Bailey talks about crime, other issues during Kane County Fairgrounds rally Sunday

Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey discussed why he opposes the SAFE-T Act, among other issues, when he delivered the keynote address at Sunday’s Salute to 9/11 First Responders rally at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles.

The event was hosted by the Kane County Republican Party.

“When criminals are not punished swiftly, they feel that they can continue to commit crimes,” he said.

Bailey has voiced concerns that violent criminals will run free as a result of the SAFE-T Act, which will eliminate the state’s cash bail system on Jan. 1, 2023. He has said that if he is elected in November, he will work to repeal the legislation.

Proponents say the legislation will help ensure that no one is incarcerated simply because they can’t afford bond. In addressing the hundreds of people who attended the rally, Bailey also talked about people nationwide being unhappy with the direction of the country.

“I think there’s a lot of groaning going on, not just here in Illinois, but all across this nation,” Bailey said. “And we’ve got a moral obligation to fix that, friends, and save this constitutional republic.”

Suffice to say, Bailey is confident of a victory in November.

“We’re not just going to win, we’re going to win big,” he told the crowd.

Also attending the rally was Republican attorney general candidate Thomas DeVore, a lawyer who challenged Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s executive order authority during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But in an interview with the Kane County Chronicle, Devore said the mandates were not the main reason he decided to run for attorney general.

“The mandates are just a small example of how we find ourselves now as people focusing way too much on the executive branch of government to control our lives versus it being done in the legislature, which is where it’s really intended to happen,” he said. “I’m not talking about Gov. J.B. Pritzker even, you can leave him out, you can put [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis in his place. It doesn’t matter. It’s this over reliance of our people on executive power. To me that’s dangerous.”

Earlier this year, a downstate judge placed a temporary restraining order on Pritzker’s statewide mask mandate in school buildings. The judge’s order stemmed from a consolidated lawsuit filed by DeVore on behalf of parents of students and affecting more than 100 Illinois school districts.

The Illinois Supreme Court then denied Pritzker’s appeal over his school mask mandate. DeVore said he has been trying to ensure that the legislature “really is the loudest voice in our government.”

He said he wanted to be part of Sunday’s event in order to start a conversation.

“Anytime you can gather 200 or more people together in a room to try to talk to them about the issues of our state and what they can do to try to help to make the state better, political or otherwise, I’m always looking for those opportunities to try to help motivate people to get involved in government,” he said. “So that’s why I’m here.”