Metro East Sun

Republican State House candidate Dwight Kay says that the recently passed $38.5 billion state budget is yet another instance of lawmakers coming together to further victimize taxpayers.

“We are playing games in an election year with an electorate that would like to think [that] things are really getting better in this state,” Kay told the Metro East Sun. “I don't think that's really what's happening. Long story short, we’re still doing business in Illinois the same way... we have over the past two decades. People want to feel [that] legislators have done their jobs when that’s not the case. It’s really just more of the same shell game.”

Kay, who is running against Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) in the 112th District, said that voters would be wise not to get caught up in all the hoopla.

Rep. Katie Stuart

“It’s deceiving the general public as to what the state’s real liabilities are and what our revenues could be,” he said. “It’s full of gimmicks, and all of us should be very skeptical.”

An analysis by the Illinois Policy Institute has already said the plan is as at least $1.5 billion out of whack. Kay said he isn’t surprised, and he suspects that things may get worse before they get better.

“It’s just very frustrating because this is the time we should be starting our real recovery by making smart and genuine cuts in the budget,” he said. “There are lots of things that could be cut. It’s unfathomable that we would continue down this path of destruction without really trying any reforms. We’re no longer on the road to recovery; we now officially back in the ditch.”

Kay said things have reached the point of critical mass, and the taxpayers are the only ones who can save the state.

“We have to get different people in Springfield,” he said. “We can no longer allow the elitist lawmakers to set our course. We know how that ends.”