Of particular interest was the Issues page we found there. Candidates issues pages frequently reveal their stance on issues of importance to voters, since voters frequently decide how they will vote based on a candidate's given stance on critical issues. What is interesting to note is that Mr. Hastings seemingly adopts some Republican concepts on key issues. This would normally give us hope, thinking that the Democrats are finally seeing the light. But we are forced to remember where we live. You see, we live in Illinois where Democrats have been entirely in charge of the state government for the past decade. Given the mess they have made of things, it is no wonder that Democrats are nervous as the electorate is in the mood for change. The best way of course to counteract this problem is to make your candidacy appear identical to that of your opponent and rely on party loyalty to carry you through to victory. Then after the election you can reveal your true identity.
Our purpose here is to point out where Mr. Hastings positions on the issues might sound Republican or conservative, but they are in actuality thinly veiled standard Democrat positions on the issues that have failed our State over the years. Democrats try to hide their positions when they are in trouble or where their stands on the issues don't fit with voters values.
Number one on our list is the fact that Mr. Hastings predecessor left because she knew she would be voted out of office. And the reason why? Because she voted for the 67% tax increase on Illinois families. Conspicuously absent from Mr. Hastings' web site is any promise to even consider repealing that law. In fact, the closest he comes to saying anything about taxation at all is where he states: "The key to retaining businesses in Illinois is to maintain a level of taxation and regulatory oversight to fund governmental operations." If anyone can tell us what that means exactly we would be interested in knowing what it is. Our sense is he means as long as government is fully funded, no matter how burdensome it is, he will keep on taxing and regulating at the same levels. We have seen what happens when Democrats raise taxes and regulate with abandon, it isn't pretty and our state unemployment rate reflects it.
Looking further on his issues page we found several interesting stances. We have broken it down by subject area to give you our take. The issues listed here are from Mr. Hastings' Issues page recently taken from his web site:
Getting Illinois Financial House in Order
> ZERO BASED BUDGETING
- Begin with zero based budgeting practices and cut all non-essential personnel and services.
- Illinois currently takes in approximately $34 billion in revenues and spends approximately $43 billion. The net result a budget deficit of $9 billion
- The legislature must be committed to balancing the budget and eliminate reckless spending
> STOP BORROWING TO PAY OUR BILLS
- Illinois pays $5 billion in interest annually – an unbelievable amount resulting in almost 15% of our state budget
> ELIMINATION OF THE LEGISLATIVE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
- Unless the legislature agrees to impose objective guidelines on its members to award the scholarships instead of handing them out as political favors, I will vote to abolish the program
> CANCELLING THE STATE COMMISSION SYSTEM
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Other than the parole board, I am not sure there is a need for all the different commissions on every subject
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There should be one omnibus board that has oversight over all departments
So are we to believe that Michael Hastings, a Democrat, is going to cut spending? Stop borrowing? That he will heroically rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic by putting all those people in all those commissions into one "ominous" board? While he knows that the people want to hear and believe that as a Democrat he will do these things, people should realize that he will do what he is told to do by James Cullerton, Senate Leader.
Mr. Cullerton and Mr. Madigan, leaders of the Illinois State Senate and the General Assembly, respectively, have no intention of doing any of these things. Had they, they would have done them already. Having held absolute power for over 10 years, why would they change? Mr. Hastings, as a Democrat, simply has no credibility on taxation and spending issues, because putting him in office ensures the same leadership will remain and no change will occur. His predecessor voted to increase your taxes, voted to borrow and spend more and voted to run deficits. Why should we think he will do any different as a freshman senator under the control of Mr. Cullerton? We shouldn't.
