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.

Whitney demands debate invitations

By Jamey Dunn

With only a few weeks before the general election, Rich Whitney, the Green Party candidate for governor, has launched a campaign to be included in public debates.

Whitney is pushing to be invited to three planned gubernatorial debates, which now only include Republican candidate Sen. Bill Brady and Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn.

The debates, scheduled for later this month, are sponsored by Elmhurst College, the League of Women Voters of Illinois and the City Club of Chicago.

Whitney said all candidates should be invited to debate, but he thinks he has the strongest appeal for inclusion because he won more than 10 percent of the vote in the 2006 governor’s race. He added that he is the only candidate who has detailed a specific plan to address the state's current budget crisis.

Whitney said that candidates who collect enough signatures to get on the ballot should not then face a polling requirement to be included in debates. “We shouldn’t be relying on the polling numbers. What is the purpose of a civic organization? It’s to allow the citizens to choose,” Whitney said.” It’s to inform the voting public so that they have an opportunity to decide who the best candidate is. Then you will see the polling numbers change.”

Jan Czarnik, executive director of the League of Women Voters, said the purpose of a debate held shortly before the election is to give voters a chance to find out more about the candidates who are likely to bring in votes. “It’s not our job to build support for candidates that the public doesn’t seem to be very interested in.”

According to the organization’s written policy, the league requires that candidates get at least 10 percent support in “one or more statewide non partisan public poll not more than 30 days prior to the election and at least five days prior to the debate.”

Czarnik said representatives of Whitney’s campaign and the Green Party were involved in debate planning sessions and agreed to those terms last July.

Whitney said his representatives may have “acknowledged” the league's terms but never agreed to them. He said there could have been a "miscommunication" between his staff and the league, but his view on debate participation has not changed. “In any event, I think it’s still wrong.”

Whitney has created an advertisement advocating his inclusion in the debates. He said he is raising money to buy television airtime for the advertisement. He is encouraging supporters to contact the debate sponsors and said he will be organizing protests outside any “illegitimate” debates that do not include him.

Whitney plans to participate in a debate with Brady and Quinn on the Southern Illinois University Carbondale campus tomorrow night.

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.