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Good afternoon, Illinois. Great day, Illinois!
Thank you so much!
I want to begin by thanking my wife, Diana. She is my partner and my
best friend – and she is going to be a tremendous First Lady!
And thank you to our six kids who have endured a lot over the past
two years and will have to put up with even more over the next four.
I want to acknowledge Governor Quinn for his years of service to the
state and the people of Illinois.
I’d like to recognize and thank our distinguished guests:
- Madam Chief Justice and distinguished members of the Court
- President Cullerton
- Speaker Madigan
- Leader Radogno
- Leader Durkin
- Attorney General Madigan
- Secretary of State White
- Comptroller-designate Munger
- Treasurer-elect Frerichs
- Members of the General Assembly
- Members of the Congressional delegation
- Governor Edgar
- Mayor Houston
- Mayor Emanuel
- Archbishop Cupich
- Major General Krumrei and all the members of our National Guard.
Thank you, Evelyn, you’re the best partner I could possibly have to
transform our state government – you’ll be a terrific Lieutenant
Governor.
And I liked to express my very deepest gratitude to our veterans and
our service men and women here today and around the world. God bless
you. Thank you for your service to our country. As governor, I will
do everything in my power to support you.
I also want to say a very special thank you to our police officers,
our corrections officers, our firefighters and all those who risk
their lives to protect all the families of Illinois. Thank you. I
look forward to being an ally and advocate for you.
It is an honor to stand before you, before ALL the people of
Illinois, today.
I am humbled. I am honored. I am privileged. I
am excited. I LOVE Illinois, and I want
OURS to be a GREAT state, a great HOME for EVERY family here. I am
ready to go to work for you.
As I’ve traveled our state over the last few years, I’ve met with
tens of thousands of people; teachers and farmers, factory workers
and coal miners, college students and retirees - the people who are
the heart and soul of Illinois.
In that process, I’ve met thousands of small business owners. In our
discussions, I’ve been stunned by how many of them are frustrated
and in trying to build their businesses here and are thinking of
leaving.
I visited one company called Keats Manufacturing in Wheeling.
Back in 1958, Bert and Glenn Keats started a metal stamping company
in a storefront on Cicero Avenue in Chicago. Their father had never
made it past high school, but both of them made it through college
and were eager to start out on their own.
They had one employee and a couple machines. They worked long hours,
a second job and sacrificed much, but they made it and their company
took off.
Today, Keats Manufacturing employs 110 Illinois workers and has
nearly 75 machines running 24 hours a day, 5 days per week.
The story of Bert and Glenn Keats was not an uncommon path in our
state. And it wasn’t just Chicago, and it wasn’t just manufacturing.
It was Peoria, it was Rockford, it was Decatur. It was agriculture,
it was transportation, it was technology. Illinois was a place where
people like Bert and Glenn Keats from all over the country, indeed,
from all over the world, wanted to come, because Illinois was a land
of opportunity, almost without parallel in America.
Today’s Illinois is very different.
The grandsons of Bert and Glenn Keats – tell me they couldn’t have
started their company in Illinois today. When their grandfathers
started the company, all its customers were Illinois companies; they
went door-to-door to find them. But today, none of their customers
are Illinois companies – they have all left. And the grandsons told
me that they, themselves, are feeling the pressure of high taxes and
high regulation.
Today Illinois is not able to compete effectively with our
neighboring states, our citizens are suffering because of it, and in
many cases, they are up and leaving.
Last year, we lost more people than any other state in America, and
over the last ten years, we have ranked right near the bottom of all
fifty states for out-migration. People are leaving to find jobs, or
because they run companies, and they are taking their jobs with
them.
Our local businesses look in every direction and see states that are
more appealing. Lifelong Illinoisans look at their future and think
they can achieve more outside Illinois. You probably know a
neighbor, a co-worker, or maybe even a son or daughter who has said,
“I can do better somewhere else.” It breaks your heart, but you know
it’s hard to argue with them.
We need a booming economy that is pro-growth, pro-business, pro-job
creation or we won’t have the money to solve any of our other
problems. Our state must become competitive again.
In the weeks ahead, I’ll be asking the legislature to work with me
to pass a comprehensive jobs and economic package that will get
Illinois working again. Let’s get our sons and daughters to return
home!
One of the main reasons companies have been leaving Illinois is that
they don’t have confidence in the financial condition of our state.
We are in the midst of a government financial crisis that has been
building for decades.
Its roots lie in bad decisions, bad practices, and bad management by
state government. It is not a partisan creation. It is a truly
bipartisan one.
Our government has spent more than we could afford; borrowed money
and called it revenue. Rather than responsibly budgeting the money
we had, we implemented programs we couldn’t afford. In the face of a
declining economy, we raised taxes. This hurt our economy even more,
put more stress on our social safety net, and pushed more
Illinoisans out of our state, leaving fewer taxpayers to support the
government. As a result, today Illinois is not as competitive as we
need to be and cannot be as compassionate as we want to be.
Some in government will be tempted to once again take the easy road
and leave the real problems for another day and the next generation.
But, we can not do that because to do so, to conduct business as
usual, would be morally corrupt.
