it was while serving in the senate that i was approached by michael carrigan, ib member and president of the illinois afl-cio. he told me that i should run for treasurer. just like when tad encouraged me to run for the state house, i wasn't expected to win. i had the backing of working families and organized labor. they funded my campaign, they knocked on doors, and at the election of 2014, a very bad year for democrats, our democratic governor went down in defeat, but i won. it has not just been union money and boots on the ground that have been important to my election. it's also been union backers. my dad believed in high quality. he believed in buying things that were built to last and taking care of them, whether that was clothes that would hold up while working construction, or in his vehicles. on the screens here hopefully we've got a picture. this is my dad. he had a ford f 100 pickup truck that he loved, and he spent hours polishing and waxing that truck and i would often help him. he taught me my brothers how to take care of it. he has had his current dodge pickup truck for