West Cook News

To Dr. Jeffrey Leef, Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) stands as the antithesis to Gov. Bruce Rauner.

“The announcement that Rep. Ives will be running against Gov. Rauner in the upcoming primary is the best news that I've heard in a long time,” Leef told the West Cook News. "Jeanne Ives is a start to our road back from oblivion.”

Leef, who recently launched his campaign against U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Illinois) in the Seventh Congressional District, said he has felt betrayed by Rauner ever since supporting him his gubernatorial campaign in 2014.

Dr. Jeffrey Leef

“In the last election for governor, I voted for Bruce Rauner,” he said. “I felt that despite his undisputed liberal ideology on several important issues, I believed him when he assured the voters that he would govern as a fiscally principled conservative and keep his and his wife's role as social warriors in check. As it turns out, Bruce Rauner has done the exact opposite.”

Leef said GOP politicians like Rauner, who have ascended to public office only to forget their principles along the way, have left the state's Republican party in tatters.

“A Republican Party barely exists in Illinois,” he said.  “This has been a result of decades of neglect by national party leaders, as well as a seeming total lack of vision or consistency of direction and narrative. Combine this with a complete lack of ability by the GOP to govern, and you have the disaster we see today in Illinois.”

Leef sees new hope in the 52-year-old Ives.

“Jeanne Ives is another story,” he said. "As her role as Illinois state representative, unlike 15 of her craven, so-called Republican colleagues, she in fact has functioned as a principled conservative. She voted against a Madigan-approved budget, which included a CPS bailout and numerous hidden taxes designed to further bamboozle Illinois taxpayers.”

Ives also opposed the controversial HB40 abortion expansion bill that Rauner signed into law, making Illinois the first state to approve taxpayer funding of abortion under Medicaid at any time, for any reason.

The mother of five and West Point grad has installed former state Rep. Rich Morthland as her running mate and Chicago GOP Chairman Chris Cleveland as her campaign chairman.

Candidates for state office in Illinois must file their candidacy paperwork by Dec. 4.

The Seventh District includes much of the west side of Chicago and parts of the suburban communities of Bellwood, Maywood, Oak Park, Westchester and River Forest.