Last week, The Xavierite had the opportunity to interview Illinois gubernatorial candidate, Bob Daiber.
Currently, Daiber is the regional superintendent of schools in Madison County and has over twenty years of experience as a public official. Daiber has also served on a city council, been a township supervisor, a county board representative, and is planning to make a bigger impact in Illinois as governor of the state.
Daiber notices many problems in the state of Illinois. If elected, Daiber will address and fix these issues, like the billions of dollars of unpaid bills.
“That’s an astronomic deficit to be able to have a budget that makes Illinois whole,” Daiber states. “So, what I recommend that we do is that we take and pay all these bills by a bond program and we start on a clean slate and we put into the [Fiscal Year 2019] budget of the debt interest on those bonds and we put a principal payment in that budget that pays those bonds down in the term of office that I will serve.”
Daiber mentions a progressive income tax model that he has composed and can be viewed on his website.
“I’m not saying that it’s perfect,” Daiber explains, “but it’s the only model that anybody in the state of Illinois has put out that’s got numbers to it. It’s a model that I think is adaptable, that could generate significant extra revenue and it closes the loopholes and asks everybody to pay some tax to help Illinois become more financially solvent.”
Daiber realistically thinks this model would be going into effect by 2021 because he does not see legislature promoting a progressive tax model such as his in this session.
“So, the significance of my plan,” Daiber adds, “is that taxpayers can look at this, the general public can review it, legislators can review it, and you say, hey you know this is something that’s really workable. This is a competitive tax model with neighboring states. It’s less than Wisconsin. It’s equal to Missouri. It’s less than Kentucky.”
When asked how this income tax model will impact different income levels and students’ federal aid, Daiber had this to say:
“It will not affect [students’] federal aid in any way. The only thing it could do is it could ask college students to pay two hundred fifty dollars of income tax because everybody is going to have to pay one percent of the base.”
“The real issue in Illinois, the reason we have deficit, is [because] we are spending more than we’re taking in and we have too many people in the state of Illinois that pay no income tax. Zero,” Daiber said.
“It’s not right that we have got people who make millions of dollars in the state of Illinois that literally pay no income tax because they invested in offshore investments which gives them the opportunity to skate through the system and live here tax free. It’s not right. It’s not right for me. It’s not right for any other middle-class person in the state of Illinois.”
As an educator, Daiber wants to put some of his focus on the education system and students, starting with allowing a flexible revenue for school districts.
“So, what I recommend that we are able to do is that districts are given greater flexibility in the revenue that they get from the state,” Daiber explains. “If you’re short on money and you’ve got plenty of transportation money and you’re short on funds to let’s say bring in additional special ed teacher, you could do that.”
“We’re allowing school districts to do this,” Daiber adds, “but we need to empower school districts with the ability to have greater flexibility of their state resources.”
Daiber is also a proponent of supporting DREAMers and defending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program.
“I consistently say that I’m in support of Illinois being a sanctuary state. I believe that we should help every individual who wants to become a citizen of the state of Illinois, and of the United States, achieve that dream. I will do my diligence to help move citizenship forward for everyone that’s affected, as governor. I think that this is something that is part of the problem. We’re holding back citizenship of individuals that we should be entitling it to.”
Daiber also plans to address the issue of gun violence in the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago, if elected as governor.
“Well, you know the Gun Dealer Licensing Act is paramount that we pass in the state of Illinois because it’s going to help us stop the illegal trafficking of guns, “ Daiber states, “We have to give law enforcement the tools such as what I’m describing to get this under control because what’s happening is this trafficking of guns is making the gun violence continue to grow in our neighborhoods.”
Daiber mentions a mentoring program that he started in Madison County called ‘Give 30.’ This mentoring program helps at-risk youth and works to solve the juvenile crime problem in the Metro East area.
“I want police officers to be neighborhood friendly,” Daiber said as he explained his call for providing support to local law enforcement and first responders, and how this could help people’s fear of law enforcement, “I think your best police officer is one who truly understands the neighborhoods in which they are serving in.”
“Police need to be able to communicate in their neighborhoods and understand the issues that are going on,” Daiber continues, “My whole plan is for citizens to reinvest trust in law enforcement and for law enforcement to develop a new mentality and an ideology that, under my administration, law enforcement will be about helping people.”
Lastly, Daiber address the polluted air and water that is released into the Illinois environment every year.
“I mean, you can talk a lot about what you are going to do,” Daiber starts, “but number one thing, environmental control regulations have got to be dealt with in the state. We are just way too lapse on them. That’s why, currently today, we are where we are.”
“I’m very much in favor of lowering carbon emission in this state in any way we possibly can through technological growth and innovation,” Daiber adds.
March 20, 2018 is Illinois’s primary. Other Democratic candidates running against Daiber include Daniel Biss, Tio Hardiman, Chris Kennedy, Robert Marshall, and J.B Pritzker.
For more information on candidate Daiber, visit his website: www.bobdaiber.com. You can also listen to the full interview with Daiber below:
Caesar Torres
Deputy Editor in Chief