Democratic candidate for Illinois House in the 28th District: Robert ‘Bob’ Rita

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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. Robert ‘Bob’ Rita 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: With Donald Trump and Bruce Rauner determined to destroy the middle class and targeting working families in favor of corporate elites, I’m committed to fighting for working families:

• Affordable healthcare for every family in Illinois. I voted for state-level protections to ensure no person is denied care because they have a pre-existing condition.
• A fair and living wage. I voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour to support hard-working families.
• Growing the economy. I voted to reduce LLC fees to help small startup businesses.
• World-class public education. I supported historic education funding reform and will continue to push for more funding for our schools. A millionaire’s tax is one way we can support our schools and ensure the rich pay their fair share to help build a stronger future for our state.
• Safer communities. I’ve fought to ban military-style assault rifles, require universal background checks and put commonsense licensing requirements on gun dealers to make our streets safer.
• Gang crime. We need safer streets. I’ve supported harsh penalties for gang crimes and reasonable limits to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.
• More economic opportunities. I’ve worked hard to secure millions of state dollars for communities in my district to rebuild bridges that were creating painful divides, and to spur job growth through other infrastructure investments. I’m also chairman of the House Business and Occupational Licenses Committee, where we ensure professions are properly licensed – creating jobs with the proper protections for workers and the people they serve.

Robert “Bob” Rita

Legislative District: 28th District

Political/civic background: State Representative Since 2003

Occupation: Full-Time State Representative

Education: Governors State University

Campaign website:

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: When going door to door and engaging with local families and residents in my district I hear concerns of public safety particularly gun violence and crime, high property taxes, and opportunities for good paying jobs. I am committed to prioritizing these issues in my legislative agenda as state representative.

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: Pensions are a promise to workers that the benefits they earn will be there tomorrow. But we have to do more to make sure we can fund those promises without bankrupting our state. I’ve voted to create a Tier 2 pension system and Tier 3 system for new hires to save tax dollars. I want to work with organized labor and taxpayer advocates to find new, innovative and constitutional ways to reduce our crushing pension debt that protects workers, retirees and taxpayers.

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: Hardworking families across Illinois are working 40 or more hours a week and even picking up 2 or 3 jobs and still living in poverty and I believe that is a problem, which is why I voted to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour while providing tax credits that will help small and medium-sized business pay a fair wage.

TOPIC: Pot

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

ANSWER: I am open to discussing and reviewing more information about the positive impacts of legalizing recreational marijuana in Illinois, I would need to see a concrete plan before I can make a decision on legalization.

TOPIC: Casinos

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

ANSWER: I believe gaming is an important part of Illinois’ economic, and smart, reasonable expansion would have many benefits for our state. I have long supported a casino for the south suburbs and city of Chicago. As a lead negotiator on gaming, I will again work in 2018 with the stakeholders to find ways to generate more revenue and create jobs from gaming that can help fund our schools, expand health care, improve our roads or support other crucial services and programs.

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: Property taxes are too high, in my district and around Illinois. I’ve repeatedly voted for a four-year property tax freeze and even to cut property taxes for all middle-class families, seniors and veterans through targeted exemption increases. The governor should meet us halfway and help reduce the burden of property taxes.

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 voted to fix Illinois’ broken education funding formula to help ensure our schools and students are receiving the necessary resources to succeed. Now that we have a new funding infrastructure in place I believe it’s time to increase our investment in education and our students. I voted to pass a millionaire’s tax that asked the very wealthy to pay a little more, so we could provide an additional billion dollars every year for our schools. I will continue fighting to ask millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share, so we can invest in our state’s education system and provide our children with a world-class education.

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: We’ve seen a detrimental increase in opioid abuse in Illinois and it is clear a comprehensive approach must be taken to combat heroin and opioid addictions. Implementing programs to help individuals struggling with addiction, reinvesting in our communities to help create good-paying jobs so residents don’t feel the need to abuse drugs to help cope with their realities, and also work to reduce the amount of opioids prescribed to patients are measures that I support in addressing the opioid crisis in our state. In addition, I believe it is important to work with law enforcement and the medical community to reduce the amount of prescription opioid that fall into the wrong the hands.

