Governor Rod Blagojevich

Rod R. Blagojevich was sworn in to serve a second term as the 40th Governor of Illinois on January 8, 2007.

As Illinois' chief executive officer, Gov. Blagojevich is working aggressively to create jobs, build stronger communities, provide Illinois families the tools they need to improve their lives, and restore the people's confidence in state government.

Gov. Blagojevich's top priority is ensuring access to quality healthcare for everyone in Illinois. That is why Gov. Blagojevich proposed a historic and comprehensive plan to give every Illinoisan access to affordable and quality health coverage. While the Governor’s “All Kids” plan, which took effect last year, extended coverage to all children in the state, approximately 1.4 million adults in Illinois are currently uninsured. The Governor’s plan will provide affordable coverage to the uninsured and will also help many middle-income families and small businesses that are currently enrolled in health insurance plans save thousands a year on healthcare costs. The plan will also reform the existing healthcare system to improve quality and require more accountability.

Providing safe and affordable prescription drug medication is also an important initiative of the Governor. In fact, Gov. Blagojevich has been a leading advocate for providing Americans access to safe and affordable prescription drugs from Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as expanding their healthcare coverage. Gov. Blagojevich created the Illinois Cares Rx Program to make sure no seniors fell through the gap when the new Medicare drug benefit went into effect on January 1, 2006. The new “wrap around coverage” provided to Illinois seniors and persons with disabilities helps cover the increased costs of the Medicare program, including premium costs, coinsurance, coverage during the “donut”, and the deductible.

Additionally, the Governor is committed to improving the quality of education in Illinois. During his first four years in office, Gov. Blagojevich dedicated $3.8 billion of new funding into Illinois schools. This represents more new money invested in education than any other state in the Midwest, more than 43 other states in the nation, and more than any administration in one term in Illinois history. In addition to new PreK-12 education funding, last year’s budget also funds new initiatives proposed by the Governor, including universal preschool, a pilot program to reduce class sizes in kindergarten through 3rd grade, and a grant program for families struggling to afford the high costs of college.

Prior to his election, Gov. Blagojevich was a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney. During his tenure, he prosecuted domestic abuse cases and felony weapons charges, which made him a strong advocate for tougher sentencing laws when he was elected to the General Assembly in 1992.

In 1996, he was elected to represent Illinois' 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. While a congressman, he secured funding for after-school tutoring programs and distinguished himself as an advocate for education. He was also a leader in the fight to establish a Patients' Bill of Rights, to assure prompt access to mammograms, and to require higher safety and care standards at nursing homes.

Gov. Blagojevich was born December 10, 1956, on the Northwest side of Chicago. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1979 and earned his law degree from Pepperdine School of Law in 1983. He and his wife, Patti, have two daughters, 10-year-old Amy and 4-year-old Annie.

Lt. Governor Pat Quinn

Pat Quinn was re-elected Lieutenant Governor on Nov. 7, 2006. His priorities include advocating for taxpayers and consumers, protecting the environment, promoting decent health care, and helping members of the armed services and their families.

Quinn led the successful effort to enact the Illinois Military Family Relief Act, which provides financial assistance to families of Illinois National Guard members and Reservists called to active duty. He also spearheaded passage of the "Let Them Rest in Peace Act", which has been a national model in protecting grieving families from vile and disruptive protests at funerals of servicemen and women. The Lieutenant Governor's office provides a wide range of services to military families, troops and veterans, and maintains the website www.OperationHomefront.org, one of the country's most informative websites on supporting our troops.

In 2003, Governor Rod Blagojevich named Quinn chairman of the Blackout Solutions Task Force to study the state’s power grid and prevent power outages. He also chairs the Mississippi River Coordinating Council, Illinois Green Government Coordinating Council, Illinois Biofuels Investment and Infrastructure Working Group, and the Broadband Deployment Council.

