“Dead on arrival.” That’s how Gov. Quinn’s budget is being described. Despite a delay granted to him to propose his budget, despite universal control of state government operations within his party, and despite record debt, record unemployment, and a stagnant economy that has countless Illinoisans hurting, the governor calls for $3 billion in new spending and a 33 percent tax increase.
It is this kind of policy from the controlling Democrat party the past decade-plus that has helped put us in the financial straits we’re in as a state – essentially bankrupt.
So how do we get out of it?
First, this budget mess took years in the making and it will likely take more than one year to get out of it, but do you trust the same old Springfield Democrat to do it?
We should not have $3 billion in new spending. Freeze spending. We’re in a recession with people struggling day-to-day. We should not be spending any more (once again) than we take in.
It is a shame too that the governor singled out education for massive cuts if his tax increase isn’t approved. Meanwhile his majority party lets commonsense reforms to welfare, Medicaid, and state spending languish. Example: HB 4810 to require drug testing for welfare benefits failed in a Democratic-controlled House committee. And yet we test high school athletes for drugs.
It seems clear to me, and I hope thousands of voters across the state, that the one party Democrat controlled state government must end. All we have seen is failed ideas, excessive spending, and more taxes on our hard earned money, all while too many schools are failing students, our infrastructure is crumbling and we’ve not enacted real government reforms that put people’s faith back in the system.
I’m committed to working for sound policy that respects and prioritizes those that fund this government, the taxpayers.
For more perspective on the governor’s budget, see the following articles:
Associated Press: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5htoBBWAb5ILVe0HqQ1DGut3jWX-wD9EDCBQO0
The Journal-Gazette: http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2010/03/14/opinion/editorial/doc4b9afd24a8b8e969152350.txt
Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9ECMOJ00.htm
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Medical Malpractice Reform
As the healthcare debate rages nationally, the Illinois Supreme Court, conveniently just after the February 2 primary, sided with plaintiffs’ attorneys and against doctors and patients when they ruled that the state’s 2005 medical malpractice reform law was unconstitutional.
The Court opined that the law’s cap on non-economic damage awards (a.k.a “pain and suffering,” which are subjective lawsuit awards added onto awards for actual medical expenses or lost wages) in medical malpractice lawsuits violated the state constitution.
A copy of the Court’s decision (in Lebron v Gottlieb Memorial) can be found at the following link: http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/SupremeCourt/2010/February/105741.pdf
Prior to Illinois’ landmark reform law, the state’s medical liability system was in crisis, with no neurosurgeons south of Springfield, OB/GYN’s and other high-risk specialty doctors fleeing the state for fear of lawsuits and ever increasing medical malpractice insurance premiums.
Such reform laws work. In just two years after the reform law passed in Illinois, nearly 5,000 more doctors were licensed in the state, three new malpractice insurers began operating and malpractice rates from some insurers dropped anywhere from five to 30 percent.
In fact, the 2005 reform law is an excellent example of when the General Assembly works best: thoughtful, serious debate; a consideration of all key stakeholder opinions; and bipartisan passage of a bill that effectively solves a critical public policy issue (for the record, my general election opponent sided with trial lawyers and voted against the reform law).
Other states have seen similar success with comparable reforms, such as Ohio. Their 2003 law, which capped non-economic damage awards at $350,000 per plaintiff (with higher limits for catastrophic cases) has, according to the state’s Department of Insurance as summarized in a recent Columbus Dispatch editorial, caused the number of closed malpractice claims per year to fall 40 percent from 2005 to 2008 and “[B]ecause of the drop in claims, malpractice-insurance premiums have decreased by 22 percent over the past four years, and the number of companies offering malpractice insurance to doctors has increased from just a few to more than 15.” Ohio also has a requirement called an “affidavit of merit” to weed out baseless lawsuits. Find the full editorial via the following link (free registration may be required): http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/index_7.html
Unfortunately, we’re all human and errors, including medical errors, will occur in life. Nothing can take the pain away for families that suffer at the hands of a medical error, but there is a difference between an error due to malice, negligence or incompetence and a bad outcome in medicine.
