U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson said Tuesday that even though the newly drawn congressional map isn’t yet signed by the governor and may face a court challenge, he’s decided he will run in the new 13th Congressional District, which includes most of Springfield.
“I don’t think the map was fairly drawn, but I do think that Sangamon County is a logical fit” with other areas in the new 13th, the Urbana Republican told the editorial board of The State Journal-Register. “I think it will make a good, more compact district than I have now, and I’m looking forward to representing it.”
Johnson, 64, long divorced and a father of nine, calls himself a “pragmatic conservative” who didn’t like the stimulus or bailouts, does support tax breaks for ethanol production and generally wants American forces out of Middle East battles.
Johnson was in the Illinois House for 24 years and was elected to Congress in 2000. His current district is the 15th, which in addition to Champaign-Urbana hugs most of the eastern border of the state. He said he is very “constituent service oriented,” and that along with U.S. Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., he founded the Center Aisle Caucus, a bipartisan group of about 50 House members to seek compromise where possible, “and where we can’t, to disagree civilly.”
Sam Spradlin, a Springfield truck driver, has said he intends to run in the GOP primary against Johnson.
Bernard Schoenburg can be reached at 788-1540.
Here are U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson's views on some key issues that he voiced in an interview with The State Journal-Register's editorial board:
“A huge majority of the stimulus went into projects that were non-job-creating, and in some people’s minds designed strictly to, in a legal way, pay off many of the constituents that helped the president get elected. … I think it was fiscally reckless. And I think the effect has been … extremely harmful to America.”
“If I was in the state legislature, I’d vote for right-to-carry. … I’m 100 percent supportive of gun rights, across-the-board, in virtually every case.”
Federal spending on high-speed rail in general, he said, is a “major investment” at a time when “we’re on a crash course for economic disaster.
“Maybe there’s enough benefits to outweigh the cost, but … I think you’ve got to be very circumspect about it.”
He said he is “trying to get up to speed” on the issue in Springfield, but knows there’s a lot of opposition to a high-speed route on the Third Street corridor.
“I know when I spent 24 years in the legislature, that Third Street crossing was a continual nightmare,” he said. “I always had to build an extra 10 minutes into my drive from Champaign.”
“The ‘too big to fail’ concept … is philosophically repugnant to me. … I’m not going to be so partisan to suggest that there weren’t some positive results … but for the most part, they didn’t outweigh the cost. … Government can’t be and shouldn’t be the fundamental answer to all questions.”
“The whole Middle Eastern involvement has been a fiasco. It has cost thousands of lives of American men and women. It’s cost hundreds of thousands of lives of innocent civilians. … Ultimately, I don’t believe somebody in Rochester, Illinois, or Hillsboro, Illinois, is one iota safer because we got involved in Iraq or Afghanistan or Libya or Yemen or Syria. … We can’t be the arbiter of morality, humanitarianism and otherwise for the world.”
He said he considers American military action in Libya to be “illegal” and a violation of the War Powers Act. On Afghanistan, he said, America “should have withdrawn everybody yesterday.”
“Part of my analysis of this issue is strictly representing the people of the (new) 13th or the (existing) 15th District of Illinois, and that is that ethanol is good for farmers, and when it’s good for farmers, it’s good for most of the area. But I’d be the first to acknowledge that there are certainly two sides to the issue. … At this point, I would vote to maintain tax breaks.”
The loss of federal backing for the FutureGen project that would have brought a clean coal project to Coles County was “a horrendous example of government failure. … I think it’s an example of government that just thumbed its nose at the people of Coles County and the surrounding area. … I am certainly an advocate of coal as a component of our energy policy, absolutely.” He also said he is for the proposed Tenaska clean coal project for Taylorville.
“I’m undecided, but one of my best friends, just personal best friends, is (U.S. Rep.) Ron Paul, (R-Texas). … I have a high degree of respect for him.”
He originally said he would limit his time in the House, but changed his mind during his first term. “I’m in favor conceptually of term limits, but you can’t do it alone. … When you try to stand out as the only example, you disadvantage your constituents.”
Copyright 2011 The State Journal-Register. Some rights reserved
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