Democratic candidate for Illinois House in the 17th District: Mary Rita Luecke

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On Feb. 8, Mary Rita Luecke appeared before the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board. We asked her why she’s running for the Illinois House of Representatives in the 17th District:

My name is Mary Rita Luecke. I am an attorney and a 30-year resident of the 17th District. I’ve lived in Skokie since 1985. I was elected to the elementary school board there in 2001 and 2005. I served for eight years on the board and for two years as its president. As an attorney, I’ve represented people in federal civil rights work and claimants before the social security administration and disability matters.

My top priorities are really to help get the state on stable financial footing because that is key to everything else that the state does. It’s key to the financial health of the state. It’s key to our business community so that they have a climate that they can be … that they can know what will happen in order to make appropriate business decisions for them and its key to the people who rely on the state for the services that they provide, for the people who are receiving pensions and for the providers who are giving the services to the people so that they know they will pay. So that is the first thing.

Education is obviously very important to me. I’ve spent much of my life working on behalf of public schools and trying to make sure that they are the best that they can be and that they meet the needs of all of the children who attend our schools.

The Chicago Sun-Times sent the candidates seeking nominations for the Illinois House of Representatives a list of questions to find out their views on a range of important issues facing the state of Illinois. Luecke submitted the following answers to our questionnaire:

TOPIC: Top priorities

QUESTION: Please explain what your specific cause or causes will be. Please avoid a generic topic or issue in your answer.

ANSWER: My top priority will be to address what I see as a revenue crisis in the state. Unless we can increase and stabilize the revenues without further burdening the middle class and working families, we will not be able to meet the needs of the people and businesses of the State of Illinois and move ourselves forward for a brighter future. To that end, I support moving to a graduated income tax and a constitutional amendment to allow for that tax. I also support or would consider expanding the sales tax to some services and to more internet purchases; a financial transaction tax; a coal extraction tax supported by the Sierra Club; and legalization and taxation of marijuana. Stabilizing our revenues will allow the state to meet its obligation to finance our public education system, address our infrastructure needs, and provide the services that protect the health and well-being of our citizens.

In addition, I supported the Cook County minimum wage ordinance and will work for an increase to the minimum wage at the state level. The state constitution requires that we provide free education through high school. I will push for free tuition to continue at least through two years post high school at our state colleges and universities. I will also work to ensure that the funding is in place for the Future Energy Jobs Act and that training is available to people in parts of the state hit most directly by the transition to new forms of energy.

Mary Rita Luecke

Legislative District: 17th Illinois Legislative District

Political/civic background:

• Member of Evanston/Skokie District School Board, 2001-2009
• Elected twice to serve as Board President, 2003 and 2006
• Candidate to be Sanders Delegate to Democratic Convention, 2016
• Niles Township Democratic Party, Precinct Volunteer, 1990 to present
• Walker & Chute PTA with multiple years as President, 1991 to 2001

Occupation: Attorney

Education:JD, DePaul University College of Law, Chicago, IL

BA Rosary College (now Dominican University), River Forest, IL

Campaign website: http://www.maryritaforstaterep.com/

TOPIC: Top district needs

QUESTION: Please list three district-specific needs that will be your priorities. This could be a project that is needed in your district, or a rule that needs to be changed, or some federal matter that has been ignored.

ANSWER: In my meetings with local mayors and Village officials, the most common requests I have heard is that the State: (1) address the pension problem, as that impacts their financial wellbeing; (2) maintain funding of the Local Government Distributive Fund; and (3) help with crumbling infrastructure. I would consider directing revenues from a financial transaction tax to the Illinois pension funds to help mitigate the funding issues they are facing. I will keep a watchful eye on the LGDF. And I will work with Governor Rauner and local elected officials to ensure that the infrastructure needs of municipalities in the district are included in the infrastructure plan that Governor Rauner is proposing for the state.

TOPIC: Pension debt

QUESTION: In 2017, Illinois’ unfunded pension liability ballooned to at least $130 billion. Do you support re-amortizing this debt? Please explain your answer. And what is your position on a constitutional amendment that would reduce the liability of the pension debt?

ANSWER: I do support re-amortization of Illinois’ pension debt, although the re-amortization schedule must be actuarially sound. Re-amortization of the debt will allow the state to meet responsibly its pension obligation to its retirees while maintaining the ability to provide other core services. I also support seeking other revenue sources, e.g. a tax on financial transactions, to build the capital base of the pension funds.

