West Central Reporter

State Senate candidate Steve McClure joins a growing number of Illinoisans that say the property taxes in the state are a burden to homeowners.

“A lot of people have property in other states and we’re losing all that business and everything else because of that,” McClure told the West Central Reporter. “We have to do everything we can to get property taxes as well as possible.”

He said that there are so many obligations in government bodies that overall cause the taxes to go up.

Steve McClure

“I would support lowering property tax,” he said. “It’s a real problem.”

McClure was running for state senate in the 50th District against Republican incumbent Sen. Sam McCann before McCann announced he is not seeking reelection. One of McClure’s major reasons for running for senator is that he was tired of seeing too many people leave the state because of its major financial problems.

Not only are people leaving Illinois because of the property tax burden, McClure said, but they are leaving because of the high crime rates and because there are better job opportunities in different states. He said that most of the crime started in Chicago and made its way downtown to as far as Springfield.

“There is a big problem with crime and we need to address it,” he said. “We’re not going to let these kids keep dying in the streets.”

A better crime reform would be to treat people with severe drug problems like they have severe drug problems, according to McClure’s opinion.

“There have to be programs that can deal with the drug problems,” he said. “The prison population (has) drug problems, which is why they are committing crimes. The treatment is either not very good or they have to be on a waitlist.”

McClure says that the criminal justice system can be fixed if the drug problem is fixed with better and more effective programs.

“Right now we don’t have it and it’s not readily available for the people who need it,” he said. “We need to clean up the halfway houses.”

“The problem right now for Republicans is that Mike Madigan is still in the House,” he said. “Republicans can get enough seats in the House to lighten Madigan’s power.”

Democratic House Speaker Madigan will reportedly try to stay in power through 2020 in order to help with redistricting in favor of the Democratic Party – a process that has been used in the past in order to stay in power, according to a Will County Gazette article.

McClure hopes to show constituents that he is a true conservative and that he has no interest in moving to the left on fiscal issues.

According to the McClure for Senate website, during the administration of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, McClure analyzed budgets for the state Senate and saw how the Senate has mismanaged money and wasted taxpayer dollars.

“They are not effective at keeping the people of the state safe, saving the taxpayers money, and allowing people to transform their lives,” the website noted.

McClure wants to show people how to live within their means and how to create an environment that allows businesses to prosper in order to turn the state’s finances around.

The Illinoisan cares about his community and wants to see a better outcome after years of being a prosecutor for the state.

“I’m a public servant and I’ve chosen this path when I could make a lot more money,” he said.

According to McClure’s website, he once was an assistant state’s attorney in the Sangamon County Juvenile Division where he dedicated his time to protecting children from abusive parents and rehabilitating delinquent youth.

He also worked in the Sangamon County Felony Division as a felony attorney where he prosecuted drug dealers, gang members, and other big-time criminals, the website noted.