In January 2024, Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ editors emailed a questionnaire to candidates in contested March 19 primary races for the Illinois General Assembly, requesting biographical information as well as their views on issues ranging from corruption in state politics to Illinois’ longstanding pension crisis. Answers have been lightly edited for typos, minor grammar and consistency in styling, but not for content or length. Age was calculated as of Feb. 6, 2024.
Graciela Guzman: The past couple of years have shone a spotlight on several notable gaps in our laws and regulations that let corruption run free. I think any plan should start with areas where we are seeing recurring problems:
1) Empowering authorities to investigate corruption
One of the main complaints we’ve seen for so many years is the weakness of the Legislative Inspector General. In its present form, the office does not have the teeth to effectively investigate potential illegal actions or abuses of authority. The office needs to be given greater powers to gather evidence and testimony as well as greater independence from legislators that appoint the Inspector General. As an aspiring State Senator, I have to do all I can to ensure that Illinois’ House and Senate have an independent authority that can hold us all accountable in a way that respects the dignity and intelligence of the voters who sent us here with their votes and pay us to work honestly and transparently for their interests.
2) Campaign fund tightening
We need to tighten regulations on campaign finance. We saw former Speaker Madigan be able to pay for his legal defense out of campaign dollars. The fact that he’s able to fund defense from contributions should be prohibited and campaign finance regulators should be given more authority to investigate and penalize campaigns that so clearly violate the intended use of donations.
3) Elected official to lobbyist
The revolving door of elected officials or Springfield staff to lobbyists breeds the environment for inappropriate access and corrupt bargains. The average time (across US states) for elected officials to become lobbyists is between one and two years. We need to ensure we are capturing all elected and staff under future legislation and also put more time in between the elected to lobby status. Florida recently extended that “cooling off” period to 6 years. Following Florida’s example, we should look into instituting longer time frames.
4) Monopoly Rights and Loopholes
We should explore what role giving companies monopoly rights plays in breeding structures that have no incentive to weed out corruption and ensure effective services. Recently, Governor Pritzker vetoed an effort that would have handed Ameren a monopoly over the future development and operation of high-voltage power lines in downstate Illinois. His veto was a vital check in centering consumers over corporate profits. While I am grateful to have a governor who is willing to veto corporate overreach, the existence of monopolies should not be dependent on one elected official. To promote competition that would incentivize corporate responsibility, we need legislation that will end practices like the right of first refusal and close the loopholes that have allowed corruption to breed in Illinois for decades.
Finally, we need to reevaluate the tax code and tackle several loopholes that allow whole industries to pop up in service of exploiting them. These industries will then lobby or even employ legislators to preserve them, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of corruption.
Graciela Guzman: Curtailing benefits is not the way to keep moving toward a solution to Illinois’ pension crisis. We need to expand how we think about revenue and reach a consensus on how to achieve progressive tax solutions in Illinois. Addressing revenue is the main solution to this and many other issues we face in our state. Illinois and its municipalities have had to depend too much on regressive tax systems that, if we exchanged for progressive options, would not only increase the resources to families in need but would increase the tax revenue needed to ensure we pay out our obligations fairly.
We often forget that more than the flaws of the system, the crisis was the product of purposeful choices to mismanage and underfund it. We have seen that as better government has come to prioritize paying our debts, Illinois’ fiscal outlook has improved significantly. Businesses have responded to that and I’m committed to continuing that trend of more responsible fiscal management in Springfield. I think the larger issue to tackle is how to ensure this never happens again. If elected I look forward to exploring what structural protections we need in place to ensure no wayward future government can unduly underfund pension systems and essential services.
Graciela Guzman: Illinois needs to continue leveraging strategic advantages to help bolster job growth. We have recently seen numerous industries come to Illinois because we have made it clear we are investing in our people, we are investing in community development, and we are investing in the green technology market that will dominate the next few decades as we transition away from a fossil fuel-based economy. We need to build on the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act and specifically, the clean energy workforce training programs that will not only bring over more companies but also encourage environmental entrepreneurship.
