BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, officially announced his candidacy for governor Tuesday at the Challenger Learning Center, ending a day-long, six-city tour throughout northern and central Illinois. He continues his gubernatorial announcement today in Urbana at the corner of Lincoln and Green Street at 5 p.m.

“The corruption must stop. The people of Illinois deserve a lot better than they’ve gotten over the years,” said Sen. Brady, and that the stated needed someone who “doesn’t spend tax dollars like Monopoly money.”

With his wife, Nancy, and three children flanking him, Sen. Brady addressed what he said was corrupt practices under Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s current leadership.

“That won’t happen on my watch,” Sen. Brady said, pointing his index finger at the crowded room. “The corruption must stop.”

State Sen. Brady joins several other candidates in the campaign for the Republican nomination for governor, including Jim Oberweis, Ron Gidwitz and State Sen. Steven Rauschenberger, R-Elgin.

In his speech, Sen. Brady stated six principles he would center his campaign around, calling it his “contract with the people of Illinois.” He outlined his platform, which included vowing to create a favorable job climate, lowering taxes and forming property tax relief, implementing tougher laws to end “pay for play politics,” practicing strict fiscal discipline, allowing more authority to local schools for educational resources, and protecting basic moral values.

“I think he’s got good experience and ideas,” Lyman Shaw of Bloomington said about Sen. Brady’s announcement. “I think he’d make a great governor, a very fine governor.”

Sen. Brady emphasized his disappointment with the current governor’s actions in the previous years and treatment of the people of Illinois.

“I want to show someone out there is fighting for them. Someone who believes we must restore faith and trust in the government,” he said.

The Republican gubernatorial hopeful also stressed a focus on making Illinois a more desirable place to do business, saying they are subject to high tax rates and unfair regulation.

“The people of Illinois can’t survive four more years of higher taxes and fees,” Sen. Brady said.

Dave and Sally Hill, Bloomington natives and neighbors of Sen. Brady, agreed with candidate’s stance on helping businesses in Illinois.

“The governor has taken actions that hurt the state economy. Good jobs are fleeing this state,” Dave Hill said, an employee at State Farm Insurance. “(Sen. Brady’s) focus is to follow through on the promises Blagojevich made and didn’t keep.”

Shaw also had similar concerns about Gov. Blagojevich’s current term.

“It’d be funny, if it weren’t so serious,” Shaw said.

Sen. Brady is a livelong Bloomington native who worked in a family business with his brothers in real estate and other ventures and a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University.

From 1993 to 2001, he started his legislative experience in the Illinois House of Representatives. In 2002, Brady began service in the Illinois Senate, holding 12 years of legislative experience.

Sen. Brady also said he is a man who holds moral values and made no secret about starting Tuesday’s tour with an opening prayer. The state senator also said he was not concerned primarily about other candidates and their current fundraising levels and was confident about raising the resources that would be necessary.

“We’re going to put Illinois back on the right track,” Sen. Brady said.