Illinois state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst)
Illinois state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst)
Illinois state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) has a simple solution for handling business operations in Springfield.
“As with any job, but especially in this state where lawmakers tend to leave office for suspect reasons or to take advantage of lobbying opportunities, one shouldn’t receive pay for work they didn’t do,” Mazzochi recently said in a press release. “Why should taxpayers foot the bill when they receive no benefit or representation?”
Mazzochi is pushing House Bill 518, legislation that closes what she sees as an unfair loophole that allows departing lawmakers to be paid for a full month’s work even if they hold office for just part of the monthlong pay period.
Former Illinois state Rep. Luis Arroyo (D-Chicago)
| http://reparroyo.com/
“This is a rule that has been taken advantage of time and again,” Mazzochi said in the release. “We saw it most recently with former Rep. [Luis] Arroyo (D-Chicago). The revelation that Arroyo was arrested on bribery charges in late October brought about immediate calls for his resignation. However, Rep. Arroyo resisted doing so until Nov. 1, by which time a special investigative panel had been called to determine whether or not to expel him from the House. As a result, he will receive his entire November legislative salary."
More recently, state Sen. Martin Sandoval announced that he plans to retire effective Jan. 1, meaning that he too will be compensated for an entire month in which he does not work. Like Arroyo, Sandoval is also walking away under a cloud of suspicion after being implicated in a shakedown scandal.
“The people of Illinois are continuing to pay him while the people in his district won’t receive representation,” Mazzochi said of Arroyo. “In what world is that fair?”
Filed last January, HB 518 remains in the Rules Committee as the Democratic majority decides if they will allow it to move forward.
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