Tribune Questionaire: You make the call

The deadline for the Chicago Tribune questionaires for the state legislature was last Friday. I thought it would be fun for us to take a stab at answering them. My answers are below. Have fun.

Questions 1-3: The Budget

1. Illinois has faced staggering budget shortfalls in recent years, leading to debate about whether the state should increase taxes and/or reduce spending. What are your priorities for the budget? Where should spending rise or fall? Should the state increase or reduce taxes, and in what specific areas?

Health care, education and public safety. Despite Governor Blagojevich's efforts, vast inefficiencies remain in state government, state agencies remain top-heavy, and they continue to operate as isolated towers intent on preserving their own turf. But rather than debate whether we should be spending more or less, we should be discussing how we can improve the budget and procurement process, increase efficiency, and drive corruption from the dark corners of the state bureaucracy. We've been doing a good job of running state government like a business -- but Wal-Mart proves you can profit on the stock market, follow the letter of the law most of the time and still be morally bankrupt. We need to run state government more like Habitat for Humanity.

2. There is a significant gap in spending between the wealthiest and poorest school districts in Illinois. Is that a matter for the state or for local taxpayers to address? Should the state legislature change the way it raises and distributes revenues for local schools? Should the state provide more money for the poorest districts and, if so, how?

Yes. Massive disparities in education spending lead to massive disparities in education quality. One high school has PhD's and Master's degrees teaching its classes, the other is using text books that were written when there was still a Soviet Union. Those disparities lead to even larger ones down the road that destabilize our economy by creating a permanent underclass in our rural communities and inner cities, making it impossible for them to attract jobs. What businessman is going to want to relocate to a community he wouldn't send his own kids to school in? Every real estate agent, every businessman can tell you that schools are the smartest single investment you can make.

We need to start by reinvesting all of the tax expeditures currently provided for economic development into our schools, where they will bring the highest rate of return, and by ending the "hold harmless" for our schools that perpetuates inequalities by sending hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to schools that don't need a penny of additional state aid.

Beyond that, the bipartisan Center for Tax and Budget Accountability provides a good road map for balancing out the dollars and cents, investing in education from pre-school through college, by expanding the sales tax base to include services and shifting part of the income tax to provide property tax relief.

3. The General Assembly made certain reforms in the state pension system in 2005, but also deferred $2.3 billion in payments to the system. The five state pension plans face a combined shortfall of $38 billion, a figure that will grow in the coming years. What changes in contributions and benefits need to be made to the state’s pension system? Please be specific.

The first thing we need to do is turn our national economy around. Illinois' pension system was 88% fully funded in 2000, but 9/11, GOP mismanagement of our federal budget, and the ensuing economic stagnation cost Illinois' investment portfolio $14 billion.

The rest of the pension shortfall exists because, in times of fiscal hardship, it's easier to provide public employees with a pension increase -- which can be paid down the road -- than a pay raise; and it's easier to short pension payments -- which can be made up down the road -- than cut health care for seniors or funding for our schools. Address 1 and 2 above and I'm betting there will be plenty of money to fund or pensions.