Rock Island Today

Republican Tony McCombie wrested the House District 71 seat from incumbent state Rep. Mike Smiddy (D-Hillsdale) by taking 69.2 percent of the vote.

McCombie based her campaign on a balanced budget without increasing taxes. As mayor of Savanna, she had already experienced the budget crunch over the past few years. By cutting expenditures and working with available revenue, McCombie was able to provide balanced budgets that did not raise taxes or borrow money, yet provided essential services to the city's residents.

While serving as mayor, McCombie also continued her career as a real estate broker with Mel Foster Co. and owned her own appraisal business. Her experience as an independent businessperson showed her the importance of a business-friendly climate and economic growth.

McCombie said the budget is her top goal and agreed that legislative reforms, such as in Medicaid, workers' compensation and the state procurement process, would help legislators find ways to balance the state budget.

"Our government needs to live by the same standards we do – you cannot spend money you don’t have and expect to succeed," McCombie said on her campaign website.

To grow the economy and avoid raising taxes, McCombie promoted job creation and growth. Reducing regulations and fees would encourage businesses and workers to stay in Illinois and increase the tax base, she said.

McCombie also discussed family farms on her campaign website, pointing out that agriculture is the top industry in Illinois and the 71st District, generating more than $19 billion every year. Agriculture-related industries, such as agricultural processing and manufacturing farm machinery, bring billions more into the state's economy. Nearly 1 million people are employed by Illinois' food and fiber industries.

While the legislature managed to pass a temporary "stopgap" budget in late June, McCombie found it incomprehensible that the state's leadership was unable to work together to provide a full budget. The stopgap budget provided funding for education and essential services, but failed to provide funding for all the state's bills.

Moody's Investors Service warned that the backlog of unpaid bills is on track to reach an estimated $14 billion by the end of the year. Moody's downgraded Illinois credit from Baa1 to Baa2 in June after the legislature failed to pass a balanced budget. An unbalanced budget passed by the House in late May was $7 billion in the red and was voted down in the Senate.

The budget debate on higher education may have affected McCombie's opponent's chances of re-election. During the debates in May, Smiddy was caught on camera playing video games. He was not the only lawmaker; state Rep.Katherine Cloonen (D-Kankakee) was playing Candy Crush.

Smiddy responded to critics by saying he had already decided on the matter.

A flurry of television ads aired in September with Smiddy defending his loan from campaign funds that were used for his wife's cancer treatment three years earlier. In turn, the GOP's ad claimed that Smiddy used campaign funds for personal use. McCombie's campaign declined comment on the ads, referring the media to the Illinois Republican Party.

With her victory over Smiddy, McCombie now has the opportunity to implement bipartisan negotiation to find solutions to the state's budget woes.

"I feel blessed. I really do," McCombie told Jesyka Dereta, WQAD 8 Quad Cities reporter. "This has been a great journey ... I've met fantastic people. I'm surrounded by love and positive energy and I'm blessed. We're blessed. And I look forward to getting to work."