Lake County Gazette

Lake County state Reps. Carol Sente (D-Vernon Hills) and Sam Yingling (D-Grayslake) were recently targeted by Illinois Republican Party robocalls. 

The automated calls accused the lawmakers of betraying their districts by voting in favor of Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) for Speaker of the House.

The pleasant voice of "Chris" informed constituents that Sente or Yingling "voted to elect Chicago political 'Boss Mike Madigan' for a record 17th term as speaker of the House and extend Madigan’s reign over Illinois."

The automated call went on to tell the listener that the only way to get a new speaker would be to vote out the current lawmakers.

In previous efforts to reveal alleged ties between Madigan and the lawmakers, Sente and Yingling were added to the GOP website BossMadigan.com.

Sente's previous three votes in favor of Madigan as speaker were linked to $1.5 million in campaign contributions on BossMadigan. In addition, her support for Madigan's plan to nearly double the income tax rate for individual taxpayers -- as well as her vote to ensure that legislators would get paid if the Illinois government shut down -- were revealed.

Yingling's two prior votes for Madigan were also linked to campaign contributions on BossMadigan. The webpage pointed out that he voted in favor of Madigan's $7 billion out-of-balance budget in 2016 -- despite the state's constitutional mandate of a balanced budget.