Election 2012: Richard Rudd

Name: Richard Rudd

Position Sought: Representative of the 54th district

Campaign contact information: 847-358-7862, Email : info@richrudd.com, Website : www.richrudd.com, Facebook :richrudd2012

Age and birthdate: 52 - October 22, 1959

Family: My wife Dianna, 3 sons: Joseph 24, James 22, Jonathan 18

Education: Lane Technical High School

Occupation: Carpenter

Political Party: Democrat

Official name of your campaign committee: Citizens for Rudd

Is there any additional experience you believe qualifies you for the position?: I have worked hard in hard jobs, I have felt every recession, If  I don't work I don't get paid. We need people in elective office that can relate to this. I’m an average guy that can relate to the struggles that the residence of our district are facing. When elected I will fight to maintain the middle class and protect the opportunities’ afford us for our children. 

What would your priorities be if elected to this office?: The number one issue in Illinois is the creation of good paying jobs. Both the tax and spending policies of Illinois affect job creation.  Careful analysis of these issues are paramount. If Illinois overall tax burden is higher than Wisconsin or Indiana business will move to a location that is cheaper to do business thus maximizing their profit. If businesses leave Illinois we lose jobs. This has to stop. This is no different than individuals driving across county lines in search of cheaper sales taxes. When elected my number one priority will be the creation of good paying jobs in our district.

Illinois’ state government has a terrible reputation in terms of corruption. What would you do to change the culture of state government that has seen recent governors from both political parties convicted of felonies?

 Government needs to become more transparent at every level.  More records need to be open to the public.   Contracts need to be open to bidding and results of the bids should be posted.   No bid contracts should be few and the reason for not opening up to bid needs to be justified. This is just one example.  
Minutes to meetings of public officials at all levels should be available on-line. With the leaps in technology information is easier to transfer. When we all know about what is happening in government it is harder to have the corruption go on and if someone is so brazed  we should have no tolerances after what has gone on in this state. If you are found guilty of corruption you should lose any state benefits  and be prosecuted.

Funding education primarily through local property taxes is a system that will be coming to an end. The problem with this system is that your property tax doesn’t have anything to do with your income.  Seniors who live on a fixed income can’t afford to continue to see their property tax’s increase exponentially. Working people can’t afford their increases either. This system is forcing people out of their homes and that’s wrong. When elected I will support finding a better way to fund the educational system.

Education in Illinois is funded primarily through local property taxes. What changes, if any, would make to that funding system?: 

 
Illinois has nearly 7,000 local governments, more than any other state.   Illinois has to scale back its government. The taxpayer can’t afford to keep on paying for endless layers of governmental employee’s. It’s absolutely outrages’ that Illinois holds this distinction. It will be my personal goal to reduce the number of governmental unit’s in Illinois. When elected I will support the elimination of township government, the consolidation of elementary school districts into their respective high school districts and aggressively eliminate all of the special districts category of government.

Illinois’ unfunded pension liability is $83 billion. The state’s inability to address the issue recently led Moody’s to downgrade Illinois’ credit rating. What should be done to address the state’s rising pension obligations?: 

The state of Illinois’ unfunded pension liability stands at around $83 billion. Some legislators want current public sector workers to pay more toward their retirements going forward. Others support a 401Ktype plan. The unions say the state should raise taxes and catch up on what it owes.

The pension is issue complex.   The problem of the state not fully funding the pensions is one factor.  Other contributing factors are: 1) the poor returns on investments and the market crashes have caused the plans to not have the projected funds and, 2) people are living longer and this means more pressure on the available funds – I am not an actuarial – but I understand that if I live until 89 instead of 78 – my pension will have paid me more money than was planned on.   

I understand that teachers, police, fire fighter and other state employees have contributed to their pensions throughout their careers.  I appreciate the service of these people and I want to see them treated fairly.  Teachers are not to blame for the current problems but we all –public and private sector employees – have seen our pensions, 401(k)s and other investments (real estate) suffer losses which effects our ability to retire.  

Everyone is going to have to compromise. The state has already raised the income tax rate which is supposedly to be only for a short term. This is a lie; the income tax rate is never going to be rolled back.
The truth is Illinois can’t afford to do it and the income tax increase will be made permanent. It’s time for the current public sector workers to pay more and all new hires be placed into a defined contribution plan.

  When elected I will protect the taxpayer’s money and work for a compromise that all of the stake holders can live with.

Why would you do a better job representing the district than your opponent? If you are running unopposed, please just share why you are qualified for the position.: 

I am running because I think that our current State Representative views our out of touch with the majority of voters in the district. The number one issue that I believe needs to be address is the creation of good paying full time jobs PPP with benefits. I believe that medium and small businesses are the number one creator of the jobs that our district lacks.  

I also believe that government has a roll in creation of good paying jobs through job creation bills. Our district has not seen the benefits of good paying jobs through our current State Representative activities. This past legislative assembly our current State Representative voted against the job creation bill that even the Illinois State Chamber supported. He doesn’t care about creating jobs and that’s wrong.  When elected I will support legislation that encourages good paying jobs. I believe in protecting our public educational system. We all know of the problems we are facing. Our educational system is under attack due to no fault of the teachers. I believe that the Northwest suburbs have the best teachers in the State and it’s imperative to protect this. My opponent doesn’t want to protect this. He believes in school choice, vouchers, and possibly charter schools. This is wrong.

When I’m elected I will stand with our children for their future. I am pro-choice.  I believe that this issue was solved many years ago through the court system. Whether you agree with me or not that fact is Roe v Wade is the law of the land. My opponent is pro – life. He is an extremist when it comes to this issue. He will not compromise. He continues to fright for his beliefs which is out of touch with the majority of voters in our district. When elected I will stand to protect women’s health care issues.