Springfield, IL… Citing Governor Quinn’s lack of leadership in his State of the State Address today, State Representative Suzanne “Suzie” Bassi (R-Palatine) said she is angry about the governor’s lack of direction for the new legislative year.

“This is unacceptable! The people of this state deserve more. The Governor failed to address the serious problems facing Illinois today – the financial crisis, $6 billion of unpaid bills and the unemployment rate near 11 percent. It was nothing but a stump campaign speech,” said Bassi. “I was looking for some leadership and strong ideas on how to get out of this mess, instead he focused on last year’s legislation and side-stepped all of the questions that we need answers to.”

The Governor’s speech was about patting Pat Quinn on the back. Little has changed since Rod Blagojevich was impeached, said Bassi.

“The sad reality is that not much has changed since Blagojevich’s impeachment. Our budget and unemployment situation have gotten worse and Democrats continue to spend money the state does not have while pushing businesses out of Illinois. People are hurting and we need to put them back to work, not increase the state’s income tax on working families and employers,” she said.

Citing the need for fiscal reform, Bassi said she will continue to fight Governor Quinn and the Democrats plan to raise taxes and push for legislation that changes the budgetary process.

BASSI CORRECTS CHALLENGER’S LIES

State Representative Suzie Bassi calls her opponent’s claims that she voted “present” more than 1,000 times a lie and nothing more than a recycled campaign strategy that was proven untrue when it was used against her unsuccessfully in an election six years ago.

“We proved this issue of ‘present’ votes as false six years ago when Pat Sutarik tried to use it against me. It was untrue then and it’s untrue now,” Bassi said. “I’m surprised and disappointed that Tom Morrison would stoop so low. For him to repeat a lie that he already knows is a lie speaks volumes about his character.”

“If my opponent can’t tell the truth now, how can we trust that he will ever be truthful with the people he wants to represent. I think voters deserve more from their elected officials, “ Bassi said.

Her challenger is charging that Bassi voted ‘present” 1,198 times between 2000 and 2004. According to her official House of Representatives voting record for those years, available at www.ilga.gov, Bassi voted ‘present’ 97 times out of 14,300 total votes cast.

“The official record shows that I have never voted ‘present’ 1,198 times,” she explained. “If this is Tom’s idea of running an honest campaign, we’re in trouble.”

House Republican Leader Tom Cross said the information used by Tom Morrison’s campaign is inaccurate and was disputed six years ago.

“Representative Bassi has always been there for her constituents – from leading the effort to repeal the Stroger tax hike to her work to bring comprehensive ethics reform to Illinois – Suzie Bassi has always been there to fight for her district,” said Cross. “Families of the northwest suburbs know they can count on Suzie Bassi just like her Republican colleagues do in Springfield.”