East Central Reporter

State Rep. Chris Miller (R-Oakland) uses a biblical analogy to describe Illinois almost totally being left in the hands of Democratic lawmakers.

“They are now in complete control,” he told the East Central Reporter. “They have the opportunity to either lead us out of Egypt or continue to have us wandering around in the same wilderness they’ve created for us over all these years.”

Miller, who won 60 percent of the vote in the 110th District in his race against Shirley Bell, a Democrat, in November's general election, worries that state lawmakers took another gigantic step in the wrong direction by re-electing Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) speaker of the House as the new session opened in Springfield on Jan. 9.

Chris Miller

While admitting that the vote came as no great surprise, Miller argues that it represents all the wrong things.

“It’s kind of like hiring a winless coach for 40 straight seasons and thinking that things are going to change next year,” he said. “I’m not sure what it will take for voters in Illinois to ask themselves why they keep hiring Democrats when they are the very ones who have broken our state the way it is.”

In the case of Madigan, who also is chairman of the state Democratic Party, Illinois Policy Institute reports he has managed to remain in power despite having just a 21 percent statewide approval rating among voters.

“People made speeches about how wonderful he is and what a blessing he has been to the state,” Miller said of the proceedings at which Madigan was re-installed. “I look at state government and wonder what people are looking at that causes their vision to be so obscured.”

Still, Miller said he holds out hope that things can change at any moment, provided voters band together and demand better.

“If Madigan truly felt pressured into fixing this state, he could in a heartbeat, but as long as he wants business as usual that will continue also,” he said. “[If[ this state embarks on a path to restoration or the destruction continues is totally up to him right now.”

The 110th House District includes Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Edgar and Lawrence counties.