A simple, proven, method to help contain our exploding healthcare costs would be to enact reasonable caps on non-economic damages. Additional measures I would support include strong deterrents for filing frivolous lawsuits (such as independent medical review of claims); medical malpractice specific courts, even on a pilot basis, given the complexities of some cases; and tougher disciplinary measures for doctors found to be grossly negligent, including stripping them of their license for repeat occurrences.
So, now it is ‘back to the drawing board’ for Illinois and likely a return to a crisis state when patients were threatened by a shortage of doctors and reduced availability of care.
The Court opined that the law’s cap on non-economic damage awards (a.k.a “pain and suffering,” which are subjective lawsuit awards added onto awards for actual medical expenses or lost wages) in medical malpractice lawsuits violated the state constitution.
A copy of the Court’s decision (in Lebron v Gottlieb Memorial) can be found at the following link: http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/SupremeCourt/2010/February/105741.pdf
Prior to Illinois’ landmark reform law, the state’s medical liability system was in crisis, with no neurosurgeons south of Springfield, OB/GYN’s and other high-risk specialty doctors fleeing the state for fear of lawsuits and ever increasing medical malpractice insurance premiums.
Such reform laws work. In just two years after the reform law passed in Illinois, nearly 5,000 more doctors were licensed in the state, three new malpractice insurers began operating and malpractice rates from some insurers dropped anywhere from five to 30 percent.
In fact, the 2005 reform law is an excellent example of when the General Assembly works best: thoughtful, serious debate; a consideration of all key stakeholder opinions; and bipartisan passage of a bill that effectively solves a critical public policy issue (for the record, my general election opponent sided with trial lawyers and voted against the reform law).
Other states have seen similar success with comparable reforms, such as Ohio. Their 2003 law, which capped non-economic damage awards at $350,000 per plaintiff (with higher limits for catastrophic cases) has, according to the state’s Department of Insurance as summarized in a recent Columbus Dispatch editorial, caused the number of closed malpractice claims per year to fall 40 percent from 2005 to 2008 and “[B]ecause of the drop in claims, malpractice-insurance premiums have decreased by 22 percent over the past four years, and the number of companies offering malpractice insurance to doctors has increased from just a few to more than 15.” Ohio also has a requirement called an “affidavit of merit” to weed out baseless lawsuits. Find the full editorial via the following link (free registration may be required): http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/index_7.html
Unfortunately, we’re all human and errors, including medical errors, will occur in life. Nothing can take the pain away for families that suffer at the hands of a medical error, but there is a difference between an error due to malice, negligence or incompetence and a bad outcome in medicine.
A simple, proven, method to help contain our exploding healthcare costs would be to enact reasonable caps on non-economic damages. Additional measures I would support include strong deterrents for filing frivolous lawsuits (such as independent medical review of claims); medical malpractice specific courts, even on a pilot basis, given the complexities of some cases; and tougher disciplinary measures for doctors found to be grossly negligent, including stripping them of their license for repeat occurrences.
So, now it is ‘back to the drawing board’ for Illinois and likely a return to a crisis state when patients were threatened by a shortage of doctors and reduced availability of care.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Education
Education is a cornerstone of a well-functioning nation and democracy. I have family and friends that are teachers. They are to be commended for their tireless work to help our children learn, often under difficult conditions and not enough in-classroom support.
However, too many schools are simply failing our children and it goes beyond simple tax formulas and money. Some teachers do not give their best effort and yet remain in their position for years. Some school districts are well above the state average in per pupil spending, but well below average in graduation rates and achievement. We must re-think our kindergarten through high school (K-12) system to be performance and results driven, period. But to get there:
• Parents must get more involved in, and given more choice over, their children’s school and curriculum. Vouchers for non-public schools, expansion of charter schools, etc. must be ‘on the table.’ If parents are more invested in their child’s school, they will be more invested in their child’s educational performance.
