John Cabello Fills Vacated State Rep. Seat of Dave Winters

ROCKFORD - The Winnebago County Republican Committee named John Cabello as the new 68^th district representative.  He replaces Dave Winters who tendered his resignation last week.  Cabello's appointment follows state statute.  The law says the vacancy of a legislative position be filled someone of the same political party as the person who left the position.

"I wanted to get in so that I could start working on some bills that I would like to see come up in the spring session," said new Representative John Cabello (R-68^th District).

Cabello is already running for the position he's been appointed to in November.  Cabello says he doesn't plan on using the position to further his election chances.  However, democratic competitor Alderman Carl Wasco (D-4^th Ward) says he can see right through that.  He says Dave Winter's move to retire wasn't unexpected.

"It's amazing to me that after 17 years all of a sudden he's frustrated and steps down 90 days before an election," said Wasco.  "I think the voter is smarter than that."

Cabello says he understand the frustration many might have over him taking the appointment.  He says the decision to make in November is still up to the people of the 68^th district.

"Believe it or not, there's still going to be an election in November and people will still have their decision as to who they wish to vote for," said Cabello.

But taking the appointment may hurt him in that general election.  Wasco recalls the appointment of former DeKalb County treasurer Christine Johnson to a vacated state senate seat then filled by Brad Burzynski in 2011.  Johnson went up against Senator Dave Syversen (R-35^th District) in this year's primary and lost.

"I think this is about people that have a vision for the future, not politics as usual or politics of the old days," said Wasco.

"This is about a vision for the future and I'm going to let the voter decide who's going to win the 68^th seat."

Cabello heads down to Springfield next week for a special budget session called by Gov. Pat Quinn (D-Illinois).  He says he plans on taking a closer look at new information he has, now that he's representative, so he can make an informed vote for Illinois.