Bill Brady for Illinois RSS Feed

Brady Endorsed by Sen. Luechtefeld, Rep. Demmer

Thu, 19 Dec 2013 09:30:52 -0600

Senator David Luechtefeld, a veteran Southern Illinois legislator from Okawville, and Representative Tom Demmer, a first-term legislator from Dixon in northwestern Illinois, today announced their support for Bill Brady for Governor.

Demmer said, “"I support Bill Brady for Governor because he'll turn Illinois around and get us back on the right track. His experience as a businessman and a Senator shows he isn't afraid to tackle big issues and stand by his convictions. Bill will be a Governor who will lead with courage and vision."

Luechtefeld, a former high school basketball coach, said, “I’ve coached a lot of teams over the years. If one of my teams came in second in a championship game one year, they came back stronger and more determined the following year. Bill Brady earned the respect and trust of hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans in the last campaign, winning 98 of our 102 counties, and I want to help him finish the job this time. He’s a common-sense conservative and a problem-solver who is not afraid to make tough decisions and follow through on them. I believe Bill is the best choice to lead Illinois in a new direction that will benefit all of the state.”

Brady said he welcomed the support Luechtefeld and Demmer, adding that their endorsements demonstrate growing support and momentum for his campaign for Governor.

“I’m honored to have both Tom and David on our team,” said Brady. “They are highly respected in their areas and in the General Assembly. I welcome their support now, and I will need their help in the General Assembly after the election.”

Editorial Reaction to Pension Reform Law

Sun, 08 Dec 2013 18:55:00 -0600

Bill Brady was one of 25 Republican lawmakers and the only Republican candidate for Governor who supported the reforms, which are designed to save $160 billion of taxpayer money over 30 years and protect the long-term viability of the state's public retirement systems.

This is what some editorial writers, columnists and commentators throughout Illinois said about the importance of the pension reform package.

Quincy Herald-Whig, December 8, 2013:
“Admittedly, this may not be what the thousands of employees who met their pension obligations while the state failed to meet its wanted to see happen, but the alternative would have been much worse -- a bankrupt pension system. The legislative leaders understood state workers faced bigger risks if the plans became insolvent. That's why Tuesday's bipartisan vote, as difficult as it was, will be remembered as one of the biggest legislative achievements in decades.”
Read more...

Champaign News-Gazette, December 8, 2013:

“Of the GOP gubernatorial candidates, only state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington, striking a Churchillian pose as a leader willing to make tough decisions, supported the pension bill.”
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Bloomington Pantagraph, December 8, 2013:

“In the Central Illinois region, the only public official brave enough to vote for pension reform was Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington. Taxpayers should thank him for his courageous stand.”
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Carol Marin, Chicago Tonight, December 3, 2013:
“Brady stood up early, clearly and with a certain level of decision-making on this which separated him from the other three…”
View the broadcast....

Chicago Tribune, December 4, 2013:

“It took courage for many of those lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, to vote for pension reform in the face of a massive effort by organized labor to crush the measure and dire warnings from some conservatives that it was a big fraud. Those votes took courage.”
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Decatur Herald and Review, December 8, 2013:
“The bill approved Tuesday gives Illinois a chance, with a lot of work still to be done, to pull itself out of its current spiral. Unfortunately, too many of our elected officials failed to recognize the opportunity to take that step. At the same time, we congratulate the 92 elected officials, including Sen. Bill Brady, who had the courage to do what was necessary.”
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Greg Hinz, Crains Chicago Business columnist, December 9, 2013:
Sen. Bill Brady, a conservative by anyone's definition, voted for the bill. Good for him. But Dan Rutherford and Kirk Dillard parroted the union line, arguing that the measure was unconstitutional and the Legislature couldn't do anything except hike taxes or go bankrupt without a negotiated deal with labor. Good grief.
At the opposite end of the twilight zone was Bruce Rauner...
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Carol Marin, Chicago Sun-Times columnist, December 8, 2013
It's the decisions "where you really have to struggle that, as Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno put it so well, separate the leaders from the posers."
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Thom Serafin, Fox Chicago commentary, December 4, 2013
“Pat Quinn, big winner and puts himself in strong position for 2014 for reelection. Senator Bill Brady, his opponent in the last general election, supporting the governor, the two of them working together in the Illinois Senate to move this legislation through. The other three opponents that he has in the Republican primary went the other direction .... Here was Senator Bill Brady, the conservative, voting with the governor. Those were the two strong winners.”
View Thom's commentary...

The Southern Illinoisan, December 8, 2013:
“The pension reform passage was an important step, though imperfect and hardly pain-free. But it does ensure state employees will have pension systems in the future, systems that are guaranteed to grow. It all depends on our lawmakers honoring their commitments to the new law. It can be done. It must be done.”
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Rockford Register-Star, December 3, 2013:
“Doing nothing was not an option. The status quo would see Illinois' pension liability grow to an even more embarrassing level. The pension reform vote taken Tuesday was difficult, but necessary.”
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Bill Brady Statement on Pension Reform

Sun, 01 Dec 2013 12:35:30 -0600

The General Assembly on Tuesday is poised to vote on a package of meaningful pension reforms that would strengthen Illinois’ fiscal stability by eliminating a $100 billion pension system liability, the largest of any state in the nation, over 30 years.

I will be voting in support of this legislation which has been crafted through months of discussion, exhaustive analysis and legislative debate. It will not be an easy vote by any means; in fact it will be one of the most difficult votes I have ever cast.

It’s not fair to ask state employees and teachers who have paid every dime they owed to the system to make a sacrifice. It’s necessary, however, because governors and legislators who voted for budgets over the last decade did nothing more than delay the resolution we now have before us.

Kicking the can down the road again is not an answer. If the legislature does nothing, payments to our pension system soon will consume 25 percent of our general revenue funds, further jeopardizing state funding for education, public safety, public health and other critical programs on which many Illinoisans depend.

With the reforms in place, the state’s pension payments will be cut by $160 billion over the next 30 years, freeing up resources to meet other crucial demands. In the first year, savings would be about $1.5 billion of taxpayer monies, a 20 percent reduction from the required current-law payment.

The reforms include improvements in the state’s funding mechanism, a change in retirement age for employees younger than 46, a reduction in employee contributions, revisions in the annual cost-of-living adjustments, and an optional defined-contribution or 401k-like program that I have advocated for the last eight years.

Running for governor requires making tough decisions. It requires leadership, not standing behind a press spokesman or staying silent, as my three opponents in the Republican gubernatorial primary have done.

The spokesman for Bruce Rauner, one of my opponents, talks about “insiders” keeping the public in the dark on the details of the bill. There is nothing in this legislation that has not been discussed and debated publicly, including during pension reform debates on other proposals last spring. If Mr. Rauner were to talk about “insiders”, maybe he could talk about his connections Stuart Levine and Ed Rendell and his pension business.

Mr. Rauner also opposes a state funding guarantee. That’s the same excuse governors and legislators have used in the past, but just look where the lack of such protections has taken us.

Senator Dillard voted for the major provisions of this agreement last spring. Treasurer Rutherford as a constitutional fiscal officer certainly understands the dire consequences on state finances of continuing down the current path. Why are they silent now?

This is a time for leadership and hard decisions, not a time to stand on the sidelines. Pension reform is an issue of fiscal responsibility and the future of Illinois, not a political strategy.