Hastings on Pension Reform:
> OVERVIEW:
- There is nothing more unfair than working your whole life with the expectation of a pension benefit, then to be told the people in charge either stole it or mismanaged it to the point where it is insolvent. This has happened continuously with Congress raiding the pension funds, expanding benefits
- The bottom line is that government officials over a period of time lacked political fortitude and competence to pay the employers fair share and manage the funds correctly. The problem that exists now only has two solutions: do employees want to lose it all or do they want to lose some of it
> MY VIEW ON SENATE BILL 512
- I support Senate Bill 512 giving state workers three options going forward: 1.) paying more into the system to maintain their scheduled benefits 2.) Paying the same for a smaller defined benefit or 3.) moving to a 401(k) –style defined contribution plan
> PENSION PLAN REFORM
- We need to protect the unions (i.e. teachers, firefighters, police, etc.) by providing them a place at the table when negotiating and discussing any matters regarding pension reform. Legislators are not investment bankers, nor should they be managing or determining over the future of people’s lives
- Rather than choosing “riskier” funds that give a higher rate of return in the Teachers Retirement System (TRS), we need to reinvest back into it. The TRS has been raided time and time again by the state legislature and is comparable to a modern day “Ponzi Scheme”
- Pension Shortfalls: Pension funds are on target to go bankrupt because the state overpromised what it could deliver, then began shorting the funds on going back as far as 10 years ago
- Currently, there is no way to fund the pensions without the cooperation of the retirees with some or all of the following options:
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Increasing retirement age
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Increasing co-payments for health benefits or mandating managed care programs
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Decreasing benefit payouts
Mr. Hastings makes a critical point in all of this discussion and that is this little nugget: "Pension funds are
on target to go bankrupt because the state overpromised what it could
deliver, then began shorting the funds on going back as far as 10 years
ago" Funny isn't it, that this is precisely the period of time his party has held control of both state houses and the governorship? We agree with him that "...moving to a 401(k) –style defined contribution
plan" is a great option. In fact such a move would be a win-win for the state and for the teachers, fire fighters and police that pay into these pensions. That would give them ultimate individual control over their own destinies and prevent their funds from being raided by greedy politicians seeking reelection. In fact, such a system would keep everyone honest. There would be no more recalibrating your retirement benefit by getting a big raise your last three years of employment; or filling in as a substitute teacher so you could collect a six figure retirement on a five figure salary.
Who among us seriously thinks that Mr. Hastings, son of a long-time Cook County Democrat politician who is seeking this government job, is going to actually vote to take control of pensions away from politicians and give it to the workers where it belongs? By ceding control of the State pensions to the very workers who earned them, elected officials would not be able to blackmail for campaign cash or garner votes from the workers to keep their pensions intact. So bottom line, don't expect much in the way of fair and effective pension reform from a Cook County Democrat whose party has been in control over the period of time that this crisis was hatched and grew into the albatross it is today.
Who among us seriously thinks that Mr. Hastings, son of a long-time Cook County Democrat politician who is seeking this government job, is going to actually vote to take control of pensions away from politicians and give it to the workers where it belongs? By ceding control of the State pensions to the very workers who earned them, elected officials would not be able to blackmail for campaign cash or garner votes from the workers to keep their pensions intact. So bottom line, don't expect much in the way of fair and effective pension reform from a Cook County Democrat whose party has been in control over the period of time that this crisis was hatched and grew into the albatross it is today.
Education in Illinois
> ALLOW "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND" (NCLB) TO EXPIRE> REDUCE DEPENDENCY ON STANDARDIZED TESTS AS A MEASURE OF GROWTH
- We need to move away from teaching our students how to take a test and prepare them for the challenges of the real world
- In 2010, 56 of 665 schools met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). In 2011, this number was reduced even more
- We have set a plan in place to ensure that schools in the State of Illinois fail. The result is majority of schools in the state not meeting the standards of AYP
> CHARTER SCHOOLS
- It is unfair to keep establishing charter schools when the real goal is to increase the quality of education statewide
- Charter schools are essentially making a two-tier education system, separate and unequal
- Let’s focus on improving the schools that we already have in place, rather than creating new ones
> PREPARING OUR STUDENTS TO COMPETE IN A GLOBAL MARKETPLACE
- Illinois needs to invest in our children by expanding vocational education and training programs available to students. Instead of losing jobs overseas to foreign and cheaper labor, let’s keep the work at home
- Expand the subjects fundamental to entrepreneurialism in education (finance, marketing, advertising)
- Rather than being thousands of dollars in debt with no skills to show for it. Students who major in subjects like aroma therapy, basket weaving, etc. have the education on what is required to start their own business rather than depending on jobs paying minimum wage working at the mall
> VALUES & WORK ETHIC STARTS AT HOME
- Under my plan, I will propose legislation that begins a state wide campaign focusing on how families can support their children at home. Many of our children have difficulties in education due to their environments at home
> ENSURE THAT THE STATE BUDGET IS NOT BALANCED ON THE BACK OF EDUCATION
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Illinois is falling behind other states in terms of its focus on education.....if we are not spending our money on our children, what are we spending it on?
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If we do not make the education of our young children a priority, then Illinois will never move forward
Where do we begin with this one? Mr. Hastings it seems has pulled many if not all his opinions from the National Education Association playbook. You know, the people who played hooky from work in Wisconsin to take over the capital building, and protest Scott Walker because he wanted them to pay 5.8% toward their own pension and 12.6% toward their own healthcare benefits?
Mr. Hastings is against No Child Left Behind and standardized testing. Both of these put an emphasis on performance through measurement. While there are many failings in NCLB, one good thing it does is point out that America's schools are not performing well. While the rest of us undergo at least yearly performance reviews and get judged on everything from customer feedback to profitability, teachers (or at least their unions) want no part of that and Mr. Hastings is on their side.
Mr. Hastings implies that spending should be increased, or at least not decreased "on the back's of students." However, a look at neighboring Wisconsin's per pupil spending over the years (Illinois' underlying data is similar) tells us that spending has increased dramatically over the last five decades while we know that test scores have been static or have decreased. So it can safely be argued that increased spending does not necessarily result in increased test scores. In fact, the opposite point can be made when looking at the performance of Chicago schools, which spend lots per student versus downstate or many suburban schools, which spend less. Educator accountability has been proven to result in increased test scores and better educated students.
The teachers unions that Mr. Hastings emulates in his opinions take issue with accountability because it eventually translates into individual performance measurement. Individual measurement means teachers with seniority will be compared to those with less seniority. Sometimes, those with less seniority will surpass the performance of those with more seniority. As we all know, those with less seniority, no matter how good they are, will be laid off first during any economic downturn and make less money. Teachers who must perform for their pay are more likely to improve children's education for their own sake and the sake of their students. These teachers would also be less tolerant of unions that protect their incompetent and lazy coworkers. As more competent teachers are kept on, they will be able to absorb the workload of their less competent peers with no downward trend in test scores. More workload means larger class sizes, which means less teachers.
Needless to say, unions are against accountability and merit based rewards, since they have the potential to result in less dues paying members. Increased spending on education means more teachers, more dues paying members and a fat and happy union leadership. Watch the film "Waiting for Superman" if you are skeptic on this point and need to be convinced.
Hastings' opposition to Charter Schools is also troubling yet further telling of his pandering to teachers unions. Charter schools represent some of the only options left for some schools whose teacher populations are entrenched and unwilling to do what is necessary to educate children properly. In charter schools, there aren't as many work rules as in your standard public school. Teachers are expected to show up and do their jobs and do them well or face dismissal. They are not there to hide behind union work rules. The separate but unequal canard used by Mr. Hastings can be turned on its head if one thinks about it. The charter school is the improved school that Mr. Hastings wants. The only problem with the charter school from Mr. Hastings perspective is because the union is against it, and why? Because it diminishes their power. Shouldn't Mr. Hastings instead be demanding that charter schools be the end result of the improvements he purports to seek, instead of trying to spread the misery evenly under the current system?
Competing in the global marketplace and fostering economic progress should be a goal of education as he suggests. The trouble is, the Democrats in this state have done everything in their power to thwart the best efforts of those with the vision and energy to excel in the marketplace. They have stopped efforts to reform education so that people who have the skills cannot teach our children without the "correct" credentials. This at the behest of their public union allies. They demonize risk takers and entrepreneurs as "The Rich" and vote to raise their taxes 67% to pay for their failed and ridiculous policies and theories. We have no reason to believe that Michael Hastings will actually stand for any of this should he get elected and fall under the control of Mr. Cullerton, whose campaign coffers are filled with union dues.
Bringing Business Back to Illinois
> OVERVIEW:
- Illinois increased the Corporate tax rate 45%
- Illinois increased the Personal Income tax rate 67%
- Unemployment is currently at 10%
- Companies like Sears, CME Group, Motorola are threatening to leave our state
> MY VIEW ON THE CURRENT BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT:
- The key to retaining businesses in Illinois is to maintain a level of taxation and regulatory oversight to fund governmental operations
- We need to ensure that we take care of the core mission of state government while providing a safety net for the most vulnerable in our society – children, the elderly, the disabled and the indigent
- Businesses and individuals can flourish to their full potential if we let them operate to their highest ability in a free market
- I do not support large incentives to private companies and would prefer that those same funds be used to retain and attract small businesses, which make up the bulk of the business revenue to the state
> BRINGING BUSINESS BACK TO ILLINOIS PLAN:
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Construction of Peotone Airport
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Workman's Compensation Reform
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Pension Reform
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Expand tax credits to companies that bring technology and innovation jobs to Illinois.
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Create "Tax Increment Financing (TIF) - like" districts specifically for areas zoned for technology and innovation development.
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Create a tax incentive program for companies that bring "Green" manufacturing jobs to Illinois.
