Dawn Abernathy, Republican candidate for the District 59 State House seat, recently agreed with Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger’s assessment of the state’s financial state through a Facebook post.
Munger recently said at a Chicago press conference that while the state’s debt load currently stands at approximately $7.8 billion, the interim “stopgap” budget passed June 30 enables an additional $2.5 billion in spending in the next six months.
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Terming the stopgap as “a positive step,” the comptroller warned that it ought to be short term.
“Comptroller Munger is correct," Abernathy said. “Why should the politicians in Springfield receive their checks before hospitals, nursing homes and schools?"
Munger said the interim budget does little to cope with Illinois’ larger problems, such as having readily available funding for state operations. Munger said her office’s day-to-day operations involve “triage” to help the neediest first, while less-urgent needs take a back seat.
“We need to help the truly needy in the state,” Abernathy said. “The politicians need to do their job and stop complaining. (Abernathy's Democratic opponent Rep.) Carol Sente and the political power in Springfield voted to increase our spending by almost $3 billion. Will we ever get out of this mess? I will not vote for any unbalanced budgets.
"(Rather) than argue over when we are all paid, we should focus on doing our jobs," Abernathy said.
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