As your state representative, I will be committed to bringing economic development and good jobs to the district.

There are three main areas in which a state can influence its business climate: providing a well educated and trained workforce, providing good infrastructure and tax policy. The rise of Silicon Valley in California is an example of how positive policies in all three areas can lead to a new industry being attracted to a state and thriving.

Unfortunately, Illinois is falling short in all three areas. On education, State funding in Illinois covers, on average, less than 30 percent of the cost of educating a student, far less than the national average of about 50 percent. Illinois has the second worst per-pupil spending gap in the country between its wealthy and poor school districts. If elected I would make sure that the State lives up to its constitutionally mandated obligation to provide at least 50% of education funding. I would also support legislation to reduce class sizes for the youngest children, K-2, as studies show (and my experience as an educator confirms) that class size is an important factor dictating student performance.

On infrastructure, years of fighting between the legislature and former Governor Blagojevich led to needed infrastructure improvements being postponed. The $31 billion bill passed earlier his year is deeply flawed for several reasons: 1) it has not yet been implemented; 2) it relies on a controversial funding mechanism – legalization of video poker – for a big part of it s funding; and 3) it contains billions in earmarks that will either not create job here in Illinois or will not result in desperately needed infrastructure improvements – one of the worst examples being providing funds to build a cabin in Wisconsin for a private organization. If elected, I will make sure that our infrastructure needs are adequately addressed and that all infrastructure funding goes to projects that will have a public benefit and not fund completely private ventures.

With respect to tax policy, the City of Chicago has the highest sales tax in the country, due to last year’s 1% increase in the sales tax for Cook County government. In October, the legislature had an opportunity to rollback that 1% sales tax increase . It failed by six votes, with my opponent voting against the rollback. He also voted against the bill to reduce the vote needed to override the Cook County Board President’s veto. If I had been in the legislature, I would have voted differently on both of those bills.

I also think that the structural deficit leads to an uncertain climate for business. I intend to work to cut wasteful spending and unnecessary spending before turning to revenue enhancements. I also favor a constitutional amendment to implement a progressive income tax, as the fairest way to address Illinois’ budget crisis.

Read more about where Dave stands on and Education and Ethics.