Thursday, January 13, 2011
 
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New lawmakers enter legislature with new spirit

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[January 13, 2011]  SPRINGFIELD -- Prepare yourself, Illinoisans. A new legislature is in town.

HardwareRecently elected members of the 97th Illinois General Assembly were sworn into office Wednesday, hours after the previous session completed its last order of business.

"It's a little surreal that I'm standing here being interviewed in the last week," said Pam Roth, R-Morris, shortly before being sworn in. "I'm really excited about the opportunities ahead of us."

Roth took over the seat that recently elected Sue Rezin, R-Morris, left behind. Rezin was elected to the House, but was then appointed to fill former Sen. Gary Dahl's seat in the Senate when he retired in December.

Roth isn't the only one to realize the difficulties ahead. The previous General Assembly leaves behind a $15 billion budget deficit to be filled by an income tax increase expected to generate about $6 billion annually.


"There's a lot of responsibility that comes with this type of position, and there's a lot of work ahead for us at the state Capitol and state government in general," said Rep. Joe Sosnowski, R-Rockford. "It's a burden that we're all going to have -- the new General Assembly coming in -- but looking forward to the challenge."

Sosnowski plans on using his experience in real estate and city government to focus on economic development, budget reform and reduced spending.

Those issues seem to ring true with voters, as 13 of the new representatives and two of the new senators are Republicans. They join the legislature after a disgruntled electorate booted many Democrats out of office during the November election.

"I think folks are fed up. They want commoners in office representing them. I am a commoner, I'm a fifth-generation family farmer, small-business owner -- someone people can come to and put their trust in," Rep. Adam Brown, R-Decatur, said.

Rep. Jason Barickman, R-Champaign, was sworn in Monday after Republican Dan Rutherford took office as state treasurer and former Rep. Shane Cultra, R-Onarga, filled Rutherford's Senate seat. Barickman said he hopes to bring his fresh approach to government.

"I come here with the mentality that we need to reform the way we do governmental business. That means, across the board, we need to look at opportunities to restrain government spending (and) spend less of the taxpayers' dollars," said Barickman.

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Rep. Dwight Kay, R-Glen Carbon, and Rep. Michael Unes, R-East Peoria, have already discussed plans of introducing a 10 percent legislative pay cut.

"The first year, you have to become acclimated to the people you're working with, but I will simply say this: I have drafted legislation already, one piece of which will drop today with the clerk's office. And, I'm not going to wait two years to get something done," Kay said.

Unes agreed.

"I think that anytime we talk about shared sacrifice, if we truly believe in shared sacrifice, it needs to start with the legislators," Unes said.

Although fairly new to state politics, Rezin touts a close relationship with her constituents.

"There (are) many local issues that are very important to the area ... as well as the state level," said Rezin. "We're going to continue our message out there, which is that we need to rein in our spending and that we need to become a state that encourages businesses to come and invest and stay in our state."

Despite the incoming wave of Republicans, leadership in both the House and Senate remains unchanged. Democrat John Cullerton, D-Chicago remains the Senate president, and Democrat Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, was appointed to his 14th term as speaker of the House. Republican Tom Cross, R-Oswego, continues to lead the minority party in the House.


A newcomer said that being in the minority isn't all bad.

"When you're in the minority, you have to work with the other side of the aisle. We're going to offer good ideas. We're going to offer good suggestions," said Rep. David Harris, R-Arlington Heights. "Hopefully, because they are good ideas and suggestions they will be accepted."

[Illinois Statehouse News; By MELISSA LEU]

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