Biography:
As Illinois’ chief executive officer, Governor Rod Blagojevich has been focused on getting things done for Illinois families.
When Rod Blagojevich was sworn in as Governor in 2003 Illinois was facing a $5 billion budget deficit, a national recession and a state government that was not meeting the needs of working families. Just three years later, Illinois is the only state in the nation that guarantees access to affordable, comprehensive health care to every child. 400,000 more people have health care than three years ago. In the past three years education funding has increased by $3.8 billion, more than any other state in the Midwest and more than 43 states across the nation. Funding for preschool has expanded by 50%, meaning 35,000 more children can now start going to school early.
Under the Blagojevich Administration, Illinois is filling the void created by the failure of the federal government’s Medicare Part D program with the State's own Leave No Senior Behind program that will allow seniors to get the medicine they need. Illinois also provides assistance to seniors in need of affordable prescription drugs through the I-SaveRx program.
Under Rod Blagojevich Illinois has raised the minimum wage and the economic development policies of the Blagojevich Administration have created over 200,000 new jobs, leading the Midwest. Illinois led the nation in job creation in April and July of this year. Illinois is also on the verge of becoming the only state to convert its entire tollway system to Open Road Tolling, meaning drivers no longer have to stop or slowdown for tollbooths. Crime is down 9%, highway fatalities have reached a 60 year low and Illinois' efforts in homeland security have earned awards from the Centers for Disease Control and Harvard University. The Blagojevich Administration has been able to achieve each of these results and balance the budget without asking working families to pay more in income or sales taxes. Rod Blagojevich is moving Illinois forward.
Before becoming Governor, Rod served in the U.S. Congress, representing Illinois’ 5th district, from 1997 to 2002. In Congress, he distinguished himself 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. He served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1992 to 1996. Prior to running for office, Rod was a Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney, prosecuting domestic abuse cases and felony weapons charges.
Rod Blagojevich was born on 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 3-year-old Annie.
Education: Building on the work of the previous four budgets and legislative sessions which saw more than $3.8 billion in new funds invested in Illinois schools, the creation of universal preschool in Illinois, and raising graduation standards to require students to take more reading, writing, math and science, Governor Rod Blagojevich unveiled his new education plan to continue reforming and improving schools.
The Blagojevich education plan will add $6 billion to education funding over the next 4 years. That money will be used to fund extending the school year, merit pay for teachers, mandatory after school tutoring, taking over failing school districts, school construction, parental involvement initiatives, textbook replacement, full day kindergarten, new school technology and new accountability measures. The plan includes investing another $6 billion generating an additional $650 million annually for the next 25 years, raising the foundation level $250 million in the first year alone and will fund $1.5 billion of needed new school construction.
Governor Blagojevich Unveils Bold New Plan to Reform Illinois Schools
The Governor’s plan includes extending the school year, merit pay for teachers, mandatory after school tutoring, taking over failing school districts, school construction, parental involvement initiatives, textbook replacement, full day kindergarten, new school technology, and new accountability measures; Plan would provide $6 billion in new funding for schools over next four budgets.
Gov. Blagojevich’s plan builds on progress already made by his administration, focusing on five areas vital to improving schools and helping kids learn:
In 1975, the State of Illinois created the lottery. The idea behind the game was to create a funding source for schools that would solve the inequities in school funding. However, over the years, lottery money was not used exclusively for schools. Instead, it was used for a variety of purposes, failing to fulfill the mission promised to the taxpayers over thirty years ago.
Today, we have a valuable asset that could be used to do far more for education. And we have schools that need more funding. Under this proposal, the Illinois Lottery would either enter into a long-term lease with a private entity or conduct an Initial Public Offering that would generate approximately $10 billion in proceeds.
That money would go directly and only to schools, fulfilling the promise originally made to the people more than thirty years ago. Specifically, the lease would provide $4 billion towards a new $6 billion funding plan for schools over the next four years and guarantee a $650 million annuity to the Common School Fund until Fiscal Year 2025.
Over the next four years, $6 billion would be invested in our schools, increasing the foundation level, mandated categoricals, school construction, universal preschool, and a host of new programs and ideas targeted specifically at helping underachieving students and schools improve.
These ideas are not the only ideas that would help our schools and continued discussion among elected officials, education leaders, business leaders, and community leaders is needed. A new council would create an on-going process designed to shape the course of education in Illinois for decades to come.
The Blagojevich Record Real Progress for Illinois Families
Rod Blagojevich took office in the face of a $5 billion budget deficit, a national recession and a state government that was not meeting the needs of working families.
Experts and insiders wanted to cut education, cut health care or raise taxes. Rod Blagojevich thought that it was wrong to ask the hard-working men and women of Illinois to sacrifice vital services or pay more in income or sales tax.
Instead, Blagojevich took on a system that wasn't working. Blagojevich ended corporate tax loopholes, streamlined state government and reordered priorities, saving billions of dollars and making vital investments in health care, education and economic development, all without asking families to pay more sales or income taxes.
