Best. Endorsement. Ever. chicagotribune/news/opinion/editorials/chi-bruce-rauner-change-agent-in-gop-field-20140306,0,4538632.story “Illinois is in desperate need of a change agent. Disrupting the risk-averse status quo wont be simple or pretty. But voters simply cant expect members of the entrenched political class to make state government spend fewer taxpayer dollars, or to reverse this states miserable prospects for job growth. With hope that independence and urgency will achieve what collegiality and timidity profoundly have not, the Tribune Editorial Board today endorses businessman Bruce Rauner as the Republican candidate who is best equipped to be governor of Illinois. We urge voters to nominate him in the March 18 Illinois primary election. Rauner isnt campaigning to be elected Most Popular Pol, or Warmest Neighbor, or State Teddy Bear. During Wednesdays candidate debate sponsored by the Tribune and WGN-TV, he repeatedly pledged to be a disciplined governor who would focus like a laser on Illinois economic crises and not get distracted by other peoples issues. His blunt and ubiquitous ads evoke a simple theme: We have to rescue Illinois from broad decline and narrow self-interests. Among some Illinoisans, Rauners self-made wealth stirs suspicions and resentments. Among others it attests to his liberation from having to please anyone but voters: He would be a man with nothing to lose, accepting a job he does not need. Worst case, he someday returns to the private sector having tried to influence the cause that for many years has animated his public life: improving public education, especially for children trapped in dead-end schools. Even Rauners harshest critics dont doubt his willingness to lower state governments vast overhead and raise efficiency hence the frantic endorsements and TV ad spending by public employees unions to keep Rauner off the November ballot. They know that, if Republicans nominate him, he might win the governorship and reduce state spending… …We do appreciate comity. But we think Rauner would have a much easier time wielding a veto pen. A much easier time saying No to legislative leaders. Of the four Republicans, Rauner best communicates to citizens the indelible fact that Illinois is broken. If nominated now, in November he would force voters to choose a future for this state: If that future resembles the failed past, it will feature lawmakers of both parties battling openly over proposed marginal changes to the derelict status quo. If that future takes this state in a new direction, it will embrace changes wrought by governors of neighboring states with balanced budgets, healthy pension funds and lower unemployment. The best solutionfor all that now cripples Illinois would be a jobless rate of 6 percent or less, with more workers bringing home paychecks and contributing tax revenues. Of the Republicans running for governor, Rauner is the change agent who could best begin to rescue Illinois.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 00:25:57 +0000
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