Years served: 2005 - Present
Committee assignments: Agriculture & Conservation; Appropriations-Public Safety (Republican Spokesperson); Elementary & Secondary Education; Juvenile Justice Reform; Infrastructure; Renewable Energy; Elections & Campaign Reform.
TAXES AND SPENDING
Reis voted for a huge electric rate increase.
Reis helped pass SB1652 – a huge electric rate increase sought by ComEd and Ameren. (2011)
Reis was absent for the vote for the Democrats’ pork-bloated FY2008 $59 BILLION budget.
Republicans who voted for HB3866 demonstrated inability as a legislator to seriously address Illinois’ chronic fiscal crisis that’s attributable to out-of-control spending, an antiquated pension system and government corruption. (2007)
Reis was absent for the vote to allow the Mayor of Chicago to DOUBLE the telephone tax.
SB0837 would give Mayor Richard Daley the ability to raise the telephone tax from $1.25 to $2.50 per month for all customers. (2007)
Reis voted against electric rate relief.
In January 2007, a 10-year electric rate-freeze expired, exposing thousands of Illinois residents to huge increases in their electric bills. SB1592 provided $1 billion in rate relief to Illinois consumers. More importantly, the law establishes an independent Illinois Power Agency that will be responsible for planning and purchasing electricity at the lowest possible price for consumers. (2007)
EDUCATION
Reis voted against groundbreaking school choice legislation.
Reis voted against SB2494 which would have given parents in underperforming Chicago school districts a voucher to cover educational expenses at nonpublic schools. SB2494 represented a lifeline to poor children who face bleak futures as a consequence of the awful and dangerous public schools in the City of Chicago. To read more about this disgrace - go here. (2010)
Reis listened to the teachers’ unions and voted against a Constitutional Convention.
HB0025 urged the electorate to support the calling of a Constitutional Convention. The Illinois Education Association (IEA) and Reis fear giving taxpayers the opportunity to debate and decide upon school funding reforms in Illinois. Instead, the IEA and Reis want to keep the power in the hands of politicians whose votes can be easily bought and controlled by teachers’ union PAC money. (2007)
Reis voted to prohibit parents’ right to alternative education.
HB0232 prohibits the State Board of Education and school boards from establishing, maintaining, or in any way supporting any virtual schools or virtual classes for elementary or secondary students in this State. (2007)
Reis was absent for the vote to increase education spending by nearly $600 million.
Republicans who voted for HB3866 proves they are incapable and unwilling to address the public education-spending crisis in Illinois. Instead of leading with bold reforms, Republicans follow the Democrats’ dishonest argument that blames school failures on “not enough money.” (2007)
Reis voted for a $45 million taxpayer-funded experiment - Universal Preschool.
According to National Taxpayers United of Illinois, SB1497 will once again prove that “universal preschool” schemes yield benefits that simply do not justify the costs involved. (2006)
Reis voted to allow video poker at truck stops and VFW halls and to make it more difficult to regulate gaming operators.
Reis voted for HB4927 - a controversial video poker bill that state gambling regulators fear will allow operators of illegal machines to stay in business throughout the state. The bill requires a felony conviction on gambling charges before regulators could deny a license to operate video gambling machines in Illinois. HB4927 further expands gambling by adding truck stops and VFW halls to the list of venues that will be allowed to have on-site video gambling machines that make payouts to patrons. (2010)
Reis voted to subsidize horseracing through riverboat casinos.
HB1918 requires riverboat casinos that have gross receipts of more than $200 million in 2004 to pay 3% of their adjusted gross income to the Horse Racing Trust Fund. (2006)
REFORM (or the lack thereof)
Reis was absent for the vote to make it more difficult for write-in candidate to get on the ballot.
SB662 changed the deadline for filing to be a write-in candidate to 61 days before an election. The purpose for this change is purely for incumbent protection. (2007)
Reis desperately opposes a common sense reform that would once again allow ALL Republicans to directly elect the senior leadership of their own Illinois Republican Party.
Reis continues to keep rank-and-file Republicans from having the same voice all Illinois Democrats enjoy in their State Party. Reis opposes SB600 - returning to the better system of direct election Illinois Republicans used until the late 1980’s. Illinois has been a “Blue State” ever since the change to the easily corruptible system Reis dishonestly still protects.
Reis did nothing to help cleanse the Illinois Republican Party of the tainted National Committeeman Bob Kjellander.
Bob Kjellander could have been removed and replaced with an honest leader a lot earlier, if only Republican “leaders” like Reis were serious about reform. Reis never joined the rank-and-file and more serious officials who overwhelmingly called for Kjellander’s immediate ouster. It’s only because Reis and a tiny handful of other old guard faces refuse to unify on reform that even this simplest of clean-ups remain difficult to accomplish.
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