Cultra Dismisses Deal for Political Appointments

At the conclusion of a GOP caucus meeting in Bloomington on Saturday, State Representative Shane Cultra (R-Onarga) said there would be a unanimous ballot for Champaign County Republican Party leader Jason Barickman to take his seat in the 105th House District once he is appointed to the Senate.

Barickman said he is not taking anything for granted, but he noted that there appears to be a lot of support for him.

"I don't want to put the cart before the horse," Barickman said. "I think that we saw in the process for the senate seat, it is a political process and one which I respect."

In a conference call with reporters Monday, Cultra reaffirmed his support for Barickman. However, he dismissed any speculation about a deal made for his appointment to the Senate, and Barickman's possible appointment to the House.

"To make a deal, you have to have some leverage, and really I didn't have any leverage," Cultra said. "He could take my seat through caucus really on this own, and so there really was no deal."

Cultra won re-election earlier this month to the 105 House District. He will begin filling Rutherford's remaining two years in the Senate starting January 9th, the day before Ruterford is sworn in as Illinois' next Treasurer. Rutherford said Cultra's the right choice for the job.

"Shane is going to do an outstanding job," Rutherford said. "He will make an outstanding state senator, and I will do all I can to be of support to him in part because he's going to be my senator.