From the office of Ill. State Senator Kirk Dillard (24th District)…
Lombard, IL – Despite a state budget mired in red ink, freshman Republican lawmaker Christopher Nybo continues to spend precious state dollars on politically-motivated mail pieces just days before the March 20 primary election. While Illinois law prevents lawmakers from spending state money on newsletters and brochures between February 1 and the day of an election, Nybo is using a loophole in the law to mail targeted letters in this dark period that was designed to stop taxpayer-funded political activity.
“Christopher Nybo is gaming the system and using scarce state resources on purely political mailers while many schools, home health care providers, and nursing homes are months behind in state payments,” said Dillard. “It’s really unconscionable that my opponent thinks that it more important to send taxpayer-funded mailers right before an election than to help pay our bills. Christopher Nybo should be ashamed and immediately reimburse the state of Illinois.”
Under current Illinois law, state legislators are allowed to use state money to send newsletters and brochures throughout the year to keep in touch with constituents. However, Illinois law forbids lawmakers from spending state taxpayer money on newsletters and brochures in the weeks immediately preceding either a primary or general election.
“When I return to Springfield next week, I plan to work in a bipartisan fashion to repeal the “Nybo Loophole” that allows the use of taxpayer-funded mailings before elections,” said Dillard. “Illinois is in a financial mess because Christopher Nybo and others continue to spend uncontrollably. It is time that we stop this abuse of tax dollars and make the real spending cuts needed to balance the budget.”
The subject letter talks about term limits around which Nybo has built his campaign and comes within a week of the election and uses state postage and stationary. (Attached).
“Nybo is Blagojevichochian. He uses tax dollars for self-promotion, and over-the-top tactics to conduct his political campaigns and his run his district office,” Dillard said. ”Just because it is legal , doesn’t mean it’s not purely political or ethically proper. Someone should inquire of this blindly ambitious politician if he deletes Democrats and towns in his current District that are not in the new 24th Senate District. If so, then this is a matter that is purely political and ripe for investigation.”
