News

Simon meets with Herald Tribune board

Posted August 03, 2016 11:00 pm

By Staff Report

With the November 8 general election approaching, former Illinois lieutenant governor and 58th District State Senate candidate Sheila Simon sat down with the Herald Tribune's editorial board in Chester on Tuesday.

Simon's visit (which was previously scheduled) came four days after her opponent, Republican Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo), held a news conference at Knight Hawk Coal's Prairie Eagle mine to express his support for coal.

During her visit, Simon spoke on several topics, including those she has been speaking regularly about on the campaign trail.

"No. 1, getting our fair share of state school funding," Simon said. "It's distributed so unevenly and so based on 'If you live in a wealthy community, your kids are going to be well-educated.'

"I think we really need to move toward a model that says 'What are the needs of the kids and let's distribute the money that way.

"It makes a lot more sense to me and seems more fair to people across the state of Illinois.

Simon noted that her second point involved workers' right to organize on the job, which she said is being "threatened by the governor."

"I very much disagree with his pursuing a right-to-work policy for the state," Simon said.

The third was "opportunity."

"Opportunity for folks in this area," she said. "For folks to go to be able to college, to have affordable public higher education, to have support for locally-owned entrepreneurs who want to either start up or expand their own business."

Simon credited the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Southern Illinois University for being a model of an organization that provides expertise and backup to people with great business ideas.

"They help fill in some of the blanks, get them to a business plan, get them to a point where they can make a decision 'Is this going to make a go of it? Is it not?," Simon said. "I think investment in that kind of economic development where people are rooted in the community is something that's going to pay off for us."

Simon noted that the most desparate need is for the legislature to pass a full-year budget and to do it next year on time.

"Businesses can accommodate lots of ups and downs," she said. "But they sure don't want to have uncertainty in terms of whether the state is going to pay on time.

"Whether the university (SIU) is going to continue to be funded. Those are such big uncertainties that that alone has caused a real standstill in the economy in Southern Illinois."

Herald Tribune Managing Editor Pete Spitler asked how higher education survives in the new economic reality.

"I think we have to reach back to years when the state provided more of a percentage of funding to colleges and universities," she said. "What we've been doing now is gradually, over many years, chipping away at that funding for both community colleges and the four-year universities.

"That means that their choice then to drive up tuition and more and more often, it means that if you're from a family of modest means and you can't tap into some scholarship resources, you're left out."

Simon said that in the future, more jobs will need some kind of college credential.

"We need to make sure that's not accessible to just people who have a lot of money to start off with," she said.

Spitler also asked Simon about a news release from Schimpf's campaign - which was emailed to the media after the Schimpf's appearance at Knight Hawk Coal - that alleged a "close association" between Simon and Democrats President Barack Obama and former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn.

"It is highly unlikely that Ms. Simon will receive much support from the coal, oil or gas industries, given her positions on energy and close association with President Obama and Pat Quinn," the release said.

"You might expect that we disagree," Simon said, after being read the statement. "First of all, I've already been endorsed by mineworkers' union, the United Mine Workers of America, and very I'm proud of that."

The UMWA, along with several other unions, are listed as "supporters" on Simon's website. In regard to the alleged connection to Obama, she said she is a supporter and "big fan" of the president, but there are differences.

"That doesn't necessarily mean I think everything he does fits for Southern Illinois," Simon said. "I'm interested in working closely with (State Rep.) John Bradley, (State Sen.) Andy Manar and other Democrats in the Illinois House and Senate who are working on ways to make sure that we can use as much Illinois coal as possible and use it cleanly.

"I think that's worth the investment."

Simon noted that a phrase that was often heard during the Great Recession was "too big to fail."

"There's a whole lot of that going on in terms of the coal industry in Southern Illinois," she said. "It's on a smaller scale, but for us, there's a whole lot that's too big to fail here."

Simon was asked her opinion on the future of job creation in Southern Illinois. She highlighted budget stability and better fiscal responsibility by the state as ways to accomplish that.

"Then we're going to be in a better position for people to say 'I can see that Illinois is moving in the right direction, I think I'm ready to instead of renting the house I'm living in, buy the house I'm living in," she said. "Instead of the business staying the same size, I'm ready to hire that one new employee.

"I think that small business level of economic development is really where the majority of job creation is at."

Simon was asked about Gov. Bruce Rauner's push to freeze property taxes in the state.

"Property taxes are really an unfair way to direct resources toward the government," she said. "A property tax doesn't care whether a business is having a great year or a rotten year.

"It's the property tax. If we could shift our emphasis from a property tax to a tax that did have something to do with your income, and have a different mix, I think we would be in a better position."

Lastly, Simon encouraged early voting in the election process.

"Early voting is something that gets easier all the time," she said. "People can vote by mail now and it's not too far away when it starts."

Article Categories
News