Legislation I have backed to combat the heroin and opioid epidemic includes:

• House Bill 1, also known as the Heroin Crisis Act. This legislation expands access to the lifesaving overdose prevention medication Naloxone, train first responders in dealing with an overdose, and expand access to treatment.
• House Bill 3161 will create a website containing comprehensive information to help parents and educators have informed, honest discussions with young people about the dangers of heroin, opioids and other drugs.
• Senate Bill 1701 extends the “Good Samaritan” law that allows individuals who are overdosing or helping someone who is overdosing to receive medical treatment without fear from arrest.
• House Bill 3219 requires highly addictive prescription drugs to be contained in locked bottles.

TOPIC: Guns

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

ANSWER: Yes. Everyday lives are being lost to gun violence across the Chicagoland area all while extreme NRA and Republican politicians’ are trying to push through legislation that will make it easier for dangerous criminals to have guns in our community without us knowing it.

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

ANSWER: Yes. Businesses that sell dangerous firearms should be held to the same standards as businesses that sell alcohol and tobacco, car dealerships, real estate agents, and even beauty salons. It is unacceptable that the extreme National Rifle Association and their Republican allies are standing in the way of the most basic regulations. I support a ban on military-style assault weapons and requiring gun shop owners to run a full background checks, crackdown on straw purchases, and increase security at gun shops.

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. Family members are often the first to see the warning signs of crime and self-harm before a tragedy occurs. They need to be empowered to take action on behalf of their loved ones and our communities to help save innocent lives.

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: Building a strong Medicaid system is absolutely necessary to ensuring everyone in our communities has access to high-quality, affordable medical care. I believe quality health care is a fundamental human right and I am committed to help ensure Illinois residents have access to quality and affordable health care. It is important that in Illinois we fight against Donald Trump’s extreme cuts to our health care and Bruce Rauner’s scheme to privatize Medicaid which is nothing more than a handout to insurance companies at a cost to taxpayers that the administration cannot accurately account for. I refuse to allow less access to health and higher premiums for Illinois families. I voted to require Rauner’s administration to send their plan through the state’s transparent procurement process to help create accountability and transparency in the administration, but also ensure there is discussion and oversight for any plan effecting health care for Illinois residents and families. I believe implementing a state level public health care option should be a priority. This would help to ensure all residents have access to affordable, lifesaving care while also strengthening the state’s Medicaid system and provide an alternative to for-profit insurance companies that make billions every year by raising our premiums and denying care.

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: Unfortunately, Bruce Governor’s budget crisis which lasted more than 700 days resulted in drastic funding cuts to higher education institutions and caused uncertainty for many of Illinois’ promising young people who were considering a higher education in Illinois. I believe we should be investing in our youth and building a strong workforce to compete in a global economy which is why I worked with both Democrats and Republicans to end Rauner’s budget crisis and restore critical funding to our colleges and universities. Going forward I believe Illinois needs to be competitive for students and at a time when student debt crisis is growing. We need to make college more affordable and debt-free, and I voted for a plan that would make college in Illinois debt-free for any student who earns a B-average or better.

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.

Gov. Rauner was elected on a platform of Shaking Up Springfield. Three years later, Illinois is shaken from his approach to governing. He talks at the Legislature, not with us. He talks of compromise and of bringing together Democrats and Republicans, and then demonizes working people and the legislators who represent them. I believe we can work together and get things done for people. Gov. Rauner says he’s for reducing property taxes, helping improve the business climate and reforming government. I agree we need property tax relief, more jobs, workers’ compensation and pension reforms, and local government consolidation. My Democratic colleagues and I have voted for all of those items, and each time, the governor has said no.

Donald Trump and Bruce Rauner put politics over policy, and pit the rich versus the rest of us. We can work together, but we will not hold the budget hostage to help the wealthy, or strip coverage and opportunities from working families, or support a corporate agenda that boosts company profits at workers’ expense. Illinois should be a land of great opportunity, and I’m ready to work with the governor if he’s willing to find solutions instead of creating more problems.