GOP candidate for Illinois House in the 46th District: Gordon (Jay) Kinzler

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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. Gordon (Jay) Kinzler 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: I will lower property taxes. We pay the highest property taxes in the U.S. I have lowered property taxes in local government.

I will repeal the income tax hike. Families are struggling to make ends meet. My opponent just raised income taxes on them by 32%.

I will support core services for those truly in need.

Term Limits.

End Madigan’s corrupt one-party system.

Gordon (Jay) Kinzler

Running for: Illinois House of Representatives 46th district

Political/civic background: Colonel U.S. Army Reserve, Previous President of Elmhurst Hospital Medical Staff, Previous President of Glen Ellyn Park District Board

Occupation: Transplant Surgeon/Physician

Education:Loyola Stritch School of Medicine

Campaign website: KinzlerforIllinois.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: Lower property taxes

Lower Income taxes

Term Limits

Support core Services

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: All new and recent employees in 401 K plans.

Increase age when eligible except with police and fire.

Change the yearly cost of living increase to CPI from the current 3%.

Intend to make good on promises made unless money runs out and state becomes financially insolvent.

Taxpayers need to be treated fairly and not driven out of the state by the costs of unfunded and unrealistic pension promises.

In favor of a constitutional amendment that allows:

All new and recent employees in 401 K plans.

Increase age when eligible except with police and fire.

Change the yearly cost of living increase to CPI.

Intend to make good on promises made unless money runs out and state becomes financially insolvent.

RELATED ARTICLES: Gordon Jay Kinzler

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?

ANSWER: No. Increasing minimum wage destroys jobs. Best way to increases workers wages is to reduce taxes and allow small businesses to thrive. Example is after the recent federal tax decrease many workers received wage increases and bonuses. Competition for workers in a growing economy raises wages naturally and further stimulates the economy.

TOPIC: Marijuana

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

ANSWER: No. It is a gate way drug. It does not have a net positive effect on society. Not opposed to medical use if indicated. I am not in favor of severe criminal penalties for use.

TOPIC: Casinos

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

I would not oppose but would not count on them to increase state revenue. They may have an entertainment and tourist value but could also be detrimental to compulsive gamblers.

On racinos: Same as above.

CHECK OUT THE CANDIDATES IN THE SUN-TIMES 2018 ILLINOIS PRIMARY VOTING GUIDE

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: Not only would I freeze property taxes but I would reduce them. It is not that hard to do. I have done it. I would work toward a 1 % of a home’s value property tax cap, which is the average in the US. In Illinois some home owners are paying more in property taxes than their mortgage payments. Those retired can’t afford to stay in the home they rose their families in. It’s not right.

With the rate people are fleeing Illinois we will have a difficult time supporting core services and pension obligations. If we lower property taxes, more people can afford to stay in Illinois resulting in more net revenue. More net revenue allows us to support those truly in need. Also, lower property taxes have been shown to increase home values. Homes are most people’s nest egg.

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: The education funding bill recently approved is flawed. It allows Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to get the same or more money compared to a previous year even if there are fewer students enrolled. It unfairly deploys resources from the suburban schools to the CPS.

Schools don’t need more money. Schools need to deliver better quality education. There needs to be consolidation of administration, competition with private schools, more parental involvement, and elimination of corruption. (Recent gift card scandal in CPS)

TOPIC: Opioids

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: Huge and growing problem. 99 people die of opioid overdose per day in US. Growing in DuPage county. We have developed an opioid task force at Elmhurst Hospital. I have been educating our local community groups about our program. Awareness, Education, intervention, alternative therapies, family and community support and follow up are all essential ingredients to reducing and hopefully eliminating the opioid problem.

TOPIC: Guns

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

ANSWER: Silencers are not the main problem related to gun issues. Reducing the sound, a gun makes can reduce hearing loss for sportsmen. Not sure of the benefit to restrict them. Gun still makes a loud noise with them.

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

ANSWER: Yes, I think there needs to be reasonable checks to make sure guns cannot be purchased by those who will do harm to others with them.

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, I don’t think the emotionally or mentally disturbed should even have guns.

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?

ANSWER: More than 25 % of Illinoisans have Medicaid. That is too many for state taxpayers to afford to support. We need to reduce the expansion of Medicaid and limit it to those who truly need it. Should everyone be permitted to buy into Medicaid?

On Medicaid expansion: No. Many are abusing the system.

On managed care for Medicaid beneficiaries: Managed care done efficiently may increase quality and reduce costs in the long run. But has to be done right.

Should everyone be permitted to buy into Medicaid? Everyone should have access to healthcare. Medicaid should be for those who are truly in need and have no other alternative.

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: Give Illinois students a bigger discount compared students coming from out of state. Not give tax payer funded subsidizes to illegal immigrants but give them instead to the children of Illinois residents. Give in-state students a preference at our in-state schools like other states do for their students. After all, their parents have been paying Illinois taxes their whole life and should get a benefit of an affordable, quality education for their kids.

Does Illinois have too many state universities? I would have to look at the numbers of Illinois students who want to attend in Illinois but can not because others from out of state have taken the available spots. I would do a cost analysis of our state universities. Education of the next generation is the most important job we have to preserve our future.

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:

Try to reform the public pension systems.

Try to give tax relief to business and reduce regulations to retain and attract new businesses to Illinois.

Try to loosen the grip of Madigan’s corrupt one-party system which is destroying Illinois.

DISAGREE:

Making Illinois a Sanctuary State, violating federal laws and unfairly burdening Illinois tax payers with the huge costs.

Using money from the rest of the state to bail out the Chicago School System after corruption and bad decisions has made CPS close to insolvent. The redistribution of Illinois taxpayer money from the rest of the state to CPS will be to the detriment to the children outside of Chicago.

Supporting Taxpayer funded abortions for all 9 months of pregnancy on anybody who can travel to Illinois. An expense Illinois cannot afford to pay.