NW Illinois News

Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) spoke out about the recently-passed budget in a Facebook post on April 19.

"The budget that Gov. Pritzker is signing today grows state spending by 10% while revenues are actually declining by 5%. That is neither responsible nor sustainable," Demmer said. "Just a year and a half ago, Gov. Pritzker was spending millions to convince Illinois voters to approve his $3.5 billion tax hike – threatening them with draconian cuts or across-the-board tax hikes if they didn't approve. They rejected his tax hike, but he continues to spend as if they said yes. Propped up by an avalanche of federal bailout cash, Gov. Pritzker is now trying to paint a very rosy picture of the budget as he fights for his own re-election. As we saw with the bipartisan opposition to the tax increase, Illinoisans are right to be skeptical of Gov. Pritzker's claims."

In January, Demmer announced he would run for State Treasurer. He joined the General Assembly in 2013, and serves as the director of strategic planning at Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital in Dixon. He held a seat on the Lee County Board prior to that.

After announcing he would run for State Treasurer, Demmer filed legislation to combine the offices of State Treasurer and Comptroller. "Illinois taxpayers would be better served by having one office perform the duties of Comptroller and Treasurer," Demmer said. "Reducing state government's footprint and consolidating functions would achieve savings for taxpayers and streamline the fiscal operations of Illinois in a meaningful way. The late Judy Baar Topinka, who served separate terms in both offices, advocated for combining Comptroller and Treasurer into one position. We can honor her memory and reform an inefficient Madigan-era relic by acting now to let the people of Illinois have the final say on approving this reform later this year."

In March, Demmer said that legislators needed to deliver meaningful relief to taxpayers, as inflation hits gas prices and just about everything else an Illinois resident purchases. "As we consider the state's budget process, as we consider where the state's prioritizing our dollars and our investments, we need to think long and hard about what we can do to deliver meaningful relief to Illinois families in the face of unprecedented growth, in inflation, and unprecedented price increases on many everyday staple goods," Demmer said. "We've been actively pushing for that kind of release here in the state of Illinois. And we think it should be a priority in this year's budget-making process to think first about Illinois families and taxpayers and not just think about the state bureaucracy and the state budget."