Governor-elect Rauner visits Illinois lawmakers in Washington

WASHINGTON (WLS) -- No longer in Carhartt jacket campaign mode, governor-elect Bruce Rauner wore a business suit for his visit to Illinois lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday.

"Very exciting time, looking forward to working very closely together in my role as governor working with them," Rauner said.

Rauner conferred separately with Republican Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk.

"We're going to be standing behind him to make sure he's a success in Springfield as well as Washington," Kirk said.

ABC 7 asked Rauner if term limits, one of his signature campaign issues, should apply to these Washington politicians.

"I'll be pushing for term limits for all elected officials in Springfield. That's my focus," Rauner said. "Washington has its own processes. I'm a governor-to-be."

Later, Rauner met the larger delegation, including democratic lawmakers and Sen. Dick Durbin. Rauner said he wanted personnel recommendations from the career politicians.

"We want to assemble the most talented team of leaders ever assembled to turn around a state government," Rauner said.

"It doesn't hurt if they have some bipartisan experience because this Republican governor is going to be working with a democratic general assembly," Durbin said.

Rauner insiders call last week's legislative session in Springfield a win because lawmakers heeded the governor-elect's request and held off on major decisions, including on whether the state's five percent income tax rate should be continued past Jan. 1, 2015.

Rauner said his team is still reviewing situation as he repeated his claim that Illinois is in "dire" fiscal condition, mush worse than he expected.

"We've got to make major structural reforms and to do that, it's going to take bipartisan discussions, close working relationships and a very talented team of people," Rauner said.

He will attend a meeting at the White House Friday for new governors. President Obama is expected to participate in at least part of that session.

Rauner will take office in Springfield on Jan. 12, 2015.