Gubernatorial Candidates Stake Agricultural Positions

BY KAY SHIPMAN FarmWeek

Illinois candidates for governor pledged support for farmers and agriculture, but offered different outlooks on the state’s fiscal outlook Aug. 24 on a McLean County farm.

In separate appearances, Republican candidate St. Sen. Darren Bailey and Democratic candidate Gov. J.B. Pritzker shared their platforms with the Illinois Agricultural Legislative Roundtable and answered questions from the audience. Illinois Farm Bureau President Richard Guebert Jr. served as moderator on the Schuler Farms near Lexington.

As for Illinois’ finances, Pritzker touted steps taken during his administration.

“My job coming in was paying off the bill backlog and making sure we’re reducing the structural deficit in the state and then go to work paying off the rest of the debt in the state,” Pritzker said. “We now have literally eliminated the bill backlog in the state.”

An additional $500 million was added to this fiscal year’s state pension payment and the state has received six credit upgrades, the governor added.

Bailey focused on the state employee pension debt.

“We can deal with this, but we have to start working on it,” the senator said, adding Illinois also has large debt in its unemployment fund. If elected governor, Bailey said he would appoint new agency directors “who are business minded and develop their own budgets, zero-based budgets.”

Considering the current state budget, “there is massive amounts of waste ... We will have to use that waste to pay down the pension debt,” Bailey said.

The candidates also squared off on their energy plans. Outside the hosts’ machine shed, wind turbines sprouted in surrounding fields.

Bailey shared concerns about “sky-rocketing energy costs” and said several counties in his legislative district recently experienced three-hour brownouts. He criticized Pritzker’s climate policies, adding the energy bill “leads to a lot of problems” and the state “needs to continue to ease into” solar and wind energy.

The governor blamed high electricity prices on MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator) the independent, nonprofit organization that manages generation and transmission of high-voltage electricity in parts of Illinois and 14 other states.

“MISO has fallen down on the job,” Pritzker said. “That’s why Illinois had to pick up the pace in solar and wind and make sure that we’re producing more energy, not less. That is what the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act does. It helps us produce more energy.”

But state targets for electric vehicles “does not mean the end of biofuels,” Pritzker said. “It’s part of a longer trend that will keep biofuels growing in Illinois for the next decade and more.” The governor said he backs year-round sales of biofuels, E10 and E15 and has written the federal government supporting year-round sales.

Although Bailey and Pritzker disagreed on several points, both candidates took similar positions on perennial Illinois ag-related questions about the future of the Livestock Management Facility Act and the state sales tax incentive on fertilizer, seed, pesticides and machinery-related expenses. They favor no changes for statewide livestock siting regulations or on the 6.25% sales tax incentive.

Surrounded by cornfields, each candidate reached out to the farmer audience.

“We need the grit of a farmer in the governor’s office,” Bailey said. “Together we can restore Illinois. We can fix these problems, but we must work together.”

“I’m not going to pretend to be a farmer,” Pritzker said. “But before I was a governor, I was a businessman and I’m familiar with the ins and outs of running a business. ... I’m proud to be your advocate.”