John Fritchey: Biography and Questionnaire

Interview

John Fritchey: Biography and questionnaire

QUESTIONNAIRE

1) Would you have voted in favor of the TARP legislation approved by Congress in 2008? Do you think Congress should approve a stimulus package this year? Please assess the competing proposals from the Obama administration and Democrats and Republicans in Congress. What should be the priority in a stimulus package, if you support one?

Ending America's economic crisis is my first priority, both as a State Representative and as a candidate for Congress. I believe government must intervene to restart growth, ease the pain as we ride out recession, and build new oversight to prevent future crises.

TARP: As pivotal financial institutions teeter, we need coordinated action to prevent a collapse of our economic system. I would have voted in favor of TARP, though I believe the Treasury Department should focus on neutralizing toxic assets rather than simply providing equity, as in the current Obama proposal and the original Paulson plan. I would have proposed stronger, enforceable oversight from the start, like the TARP Reform and Accountability Act that passed the House last month. TARP has already invested over $3 billion in Chicagoland institutions like Northern Trust, Discover and Wintrust Financial Corporation. These investments can have tremendous impact, but only if we make sure recipients use the emergency funding to increase overall liquidity, instead of hoarding capital. I have always dedicated myself to stronger oversight of lenders- in 2005, I was a Chief Sponsor and negotiator of the PayDay Loan Reform Act, and was proud to receive an award from the Monsignor Egan Coalition for my efforts. We need that kind of citizen protection in Congress and throughout the entire financial services industry.

Stimulus: Yes, I support stimulus through tax cuts, benefits expansion and infrastructure spending. We should expand protections like heating assistance and unemployment benefits to struggling Americans, but the spending priority must be restarting overall economic growth. I agree with Republicans that we should streamline the current bill and prioritize the tax cuts that enter the economy fastest, but I also believe that benefits extension, investments in education like the $500M slated for Chicago Public Schools and near-term infrastructure projects are crucial growth measures. I was disappointed to see that only 60% of the funding in the current bill will enter the economy within 18 months, and I would have worked to increase that percentage. As with TARP, I believe aggressive accountability measures must be a much stronger priority of this program.

2) President Obama supports increasing U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan. Do you support a deeper U.S. involvement there, and toward what goal?

I support a troop increase that will neutralize the resurgent Taliban and allow Afghanistan's central government to strengthen. Last week President Karzai postponed Presidential elections due to security concerns, demonstrating the fragile position of the official government. While Afghan civilians mistrust the Taliban, they hesitate to support a government that cannot protect them. An additional troop deployment will establish stability and allow us to forge peace in this key region. The build-up must be targeted and temporary, with the goal of restoring short-term security while Afghan forces reach functional independence and the central government establishes control.

3) Should Congress expand government-funded health care to cover all citizens? How exactly should a government health care program be structured? Please explain what steps you would take to contain costs.

For 12 years in Springfield I have fought to improve health care in Illinois. I worked to extend coverage through FamilyCare and Community Care, passed legislation mandating that insurance companies cover needed cancer screening and sponsored an expansion of the Circuit Breaker program, which provides pharmaceutical assistance to struggling seniors. I look forward to contributing as our nation's highest offices take up this problem. I support comprehensive reform based on principles similar President Obama's: broaden coverage by expanding the existing system with added quality assurance, while using tax credits and cost containment to ensure all Americans have access to plans they can afford.

Expanded coverage: To guarantee universal eligibility, we must expand access to public programs, offer tax credits so that all Americans can buy into a private plan or public program, and use a combination of legislation and subsidies to stop insurance companies from turning away the hard-to-insure.

Cost containment: We can significantly reduce the overall cost of health care by changing our approach to chronic disease care, encouraging competition, and increasing technology use in all aspects of medical care.

We must emphasize preventative care and disease management to reduce chronic care costs, and also offset the cost to insurers of catastrophic care so that subscriber premiums do not inflate. It is important that we encourage competition in both the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. We will contain insurance costs by establishing a national exchange for consumers to choose among private and public options. Similarly, we can significantly reduce pharmaceutical costs by encouraging the use of generic drugs, allowing drug reimportation, and enabling all public program administrators to negotiate drug prices. In the long-term, the federal government must lead as we move toward electronic record keeping, which will eliminate waste throughout the medical system.

