Other websites: http://www.danrutherford.com/
From his website:
Dan Rutherford for Secretary of State. Because Illinois Deserves Better.
The Secretary of State's Office is the agency of state government which directly serves more citizens annually than any other. The customers of the Secretary of State's Office deserve no-less in service than that of the private sector.
Having worked as an Executive with America's premier service company, Dan Rutherford knows what it is to deliver good customer service. That is why Dan Rutherford is running for Secretary of State. He has the experience and know-how to deliver the efficient, timely and friendly service you expect and SHOULD receive.
Biography
When examining his resume, one quickly realizes that there are very few elected officials in the state of Illinois with the professional and governmental experience of Senator Dan Rutherford.
An executive with a Fortune 500 Company and an accomplished State Legislator, The Champaign New Gazette says, “Dan Rutherford is right now what the Republican Party needs.”
A Legislative Career of Accomplishment
Dan Rutherford was first elected to the Illinois Senate in 2002 following a 10-year term in the House of Representatives, where he served as the Assistant Republican Leader. In the Senate, he serves as the ranking Republican for the Financial Institutions Committee and is a member of the Environment & Energy Committee. Senator Rutherford also serves on the bi-partisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.
As a lawmaker, Senator Dan Rutherford has sponsored and directed legislation which fundamentally changed the formula for reimbursing nursing homes for care of our treasured elderly. The new system base rates on the medical needs of the resident, rather than just their geographic location in the state.
Senator Rutherford’s legislative efforts have brought many accolades, including being named Legislator of the Year multiple times and selected as an outstanding legislator by numerous organizations.
The Aurora Beacon News recently noted that “while his voting record in Springfield draws high marks with conservative [groups], he also has a decided independent streak.”
A History of Involvement
Senator Rutherford began his career as a Legislative Assistant in Springfield following his graduation from Illinois State University, where he served as Student Body President.
In the GOP Primary of 1980, the 24 year old Rutherford coordinated a Congressional District for Governor Ronald Reagan’s campaign. Dan reminisces of going to O’Hare airport and picking up Nancy Reagan, with one security person from the California State Police, and driving her to events in northern Illinois and meeting Ronald Reagan and giving him briefing papers when he came to the state.
Putting together one of the best Congressional area organizations in the state, Dan caught the eye of the Reagan National Campaign and was tapped to be the state-wide Executive Director of Illinois for the General Election. Illinois was the bellwether state and where Illinois went, so would the Nation. Illinois delivered for the President-elect and Rutherford was affirmed a Republican Star on the rise.
Reagan & Rutherford
As the switch from the Carter White House to the Reagan White House was beginning, Dan was offered a position on the Presidential Transition Team. Within a day of the Reagan offer, he received a call from Governor Jim Thompson offering a position on his staff in Illinois. This became a crucial crossroad for the young politician’s future.
Dan opted to stay in Illinois. It was a hard choice, one he made and did not later question. “I know it was the right decision; being back in Illinois afforded me the opportunity to eventually join the ServiceMaster Company and serve in the Legislature,” reflected the Senator.
Rutherford served as a liaison between the Thompson Administration and the Reagan White House for Executive Branch appointments, before being tapped to manage the statewide campaign of Illinois Attorney General, Ty Fahner. After the election, Dan returned to the Thompson Administration, where for three years he was head of the International Business Division of the Illinois Department of Commerce, overseeing trade and promotions offices in Brussels, Hong Kong and Sao Paulo before spearheading the opening of the offices in Osaka and Shenyang. During that time, Rutherford worked for two years with the team to locate Mitsubishi Motors of Japan to the US, shuttling to that country an average of every other month. The motor company did locate in Illinois, employing thousands of people.
Rutherford: The Business Executive
Dan Rutherford is a graduate of Illinois State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration.
While on a business trip to Japan in 1984, Dan became familiar with the ServiceMaster Company and a year later joined the company. The company headquarters is in DuPage County, Downers Grove, Illinois.
