Democratic candidate for Illinois House in the 4th District: Alyx S. Pattison

Complete coverage of the local and national primary and general election, including results, analysis and voter resources to keep Chicago voters informed.

On Jan. 2, Alyx S. Pattison appeared before the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board. We asked her why she’s running for the Democratic nomination in the Illinois House of Representatives 4th District:

My name is Alyx Pattison. The state rep district is the 4th District. My civic and political background: I’ve been working in or volunteering in politics and government the past 20 years. I’ve worked for Congresswoman Schakowsky on Capitol Hill in D.C. and in her district office. I’m a lawyer and have had a number of pro bono cases representing immigrants, refugees, minority groups in class actions. And I served on the local school council at Jose de Diego Elementary, a Chicago Public School in my neighborhood where I started a legal clinic, a tutoring program and a lot of volunteer programs as well.

My top, top, priority will be education and reinvestment in Illinoisans from early childhood education all the way through higher ed. In the past two years during the budget impasse we have seen a deterioration in the investment in our people and I think progressive change and the kind of change Illinois needs is a rededicated, strategic thoughtful reinvestment in our greatest natural resource, which are our people. Education is where I want to start. Although we passed a wonderful funding bill, it’s still woefully underfunded and we can do better.

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. Pattison 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 priorities as state representative will be:

Education – from cradle to career and everything in between.

Illinois needs a long-term plan to educate its citizens from early childhood through college or vocational training. Research shows that providing a quality education for children before they turn five leads to impressive long-term benefits, not just to the child but to society. Children enrolled in quality preschool programs ultimately earn up to $2,000 more per month than those not so enrolled. Kids who start on the right foot with pre-school are more likely to graduate from high school and own homes, are less likely to repeat grades, need access to special education or get into trouble with the law.

We also must reinvest in our public higher education institutions which were devastated in during the budget stalemate and which still have not recovered. I also want to work on a systematic vocational training program in high schools that will train young people who choose a path other than college for good-paying jobs of the future, like those in clean energy, that do not necessarily require a college education.

Government can and should be in the business of investing in people – investments in education don’t just serve individuals, they also make good economic sense and will put Illinois on a path to developing a vibrant workforce and economy and to Illinois being seen as a destination state for both business and individuals.

Job creation and vocational training

Consistent with education, we also need to invest in programs for people to develop the skills necessary to make it in an ever-changing work world. We need people to have the tools, not just to survive, but to thrive in the new economy. This means streamlining training for jobs like those created by the Future Energy Jobs Act. I will aggressively work to educate my constituents about job training opportunities and vocational training for good paying jobs that they tell me they need.

Passing an infrastructure bill in Illinois

As state representative, it will be one of my top priorities to reach across the aisle and out to colleagues from rural parts of the state to build consensus to pass an infrastructure bill. Consistent with my other top priorities, an infrastructure bill will kill multiple birds with one stone by beginning to repair Illinois’ crumbling infrastructure, spurring economic development and creating good-paying jobs.

Alyx S. Pattison

Running for: Illinois House of Representatives 4th district

Political/civic background: Campaign staffer and Congressional Aide to Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. Former Local School Council Member and tutor, Jose de Diego Community Academy, Wicker Park (a CPS neighborhood school), Former Commissioner, Cook County Commission on Women’s Issues.

Occupation: Attorney, small business owner.

Education: BA Political Science, BA Communications, University of Utah. JD Northwestern University School of Law.

Campaign website: alyxpattison.org

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: I recognize that your question wants some unique answer that’s specific to the 4^th district, but I’m running to represent them and as I go door to door the themes about what they need are very clear – across neighborhoods they are:

Education

Job creation

A stop to violence and crime

And, most people I talk to agree that if we can address the first two, it will go a long way in addressing the third. The 4th District’s needs, as communicated to me, are not particularly “specific” they want what most Illinois families want – a great education for their kids, a solid economy with jobs that pay a living wage, and safety and security in their neighborhoods.

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: Yes, I support re-amortizing Illinois’ pension debt. But, I do believe that an agreement to do that must be part of a larger package that includes fixes to Illinois’ revenue issues. Re-amortizing the pension debt would make the debt payments manageable and predictable. It would put Illinois on a path to fiscal stability. That stability and predictability is something that both Illinois residents and businesses would find appealing and comforting and would go a long way in revitalizing our economy and putting the faith of the people back in their government.