I do not support a constitutional amendment that would reduce liability of the pension debt. The legislature largely addressed the pension issue going forward when it passed the Tier II and Tier III pension reforms that apply to all state employees who began service since 2012. The courts have been clear that both the constitution and contract law protect the existing obligations to our current employees and retirees. A constitutional amendment, even if passed, would not alleviate that obligation.

TOPIC: Minimum wage

QUESTION: Cook County and Chicago are on their way to paying a $13 hourly minimum wage. Many suburbs in the county, however, have opted out of the wage increase. Should Illinois raise its minimum wage from $8.25 an hour? Please explain. And if you favor an increase in the state minimum wage, what should it be?

ANSWER: Illinois must raise its minimum wage to at a minimum $15.00/hour over a period of three to five years– as provided in the state legislation recently vetoed by Gov. Rauner. The current minimum wage is a poverty level wage and cannot sustain an individual or family. People living at the current $8.25/hour wage are eligible for several government services, including Medicaid, housing, and food stamps. This means that taxpayers across the state and country underwrite the cost of Illinois employers who do not pay their employees a living wage. I worked with Reclaim Chicago to help pass the recent Cook County ordinance that raises the minimum wage to $13/hour and worked in suburban communities in my district to dissuade them from opting out of the County ordinance, including Evanston and Skokie.

TOPIC: Pot

QUESTION: Should recreational marijuana be legalized in Illinois? Please explain.

ANSWER: Yes. This change to our criminal justice system is long overdue. The criminalization of marijuana has had a disproportionate impact on communities of color where the laws have been enforced to a greater degree than in majority white communities. In addition, legalization allows for better monitoring of the quality of the product and a source of revenue for the state that would help provide needed funds for addiction treatment and related services. Any legalization legislation should include provisions to address the convictions and sentences of people arrested under current law.

Bookmark the Sun-Times 2018 Illinois Primary Voting Guide

TOPIC: Casinos

QUESTION: Would you support more casinos in Illinois, including in Chicago? What about racinos? Please explain.

ANSWER: I am not morally opposed to gambling whether through casinos, slot machines, or off-track betting. I have concerns that these activities disproportionately take money from the poor who are the more frequent users. I am also troubled by the fact that many people who work in these jobs are paid low wages. I would want to see guarantees that any additional gambling opportunities are aimed at tourists and convention goers, and that employees at these institutions are paid a living wage.

TOPIC: Property tax freeze

QUESTION: A property tax freeze in Illinois has been proposed frequently since Gov. Bruce Rauner took office. What’s your position? If you favor a freeze, how many years should it last? Should the freeze exclude property tax increases to service the debt, make pension payments or cover the cost of public safety? Again, please explain.

ANSWER: I do not support a property tax freeze. Property tax freezes cripple local communities and other units of government in their ability to serve the needs of their constituents. If residents of those local communities are unhappy with the taxes imposed by their local governments they have the ability to vote them out of office at the next election. Property taxes are an important source of revenue for schools in my district. Evanston recently passed a referendum to increase taxes to meet the increasing operational needs of District 65. If the state can find the revenue to assume its rightful share of education funding, communities might be able to reduce their property taxes and would not need to turn to their citizens for increased property tax revenue.

TOPIC: School funding

QUESTION: A revised school funding formula was approved this year by the Legislature and the governor, but a bipartisan commission has concluded that billions more dollars are needed to achieve sufficient and equitable funding. Should Illinois spend more on schools, and where would the money come from?

ANSWER: I support the move to an evidence-based formula to address disparate funding of schools throughout the state. And, I support appropriating additional dollars to be distributed to school districts for this purpose. Article X of the Illinois Constitution imposes on the state the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education. Illinois has never met that responsibility. The result has been a patchwork system of schools that relies on the property tax base/political will of the residents of those school districts to pay for the education of their children. This has created a highly inequitable system of public schools in this state with widely divergent ability to properly educate our children. Funding would come from my package of increased income taxes through a graduated income tax, sales taxes on additional services, a financial transactions tax, a coal severance tax, and closing corporate loopholes.

TOPIC: Opioid abuse

QUESTION: How can the Legislature best address the problem of opioid abuse and addiction? Please cite specific laws you have supported or would support.

ANSWER: The Legislature can and should recognize that opioid abuse and addiction is a personal and public health problem best addressed by medical intervention. I support diversion programs for people who engage in low-level criminal activity associated with their substance and opioid use disorder, diverting them to treatment for the disorder and not to jail or prison. I support and would have voted for laws allowing non-medical personnel to administer naloxone to prevent overdose fatalities; increased funding for treatment centers throughout the state, but especially in areas where no centers currently exist; and requiring all pharmacies to accept return of unused prescription drugs. I would look to the medical and treatment communities for their recommendations on how best to stem this growing epidemic. I have reviewed the State of Illinois Opioid Action Plan issued in September 2017 and find it to be thoughtful and proactive.

