Quinn for Illinois

The best way to judge a politician’s character is not just by what he says, but more importantly, by what he has done.

In Bill Brady’s first campaign commercial, nearly all of his statements are contradicted by the facts, by his record and even by his own statements.

Here are the commercial’s claims and the facts that contradict them:

“As a family man and a home builder, we’ve had to tighten our belts to survive”

During the economic recession, Brady’s business was bailed out by taxpayer-funded federal assistance, and his main source of income for the past two years was his senate salary, paid by Illinois taxpayers. All while paying no income taxes on over $100,000 of income in more than one tax year.

“I know we’ll succeed as long as we have a blueprint”

Bill Brady has no blueprint for Illinois. Former Republican Governor Jim Edgar has pointed out several times that Brady’s plan for solving the budget crisis is short on specifics and doesn’t add up. And Brady himself called for a 10 percent across-the-board cut only to deny he ever advocated such a plan.

“Pat Quinn’s idea is to feed big government by raising your taxes by 33 percent.”

Governor Quinn is committed to closing the budget deficit while retaining vital services. Pat Quinn has proposed budget cuts, tax breaks for small businesses, property tax relief and a sales tax holiday. But providing funding for education, public safety and infrastructure isn’t big government, it’s giving Illinois residents the basic services they need to live safe, productive lives.

“[Quinn] thinks government growth is more important than ours.”

Governor Quinn has provided strong leadership and made tough decisions to make government smaller and more effective, including reforming the state pension system to save billions in the coming decades. He’s also successfully implemented jobs programs to save companies from leaving Illinois, grow our economy and put Illinois residents back to work.

“I’ll make a clean break from the politics of the past, with real contribution and term limits for politicians.”

Senator Brady is the politics of the past. He has been in office for the past 17 years and has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from special interests and lobbyists during that time. In 1994, Pat Quinn led a petition drive called “Eight is Enough” for term limits. The petition received nearly a half a million signatures - Senator Brady was not one of them.

The commercial concludes with the statement, “I’m Bill Brady, and as governor I’ll put you first.”

Based on all his empty claims, Illinois residents shouldn’t believe it.