Republican gubernatorial candidate and DuPage County Chairman Bob Schillerstrom will be addressing the Kendall County Republican Central Committee on Monday, August 17th at 7:00pm at Ralph’s Place on the Blackberry Oaks Golf Course which is located at 2245 Kennedy Road in Bristol.
Bob Schillerstrom is a suburban leader and life-long Illinois resident who, as Chairman of the DuPage County Board, leads a county that is larger than six states with fiscal integrity, low property taxes, and an emphasis on results.
Bob was elected as County Board Chairman in 1998 with two-thirds of the vote. He has worked since then to streamline county government to increase accountability to taxpayers, create an economic environment that promotes growth and job creation, and preserve a high quality of life in suburban Chicagoland.
Bob has balanced the budget every year since taking office, and since 2003, Bob has reduced the county budget by $200 million through improvements in management, performance and other cost-saving measures. This included eliminating over 200 full-time government jobs, making the ratio of county employees-to-population one of the smallest in the country. Even in these difficult economic times, Bob has maintained a Triple-A bond rating for DuPage County – the highest rating possible and a bond rating shared by less than 1 percent of counties nationwide.
Through these efforts, Bob was able to cut property taxes seven out of his 10 years as County Board Chairman without cutting critical services, giving DuPage County one of the lowest overall tax burdens in all of Chicagoland.
Bob has worked with local leaders and businesses to make DuPage County an engine of economic growth for the entire region. Working together, they created a regional approach to economic development, Choose DuPage. This initiative is expected to bring over 25,000 new high paying jobs and $2.6 billion in total earnings by attracting new businesses to DuPage County from across the globe. DuPage County is now a net importer of jobs and has an unemployment rate that is below the regional, state, and national averages.
Before being elected DuPage County Board Chairman, Bob served as a DuPage County Board member, Forest Preserve Commissioner, and member of the County Regional Planning Commission. As a long-time advocate of open space, Bob served as chairman of the Citizens for Open Space campaign that led to a successful referendum to allow the DuPage County Forest Preserve District to acquire additional open space. Throughout his career of public service, Bob has added thousands of acres of open space to DuPage County.
Bob Schillerstrom has lived and practiced law in DuPage County since graduating from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago-Kent College of Law. He began his career in the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office, prosecuting cases in the Criminal Division as an Assistant State’s Attorney from 1980 to 1983. Bob graduated from Illinois College in Jacksonville, Ill., with a Bachelor’s degree in Religion and History and as a member of Phi Betta Kappa.
Bob lives in Naperville with his wife Mary Beth and their three children: Connor, Curtis and Katie.