Quinn served as Illinois State Treasurer from 1991 to 1995, where he cut his office's budget each year and earned taxpayers $848 million in investment income. Since 1975, Quinn has organized petition drives for consumer protection laws, tax reform and citizen empowerment. He spearheaded the 1983 drive to create the Citizens Utility Board. In 2001, he walked across Illinois, from the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan, on behalf of the Bernardin Amendment, which calls for decent health care for everyone.

Quinn is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law and holds an international economics degree from Georgetown University. He was elected Commissioner of the Cook County Board of (Property) Tax Appeals in 1982 and served as Revenue Director for the City of Chicago. The father of two sons, Quinn grew up in Hinsdale and now lives in Chicago.

 

Attorney General Lisa Madigan

Lisa Madigan (Democrat) was elected to her second term as Attorney General on Nov. 7, 2006, earning the largest vote total of any statewide candidate. 

As the lawyer for the people of Illinois, Madigan has led efforts to restore integrity to gaming, safeguard children from threats over the internet, better protect women and children from sex offenders, and stop the spread of methamphetamine.

Madigan leads a statewide law enforcement task force focused on investigating and prosecuting online child exploitation.  She also created a statewide law enforcement team to improve the state’s sex offender registry and enforce registry laws.  She proposed successful legislation to strengthen laws that protect communities from sex offenders and to protect nursing home residents from abuse.  Madigan has created training programs for prosecutors and police to improve Illinois’ response to methamphetamine production and use.  She also has worked successfully to curb access to the ingredients needed to make this dangerous drug.

Madigan’s efforts to protect consumers, especially seniors, include educating consumers on emerging scams, mediating consumer complaints, and filing lawsuits to stop fraudulent practices and recover losses on behalf of consumers.  With identity theft emerging as one of the fastest growing frauds, Madigan created an identity theft hotline to help consumers respond and protect their credit.

Madigan’s interest in making government more open and accessible has led to several innovations, including offering many office documents in multiple languages and creating a Spanish-language telephone hotline.  Madigan also created a team of Public Access Counselors to take an active role in ensuring that public bodies conduct their business openly and that the public has access to governmental information.

Before her election as Attorney General, Madigan served in the Illinois Senate and worked as a litigator for a Chicago law firm.  Prior to becoming an attorney, she worked as a teacher and community advocate, developing after-school programs to help kids stay away from drugs and gangs.  Madigan also volunteered as a high school teacher in South Africa during apartheid.

Madigan earned her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and her J.D. from Loyola University Law School.  She and her husband, Pat Byrnes, have one daughter.

 

Secretary of State Jesse White

Jesse White is Illinois’ 37th Secretary of State. White was first elected to the office in 1998 and was re-elected in 2002 by winning all 102 counties and garnering more than 2.3 million votes — the largest vote total by any candidate for Illinois statewide office in a quarter of a century. In November 2006, Jesse White was re-elected to a third term having received 63 percent of the vote statewide.

The Illinois Secretary of State’s office is the largest and most diverse office of its kind in the nation, providing more direct services to the people of Illinois than any other public agency. White's office issues state ID cards, vehicle license plates and titles; registers corporations; enforces the Illinois Securities Act; administers the Organ Donor Program; and licenses drivers and maintains driver records. As State Librarian, Secretary White oversees the State Library and literacy programs, and as State Archivist, he maintains records of legal or historic value.

Prior to his election as Secretary of State, White served as Cook County Recorder of Deeds — a job to which he was first elected in 1992 and re-elected in 1996. Before that, he served 16 years in the Illinois General Assembly, representing the most culturally, economically and racially diverse district in Illinois.

In 1959, White founded the internationally known Jesse White Tumbling Team to serve as a positive alternative for children residing in and around the Chicago area. Since its inception, more than 10,700 young men and women have performed with the team. White has spent more than 47 years working as a volunteer with the team to help kids stay away from gangs, drugs, alcohol and smoking, and to help set at-risk youth on the path to success. The program has received international praise. In 2006, the team made more than 1,500 performances throughout the nation.

White served our country as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division and as a member of the Illinois National Guard. He played professional baseball with the Chicago Cubs organization, which was followed by a 33-year career with the Chicago public school system as a teacher and administrator.

