GOP Optimistic in Race for Illinois Governor
Monday, 17 Mar 2014 06:20 AM
By Elliot Jager
From left: State Treasurer Dan Rutherford, state Sen. Kirk
Dillard, businessman Bruce Rauner, and state Sen. Bill Brady participate in a
Illinois Republican gubernatorial debate on Feb. 18.
The victor in Tuesday's GOP
primary for Illinois
governor may be well positioned to win the November election against incumbent
Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn, The New York Times reported.
While Democrats are expected to
retain control of both houses of the state legislature in Springfield, prospects are that President
Barack Obama's home state could have a fiscally conservative, though socially
moderate, Republican governor.
After Rod Blagojevich was
convicted on corruption charges and went to federal prison, Quinn completed his
term and went on to win a term of his own. He's now seeking a second full term,
having, he says, stabilized the wobbly state employee pension system.
The GOP field includes state Sen.
Bill Brady, making a third bid for governor; state Treasurer Dan Rutherford,
whose campaign has been upset over sexual harassment allegations; state Sen.
Kirk Dillard, running second in public opinion polls; and billionaire
front-runner Bruce Rauner. Dillard
has sided with public sector unions on the pension issue.
Rauner, 58, who says he is
"probably" in the top .01 percent of wealthiest Americans, has spent
$15 million on the campaign, including $6 million of his own money. His primary
home, one of nine, is in a Chicago
suburb. He says his agenda is to face down the unions, cut government spending,
and lower taxes. Rauner favors charter schools and bringing "business
sense" to government.
"I'm a business guy. I'm not
a politician," he said last week.
He has been described as
"confident, brash and blunt," according to the Times.
Rauner's relationship with
Democratic Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whom he met in the course
of a business deal in 2001, has drawn attention.
Dillard has hammered away at
Rauner's freewheeling campaign spending and his ties to Emanuel. "You can't
beat Pat Quinn with a nominee who's so close to Democrats like Rahm Emanuel
that they vacation together. You can't beat Pat Quinn with a nominee who dodges
questions, who won't talk in the media, and who has incredibly questionable
business dealings," said Dillard, according to the Chicago Tribune.
"We're going to sweep Pat
Quinn into the dustbin of history," Rauner told an audience at a campaign
stop in Decatur, the Tribune reported. "We've got to get him out of
office."
Bruce Rauner
Bruce
V. Rauner is a director at the World
Business Chicago, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Note: William M. Daley
was a director at World Business Chicago,
the chief of staff for the Barack Obama
administration, is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and Mayor Richard
M. Daley’s brother.
Richard
M. Daley was a director at World
Business Chicago, the Chicago (IL)
mayor, the candidate for the 1989
Richard M. Daley mayoral campaign, his political adviser was David Axelrod, is William M. Daley’s brother, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and William C. Ayers is his adviser.
Rahm
I. Emanuel is the chairman for World
Business Chicago, David Axelrod’s
adviser, a member of the Commercial Club
of Chicago, was the senior adviser & chief fundraiser for the 1989 Richard M. Daley mayoral campaign,
and the White House chief of staff for the Barack
Obama administration.
David
Axelrod’s adviser is Rahm I. Emanuel,
was the senior adviser to the president for the Barack Obama administration, Richard
M. Daley’s political adviser, and a reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
David
D. Hiller was the publisher & president & CEO for the Chicago Tribune, a partner at Sidley Austin LLP, and is a member of
the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Newton
N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP, a chairman for Chicago
Annenberg Challenge, and a director at the Woods Fund of Chicago.
Bernadine Dohrn
was a litigator for Sidley Austin LLP,
a member of the Weather Underground,
and married to William C. Ayers.
William C. Ayers
is married to Bernadine Dohrn, Richard M. Daley’s adviser, was a
member of the Weather Underground, a
chairman for Chicago Annenberg Challenge,
and a director at the Woods Fund of
Chicago.
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