DeKALB — Rep. Jeanne Ives met DeKalb residents Friday to discuss her strategies against Gov. Bruce Rauner in the upcoming primary election.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate spoke and answered questions in front of 35 people packed into the back room of Lincoln Inn, 240 E. Lincoln Highway.

“I cannot sit there and tolerate this man who has lied to our caucus about important issues and just think he is going to get a pass,” Ives said. “I helped elect him in 2014. I was on his team. I gave him policy advice. We tried to help him out.”

The betrayal Ives spoke of came in the form of a $2.5 billion bailout to Exelon, an energy company responsible for supplying much of the electricity to Illinois.

Ives said she played a role in the resignation of former NIU President Doug Baker after she was approached by Jim Masons, WLBK DeKalb FM 98 radio show host, to help build a case against Baker to take to the Edgar County Watchdogs, a group used to keep all Illinois’ local governments honest.

“I’ve known about this before anyone else knew about this,” Ives said. “I’ve been in on the whole damn thing for three years.”

Ives said she plans to fight corruption in higher education to prevent circumstances, like the ones surrounding Baker’s resignation, from happening.

“I’m going to put out a challenge for universities,” Ives said. “You’re either going to bring your cost for tuition in line with your conference peers, or we’re going to bring your state support in line with your conference peers.”

Among the many problems facing Illinois, Ives focused on Illinois’ out-migration issue. Ives said the state has lost approximately 86,000 people because of migration in the last year, and 16,000 of those were students looking to receive a cheaper education elsewhere.

“I don’t care if you’re an African American or a north shore liberal,” Ives said. “Many of you have your exit plans for the state of Illinois.”

Ives said Illinois’ potential is being wasted and compared the state’s out-migration issue to a child quitting their piano lessons or a high school athlete quitting their cross country team.

“I hope she implements an economic policy that doesn’t squander economic growth,” said Bryson Reyes, junior economics major. “I think if she’s able to do that, we’ll have more people staying in Illinois.”

Ives said removing the state income tax and lowering property taxes would go a long way toward making Illinois more affordable to live in.

“I think Ives will make things better and change what she can change,” said Marypat Legler, 70, of Campton Hills. “We can’t resign ourselves and say, ‘It’s impossible.’ We just can’t do that.”