Metro East Sun

Doug Jameson believes an in-depth audit of Springfield would help lawmakers get wasteful spending under control.

“We need a complete and comprehensive audit of all government services we offer in Springfield and what we are seeking to achieve in enacting them,” Jameson told Metro East Sun. “We need to be doing reviews of all the programs we’re spending these astronomical amounts of money on. Until we do that and start to strip away all the ones that are totally ineffective, we’ll be struggling with all these growing mounds of wasteful government spending.”

A new Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) report pegs the wasteful government spending tab at around $100 million, with such expenditures as $13.1 million for an arts council chaired by the wife of House Speaker Mike Madigan. Spending also includes pork projects such as $10 million to rehabilitate Chicago’s privately owned Uptown Theatre, IPI states.

Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea)

“None of this is adding value to the services we provide as a government or is to the benefit of our citizens,” Jameson said. He is running against Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea) in the113th House District. "The Springfield way of doing things is to get the funding and enact the program without ever testing to see if it's achieving what it purports to."

In the end, Jameson said all the blame and responsibility, or at least the vast majority, falls at the feet of longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago).

“No spending bill in this state is put in place without him pushing it through the Legislature,” he said. “Those that aid him in maintaining his power as Speaker, like Jay Hoffman, are also to blame for being enablers. Over the years, Hoffman has voted for him to be House Speaker at least 17 times, all so he can continue enacting rules that benefit him and his supporters and take advantage of taxpayers.”

The 113th House District includes Madison and St. Clair counties.