Reagan hometown mayor announces 2018 bid for IL Senate

Liandro "Li" Arellano, Jr. family

DIXON – The mayor of the late President Ronald Reagan's hometown of Dixon, IL announced Monday his intent to run for the 45th District to succeed retiring Senator Tim Bivins (R-Dixon).

Liandro “Li” Arellano, Jr. is a Dixon-based businessman and Iraq War Veteran who ran for Mayor in 2015 after the $54 million former comptroller Rita Crundwell defrauded from Dixon's treasury was exposed.

“As a citizen seeing that kind of corruption and waste in my hometown, I felt called to serve. I knew I could help solve some of the problems Dixon faced, and I decided to step up.”

Arellano and the new council immediately implemented a “100 Day Agenda” that laid out top priorities. In the years since they have set up a new form of government, put in place additional financial oversight, restructured or eliminated many positions, and implemented new infrastructure goals all while getting a handle on pension debt.

“Many politicians talk about the need to fight corruption and implement spending reforms. I’ve actually done it, and that’s exactly the kind of approach Springfield needs.”

As a businessman starting up in Illinois on the eve of the Great Recession, Arellano understands how state government is holding people back and why it is harder and harder to run a business and create jobs here.

“I’m going to Springfield to address issues like high property taxes and cluttered bureaucracy because I’ve seen the damage they can cause, both as a businessman and as a Mayor trying to promote economic development,” he said.

“As a Mayor, it is frustrating that many of the biggest problems we face can only be solved in Springfield. Pensions, the state’s economic climate, tax hikes with no spending reforms—these are huge issues for our communities, but reforms are being blocked by Speaker Madigan and the Chicago Democrats.”

Arellano pointed to the recent budget’s new sales tax collection fees imposed on municipalities as another example. “Chicago Democrats and pro-tax Republicans literally put a tax onto a tax while kicking the can down the road on spending, and it will only stop with new leadership. I represent a generation that is fed up with the debt crisis that is being passed down to us. It’s unethical, and I intend to fight for true reforms”.

Arellano served with honor in the US military, including missions in the Iraq combat zone. 

“I’ve been deployed twice to the combat zone, and that experience helps make me the strong leader our district deserves down in Springfield. I cannot be intimated, I cannot be bought, and I am truly passionate about fighting corruption. Politics-as-usual has failed us. We need fiscal responsibility so that my young children never inherit the mess that my generation is inheriting. Protecting our children is the most powerful motivator there is.”

The 45^th Senate District of Illinois is made up of all or portions of Jo Daviess, Carroll, Whiteside, Stephenson, Lee, Ogle, Winnebago, DeKalb, and LaSalle counties.