South West Illinois News

Dave Severin, a Benton business owner who is running for the state House in District 117, said he knows how to get the Illinois budget deficit under control and that he wants to unseat his district's Democrat incumbent to have a chance to do it.

"It's obvious," Severin said during an interview with TV station WSIL. "I mean, if we are several billion dollars in the hole right now, it's obvious that we have promised too much to too many for too long."

Illinois 117th District Republican challenger Dave Severin

The nonpartisan, non-profit organization Truth in Accounting recently calculated that Illinois has about $213 billion worth of bills but only $26 billion available to pay them and that each Illinois' taxpayer's share in those unpaid bills amounts to $45,500.

The race for Illinois' 117th District heated up significantly this summer when Republicans began to air TV ads in Southern Illinois that accused incumbent Rep. John Bradley (D-Marion) of doing Speaker Michael Madigan's bidding. Bradley, a high profile budget negotiator in the effort to reach a temporary plan last month, has since said he suspects Gov. Bruce Rauner of being behind the ads.

Severin is the first challenger to run against Bradley since the Democrat incumbent won his state House seat in 2003.

Since announcing his candidacy last fall, Severin has promised to provide budget solutions and to improve the state's reputation. He has previously said Bradley serves Madigan and that this election represents a choice of two different paths for the people of Southern Illinois.

"If we don't fight, pretty soon we're not going to have anything to fight for," Severin said during his interview with WSIL.

Severin grew up in the 117th District and has lived his entire life in Benton, graduating from Benton High School and attending student Logan Community College before going to work at his parents’ nursing home. After more than 20 years in his parents' business, Severin started his own, starting his shop in a Benton Town Square location in 2004. Severin employs 12 workers and conducts business throughout Southern Illinois as a custom embroidery and promotional products manufacturer.

He served almost 30 years on the Benton School District No. 47 Board and is on the board of a comprehensive social service agency. He and his wife, Penny, have been married for 38 years and they live in a same small ranch house on Mitchell Street where they raised their son. Penny Severin is a school teacher. The couple has two grandchildren and are members of Whittington Church.

Severin has been critical of the working groups, which Bradley has supported, that led to the temporary plan that is keeping the state afloat into this fall's legislative session. In those work groups, Republicans and Democrats conducted meetings via video conference to hammer out that short-term budget deal. Those sorts of meetings should be in person, Severin said in the WSIL interview.

"If you're working together that means you're going to sit down and look at each other face to face across the table, maybe even next to each other," Severin said.