Rod Blagojevich is moving Illinois forward.
Rewarding work and creating opportunity
Investing in our children's future
Making health care and prescription drugs more affordable
Working Families Have Made Real Progress - But There's a Lot More Work to Do
Illinois needs to keep moving forward. Governor Blagojevich has proposed a $2 Billion jobs program that will create 230,000 jobs by rebuilding Illinois' roads, bridges and schools.
Blagojevich has proposed a $1,000 college tuition tax deduction for families with students who maintain a “B” average at any Illinois school.
Blagojevich has proposed a new program that will provide health care to Illinois veterans.
With your support we can keep Moving Illinois Forward.
By the Numbers
Here is a look at the Blagojevich Administration by the numbers:
The Blagojevich Agenda
Four years ago the Governor was sworn into office while Illinoisans were facing a $5 billion deficit, and a government that was bloated, ineffective and had all the wrong priorities: education was neglected, health care was a privilege, the minimum wage was too low, and jobs were too scarce.
In spite of these difficult times, we have made real progress for people. Instead of just sitting on the sidelines and using these challenges as an excuse for inaction, we embraced them as an opportunity to change the old ways, to re-order and re-prioritize government and make it start working for people again.
Skeptics and naysayers questioned whether we would be able to increas funding for schools, provide health care for children and eliminate the deficit, all without raising taxes. But we have.
We have done it by building a state that is every bit as good as its people. That means an Illinois where every family - and especially every child - has access to good, affordable health care; an Illinois where every child can get a good education; and an Illinois where those same children can then afford to go to college so they can develop their skills and get a good job.
It means an Illinois where good jobs remain good jobs – jobs that stay in this state and stay in this country. An Illinois that is safe from street crime, safe from gang crime, safe from terrorism.
And an Illinois that treats everyone equally and fairly, no matter where you come from or what you look like.
That is our vision for this state. And it’s a vision we have worked hard to turn into reality over the past three years. It has not come without a struggle. It has not always been easy. But then again, nothing in life worth having ever is.
But our work is not complete, in fact it is far from it. As your governor I will continue to work on these priorities:
We have also made healthcare more affordable and more available. 400,000 people who did not have health care three years ago do now. We created the Illinois Cares program to make sure seniors would receive their prescription drugs in spite of the failures in Washington with the Medicare prescription drug benefit. And because of our All Kids program, we have now done for kids, what forty years ago, Medicare did for seniors.
The first responsibility of government is public safety. And here too, we are making real progress. We now have fewer robberies and burglaries, fewer cars stolen, fewer arsons, and fewer murders than at any time in the last decade. Just four short years ago, there were 10,000 more violent crimes in Illinois and 31,000 more property crimes. Thanks to the efforts of the men and women in law enforcement, Illinois is a safer place.
We have advanced these priorities and made these investments while inheriting the largest budget deficit in our state's history and without increasing the cost of government for middle class and working families. We have made and kept our promises and can and will continue to do so.
That money will be used to invest in good jobs that will pay good wages and good benefits to help us with projects such as roads like Route 51 in Decatur, widen I-55 outside of Chicago, widen Route 13 from Marion to Carterville, improve Route 2 in Rockford, Route 5 in Moline, build the Technology Boulevard in Peoria, start work on the Mississippi River bridge, and realize the dream of making Route 336 a gateway from Chicago all the way to Kansas City.
Projects like these help companies reduce the cost of moving products to market, help people get to and from work, and have been shown to be a determining factor when companies choose to locate in Illinois.
But in order to qualify for the credit, students must maintain a B-average. College should be affordable for those students willing to work hard to get ahead. With this tax credit will we reward those students and those families who want a better life and are willing to work for it.
The first phase of Veterans Care would cover low income veterans who do not have health insurance and who do not live within a reasonable driving distance of a VA hospital. Those are the veterans who have the least access to affordable health care. They are the ones who need our help the most, and they need it now.
Weapons that are used by sportsmen and those used by law abiding citizens to protect their families will not be affected. But weapons intended for military use should not be in the hands of criminals to be used against our state's law enforcement personnel.
Because methamphetamine can be as destructive to families and communities as assault weapons, we propose to create a specialized prison and treatment facility for meth addicts at 667-bed Southwestern Illinois Correctional Center.
Last year, in response to a “religious objector” pharmacists who refused to fill day-after pill prescriptions, Blago issued an executive order requiring them to do so.
Source: (a blog): http://jstheater.blogspot.com/2006/01/politics.html
In Illinois, Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced last week a series of state proposals to crackdown on the unauthorized release or sale of phone records, saying, “This is outrageous and will not be tolerated in Illinois.” We need Congress to take the same attitude and pass strong federal legislation immediately.
Source: http://civic.moveon.org/mediaaction/alerts/Phone_records_being_sold_online.html
Archive: Info gathered from Rod R. Blagojevich's previous races