SE Illinois News

State senator and Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey points to his record to show he means what he says when he talks about bringing change to Illinois.

“I think that when people begin to meet me, they get to know me and see the sincerity is real,” Bailey recently told WAWV TV.  “When we travel, we go to places with people that have been with us for a long time and they vouch that ‘this guy is who he says he is.’”

Bailey now has his mind set on getting Illinois’ fiscal house in order.

“I have proposed a zero-based budget,” he said. “There would absolutely be a spending freeze and no tax increases. Every department would start at zero and they would have to show why they need this money.”

Bailey said the impact of all the state’s reckless spending and wayward policies can be found anywhere you look.

“The economy has been decimated, children are hurting and senior citizens and long-term care facilities are frustrated because there’s been no visitation rights, no social activity,” he said of the shutdown orders put in place by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in the wake of COVID-19.

“We’ve all taken a toll because of that,” he added. “We need to let each county decide what the health department needs to do.”

Bailey said he can see all the possibilities, provided the state can put the right people in place to  get its act together.

“When we figure this out under my governorship, Illinois will be a great state,” he said.

Bailey said one of the issues lawmakers need to tackle is its pension systems.

He recently filed a bill that “provides that nothing in the Illinois Constitution shall be construed to limit the power of the General Assembly to reduce or change pension benefits or other benefits of membership in any public pension or public retirement system.”