Statement by Common Cause IL Executive Director Brian Gladstein on Gov. Rauner’s Budget Address

We commend Governor Bruce Rauner for pointing out in his budget address that in order, “…to win elections, politicians from both parties made promises to special interests that the state could never afford – unaffordable pension promises that are bankrupting our state.” Yet, the Governor has a track record of personally making multi-million dollar political donations to influence our elections and stopping good policy recommendations, such as our proposal for an Automatic Voter Registration system for Illinois.

In fact, the Governor recently contributed a first installment of $50 million dollars to his campaign — two years before his next election. For the same cost, we can set up a system that limits the control that special interests have on our elections and public policy. Common Cause urges the Governor to support the Fair Elections Act, introduced last week by Senator Daniel Biss. Creating a small donor public financing system will bring the power back to the people and not the ultra rich and large special interests.