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Congressional candidate McConoughey pushes rural initiative

Posted October 24, 2007 11:00 pm

Bernard Schoenburg

If elected to the U.S. House, Peoria Republican Jim McConoughey said Wednesday he'd like a seat on the agriculture committee, would work for open markets for American farm products abroad, and would seek to bring high-speed Internet service to rural areas.

He'd also like to end inheritance taxes as they apply to farmland that's family-owned, would promote alternative-energy sources including ethanol, biodiesel, wind and solar power, and would push for implementation of a federal program to revitalize river transportation.

McConoughey, president and CEO of a business umbrella organization for groups including the Peoria Chamber of Commerce called the Heartland Partnership, talked of his goals at a Springfield news conference to announce his rural initiative. He also had stops in Payson and Pekin on his 18th Congressional District "good harvest tour."

"This season has been extraordinary, relative to corn productivity, ethanol production and all of the other related areas," McConoughey told reporters at the Sangamon County Republican headquarters. He said it seemed the right time to "celebrate" the good season with announcement of his rural initiative.

He said he has been involved in deals to develop ethanol plants, and also wants to promote wind farms. One reason farmers like wind production, he said, is "you get a crop above the ground while you're still producing a crop below."

Working to implement the federal Water Reclamation Development Act, McConoughey said, would improve problem areas on rivers, such as rebuilding dams where needed. He said such development helps improve shipment of products on rivers or adjacent rails or roads, which he would also like to upgrade.

He said such improvements bring transportation jobs that are not "exportable."

The importance of high-speed Internet connections is that business is often now dependent upon that technology, McConoughey said.

Just as getting water service to buildings was a big development a century ago, he said, now, "in the turn of the 21st century, there is data moving to business. … Affordable, reliable, accessible broadband access would help bolster and build businesses in those smaller towns."

McConoughey called the inheritance tax the "death tax," and said his own father still lives on a 75-year-old family farm in Ohio and plans to leave the property to one of McConoughey's sisters, but will have to sell off about 40 percent of it "just in order to pay the transfers." Such family-farm transitions should be exempt from the inheritance tax, he said.

"We have to work hard and aggressively to help protect the family farms in our region," he said.

McConoughey is among three GOP candidates for the nomination for the seat now held by U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria, who isn't seeking another term. John Morris, a fundraiser for a public TV station, and state Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria, are the other candidates in the Feb. 5 primary.

Spokesman for Morris and Schock said both candidates also strongly support policies to help the farm economy thrive.

Bernard Schoenburg can be reached at (217) 788-1540 or bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.

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