Katy Dolan Baumer, Republican candidate for House District 44, said recently that legislators in Springfield should not depend solely on their government paychecks to live on, particularly when they aren’t being asked to do any work.
The underlying question appears to be whether Illinois lawmakers are accomplishing what they were elected to do. In June, State Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Dist. 4) complained when confronted with delays in compensation, saying that legislators are not just “vendors” and that they “deserve to get paid.”
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“Regarding state Sen. Kim Lightford’s complaint … I submit that being a legislator is a part-time job, and it is dangerous to only rely on that for income,” Baumer said. “I agree they should be paid, but I have never worked at a job that the employer pays me for not doing my job.”
The state has struggled with a financial impasse for an unprecedented number of months, operating without a budget in place for a year — to the detriment of schools, residents and businesses.
Baumer, among other Illinois candidates, took issue with Lightford’s gripe, saying that no Assembly members should put themselves ahead of others while the state grapples with difficulties.
“The comptroller never said nor indicated that she would not pay back salaries, just that they are going into the stack of unpaid bills to be paid when there is money,” Baumer said. “The senator said that they are employees of the state. I think they are employees of the people of Illinois … who put them into their positions in the hopes those elected will legislate on their behalf. If the senator loses sight of who the real employers are, she may just lose her job in the next election on Nov. 8.”
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