TOPIC: Guns

QUESTION: Do you support a state ban on gun silencers? Please explain.

ANSWER: Yes. The “explosion” in the number of guns on the streets has made the safety of our citizens and the job of law enforcement difficult enough without adding the component of silencers. Silencers allow greater stealth in the commission of crimes. Unacceptable and terrible as the status quo is, at least the sound of gunfire in a community warns individuals to seek or stay in a safe place.

QUESTION: Should all gun dealers in Illinois be licensed by the state? Please explain.

ANSWER: Yes. “If we license booze, cars and barbers in Illinois, why not guns?” I agree with Toni Preckwinkle’s column on this topic in your newspaper on November 6, 2017. Illinois has an urgent interest in licensing dealers to reduce gun violence, address the illegal sale of guns to straw purchasers, and protect the population of the state. We cannot rely on the ATF at the federal level to enforce requirements.

QUESTION: Should family members be empowered to petition courts for the temporary removal of guns from emotionally or mentally disturbed people who may be a danger to themselves or others? Please explain.

ANSWER: Yes. Such a law is necessary to protect our citizens from potentially violent individuals. Current law restricting gun ownership by persons convicted of crimes or diagnosed with mental illness does not protect individuals from violence by persons who do not have a conviction or medical diagnosis. Connecticut passed a civil forfeiture law allowing any individual to initiate a “complaint” with the police that they believe an individual poses a threat of harm to themselves or others. There are procedures put in place to protect the due process rights of the subject individual. The effect of the law has been to reduce suicides by means of a gun during study period. On a related matter, Illinois has a law restricting ownership of guns by persons who have engaged in domestic violence. It has helped to protect women from violence perpetrated by an intimate partner. I would extend that law to close the “boyfriend” loophole.

TOPIC: Medicaid

QUESTION: What would you do to ensure the long-term viability of the state’s Medicaid program? Do you support continued Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act? Should the state continue on a path toward managed care for Medicaid beneficiaries? Should everyone be permitted to buy into Medicaid?

ANSWER: Medicaid is a critical program for poor and lower income individuals. I strongly support the continued expansion under the Affordable Care Act. I also support the move toward managed care as a means to increase access to primary care services and care management. These are essential to manage chronic conditions and reduce the need and cost for more expensive treatment when the individual is in crisis because they have not had the primary care treatment and medications they need. I support the creation of a “Public Option” for people to buy into Medicaid as one means for individuals to secure health insurance who do not have health insurance through their employer or are unable to afford the cost of insurance plans on the Marketplace. Another way would be for the State to offer a plan on the Marketplace in addition to those from private insurance companies. Ultimately, I would like to see Medicare expanded to be available to anyone who wishes to enroll in it.

TOPIC: College student exodus

QUESTION: Illinois is one of the largest exporters of college students in the country. What would you do to encourage the best and brightest young people in Illinois to attend college here at home? Does Illinois have too many state universities, as some have argued?

ANSWER: We need to ensure that our state universities are fully funded. The budget impasse of the past two years had a devastating impact on our colleges and universities. I hear parents complain that a growing number of places at our universities are being filled by students from outside the country who pay full tuition. While that is one way to fill a funding gap, it is not optimal. We need to ensure that there are places at all of our colleges and universities for Illinois students who want to attend. Students applying to those colleges and universities have to be confident that the college and university will continue to offer a high- quality education until they graduate. When funding is de-stabilized, students, parents and high school counselors look elsewhere. I would attend to the funding shortfall, using the increased revenues I proposed. It is essential to prevent further population declines and future economic growth so that Illinois college students find their state colleges and universities attractive enough to stay in-state for their education. I am not familiar with the charge that Illinois has too many state universities.

TOPIC: Gov. Rauner

QUESTION: Please list three of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s principles, or decisions he has made, with which you agree. Also, please list three of the governor’s principles, or decisions he has made, with which you disagree.

ANSWER:

I agree with Governor Rauner’s:

• Signing of HB40
• His efforts to reduce the Illinois prison population
• The continuing work of IDOT to maintain and improve all modes of transportation in Illinois

I do not agree with Governor Rauner’s”

• “Turn Around” agenda
• His efforts to link passage of the budgets for 2016-2017; 2017-2018 to his Turn Around agenda
• The “Scholarship” funding included in the formula-based school funding bill