By Dave Dahl/Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – People who are reporters in the state Capitol may have a hard time proving it, but Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti boasts her accessibility and availability.

“I’m from the Chicagoland region,” Sanguinetti said after chairing her first Illinois Rural Affairs Council meeting. “I needed to make myself available to all rural communities just to avail myself of all the issues.

“I submit to you that it’s just a coincidence” that a reporter would think she does few interviews, “because I’ve been everywhere.”

She also mentioned moving her family into the governor’s mansion in Du Quoin for a time so she could better acquaint herself with southern Illinois.

Sanguinetti, who served on the city council in Wheaton before becoming the state’s first lieutenant governor elected under a system in which the candidates are running mates in the primary, assures us she will be ready for the top job, should she be called upon.

“I am the governor’s understudy. I’ve been very accessible (and) very active since Day One, and I will humbly and proudly serve, should the worst occur.”