Schillerstrom says he'll be a one-termer if elected governor

Three-term DuPage County Chairman Bob Schillerstrom says he will serve only one term if elected governor whether he accomplishes his goals in office or not.

"(Voters) deserve to know their next governor is focused on getting the state back on track and not getting re-elected," Schillerstrom said in announcing the pledge Thursday.

Schillerstrom faces a seven-way Republican primary for governor in which reform has been a focus of each campaign. No other candidates have offered a one-term pledge.

The Naperville Republican argues the promise won't hamstring his administration. "Four years is a long time," he said. "A lot can be done in that time."

A governor who is not seeking re-election might be seen by some as a lame duck who could have difficulty gaining the clout needed to pass critical legislation. Schillerstrom says the call from voters to have a clean administration supersedes the traditional legislative process at the state Capitol.

Meanwhile, Schillerstrom said he expects to be able to balance the budget - now facing a shortfall of about 40 percent, or $11 billion - and root out corruption in his first term. When asked if he would still not seek re-election if those goals are not met, Schillerstrom said he would stick to his pledge.

Meanwhile, fellow candidate Jim Ryan, former Illinois attorney general, put out a new TV ad featuring himself as a Golden Gloves boxing youth. The ad also claims Ryan "took on (Rod) Blagojevich before anyone else."

Ryan lost to Blagojevich in 2002 when the now-ousted Democrat won his first term as governor.

The ad says Ryan will "clean up Springfield" and balance the budget "without raising taxes."

Ryan's opponents have criticized him for not signing a no-tax pledge. Ryan says he has plans to cut the state's budget to avoid a tax hike, which Democrats are calling for. However, he has opened the door to raising taxes if cutting alone doesn't work and after the economy recovers.

Chicago conservative commentator Dan Proft launched his first TV ad Thursday in which he promises to "turn Springfield upside down."

Another Republican governor hopeful, state Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale, announced his endorsement from Sandy Rios, a talk-show host on WYLL 1160AM in Chicago. Rios heads the Culture Campaign, which has a mission statement "To engage Christians in actively living out and declaring biblical truth in a secular, humanistic American culture."

The campaign aims to enlist Christians in the "culture war" and views government as attacking or undermining the faith.

And former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna said an escape of prisoners from a small downstate county jail is a "stark reminder of the dangers Illinoisans could face" if detainees are moved from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to a prison in northwestern Illinois.

However, the prison where the detainees would be held is a supermax facility. No prisoner has ever escaped a supermax facility in the United States and authorities say detainees would face even stricter confines monitored by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The other candidates in the GOP primary include Hinsdale businessman Adam Andrzejewski and state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington.

On the Democratic side, Gov. Pat Quinn announced he received the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. He is running against Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes of Chicago.

The primary is Feb. 2.