Native son has his eyes on Springfield

As a native son, Bob Schillerstrom is certain the person sent to the governor's mansion next year will be chosen by his neighbors.

"This election will be won in the suburbs," the GOP candidate and third-term DuPage County Board chairman said during a visit with editors in The Sun's offices last week.

A Naperville resident for more than half a century, Schillerstrom presented himself as removed from the culture of the capitol and said he would bring a "fresh face" to Springfield at a time when it's badly needed.

"People do not feel that the state of Illinois is working for them ... The government is just being really very poorly run," he said.

Schillerstrom vowed to tap his experience in county leadership to rein in state spending and shrink its massive budget hole, without increasing taxes.

Asked for specific plans, he said Medicaid would be among his first targets.

"It's a terribly run program," he said, adding that it is reactive when prevention should be its focus and that it is riddled with fraud and inefficiency.

Those cuts alone could save the state "well over $1 billion," Schillerstrom said.

Other wasteful areas include the Department of Corrections, the upper echelons of which are filled with overpaid and underqualified employees, he said. He also would see to it that pensions are no longer offered to new state hires; they would receive a retirement savings benefit such as a 401(k) instead.

While he said cuts would be made in every state agency, Schillerstrom stopped short of saying he would take the budget ax to the need-based Illinois Monetary Award Program grants, recently restored after their funding was suspended in an attempt to shrink its $200 million budget shortfall.

It is in everyone's interest, Schillerstrom said, to attract, train and retain a well-educated workforce if the state is to return to its past prosperity.

Acknowledging that he would likely face a chamber filled with faces distinctly less friendly than those with whom he has worked on the heavily Republican County Board for the past decade, Schillerstrom admitted his vow to shrink the deficit without adding new taxes is a tall order.

"The next governor of Illinois needs to go (to Springfield) and make people angry," he said. "I'm not going to go down there and be the popular guy."

When a member of the editorial board questioned his support of a countywide sales tax increase in late 2007, Schillerstrom defended the decision, saying it was necessary to maintain Regional Transportation Authority services for residents.

"This time I'm not going to be in favor of raising taxes," he said, adding that he would use the governor's veto power if such a measure were placed on his desk.

Although he described himself as the most socially moderate candidate among the primary contenders at this point, Schillerstrom said he would end the state's moratorium on the death penalty.

He concurred that the next occupant of the governor's mansion will have a big job to do, but insisted he is up to the task of rebuilding the state's image and drawing commerce and real estate investment back to Illinois.

"Everybody's fleeing our state because we have lousy leadership," he said.

Schillerstrom will face six opponents in the Feb. 2 Republican primary, including Adam Andrzejewski of Hinsdale; state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington; state Sen. Kirk W. Dillard of Hinsdale; Andy McKenna of Chicago; Dan Proft of Chicago; and former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan of Elmhurst.