SE Illinois News

New state Rep. Darren Bailey’s view of Gov. J.B. Pritzker is almost as complicated as the job of putting Illinois back on stable financial footing has proven to be.

“I tell people I don’t trust Gov. Pritzker, but I believe what he says because I’ve had the misfortune of seeing him set out to do in Springfield just about everything he said he would on the campaign trial,” Bailey (R-Xenia) told the SE Illinois News. “I’m of the opinion none of it has been good for Illinois.”

Bailey points out he’s not alone in his assessment, particularly where Pritzker's ongoing push for a progressive tax increase is concerned. In a report released on Feb. 5, Moody’s Investors Service warned the new governor against such an enactment, reasoning that it will keep the state on a downward trajectory where high taxes and rising debt will continue to be the rule of the day.

“I agree wholeheartedly,” added Bailey, who won in the 109th District in November with more than 75 percent of the vote. “History has shown us just as much with things like this and in the case of the minimum wage increase that’s being pushed. The last time we had a minimum wage increase in 2006 we lost so many jobs and populations and the economy is more fragile now than it was back then.”

With Pritzker's first budget address set for Feb.20, Bailey said he fears hearing much of the same rhetoric.

“I’m expecting to hear the same thing about this being a new day and everything being great if we're only patient,” he said. “I expect to hear more talk about taxing the rich being the answer to everything. It’s time we be real with people and start doing the things the people of this state really need us to be doing.”

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