Jesse White earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Alabama State College (now Alabama State University) in 1957, where he was a two-sport athlete earning all-conference honors in baseball and basketball. In May 1995, White was inducted into the Southwestern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. He was an all-city baseball and basketball player at Chicago's Waller High School (now Lincoln Park High School) and was inducted into the Chicago Public League Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in June 1995. In 1999, he was inducted into the Alabama State University Sports Hall of Fame. Born in Alton, Illinois, he now lives on Chicago’s near north side.

March 2007

Comptroller Dan Hynes

Daniel W. Hynes (Democrat) is serving his third term as State Comptroller. As the state’s chief fiscal officer, Hynes, 38, has made government more accountable to the citizens of Illinois and has been outspoken in pursuit of wasteful spending. As a public servant, he has forcefully advocated for the public good. And, on matters of ethical leadership and governance, he has led both by legislative action and personal example.

Hynes' advocacy for the public good is highlighted by his efforts to secure state funding for stem cell research, which culminated in the creation of the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute in 2005. To date, IRMI has awarded $15 million in grants to medical research facilities for the development of stem cell-based treatments and cures for diseases that affect nearly every family in Illinois, making Illinois the first state in the Midwest to commit public funds to this life-saving work.

Hynes believes the Comptroller should be a watchdog for taxpayers and consumers. To that end, he championed legislation that stopped the implementation of new federal rules that would have resulted in the elimination of overtime pay for as many as 350,000 Illinois workers. He successfully blocked a foreign firm from receiving payment for flu vaccines it had not delivered. He saved taxpayers $9.6 million by forcing the shut-down of a state-funded international business development group that an IOC audit showed was wasting money on lavish expenditures. And, in the midst of budgetary crises, he froze payments for member initiative pork projects and suspended pay raises for state judges.

Hynes has spearheaded the fight for higher ethical standards in government. His proposed Government Integrity Initiative attacked “pay to play” politics by dramatically reducing the ability of campaign contributors to get state contracts. Hynes led by example and issued an Executive Order banning campaign contributions from persons with more than $10,000 in contracts with the Comptroller’s Office. His proposed reforms also ban campaign contributions from companies awarded state contracts, toughen lobbyist disclosure requirements and create voluntary public campaign financing for state Supreme Court races as a first step toward establishing a sustainable funding system for statewide offices in Illinois.

He also sponsored successful legislation barring corporations from getting state contracts for five years if they are convicted of accounting fraud, fought to prohibit the state from doing business with corporations that incorporate in foreign tax havens to escape paying their fair share of Illinois taxes and passed legislation that bars tax scofflaws and child support deadbeats from getting state contracts.

His continuing crusade to institute long-term budget reform resulted in legislation that spurned quick fixes and created both a Rainy Day Fund and a permanent funding stream to pay for it. He has repeatedly warned against growing structural deficits, and in 2006 drafted legislation to address structural budget issues.

The Comptroller also regulates private cemeteries and funeral homes. After holding statewide hearings and receiving input from hundreds of citizens, Hynes spearheaded bi-partisan passage of the most sweeping consumer protection reforms of those industries in 25 years. His office also toughened its oversight of crematories and has initiated legal actions that resulted in monetary restitution to hundreds of defrauded funeral home customers. In addition, Hynes established a toll-free cemetery hotline and a special web page, created and distributed a consumer video, advocated legislation that doubled the plot allowance benefit for veteran burials, and sponsored the cleanup of dozens of neglected cemeteries across the state.

Hynes has re-energized the Local Government Division of his office. Under his administration, local government financial reporting compliance has increased from 65 percent to 95 percent. In addition, his office has provided statewide training and assistance to thousands of local government officials, which resulted in initiatives that saved local taxpayers more than $1 million.

Hynes has further demonstrated his commitment to openness and accountability by providing extensive information on his web site, both in English and Spanish, about the workings of state government. His Public Accountability Project has become an established reporting system that offers a comprehensive view of what each government program is intended to accomplish and whether it has met its goals.

