Publications & Sites 
Dillard eyes another run for governor
State Sen. Kirk Dillard talks with guests at an election night gathering Tuesday. | Curtis Lehmkuhl~Sun-Times Media
Updated: December 9, 2012 7:39PM
HINSDALE
State Sen. Kirk Dillard says Republicans are paying the price for the primary he lost more than two years ago.
The winner of the February 2010 primary, state Sen. Bill Brady, lost to Pat Quinn in the election for governor. And that cost the Republicans control of the General Assembly when it was time to redraw the legislative districts.
“The redistricting map is the largest contributing factor to the drubbing the Republicans took,” Dillard said.
“If Bob Dold, who was an exceptional candidate, can’t win on the North Shore, you know it’s all because of the remap,” Dillard said.
“I would submit that because of the February 2010 primary, it’s going to be very difficult for the Republicans to take control of the legislature for the next 10 years.”
In that primary, Dillard finished second to Brady, by a margin of only 193 votes.
The Republican primary was crowded with seven candidates, including former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan and Andy McKenna, former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party.
The redistricting map cannot be undone until after the next census in 2020. But Dillard hopes to fix his failed run for governor much sooner. Quinn’s term ends in 2014.
“My skill set is tailor-made for the governorship,” Dillard said.
He was former Gov. Jim Edgar’s chief of staff in the early 1990s, when the state was in a recession. Edgar’s administration reversed “a multi-billion budget imbalance” and raised the balance in the state treasury to $1.5 billion, Dillard said, “without an income tax increase.”
After winning re-election Tuesday to state senator of the 24th district, Dillard said he plans to meet with “the major civic, business and Republican leaders in Illinois to determine whether I should run for statewide office,” Dillard said.
But Dillard said there can’t be seven or more candidates, especially a handful from DuPage County alone, duking it out for the GOP nomination.
“I don’t believe in smoke-filled rooms,” Dillard said, but a crowded field “dilutes our resources and dilutes our message.”~.
