Dale Righter

Dale Righter
Illinois State Senate District 55
Incumbent
In office
2003 - Present
Term ends
January 11, 2017
Years in position	10
Party	Republican
Compensation
Base salary	$67,836/year
Per diem	$111/day
Elections and appointments
Last election	November 6, 2012
First elected	2002
Next election	November 8, 2016
Term limits	N/A
Prior offices
Illinois House of Representatives
1997 – 2002
Education
Bachelor's	Eastern Illinois University (1988)
J.D.	St. Louis University (1991)
Personal
Birthday	August 23, 1966
Place of birth	Mattoon, Illinois
Profession	Attorney
Religion	Christian
Websites
Office website
Personal website
Campaign website

Dale Righter (born August 23, 1966) is a Republican member of the Illinois State Senate. He has represented the 55th District since 2003 and currently serves as Deputy Minority Leader.

Dale Righter was born in Mattoon, Illinois. He earned his undergraduate Accounting degree from Eastern Illinois University in 1988, and a J.D. from St. Louis University in 1991.

In 1997, Righter was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, serving until 2002. He was appointed to the state senate in 2003, and serves as Senate Republican Caucus Chair. He also is currently Of Counsel with a small law firm in Charleston and works as a part-time college instructor.

Committee assignments

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Righter served on the following committees:

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Righter served on these committees:

• Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments
• Subcommittee on Education Committee
• Subcommittee on Election Law

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Righter served on these committees:

Issues

Senator Righter has worked to expand the Illinois Freedom of Information Act for increased government accountability, advocated for the greater use of ethanol and other renewable fuels, and worked to legislate better newborn screening to take advantage of increased medical technology.

Medicaid

The Illinois Senate approved a Medicaid measure projected to save $800 million during the next five years.

House Bill 5420 would move half of the state’s 2.8 million Medicaid participants into “coordinated” or managed care between 2011 and 2015. This is a far stretch from the 195,000 participants who now are assigned to a primary “medical home.”

Lawmakers had to tighten the $14 billion state-federal health care system in December and were still hashing out the details in early January 2011.

“This is probably not a bill that any one of us on this committee would write. But that’s the nature of compromise,” said State Sen. Heather Steans. “I think where we are and what we’re going to see, though, is something that really does put the state and our Medicaid system in a much better place down the line.”

In 2014, low-income single adults will be eligible to enroll for the federal option, so all states are slated with the task of working out their end of the details. State Sen. Righter said the proposal will return the “struggling” program to a safety net for the poor, instead of a catch-all for the potentially ineligible.

“It’s struggling for the people who need it the worst,” he said. “We’re talking about the people who are on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder, the people for whom access is a truly critical issue. The people who aren’t mobile. People who can’t drive two hours and take a day off because it’s not a big deal to make sure that their child can get to a medical provider.”

Raising lawmaker salaries

In May 2011, Illinois Senate lawmakers entertained a bill, SB2467, which included an “additional amounts per year” for select lawmakers: committee chairmen and committee minority spokesmen and spokeswomen. Sen. Dan Kotowski sponsored the measure.

The lump-sum appropriations in the proposal would increase pay for Senate committee chiefs by 14 percent. House committee bosses would see a 47-percent jump in pay. The increases were on top of the base $67,836 annual salaries that all lawmakers earn. Committee and leadership posts bring extra pay. In other words, more taxpayers’ money would be funneled into extra pay for select lawmakers, said Righter.

“So there’s some games being played here,” said Righter, a member of the Senate Executive Committee. “And sometimes that’s the way things happen — like this — is because (Democrats) want to do it before anyone really sees it.”

However, Kotowski said this move would restore the public’s good faith and trust to the government.

“We’re basically changing the existing law, to require legislators to work 12 days without getting paid,” he said. “That’s very, very, important, and that’s going to lead to reduction in salaries across the board this year and a total of saving $1.2 million for taxpayers.”

Lawmakers do want the public to notice when they cut their own pay, Righter and Kotowski said.

“But not this, the increasing the stipend (proposal), because it kind of makes it look like, ‘OK you’re taking it out of your pocket over here, but you’re going to shove your other pocket full,’” Righter said. “That’s what it looks like, like the outset that they’re trying to do here.”

Presidential preference

2012

See also: Endorsements by state officials of presidential candidates in the 2012 election

Dale Righter endorsed Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election.

Redistricting

During discussions about the redistricting process, Sen. Righter criticized a legislative maneuver referred as a shell bill. A shell bill is essentially a placeholder for latebreaking proposals. In May 2011, there was a chance the map would be placed in a shell bill and fast-tracked to a vote, possibly before the deadline at the end of the month.