As a legal matter, I don’t believe there is a constitutional amendment that could “reduce” our current pension debt – the Supreme Court of Illinois has spoken. Pursuant to our state’s pension protection clause which states that pension contracts “shall be an enforceable contractual relationship” and which provides that the benefits of those contracts “shall not be diminished or impaired” we are on the hook for those contracts entered into by the state with their public-sector workers while that amendment has been in effect. While an amendment to the Constitution may change the way pension debt is incurred on a going forward basis, it would do nothing to change the state’s current obligations.

Also, I would oppose efforts to amend the Constitution prospectively – it took years of litigation for the state to be held to its contractual obligations. The whole debacle demonstrated that were it not for the pension protection clause, contracts with workers would be meaningless paper tigers. Illinois has demonstrated that without being constitutionally obligated to pay workers what they owe under the contracts they entered into they wouldn’t do it. So, in my opinion, we need the pension protection provision.

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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: I favor an increase in the state minimum wage to $15. In Illinois, 41% of workers make less than $15 per hour. At just $8.25 per house, the current minimum wage in Illinois leaves a mother with two children living in poverty even if she works full time. A raise to $15 would make a big difference for working people struggling to support themselves and their families. And, as a matter of dignity, anybody worker full-time should be able to take care of the basics for their family without turning to public or charitable assistance to get by.

Moreover, women and people of color, would gain disproportionately from a raise in the wage. More than 6 in 10 minimum wage workers in Illinois are women. And, while 35% of white workers in Illinois make under $15 an hour, more than 60% of Latino workers and 50% of black workers are paid such low wages. Raising the minimum wage would not only begin to address economic inequality due to race and gender discrimination, it would also help to close the wage gender gap.

TOPIC: Marijuana

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

ANSWER: Yes, I believe recreational marijuana should be legalized in Illinois.

With so many real problems facing Illinois, it’s time to stop wasting energy and resources on the enforcement of our outdated marijuana laws. Polls show that two-thirds of the people of Illinois think recreational marijuana use should be legalized then taxed and regulated like alcohol. So why are our state laws so out of touch with the will of the people? Other states have found that smart, well-administered marijuana legalization programs can protect public safety while simultaneously creating an important new source of tax revenues. In fact, one analysis estimates that making recreational marijuana legal in Illinois could bring in up to $700 million in state sales and excise taxes each year.

TOPIC: Casinos

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

ANSWER: I believe casinos would be a great way to boost and promote Chicago and Illinois as tourism destinations. Also, casino expansion would create much needed construction jobs, followed by permanent jobs, and boost tourism-related revenue for both state and local coffers. Casinos would also create the sort of “spin-off” revenue we need in cash-strapped cities across Illinois – via dining, drinking, shopping, entertainment and hotel taxes.

I support allowing currently licensed racing facilities to expand into more traditional casino gambling.

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: Consistent with my top priorities, specifically education, I could not support a property tax freeze. According to the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, even just a modest two-year freeze like the one passed by the state senate in 2017 would devastate education by cutting between $430 million and $830 million from K-12 education by the close of 2019 at a time when we should be investing more in education, not less.

That said, I would be willing to revisit the topic in the larger context of right-sizing and expanding Illinois’ revenue base. What Governor Rauner’s demand to freeze the property tax demonstrates is that we are too heavily and overly reliant on the property tax. We need to change the revenue structure in Illinois and take pressure off property taxes. In other words, if revenue is coming from new and additional sources such as a sales tax on services, legalized pot, casinos, closing the carried interest loophole, and after passage of constitutional amendments that allow for a progressive income tax and the so-called “millionaire tax” – then I’d be amenable to talking about a freeze on property taxes.

Additionally, I would be very interested in devising some kind of formula that could pass constitutional muster to protect some very limited city residents from huge and unpredictable property tax increases due to rapid gentrification. This is the only “freeze” I would be open to discussing.

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: Illinois should spend more on schools and the money should come from a number of sources including:

Legalized marijuana revenue

Closing the carried interest loophole so hedge fund managers pay their fair share

Casino expansion (and the associated spin-off tax revenue)

A millionaire’s tax amendment

A progressive income tax amendment

Expanded sales tax on services

Eliminating ineffective corporate tax breaks that cannot demonstrate a corresponding “public good.”

