Politics Today: John Shimkus

By: Krystle Russin

"It kind of smells like french fries."

Yes, that actually is a quote from one of Springfield's US representatives, John Shimkus (R-20th District). But from where? This article definitely isn't about how your clothes smell when working at McDonald's.

It's an interview with Shimkus, one of the most environmentally-concerned politicians in Congress. And "french fries" is the smell of biodiesel exhaust, made possible by one of his favorite pieces of legislation.

But enough about oil. Shimkus may soon be making a move from the 20th District to the 19th. After Congress remapped the districts because of Illinois' smaller population, almost two-thirds of his original area was in it.

While that may seem to be a major problem for some, it isn't for the congressman. According to one speech last November, he stated that he "would be honored" to represent the new district in Washington.

In this second part of the "Politics Today" series, the former county treasurer responds to the topics of reelection, 9-11 and taxes.


Q: What are your current legislative plans this year? What issue in the House do you feel most strongly about?
A: The current legislative plans this year will be a couple things. One is to get out of Congress a national energy plan that decreases our reliance on foreign oil, that encourages the development of southern Illinois coal and generation, helps create a strong place for the renewable fuels of ethanol and biodiesel and also working on what's called the transmission grid, the high power transmission lines...

That's very important for Illinois because we're well situated to take advantage of a national energy plan, not just in coal and renewal fuels but also in what's called marginal oil wells. Illinois is one of the largest nuclear-generating states in the nation with 12 nuclear plants...

We'll also...take up the whole debate on home security...I support that move because I think that if you want to hold someone accountable, you've got to put them in a position of responsibility. It would be helpful if there is a one cabinet level position that is trying to organize the homeland security issues everywhere...

We want to continue to make sure that the economy is growing so that we have economic growth and development and job creation. That's why the energy bill is so important because that's the hope of job creation for Southern Illinois. People having jobs...will help bring additional revenue back into the state...

And then we just finished working on a prescription drug bill in the House of Representatives that falls within the budget, provides the most prescription drug coverage and options for other seniors to buy into a plan that will help decrease their costs. So those are just a few of the things that we're looking at doing.

Q: In what major ways was your military career different than holding public office?
A: As a congressman, I'm a representative of all the people. So instead of working for one or two people as I did in in the military, I work for 580,000 people. That's kind of hard to get your hands around...

I live in my hometown, and my hometown resides in the 20th district. I think I'm a product of the district, so I have benefited from being raised in an area that most of the people in my congressional district were also raised in. I think I bring, by my family and by the local culture, a good idea of how people would like to see me vote on issues.

Q: You are still very involved in your community, even with being in Washington most of the year. Do you believe that this helps you in your role as a congressman? Why?
A: I probably spend most of my time and activity with my church, but I'm home every weekend in the community or in other communities. The benefit of living home in Illinois and being involved with your community is that people have access to you and they see you all the time. If they have questions or concerns or issues, they know that you're around to be able to talk to. Likewise, even if they don't ask you, based upon what they think is important, you can observe how your friends or neighbors are fairing just by socializing with them.

Q: When you announced your candidacy for reelection, you mentioned to constituents that while you would still "work tirelessly" for them, although many of the issues changed after September 11. At this point, what issues do you feel are the most important in the campaign?
A: By far what's the most important thing is fighting the war on terrorism and homeland security...The primary reason why we unified as independent states to form a national government is to protect our freedoms by banding together...

We just need to be diligent and we have to spend the money, organize ourselves. With that, we need to make sure we protect our individual liberties and freedoms as citizens of this country...Should the administration want to move aggressively against other countries, he (President Bush) should be working with us to get a national consensus on the next stage of military involvement.

Once you follow international terrorism and homeland security, then you have to go down to making sure there's an environment for jobs to be created. You do that through easing regulations, and you do that by cutting taxes and spurring development.

The next thing is the passage of the prescription drug bill in the House for seniors - an important step to making sure we keep our promises for our seniors.

Q: Explain what you do when working with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). How does your job affect life here in the United States, as well in as the district and state of Illinois?
A: Legislative bodies of the NATO counties...want to have some oversight of what the executive branch does. We have what's called the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and we assemble as legislators to discuss the role and direction of NATO.

The impact that NATO has on the people of Illinois in the 20th district is...as long as we are working together and maintaining peace and ensuring security, then that keeps us out of major conflicts around the world and hopefully, keeps our young men and women safe and secure.

After Sept. 11, the NATO counsel...declared that the attack on the United States was an attack on them...International support for us was very, very helpful.

Q: In your five years spent in Congress, what do you think is your best personal achievement?
A: I was very involved in passing legislation that increased the use of soy diesel from a legislation called EPACT...Because of that legislation, the demand for soy diesel has increased from 50,000 gallons to 25 million gallons...Ever been behind a bus, and it smells terrible, and there's that black plume of smoke that goes up? When you use soy diesel, there's no black plume, and it kind of smells like french fries...Passing that biodiesel legislation did two things: it helped to decrease our reliance on foreign oils, and it added up a new market for our farmers.

 

Krystle Russin writes for The State Journal-Register(IL) and contributes political articles/interviews to several publications including PurePolitics.com.