‘Our state is in crisis’; Elik joins Illinois House

Elik sworn in to Illinois House

Ron DeBrock, ronald.debrock@thetelegraph.com

Published 1:56 pm CST, Wednesday, January 13, 2021

SPRINGFIELD — State Rep. Amy Elik, R-Fosterburg, was officially sworn into office Wednesday as the new state representative for the 111th Legislative District.

Elik was sworn in during a ceremony of the 102nd Illinois General Assembly held at BOS Center in Springfield. She thanked the residents of Madison and Jersey counties for electing her.

“I ran for office to represent the forgotten voices of a border district,” she said.

“I am tired of seeing families flee Illinois to neighboring states for more favorable policies and better opportunity for the middle class,” Elik said. “Our state is in crisis. I will work to advance the needs and priorities of the district and will take those forgotten voices with me to Springfield every day.”

Following the inauguration ceremony, Elik’s first act as a state representative was to nominate state Rep. Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, for Speaker of the House, keeping her campaign promise to support someone other than former House Speaker other than Mike Madigan, D-Chicago. Madigan had been speaker for all but two years since 1983. Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, was selected as the next speaker, becoming the state’s first Black speaker.

Elik said she looks forward to working for the people of the 111th District.

”This General Assembly has a lot of work to do to address our most pressing problems, including earning back the trust of our residents,” Elik said. “Ghost payrolling, pay-to-play, investigations, indictments, arrests, and even the cover-up of alleged crimes have all made headlines.

“We must stop corruption, get Illinois’ fiscal house in order, and realize more taxes is not the solution to Illinois’ spending problem,” she said.

The 111th district contains all or part of Alton, Bethalto, East Alton, Edwardsville, Elsah, Godfrey, Granite City, Hartford, Madison, Pontoon Beach, Roxana, South Roxana, and Wood River.

Elik said she plans to release more details about her district office contact information in the near future. Currently people can contact her by visiting RepElik.com or e-mailing elik@ilhousegop.org.