Thinking about pathways to opportunity, entrepreneurship, and skill-building, I want to continue empowering the Department of Commerce and Equitable Opportunity (DCEO) to support small businesses across the state. Small businesses are the backbone of our communities and many that I know have benefited greatly and grown thanks to DCEO trainings and capacity-building grants. We need to increase state funding so that, combined with crucial federal dollars, we support small business growth that creates community-rooted jobs. I also support developing more apprenticeship pathways and supporting trade programs in high schools and colleges. The skilled trades can open up so many opportunities for Illinoisans to also create small businesses.
Lastly, thinking about the relationship between consumers and the market, adopting a progressive income tax will give lower and middle-income families more income, which would allow for more spending potential where Illinoisans need it the most, create demand for more jobs and services, and fuel job growth in their communities.
Graciela Guzman: I support a holistic process that ensures we are bringing community stakeholders to the table to ensure a fair, transparent process for redistricting. The true marker of effectiveness isn’t solely the creation of an independent citizens’ body since we’ve seen at all levels how different independent bodies have created maps of significantly variable quality. The principle of an independent process is something I support and something we must all continue to strive for and work on what procedures and mechanics can limit not only partisan bias, but racial, and socioeconomic bias creeps into the mapping process as well.
Further, we should acknowledge the national implications of any remapping process and consider that in many ways the project of representative maps is not only a state issue, but is inexorably tied to what other states around the country do. We must all work together across states in the country to ensure transparency and avoid partisan machinations from both parties.
Graciela Guzman: We are facing a cost of living crisis as a whole in Illinois, especially when we look at rising healthcare costs and the cost of housing; the 20th district is not immune and I hear from community members daily desperately trying to balance their needs and checkbook. Increasing healthcare accessibility and access to insurance has been my life’s work for over a decade and I plan to continue to make that my priority in the Senate. My goal would be to bring healthcare reform to Illinois with universal coverage for all, with holistic offerings around mental health, reproductive justice, long-term care, and the ability to maintain self-autonomy whilst centering transparency and affordability. In my past work, I have advocated in Springfield for affordable prescription coverage, pathways to help cover our underinsured and uninsured, and for transparent systems that center consumer power.
We need to address the cost of housing in the district, whether you rent or own. We have home-grown best practices in how we can cultivate housing affordability locally via land trusts, for example, and I want to be a partner in how we can expand these efforts and the range of affordable housing options in our district. Further, in understanding how we have leaned on property taxes as a tool to help garner needed revenue for our state, we have to center approaches that bring a progressive income tax.
Graciela Guzman: As the eldest of five children and the daughter of immigrants who escaped the Salvadoran Civil War, I have been an advocate for my family and my community all of my life. I am the candidate to represent this district because my lived experiences have informed the policy fights I have organized for over a decade on behalf of everyday Illinoisans. I have worked across this district with community members for the common good and I know how to deliver legislative results for the 20th district.
Remaining grounded in the community is not just the why for my work, it is how I operate in my everyday life. I have led coalitions across this district, city, and state to ensure as many people as possible were enrolled in the Affordable Care Act, to organize the community in defense of reproductive justice with the Women’s March Chicago, to organize with hundreds of neighbors across Chicago to feed, clothe, and house thousands of community members through mutual aid. When the pandemic hit, I helped grow a community network that fed families in one of the hardest-hit zip codes in Chicago. When asylum seekers began arriving in our city, I was in the police stations organizing medical care for the most at-risk migrants, and through my role as a CTU organizer, helped enroll new arrival children in CPS.
I led the Healthy Illinois campaign to expand healthcare to all low-income seniors regardless of immigration status and built upon that achievement to continue to increase access to healthcare. My experiences as Chief of Staff for 20th District State Senator Cristina Pacione-Zayas allowed me to take my experience in hyperlocal community work and policy advocacy to help bring an active co-governance model that prided itself on constituent-sponsored legislation and community policy roundtables that helped form our work around public safety, education, housing, and more.
I’m the candidate for this office because on day one I will be a transformative leader and partner in how we make Springfield and policy work for all of us. This role is more than just the voting record; it is about balancing a district with diverse needs across the area through authentic relationships with constituents; it is about being a nimble, effective leader that can partner with community members, stakeholders and officials to achieve relief for our district and state; and its about the hope we can bring to everyday people that their government can center their needs and experiences.
