Pritzker, Bailey Trade Barbs in Front of Ag Audience
Governor JB Pritzker addresses. a group of ag organizations Monday. He is seated with Illinois Farm Bureau President Philip Nelson. (Photo: Bloomington Pantagraph)
While they didn’t appear on stage together Monday, both Governor JB Pritzker and Republican GOP gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey spent much of their time Monday speaking at an ag industry event talking about the other guy.
Pritzker and Bailey appeared separately, but back-to-back, at a traditional election year forum hosted by ag industry groups, including the Illinois Farm Bureau, near Bloomington Monday.
Bailey, a farmer from Clay County in southern Illinois, appeared first, dinging Pritzker on data centers, the state’s estate tax levels, and property taxes.
“How long do we continue to work and build only when it comes time to give the government back way too much?” Bailey said. “How long are we going to sit idly by and watch our property taxes continue to escalate out of control?”
Bailey has proposed capping property taxes at 1%, a position Pritzker criticized.
“That sounds great. I would love that. Let’s try to do that. Here’s the problem. You have to pay for your parks, your libraries, your schools, your local governments,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker has repeatedly called property taxes a local issue and demurred on potential state action.
Bailey, a longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, defended Trump’s tariffs, which have led to trade wars around the world, and criticized Pritzker for his handling of Trump.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey greets farmers near Bloomington Monday. (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
“We know there’s a problem with JB Pritzker and President Trump. It’s very obvious that he hates President Trump more than he loves Illinois,” Bailey said. “I do believe that these tariffs that are imposed are, I called it the same from day one as I do now, ‘a short-term pain for a long-term gain,’ and I believe it’s the only tool that we have to get competitive again.”
Pritzker criticized Trump’s trade policy.
The Governor did say he supports raising the exemption level for family farms to match the federal estate tax rates. The first $15 million is exempted from federal tax, but is $4 million in the state. Ag groups have worked for years to bring the state exemption in line with the federal rate.
“It’s time for us to make sure that farmers are able to hand their farms down through the generations, as we have been over many generations up to now, and do it with less tax on that transfer,” Pritzker said.
Missing from the event was independent candidate Collin Corbett (Disclosure: a personal friend that gets treated like every other candidate), who was not invited to participate.
“Excluding the independent candidate from this major policy forum denies Illinois farmers, rural communities, and voters a real choice,” Corbett said in a statement. “Our agriculture industry faces serious challenges, from soaring input costs to the need to protect our farmland. These serious challenges deserve a serious discussion.”
Illinois Farm Bureau Executive Director of Government Affairs Kevin Semlow said in a statement the groups that put on the event have a “long-standing policy that only candidates from established political parties are invited.”
Corbett had more cash on hand than Bailey at the beginning of July.
Senate candidates
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Tracy also appeared at the forum, claiming he wants government to get out out of the way of farmers.
“I don’t see Illinois ag as an industry that needs saving by Washington, D.C.,” he said. “That makes D.C’.s job pretty simple. Just give farmers a fair shot, get unnecessary obstacles out of the way like excess regulation, open the doors to equal opportunity … and let Illinois farmers do what they’ve been doing for (generations), feed the country and the world. Food security is national security.”
Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, did not appear at the forum. Her campaign confirmed she was attending events in Martha’s Vineyard, MA.
Stratton’s campaign said she would be meeting with Farm Bureau and other ag groups “next week.”
