Rich Morthland, candidate for state representative in the 71st District, expressed his disappointment with Governor Pat Quinn’s final state budget for the 2011 fiscal year.

“While I think the governor’s budget cuts are a step in the right direction, I am disappointed with this outcome. Governor Quinn’s approach is a Band-Aid on the larger self-inflicted wounds our state has suffered,” Morthland said. “We are facing a $13 billion deficit, and our state is being treated as a credit risk on par with Iceland and Iraq. When you’re included in a league like that, you don’t want to use a Band-Aid – you want to make sure you take the appropriate steps to heal the wound before you bleed to death.

“I believe that we need to go through our budget line by line, item by item, and bureaucrat by bureaucrat to eliminate the waste and corruption rampant throughout our state. Once we do that, we can take steps to redirect spending to essential services like education,” Morthland added. “Only after we do that will we be able to bring our budget crisis under control. The governor’s budget is taking a few baby steps in that direction, but we need more.”

For questions or more information, please contact the Committee to Elect Rich Morthland at (309) 654-2229 or via e-mail at electmorthland@gmail.com.