In the waning days of this campaign season with just two weeks before Election Day, Jillian Bernas, the Republican candidate for the District 56 state House seat, recently posted a video on her Facebook page about the “political games played in Springfield and why legislation that has wide public approval never makes it into law.”
The video, which shows a demonstration on why things never get done in Springfield and adds texture to her claims, was posted with the following message:
"’I have cut my pay six times’ and ‘I have voted to freeze property taxes 17 times.’ These are things you will hear my opponent say and yet those things never become legislation. Why? I want to briefly explain the political games that are played in Springfield that keep good legislation from being passed into law. It all comes down to my opponent (state Rep.) Michelle Mussman’s (D-Schaumburg) first vote, the one making Michael Madigan speaker, and the second one, for Madigan's rules.”
Bernas explains the legislative process using a thumb-tack board, explaining how everything begins with committees before making it to the House and the Senate for a legislative vote. Bernas said Mussman voted to cut her pay six times and to freeze property tax 17 times, but said Mussman knew that neither of these issues would be voted into law, mainly because of House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) and Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago). The reason for this is because once a piece of legislation is voted on in one of the branches, it then goes to the other for approval. The problem here, as outlined by Bernas, is legislation, once passed by one branch, gets buried on the other side, and they are never brought to a vote due to the rules instituted by Madigan and Cullerton.
More information on this process and the “games played in Springfield” can be found on Bernas’ website, www.votejillian.com.
Bernas was born and raised in Schaumburg. She decided to run for office four years ago when she moved back to her hometown after teaching and working in Chile at the U.S. Embassy.
“I quickly realized things were not quite the same. Classmates, friends and family members I had grown up with and loved had left the state for better opportunities. Overwhelmed by the rising costs of living and disheartened by the lack of opportunities they had to leave the town they called home,” she said on her website. “I am running for state representative because I returned to my hometown with the intention of living here and raising my family here. I want to make sure that this is a possibility for me and for the many families that call Schaumburg home by making decisions at the state level that make it easier for families to stay in this community.”
Other issues she has promised to address if she is elected to office include helping to fix the state budget, keeping property taxes down and increasing education funding.
“Our state is in a very precarious position, given its massive state debt and crushing unfunded pension debt. This means our state is in a weak position to provide the programs and services needed by those that most need them,” she said on her site. “Our current representative is unwilling to concede that our current systems are failing us, and she is not working to reform our state and pass a balanced budget. She points fingers at others. I am not interested in playing the partisan blame game that you see in Springfield. It looks to me as an outsider that there is enough blame to go around. One of the ways to get a budget passed in Springfield that takes into account these necessary reforms is to vote me into office and break the supermajority that my opponent and Speaker Madigan count on to maintain their power.”
Along with promising to push the reforms that will lower Illinois property taxes, which are the third-highest in the U.S., Bernas also has said she will back Gov. Bruce Rauner’s plan to raise education funding by $400 million.
"As a former teacher, I believe that every child deserves access to a world-class education,” she said on the site. “I am running for office to make our K-12 education systems a priority.”
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