Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Collin Corbett became disillusioned with the Republican Party — one he supported most of his life.

So, Corbett said he would run for Governor. But, as an Independent.

“It became very clear to me that this was a problem with our politics in general,” said Corbett, on the WTAX Morning Newswatch.  “It’s the very fact that we have parties, that we have sides.  The Founding Fathers never intended for this — Washington, Adams, Jefferson.  They all warned us not to do political parties for this exact reason:  that it leads to this division.  It leads to putting us in teams; and, suddenly, we all focus on just beating the other team, when we should be focused on helping people.”

Corbett blames the advent of cable news, followed by the advent of social media.  Then, he says, the next thing you know, people only want to surround themselves with people that agree only with them.

Helping people, Corbett says, is why he is running.  And, one of the ways he thinks he can help, without all the political division and rhetoric, is my making everything more affordable.

“It is too expensive for everyone to survive in this state,” said Corbett.  “We’ve got to lower costs — whether that’s property taxes, energy costs, gas prices, there’s a whole litany of costs that we need to lower.  There are policies that we can push forward to do that, if we weren’t held back by party bosses and special interests.”

Corbett says the state needs to start growing economically again. He says despite some successes by Governor JB Pritzker, tax breaks are not the way to do it.

Corbett feels Republican candidate Darren Bailey can’t do much better either.