Today the new State Senate Rules Chairman, Ricky Hendon, reminded Illinois voters that State Senator Debbie Halvorson, as Chair of the Senate Rules Committee, was one of Rod Blagojevich’s main protectors by holding up numerous pieces of legislation including ethics reform.

“It’s unfortunate that Senator Halvorson continues trying to re-write history and her longstanding support for Rod Blagojevich and his policies,” said Illinois Republican Party Spokesperson Lance Trover. “However, today’s comments from a fellow Democrat colleague are a stark reminder of how Senator Halvorson represents the Rod Blagojevich way of business as usual in Springfield.”

According to this morning’s Capitol Fax:

Hendon claimed last week that he wants to run a kinder, gentler Rules Committee. Hendon said that he already had 70 requests from both sides of the aisle to move bills out of Rules, “and I’m going to honor a lot of them.”

“More bills will be coming out of Rules,” Hendon proclaimed. “I’m not going to promise that every request will be honored, but [members] have a much better chance than ever before.” Hendon said he believes strongly “in the power of the individual member,” and said he had always thought the way Rules has been traditionally run by leadership “was wrong.” Even though he was a member of the committee, “I would go crazy when I couldn’t get stuff out of Rules.” Hendon also said he was taking a “much more active rule with staff” about how the committee dealt with bills.

“Ricky Hendon’s comments cement what we have known for years - that Senator Halvorson was Rod Blagojevich’s chief lieutenant and protector working vigorously to stymie any type of reform in Illinois,” said Trover. “Senator Halvorson needs to end the Blago-talk and explain to voters why, for the last six years, she has chosen Rod Blagojevich’s needs over the people’s.”

–Illinois Republican Party Press Release

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