Rep. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) is coming under fire for some controversial remarks she made defending the state's budget vote last summer.
Bryant cited "pending junk bond status," increasing debts and lack of sufficient capital reserves in her support for a budget including $36.5 billion in spending.
In a somewhat cryptic comment cited earlier this month in the Mount Vernon Register News, Bryant said that "so many red flags" went up for her district that to allow the status quo to continue would have been "criminal."
Rep. Terri Bryant
However, Bryant's opponent in the GOP primary in the 115th House District, Paul Jacobs of Pomona, doesn't think tax reductions are "criminal" at all, and sees reforms, including spending cuts, as quite necessary to deal with an outflow of businesses and people out of the state.
"It's shameful," Jacobs told SW Illinois News on Jan. 15, describing how the Internal Revenue Service has released numbers showing tens of thousands of 1040s were filed last year in neighboring states instead of in Illinois, where those taxpayers had resided the year before.
The state is cutting itself off from some very powerful funding streams by not adopting a more business-friendly policy, according to Jacobs, who cited the location of a Toyota/Mazda plant in Alabama instead of Illinois. The decision to locate the plant in Alabama is a move that cost Illinois approximately $1.6 billion and 4,000 jobs, he said.
Right to work is an issue, he said, noting that in many cases, population growth is happening in nearby states with right-to work-laws in place.
Jacobs added that he has been getting many supportive calls from constituents in his bid to unseat Bryan. In his campaign, Jacobs is taking aim at policies that he says hurt taxpayers and the state's bottom line.
Alerts Sign-up