I'm a lover of fairs and corn dogs.

I've been very engaged in Illinois and Chicago civic activities for a long time; mostly around building businesses and helping entrepreneurs grow companies, but also around education and education reform.

I'm a big outdoorsman... I'm a big hunter. Avid fisherman. Hiker. Climber. Scuba diver. Skier. Love the outdoors.

I don't have a Rolls. I don't have a jet. That's not me.

I have my strong views and opinions. I really want to transform Illinois government because this state is failing the taxpayers and the children.

I'm a pretty disciplined investor and pretty disciplined buyer. I do my due diligence. I do my homework. I don't waste money.

Our government works should be treated fairly and appropriately; they should have a decent retirement, but not a gold-plated system where they can retire multimillionaires in their 50s.

Being a successful CEO, where I've driven a bottom line, assembled teams, driven results, that's a critical benefit to running the state government.

A C.E.O.'s job is leadership, problem solving, and team building. I've done that my whole career.

Mitch Daniels in Indiana was the best governor in America for eight years. I've gone to Indianapolis to study with him.

I've completely lost faith in the Democratic Party to truly serve the disadvantaged.

Your average person in Illinois doesn't really even know what workers' comp is. The average person doesn't know really what's going on in the pension system. They know their taxes are too high; they know we've got a deficit. But getting that message out and helping the people of Illinois really understand what's going on, that's hard.

Voters want conflicting things. They want a lot of government spending, but they don't want higher taxes.

If yelling and threatening, intimidating and chanting solved problems, Illinois wouldn't have any problems. We're good at that stuff.

It takes someone with a unique background to stand up to the threat of a strike and win.

We've become a collectivist economy in Illinois. It's crushing us. And no problem is going to get fixed unless we bring more economic freedom into the state. And I believe that very passionately.

I'm not anti-union.

I am going to try to rip the economic guts out of Indiana. But we're going to do it methodically and aggressively.

I am one of the baddest enemies anybody can have.

State universities in Illinois are a microcosm of our state government - broken with work rules and administrative bureaucracy.

I am a gun owner and a hunter and a gun rights supporter.

The critical thing is that we have to reduce the tax burden.

Where I'm an outsider is, I'm not a career politician.

I want to transform state government. What it takes is a strong CEO type... a leader who can drive things.

Illinois has every reason to succeed. We have the hardest-working people in America, the best infrastructure in America, and the best location of any state.

Many of us have been touched by the magic of a great teacher. I know I have.

For many young people, the minimum wage is a stepping stone to higher employment levels.

When I was young, I had minimum wage jobs as a busboy, flipping burgers and parking cars.

Incremental increases in the minimum wage won't address the underlying skills and investment gaps in Illinois.

Illinois will only get economically healthy if we stop focusing on growing minimum wages and start focusing on growing everyone's wages.

For every challenge we face - unemployment, poverty, crime, income growth, income inequality, productivity, competitiveness - a great education is a major component of the solution.

Great teaching requires incredible talent and dedication, strong intellectual ability and interpersonal skill, real discipline and empathy.

When my mother was young, only two professions were open to women ; teaching and nursing. She chose nursing, but the teaching profession was full of talented women like her, confined there in part because they had few career options.

To restore our public schools, we must put an end to the selfish agenda of the union bosses.

Big problems usually come from big sources.

Those who want low taxes and healthy job creation know that an unnecessary dollar going to these unions is a dollar that cannot reduce the tax burden on homeowners, small businesses, and job creators.

Those who value a strong safety net for our neediest citizens see that every extra dollar spent on these unions is a dollar that cannot go to help the sick, the elderly, and the vulnerable.

Government employees deserve to be treated fairly, but they do not deserve a significantly better deal than average Illinoisans get in their own jobs.

Government unions should not be allowed to influence the public officials they are lobbying, and sitting across the bargaining table from, through campaign donations and expenditures.

The people of Illinois sent me to Springfield to end the era of unbalanced budgets and runaway debt.

We cannot accept the status quo of throwing more taxpayer money into a broke and broken system.

Government pensions are among the largest cost drivers for state and local governments.

If Republicans and Democrats commit to working together, we can reach a bipartisan, common-sense agreement to reverse Illinois' economic decline and set the stage for a bright economic future.

Let's put Illinois back on the road to prosperity.

I'm a business guy. I'm not a politician.

We need to focus on reducing property taxes. We need to focus on education funding. We need to focus on getting term limits on elected officials.

I don't like to pay lip service. I don't frankly like to talk about stuff.

I like to do things that get results. Results are all that matters.

Our government workers should be treated fairly and appropriately. They should have a decent retirement, but not a gold-plated system where they can retire multimillionaires in their 50s.

The government union bosses are the most powerful politicians in Springfield.