the criminality of Rod Blagojevich, we’re going to lead by example in ethics.”
Dillard also said that his opponents’ ethics were sometimes questionable at best.
“I’m not going to be like Bill Brady and vote on bills that impact my family’s real estate practice, I’m the only candidate running that has not been on front pages of newspapers throughout Illinois in a scandal,” Dillard said. “Treasurer Rutherford is embroiled in a sexual harassment and using state employees for political purposes, and Bruce Rauner has a drip, drip, drip, drip of many ethical charges, including having the mastermind of the Blagojevich corruption on a Bruce Rauner payroll for a million dollars, while Mr. Rauner got 53 million dollars in work from a board that Stuart Levined the mastermind of the Blagojevich corruption ring control. I’m the one candidate that doesn’t have a scandal, like I said, I’m going to end the cadence of corruption by leading by example and ethics. That’s what makes me, aside from the fact that I’m the most qualified and having Jil Tracy along for geographic balance and her family expertise in creating jobs, the reason Jim Edgar said I’m the only candidate that can beat Pat Quinn.”
Tracy echoed Dillard’s statement, re-enforcing that she shares the same morals as Dillard.
“We do lead by example, I was chosen to be one of the 21 members of the Rod Blagojevich impeachment committee,” Tracy said. “It’s coincidental that Sen. Dillard and I are one of six members of the bipartisan house and senate joint ethics commission. We have been appointed to positions of integrity to police if you will, the different things within the house and state. We recognize that Illinois wants and deserves an administration that is above corruption and we try to live by that example every day.”
But most of all, Dillard wanted to emphasize to all Western Illinois residents that he will always keep their interests in mind.
“It’s great to be back here, it’s time to make Illinois work again. Kirk Dillard and Jil Tracy clearly have the state’s best interest at heart. Under us, Western Illinois will no longer be forgotten, it will be on the forefront of the state government’s mind.”
Dillard/Tracy gubernatorial ticket discuss Illinois' economy, future in Macomb
By Jackie Smith - The McDonough County Voice
Though talking points in the ongoing GOP gubernatorial race have varied, discussion with candidate Kirk Dillard and running mate Jil Tracy came full circle Thursday to two major areas: Overhauling the state's finances and getting more eyes in Springfield focused on west-central Illinois.
Also vying for the GOP spot in the 2014 race for Illinois governor during the March primaries is state Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, state Treasurer Dan Rutherford and businessman Bruce Rauner.
The following is a selection of the questions asked during an interview Thursday and the complete answers from Tracy and Dillard.
How is the campaign going?
Dillard: Just within the last week, Jil and I were endorsed 6-to-1 down in deep southern Illinois, Jackson County, by the Republican Lincoln Day crowd, that's the Republican party of Jackson County. I won the McLean County straw poll, which happens to be Bill Brady's home county, 2-to-1 over Sen. Brady. We were endorsed by the Republican Assembly of Lake County, and then we were endorsed by the Suburban and Downstate Teachers Association, the Illinois Education Association, that's the biggest endorsement to date of any candidate statewide at 138,000 members, the Retired Teachers Association endorsed us and then last but not least, we received the endorsement of the Daily Herald newspaper, the second largest newspaper in the state of Illinois, it's the preeminent Chicago suburb newspaper. So Jil and I are on a roll, we like where things are going.
What topics have stuck out to you in talking to constituents since the last time you were in this region?
Tracy: Certainly, they're worried about the fiscal health of the state. They want to know policies we want to put in place. Certainly, we're the front-runners and I think a lot of it goes to the fact that we are tested and prepared as legislators, and certainly Sen. Dillard's executive experience under Gov. (Jim) Edgar. We have seen the failed policies of the last decade. It just about decimated the state. And so we know very quickly what we can do to change the state, and also Sen. Dillard has offered some very major ideas. For instance on the gas tax. Just ideas because people want specifics. They know everyone wants to grow the economy — it's got to happen to get our state back. But to give the specifics and know exactly what we're going to do day one when we take office, it gets them a better set among the candidates of who they want to support. And so we've been very fortunate to as soon as we talk with people one-on-one they understand we are definitely the best tested and prepared.
What are some of those more specific ideas?
Dillard: I came out and said Illinois needs to get rid of one of the two taxes it has on gasoline. We need to cut the sales tax on gas, that's a tax that does not go to roads or bridges, it goes into the state's general fund. And it would put about a half a billion dollars back into the pockets of Illinois families, as well as businesses who obviously pay gas taxes. That's Rep. Tracy's and my down payment on a complete overhaul of our tax structure in Illinois. Our tax structure is old, it's archaic, it's unfair. One-sixth of the state's corporate taxes was paid for by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Something's wrong when one company or one entity is paying a sixth. We need a top-to-bottom overhaul of our tax structure. I've also said that in addition to being the lieutenant governor, Jil's going to actually be known as 'the repealer.' She's going to go from farms to small business to large businesses and say, 'What regulations are stifling your job growth in Illinois and keeping you from expanding or moving your business here if you're out of state?' And also importantly, making sure people don't go to Iowa (or elsewhere). It's about the economy, and my proven ability, having been Gov. Edgar's chief of staff, to make a Democrat legislature live within its means.