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: Truthfully, I have no idea how policymakers should address the opioid crisis. Your question prompted me to do some research on the issue and there’s no clear consensus that I could find from any source. Whether they be medical officials or policy makers, nobody seems to have a thorough well-researched plan to address the issue and I won’t pretend to have or know the answers.

That said, I think that any smart comprehensive approach to the issue should recognize some basic truths: 1) we must treat those already addicted while also addressing the prevention of additional addictions; 2) the issue of drug addiction is a public health issue, not a criminal justice issue – we have to stop treating addicts as criminals. This should be true whether their drug of choice is an opioid or crack cocaine; 3) we have to educate medical professionals, kids and adults about the dangers of drug addiction. This includes building awareness among medical professionals that they are targets for aggressive marketing by pharmaceutical companies which appears to have played a role in starting the crisis; 4) we must create treatment programs that rather than sending people to jail – which is likely to be far cheaper anyway; and 5) we must investigate allegations that pharmaceutical companies have intentionally pushed opioid use in order to boost profits. And, to the extent it’s true enact laws that criminalize such behavior – how is it any different to pedal fentanyl than crack for profit? Being a big company and pushing drugs for profit is fundamentally no different than being a street hustler who pushes drugs for profit. After all, we’ve seen this before with cigarettes.

TOPIC: Guns

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

ANSWER: Yes, it seems to me the only reason to silence a gun is to get away with shooting it when you shouldn’t be.

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

ANSWER: Yes. Licensing and regulating all gun dealers is the only way to even begin to control illegal gun trafficking on the secondary market.

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. If a person is a danger to themselves or others they should not have access to a firearm.

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: The first thing I would do is ensure that insurance providers are being reimbursed at a rate sufficient to keep them in the program. I worry that Governor Rauner’s recent “overhaul” of Medicaid is intended to kill the program from within by lowballing reimbursement rates to the point that providers will jump ship.

Yes, I support continued Medicaid expansion under the ACA.

Whether we like it or not, it appears that Governor Rauner has unilaterally expanded the number of Illinoisans in managed care. In my view, we should stop any additional expansion until this move is evaluated and a cost benefit analysis conducted which includes an assessment of the impact to health and health outcomes for the people receiving the care.

Finally, I support single-payer healthcare at the federal level. But, until then, would support permitting people to buy into Medicaid.

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: A number of steps have to be taken to keep Illinois’ best and brightest in Illinois:

First, just reduce the cost of tuition. The Illinois Board of Higher Education has said that eliminating the net loss of students by decreasing the cost of tuition would result in more than $215 million in additional tuition and fee revenue to Illinois universities alone.

I also support HB 230 which calls for guaranteeing admission into the state university system if students graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class and meet the ACT benchmark for college readiness. This would help fix the brain drain that Illinois should be working to stop.

I also support a second proposal, HB 145 which calls for loan forgiveness for students who attend state universities. If they live and work in Illinois for four years after graduating from school and maintain a high GPA while in college. As tends to happen with young people, they establish roots where they are and this would lead to keeping our bright Illinois educated students in Illinois by keeping them in Illinois in the formative years right after college.

I would also increase MAP grants so young people who need financial aid can get the resources they need to go to college.

I do not believe Illinois has too many public universities. This is a large and diverse state. We will keep more of Illinois’ brightest minds in Illinois if they can save money by living at home or in regions of the state with costs of living that facilitate student well-being and access to a college education.

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: Agree with:

Rauner’s support for HB 40 and a woman’s right to choose regardless of income or employer.

Rauner’s support for the Future Energy Jobs Act.

Rauner’s support for outlawing “gay panic defense” for crimes against people in the LGBTQ community and the bill which made it easier for transgendered individuals to amend their birth certificate to conform with their gender identity.

Disagree with:

Rauner’s misguided belief that labor unions should be destroyed and dismantled.

Rauner’s ridiculous statement that the budget impasse caused no real problems – which reflects an executive who’s delusional about the real-world impact of government on actual living breathing people who deserve to be invested in rather than left behind.

Rauner’s recent veto of HB1424 which killed the Community Care Program.