During his tenure, Hynes has initiated cash management practices that have provided payment relief to thousands of state vendors and generated hundreds of millions in accelerated revenues for the State of Illinois. He has made the state a better business partner by strengthening the Prompt Payment Act so that vendors receive interest when reimbursements for goods and services they provided are severely delayed. He has also expanded the state’s commercial direct deposit program, encouraging state vendors to receive their payments electronically, thereby saving money and increasing efficiency. Under Hynes’ leadership, participation in the direct deposit program has grown substantially and he has put sharper teeth into the state’s debt collection efforts, more than doubling the monies collected through the Comptroller’s offset system.

Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias

At the age of 30, Alexi Giannoulias became the youngest State Treasurer in the nation when he was elected to office on November 7, 2006.

A former community banker, Giannoulias uses his financial expertise and business acumen to employ innovative investment strategies to get a better rate of return on the 17 billion in taxpayer dollars that his office is responsible for investing on a daily basis.

Shortly after taking office, Giannoulias overhauled the state's Bright Start College Savings Program, allowing families to earn more money for their children's college tuition.

Giannoulias announced changes to Bright Start that will make it one of the most competitive tax-exempt college tuition programs in the nation with better performing funds and lower costs so more children can earn a college degree.

Last summer, Giannoulias launched the nation’s largest state-funded rebate for hybrid vehicles. The Green Rewards program gives $1,000 cash back to Illinois residents who make the environmentally responsible choice to purchase a new hybrid or other fuel-efficient vehicle.

Giannoulias is also improving the way Illinois auctions its unclaimed property. Giannoulias started a pilot program in 2007 to sell the abandoned contents of safe deposit boxes on eBay and scrapped the state’s inefficient annual live auctions. The weekly online auctions have driven up sale prices and attracted a worldwide audience, resulting in increased revenue for property owners and the state.

In his inaugural address, Giannoulias promised to make government more accountable and efficient. As his first official act as Treasurer, Giannoulias signed his own executive order to enact the most comprehensive, widest-ranging ethics package of any elected official in the state. The order prohibits him from accepting contributions from banks, Treasurer’s Office employees and contractors who do business with the office.

To make the state's investments more transparent, Giannoulias crafted legislation that was signed into law, requiring him and future treasurers to post monthly investment updates as a means of holding the state more accountable for investing the state's money.

Giannoulias is also helping farmers keep pace with the rising costs of doing business. He has pledged a record $4 billion in low-interest agriculture loans over the next four years, the largest amount ever earmarked by the Treasurer's Office and more than any other state in the nation. He doubled the amount available to farmers for long-term projects based on feedback from loan program users.

Ending decades of mismanagement and graft, Giannoulias has moved to foreclose on two debt-ridden hotels built by politically connected insiders in Springfield and Collinsville in the early 1980s. Giannoulias put a stop to financial wrongdoing and implemented new management, resulting in both hotels showing significant profits. Giannoulias intends to sell the hotels on the open market to recoup as much money as possible for taxpayers and the state.

Prior to taking office, Giannoulias served as vice president and senior loan officer at Broadway Bank in Chicago’s Edgewater community. Crain’s Chicago Business rated Broadway the No. 1 Bank in Illinois for five years based on return on assets.

Giannoulias' financial experience resonated strongly with voters throughout the state in the November 2006 election. He received 54 percent of the vote, winning key areas, including Chicago, suburban Cook County and Lake and Will counties, as well as some pivotal central and southern counties.

In endorsing Giannoulias as an independent Democrat, the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, “We believe Giannoulias’ banking experience will help him bring creative money management ideas to the treasurer’s office.” The Daily Herald endorsed Giannoulias’ primary bid on his “strength of banking and investment expertise suited to the office.”

Giannoulias grew up in Chicago, graduated cum laude from Boston University and earned a law degree from Tulane University’s School of Law in New Orleans. He founded and chairs the AG Foundation, a not-for-profit charity that donates money to treat child-related illnesses, curb poverty and assist disaster relief organizations.

Giannoulias formerly served on the board of directors of the Community Banker’s Association of Illinois Legislative Committee