Lake County Gazette

Republican state House candidate Dan Yost insists state Rep. Joyce Mason stands out to 61st District residents for all the wrong reasons.

“My opponent is backed by Speaker (Mike) Madigan and has happily accepted more than $750,000 from him and the various pots of cash he controls,” he said. “While other members of her party have begun to call for Speaker Madigan’s resignation, she has remained a staunch ally of the Madigan Machine.”

Yost reasons there are at least 750,000 clues as to why that is.

“My opponent continues to accept campaign cash from Madigan despite decades of financial mismanagement, corruption and even the mishandling of allegations of sexual harassment,” he said.

Yost argues it’s those factors that stand as the primary reasons why Mason continues to be silent, even while Madigan stands as a central character in an ongoing federal corruption probe involving ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme where all the perks are reported to have been steered to him in exchange for favorable legislation. At the same time, the state’s longest tenured lawmaker finds himself at the center of a Special House committees’ probe into the same matter. Thus far, he has refused to appear before the panel for questioning.

“Why isn’t Joyce Mason demanding that Madigan answer questions for his alleged involvement in a bribery scandal with ComEd?” Yost asked the Lake County Gazette. “Is it because she voted him for speaker and he is bankrolling her campaign?"

Yost has long argued Madigan can’t be part of the change that desperately needs to come to Springfield and should immediately step down.

“I am going to Springfield to put families first, not for the political pay-to-play priorities of Mike Madigan," he added.