Dr. Jeffrey Leef, Republican candidate for Illinois’ 7th Congressional District, said recently that Illinois legislators should be treated like ordinary employees -- including accepting real-world consequences for their failures — after a state senator lamented paycheck delays.
State Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Dist. 4) said she and her colleagues were “not vendors” and should not be made to wait for compensation during a recent months-long holdup in pay. Her comments met with some measure of derision from constituents such as Leef.
| Contributed photo
“Senator Lightford is requesting that she be treated as other employees are treated in the real world,” Leef said. “I agree. Give her and her compatriots a final paycheck and then promptly fire them. How else would you deal with employees that have failed at all possible measureable criteria of competency?”
The controversy arose against the backdrop of a months-long struggle on the part of lawmakers to resolve Illinois’ unprecedented budget crisis. For over a year now, the state has been functioning without the benefit of a working budget, threatening the welfare of schools, the needy and impaired, ordinary taxpayers and businesses alike, with the recently passed stopgap budget being the only real measure of relief.
“This is a perfect example of the arrogance displayed by our governmental employees who somehow feel that, despite running up staggering debt, their paychecks are more important,” Leef said. “Can someone ask Senator Lightford to get the state to pay the millions of Medicaid dollars owed to hospitals that in many cases are more than a year in arrears?”
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