Mediaboss Marketing

OTTAWA Aggravation is building for two freshman legislators from North Central Illinois.

The La Salle County TEA party on Tuesday hosted Jerry Long (R-Streator), who represents the 76th district that includes parts of La Salle, Bureau and Putnam counties and David Welter (R-Morris), who represents the 75th district that includes the eastern part of La Salle County, at the Pitstick Pavilion in Ottawa. They told attendees what they saw during the budget negotiations at the end of the legislative session.

When we went down there, in our minds, we were thinking budget, budget, budget, Welter said, Instead, he said there was no urgency or discussion the first several months in Springfield to get a budget done.

Long said he felt a similar tone when he first went to Springfield.

When a budget was proposed in July, both representatives voted against it and the included tax hike.

Long said people dont realize that government in Springfield is run by committee, and because Democrats control the legislature they also have all of the committee chairs. It makes it hard for Republicans to get out legislation of their own, he said.

From the clerks office, to committee, to the subcommittee, if they dont like it they can bury it, he said. Long said he filed a complaint once about a piece of legislation he wrote that wasnt being moved through the right committees. He said it got moved to another committee and was buried there.

As state representative I wanted to go down and make a change, Long said. I knew I was going against a wall. I just didnt know the wall was so big.

When they were in Springfield in June for the special session, Welter said his own form of protest was to not vote for anything that wasnt a budget bill.

The two also took questions from the audience, and gave their thoughts on a number of issues.

Long: This is a very strong union district, Thats why Im a shoo-in in this district. Im OK with the unions, but our union people need to wake up and realize that as long as we walk on down the path of having insane policies toward business, were going to chase our jobs right out of here.

Long: A lot of those representatives will find themselves being primaried. They made their decision for whatever reason. I disagree with their decision, but Im not going to pound on them.

Welter: They are going to have to answer to their voters, If you look at most of the Republicans that voted for that bill, they were in areas that were heavily state employees or college towns.

Long: Theyll never vote on it. Its a dead issue.

Welter: There is legislation that would bring Illinois in line with other states.

Long: I would like to consolidate social programs What Id like to do is put them under one roof and cut back on the manpower it takes to run each one of these social programs.

Kevin Solari can be reached at (815) 220-6931 or countyreporter@newstrib.com. Follow him on Twitter @NT_County.

Read the rest here:
Local legislators talk to TEA party about their frustrations - LaSalle News Tribune