Lake County Gazette

State Treasurer Michael Frerichs said Illinois needs a budget as soon as possible.

Frerichs joined the chorus in urging lawmakers to compromise and pass a balanced budget. Dawn Abernathy, a Republican currently running for the House District 59 seat, echoes Frerichs' sentiments.

Dawn Abernathy | Contributed photo

Abernathy said time is money as bills pile up.

“The backlog of bills is about three months, 180 days behind,” Abernathy told the Lake County Gazette. “Businesses that have done work for the state of Illinois are now financing the state. Our debt from this “financing” is costing Illinois residents millions.”

Frerichs has said that the state has missed out on approximately $7.8 million in potential investments and that the state can expect to lose about $31 million by the end of 2016. Frerichs has had to adjust his investment strategy from long-term, higher-yielding investments to shorter-term and lesser-yielding investments to ensure that the state has money to pay the bills.

This crisis has blossomed from the state’s lack of a proper balanced budget. Causing more smoke amid this calamity is House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Dist. 22) continuing to cancel General Assembly sessions  while other legislative groups hold meetings to discuss the budget.

Abernathy said politicians in Springfield are leaving voters behind as they bicker and singles out election opponent Carol Sente for refusing to serve the residents of her district.

“It is evident that the legislators in Springfield are more concerned about their elections and the political machine, than the people of Illinois,” Abernathy said. “The truly needy in Illinois are being “left out in the cold," so to speak. There is no concern for the lack of funding for schools, for students or social service agencies. Instead, Mike Madigan and Carol Sente are more concerned with the public-sector unions and the political machine that has kept them in power for over 35 years.”

The political establishment is one of Abernathy's prime targets. However, there may be a solution for this machine: re-mapping. The initiative, developed by the Independent Map group, is a measure that supporters said would allow voters to determine the political map of the state via an independent commission. The initiative has garnered over 560,000 signatures, and the State Board of Elections unanimously approved the measure for the November ballot.

However, voters may not see the item on the ballot because of a lawsuit filed to stop it. The board said it will wait for the lawsuit's outcome before it certifies the proposed constitutional amendment and puts it on the November ballot. The lawsuit was brought by several lawyers, including Michael Kasper, an attorney who has represented Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton (D-Dist. 6).

Abernathy overwhelmingly supports the re-districting efforts, calling it “fair mapping," and questions why Madigan is so fearful of such a proposal.

“There is a lot of bipartisan support for the fair-mapping referendum. This is something that Illinois residents have overwhelmingly supported,” Abernathy said. “Why is Mike Madigan so afraid of ‘fair mapping?' I believe the word 'fair' says it all. Nowhere in the Illinois Democratic Machine does the word fair fit. Carol Sente has learned that if you don’t do what Mike Madigan says, he will make sure he finds someone that will. Just ask (former State Rep.) Ken Dunkin.”

Abernathy said the state is long overdue for re-mapping and that no political party should have a stranglehold over the elections, allowing the political machine to keep on humming.

The so-called machine is facing much scrutiny from voters as the budget crisis forces social services and schools to make concessions. Many of those vital services are uncertain of the future and remain wary of any progress, especially in light of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of a $3.9 billion bill aimed at funding these services. The governor said the bill was unfunded and would cause a greater burden to taxpayers.

Abernathy agrees with the governor, insisting that Illinois cannot overspend when it is already in debt, echoing what the governor and many others have urged, that the state needs a balanced budget.

“We cannot continue to throw money at the budget impasse," Abernathy said. "We don’t have the money! Of the $3.89 billion, more than $3 billion of that bill was general funds that the state doesn’t have. How can the legislature continue to pass bills that have money coming from an overdrawn bank account? The people of Illinois deserve more than a piecemeal budget. We need a real, balanced budget.”