QUINCY - WGEM TV, Quincy's NBC affiliate, hosted the only downstate debate between Governor Bruce Rauner and his Democrat challenger J.B. Pritzker Thursday night in Quincy, Illinois. It is their last scheduled public debate.
Opening statements from both candidates pointed to their overall goals if they were to be elected governor. Latest polls showed Pritzker 20 points ahead of Rauner, serving his first term as governor.
Rauner was asked by downstate reporters about the deaths at Quincy's Veteran Home, Pritzker defended his actions to repay over $300,000 in property taxes he evaded by removing toilets from the mansion next door. Rauner was attacked as a "failed governor," and Pritzker evaded once again lining out the rate scale for his progressive tax plan.
Rauner proposed expanding gambling and using public-private partnerships to raise revenue. Pritzker proposed expanding gambling, adding sports gambling, legalizing marijuana, changing the corrections system to raise revenue.
Summary of media questions, candidates' answers and evasions
Question: Gov. Rauner, a grand jury will hear evidence from the attorney general's office alleging your administration is criminally responsible for the deaths of victims of Legionnaire's Disease at the Veterans Home in Quincy. How do you respond?
Rauner: "The deaths were a terrible tragedy" he said, and then apologized to the families who lost loved ones. He said action was taken immediately. Loved ones were notified. "No one's perfect," he said, and that "we learned from what happened." Now the state is are replacing all the Veterans' home's plumbing. Our veterans deserve the very best, he said. As to Attorney General Lisa Madigan's investigation, the criminal accusations about those that died are "an abuse of power by the attorney general".
Pritzker: Gov Rauner tried to blame it on Duckworth, the weather and other foils. "It's our obligation to defend our vaterans and keep them safe," he said. He's now under a criminal probe. It's a shame."
Q to Pritzker: The governor has planned to keep the veteran's home in Quincy. Will you commit to that today?
Pritzker: I commit to keeping the home in Quincy. I don't know why it took so long for the governor to commit.
Rauner: It is wrong to politicize the suffering of our veterans. There is not a shred of criminality. AG Madigan started the investigation to create a sham investigation to cover up Pritzker's criminal activity with his property in Chicago.
Q to Rauner: Do you think your comparison of Mr. Pritzker to a bank robber is fair?
Rauner: Pritzker is not worthy of elected office in Illinois. Pritzker returned the $330,000 but it did not correct the situation. People of Illinois deserve better than this. He has a good chance of being the fifth governor from Illinois of going to jail. This person does not deserve to hold any elected office Illinois.
Pritzker: You've heard a desperate rant of a failed governor in the final hours of his governorship. You're likely to hear more - just lies and excuses. The report was issued about the tax assessors office problems. Renovation was halted - restarted. This is Governor Rauner trying to steer away from his own problems.
Q: Both you and governor talk about billions of dollars to fix the state's budgets. We don't have details. Where is that money going to come from?
Pritzker: It will take changes in revenues and expenditures. Raise revenues and lower expenditures. We need to invest in early childhood education. More prevention for those on Medicaid. How to grow the economy? Create jobs. To raise revenue - legalize marijuana, change prison system, add sports gambling. We need an infrastructure bill - expand gaming and sports betting.
Rauner: Every organization of job creators in Illinois have backed me because we have a plan to grow the economy. We grow jobs by cutting taxes and regulatory burdens. Public-private partnerships for infrastructure. Hundreds of companies tell me they are here because I'm the governor and I understand what the businesses need.
Q: Out-migration. 10,000 moved to Wisconsin from Winnebago County. How do you keep young people in our state?
Rauner: We have had people leave Illinois for decades. People choose other states. They've leaving mostly for Indiana now. Manufacturing is booming there. Pritzker's tax increase will cause more businesses to leave Illinois. We need to end the corruption that Pritzker is a part of. He's cheated on property taxes. What matters is the substance of the report. Likely indictment within the next few months.
Pritzker: Corruption? The height of corruption when you put your adminstration before the people of Illinois: Veterans, nursing homes he owes, poisonous gas from a company the governor's company owns, the DCFS scandal.
Q: In the progressive tax system you propose, Mr. Pritzker, how much would a teacher paid $51,000 pay in state income taxes?
Pritzker: We need lower property taxes and to change the way we pay for property taxes. There would be lower taxes for most people. What is the rate? We want to make sure we negotiate it with the Senate and House. We would need a referendum of the people of Illinois. Republicans and Democrats. The progressive income tax would be good for the middle class - doing much better than we are. Rauner is the reason we're in the lowest segment of job creators.
Rauner: Middle class will get crushed with Pritzker's progressive tax system - he wants $11B in new spending. That was confirmed by anindependent source. He can't put $11 B just on the rich in Illinois. Lawmakers put out proposed tax hike schedule a while ago and Illinois would have a 6.25 tax hike on the middle class.
Q: Agriculture is Illinois' #1 industry bringing in $9 Billion annually. How will you help Illinois farmers suffering from the federal trade policy effects?
