When thinking of Illinois politics, who comes to mind?

Yes, ex-Democratic governor Rod Blagojevich. He was charged with attempting to try to sell off Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat.

Even if I do not bring up other charges, it is clear that Blagojevich was not fit for a governor position.

“If it isn’t the most corrupt state in the United States, it’s certainly one hell of a competitor,” said Robert Grant, special agent in charge of Chicago’s FBI office, to the Chicago Tribune on Dec. 10, 2008, “Even the most cynical agents in our office were shocked.”

This was stated after Blagojevich was charged. This is what Democrats are doing to Illinois’ reputation.

The Governor for Illinois from 1961 to 1968 was Otto Kerner. He went to jail bribery and not paying taxes.

The next ex-Illinois governor was Dan Walker. He was governor from 1973 to 1977 and one of his charges was of bank fraud.

I cannot say that all Republican governors were innocent either. The infamous George Ryan, who served from 1999 to 2003, was charged with corruption.

He is not the type of Republican I would like to see running our state, but I still believe a Republican can do the job better.

This is why a Republican like Bill Brady would fit best in a governor’s role.

The Democrats are not the “vision of perfection” that they want you to believe. Let the Republican Party come clean up the mess the Democrats left in Illinois. He is a small business owner and his career is to help us find jobs. He was born and raised in Illinois.

We need a government that is responsible and not corrupt. Instead of always voting for a tax increase to help our deficit, Brady never voted for a tax increase.

He is supportive of women in that he voted towards The Equal Pay Act, and he also voted to expand insurance coverage for mammograms and breast cancer. He made crucial vote towards the law for women to have the right to select their gynecologist in an HMO.

Austin Quick, senior political science major and chairman emeritus of the NIU College Republicans, agreed.

“Democrats have shown that their promises have not been kept,” Quick said. “Sen. Brady has new ideas that will be a fresh voice for Illinois’ government.”

It is time to vote for someone that will bring Illinois from the bottom back to the top.

From his website, “In higher education, Bill as governor will restore state funding our state universities and community colleges cut by previous administrations as a means to make a college education more affordable for more Illinois students and provide greater opportunities for ongoing retraining of the state’s workforce.”

This is pointed clearly to us, college students. We need him as our governor to help us afford expensive college bills.

I hope Bill Brady gets elected to clean up the Democrats’ mess they have left the people to clean.