4) Give us your views on tax policy and entitlement spending. Should marginal tax rates be raised for people who earn more than $200,000 a year? Should the inheritance tax be abolished or extended? What difficult steps would you take to control the costs of Social Security and Medicare?

The American people have invested unprecedented sums in economic recovery. We must be more careful than ever with taxes, new spending and reform of the existing budget. My record as a cautious manager of taxpayer funds has made me one of Chicago's most fiscally conservative legislators. I will continue to demand fairness, responsibility and accountability in all taxes and in all spending.

Tax rates for higher income Americans: The Bush administration's temporary tax cuts aggravated our nation's wealth gap, and did little to stimulate the overall economy. The pace of recovery will determine whether or not we can responsibly legislate to end those taxes now, but we must allow them to expire as planned in 2011. This will raise the marginal tax rates for those earning more than $200,000 a year, returning them to the levels budgeted during the Clinton administration.

Inheritance tax: I have only seen one policy justification for continuing the inheritance tax: the government needs the money. Without a more defensible reasoning, the inheritance tax strikes me as unfair double taxation. I oppose immediate repeal due to the current economic situation, but I believe we should consider modifying or eventually ending this tax as a source of revenue. The lost funding will motivate a badly needed review of waste in current spending so that we do not need to accompany tax repeal with a roll-back of necessary services.

Entitlement spending: The American people have paid into Social Security and charged their government with the administration of Medicare. We must continue offering full benefits and follow through on the government's part of the entitlement bargain. I support moderately lifting the cap on payroll taxes for higher income Americans to fully fund Social Security. Medicare offers simpler options to save costs, since a reworking of Medicare Part D could enable large savings.

5) Whom did you support in the 2006 primary and general election for governor? Please explain the reasons for your support.

In 2006 I was an established opponent of then-Governor Blagojevich, and I went against my party's leadership by not supporting his bid. I did not see another viable option, so instead of endorsing in that race, I devoted myself to electing another competent, independent-minded leader to statewide office, Alexi Giannoulias -- even though it meant going against the candidate slated by the Democratic party of Illinois. In the years after Blagojevich's re-election I worked to circumvent gridlock and move our state forward. I passed the pay-to-play ban, cutting off Blagojevich's ability to raise funds for further re-election, and ultimately served on the Special Investigative committee that recommended his impeachment.

6) Do you support a constitutional amendment to allow voters to recall public officials? How would you have voted on the recall amendment that was approved in 2008 by the Illinois House? Please explain your thinking.

I have long been a vocal advocate for citizen empowerment, and as a general concept I fully support giving voters the ability to recall elected officials. Given my long-standing criticism of former Governor Blagojevich, many people may have been surprised to learn that I voted against putting a recall provision in the Constitution. As I said at the time, I was wary of changing the Constitution in an effort designed solely to expel one specific individual. As I explained, we already had a constitutional remedy, namely impeachment. It was for that reason that I began researching the impeachment issue in 2007. Ultimately, the full legislature also recognized impeachment as the most effective means to rid Illinois of Blagojevich, and we proceeded down that path.

7) Do you think the U.S. Senate should have accepted the appointment of Sen. Roland Burris by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to a vacancy in the U.S. Senate? Should the legislature have called a special election?

Yes, unfortunately the Senate had no responsible choice but to accept Burris's appointment. I vehemently opposed Blagojevich's decision to appoint, and I was disappointed by Burris' decision to accept. Still, the law must apply in all cases and we can change it only through constitutional paths. I absolutely support a law which replaces the appointment process with a special election. To that end, I had legislation pending in committee during the Burris appointment which would have created a special election, but that legislation was never called to a hearing.

8) Whom did you support in the 2006 primary and general election for president of the Cook County Board? Please explain your thinking.

