Illinois State Legislative Election 2018 Political Courage Test

Abortion & Reproductive

1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice

2. Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape?
- Yes

3. Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions?
- No

4. Other or expanded principles
- The separation of church and state is an important founding principal of our democracy. When a human life begins differs based on the religious or non-religious beliefs of the individual. Further, the reality is that there are fewer abortions performed now than when it was prohibited, which has been attributed to increased access to contraceptives and fewer unintended pregnancies. Finally, one in three women have had an abortion. Prohibition didn't make them less common, it made them more deadly and safety was limited to those who might be able to afford that luxury.

Budget, Spending, & Tax

1. Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions?
- No

2. Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees?
- No

3. Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients?
- No

4. An income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes

5. Other or expanded principles
- 1) Reducing fees paid to financial institutions that have been acting as predatory lenders to the state. 2) Make larger payments up front to save taxpayers an estimated $67B through FY2045. 3) Issue pension obligation bonds to provide short-term funds. 4) End recreational Marijuana prohibition for adults age 21+, taxing & regulating sales. 5) Allow voters to decide directly on the 2020 ballot whether or not they want a more efficient taxation system. This would allow for multiple brackets to be created and provide the ability for tax relief for the majority of taxpayers, raising taxes for the highest earners.

Campaign Finance & Government Reform

1. Do you support any limits on campaign contributions to state candidates?
- Yes

2. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Yes

3. Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting?
- Yes

4. Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls?
- No

5. Other or expanded principles
- Redistricting should allow for public submissions and transparency of maps throughout the creation process. Often "independent" commissions are still partisan, so ensuring they answer to the people is critical. We need to increase ballot access & get money out of elections. Government-issued photo IDs have not been shown to be effective in reducing voter fraud; however, they are widely used as a voter suppression tactic and as such, I oppose them. I also oppose voter suppression tactics used by both parties via unsubstantiated false advertising. There needs to be real accountability for slander and libel used to keep voters home.

Crime & Public Safety

1. Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes?
- No

2. Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- Yes

3. Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult?
- No

4. Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police?
- No

5. Other or expanded principles
- Federal immigration laws should be enforced by federal officials. It makes our community less safe to have immigrants (documented or undocumented) afraid to interact with local police and thus less likely to come forward as a witness to a violent crime or get themselves out of an unsafe relationship. Further, we need to create laws to reduce human trafficking, which allows people to be bought and brought into our state as modern day slaves, who can often be raped and abused by citizens. Finally, we need to work to eliminate domestic violence, which is still extremely prevalent in our community.

Economic

1. Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes

2. Do you support lowering state taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes

3. Do you support reducing state government regulations on the private sector?
- No

4. Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits?
- Yes

5. Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits?
- No

6. Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Illinois?
- Yes

7. Other or expanded principles
- Minimum wage has fallen below what can be expected to sustain a person, let alone a family. State government regulations are often enacted on the private sector to further public safety and ensure essentials like clean air and water. When applied well, they are used to prevent recessions, fraud, and ensure basic human rights to residents. Health insurance is still inefficiently regulated, with a horrifically high human cost, particularly for those in greatest financial need. I believe multiple tools need to be leveraged to create sustainable and ethically responsible economic growth.

Education

1. Do you support adopting federal education standards in Illinois?
- Yes

2. Do you support state funding for charter schools?
- No

3. Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Illinois high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities?
- Yes

4. Do you support requiring local governments to fund teacher pensions?
- No

5. Other or expanded principles
- Shifting pension costs to local governments still leaves taxpayers, who are already suffering from incredibly high property taxes, in the lurch. The most efficient solutions are statewide initiatives. The quality of a public school education outcome in Illinois should not be subject to a lottery application process. Private schools have provided alternate education opportunities with their own self-funded scholarship programs for years. If they are struggling now, their solution should be in private sector innovation. Infrastructure costs are the largest expense for public schools and redirecting money towards more buildings results in less money towards the actual students' education.

Environment & Energy

1. Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes

2. Do you support state government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes

3. Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives?
- Yes

4. Other or expanded principles
- Continuing to move towards a clean energy economy can provide much needed economic growth to Illinoisans. Clean water and air needs to be ensured and companies who risk public health for personal profit need to face consequences. Coal emissions need to be closely watched/regulated. We must also ensure a decrease in coal usage in Illinois doesn't cause an increase in consumption of coal energy from neighbor states with more lax environmental policies.

Gun

1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes

2. Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows?
- Yes

3. Should teachers be allowed to bring guns into the classroom?
- No

4. Should a license be required for gun ownership?
- Yes

5. Other or expanded principles
- "Gun-control" sounds like gun grabbing and isn't the preferred language and can have the unintended effect of having people increase the number of guns in homes, which can increase public health hazards. I wholeheartedly support reducing gun-related deaths through policies like restrictions on high capacity magazines and incentivizing the development of private businesses that store guns in places other than the home, regulated but not controlled by the government. We should also have public health policies in place that help reduce self-inflicted gunshot wounds, which account for the largest amount of gun related deaths.

Health

1. Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse?
- No

2. Do you support Medicaid expansion through Illinois's health care programs?
- Yes

3. Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance?
- Yes

4. Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia?
- No

5. Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations?
- Yes

6. Other or expanded principles
- a) Treatment facilities should not be funded without ethical reporting requirements on their effectiveness. We need to be investing in long-term solutions and not allow predatory facilities to arise in IL as they have in Florida and California. e) There are a limited amount of exemptions that can be offered while still protecting public health and providing herd immunity for children with cancer or other immunocompromised bodies. Preferential treatment for religious persons over non-religious persons should not be a factor when offering these exemptions.

Social

1. Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Illinois's anti-discrimination laws?
- Yes

2. Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Illinois's anti-discrimination laws?
- Yes

3. Do you support greater efforts by Illinois state government in closing the pay gap between men and women?
- Yes

4. Other or expanded principles
- I support greater efforts by Illinois state government in the following areas as well:- Reducing age-related hiring discrimination - Making enforceable safe workplace legislation that provides real penalties for companies and organizations who are not in compliance- Reducing the maternal mortality rate- Reducing the healthcare outcome gap between people of different races- Increasing enforceability of work related anti-discrimination laws for federally protected classes as well as on the basis of pregnancy status and the above noted groups

Legislative Priorities

In the following area, please explain in a total of 100 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- 1) Saving taxpayers a projected $67B in pension expenses between now and FY2045 by increasing near term payments.Revenues for the state would be increased by three methods: issuing pension obligation bonds, ending the prohibition era for adult (21+) marijuana usage, and repealing the failed flat tax mandate. 2) Decreasing the stranglehold of political machine power used to suppress our democracy by focusing on widely popular reforms designed to increase competitiveness of elections, ballot access, and reduce the influence of money on election outcomes. 3) Strengthening public school education opportunities that benefit from the new revenue sources cited above.