To understand the potential effects of losing Exelon's Quad Cities nuclear plant, Brandi McGuire, Republican candidate for the 72nd District state House seat, toured East Moline’s Exelon-Quad Cities Nuclear Energy Plant with management and employees recently.
“I wanted to see firsthand how such a local vital producer of energy to our state and country operates and its importance to our economy and national interests,” McGuire said. “The knowledge, skill and dedication of over 800 employees is not only impressive and important on a local level, but keeps our state and nation independent from foreign energy sources. Thank you, Exelon, for the tour and knowledge.”
McGuire commended Exelon and its employees for protecting the environment and contributing to the local area’s economic health.
| Contributed photo
“I applaud the efforts of some state lawmakers who realize the importance of the Exelon Quad Cities Nuclear facility and are looking to help keep the facility operational,” McGuire said. “I believe our state needs to do what it can, within its means, to keep the facility open.”
SB1585, the Next Generation Energy Bill, offers an energy plan that calls for developing a clean-energy industry in Illinois while stimulating and retaining jobs. It features solar energy initiatives, financial assistance and a future for the state’s nuclear plants. First filed in February, the bill was referred to a committee in July after gaining numerous co-sponsors.
“In the bigger picture, our state must reach a balanced budget so that an issue like the possibility of an important employer such as Exelon does not leave our state,” McGuire said “To the management and employees of Exelon, thank you for all you do, and thank you for being such a vital part of our local community.”
The Chicago Tribune recently endorsed McGuire, commending her pro-business platform designed to stimulate the economy and writing off her opponent, Democrat Michael Halpin, as "running on a status-quo Democratic talking-points platform.”
“Reason, respect and responsibility” headline the candidate’s platform as she pursues office in Tuesday's election. As a resident, she wants to reform property taxes and reduce workers’ comp costs to incentivize families to stay in Illinois. As a business owner, she sympathizes with the Quad Cities plant’s plight. As a parent, she plans to continue advocacy pursuits.
In her hand-signed “contract with Illinois families,” posted to her website earlier this year, McGuire made several important pledges: to reject pensions for elected state officials, to oppose legislative pay increases and sales or income tax increases of any kind, and to always vote conscientiously with full understanding of proposed measures.
Additionally, McGuire has vowed to provide her 72nd District with “the best community assistance services…ever seen” and to speak passionately for those citizens who are needy or vulnerable — be they children, the disabled or seniors.
Visiting another state industrial site recently, McGuire also toured Rock Island’s own Gray Machine and Welding. After her stopover, she relayed concerns expressed by workers themselves.
“I heard concerns from (an employee) who expressed dismay about rising prices and the high cost of health care that he and his family face on a daily basis,” McGuire said. “The blame for employers leaving the state falls directly on Springfield. It is time for them to wake up and step up to the plate.”
McGuire supports budget changes that would permit spending cuts and public pension reform, including Gov. Bruce Rauner’s business-friendly reform proposals.
"Funding for state-worker pay and benefits increased by nearly 600 percent from 2000 to 2015," she quoted directly from an Illinois Policy Institute report.
A strong advocate for family rights, McGuire founded the nonprofit “Ribbons for Kellsey” to advocate for those with epilepsy, based on her own family’s experience with her daughter’s disorder. After red tape threatened to illegally block her daughter's service dog from her school classroom, McGuire fought back and won.
"I am running for State Representative so that no child and no family ever … go through what my daughter and my family went through," McGuire said on her website. “Illinois has declined from a difficult place to raise a family to a downright unkind place to raise a family.”
McGuire is also a small-business operator, serving as manager of an East Moline driving school. A native of Silvis, she, her husband and four children have lived in Milan for two decades; her children all attend schools in Illinois: Black Hawk College in Moline; Sherrard High School in Sherrard, and Jordan and Alleman schools in Rock Island.
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