Illinois State Senator Dale Righter and State Representative Chapin Rose were re-elected during the 2010 Midterm Elections on Tuesday. Righter has been an Illinois state senator since 2003 and won against Josh Weger, the Democratic candidate for state senator.

Righter collaborated with 20 Democrats to co-sponsor a bill that led to Eastern receiving funding for its Renewable Energy Center.

“There is no greater priority in my mind than higher education,” Righter said.

Before Righter became a member of the Illinois Senate, he had been a part of the Illinois House of Representative for five years.

Illinois currently has a $13 billion state deficit and Righter said, “throwing water in a bucket full of holes,” is not going to fix anything, but will instead cause more long term problems.

“We need to go through programs that we thought would work and if they aren’t then we need to cut them,” Righter said.

Righter proposes reviewing at least three new programs.

The programs are Chicago after school programs, Chicago neighborhood restoration projects, and free rides for seniors.

Righter estimates if these programs were cut, savings will include: $63 million, $100 million over two years, and $30 million.

It might sound callus, but on the current ‘free rides for seniors’ program it does not matter how much money the senior citizen makes. It is paid for on the taxpayer’s dime, Righter said.

“If you are going to take taxes out of the taxpayers pocket then that keeps money out of the economy,” Righter said. “It took us eight years to get into this mess and it’s not going to be fixed in two. It could be a four to five year process.”

Rose received approximately 80 percent of the total vote beating his opponent Dennis Malak, the Democrat candidate for state representative.

Rose said there are two divergent options in Bill Brady and Pat Quinn, and he is willing to work with either to get the job done.

Rose said Illinois may not know for days who the Illinois’ State Governor will be. It is down to 7,000 votes.

Until then, Rose said, we need to focus on Illinois’ major problems.

“The key is getting people back to work and solving our problems with the deficit” Rose said.

Rose has put together his own budget plan to help work through state budget issues; he said Illinois can achieve through a confident governor.

Rose first plans to reintroduce the Fair Map Amendment to Illinois.

Currently, Illinois is the only state that allows politicians to draw maps to “protect themselves.”

Rose said that Illinois’ long-term problems are structural, and Illinois needs to take district drawing out of elections.

Sue Rennels, the Coles County clerk, said the voter turnout was better than past midterm elections.

“I saw a steady voter turnout throughout the day,” Rennels said.

About 44 percent of voters showed up to the polls.

Allison Twaits and Nike Ogunbodede can be reached at 581-7942 or dennewsdesk@gmail.com.

Illustration by Jeremy Wiora

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