Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday rallied the Republican faithful and predicted a comeback for the party in Illinois as he hosted his first Governor's Day at the Illinois State Fair.
Rauner rolled into the fairgrounds on his Harley-Davidson, just as he had done last year at Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair, but this time he was greeted by both cheering supporters inside the Governor's Day rally and union protesters outside.
Where Rauner last year was the candidate promising to "shake up Springfield" if elected, he appeared this year as the governor whose delivery on that promise has both energized his party and enraged those who oppose him. The protesters cordoned off across the street from the GOP rally were evidence of the latter.
"Our Republican values are the values that make America the greatest nation in the history of the world," Rauner said, strolling the stage with a hand-held microphone and addressing cheering supporters on all sides of the stage. "Freedom, opportunity, growth. That's what it's about, that's what prosperity comes from. We believe in limited government, low taxes, individual liberty and personal responsibility. That is what makes America great."
Putting those values into practice in Illinois, Rauner said, is the key to reviving the state's economy and stopping the flow of Illinois jobs to other states.
"I'm a feisty guy and I love to compete. And I'm sick and tired of them kicking our tails and taking our jobs," Rauner said.
Chants from protesters upset over Rauner's repeated efforts to curtail public employee unions' power in collective bargaining occasionally could be heard as Rauner spoke, but he acknowledged them only briefly.
"The folks who are against us, the folks who say no, the folks who chant and try to disrupt, they don't know. They don't understand what America was built on," Rauner said.
Watch this video and read more about Rauner's appearance at the Illinois State Fair at Reboot Illinois.
Rauner hyped up his party's values and his own efforts to curtail public union power on the same day that the state Senate voted to override a Rauner's veto of a bill that would send public union contract negotiation impasses to an arbitrator instead of forcing a possible strike among the government workers. Rauner had asked legislators to avoid the veto override earlier in the week, saying a passage of the bill would dilute his negotiating power with the public unions. But every Democratic senator, and one Republican, voted for the override. Learn more about Republican state Sen. Sam McCann, of Planview, and why he voted the way he did at Reboot Illinois.
