Debate includes third-party candidate

By Jamey Dunn

During last night’s gubernatorial debate, Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican candidate for governor Sen. Bill Brady took shots at each other, while Green Party candidate Rich Whitney advocated for free higher education.

Much of what Quinn and Brady focused on was a rehash of their talking points from previous debates and campaign events.

Quinn criticized Brady for wanting to eliminate the Put Illinois to Work program. Meanwhile, Quinn said that he has “taken on the crisis of state government with a heart.”

Brady, who was leading the race in a recent poll, called the program a cynical election ploy and characterized the work it has created for residents as “temporary tax jobs.” He said as governor, he would grow the public sector by being “business friendly” and create more permanent jobs.

Whitney took a swipe at Brady’s economic plan calling it “warmed over Reaganomics.” He added: “It didn’t work then. It doesn’t work now.”

Whitney's plan for recovery involved free public higher education for all. Whitney said it would create jobs at universities, which are, “well-distributed geographically around the state.” Whitney said the money students and parents would save by not paying tuition could provide economic stimulus and not having to take out loans to get an education would help residents avoid debt.

Brady took the opportunity to again slam Quinn’s deal with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which guarantees no layoffs until 2012 in exchange for $50 million in savings. The union endorsed Quinn shortly before the deal was signed, and Brady accused Quinn of making a trade to get the organization’s support. “Gov. Quinn has an endorsement. The union has a deal that will tie the hands of the next governor.”

However Quinn played up the fact that the union plans to make cutbacks under a contract that has already been negotiated. “I’ve been able to get concession from the unions … under the existing union contracts.” He also touted cost-saving pension reforms that he signed last spring.

Quinn and Brady both focused on the economic state of the state. Quinn highlighted manufacturing jobs that are new to Illinois in recent months. However, Brady said Illinois’ unfriendly business policies are running jobs out of the state. “Gov. Quinn’s the job governor all right, but it just happens to be for Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky and other states.”

Whitney said that until state government can pay its bills and “perform its most basic functions,” Illinois does not look like a good bet to the business sector. “What business wants to come to or stay in a state whose public sector is falling apart, whose schools are falling apart — the cost of higher education going through the roof. … Where the infrastructure is falling apart where health care vendors aren’t being paid on time. Where people dependent on social services aren’t being paid on time. Social services are crumbling. What business wants to stay in a state like that?”

The debate, held on Southern Illinois University’s Carbondale campus, was Whitney’s chance for exposure before three upcoming debates in which he will likely not participate. Sponsors in those debates did not extend an invitation to the Green Party candidate, citing his low numbers in recent polls.

Green Party candidate outlines budget plan

By Rachel Wells

Green Party candidate Rich Whitney today said that if elected governor, he would fix the state’s $13 billion budget problem by creating a new tax – a sort of sin tax on the profits of speculative trading – and by pushing a tax increase plan that stalled in the General Assembly last spring.

A financial transactions tax, which the state would levy on securities traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Options Exchange at what Whitney called a “minuscule” rate, “not pennies on the dollar but pennies on the $100,” could potentially bring in enough funds to wipe out Illinois' budget deficit, he said. He added that he would seek only a tax rate high enough to bring in $4.5 billion.

“We should start looking to the financial services sector, and the speculators, and the predatory lenders and the same people who are responsible for this crisis to start paying their fair share to repair the damage,” Whitney said. In his position paper, Whitney said the speculative trading he wants to tax is “another form of gambling, one that is every bit as harmful as the other sin taxes, and far more voluminous.”

Whitney said he would also call on legislators to pass the same “comprehensive” plan outlined in Senate Bill 750, a tax and education funding reform bill previously sponsored by Sen. James Meeks, a Chicago Democrat. The measure called for an income tax increase of 2 percentage points, an expansion of the sales tax base to include some services and property tax relief. Whitney said the income tax plan could generate more than $7.3 billion. A version of Meeks’ bill passed in the Senate last session but was never called in the House.

Whitney said he hasn’t yet read Democratic incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn’s March 10 budget proposal in detail, but he said it wasn’t straightforward enough in calling for a tax increase to reduce the impact on education.

Quinn on Wednesday announced a plan – criticized by Republicans as a game – for $1.3 billion in primary and secondary education cuts, assuming lawmakers would not pass a tax increase this spring. Last year, Quinn actively pursued an 1.5 percentage point income tax increase.

“I think part of the problem is that when Pat Quinn advocated it, he just talked about an income tax increase in a vacuum, not the kind of comprehensive package that we’ve had with [SB] 750,” Whitney said. “I think the people are ready for it, if it’s presented as a complete package.”

Whitney agrees with Quinn that about $2 billion in spending cuts are needed. But Whitney said his plan – akin to former Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski’s proposal – for a citizen-guided forensic audit would leave education and human services intact. He also wants to redirect proceeds from the capital construction bill, eliminating funding for any “pork” projects.

Whitney, who is alone in calling for an expanded public sector and more state jobs, also opposes Quinn’s call for a two-tiered pension system. Whitney said his own plan for the creation of a state bank would bring in enough revenue to pay down the pension debt at an accelerated pace. Whitney did not provide an estimate of how much revenue a state bank would provide.

“There is no magic wand, let’s be clear about that, for any of this. And I’m not claiming that I have one,” Whitney said. “But what I am saying is that this is a much better proposal that allows us to minimize the immediate pain and the horrible consequences of the budget proposals of the other two candidates.”

Whitney would also like to legalize and tax cannabis, as well as implement a greenhouse gas fee and dividend system under which fees imposed on high pollution energy producers would benefit consumers until more environmentally friendly energy sources become more prevalent and less pricey.