Republican candidate Michelle Smith, vying for a Senate seat to represent District 49, responded to Illinois’ recently demoted credit rating with a plea for perspective and protocol, saying blame is useless at this point.
“The continued partisan finger pointing needs to come to an end,” Smith said. “We are heading into the new year again with no budget. Both parties need to find a way to come together before we hit junk bond status. We cannot allow social services and our schoolchildren to suffer due to egos and the unwillingness to work together.”
The Land of Lincoln suffered yet another setback recently when Moody’s, the eminent nationwide arbiter of credit ratings, downgraded its rating from Baa1 to Baa2. It can’t get much lower — and it places Illinois squarely as the worst ranking state in the U.S. at a critical time in its history.
“I continue to say that I do not care at this point whose fault it is, let’s stop the madness and save our state from destruction and bankruptcy,” Smith said. “We are doing this to ourselves and it needs to stop. The citizens of Illinois are hardworking people who deserve much better than what the legislators are providing.”
Smith currently serves as board of education president for Public School District (PSD) 202 in the Plainfield area.
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