Frankly, I would never ask a supporter to bet big on me if I wouldn't bet big on myself. It wouldn't be fair.
I'm a big outdoorsman... I'm a big hunter. Avid fisherman. Hiker. Climber. Scuba diver. Skier. Love the outdoors.
I'm a lover of fairs and corn dogs.
I'm a pretty disciplined investor and pretty disciplined buyer. I do my due diligence. I do my homework. I don't waste money.
I've been very engaged in Illinois and Chicago civic activities for a long time; mostly around building businesses and helping entrepreneurs grow companies, but also around education and education reform.
I have my strong views and opinions. I really want to transform Illinois government because this state is failing the taxpayers and the children.
Our government works should be treated fairly and appropriately; they should have a decent retirement, but not a gold-plated system where they can retire multimillionaires in their 50s.
Being a successful CEO, where I've driven a bottom line, assembled teams, driven results, that's a critical benefit to running the state government.
A C.E.O.'s job is leadership, problem solving, and team building. I've done that my whole career.
Mitch Daniels in Indiana was the best governor in America for eight years. I've gone to Indianapolis to study with him.
I've completely lost faith in the Democratic Party to truly serve the disadvantaged.
Your average person in Illinois doesn't really even know what workers' comp is. The average person doesn't know really what's going on in the pension system. They know their taxes are too high; they know we've got a deficit. But getting that message out and helping the people of Illinois really understand what's going on, that's hard.
Voters want conflicting things. They want a lot of government spending, but they don't want higher taxes.
If yelling and threatening, intimidating and chanting solved problems, Illinois wouldn't have any problems. We're good at that stuff.
It takes someone with a unique background to stand up to the threat of a strike and win.
We've become a collectivist economy in Illinois. It's crushing us. And no problem is going to get fixed unless we bring more economic freedom into the state. And I believe that very passionately.
I'm not anti-union.
I am going to try to rip the economic guts out of Indiana. But we're going to do it methodically and aggressively.
I am one of the baddest enemies anybody can have.
State universities in Illinois are a microcosm of our state government - broken with work rules and administrative bureaucracy.
