Is It Time to Retire the Clowns in the Springfield Circus?

I am not impressed with my party's approach to the Governor's race in Illinois. For a party that rightly points out the ineffective leadership of Gov Pat Quinn, the corrupt and wasteful spending by Illinois government , the influence held by the Daley and Madigan families, and even admits to sharing blame for the 115 BILLION DOLLAR pension deficit...we sure are running a couple of guaranteed losers for Governor. In short, it appears we are about to repeat the very same mistakes that cost us the election last time by running the same candidates again and again.
I realize some people are going to get angry with me over my opinion, but it won't be the first time. The rabid zealots of the GOP can kiss my Moderate Republican butt on main  street, if they want to have a party of sheep they should consider changing their slogan from the "Grand Old Party" to "Grazing Optional Party."  It wouldn't be so bad if we were given options to consider, but lately its just getting ridiculous with a demand for blind obedience and support for whatever candidate they want to throw at a wall to see if they stick.
Let's take a look at who's running for Governor on the GOP ticket and see what we're going to have to overcome. First off, the GOP candidates have all served in office for over a decade, most have served 2. The exception is the gazillion-aire Bruce Rauner, who has made a fortune fixing damaged companies, marrying them together, and turning them into successful tax paying entities,(unlike the last GOP presidential candidate that we were expected to trust simply because he said "I have a plan .." and had a business success ratio that would be barely acceptable as a professional baseball batting average.)
So right off the bat we have Rutherford, Brady, and Dillard, all with around 20 years in office each and all claiming they could have stopped the pension crisis and have the solution that will make all the problems go away. My big question is if they were in office so long, and they know how to fix the problems, then why did they let the problem get so bad to begin with?Am I the only one that's not buying their rhetoric? It's not like they can deny responsibility, they were there when it all went to hell, they knew it was happening, yet they did nothing to stop it. I don't know about you folks, but saying "we tried..." simply doesn't cut it when our leaders put our state into the worst credit rating in the nation, the highest default and delinquency on bill payments, and a 115 BILLION dollar unfunded pension liability. Seems to me the only thing we can definitely see they tried hardest at was to get us to swallow some more hogwash and vote for them...again!
Yet these are the 3 leading candidates for Governor that the GOP is putting their faith in. Shoot, Dillard lost to Brady and Brady lost to a toady from the Dippity-do Hair club! Rutherford was treasurer so of all of them, he probably had more knowledge about the financial apocalypse than any of them...and he did absolutely nothing to stop it.But...these are the 3 guys that have the most GOP support. why are we supporting these professional vote-getters (from either PARTY) that have driven our state into being the worst state in the nation? Are we really that stupid as to trust these guys again?
Lets look closer at Brady, since he seems to be the odds on favorite. Here's a guy that has repeatedly proposed actually REDUCING the minimum wage. That's right folks, he believes that Illinois minimum wage is too generous and that it inhibits business growth. This from the guy that flies around the state campaigning from a private plane (Dillard does the same as well.) He has also proposed, again repeatedly, eliminating the Illinois State Board of Education. Sure, why not? God knows Illinois has  such great school systems that they don't need any governance. That's one way to shrink government to appease the GOP ideals.
Brady has also proposed legislation that would allow discrimination in both the workplace and housing, most notably against gays and same sex relationships. That's not just against federal laws, it's against what most citizens of Illinois support. He has introduced legislation that not only bans gay marriages, but civil unions as well. According to Brady, homosexuals should have no rights or protection against harassment, discrimination, or denial of constitutional rights. He actually thinks that, as Governor, he can pass a law that would over ride the Supreme Court decisions. 
I would say he likens gays to being deservedly treated like a dog, but Brady also introduced a Bill that would allow for mass euthanasia of stray dogs and cats! He  later retracted that bill after pressure from dog and cat lovers. 
Don't think he is any more fond of women than he is of gays, either. Brady has proposed that no women should have an abortion unless it could be proven beyond doubt that childbirth would be fatal to her. His constant attacks against Planned Parenthood are legendary. When shown that abortions are a mere 5% of Planned Parenthood's services, and that the other 95% of its services deal with preventative health care and treatment for other medical problems, many of which are often fatal, Brady stated that it was worth the lives of those women if it saved the life of one innocent fetus. While that may be an admirable sentiment to some, it is NOT what public opinion would support in Illinois.
Besides eliminating these types of services, Brady also wants a massive reduction to Medic-Aid and Medi-Care in Illinois, which at 9.4% unemployment would leave countless people, elderly, unemployed and poor, without any form of insurance at all.
Finally, we get to finances on Brady, both personal and campaign. It's really quite simple...he's a bad risk. He took loans from several out of state banks last time he ran for Governor and that bothers me...a lot. Why did he have to borrow money from out of state banks? You'd think if he was running for Governor he would get loans from Illinois banks, wouldn't you? Then again, he was recently sued for defaulting on several business loans worth over 2 million dollars that he was personally responsible for. How he is going to pay that money back without some "assistance" is beyond me.
I think the biggest factor on why I can not get behind Brady, or Dillard or Rutherford for that matter is the fact that they are all tools that swore allegiance to Karl Rove and Grover Norquist.  That is the infamous " No tax increases...and closing tax loopholes on the extremely wealthy IS A TAX INCREASE!"
This indicates to me that they were too weak to begin with, an accusation that is supported by the systemic and progressively dismal fiscal situation Illinois now faces. Strong leadership would have prevented this mess, and yet we are in it up to our necks! All 3 of these knuckleheads failed miserably on this matter. They swore allegiance to a couple of special interest puppet masters, over allegiance to the people of Illinois and even, to some extent, over their political party's foundation of ideals.
20 years folks, and what did we get from these guys? They are working full time to get re-elected to a PART-TIME job that pays better than what most of us working full time earn, and with a pension program that is ridiculously generous as well as dangerous...and we fund it. 
How do they fund their campaigns...where does that money come from? Some of it comes from gullible and desperate individuals that so want to believe that there will be a change. The bulk of it comes from corporate and special interests...and it comes with a price tag folks. Nobody can be gullible enough to believe that these guys aren't obliged to a lot of influential people and haven't made promises that run contrary to public interests.
Just check their disclosures on where their campaign money comes from. I've been tough on Brady today, and with purpose. I am a Veteran. Brady had a chair on the Illinois Veterans Committee and stood by while almost every program, task force, commission and committee was gutted or axed completely. Yet the 200 birthday party for Abraham Lincoln was more important to Brady than Veteran's courts, work programs, etc.
But that's okay, because God knows that unemployed homeless veterans waiting for their court hearing while anticipating  finally receiving their belated education benefit checks would want Brady to attend that birthday party...and folks, what frightens me is that Brady is the better candidate over Rutherford and Dillard!
I think the smart money should be put on Bruce Rauner. He's self financed and virtually incorruptible. He's focused on priority problems with Illinois and NOT just issues that will get a vote...and he's wealthy enough through proven financial success to be immune from private pressure or special interest pressure. In other words...he don't need their freakin' bribes!