State Senate, District 30

Education:

I attended Stout State University

Civic, professional, fraternal or other affiliations:

Chairman, Democratic Party of Lake County, 1992-present

Have you held elective or appointive political office or been employed by any branch of government?

Please list jobs or contracts you, members of your immediate family or business partners have had with government.

My spouse Susan is Director of External Affairs, AT&T, my spouse registers as an Illinois lobbyist.

Campaign headquarters:
Website: http://www.link30.org/
Campaign manager:
Campaign budget:
Name your five biggest campaign contributors and the amount they contributed.
This information is available on the State Board of Elections website.

I supported SB 1673 when it passed the Senate last year. I also have supported the creation of a second tier retirement system for new public sector workers at the state and local levels. While I am open to discussion on giving local school districts a greater a say in the financial responsibility for their employees' pensions, that discussion needs to move beyond simply shifting the states financial problems onto local taxpayers, which is just passing the buck, not real reform.

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Yes, I support continued efforts to ensure quality coverage to those who need it the most.

I support letting the 2 percent tax increase expire in 2014. The deadline has already motivated tremendous action and savings, and I expect more to come. If we continue on this path, it will be possible to let the increase expire as scheduled.

We need to do a full, public review of the tax incentives in our business tax structure so we can evaluate what is needed, what is working, and what isn't. The goal should be maintaining and expanding jobs. For that latter reason, I supported the legislation intended to keep CME group and Sears headquartered in Illinois. In the case of Sears, the state, and the suburbs in particular could not afford to lose the jobs. The changes for CME were necessary in light of the increasingly electronic nature of CME's business.

I supported the gambling package vetoed at the end of August.

There has been progress in the past few years on reining in spending, especially with the looming expiration of the 2011 income tax hike. However, more remains to be done. Further savings can be realized by an overhaul of the state's economic development agency (DCEO), consolidation of local governments and school districts, review of tax incentives to determine which are not creating jobs or spurring economic activity, and increased scrutiny of state grant programs (especially those overseen by the governor's office). We need greater state investment in our public schools.

I would seek stronger disclosure requirements for outside groups, but would do so with circumspection, bearing in mind that as much as I disagree with the the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the Citizens' United case, it is still the law of the land.

I would support a progressive income tax.

We need to help school systems so they are not as reliant on property taxes to ease inequalities in funding.

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