By Eric Stock

BENSON – Political newcomer Donald Rients said he had no plans to get into the special election race for Aaron Schock’s former congressional seat, until he saw the other candidates.

“We need somebody that’s going to have integrity, somebody that’s going to make changes or try to make changes and stand by their values,” Rients said.

Rients, a 51-year-old Republican from Benson, told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin he believes in smaller government and protecting U.S. borders. He said farmers dealing with an overbearing Environmental Protection Agency is the biggest problem in his congressional district. Rients added he’s ok with same-sex marriage “as long as they don’t get married in a church.”

Rients has never run for public office. He said he’s driven by the doubters.

“That’s one of the reasons I ran, everyone kept saying ‘you can’t do it,” Reints said.

Rients, who works in State Farm systems, said the federal government must reign in Social Security for future retirees who haven’t already started paying into the system and the government shouldn’t dictate what’s being taught in schools – a slam at Common Core standards. He said schools are being bribed by the federal government on what to teach.

“That’s not very diverse is it?,” Rients asked. “If we have a diverse society, and you have different (regions) being taught different things, you can have a country that can really do a lot of things.”

Rients is running in the primary against state Sen. Darin LaHood of Peoria and Mike Flynn of Quincy. The democratic candidates are Adam Lopez and Rob Mellon.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Colleen’s interview with Reints on WJBC.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].