GOP House candidate Darren Bailey
GOP House candidate Darren Bailey
Republican state House candidate Darren Bailey sees the 2019 budget, which was recently passed by both chambers of the General Assembly, as too much of the same thing.
“It’s the same as last year,” Bailey told the SE Illinois News. “They said they would pass a budget to assure that they were fighting for everyone, and only the taxpayer was left to suffer. It seems they all got together again this time around and said, ‘Let’s just tax, tax, tax, and we’ll be good again.'”
Bailey added that he particularly takes strong exception with at least one other aspect of the bill that was signed Gov. Bruce Rauner on June 4.
“Everyone voting in favor of this needs to know that they’re voting in favor of abortion and against life,” he said. “Funding for HB 40 is included in this budget, and that’s a tragedy.”
The $38.5 billion spending plan passed with plenty of room to spare and Rauner, pitted in a tough re-election battle against Democrat J.B. Pritzker, has already signed it into law, essentially relinquishing all his earlier demands that any budget deal include reducing taxes and regulations, freezing property taxes and establishing more accountability from lawmakers.
“Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) has been one of the few lawmakers I’ve seen to stand up and refuse to vote for this thing because no one seems to know everything that’s in it,” said Bailey, who is running against Democrat Cynthia Given of Olney in the 109th House District. “I know there is at least $180 million set aside for the Obama Library that not everyone knew about, and I believe there were will be more surprises to filter out.”
Still, Bailey said that not siding with Rauner in his battle with Pritzker isn’t an option for GOP voters.
“While I take issue with [the] lack of reforms in this think, I know Pritzker would be a disaster for businesses, taxpayers and the pro-life movement,” he said. “I see nothing that I am excited about with Pritzker. It really concerns me that Democrats would put up someone like this, especially at such a critical time for [the] state.”
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