Prairie State Wire

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Curran is convinced there is only one answer for the ethical crisis now plaguing Springfield.

“People have got to start voting Democrats out of office and start demanding the level of service we deserve here in Illinois,” Curran, who is now running against longtime Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) told the Prairie State Wire. “It’s the only way we’re going to get the change that’s truly needed.”

With Madigan now under embroiled in a widening federal corruption probe involving utility giant ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme, some Democrat legislators are now pushing a package of nine reform measures they insist will quickly lead to the kind of culture change in Springfield most agree is critically needed. Heading the list of proposals are measures that would ban legislators from becoming lobbyists, require greater financial disclosures, establish a censure process, make the legislative inspector general more independent, and institute term limits. 

Curran counters that’s only a start in bringing about the level of change that’s actually needed in Springfield.

“Ultimately, I think it’ll take more real reform minds and republican that realize how much we need our middle class to bring about real change,” he said. “The Republican Party is in the midst of a rebranding and people are seeing we are the party of the middle class and not the Rockefellers, as was maybe what was being sold in times past.”

Besides the Democratic Party in general, Curran has previously blasted Gov. J.B. Pritzker as being totally disconnected from the people he’s been sworn to represent.

“He may be worth billions, but he’s totally disconnected from small business owners and the impact many of his policies have proven to have on them,” he said. “He’s hurting a lot of people and it’s as if he doesn’t know or doesn’t care about it.”