A little help?
Tuesday, May 17, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* An email from River Cities’ Reader Publisher Todd McGreevy…
Hello Rich,
I hope this finds you well. Been a long time since we’ve connected.
We’re looking to query the candidates for senate and house seats in the Illinois Quad Cities with insightful questions that we will publish their answers to in our June print edition, out June 2.
Do you have any ideas, comments or specific questions you think we should include in said candidate questionnaire?
Here’s the two races:
https://ballotpedia.org/Illinois_House_of_Representatives_District_72#Elections
https://ballotpedia.org/Illinois_State_Senate_District_36
(Wow the redistricting in Senate 36 was quite the shift!)
Any and all input is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Todd
Thoughts?
- Southern - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 10:36 am:
Pretty simple: Do you think the election was stolen?
- Anyone Remember - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 10:40 am:
Is Joe Biden the duly elected president? Did he win the election within the rules?
- Jocko - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 10:44 am:
Kevin McCarthy called January 6th ‘legitimate political discourse’. What would you call it?
- Blake - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 10:47 am:
What’s your plan to get population growth on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities to be as high as on the Iowa side? How big of a priority is it?
- Blue Dog - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 10:52 am:
What’s your position on the 2nd amendment
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 10:53 am:
What do you think is an appropriate level of state support for education? (pre-K, K-12, higher ed; for each: too high, too low, just about right)
If state support is not where it should be (too high or too low) what would you propose to get there? (If too high, what would you cut and what would you do with the savings? If too low, what would you increase and where would you get the revenue?)
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 10:57 am:
Do you think employers have the right to mandate vaccines as a condition of employment?
- Keyrock - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:02 am:
Will you vote for Mike Madigan for Speaker?
(Oh wait. That one finally expired? I thought it would last forever.)
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:04 am:
If you would have drawn the new GA map, how would you have drawn it and why? And how would the QCA had been divvied up by your said map?
- Anonymous - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:15 am:
When you retire how many government taxpayer pensions will you be receiving?
- Blake - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:20 am:
What’s your opinion on Georgism or on Pennsylvania’s split rate taxation for property tax? Idea that we should minimize economic disincentive of taxing capital by making property taxes moreso about land values since land amounts don’t change, less taxing buildings (capital) and incentivize absentee landowners & slumlords to invest in their real estate or sell.
- SWIL_Voter - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:21 am:
Where do you stand on the GOP embrace of white nationalist replacement theory, the inspiration for multiple mass casualty shootings in the last few years?
- JS Mill - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:22 am:
We have a constitution that includes 7 articles and 27 amendments. Do you think all of them are important or just the 2nd Amendment? Why don’t you support the entire US Constitution if you only support the 2nd amendment?
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:25 am:
Do you think Illinois is better or worse off since 1982 due to the Cutback Amendment?
- /s - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:31 am:
1. What is one thing that you think the State of Illinois is currently doing well and that you wouldn’t change?
2. What is the number one thing you think that the Illinois House/Senate can do right now to help residents in your district?
3. What is one issue that you think is important to the residents of your district that you are not typically asked about?
- Norseman - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:36 am:
How would you address the state’s pension debt?
How would you address the pandemic?
Candidates are known for saying they’re going to cut waste and abuse, give us some examples of what you define as waste and abuse?
- Benjamin - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:40 am:
-Studies have repeatedly shown that companies make choices about locating operations ibased ion geography and the workforce, not tax breaks. Given that, how would you grow employment in Illinois?
-The only region of Illinois that’s growing is Chicagoland, while the rest of the state is shrinking. Why do you think that is, and what can be done to encourage growth and investment in the rest of the state?
-In terms of state policy, what was your party’s biggest mistake in the 21st century?
(I always like to ask self-critique questions–the seriousness with which they are answered tells you a lot about how thoughtful and knowledgeable the candidate is.)
- Benjamin - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:41 am:
@/s - great questions.
- lake county democrat - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:44 am:
If Illinois needed to cut spending to pay its pension obligations, name one or more specific programs you would cut funding to before others.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:52 am:
NonAFSCME- not sure that many of today’s elected officials could describe the plusses and minuses of the Cutback Amendment.
- Dotnonymous - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:52 am:
Did Joe Biden win the election fair and square…Yes or No?…repeat until answered.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:57 am:
What areas in your district could benefit with additional state investments? What new revenue would you support to pay for those investments?
What do you think the role of the minority political party is in Springfield? How would you work with the majority party to benefit your district?
- Interim Retiree - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 11:58 am:
1) What do you see as the future for the WIU campus in the QC?
2) What can the state offer to make sure the Rock Island Arsenal is at or near capacity?
3) How can the State help Illinois QC schools compete w/the Iowa QC schools?
- Unionman - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 12:37 pm:
1) How many drinks did you have in the green room?
2) What is the likelihood that you will be indicted in the next five years?
3) What is your position on partisan election of judges? (serious question)
- Da big bad wolf - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 1:41 pm:
Illinois has both a high rate of infant mortality (5.26 deaths per 1000 live births) and maternal mortality (75 pregnancy related deaths each year). The United States as a whole has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed countries. 17.2 deaths per 100,000 live births. The US also has some of the highest rates of infant mortality (5.17 deaths per 1000 live births) and is ranked 57 by the CIA Worldbook with Slovenia at 1.52 infant deaths per 1000 lives births.
What plans do you have to implement policies that will improve the outcomes for mothers and their babies?
- Huh? - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 2:02 pm:
Do you believe there is a constitutional right to privacy?
Do you believe that medical decisions are to be made only by a doctor and patient?
Do you believe in gender equality?
Do you believe in equal rights for all?
Do you believe that what occurs behind closed doors, between consenting adults, should be the subject of goveenmental regulation?
Do you believe that a business owner has the right to impose their religious beliefs on a customer?
When you say you believe in “god”, which “god” are you talking about?
Do you believe in the separation of church and state?
Does a government have the right to impose a religion on the public? If so, which one?
- Blake - Tuesday, May 17, 22 @ 2:33 pm:
I want to second the cutback amendment question and would add whether they see a better way to structure the General Assembly. Proportional Senate with a by-district House?