Rich Whitney's vision questionnaire

1. Ethics remains among the top concerns expressed by voters this year. Specifically explain what steps you will take as governor to address the issues of public corruption in hiring, contracting and fundraising and how you propose to increase transparency in government.

We need to end pay-for-play by banning campaign contributions from state contractors, their owners and officers -- and barring the awarding of contracts to any company whose owners or officers had made such a contribution to an incumbent. All applicants for non-policy-making State jobs must be selected on the basis of objective criteria by an independent bureau. I will appoint an Inspector General from an opposition party, to prevent and root out illegal job patronage and help remove the cloud of corruption over our State. We need open meetings of the two ethics commissions and increased disclosure of lobbying activities.

2. Given the state's precarious fiscal condition, under what circumstances would you be forced to propose an increase in general state or income taxes? Since state revenues have become more dependent upon fees, what increases are you proposing?

We are already in those "circumstances" now! The real issue is tax fairness. Illinois taxes lower and middle-income taxpayers at over double the rate of the wealthiest, while over-relying on the property tax to fund education. I support House Bill 750 � which will raise the income tax but provide an expanded income credit, so that 60 percent of the people will pay the same or lower taxes. It will eliminate the structural deficit, provide quality education, reduce school inequality, improve public services, and meet state pension and Medicaid obligations, while providing mandatory property tax abatements of 20-25 percent.

3. The Democratic and Republican candidates have each proposed significant funding increases based upon the issue of gambling. Please explain your proposal for raising revenues and why it is better than your opponent's. Do you believe it is proper that the state should become dependent upon revenues related to gambling as a way to fund children's education?

No. I oppose state-sponsored gambling because it is a hidden tax on the poor, preying on desperation. When my opponents calculate the money to be raised from gambling, they aren't figuring in the cost of more broken homes, shattered lives, suicides, bankruptcies and crimes of desperation. That's why I advocate HB 750, a fiscally responsible plan devised by the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a real citizens' lobby. Under the plan, the State will fund our schools at the EFAB recommended foundation level of $6,405 per child -- with honest money, raised through a more progressive tax system.

4. Given the state's public employee pension debt will take an increasing share of general fund dollars in the future, what is your proposal to address the pension-debt burden?

This is another reason for adopting HB 750. Thanks to the improvident budgets of our present governor and his immediate predecessors, the percentage of our General Funds budget devoted to pension payments is slated to triple from less than 4 percent in FY 2006 to 12 percent by FY 2010 � and climbing. This is untenable. We need to ramp up pension payments now; we can't continue to foist the problem off on future taxpayers. That means raising new revenues and eliminating the structural deficit immediately. To put it off is to invite even greater disaster in the years to come.

5. Please explain why you want to be governor and your vision for the office.

I want to be governor because the times demand change: From the culture of corruption hanging over Springfield, to the budget disaster, declining schools and the crises of global warming and soaring energy prices. I am offering Illinois voters a genuine progressive alternative. Besides the sweeping tax and budget overhaul described above, I am campaigning for a major initiative to combat global warming and our costly reliance on oil � a job-creating "New Deal" to push sustainable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal and biomass, greater energy efficiency in consumer products and building codes, and more energy-efficient transportation, like high-speed rail.