Story posted Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Democrat Biss Focuses On Reform, Education
By TOM ROBB Journal & Topics Reporter
Four candidates filed petitions to run for state representative in the 17th District but only two, Democrat Dan Biss and Republican Hamilton Chang, will appear on the Tuesday, Feb. 2 primary ballot.
The seat is open as current State Rep. Elizabeth Coulson (R-17th) is running to take U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk's (R-10th) open seat in Congress.
The Journal had an extended interview with Biss and left several phone and email messages for Chang to give him the same opportunity. Those calls and e-mails were not returned by press time.
This is Biss' second run for the 17th District seat. Biss became the Democratic nominee in the 2008 election losing to Coulson in the general election race by less than 2,000 votes.
Biss said he would bring an independent reform agenda to Springfield. He said he would not be beholden to political powerbrokers in the state capitol such as House Speaker Michael Madigan because, despite being offered in 2008, he did not take money from the leader and other political powerbrokers then or in this race.
Campaign finance reform is a key issue for Biss. He said revelations about former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaign fundraising excesses that resulted in his removal from office resulted in a lack of confidence in state legislators and leaders.
"We need to make this place (Springfield) less of a laughing stock," said Biss.
Biss did not wait to be elected before starting his effort to clean up Springfield. Gov. Pat Quinn appointed him a policy advisor on ethics reforms after Blagojevich's impeachment and removal from office last year.
The budget process is another area of interest to Biss, one he knows will be a big challenge.
He said a new mind set is needed in state budgeting, one that recognizes that with a sales and income tax model there is a need to set money aside in good economic times because of the knowledge that there will be bad times to come.
Biss said he would be realistic in how quickly he could work for these reforms saying he would start trying to institute small changes first before building a coalition of like-minded legislators to tackle larger changes.
Education policy is another area of interest to Biss. The former University of Chicago math professor said early childhood and college education are very important and said their needs to be a clear, rational, evidence-based approach to education funding at the state level.
Biss said, "Illinois can be the Silicon Valley of the next decade" when it comes to innovation in "green" (sustainable, environmentally friendly) energy and technology.
A push for green jobs and innovation could also give Illinois' economy a big boost.
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