DeKalb Times

State Rep. Jeff Keicher, the Republican candidate for the 70th House District, admits that one of the biggest challenges in his first 90 days in office was mastering the learning curve of being a new legislator.

“Just being able to navigate those waters and know the right person to talk to in government is already paying dividends,” Keicher said in an interview with DeKalb County Online.

Keicher was appointed to the seat earlier this year after Rep. Bob Pritchard retired and is running against Democrat Paul Stoddard in November's general election.

Paul Stoddard

Although Keicher would like to see more action on Gov. Bruce Rauner’s 2014 agenda, he acknowledged there are limitations with the two parties involved.

“The narrative today seems to be all focused on that it was a Rauner issue,” he said. “Even the budget that was passed is not a balanced budget. Those shenanigans that (House Speaker) Mike Madigan had played as he got it to pass are (responsible for) a lot of the frustrations.”

His ability to speak freely about Rauner’s agenda is something he said Democrats and Madigan do not enjoy.

“There is an undercurrent of frustration both within (Madigan’s) party and within the state with his heavy-handed insider politics,” Keicher said. “He writes rules and enforces them with such diligent enforcement that people are fearful of crossing him (even) within his caucus.”

Still, Keicher put an optimistic spin on the legislative landscape, noting that House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) squashed Madigan’s efforts to pass what he called “bad” legislation.

“The bright spot I point out to people who have a lot of discouragement about Madigan being in charge is that the Republicans are only nine seats away in the House of Representatives in Illinois from turning it to a Republican majority,” Keicher said.

The 70th District comprises the cities of Belvidere, DeKalb, Elgin, Genoa and Sycamore.