Metro East Sun

Republican House candidate Dwight Kay isn’t surprised to see Democrats take on a different look during this time of the season.

“In an election cycle, Democrats always seem to try to run like Republicans this time of year,” Kay told the Metro East Sun. “Most of the time, the Republican principles and policies turn out to be only campaign initiatives.”

Kay doesn’t expect House Speaker Mike Madigan, who is now sending out campaign mailers implying that he supports “no budget, no pay” policies, to be any different.

Illinois State House Speaker Mike Madigan

“It is the protocol of the day for people to put out anything they can to see how much of it will stick,” said Kay, running against Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) in Illinois’ 112th District. “Most Republican candidates are facing state-sponsored lies by Madigan paid for by his organizations. It’s all egregious, wrong, misleading and diminishes the democratic process.”

The North Cook News has previously reported Madigan has long opposed “no budget, no pay,” going as far as to file suit against former Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger after she moved to withhold pay for lawmakers in Springfield without a balanced state budget in place.

“The bill didn’t go anywhere because Speaker Madigan wouldn’t let it go anywhere,” Kay said. “Now, that it’s campaign season, all of a sudden it’s a great idea after having been a bad idea all this time. That tells you how deceptive and disingenuous he can be.”

Kay said he favors “no budget, no pay” and would like to see the word balanced added to the equation.

“It’s not enough to just pass one of these awful policies that we’ve grown accustomed to it,” he said. “It should have to be balanced for all these legislators to keep drawing these hefty salaries.”

Illinois’ 112th District includes Bethalto, Caseyville, Fairmont City, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Pontoon Beach, Roxana, Shiloh and Swansea.