Prairie State Wire

Jim Dodge calls the 2018 elections the epitome of a sink-or-swim situation.

"This is a time for choosing,” Dodge, a Republican running for state treasurer, told the Prairie State Wire. “This election is a very simple and clear question for the people of Illinois: Do you want our state to have a better future, or do we stick with the status quo and face financial disaster?”

The Orland Park Village trustee also sees the voting as a referendum on longtime Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago).

Jim Dodge

“Everyone in Illinois gets it,” Dodge said. “The system that Mike Madigan deliberately engineered is all about his accumulation of power, and everyone knows his power leads to his profits. The rest of us just get to pay; that’s what he wants us to do: Shut up and pay.”

Dodge said his campaign is about restoring conservative principles that ultimately offer voters hope for better days.

“Democrats and Republicans see things differently,” Dodge said. “But that is not an excuse for government being so ineffective, so inefficient and so incompetent that everyone is frustrated. Government doesn’t exist for special interests; it exists to serve people. Too bad it often doesn’t.”

Dodge ran for state comptroller in 2010, garnering 19 percent of the vote in a three-way GOP primary race won by Judy Baar Topinka with 59 percent of the vote.

This time around, the vice president of Nielsen Co. will likely face off against Democratic incumbent Michael Frerichs in the general election.

“What I bring to the position is simple: years of private-sector experience where every day you have to create value or you don’t get paid,” Dodge said. “That’s exactly the same principle 90 percent of Illinoisans live under, doesn’t matter if you are working for someone else or perhaps a trade union member or a business owner, large or small. However, the Springfield power structure ignores this reality.”

Dodge touted his local government experience working on balanced budgets that have been enacted.  

“That doesn’t happen in Springfield,” he said. “I have an MBA from the University of Chicago, so I understand finance and economics and a passion for public service. I’m ready for this challenge.”

Dodge said his list of political heroes include Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

“I hope the party moves in this direction: together and up,” Dodge said. “As Republicans, we are the ones to create a better future for the people of Illinois than they could ever get from Mike Madigan. Let’s act that way, because we will be held to account by the people we serve.

“I’ve very optimistic on this race because it will ultimately distill down to the very simple question I raised earlier: If the people of Illinois want a better future for themselves, they now have a choice."