Village trustee Dan Yost (R-Antioch) is challenging incumbent state Rep. Joyce Mason (D-Gurnee) in the 61st District in hopes of being a face of change in Springfield.
“I am running to bring integrity to state government and aggressively pursue accountability, with no exceptions and no excuses,” Yost recently said in a press release. “Representative Mason’s silence is deafening as she stands by, refusing to stand up to [Illinois House Speaker] Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) or fight for real ethics reform.”
As prime examples of what needs to change in Springfield, Yost points to a WBEZ news story about “a powerful former Springfield lobbyist and close friend of House Speaker Madigan” who worked to cover-up a purported rape and ghost payrolling scheme involving government workers, as well as Mason’s and other Democratic lawmakers' reluctance to speak out against the party leader.
Illinois state Rep. Joyce Mason (D-Gurnee)
“Representative Mason made a lot of promises to represent her neighbors and be an independent voice, yet she took hundreds of thousands of dollars from Speaker Madigan and now stands loyally by his side amid corruption and scandals,” Yost said. “I’m a proud Illinoisan, and what’s happening in our state is an embarrassment. Rep. Mason has made clear through her silence that she will stand idly by as the cloud of corruption grows. I’m running for state representative to restore sanity, integrity and ethics in Springfield. We need a true independent leader who will say ‘enough is enough’ and take a stand for our families.”
Yost works in the employee benefits field and is currently serving his first term as an Antioch trustee. Dan and his wife Sonja live in Antioch and have three children.
The 61st District is in northeastern Illinois along the Wisconsin border and contains all or parts of Antioch, Beach Park, Grayslake, Gurnee, Lake Villa, Lindenhurst, Old Mill Creek, Third Lake, Wadsworth, Waukegan, Winthrop Harbor and Zion.
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