Illinois State Rep. Patty Bellock
first began her career in Springfield in early
1999 after being very involved in DuPage County
government and community service. Only four years
later, she has already defined what issues are
important to her and how she views life in the
legislature."Some of my constituents were in
that I have worked closely with, a group called
Giant Steps...It’s a program that is an actual
school for children who have autism, and they’ve
grown from working with just eight children to now
having 30 children. The majority are able to get
into regular schools because of them working
one-on-one," she says about her involvement with
the group.
"I’m extremely proud of the work I’ve been able
to do with them and help some of the funding that
they needed, and I look forward to working with
them again. When you get feedback like that, it
shows how lots of times in our position as a
public servant are offered criticism a lot, so
it’s wonderful when somebody walks in the door and
says thank you."
Bellock believes that there is a chance her
party can take control of the Illinois Legislature
once again. The Loyola University and St. Norbert
graduate also spoke on the Republican Party,
stating, "I definitely feel that the Republican
Party is what is needed to lead Illinois in the
future, and I’m hoping that we will regain the
stature that we need to move forward and bring the
government into being accountable and
responsible."
Q: What was your day like
yesterday in Springfield?
A: My day yesterday in Springfield was great.
The weather was beautiful, and I had a bill that I
was doing for a group in my district that helps
medically fragile children on ventilators. It was
a bill to help them be able to look forward to
provide other services to be able to access
payment by insurance companies. I presented the
bill, and my constituents came down, and it’s a
very, very worthwhile group that’s located in my
district. They were able to give a good
presentation and testimony, and the committee had
a lot of questions for them, but they did vote for
it unanimously, and it now gets to go out of
committee. That was a productive day.
Q: Many people tend to
think that politics is mostly a men’s arena. Do
you believe that women are having their voices
heard more today than before? What is it like
serving in Springfield and being one out of a
select group of women in the House?
A: I feel that that’s absolutely correct. I
feel that women in Springfield have gotten a whole
lot more organized and they’re extremely well
educated and having been very active in their
communities and that they’ve come from especially
in the last couple of years. I think that within
the next years they’ll be even more active down
there.
Right now, I think there’s about 45 women in
the legislature in the two Houses. We have
actively worked together in the Conference of
Women Legislators on bipartisan issues that affect
women and children. One that we were extremely
happy with last year was the issue regarding child
support to help women and children in the state of
Illinois, and it was because of the bipartisan
work together that we were able to get Democrats’
and Republicans’ votes to get that bill enacted to
redo the child support system in Illinois.
Q: What are your thoughts
on the budget report recently given by Gov.
Blagojevich?
A: The budget was long and coming. We’ve been
waiting for over two extra months than when it is
normally heard. I, for one, am not completely
satisfied with the bonding issue right now,
because I don’t think that we’ve had a lot of
answers to some of the questions we’ve been
giving...I also think that a lot of the budget was
being financed with a lot of one-time revenue,
such as selling of the Thompson Center and the
issue regarding the gambling boats and auctioning
off that tenth license. That’s a one-time revenue.
I also think that there are a lot of questions.
There was a lack of details in some of the
budget cuts that were given. The schools,
especially in the area in which I represent in
DuPage County, are extremely upset about some of
the things and the cutbacks of the categorical,
which is the only area that my schools are funded
in. Mostly because we do not receive much state
aid, I’m definitely for helping out the southern
school districts, but we can do that at the same
time and not cut the money coming into my area.
From what the Governor talked about the other day,
my superintendents of schools are worried that
funding will be cut to our schools in order to
enhance the other parts of the state.
There was $342 million in higher fees without
much detail, and I don’t agree with the terrorism
center being in Springfield when 70 percent of the
population lives up in the collar county area. I
had a lot of questions about it. The good news was
that there was no increase on sales taxes or
income taxes, but I think there have been
references to expansion of gambling which I’m
really opposed to.
