State Senator John O. Jones Endorses Matt Murphy for Lt. Governor
12/6/2009
State Senator John O. Jones announced his support for State Senator Matt Murphy's run for Illinois Lieutenant Governor on Friday.
Jones says although Murphy lives in the northern Illinois city of Palatine, he understand and represents the values held dear in southern Illinois. "He has a connection here with Marion County because the farm bureaus throughout Illinois have opened up a new practice of adopting northern legislators, suburban legislators to acquaint them with the agriculture industry," he says. "The Marion County Farm Bureau has adopted Matt Murphy as their northern legislator... he has really got an education about the agriculture industry from the Farm Bureau and will continue that."
Murphy has also garnered the endorsements of other legislators including House Republican Leader Tom Cross, and numerous State Senators and State Representatives.
Murphy says he believes trust in politics needs to return to Illinois. "Two Governors are on their way to jail - in a row - and you've got to show people you will run the state differently," he says. Murphy also criticizes the leadership in the state Capitol. "Change the culture in Springfield where there's too much power in too few hands - if three guys don't get a long and the whole state grinds to a halt, that means there's a problem," he says.
Murphy also looks forward to hopefully taking a more active role in state policies. Murphy has tried pushing legislation to break up some of the power in Springfield by proposing term limits for legislative leaders, redistricting reform and requiring bills to have majority support. "Show people that you're willing to give some of that power away, and they might actually believe you are going to govern differently," he says. "I've pushed those things in the General Assembly, I'd like to have a bigger bully-pulpit to push them in the Lt. Governor's office and try and rebuild that relationship between the people of this state and their state government."
The State Senator says he also looks forward to continuing the work on fixing the state's budget mess.
Murphy currently represents the 27th Senatorial District and is a graduate of the John Marshall Law School and is an Attorney in Chicago. He and his wife, Julie have four children.