Tracy: And proper management of the agencies. It was interesting that the WIU provost (Ken Hawkinson) right away had three major things that he wanted to talk to me about the regulation and bureaucracy within the state. So it goes hand-in-hand with what Sen. Dillard and I know is out there and how it would make WIU's ability to serve its students better. And certainly, talking about capital and the gas tax, we need infrastructure repairs and some of the things I've very hard on in the legislature, along with Sen. Dillard, are things like completing the Macomb Bypass, your Performing Arts Center at WIU. That's been on the back burner. It's been approved for years, it's never been funded properly. Those are the kinds of things we want to see because we understand that capital improvements really help improve our economy as well.
Dillard: On a personal note, obviously I'm a very proud (alumnus). I wear purple and gold. I graduated at Western Illinois University, I'm a former president for a long time of the Alumni Association. But Jil being from Quincy really assures that western Illinois, which for awhile was sadly known as 'Forgottonia,' is going to be in the forefront of a Kirk Dillard/Jil Tracy administration. Jil's family owns a company down the road called Dot Foods, a major Illinois employer that uses our roads to employ a couple thousand people in this state. Jil is local, and she is somebody who understands you've got to have an economy that allows us to compete against Iowa and Missouri. Iowa's unemployment rate is less than half of ours, and that just should not be.
McDonough County is a big farming community, what would you do to support farmers?
Dillard: I was married in a little farming community of 400 in Logan County near Lincoln, Ill. Agriculture is a quarter of our economy, it's the most important thing we do. Her family is Dot Foods, so obviously it's somewhat of an agriculture-based company. We've got to support agriculture research. The Democrats have cut a program called C-FAR (Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research). They have not invested in agriculture research. In fact, they've cut it. Agriculture's a quarter of our economy, so it's just imperative that we put more into ag research. I'm very distressed that the University of Wisconsin is now challenging the University of Illinois as the major biotechnology university of America. Obviously, Western has an ag department. And ISU, I was just at ISU today. We've got to support our major ag universities, more for research, and we've got to support exports. As governor and lieutenant governor, Jil and I have got to make sure that our farmers can export their products abroad. That helps the prices and then there's companies that are associated with agriculture. John Deere. Archer Daniels Midland. I announced my candidacy in Decatur, which is where my wife's ancestral home is. I have Sara Lee Corporation up in my district. So agriculture and the family farm is the most important thing. It's more than just agriculture, and she and I are laser-focused on the economy.
Tracy: And as a legislator here in west-central Illinois, for the last seven years, I've worked closely with the farm bureau. I've received their activator of the year awards over and over again. And I've also received the Illinois Chamber award, as I'm sure Sen. Dillard has as well. And you merge those two together and it just shows how much we know the integral parts of how agriculture fits with Illinois commerce and ADM happens to employ 500 people down in Quincy. So to work with those different agriculture-based businesses, it's definitely what our record has proven what we've done already and what needs to be proven within the state.
Speaking for a college town like WIU, what can you say about the importance of MAP grants?
Dillard: Crucial. Illinois, we are the capitol of the Midwest. We have so many things going for us that other states only wish they had. The MAP grant program, the monetary assistance program, is vital. It's one of the great things Illinois does. You've got to sustain it — not only for campuses like Western Illinois University, but we're also a state that has lots of private universities. It's crucial to them as well. …Overall the Chronicle of Higher Education has rated us the No. 1 higher education state on past occasions. And I've got to keep our system of education both for the publics and community colleges No. 1, and the MAP grants help both he public and private (schools). It's something that this state does better than everybody else.
Tracy: One of the things we learned in higher ed appropriation and higher education is that looking at ways we can improve the MAP grants. We haven't been good at monitoring the students that have gotten some of the MAP grants. We are wanting to make sure we tailer it so that there is a success rate. It seems like we look how— just things we can do if you've got proper management, proper leadership, and make the MAP grants available and work for the students that really need them and depend on them.
MAP grants and state funding are something particularly hit by late payments, does any part of your plan entail something to not only pay those bills but pay those bills on time?
Dillard: I was Gov. Edgar's chief of staff, we inherited a billion dollars in a recession, we left a billion and a half surplus, we paid our bills in 17 days at the end of that administration. The unemployment rate was below the national average and the state's credit rating went up. So it's crucial. You've got to pay your MasterCard bill in 30 days, the state needs to pay its bills on time. I was just with a physician from McDonough District Hospital a minute ago, and the state not only pays late, especially if your a Medicaid patient. Our rates are pathetic. You've got to prioritize. We've got to get our state's fiscal house in order. It's one of the strengths I have. And I know how to get a Democrat legislature — because it's going to be that way, whether I like it or not — to live within its means, and it means we pay our bills on time.
Are there any strategies or points of action that will further benefit rural areas like McDonough County when so much of the interests represented in the legislature are those of upstate regions?