In 2006 I enthusiastically supported Forrest Claypool in the democratic primary for County Board President. My endorsement for Forrest was based on our shared priorities of eliminating waste and patronage, and cleaning up government at every level.

In the general election, my involvement was limited to taping a PSA on behalf of the Stroger campaign on the importance of reining in property taxes. I also held a press conference where I was joined by Mike Quigley and Todd Stroger to announce legislation I drafted and introduced which would lower the threshold to override a veto by the County Board President -- a threshold which is the highest in the entire country. In a move that was disappointing though not surprising, Board President Stroger reneged on his support of my initiative after his election.

9) Should the 1-percentage-point increase in Cook County's portion of the sales tax be repealed?

Yes, I support repealing the County's 1% tax raise. This tax increase embodies two of Illinois' governments' most troublesome characteristics: radical mismanagement of taxpayer funds and complete disregard for the resources that belong to the people of this County and State. At such a difficult time for the families and businesses in our community, it is inexcusable to repeatedly introduce tax hikes and bond issuances without any effort to reduce waste in spending. This tax is especially troubling as much of my district is burdened by an additional sales tax which is used to pay off the MPEA bonding obligation. I have always fought on behalf of thoughtful budgetary policy. I led the fight to cap property tax increases, and in Congress I will continue working for responsible management of taxpayer funds.

10) Tell us: What have you done? What are your specific accomplishments in government or public service? What difference have you made?

I am running for Congress because I believe in the power and importance of public service. For 12 years, I have been a leader in the fight to make government more open and accountable, to represent the citizens' voice in decisions that impact their jobs and pocketbooks and to expand access to affordable health care. Thanks to my efforts, the DLC has twice named me one of its nationwide 100 Rising Stars to Watch, and IVI-IPO has recognized me with its Best Legislative Voting Record award.

Whenever government has betrayed the public interest, I have fought back and won against corruption and mismanagement. I have been Chief Sponsor of more than 25 ethics bills, including the 2008 pay-to-play ban that led to the unraveling of the Blagojevich administration, and the Ethics Act of 2003 - the most comprehensive ethics legislation in the history of state - which I worked on with then-State Senator Barack Obama.

I have always been a proactive legislator, and not simply a vote. My efforts have made a difference for children, seniors, homeowners, veterans, environmentalists and all others working for a better Illinois. I have long been a Chief Sponsor on HB750, tax swap legislation that will bring more equitable funding to Illinois' school, and I am proud of my accomplishments in the fight to cap skyrocketing property tax assessments. Together with then Rep. Tom Dart I initiated steps to regulate the PayDay loan industry, which ultimately led the PayDay Loan Reform Act of which I was a Chief Sponsor. I have a 100% environmental voting record, and I worked with then-Lt. Governor Pat Quinn to create the Illinois Right-to-Know bill, which informs homeowners of toxin activity in their neighborhoods.

While many Representatives wait for issues to come to them, I have been a hands-on legislator initiating work on diverse issues. I sponsored HB312 the Genocide Studies bill, which extends the Holocaust-teaching mandate to ensure that children throughout Illinois study modern acts of atrocity, as well as historic ones. Last year I led the effort to modify the ill-thought-out law creating a mandatory moment of silence in the schools. I also drafted the resolution that led to the Auditor General report of the CTA, which served as a backbone for the funding reform ultimately passed by the legislature.

I have dedicated my career to fighting on behalf of my constituents, in Springfield and beyond. 12 years ago I created the John Fritchey Youth Foundation, which continues to support sports and youth programs for children throughout my District. On the political front, I have consistently worked to empower local residents. I became the first independently elected democratic Committeeman in the 32nd ward in a century, and I helped elect an independent Alderman in the ward. As Committeeman, I have been an aggressive spokesperson for the message of good government and citizen involvement. Last November I was incredibly proud that the 32nd ward had one of the highest voter turnouts in the entire city of Chicago.

Now more than ever, constituents need a leader focused on the issues. The months ahead of us require smarter, harder working public service than we've had in a generation. I am running for Congress to offer that service and to take on that challenge.

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