I received a nice letter from Business PAC of Central Illinois (Biz PAC) yesterday — this is the political action committee that used to be known as the Chamber PAC and was directly affiliated with the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce. Now it’s just legally separate, but all the same people are involved, so nothing substantive has changed. Here’s what they said:

Thank you for participating in the Business PAC of Central Illinois survey and interview process. We very much appreciate your time and information, not to mention the commitment and energy running for office requires from you and your family. After careful consideration, we will not be supporting your candidacy at this time. We wish you well in your campaign.

This comes as no surprise. The Chamber has consistently advocated for non-essential projects involving vast sums of taxpayer money while actively lobbying against revenue enhancements for essential services such as police and fire protection. For example, they lobbied against raising property taxes to pay for police and fire protection just a few years ago, but have supported efforts to raise sales taxes both for the museum and the downtown hotel. I didn’t expect my basic-services platform would be very attractive to this group.

Nevertheless, as I told them in my questionnaire and interview, I believe my platform is business-friendly. “Safe streets and improved infrastructure benefit everyone in the City. When public services and incentives are provided in a fair and equitable manner, they give businesses an even playing field and set the table for economic development. Furthermore, by limiting government to its core function, taxes can be kept low.”