MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

To the Editor:

I read the letter from Jay Hoffman where he said he did not vote against a forensic audit, but rather he voted on a "procedural vote to sustain the chair."

That sounds kind of odd to me, so I did as Jay suggested and looked on the General Assembly website and read the House rules, something Rep. Hoffman must not have done.

Since Rep. Hoffman is not being honest with us little people, or worse yet he is ignorant of the facts, I believe it is my duty to explain what happened when Jay Hoffman did in fact vote against the audit of state books.

The audit bill (HR 1057) was sent to the rules committee to die.

Rep. Bill Black called for a discharge motion under rule 58 of the House rules. The motion was challenged, the chair ruled, the motion lost.

Rep. Black appealed the ruling, and it went to a vote on the floor of the House. Hoffman voted to "sustain the chair's ruling" which means he voted against letting the bill be discharged from committee.

I'm not a trial lawyer at the Lakin Law Firm or been in Springfield for 20 years, but this is simple. Jay Hoffman voted to kill the audit bill.

The incumbent Jay Hoffman knows he cannot win this election by running on his miserable record. His campaign strategy has been to personally attack Dwight Kay. Hoffman has been on TV and in the newspaper calling Dwight Kay, his supporters, and the company he works for dishonest.

But Jay Hoffman is the liar. He is lying about his votes, he is lying about his record, and he is lying about his close personal and professional relationship with impeached Governor Blagojevich.

Chip Vaughn
Alton