South West Illinois News

On the heels of House Speaker Mike Madigan's cancellation of a June 16 planned House session — the second such cancellation in as many weeks — the Illinois Republican Party has launched robocalls in competitive House and Senate districts.

These calls maintain that the canceled sessions are a strategy by Democrat Madigan "to hold the state hostage in order to force a massive tax hike with no reforms [for] Illinois families."

The call begins by telling the listener it is "a critical alert."

"House Speaker Michael Madigan again canceled votes in the legislature, putting public safety, vital services and our schools at risk," the robocall states. "And State Sen. Gary Forby and State Rep. John Bradley won't go back to Springfield and stand up to House Speaker Mike Madigan to pass a balanced budget."

The call lets the listener know a petition aimed at getting Forby and Bradley to "put public safety, our schools and the needs of our district ahead of Chicago political boss Mike Madigan" is available online at www.RebuildIllinois.com.

Political website Politico said the cancellation and subsequent non-passage of a state budget could effectively stop prisons from operating and schools from opening in the fall.

"Madigan is again using the working groups as an excuse to stall progress — two stop-gap bills backed by the Governor and statehouse Republicans are written and ready to vote on," one Politico commentator said. “Behind the scenes there's a ‘mega’ lobbying effort from Chicago, labor and others to move the approved House budget in the Senate, a high-level Democrat tells Illinois Playbook. It's a tall order since the Senate overwhelmingly rejected that spending plan, which is $7 billion out of balance."

Illinois Republican Party spokesman Steven Yaffe agreed.

"Mike Madigan has abandoned the needs of the people of Illinois in his desperate attempt to force a tax hike and prevent reform," he said.