Rauner: My grandparents were farmers. Our farmers are hurt by tariff wars. I've been to the White House three times to discuss the effects. I agree with the policies to change unfair trade deals. Working to correct tariffs effects our farmers. I've worked with farmers to protect resources. Farmers are tied to the land. They can't leave. We need to look out for them. The Democrats in Chicago care nothing about farmers. If they're allowed raise taxes and gerrymander our districts our farmers will be affected.
Pritzker: We need to protect those in the ag industry - we want a governor that will call out Donald Trump for the negative things he's doing against our farmers. Rauner's never asked US Senator Dick Durbin for help. [Rauner and audience laughs.]
Q: Broken education system - What will you do for students of central Illinois?
Pritzker: Funding for schools is done the wrong way. 25% comes from state - the vast amount comes from local property taxes. Other states have it set up as half and half. We need a "fair tax" to have a better funded education system. Rauner benefits from a flat income tax system. The funding formula was changed - led by Sen. Andy Manar - '["Oh come on, Rauner said.]" We need to make college more affordable.
Rauner: Education funding - I ran for governor to have the best schools and a growing economy. State support for education was cut by Democrat leadership. I became governor and have brought $1.4 billion more to local schools. We reformed education funding - bi partisan - that is more equitable. This was great progress.
Q: A Quincy project was promised funding under Governor Quinn. Could that be coming soon?
Rauner: Infrastructure bill was blocked by Madigan. I've proposed a record capital bill with more from the federal government, public-private partnerships and expanding gambling in Illinois. Our citizens are going out of state to gamble. No new taxes, we need a strong economic growth, education system and university system to drive innovation. We'll be on a road to a balanced budget.
Pritzker: We went 735 days without a budget. $1 billion wasted because of his budget. Biggest deficit spender. He's a failed governor. I have a real plan for job creation - not driving them away.
Q: Quincy was promised rail coming. How do you bring rail across the state?
Pritzker: Have to go to federal government. We need to invest in transportation because we're the hub of the nation. We also need broadband statewide. We can't get it done with a failed governor.
Rauner: The good news is Pritzker failed to hide his property taxes, his income tax hide his ethics. He will empower Speaker Madigan. We need to lower the tax burden and regulatory burden. We need to put term limits into effect. We need to change the Chicago system. We need to keep working and keep trying.
Q: Peoria has high gun violence. What will you do about gun violence?
Rauner: The reason for high violence is because of unemployment. businesses are leaving because of corruption and taxes. We can't tax our way out of the problem. Illegal immigration is a part of the issues. I do not support sanctuary cities. Illegal immigration takes jobs aways from unions, factories. We need to support legal immigration - we need e-verify and to increase penalties for those that hire illegals. Violence is driven by unemployment. unemployment contributes to violence.
Pritzker: We agree Rauner should have signed the Trust Act. Why is gun violence so bad recently? When you don't pass a budget, mental health services are cut, jobs for youth are cut. We need the ability to get to a job. Violence interruption services were cut. We need to address the core issues of the budget to avoid gun violence.
Q: Jobs - we're in a border city to lure business and keep businesses. How do we keep businesses in Illinois?
Pritzker: We need a fair tax system - implementing to keep people in Ilinois. We have a great higher ed system, but Rauner has driven students away from IL universities because he cut funding for higher education. We want people to move here to lower property tax systems - jobs plan to include loans, technical assistance and mentorships. A governor should stand up for small businesses, he shouldn't bad mouth the state. He invited governors to bad mouth the state on an ad. I want to promote the talented people in Illinois.
Rauner: Job creators - NFIB, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, IMA - support me. They are petrified of Mr. Pritzker - his big spending, big taxes, big support for Chicago political machine. We need to stop the corruption and lower the taxes.
Q: Unfunded pension reform - how do we achieve that reform?
Rauner: It needs to be fair and constitutional - earned through today. And create options for the future. The consideration model was supported by unions 6 or 7 years ago. I compromised to get pension structures that are choices. We can save billions at the state and local levels with health care reform and lifting regulatory burden.
Pritzker: He proposed to bankrupt the state of Illinois to deal with the pension issue. That would cost taxpayers billions for years to come. We need to deal with pension reform - the Supreme Court says the pension need to be paid. There are plans out there, such as stepping up the payments - the governor has proposed nothing.
Q: What should minimum wage be?
Pritzker - We should gradually raise to $15 per hour minimum wage [from the current $8.25 an hour.] We need a fair minimum wage. Create jobs for a competition for wages. Five and six year proposals to raise the minimum wage.
Rauner - I've proposed minimum wage hike in exchange for reforms in regulations. The factory workers in Wisconsin make more money than they do in Illinois. We can do that - we have the hardest working people, the best network.
Closing remarks:
Pritzker: This is the most important election of our lifetime. Quincy or Carbondale - you want a governor to fight for you. Fighting to lower cost of health care, making college more affordable, creating jobs. Back on the side of working families.
Rauner: This election is a key turning point in the state's history. We have a clear choice - back to the past with one-party rule and corruption centered in Chicago. He's been caught committing tax fraud, mail fraud and perjury. He uses the language of racists. . We can't give up. We need an honest government and to never give up.
Candidates that did not meet the polling levels required to be in the debate were Libertarian Kash Jackson and Conservative Party's Sam McCann. Early voting is underway now. Election Day is November 6th.
