NW Illinois News

Dixon Mayor Liandro "Li" Arellano Jr. is running for the vacant 74th Representative District on an anti-corruption message. 

"I'm the mayor of Dixon right now," Arellano told NW Illinois News. "We had just finished becoming famous for basically the biggest municipal fraud in the history of the United States. And that was the situation I walked into." 

"So I'm very passionate about ethical reform and financial reform," he added. "We have $54 million stolen from us and implementing those reforms has been the work of the past eight years and then getting the budget in order and turning the city around. And so that's exactly what I want to do in Springfield as they have been dodging real ethical reforms and certainly the kind of financial reforms and spending reforms that are needed to get the state back on track. And I think my experience in Dixon personally perfectly dovetails with what's needed in Springfield." 

Arellano is in his second term as mayor of Dixon, shawlocal.com reported. He ran on a pledge to clean up the city after Rita Crundwell’s $54 million fraud and embezzlement conviction. Crundwell served as treasurer for the municipality from 1983 to 2012 during which time she stole the funds, much of which went to her horse breeding operation. 

In the wake of the indictment of former Illinois house speaker Michael Madigan, Arellano called for a greater focus on ethics and reform, NW Illinois News previously reported. He called on the "deeply embedded culture of corruption" to be cleared out. 

State Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) was mapped into the new 74th District but is instead running for State Treasurer. He is also running an anti-corruption campaign, according to his website. 

The 74th State House District includes nearly all of Whiteside and Lee counties as well as part of LaSalle, Ogle, and DeKalb counties. It includes the communities of Dixon, Sterling, Rochelle and Mendota.