Rutherford eventually became responsible for expansion of the company’s businesses internationally, licensing services in Chile, Brazil, Honduras, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Guam, Venezuela, South Africa, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Indonesia, Panama, Italy, Mexico and the Philippines. ServiceMaster is a family of service companies with trade names such as ServiceMaster clean, Terminix, Tru-Green Chem Lawn, Merry Maids, American Home Shield and Rescue Rooter.
RUTHERFORD TO GOVERNOR: “CORRECT YOUR MISTAKE BY FIRING FARRAKHAN’S UNREPENTANT “MINISTER OF PROTOCOL” FROM COMMISSION ON DISCRIMINATION AND HATE CRIMES”
Rutherford also Calls on all Statewide Leaders to End their Deafening Silence on this Fundamental Moral Imperative
SPRINGFIELD, IL – State Senator Dan Rutherford (R-Pontiac) and Republican candidate for Secretary of State says , “The silence of statewide leaders is ‘deafening’ regarding the ‘moral crisis’ created by the Governor’s refusal to correct his mistake of appointing Sister Claudette Muhammad to the Governor’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes.”
Muhammad is a senior official of Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam who refuses to disassociate herself from Farrakhan’s continued anti-Semitic. Governor Blagojevich is refusing to remove Sister Muhammad from his own Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes. “We now have a representative of a high profile bigot on a government commission whose purpose is to combat bigotry,” highlighted the Senator.
Rutherford said, “The Governor is being a coward and shamefully not acting like a leader in fixing a mess he himself is responsible for. I am stunned that other statewide leaders have remained silent on the issue. We have statewide elected officials who are sitting on the sidelines of this fundamental moral issue doing nothing. I call on all statewide elected officials and candidates to stand up and speak out unequivocally. As statewide elected leaders each of them has a high moral position from which to speak and a responsibility to do so without further delay.”
“It is contemptible to have public officials who sit idly by in times of great moral crisis,” Rutherford continued.
Rutherford highlighted, “I am appalled at how political the Governor is handling this crisis. Rod Blagojevich is shamefully sitting in his ivory tower calculating how to tiptoe around a profound moral issue in which the right thing to do is crystal clear.”
“Common sense and fundamental decency demand that a high ranking official of an organization that supports a leader, Louis Farrakhan, who regularly—even recently in Chicago—spews hateful, bigoted anti-Semitic ideology, just cannot sit on a government commission that is supposed to deal with discrimination and hate crimes. This is ludicrous.”
“Bigotry and hatred is not acceptable anywhere, much less in government entities. It is that simple.”
Rutherford believes this issue of the appointment and continued service on a State of Illinois commission of the Chief of Protocol to Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam—someone who is the highest profile anti-Semite in the nation, is of paramount concern. He said, “this goes to the very heart of our body politic, the civil nature of our society and the concept of decency as being the guiding principle of democracy.”
Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Chief of Protocol, Sister Claudette Muhammad, a Blagojevich appointee to the Commission, invited fellow Commission members to witness Farrakhan’s sermon recently in Chicago. The controversy of her appointment had already become a major news story. Aware of the attention his remarks would have in Illinois, Minister Farrakhan, who has a long history of virulent anti-Semitism, deliberately and knowingly threw down the gauntlet and took the opportunity to once again viciously rant again against Jews.
Sister Claudette Muhammad refused to disassociate herself from Farrakhan’s overt anti-Semitic remarks. Rutherford emphasized, “by the Governor’s reckless action with Sister Muhammad’s appointment and his subsequent shameful inaction in removing her, he has become part and parcel of this appeal to hatred.”
Rutherford furthered, “Governor Blagojevich is shamefully when he tries to brush this off as ‘guilt by association.’ Does anyone really believe that? That is almost like saying senior Nazi officials shouldn’t be judged as anti-Semitic just because Hitler constantly incited hatred for the Jews; those officials continued to support and serve him.”