Instead, we have an opportunity to accomplish something historic: to
fix years of busted budgets and broken government; to forge a path
toward long-term prosperity and a brighter future; to make Illinois
the kind of state others aspire to become, a national leader in job
growth and education quality.
To achieve that will require sacrifice.
Sacrifice by all of us – politicians and interests groups, business
and labor, those who pay for government and those who depend on
government’s services. Each person here today and all those
throughout the state will be called upon to share in the sacrifice
so that one day we can again share in Illinois’s prosperity. We all
must shake up our old ways of thinking.
I promise to you this administration will make our decisions based
on the next generation; not the next election.
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I pledge to work on a bipartisan basis to
drive results and get things done.
We must be united by our willingness to sacrifice and do what is
right even if it is difficult.
We must accept the challenge and the sacrifice, knowing that it
will lead us to something greater.
We must forget the days of feeling good about just making it
through another year – by patching over major problems with
stitches that are bound to break.
Those stitches are now busting wide open and we must begin by
taking immediate, decisive action.
That’s why today, my first action as governor will be to direct
every state agency to freeze non-essential spending.
I’ll ask them to review and report on every contract that’s been
signed since November 1.
And I will follow through on my pledge to reduce my own salary
to $1 and decline all benefits.
Our state’s crisis is not only financial. We have a MORAL
crisis, an ETHICAL crisis as well. We have a state government
that too few have faith in; that lack of faith is JUSTIFIED, and
undermines people’s willingness to sacrifice and help the
government in its mission.
Illinoisans see insider deals and cronyism rewarded.
They see lobbyists writing bills for special interests and
taxpayers being left with the tab.
They see government union bosses negotiating sweetheart deals
across the table from governors they’ve spent tens of millions
to help elect.
It’s a corrupt bargain and the people of Illinois are left to
wonder where they fit in. Who’s looking out for them and their
families?
Taxpayers’ money belongs to them; not the government. We have a
moral obligation to minimize how much we take and to ensure what
we do take is spent efficiently and effectively.
Every dollar we spend unnecessarily inside government is a
dollar we can’t put into classrooms or social service providers,
or leave in the pockets of entrepreneurs and homeowners.
To the people of Illinois, and the people outside our state who
have been reluctant to invest in Illinois because of the insider
deals and cronyism, I say this:
I’m nobody that nobody sent.
And I’ve come to work for you.
I will send a clear signal to everyone in our state, and to
those watching from outside our borders, that business as usual
is over. It stops now.
Tomorrow, I will sign an executive order that will improve
ethics and accountability in the executive branch of state
government. These actions and others to follow will focus on
regaining our state’s good name and reputation. We must prove
every day that we have learned our lessons and are changing our
ways.
In everything we do, we must ask ourselves, what does this mean
for the next generation?
For in order to thrive, we must prepare the next generation for
success. From cradle to career, the people of Illinois deserve
world-class educational opportunities.
From early childhood and K through 12 schools, to vocational and
technical training, to community colleges and higher ed, we need
to invest adequately in every neighborhood. Next to being a
mother or a father, teaching is the most important job in the
world, and we must support our many good teachers. That means
putting more directly into the classrooms, reforming the
education bureaucracy, rolling back costly mandates and giving
more students access to great schools.
A high-quality education is essential for higher lifetime
earnings, a competitive, world-class workforce and strong
economic growth.
It is the key to bringing back the American dream for every
family in Illinois; for making the American dream a REALITY for
everyone here; a truly better life for the next generation.
If we work together, Illinois can be great again.
We have everything needed to thrive – a great location, the
economic and cultural center of the Midwest, fertile farms,
infrastructure, and most importantly, wonderful, hard-working
people – we just need the policy and leadership to make us the
best we can possibly be.
In just three short years our great state will be celebrating
its 200th Birthday.
Yes, 2018 will be our Bicentennial. What a perfect time these
next few years will be to return our beloved Illinois to its
rightful place as a leader among the states of America.
A state that, as we prepare for our bicentennial, is ready to
seize the future.
A state where not only manufacturing companies like the Keats’
want to be, but where the next big things happen.
A state where entrepreneurs want to be.
A state where technology companies want to start.
Where the next generation of manufacturing occurs.
Where family farms that have made us a breadbasket for the world
can pass from one generation to the next.
Where young couples want to start their families.
And their children are inspired in their schools.
Illinois is a state that truly embodies all that is great about
America.
Since the days of Lincoln, we have stood as a beacon of freedom
and justice.
Now let us embrace all that is wonderful about Illinois, the
reasons we love it: our culture of hard work and responsibility,
grounded, solid values, diversity, civic commitment and
generosity – and harness it so that our next century is one of
prosperity.
We can do that if we work together, just as a family does when
it faces tough times.
Illinois is our home – and right now our home is hurting.
But home and family are worth sacrificing for…worth fighting
for.
Together, let’s do the hard work to rebuild our home.
I’m ready to get to work for you.
I’m ready to fight for you.
God bless you.
God bless Illinois.
And God bless America.
[Lance Trover, Office of Governor
Bruce Rauner] |
