Lake County Gazette

Republican state Senate candidate Thomas McCullagh is warning voters to pay attention to what rival Meg Loughran Cappel does and not what she says.

In particular, McCullagh, is running against Loughran to replace state Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Shorewood) in the 49th District, wonders how voters can expect her to stand up to embattled, longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan.

“Meg Loughran Cappel not seeking Madigan’s resignation and not returning the Madigan money she has received is a betrayal to the public trust,” McCullagh told the Will County Gazette. “She’s already been bought by corruption. Equally concerning is her total disregard for women’s rights and social equity as, as demonstrated by her refusal to stand with fellow Democrats against the rape cover-up scandal in Springfield.”

While McCullagh concedes Cappel talks a good game on her website, where she vows to take a stand against corruption, he argues those words ring meaningless without deeds, especially with Madigan now being implicated in an ongoing federal corruption probe.

“If she is unable to fight corruption on the campaign trail, she will not be able to fight it in Springfield,” he said. “Unlike many others in her party, Meg has not called for Speaker Madigan to resign amid the ComEd scandal, in which he allegedly took bribes in exchange for unnecessarily raising energy rates that cost Illinois residents an additional $20 billion since 2011. That is the definition of corruption.”

In the end, McCullagh argues the facts are clear and easy.

“Silence about corruption and sexual harassment is not what we need in Springfield, but that is exactly what we will get with Meg Loughran Cappel,” he said. “Instead of allowing Mike Madigan to continue to take advantage of taxpayers and silence women, Meg should return all the money that she has received from Madigan and his associates.”