South Central Reporter

Since winning the Republican nomination for House District 107, Blaine Wilhour has much to say about Springfield's priorities.

Wilhour, who is running against Democrat David Seiler for the seat being vacated by Rep. John Cavaletto (R-Salem), recently spoke out against taxpayer-funded abortions in Illinois increasing nearly four times more in the first six months of 2018 than the same time last year.

“There was never any doubt that House Bill 40 would lead to more taxpayer-funded abortions,” Wilhour told the South Central Reporter. “It is essentially free money on the table for abortion providers and what is scary is this is just the beginning.”

There is no telling how much spending on abortions will be a year from now, Wilhour said, adding that taxpayers are frustrated with Springfield's lack of financial responsibility. 

“The legislature raised taxes by 32 percent last year and little to nothing has been done to solve the larger fiscal problems facing our state,” he said. “We still have a huge backlog of unpaid bills and have a $250 billion pension deficit. The tax hike did nothing to solve these problems.”

Instead, we are subsidizing abortions, he said. 

“It is an affront to taxpayers and indicative of what is wrong in Springfield,” Wilhour said.

Repealing HB 40 is the only way to place Illinois on a fiscally responsible and moral trajectory, and he intends on supporting legislation that rejects the highly controversial bill, Wilhour said.

“The radical left is aggressively pushing forward on their agenda that devalues life and traditional values,” he said. “This is the kind of disgusting moral and cultural rot that is coming on in full force [and] must be combated aggressively.”

Until HB 40 is repealed, Wilhour said Springfield must police who is receiving taxpayer-funded abortions. 

“It is not the responsibility of Illinois taxpayers to pay for abortions of any kind, but it is especially egregious to use Illinois tax dollars to pay for abortions for people who do not even live in Illinois,” he said.

Illinois needs a balanced budget that prioritizes essential services and promotes economic growth, Wilhour said. 

“We need revenue estimates established early in the legislative session to make the budgeting process easier and since politicians can’t be trusted to be responsible," he said. "We need to put in place a spending cap that is tied to a 10-year rolling average of the growth of the Illinois economy.”