Rutherford respectfully suggested that the state's news media ask each state-wide elected official and every candidate for state-wide office their position on this matter. Rutherford noted, “The voters have a right to know. The idea of whether people who are active in organizations that promote hate should be appointed to government position is not an issue that we should let pass unresolved. Under our Constitution, everyone, including bigots, has the right to run for office—but undoubtedly the good sense of the electorate prevails and the haters end up losing in a landslide. So it is all the more offensive when an end-run around the public’s good judgment is done by appointment of the Governor.”
Rutherford said, “My initial reaction was to draft legislation that would bar persons who promote hate or who officially support organizations that promote hate, from holding government positions. After further thought, I realized the law is not the problem. The problem is that we have moral ostriches in state leadership positions that contemptibly refuse to lead.”
Rutherford concluded by saying, “There are certain times when being an elected official does not allow for silence. This is one of those times. Hate is not acceptable, period.”
RUTHERFORD RELEASES STATEMENT ON JESSE WHITE ACCEPTING CASH GIFTS
Senator Dan Rutherford today released the following statement regarding the admission of Jesse White that he has receives cash gifts from his employees in the Secretary of State’s Office. Rutherford, who is the Republican Candidate for Secretary of State, said he does not accept cash gifts now from any of his employees and will continue that policy as Secretary of State.
“I have always believed it is unethical to receive cash gifts from someone who you gave the responsibility to hire in government or receive a political appointment from you. There is no grey area when it comes to elected officials receiving cash gifts.
This is the second lapse of judgment that has come to light recently in the Secretary of State’s Office. The first was the hiring of now-indicted convicted felon Cecil Turner.
Like so many others, I commended Mr. White for limiting political donations from his employees. But apparently Mr. White believes it is ok to accept personal cash gifts instead. This is not good government and is a continuation of the old way of doing business. Whether ill intent was meant, it is the perception that still makes it wrong.
Add the recent Federal indictment of the Secretary of State’s Director of Physical Services, Cecil Turner, with the admitted acceptance of cash gifts and it seems as if its politics as usual in that office. Jesse White is asleep at the wheel.
There are serious problems in the Secretary of State’s Office. As Secretary of State, Dan Rutherford intends to fix them.”
STATEMENT BY SENATOR DAN RUTHERFORD ON THE INDICTMENT OF SECRETARY OF STATE’S OFFICE OFFICIAL CECIL TURNER
The federal indictment of Cecil Turner is a wake up call and the tip of the iceberg regarding the seriousness of the problems in the Secretary of State’s Office.
I question the judgment of Mr. Turner’s hiring in the first place. He was a convicted felon for an egregious previous scam involving stealing federal checks from the mail, forging signatures and cashing the stolen checks. Jesse White was warned when he hired Cecil Turner but dismissed concerns.*
Knowing that background, Secretary of State White was asleep at the wheel while Cecil Turner engaged in scams all over again.
This is not good government and is a continuation of the old way of doing business on the taxpayer’s dime.
At the beginning of all scandals, those involved have attempted to minimize their significance. This is precisely what the Secretary of State is attempting to do in this instance.
The federal indictment of Cecil Turner is the most recent example of serious problems existing in the Secretary of State’s Office.
Jesse White is a good man but his hands off management and willingness to hire people based on political connections who are convicted felons clearly demonstrates that the people of Illinois need to take a good hard look at the breadth and depth of the problems in his office.
ILLINOIS COLLEGE FUND SWEPT
Rutherford Criticizes Current SoS for Standing by while Governor Raids College Fund
Pontiac, IL (January 7, 2006) – Republican Secretary of State Candidate Dan Rutherford criticized current Secretary of State Jesse White for standing by while Governor Rod Blagojevich raided the Illinois State College Fund, a fund that White promotes Illinois residents support by purchasing collegiate license plates.