"Putting shell bills in position like this is positioning the Democrat majority to be able to put a map out there, let it sit there for an hour, and blow it out of the General Assembly in less than a day," said Righter.

Elections

2012

See also: Illinois State Senate elections, 2012

Righter won election in the 2012 election for Illinois State Senate District 55. Righter was unopposed in the Republican primary on March 20 and was unopposed in the general election which took place on November 6, 2012.

Illinois State Senate, District 55, General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Dale Righter Incumbent	100%	78,776
Total Votes				78,776

2010

See also: Illinois State Senate elections, 2010

Righter won re-election to the 55th District Seat in the Illinois State Senate against Josh Weger.

Illinois State Senate, District 55 (2010)
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Dale Righter (R)		51,569	71.87%
Josh Weger (D)		20,189	28.13%

The election took place on November 2, 2010. Righter ran unopposed in the Republican primary election on February 2nd.

2006

On November 7, 2006, Republican Dale Righter won re-election to the Illinois State Senate District 55. He ran unopposed receiving 57,705 votes.

Illinois State Senate, District 55 (2006)
Candidates		Votes
Dale Righter (R)		57,705

Campaign donors

2012

Campaign donor information is not yet available for this year.

2010

In 2010, Righter received $662,601 in campaign donations. The top contributors are listed below.

Illinois State Senate 2010 election - Campaign Contributions
Top contributors to Dale Righter's campaign in 2010
Illinois Education Association	$42,000
Associated Beer Distributors Of Illinois	$18,500
Illinois Republican Party	$10,458
Illinois Health Care Association	$9,500
Illinois Chamber Of Commerce	$7,694
Total Raised in 2010	$662,601

2006

In 2006, Righter collected $299,046 in donations.

Listed below are those that contributed most to his campaign.

Donor	Amount
Illinois Education Association	$20,000
Citizens for Christine Radogno	$10,000
Consolidated Communications	$9,000
Illinois Hospital & Health Systems Association	$8,000
Illinois Chamber of Commerce	$6,000
Gerald Forsythe	$5,000
Illinois State Medical Society	$5,000
People for Eddy	$4,779
Illinois Health Care Association	$4,500
Caterpillar	$3,500
AT&T	$3,500
Altria	$3,000
Illinois Construction Industry CMTE	$3,000
K. C. Summers Buick Toyota	$3,000
Humana	$3,000
Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois	$3,000
Illinois Realtors Association	$2,600
Preston Owen	$2,500
Wellcare Helath Insurance of Illinois	$2,500
Illinois Council on Long Term Care	$2,500

Scorecards

Illinois Opportunity Project

See also: Illinois Opportunity Project's Legislative Vote Card

The Illinois Opportunity Project, "an independent research and public policy enterprise that promotes legislative solutions in advance of free markets and free minds," annually releases its Legislative Vote Card, grading all members in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly on the basis of their support of "pro-growth economic policies that increase personal freedom and reign in expansive government."

2012

Righter received a score of 100.00 out of 100 in 2012 for a grade of A+ according to the IOP’s grading scale. His score was tied for the highest among all 59 members of the Illinois State Senate included in the Vote Card.

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a google news search for the term Dale + Righter + Illinois + Senate

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

Dale Righter News Feed

• Illinois Senate OKs bill banning use of cell phones by drivers - Rockford Register Star
• Illinois Senate OKs ban on cell phones while driving - The State Journal-Register
• This time, campus smoking ban clears Illinois Senate - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette (blog)
• VIDEO: Illinois Senate uses emotional plea to push for high capacity magazine ban - Quincy Journal
• Illinois Senate panel OKs restrictive concealed carry bill - Rockford Register Star
• Campus smoke ban fails in Senate - The State Journal-Register
• Illinois Senate approves own version of pension plan - Bloomington Pantagraph
• Lawmakers Debate Lowering Mandatory School Age From 7 To 6 - CBS Local
• Illinois Bill Requires Students Be Taught About Birth Control - Opposing Views
• Sex ed bill clears state Senate - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

District 55

Righter represents Illinois Senate District 55. District 55 includes Southeast Illinois including Matoon and Charleston where Eastern Illinois University is located.

Personal

Dale lives in Charleston, Illinois and has two children.

External links

Suggest a link

• Dale Righter's campaign website
• Dale Righter's personal website
• Biography, bills and committees at the Illinois General Assembly

• Summary, biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Campaign contributions at Follow The Money
• Profile at Wikipedia
• Dale Righter on Facebook

References

Political offices
Preceded by '	Illinois Senate District 55 2003–present	Succeeded by NA