Barickman: Election season may take attention away from important tasks

Posted on February 12, 2018

State Sen. Jason Barickman is expressing concern that politics surrounding the election season may serve as a distraction from solving Illinois’ problems. (Photo by Eric Stock/WJBC)

By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ

PONTIAC – While Illinois lawmakers continue work in Springfield, they’re gearing up for the 2018 election season, which may take some attention away from the important tasks at hand.

State Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, said they’ve done some good things in recent months, but he’s worried that the election may make it more difficult to address more important issues.

“We made changes to our energy laws that made a positive impact to the Clinton and DeWitt County, Central Illinois communities,” Barickman said. “So we’ve done some positive things that I think deserve some attention, but we also need to focus on what lies ahead and what lies ahead is a very difficult election year.

“You’ve already seen tens of millions of dollars spent on the politics of the moment and we need to wade through that mess and focus on our objectives of the year, which, I think, should include the adoption of a balanced budget for our state.”

Cynthia Grau can be reached at [email protected].

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