Former state Rep. Dan Brady is establishing a new routine in life without politics.
For decades, the Bloomington-Normal Republican had to balance his family and business with public events, committee meetings, the General Assembly and House caucus leadership duties. He can now focus more on his funeral home business more. Brady said he also is still recovering from a year and a half of a statewide campaign for Secretary of State.
“That has been, quite frankly, a breath of fresh air to be able to recharge the battery,” said Brady. “Certainly, what is on my particular agenda is my business profession right now, and being able to serve those families that call upon our firm in their time of need.”
He’s still looking for what’s next. It could be politics. It could be a board or commission. Brady has spent his adult life in public service and said he wants to continue in some fashion.
“One door closes, another one opens. I still have a lot of energy and desire to serve,” said Brady. “I'll certainly keep my options open and never say never.”
In an unusual move, new Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias named his defeated opponents to his transition team. Brady said at the time he appreciated the bipartisan overture. He chaired one subcommittee and co-chaired a couple others. In particular, Brady said he’s pleased with the committee report on organ and tissue donation.
“We presented several initiatives on how we can increase the numbers of individuals that register to be an organ or tissue donor. That particular area of the Secretary of State’s office can do more in community outreach, public education, and working with our two main organ donor teams, Gift of Hope, and Mid-America Transplant. It involves everything from the training of employees and in-services, to knowing more about what they're asking people about organ donation at a driver's facility,” said Brady.
He also contributed to policies he hopes will reduce distracted driving in teens and adults.
There are constraints on sitting lawmakers on how candid they can be about situations in Springfield. Brady no longer has those constraints. Brady noted inter-party dialogue has faded from his early years in the Illinois House.
"The super majority the Democrats find themselves in, in the House, the Senate and the governor's mansion, I think, is a dangerous thing. When all the eggs are in one basket political power wise, when you don't have to have any effort to reach across the aisle and look for votes from the other side, is when the people lose,” said Brady. “That's when even more political infighting within a party starts. When the majority party needs some votes, then the people win because there's got to be forced compromise.”
There are a lot of factors that go into that that dynamic. The systemic tendency to create safe districts encourages fewer moderates in each major party that also reduces the likelihood of compromise. Brady said there needs to be change in how legislative boundaries are drawn to have more balanced districts.
But even statewide, he said there needs to be a shift.
“One of the things I noticed the Republicans did in the primary to themselves. Republicans over the years have hitched their wagon to who has the most money. An individual, (hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin) created a slate, a handful of people they thought should be running for these offices. They forgot one thing: the will of the people. That was a huge mistake,” said Brady.
He said they paid attention to consultants who thought they knew what they were talking about and were proven wrong, but received their commissions and rode off into the sunset.
“And the rest of us are left with the mess that they created,” said Brady, adding what the consultants did with $50 million from Griffin was win just two primary races.
“They lost every other race. That's a terrible investment. And that comes from arrogance, egos, and individuals that should be listening instead of talking. That's something obviously in the Republican Party that needs to be rebuilt,” said Brady.
Brady said he has never supported slating candidates, but noted the state party chair must at least be able to call for a conversation about strategy and whittling down some candidates.
“At the end of the day, it's everybody's right to run. But let's be a realist and look at resources. What's available? And what we can do stronger as a party? When you don't even have that communication … that's wrong. That comes from leadership in the Republican Party that needs to change,” said Brady.
Brady’s own race suffered from a comparative lack of funding. He said had he been able to do more and had earlier television advertising, his race could have been different.
“Unfortunately, and I learned this the hard way in running statewide, the amount of money that it takes to get your message out on a statewide race, and even a state house and senate race is something that must change. There has to be more of a level playing field. Does that mean caps? Does that mean reforms and more ideas? Yes, in my opinion, because people aren't going to get into public service when they know there might be mismatch for resources,” said Brady. “I think it keeps people good people out of politics.”
He offered as support for the position that he lost by a significant margin yet was the top Republican vote-getter in Illinois.
“That’s nice … but it doesn’t get you across the finish line,” said Brady.
Spending priorities
The state general fund spends about 21% on pensions, 21%, on education, 19% on human services and 17% on health care. Brady said those ratios should change.
“We can't be everything to the public. From a financial standpoint, we can't create every program, we can't get in every household. We can't change every child, even though we'd like to. We can't change the mindset of certain individuals. So what can we do? Getting back to more the basics of what is the responsibility of the state's constitution, state government, government service, infrastructure, public education, and public safety. Those are the areas that I think need to be focused on more,” said Brady.
He said that does not mean neglect of human service programs.
“Over the years, some of those social service agency programs were just abused by those who took away from those who truly needed help. They circumvented the system and gouged the system, driving up costs for everybody. Those are the type things you got to look at,” said Brady.
He said under (Democratic) Gov. Pat Quinn, there was an effort to look at the inefficiencies in government.
“We had a working committee that drilled down and had proposals for savings in a lot of areas and safeguarding from abuse in the systems. Those never really took hold,” said Brady. “There's plenty of belt-tightening to go around before we go back and ask the taxpayers for more dollars."
Brady has a long record of getting legislation passed, even though he was in the minority. He said he is proud of his efforts to address identity theft and restore personal credit after such a theft, legislation for female law enforcement officers and first responders to have certain rights and light work status during pregnancy, and many pieces of insurance and higher education policy he worked on. But legislation is not everything for an office holder.
“What I believe that I excelled and succeeded at, is the help you give people who are caught up in the red tape of government. And that is that is what is the biggest role that I found,” said Brady.
He said he remains a firm believer in face-to-face meetings with agency directors and department chairs to resolve constituent issues.
“When people have a problem, their problem is the most important thing to them … and you're there to try and help them. That was what I developed my role into and took it very seriously,” said Brady.
