Brady Wins Official GOP Nomination for IL Governor

Bill Brady has officially captured the GOP  nomination for Illinois governor.

The State Board of Elections declared Brady the winner of the Republican gubernatorial primary, and Sen. Kirk Dillard officially conceded. Brady thanked and congratulated his primary opponents and the supporters who backed him in a closely contested primary. Sen. Brady now turns his attention to the campaign ahead.

Click the video box below to see a message from Sen. Brady.

Thank You from Senator Bill Brady from Cybernautic Design on Vimeo.

Brady Launches Statewide Tour to Bring Jobs Back to Illinois

Plan includes tax credits for businesses that create new jobs

Senator Bill Brady, Republican candidate for Governor, launched a statewide jobs tour in Chicago today unveiling his plan to bring jobs back to Illinois and keep more jobs from leaving the state.

“We need a clean break from the anti-business mentality of the past,” said Brady, the only candidate with both business and legislative experience. “We need to reduce the cost of doing business in Illinois and make Illinois competitive again.”

Brady made the announcement today at 83rd and Stewart in Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood, the proposed site for the city’s second Wal-Mart. Sen. Brady introduced legislation in May that would allow the store, and other big box retailers like it, to be built despite roadblocks in the Chicago City Council. In addition to construction jobs, each mega-retailer location would generate an estimated 400 new jobs.

Brady’s jobs plan includes:
* Spurring job creation by allowing a new 10 percent tax credit, up to $2,100, for businesses that create new jobs in Illinois, supplementing Illinois’ EDGE tax credit.
* Retaining jobs in Illinois and attracting new investment by lowering the cost of doing business in Illinois, including cutting taxes and fees by a billion dollars by eliminating the sales tax on gasoline, rolling back the $300 million in business taxes and fees imposed by the Blagojevich administration and eliminating the state estate tax.
* Balancing Illinois’ budget and living within our means by implementing managed care for Medicaid recipients, abolishing the bureaucracy of the State Board of Education, eliminating high priced administrators and excessive overtime in the Department of Corrections and lowering the cost of workers compensation in Illinois.
* Dedicating the motor fuel tax to preserving and modernizing Illinois’ infrastructure in an on-going capital improvements program.

“Our unemployment rate is now the highest in the last quarter century. Illinois has lost 700,000 jobs in the last ten years,” said Brady. “Only Ohio and Michigan have lost more jobs than we have. Illinois ranks 48th in the nation in economic development. That is not a blueprint for success and prosperity for Illinois. I will bring jobs back for Illinois and Illinois families and make Illinois work again.”

The Illinois unemployment rate in September rose to 10.5 percent, the state’s highest rate since October 1983. Nationally, the September unemployment rate increased to 9.8 percent.

“The people of Illinois deserve a leader who understands the bottom line,” said Brady, a Bloomington businessman, “and they deserve a leader who will fight for their economic security.”

Brady Announces Candidacy for Governor; Pledges to Rebuild Trust and Economy

Senator Bill Brady today officially announced his candidacy for Governor, saying he will as Governor lead a renaissance in Illinois that will restore public trust in government, rebuild the state’s economy and demand higher standards of performance and accountability in government.

“We have a great responsibility ahead of us,” Brady said.  “It would be easy to rest Illinois’ challenges today on the criminal corruption and mismanagement of the Democrat leadership over the last six years.  But that doesn’t rise to the obligation we have as citizens and leaders of our state. From the time of our ancestors who carved a great state from a vast prairie wilderness to the days of the Great Depression to these days of a faltering economy today, our fathers and mothers labored to build a better quality of life in Illinois.

“Now it is time for a new generation of citizens and leaders to answer the call and move Illinois forward.  It is time for a renaissance in Illinois.  I am answering the call, and I will lead Illinois to a new era of promise and prosperity.”

During his announcement, Brady said he will release a detailed agenda with specific recommendations and proposals for moving Illinois forward as his campaign progresses.

“Past gubernatorial campaigns promised the voters change, and frankly the voters got conned,” said Brady, a businessman and legislator.  “I want the voters of Illinois to know exactly what they can expect from a Brady Administration in the Statehouse.”

Brady said lowering taxes and controlling state spending are especially critical to both rebuilding a state economic climate that encourages job growth and prosperity and quelling the fears of Illinois families during times of economic turmoil.

“There’s a school of thought that thinks big government, big spending and big deficits are the answer,” Brady said.  “I’ve got a different approach — lower taxes, less government, less spending and paying our bills on time.”

Brady said key components of the Blueprint will include:

• Lowering the tax burden on Illinois families and small businesses
• Building our economy
• Shrinking government
• Balancing the state budget and paying bills on time
• Giving parents and local school officials a larger voice in education
• Protecting and improving the state’s infrastructure.
• Broadening ethics laws against public officials who use public office for personal gain

“We must take on a responsibility we’ve never taken on before, and we must set a standard higher than has ever been set before,” Brady said.  “We must look at our government and our state with the idea that we really can make things better. We’ve grown too accustomed to underachievement, to low expectations, to the lowest common denominator.  It’s time to demand more and deliver more for our citizens.”

Brady made his announcement in Chicago, Springfield, Marion and Bloomington, his hometown.

He has served in the Illinois Senate since 2002 and previously served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1993 to 2001.  He currently is the ranking Republican on the Senate Insurance Committee and serves on the Senate Revenue, Energy, and Environment committees.  He also is a member of the General Assembly’s bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

A lifelong resident of Bloomington, Brady and his family own and operate real estate marketing and development, home construction, property management, mortgage, insurance, hospitality, furniture and entertainment businesses in Central Illinois.

Brady is a graduate of Central Catholic High School in Bloomington and Illinois Wesleyan University.  He and his wife, Nancy, have three children.