Darren Bailey reacts to rumblings that the Illinois Republican endorsement process might be rigged in favor of Gov. Bruce Rauner by simply reminding everyone that “this is Illinois.”
In one instance, Republican leaders at a recent Palatine Township Republican Organization endorsement session charged that Chairman Aaron Del Mar, a longtime Rauner supporter and a Rauner appointee to the Illinois International Port District, argued he wasn’t required to provide other group members with rules for the meeting.
Eyebrows were also raised when Rauner won the Cook County Republican endorsement over Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton), despite her winning 55 percent of the city vote.
“That’s not how the process is supposed to work,” Bailey said of rumblings some endorsement votes are being pre-determined with assurances of jobs, appointments and other perks from Rauner to those who go along with the program. “And it’s not going help us do the things we need our politicians to do to put Illinois back on the right track,” Bailey told the SE Illinois News.
Yet, the Xenia Republican running against Rep. Dave Reis (R-Willow Hill) in the 109th District contends it’s a system he knows all too well; one he’s had to deal with up close and personal.
“I not only understand it, I’m going through the same thing,” he said. “The system is set up to favor the person already in power.”
According to Bailey, the National Rifle Association, Farm Bureau Association and Chamber of Commerce all eschewed his candidacy simply because he wasn’t the incumbent.
“I’m a lifelong hunter and Second Amendment advocate, farming is what I do for a living and my wife and I have both been small business owners, and all those groups told me so long as the incumbent is meeting certain pre-arranged criteria they wouldn’t even consider endorsing my campaign," he said. "The system is set up like a business that keeps everyone else from breaking in.”
Bailey said the key to change lies in educating voters and the membership of the various organizations making the endorsements about how the organizations are operating.
“That’s where the change has to come from,” he said. “Right now, Rauner and all these career politicians like Reis are running the state like a business and they’re doing whatever they have to do to stay in power. They want to maintain this corrupt system.”
Bailey said he plans to spend the last few weeks of his campaign talking with voters and trying to break in new counties to give those voters a better idea of who he is and what he stands for.
“The momentum continues to build,” he said. “We’re getting a lot more policy questions now and I’m leaving more events feeling better than ever. People want answers and they want to have more input in the process. They’re tired of business as usual and they don’t want more politicians. They see me as a working class person, just like them, and that’s who I am.”
The 109th House District includes parts or all of Jasper, Effingham, Clay, Richland, Lawrence, Wabash, Wayne, Edwards and White counties.
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