The wife of the Republican candidate for Illinois governor has come to her husband’s defense. On Tuesday, Cindy Bailey sharply criticized the campaign of Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, which is airing ads suggesting that her husband, Republican Darren Bailey, considers women “inferior.”
On Tuesday, exactly one week before the midterm elections, Cindy Bailey held a news conference in Springfield, where she said Pritzker’s ads falsely portray her husband’s attitude toward women. “When JB Pritzker tries to scare women by misrepresenting my husband, I have no choice but to speak out,” Cindy Bailey said. “Darren knows that running for governor comes with criticism. I understand that, too. But, Governor, you have crossed a line,” she said.
Pritzker’s campaign is airing a television ad in the Chicago area claiming that Bailey said “women should be treated as inferior to men” and that he opposes abortion in cases of rape or incest. Bailey is known for his anti-abortion stance, but during the current campaign he has largely avoided speaking on the subject. Pritzker’s ad also features a recording in which Bailey says: “By God’s design, a father should be the head of the family.”
“I have never had to ask my husband for permission to speak,” Cindy Bailey said. “I ran my own business, co-ran a school and raised our four children. At every stage of our lives, Darren has treated me as a partner, valuing my opinion and the contribution of my work,” said the Republican politician’s wife.
For months, Bailey has had to contend with a constant negative campaign run by Pritzker’s team. The Democrat, who is seeking a third term, has put $90.5 million of his own money into his campaign, while Bailey raised just over $1 million from June 1 to Sept. 30. That amount proved insufficient to respond with an ad campaign of his own, so Bailey had to focus on meeting voters in person and on media appearances.
The Baileys founded a private Christian school in Clay County, which has become the main target of attacks in Pritzker’s campaign ads. The ads claim that the school, Full Armor Christian Academy, uses a curriculum from the publisher Bob Jones University Press. According to the ads’ authors, that curriculum teaches that women’s employment has harmed the country. Cindy Bailey denied that the school uses those textbooks, although earlier this month Darren Bailey said in an interview with a St. Louis television station that he believes the school does use that curriculum.
“A woman’s worth does not depend on whether she works in an office, runs her own business or stays home with her children,” Cindy Bailey said. “We should respect one another enough to recognize that our lives can look different,” she added. After Pritzker’s ads began airing, the school received a threat of violence by email, and Bailey’s campaign blamed the Democrat’s campaign for it. State police are investigating, but, as Cindy Bailey said, it has not yet been determined who sent the message. Pritzker’s campaign refused to pull the ads.
BK
Source: Polski.FM
