Rauschenberger Endorses Proft for Governor

December 8, 2009

 This morning on the top-rated Don Wade & Roma Morning Show on WLS-AM 890, 14-year State Senator and noted conservative reformer Steve Rauschenberger endorsed Dan Proft for Governor.

“I am proud to endorse Dan Proft’s candidacy for Governor because Proft is the only candidate who has properly diagnosed what afflicts state government and is prescribing the right policy remedies,” said Rauschenberger. “The other candidates believe we have a management problem in state government. Proft correctly understands that it is a system problem.”

Rauschenberger, a former member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and lead budget negotiator for the Senate Republicans, cited Proft’s plans to cut taxes and impose statutory spending caps as well as his commitment to overhaul K-12 in Illinois as prime examples of prescribing the right policy remedies.

“People ask me if Proft’s ideas are workable. Not only are they workable, they are absolutely necessary,” said Rauschenberger, a former National President of the National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL).

“This is the most significant endorsement in the race for Governor to date because no one in the last two decades, including previous governors, knows more about state government, particularly state government finances, than Steve Rauschenberger and no one has done more to stand up to the influence-peddlers in both parties than Steve,” said Proft. “I am profoundly honored to have earned Steve Rauschenberger’s endorsement.”

“I know this field,” added Rauschenberger. “I served with State Sens. Bill Brady and Kirk Dillard as well as Attorney General Jim Ryan. I ran against Andy McKenna for U.S. Senate in 2004 and ran statewide again during his tenure as Illinois GOP Chairman. But it is Dan Proft who has put forward the most cogent, specific, and thoughtful proposal to reform and restructure the systems in state government that have a profound impact on our quality of life in Illinois. I am happy to sign on to Dan Proft’s ‘policy revolution’, as he terms it.”

In their 2004 endorsement of Steve Rauschenberger for U.S. Senate, the Chicago Tribune wrote, “we have watched him (Rauschenberger) for 11 years since he came to the Illinois Senate, and it has been an absolutely exceptional performance,” citing Rauschenberger’s “long and unmatched public record of independence and effectiveness”.

The Tribune also noted his anti-corruption bona fides writing that, “Rauschenberger is not afraid to challenge the Republican Party leadership in this state. He opposed some of the worst excesses of the George Ryan administration and has been emphatic about the need to restore an ethical standard in the state party.”

Rauschenberger’s endorsement of Proft follows a string of endorsements Proft has received from Republican organizations including the Schaumburg, New Trier and Niles Township GOP organizations and the South Will County GOP Organization.

Below, watch the video of Steve Rauschenberger endorsing Dan Proft live on WLS' Don Wade & Roma Morning Show: