Bennett settles into Senate role

SPRINGFIELD – The newly-named State Senator in the 53rd District, Tom Bennett of Gibson City, is settling into his new role as Senator.

Bennett visited with The Central Illinois Farm Network during last weekend’s annual meeting of the Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs in the Capital City. Bennett was sworn-in earlier this month replacing Jason Barickman.

“I was glad to be appointed and grateful for being able to represent our district,” said Bennett, who was appointed by the GOP chairmen of the 13 counties Barickman represented.

“Jason was tremendous to work with,” added Bennett. “We partnered together on a number of things.”

Bennett said his staff is in place and he is “hitting the ground running.” He points to his eight years in Springfield as a state legislator in the House for building relationships on both sides of the aisle.

The Illinois General Assembly is in session this week still drafting bills and starting to get them filed. Current issues include education and trying to help the substitute teacher situation. There are energy concerns out there as well.

“We represent two nuclear power plants and of course, energy for our entire state is important.”

As energy needs continue to increase, Bennett feels the state needs to be careful with what it is doing about coal, natural gas and nuclear power, noting we don’t want to end up with blackouts.