Rock Island Today

Republican candidate for governor Gary Rabine felt right at home during the recent Rock Island County Republicans Lincoln Day Dinner.

“It was awesome being surrounded by people who are eager and passionate to change this state for the better,” Rabine posted on Facebook. “Thank you Rock Island County Republicans. Such a fun time.”

Since formally launching his campaign on a platform of budget reform and statewide job growth, the Bull Valley businessman said he feels his experiences uniquely make him the man for the job.

“I’m running because I can see my family, my friends’ families and so many others that just want to get out of here,” he  told IllinoisChannelTV. “It bothers me so bad. I’ve been in business for 40 years, the last 20 building businesses as a leader, understanding what great leadership looks like and it’s not what we see in our governor and our mayor of Chicago.”

Rabine said what he sees coming out of Springfield falls far from what they state needs to steer itself on the right course.

“I understand how it works attracting jobs to our state and we do a lousy job of that. I understand how it works when it comes to taxing people out of state and we do a good job of that,” he said.

Rabine said he can remember a time when the state was one of the best places in the country to do business.

“I’ve seen Illinois go from being the best place to build a business to being one of the worst,” he said at a recent Get Together event hosted by the Antioch Republicans and posted to Facebook. “When we look at our policy for workmen’s compensation it’s one of the worst three in the country. When we look at taxation today, we have the highest real estate taxes in the country, a terrible thing. In that time from 2007 to today, our property values have gone down. Other states don’t have these problems.”