We’ll just have to see what goes on more
afterwards. I’d like to see more emphasis in the
coming weeks to get a plan in place to pay all of
our outstanding debts especially the debts to our
local pharmaci
es, nursing homes, and hospitals
that deserve to be paid now. They should not have
to wait six months for payments and have to get in
millions of dollars worth of debt to their local
banks. The state owes them money, and we have to
pay them within the next couple of weeks to
restore the public’s trust, for one thing.
Q: You said one of your
goals is to help pass better legislation for those
who are mentally handicapped. What inspired you to
work closely with helping in the issue of mental
health?
A: I’ve been working on that because I was on
the DuPage County Board six years ago and also on
the Health Board a long time, and that’s how I
became active in mental health and disability
issues, so I moved forward on that when I got to
Springfield. I was the minority spokesperson for
the Mental Health Committee, and I became even
more involved in being an advocate for these
issues, especially in areas where the people that
are mentally ill seem to be somewhat discriminated
against.
Q: How did you begin your
political career?
A: I began my career with getting involved in
my local community and I served on a couple of
different boards, but especially my local school
board, my youth board, different things like that,
and I got involved in a group called Citizens for
Property Tax Accountability when we were trying to
figure out where our money was being spent in our
local school district. From there, I went into the
DuPage County Board, and I ran on an anti-tax
(campaign) and being fiscally responsible,
conservative issues. In the ten years that I’ve
been in politics, I’m proud that I haven’t voted
for tax increases. I’ve stuck to that plan because
that is what I started with and one of the main
reasons I got into government: to make it more
accountable and responsible to the people that it
serves.
I’ve always tried to have an open door policy
in my district office and down in Springfield and
try to respond to every letter, every comment, and
every e-mail. I’ve enjoyed all of it. It’s always
very interested and always a different issue
everyday. Just when you think you have your work
done for the day, something else walks in through
the door. I enjoy working with people - that’s one
of the things I think I enjoy most of all,
addressing a problem and getting something done
that will really affect not only my district but
the entire state.
Q: What was the last
constituent issue you had to deal with? What did
you do, and how did they react after you spoke
with them? Please explain.
A: The last constituent issue I dealt with was
actually this morning. Some of my constituents
were in that I have worked closely with, a group
called Giant Steps. They were a pilot program in
the state of Illinois that Judy Biggert had helped
with some legislation, and when she left and went
to Washington, I started working with them.
It’s an outstanding school, there’s only four
of them in the world, and one of them is located
within my district. It’s a program that is an
actual school for children who have autism, and
they’ve grown from working with just eight
children to now having 30 children. The majority
are able to get into regular schools because of
them working one-on-one.
I’m extremely proud of the work I’ve been able
to do with them and help some of the funding that
they needed, and I look forward to working with
them again. When you get feedback like that, it
shows how lots of times in our position as a
public servant are offered criticism a lot, so
it’s wonderful when somebody walks in the door and
says thank you.
Q: Where do you see the
Illinois Legislature in the future? What issues do
you expect will come up more often, and what party
do you think Illinoisans will be choosing to lead
the state?
A: I think that the legislature, just because
of the major changes that took place in the last
election, I see people coming into their own more
and the change of power coming back into the
elected representatives and still have the leaders
of their caucus, but not all decisions are made by
just strictly the leaders, but the decisions,
especially in our caucus, are having shared input
from all the legislators. I think we’ll be seeing
more of that.
I think that the party I hope Illinois will be
choosing to lead the state will be the Republican
Party. With the issues, especially in this budget
address and what is going on in this change of
administration, all of us were open to working
with the administration, but just the fact that we
haven’t been able to deal with it because of
agencies and because they haven’t been appointed,
I’m hoping that things will pick up. I definitely
feel that the Republican Party is what is needed
to lead Illinois in the future, and I’m hoping
that we will regain the stature that we need to
move forward and bring the government into being
accountable and responsible.
On business issues, we need to make sure that
we can keep people working in Illinois, because
that’s the basis of our economy and I think that
the Republican party knows how important keeping
taxes low is to having people in their jobs,
businesses, and corporations staying in Illinois
and leading us out of this recession to a better
economy so we can have a better quality of life.
Politics
Today 
Politics
Today: State Rep. Patty
Bellock (R-47 District)