Pierce excluded from ministerial breakfast with Gov. Pritzker
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Mike Vick for Governor campaign is expressing disappointment after lieutenant governor candidate Gary Pierce, an ordained Christian minister and member of the Ministerial Alliance of Springfield & Vicinity, says he was informed that his invitation to attend a breakfast with Governor J.B. Pritzker was rescinded at the governor’s request.
Image caption: Gary Pierce and Mike Vick, write-in candidates for lieutenant governor and governor of Illinois for the Illinois Solidarity Party
Members of the Ministerial Alliance received an email inviting “all pastors and ministers who wish to do so” to attend an August 27 breakfast with Governor Pritzker at Union Baptist Church in Springfield.
Pierce initially planned to attend as a member of the Alliance. He was subsequently informed that Governor Pritzker had asked that his invitation be withdrawn, apparently because Pierce is a write-in candidate for lieutenant governor running against the governor’s ticket.
Pierce has chosen not to attend rather than place the Ministerial Alliance or the host congregation in the middle of a political dispute.
“I have no desire to create conflict for the Ministerial Alliance or Union Baptist Church, and I will respectfully bow out of the breakfast,” Pierce said. “But as a Christian minister, I am deeply disappointed by what I have been told occurred. Political disagreement should never prevent Christians from extending fellowship and hospitality to one another.”
Members of the Ministerial Alliance received an email inviting “all pastors and ministers who wish to do so” to attend an August 27 breakfast with Governor Pritzker at Union Baptist Church in Springfield.
Pierce initially planned to attend as a member of the Alliance. He was subsequently informed that Governor Pritzker had asked that his invitation be withdrawn, apparently because Pierce is a write-in candidate for lieutenant governor running against the governor’s ticket.
Pierce has chosen not to attend rather than place the Ministerial Alliance or the host congregation in the middle of a political dispute.
“I have no desire to create conflict for the Ministerial Alliance or Union Baptist Church, and I will respectfully bow out of the breakfast,” Pierce said. “But as a Christian minister, I am deeply disappointed by what I have been told occurred. Political disagreement should never prevent Christians from extending fellowship and hospitality to one another.”
Pierce added:
“Governor Pritzker and I may disagree politically, but I would gladly sit down, break bread with him, listen to him and treat him as a neighbor. I believe Christian charity requires that of us. And as someone who has spent years registering voters and participating in our electoral process, I also believe democracy is healthier when candidates talk to one another rather than exclude one another.”
Pierce has spent approximately 25 years in ministry and addiction-recovery work and has previously served as social and political chairman of the Ministerial Alliance of Springfield & Vicinity. He has also served as an election judge, precinct committeeman and poll watcher and has personally registered hundreds of Illinois residents to vote.
Gubernatorial candidate Mike Vick said the incident raises broader concerns about the kind of political culture Illinois should encourage.
“Gary responded exactly as I would expect him to—with grace and a desire not to make life difficult for his fellow ministers,” Vick said. “But grace does not require silence when something is wrong.”
“If Governor Pritzker did in fact ask that Gary be excluded simply because Gary is his political opponent, that was beneath the spirit of both Christian fellowship and democratic participation. A governor should be willing to share a breakfast table with an opposing candidate, particularly when that candidate was invited in his capacity as a minister and member of the organization hosting the event.”
Vick also expressed disappointment that the Ministerial Alliance apparently agreed to withdraw the invitation.
“Churches and Christian organizations should be places where political differences do not determine who is worthy of fellowship,” Vick said. “Gary is one of their own members. I wish the Alliance had simply said, respectfully, that all of its ministers were welcome.”
The Vick-Pierce campaign is asking the Governor’s Office and the Ministerial Alliance to clarify whether Governor Pritzker or his representatives requested that Pierce be excluded and, if so, why.
“This doesn’t need to become a bitter controversy,” Vick said. “There is still an opportunity to demonstrate the kind of politics we want to practice in Illinois. We can disagree vigorously, treat one another charitably and still sit at the same table. That is the kind of politics Gary and I intend to practice.”
Mike Vick and Gary Pierce are write-in candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Illinois on the Illinois Solidarity Party ticket.
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