Gov. Bruce Rauner said he wants to remove power from special interest groups during a March 6 budget talk in DeKalb.

Rauner, speaking at Hopkins Park, talked about his plans to repair Illinois’ budget. Rauner said he wants to take away power from special interest groups who influence government and give it back to the people.

Rauner said Illinois has a strong need for social services, which he believes in, but the state has a government that is expensive.

“We have big needs in our community,” Rauner said. “If we have a stronger economy, not as many people would have as many needs ’cause they’d have good jobs and could afford to look out for themselves.”

Rauner said this is a transformational year in terms of spending. Illinois can’t pay for things like good social services and continue to support a massive state bureaucracy, he said. He wants to shrink the government to solve this.

Rising income, great careers and education are top priorities, Rauner said. He said he has a plan for pension reform that will save $2.7 billion the first year and not reduce benefits already in place.

Rauner said he also wants to address conflicts of interest in state government. Corruption leads to a broken system that drives taxes through the roof. Rauner said structural reform and empowering the voters, as opposed to raising taxes, is the right solution.

The government “belongs to you, it should work for you,” Rauner said. “We need to empower you, we need to give the power back to you.”