SE Illinois News

Darren Bailey wonders how long Illinois can survive under the reign of House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago).

“Right now with the way the state is operating, we’re not leaving our kids or grandkids anything to work with,” Bailey told the SE Illinois News. “The state is in danger of imploding under Madigan if we wait much longer. We need voters to step up or there’s no telling how many young people will even be willing to still stick around.”

For Bailey, the alarm was recently sounded anew by the news that the 76-year-old Madigan was overwhelmingly re-elected as state chairman of the Democratic Party.   

Now the longest-tenured Democratic chairman in state history, his re-election came despite a still-simmering sexual harassment and abuse scandal that has gripped his office, leading to the ouster of two of his campaign associates and triggering cries for him to step down over his handling of the situation.

Then there is his running feud with Gov. Bruce Rauner over each man’s differing policies and philosophies for the state.

“Until people decide things need to change, we’ll continue to suffer with ‘these same Madigan-induced issues,'” Bailey, the Xenia Republican running against Democrat Cynthia Given of Olney in the 109th House District, said. “People have to become less apathetic.”

Bailey said the final straw for him came when lawmakers moved to increase income taxes by 32 percent last year without any reforms being part of the package.  

“Before then, I had an apathetic attitude as well,” he said. “But now, the people in 109th District are (awake), and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of educating them on the things we all need to know and be concerned about.”

Bailey said his revelation makes it clear to him that a power-couple pairing of Madigan and Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker is not what the state needs or can afford right now.

“Pritzker is just the wrong answer for Illinois,” he said. “He is Mike Madigan on steroids when it comes to spending. If (voters) don’t wake up soon, we’ll be taxed out of this state. Taxes turned it around for me. The cost of living just continues to go up, and all Madigan and Pritzker are proposing is taking more money out of your pocket without any reforms to go with it.”

The 109th House District includes parts or all of Jasper, Effingham, Clay, Richland, Lawrence, Wabash, Wayne, Edwards and White counties.