The state senate candidates seethed about their opponents’ negative advertising as the campaigns drew to a close Monday.

Sen. Pat Welch, D-Peru, said he is angry about a Nancy Beasley radio campaign ad saying he voted for a law enabling criminals to be “first in line” for welfare checks. He said the bill cut the amount of time mothers have to wait for welfare checks when released from prison from 21 days to 10 days.

“My opponent’s ad doesn’t discuss the fact that this legislation affects only women with children,” Welch said.

The time was shortened so “the mother won’t go back to a life of crime to feed her own children,” Welch said.

Beasley campaign worker Art Hanlan said the ad simply stated that inmates were given an unfair convenience because of the bill. He said the bill allows felons to pre-register for welfare while people who aren’t in jail must “get jacked around by the bureaucracy” to get it.

Hanlan said Beasley would not have voted for the original bill allowing the 21-day period or the cut to 10 days.

Hanlan also said he is upset by Welch’s attempts to portray Beasley as a mudslinger because he said Welch is doing the negative campaigning.

For example, Welch’s advertisement that Beasley attended only 55 percent of Sycamore Library Board meetings doesn’t mention that membership is voluntary and that she missed many of the meetings while her children were young, Hanlan said.

“He runs around saying that he doesn’t print negative ads and then he comes out with something like this,” Hanlan said.