East Central Reporter

Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Effingham) has the same issues with the new House rules as he did with the ones under former Speaker Mike Madigan.

“I do not think that it is right for one man in one House district to have total control of the legislative process in the House,” Wilhour told the East Central Reporter. “This is not fair to the people who live in the other 117 House districts.

Democrats are touting Speaker Chris Welch’s (D-Hillside) rules, which include a 10-year limit on the time an individual can serve as speaker or as minority leader and a rule that establishes the Rules Committee will now be required to refer all House bills “to a substantive committee” before the deadline for committees to act on them expires, as examples of him flexing his political independence.

Wilhour is blasting the rules as being cut from the same cloth as those employed by Madigan during his nearly four decades of being in power.

“The previous speaker blocked reforms at every turn,” he said. “Our new Speaker may have the same authority and power that Madigan had.”

Wilhour holds out hope that Welch will come to distinguish himself from Madigan.

The former speaker was replaced after being implicated in a federal bribery probe. He has not been charged and admitted no wrongdoing. “Instead of blocking spending reform, tax reform, pension reform and anti-corruption legislation, our new Speaker could carve out a much different path than his predecessor,” he said. “The next few months will tell what course of action Speaker Welch chooses to take.”

Wilhour said residents have left no doubt about what direction they hope to see the state finally take.

“The people of Illinois do not really care about the inside baseball of what rules the House uses to govern,” he said. “They want lower taxes and better fiscal policies.”