Gov Blagojevich has siphoned $81,660 since June from this dedicated fund set up to support college scholarships, with the funding from the sale of specialty collegiate license plates. Secretary of State Jesse White produces brochures and dedicates a page on his government website promoting the purchase of the collegiate license plates. Though still promoting the purchase of the plates, White remained silent while Blagojevich raided some of the money dedicated to scholarships and used it for general spending.
“The governor’s budgetary shell game is directly impacting the financial resources of students around the State,” commented Secretary of State Candidate Dan Rutherford. “College plates are purchased with the belief that they are supporting Illinois colleges and universities. Taking money from a special account, set up for people willing to pay more for a collegiate plate to assist with scholarship funding, should have been red flagged by the Secretary of State.”
Illinois residents who purchase or renew the collegiate license plates do so believing the extra money they invest will be used to provide special recognition for Illinois colleges and universities and creates a unique source of financial aid for Illinois college students.
Drivers can purchase the collegiate plates, which cost $40 more than regular plates to obtain and $25 extra to renew each year, for 17 public and private schools in Illinois. For every license plate sold or renewed, $25 goes to either a fund for public colleges and universities or a fund for private ones. The program is promoted in the present SOS White’s materials.
“Jesse White's failure to notify collegiate plate owners that the fund was being used for other purposes, is yet another example of the mismanagement and inefficiencies of the Secretary of States Office,” notes Rutherford. “Meanwhile, the Office is still misleading consumers with brochures promoting the benefits of the collegiate plates.”
“I oppose what the Governor did,” continued Rutherford. “As Secretary of State, I would have raised an objection and let the public know before it was too late. As Secretary of State, I would have written to all collegiate plate holders telling them of the Governor’s raid on the funds. People pay more for these college plates and believe the funds will go to scholarships. The current Secretary of State did nothing.”
There are approximately 10,590 collegiate plates are registered in Illinois.
Illinois: License Plate Sticker Penalty Nets $4 Million
Illinois raises $4 million with a $20 fee imposed on those who forget to renew auto registration. State forgets to send out renewal notices.
A new fee for motorists who forget to renew their automobile registrations has brought in $4 million this year – aided by the state neglecting to send out renewal notices to a large number of motorists. Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) imposed the $20 penalty at the beginning of the year, hoping it would bring in $12 million, but only 200,000 were affected, many of these blaming the lack of notice.
The Secretary of State's office claims some renewal notices were lost due to a change in the mailing system.
RUTHERFORD SCOLDS SoS OFFICE FOR “TECHNOLOGY INCOMPETENCE” License Sticker Renewal Notices Not Getting Delivered
Pontiac, IL – Secretary of State Candidate Senator Dan Rutherford (R-Pontiac) today scolded the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office for “technology incompetence” that resulted in a windfall of fee revenue for the Blagojevich administration and hundreds of thousands of unhappy Illinois drivers.
According to the Illinois Secretary of State's office, a new penalty on motorists who fail to renew their license plate stickers on time has brought in $3.97 million since it went into effect January
The new penalty fee has raised the ire of motorists throughout Illinois because they did not receive notice from Secretary of State Jesse White’s office that their license plate was about to expire. Published reports have the current Secretary of State admitting that changes in the mailing system resulted in large numbers of motorists not receiving their advance notice.
“It is inexcusable for the customers of the Secretary of State’s Office to not receive their plate expiration reminder notice, but to then be penalized by the new Blagojevich late fee only adds insult to injury. Illinois residents that use the Secretary of State’s office are customers and they deserve to be treated with respect and efficiency,” emphasized Rutherford.
The Senator continued, “By not having the proper mechanism in place to correctly send notices when a license is about to expire is another example of the inefficiencies of the SOS. Compound this most recent failure with the long lines and waits at SOS Driver Service Centers around the state and it is obvious that the office is not well run. A good business would never treat its customers this way.”
The Secretary of State's Office is the agency of Illinois state government which directly serves more clients annually than any other. Rutherford is an advocate for greater efficiencies in the SOS office by bringing in the next generation of technology.