• Patronage havens of bureaucracy like the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education, where the chief was arrested on theft charges (see SouthtownStar editorial for more information: http://www.southtownstar.com/news/opinion/editorials/1991885,011510edit.article ) must be shut down. If a program or system doesn’t help children achieve in the classroom, it deserves the highest scrutiny for possible elimination.
• Principals and local school boards should be given more latitude to dismiss poorly- or under- performing teachers.
But we can’t put this all on a teacher’s back. If a child comes to school hungry, they cannot focus. If there are no jobs or career opportunities, young people will have little hope for a prosperous future an education can help them attain. If neighborhoods are unsafe and gang-ridden, children will fear just getting to and from school every day.
Improving our state’s education system can be done if we continue to push practices and policies that we know work for kids (as seen in test scores, graduation rates and the percentage of kids that go on to higher education) and eliminate those policies that are failing our children.
However, too many schools are simply failing our children and it goes beyond simple tax formulas and money. Some teachers do not give their best effort and yet remain in their position for years. Some school districts are well above the state average in per pupil spending, but well below average in graduation rates and achievement. We must re-think our kindergarten through high school (K-12) system to be performance and results driven, period. But to get there:
• Parents must get more involved in, and given more choice over, their children’s school and curriculum. Vouchers for non-public schools, expansion of charter schools, etc. must be ‘on the table.’ If parents are more invested in their child’s school, they will be more invested in their child’s educational performance.
• Patronage havens of bureaucracy like the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education, where the chief was arrested on theft charges (see SouthtownStar editorial for more information: http://www.southtownstar.com/news/opinion/editorials/1991885,011510edit.article ) must be shut down. If a program or system doesn’t help children achieve in the classroom, it deserves the highest scrutiny for possible elimination.
• Principals and local school boards should be given more latitude to dismiss poorly- or under- performing teachers.
But we can’t put this all on a teacher’s back. If a child comes to school hungry, they cannot focus. If there are no jobs or career opportunities, young people will have little hope for a prosperous future an education can help them attain. If neighborhoods are unsafe and gang-ridden, children will fear just getting to and from school every day.
Improving our state’s education system can be done if we continue to push practices and policies that we know work for kids (as seen in test scores, graduation rates and the percentage of kids that go on to higher education) and eliminate those policies that are failing our children.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Issue Focus: Life Issues
Two deeply personal stories have forever impacted my view on life issues: the infertility my wife and I experienced and my grandmother’s death from Alzheimer’s. And while the issues I chose to focus on are the same as thousands of voters I’ve met the past seven months: jobs/the economy, our tax and spending policy, and government reform; I would be doing a disservice to voters to not discuss my views on these critical issues.
Abortion
I am pro-life and, as I reflected upon the abortion issue as I embarked upon this journey for public office, I have always considered myself pro-life.
Abortion is principally a federal issue but in the areas where a state legislator can make an impact: I support parental notification and/or consent; I oppose late-term and partial birth abortions; and I oppose tax dollars being used to fund abortions.
I also oppose the “harvesting” of human embryos for embryonic stem-cell research, cloning or other such programs. I support ‘safe haven’ efforts and streamlining adoption to make it easier for couples to love and care for children. I would support added counseling services for women considering abortion. And if a mother’s life is at risk, with the wonderful medical technology we have today, all effort should be made to give that baby a chance to live in addition to saving the mother’s life.
But I do have empathy for people that face difficult choices as my wife and I spent more than five years of emotionally, mentally, spiritually and financially draining infertility treatments in an effort to bring life to our family, which has left me with a difficult and somewhat contradictory dilemma as I seek to be a legislator.
After years of heartache, we were blessed with the birth of our daughter in October 2007, and quickly surprised by the emergency birth of our son in February 2009 – 11 weeks premature (he is healthy and doing well).
But the fertility process has left us with cryogenically frozen embryos. We may still try to grow our family, but have not yet decided as there are health risks for my wife and other factors to consider. We will not donate the embryos to science or sell them.
