Sanguinetti defends her government consolidation efforts

Republican Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti touted her efforts toward consolidating local government Thursday, but Democrats in a budget hearing challenged her to cut her own costs further.

Sanguinetti, of Wheaton, has led Gov. Bruce Rauner's effort toward saving money via local government consolidation in her first year as his No. 2.

"Through my work with the task force, we're already finding opportunities where we're chipping away at the way that government is done at the local level," she said, referencing the Local Government Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates Task Force that she leads.

At a Senate hearing about her office's budget, she proposed cutting funding for her office by 10 percent. But Democratic state Sen. Steve Landek of Bridgeview pushed further, suggesting that she should cut her staff.

"My feeling is this is a good place to start. Cut the lieutenant governor's staff away and just pay her salary. And we've saved ourselves some money," Landek said.

In previous years, lawmakers have tried to abolish the office altogether, but that push has fallen short.

Rauner visited Naperville earlier this month to present legislation that would make it easier to dissolve or consolidate units of government, but it hasn't yet been considered.