Dillard: One of the things I've got to do, because people are going to (say), 'Well, where are you going to cut the state budget?' Medicaid fraud and getting people who are ineligible by law off of the Medicaid program. We have tens of thousands of people who are not eligible by law, including some people that don't even live in Illinois, that are on our Medicaid bills. I've got to clean that roll and purge it everyday. Democrats will not do that for political reasons, I must so that means more money for Western Illinois University to pay off our old bills, to pay McDonough District Hospital and nursing homes on time. We've got to manage the state like I've done it before. Then we must grow our economy.
Tracy: There's over a hundred agencies, and day one a governor knows what needs to be done and puts in the proper management and directors to those agencies and you'll see a very quick turnaround.
GOP gubernatorial candidate speaks at Jil Tracy's leaders breakfast
State Sen. Kirk Dillard says endorsements and straw poll wins mean more to him than the statewide polls that show him trailing Venture Capitalist Bruce Rauner in the race for the Republican nomination for Illinois governor.
Dillard, from Hinsdale, spoke at Jil Tracy's annual breakfast fundraiser at The Ambiance in Quincy Friday morning before a packed house. Tracy, the state representative from Quincy, is running for Lt. Governor as Dillard's running mate.
Dillard said these kinds of public events energize him as the March 18 primary is now less than a month away.
"The momentum is clearly moving in Jil Tracy's and my way," Dillard said following straw poll wins in Jackson County and McLean County and getting endorsements from the Illinois Education Association and the Daily Herald in the Chicago suburbs.
Rauner's massive fundraising and self-funding machine has allowed him to be a constant on the radio and television airwaves, but Dillard says the race will come down to the grass roots and crossovers.
"Gotta win this on the ground. You have to win this through the grass roots...you cannot let anybody buy the election," Dillard said referring to Rauner's huge warchest that he has contributed more than $3 million to on his own. "There will be crossover votes this time. I tell everybody whose a Democrats and Independent there is no action on the Democratic side. Take a Republican ballot, crossover and vote for Kirk Dillard and Jil Tracy to save your state."
On Republican ballot, Dillard for Illinois governor
By The Daily Herald Editorial Board - Daily Herald
For the state of Illinois, much is at stake in the race for governor this year. The portent has been much reflected in the rhetoric among the four candidates seeking the Republican nomination, despite sometimes spinning off into the realm of the troublingly bizarre. The objective, however, must not waver from one simple question: Who offers the best alternative to lead the state out of its present ethical, procedural and economic morass and put Illinois back where it should be among the most robust, the most efficient, the most functional states in the nation?
On the GOP ballot, the answer is the team of state Sen. Kirk Dillard and state Rep. Jil Tracy.
Much of our faith in the Dillard-Tracy candidacy dates back more than two decades to the last time when Illinois government had to be dragged out of dysfunction and decline. It then was Gov. Jim Edgar who demonstrated the budgetary discipline, political will and legislative aplomb to bring spending and revenues into alignment and produce a healthy budget surplus. Precisely how much of that turnaround is owed to Edgar's chief of staff, Dillard, may be open to debate, but without question he was a key architect, adviser and coordinator.
To be sure, the hard economic times Illinois slogs through today can sometimes make those of the mid-1990s feel tame by comparison, and that can make the candidacy of a talented outsider like Bruce Rauner very tempting. But ultimately, the nature of Illinois' political and economic problems is such that experience with the system, players and process is a decided advantage. As ineffectual as Illinois government is, there is great risk in simply blowing it all up and starting from scratch. None of that risk is necessary with Dillard. Through his years in government and as a state senator, he knows where the system can best be fixed and he knows how to work with key players in both parties to fix it.
Dillard also brings to this race a suburban background that offers particular appeal for suburban voters. His vision is concentrated on the good of the entire state, but his suburban roots help ensure that the interests of our region will figure into the dialogue and the solutions that emerge.
And we come to this decision knowing we have serious differences with Dillard on some positions. His vote against gay marriage last November departs from our position, and his vote in December against pension reform — despite his previous votes of support for the basic provisions of the final reform bill — smacks of political opportunism. On the former issue, we trust his repeated statements that he's ready to accept the verdict of the legislature on gay marriage and on the latter, we will take him at his word for the moment, that his reservations about pension reform were not about the spirit of the bill but about the sweeteners potentially hidden within it that lawmakers didn't have time to root out.
Without question, issues involving public pensions will continue to pressure the state budget and economy, demanding a precise mix of firm discipline, visionary leadership and cooperative innovation — with an emphasis on discipline when it comes to telling special interests "no" and creating budgets with income and revenue in sync.
Dillard has built his campaign and his legislative career on moderate, economically sound principles — reflected in his staunch support for the scheduled repeal of the state income tax, for important systemic reform of workers' compensation and for other business-friendly policies. All of which, by the way, are also reflected in his choice of running mate — Tracy, an experienced leader in the state House whose successful family business experience makes her a compelling fit for the role of business advocate and regulation cop that Dillard sees for her.
With Illinois at an economic crossroads, each GOP candidate for governor — state Sen. Bill Brady, Treasurer Dan Rutherford, Rauner and Dillard — brings his own individual strengths. Ultimately, the candidate with the best combination of meaningful experience, opposition to the status quo, assertive, courageous leadership and clearly articulated vision is Kirk Dillard. He gets our endorsement.