So, I find it difficult to take moral and legal obligations away from a woman or couple as I’ve been confronted with from our infertility treatments. I also can empathize with the rape or incest arguments but as a wise man once told me, there is only one criminal in such a scenario and it is not the baby, who gets the death penalty while the rapist may only serve a few years in jail.
The best I can do is continue to be responsible for the things I need to be, not create a double-standard I don’t also live by, and continue to advocate for those things which I do support, which is promoting life and helping to reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions.
I hope you will keep my real life experience in mind as you evaluate this issue in consideration of my candidacy.
End of life care
I still miss my grandparents, who have all long since passed on. I haven’t visited them in a few years, but remember taking my fiancé to their graves to ‘meet’ her before we married.
My maternal grandmother suffered for years with Alzheimer’s before dying a shell of the woman she was. After struggling to care for her in our home (I slept in a sleeping bag on the floor for a while so she could have my bed), my parents could no longer care for her as they wanted, work and raise two young kids, so she moved into an area nursing home to live out her remaining days.
The critical point to end of life care is that people create wills and have explicit instructions on how they want to be cared for in their last remaining days. This helps remove governmental or court involvement in what is a private family matter. I do not believe government should be endorsing euthanasia (such as physician assisted suicide) or mandating artificial care if a patient does not want it.
As much as my grandmother’s ‘life’ was effectively over long before her physical and spiritual death, she still deserved care and love until those last remaining days and I would continue to advocate for the care of our fellow citizens until their natural death.
Abortion
I am pro-life and, as I reflected upon the abortion issue as I embarked upon this journey for public office, I have always considered myself pro-life.
Abortion is principally a federal issue but in the areas where a state legislator can make an impact: I support parental notification and/or consent; I oppose late-term and partial birth abortions; and I oppose tax dollars being used to fund abortions.
I also oppose the “harvesting” of human embryos for embryonic stem-cell research, cloning or other such programs. I support ‘safe haven’ efforts and streamlining adoption to make it easier for couples to love and care for children. I would support added counseling services for women considering abortion. And if a mother’s life is at risk, with the wonderful medical technology we have today, all effort should be made to give that baby a chance to live in addition to saving the mother’s life.
But I do have empathy for people that face difficult choices as my wife and I spent more than five years of emotionally, mentally, spiritually and financially draining infertility treatments in an effort to bring life to our family, which has left me with a difficult and somewhat contradictory dilemma as I seek to be a legislator.
After years of heartache, we were blessed with the birth of our daughter in October 2007, and quickly surprised by the emergency birth of our son in February 2009 – 11 weeks premature (he is healthy and doing well).
But the fertility process has left us with cryogenically frozen embryos. We may still try to grow our family, but have not yet decided as there are health risks for my wife and other factors to consider. We will not donate the embryos to science or sell them.
So, I find it difficult to take moral and legal obligations away from a woman or couple as I’ve been confronted with from our infertility treatments. I also can empathize with the rape or incest arguments but as a wise man once told me, there is only one criminal in such a scenario and it is not the baby, who gets the death penalty while the rapist may only serve a few years in jail.
The best I can do is continue to be responsible for the things I need to be, not create a double-standard I don’t also live by, and continue to advocate for those things which I do support, which is promoting life and helping to reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions.
I hope you will keep my real life experience in mind as you evaluate this issue in consideration of my candidacy.
End of life care
I still miss my grandparents, who have all long since passed on. I haven’t visited them in a few years, but remember taking my fiancé to their graves to ‘meet’ her before we married.
My maternal grandmother suffered for years with Alzheimer’s before dying a shell of the woman she was. After struggling to care for her in our home (I slept in a sleeping bag on the floor for a while so she could have my bed), my parents could no longer care for her as they wanted, work and raise two young kids, so she moved into an area nursing home to live out her remaining days.
