Leatherneck Nation

The only Yes vote for the budget and over-ride from the Senate Republicans came from Dale Righter of Mattoon. He is an Eastern alumnus, and Charleston is in his district.

The Senator for Macomb is Jil Tracy, Republican from Quincy. She voted with the Governor.

Kudos to Dale for doing what appears to be best for his district, and not continue this farce any longer. As many of us have said before, one side is as bad as the other- leaders solve problems, even if they might need to compromise on some things they don't particularly care for. Why make others suffer because of constant power struggles.

Is the state representative covering Macomb republican? Will be interesting to see how she votes today.

leatherface wrote: Thu Jul 06, 2017 1:02 pm Is the state representative covering Macomb republican? Will be interesting to see how she votes today.

Yes, she is. Noreen Hammond was actually one of the republicans to break with the Governor and vote for these bills.
http://www.norinehammond.org/

She hasn't done much to help Western specifically, but in this instance she is.

Well then, good for her. I would assume Western would be the largest employer in her district along with its value as an educational institution, so, it sounds like she might place her district needs above partisan politics like Dale. I don't know what all her district covers,but, Western should be important to her.

leatherface wrote: Thu Jul 06, 2017 1:19 pm Well then, good for her. I would assume Western would be the largest employer in her district along with its value as an educational institution, so, it sounds like she might place her district needs above partisan politics like Dale. I don't know what all her district covers,but, Western should be important to her.

It remains to be seen if she will repeat her vote and override the governor's veto, but hopefully she realizes how much money Western brings into the local economy and how important it is to everyone in the area.

Here is a map of her district: http://www.norinehammond.org/p/district.html

Not sure how many people the meat packing plant in Beardstown or DOT Foods in Mt. Sterling employ (both are in Noreen's district), but I'm sure that Western is the largest publicly-funded employer in the district. Speaking of DOT Foods, our region's representative in the state senate is Jill Tracy, wife of Jim Tracy, who is a senior VP at DOT Foods (DOT was founded by his parents).

For anyone who is seriously interested in up-to-the-minute news/updates, you can follow along with tweets and stuff here: https://capitolfax.com/2017/07/06/live- ... verage-24/

Apparently there's a "situation" at the statehouse currently though, and one person has already been taken away in handcuffs...so idk what's going on.

Hazmat team called. Someone threw a substance at governors office. Oh boy lol. No one being let into building.

Statehouse on lock-down. Session has been delayed at this time.

This should be the live tweets and updates: