Senate Republicans made the right decision in selecting Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) to be the next minority leader, Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) told the Rockford Sun.
"I have known and served with Brady for 20 years," Syverson, the assistant Republican leader, said. "He is well respected, knowledgeable and is the right person to step in at this crucial time of working on a budget and other key issues in turning Illinois around."
Republicans unanimously chose Brady to replace Sen. Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) as Senate Republican Leader after Radogno announced her resignation from the Senate on Thursday.
Dave Syverson
"Bill has been involved in many of these negotiations already and so this is a seamless transition," Syverson said. "The fact that this process took less than 24 hours says a lot about the Senate Republican caucus being united."
Brady takes over as the General Assembly is in its final hours of a special session called to negotiate a budget. Illinois faces the threat of another drop in its credit rating — to “junk” status — if it doesn’t have a budget in place by the start of the next fiscal year, which begins Saturday.
Brady said the daunting circumstances won’t stop the GOP from finding a solution for the state.
“The good news is I got a job and … that I got a great caucus behind me, as Leader Radogno had, that can help provide a real solution to the state,” Brady said. “There is a lot of important things that we need to get done that we’ve laid on the table. It’s my hope and prayer, frankly, that we can get that done in the next few hours to provide the relief and the plan that the people of Illinois need. Our caucus has been working day and night with their Democratic colleagues to get this plan done so that Illinois has something it can work to build on.”
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