The critical point to end of life care is that people create wills and have explicit instructions on how they want to be cared for in their last remaining days. This helps remove governmental or court involvement in what is a private family matter. I do not believe government should be endorsing euthanasia (such as physician assisted suicide) or mandating artificial care if a patient does not want it.
As much as my grandmother’s ‘life’ was effectively over long before her physical and spiritual death, she still deserved care and love until those last remaining days and I would continue to advocate for the care of our fellow citizens until their natural death.
If you missed Carol Marin's article about 19-year incumbent Rep. Burke's primary race, please take a read. One excerpt: ". . .'Which is why Burke is, for the first time, out knocking on doors and shaking hands. "At the last count, 1,787 hands," he said, adding he's never "had to run a campaign. We take this very seriously. And Speaker Madigan [recommended] that he get involved. I trust and defer to the experts.'"
I enjoy knocking on doors and meeting voters. Not sure my primary opponent does as she hasn't been seen and circulated exactly zero petitions herself, instead relying on known Chicago Democrat operatives.
Marin's full article at:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/marin/1969609,southwest-side-political-brawl-010210.article
I enjoy knocking on doors and meeting voters. Not sure my primary opponent does as she hasn't been seen and circulated exactly zero petitions herself, instead relying on known Chicago Democrat operatives.
Marin's full article at:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/marin/1969609,southwest-side-political-brawl-010210.article
Monday, December 28, 2009
The Chicago Tribune issued a "Call to Arms" in their recent editorial stating in part:
"And 2010 also needs to repudiate entrenched state and local lawmakers who have spent and borrowed Illinois into gooey morasses of debt just waiting to swallow our children and grandchildren." and
" Illinois needs results. We intend to live by that credo in an effort to rehab Illinois during 2010. In the months since those words appeared, Illinoisans have watched their politicians resist aggressive reforms, both to how Illinois is governed and to how state and county governments spend money: Many politicians have jealously protected their power while overcommitting taxpayers to more missions than we can afford. As a result, this state is impoverished in spirit. And it is too impoverished financially to pay its bills for services already delivered to the disabled, the sick, the most vulnerable among us. Yes, recklessly growing state government at double the rate of inflation for two decades has brought devastating consequences to Illinois."
I intend to stand on principle, oppose new taxes or borrowing on the backs of our children (the incumbent sponsored $3.5 billion in new borrowing this past session) and deliver results to build a better government and brighter future for Illinois. Read the Tribune's full editorial at the following link:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/chi-1227edit1dec27,0,5665098.story
"And 2010 also needs to repudiate entrenched state and local lawmakers who have spent and borrowed Illinois into gooey morasses of debt just waiting to swallow our children and grandchildren." and
" Illinois needs results. We intend to live by that credo in an effort to rehab Illinois during 2010. In the months since those words appeared, Illinoisans have watched their politicians resist aggressive reforms, both to how Illinois is governed and to how state and county governments spend money: Many politicians have jealously protected their power while overcommitting taxpayers to more missions than we can afford. As a result, this state is impoverished in spirit. And it is too impoverished financially to pay its bills for services already delivered to the disabled, the sick, the most vulnerable among us. Yes, recklessly growing state government at double the rate of inflation for two decades has brought devastating consequences to Illinois."
I intend to stand on principle, oppose new taxes or borrowing on the backs of our children (the incumbent sponsored $3.5 billion in new borrowing this past session) and deliver results to build a better government and brighter future for Illinois. Read the Tribune's full editorial at the following link:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/chi-1227edit1dec27,0,5665098.story
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Primary election-who's naughty and who's nice?
See the story linked below from SouthtownStar columnist and Illinois Review blog editor Fran Eaton about questionable primary opponents in the GOP field, including my race. As she reports: "When the candidates' petitions were circulated by union guys or county employees that live in the purely Democratic 19th Ward, that sounds suspicious." and "No one in Bremen or Orland Township Republican organizations has ever met or even heard of Junkas' GOP opponent..."
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/eaton/1942293,121609eatoncol.article
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/eaton/1942293,121609eatoncol.article
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