During a presentation in Champaign on August 21, 2012, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Ronald Reagan deserves “a special place in hell’” for the anti-drug policies Reagan instituted in the 1980s. Here is Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford’s response:
“The comments made regarding Ronald Reagan by Toni Preckwinkle are exactly the type of heated rhetoric that have brought even greater divide in government today. Ronald Reagan is perhaps the greatest American president in modern history. To respectfully disagree with his policies is acceptable, but such incendiary language is uncalled for. I served as the Illinois state director for Ronald Reagan’s campaign in 1980, I knew the man. He was a gentleman of character and integrity – attributes that were learned during his formative years growing up here in Illinois.”
