(upbeat music) (bright upbeat music) - This is Meet The Candidates.

And we are here with representative Dave Severin from the 116th House District.

I'm Benjy Jeffords.

Another candidate in this race, Republican Gary Carter was recently removed from the ballot by the State Board of Elections.

He is currently appealing the decision and we will bring you his forum later in this series.

Should his appeal succeed.

WSIU Public Broadcasting in the league of women's voters are pleased to host today's forum.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

Representative Severin let's get started.

Okay, what is your number one priority have elected.

I know it can be hard to narrow it down, but please let's try to stick to one.

- Sure, actually, there's probably two points to that.

I appreciate the question.

One would be to hold down the spending in the state of Illinois.

And the second part would be that would be tax relief and that they hold down the spending in the state of Illinois, I found out six year ago when I was elected that serving in the house that it didn't take long to figure out that we didn't have an income problem in the state of Illinois.

What we have is a spending problem.

And we found from the top of the state to the bottom of the state and the width that throughout the state of Illinois, we spend too much on programs and things for people rather than pay off our bills and make things successful for the businesses in the state of Illinois.

We've gotta find a way to keep people here and for businesses to be successful and not to overtax them.

And we've gotta find a way to make again for households to be able to live here, raise family and retire.

And by doing that, we've gotta make taxes that are consistent with the incomes that people have and be realistic with those things.

- Okay, great, and if reelected, what would make you continue to be an effective lawmaker?

- Sure, so I actually, this would be my fourth term and in the previous three terms, I've have a proven record of being 100% pro-life 100% pro second amendment.

And the other thing also is that some of the committees that I've served on one of them that I'm most proud of this last session being the hundred second session would be the spokesperson on the Republican side, in the house for the Jude Crime Committee.

And that is the committee that all these terrible bills at the other side of the aisle, have tried to ram down the throats, of Illinoisans and try to make things less safe by making it easier for people to be criminals and rather than prosecuting them.

So I think those things, again, being very active in the education committees, healthcare, the things that I've brought to the table have made me, enable me to be successful and continue to represent the people that I serve.

- All right, moving on.

The pandemic, really exposed disparities in education funding.

What would you do to make sure schools in your district are able to meet the needs of the families and the students?

- Sure, another good question and education has been very important in my life, served on the school board for 29 years.

My wife's just retired as a third grade school teacher for over 30 years in the Benton School District.

And so education is top priority, and what's really important, for people to know that I was supportive and will continue to be supportive of the evidence based funding model and which brings more funds to the schools in our district.

And it's important that kids be given the opportunity to succeed that we fund education properly to fund the teachers and give them the tools to be successful.

So not only funding, but the other thing that's really important that I did when I was elected six years ago, was I put together an education committee in my district with administrators, teachers, and I will do that in the new district also, and also include families in that to give people an opportunity to share their voice and concerns and make sure that we're addressing them.

So education is a top priority for me, and I'll continue to work with that way.

- And speaking of funding, the state budget is a major priority in Springfield named three things that you would prioritize.

- Sure, education is absolutely number one would be to take care, of the students again, like I just stated.

And the other thing too, is we gotta make sure that we fund our police and make sure that they have an opportunity to be successful in the funding of the police that has happened in the last session and has been horrific.

So I wanna make sure that that is a priority that we take care of education that we take care of the police and safety.

And the other thing too, is that we make sure that we are consistent across the board for families, as far as taxation, that we can reduce those things and be realistic with what goes on in the state of Illinois and give people an opportunity to stay here, give them a reason to stay here, not giving them reasons to leave.

So education, funding of police and keeping the people safe in the state and also giving people a reason to stay here.

- And now that we've talked about the budget priorities, what are three things that you would like to cut?

- Yeah, so, you know, again, what I stated earlier is when I was first elected, one of the things I found, it wasn't an income problem.

It's a spending problem and so, you know, this last session, we find a over 3000 page budget, that's thrown at us just at the last minute.

And so this other side of the aisle, and there are known for one thing in the state of Illinois is corruption and so that being a part of it also, as far as area are throwing 3000 pages that at the last minute, what is in that budget, what isn't in it, the spending that doesn't need to be in there, those kinds of things.

So that would be something that we definitely need to work on as far as that.

And also we need to cut out the besides corruption cut out the over overspending in the state of Illinois, it's just gotten completely out of hand where we have programs that we provide for people that are absolutely ridiculous.

And the other thing would be, we've gotta find a way to make our taxes where the people can live within their means.

And we've gotta do that as a state legislators.

And so again, taxes have gotta be something that we've gotta work on and cut out.

And so those would be the three things that I would say would be the most important.

- And moving on, although the economy is recovering from the early stages of the pandemic, inflation is also on the rise.

What would you do to help Illinoisans who are finding their paychecks don't stretch as far as they did even a couple of months ago?

- Well, you know, when our previous president, we were doing great, as far as in the United States, as far as being, they able to be self-sufficient and with the new administration that's going on, not only nationally, but also statewide, the increase in costs are really messing up families.

And so what we've gotta do is find a way to be efficient.

We've gotta way for our state to be able to take care of people.

And so it's a major problem.

And so there isn't any reason why we can't take care of our families and our people in our state by being efficient.

And then instead of being out of whack with the way we are now.

- And many people are pushing for more or renewable energy, especially with the rising price of oil at the same time, parts of Illinois have fossil fuels that supply supplies that could prove, provide energy for many years to come.

What would you do to ensure Illinois has a steady supply of energy and keep it affordable for Illinoisans?

- Well, I'm also proud that I was able to serve on the Energy and Environment Committee and in that committee we had some bills that came through that we tried to fight very hard on the Republican side of the aisle, but unfortunately the bills pass that are gonna cause coal fired power plants to close in the near future.

And coal has never been cleaner than it is today, but we've gotta find a way to get people on both sides of the aisle to realize this.

And if in fact these coal fired plants are closed, we're gonna have to purchase power to keep our electricity on from the grid on the grid from surrounding states, that will cost us more.

And so it's important that we not only are supportive of coal, but also oil of, so we have the tools in Southern Illinois in the state of Illinois to be successful with the power that we need, wind, hydro, solar.

So if we will work out, put all those pieces together, we can be successful, not just pick on solar and say, hey, this is the answer.

Or hydro is the answer, or one of one or the other.

We have to put a whole piece together of all the different pieces.

And rather than just look at one piece.

So thank you.

- You're welcome.

And switching gears to at healthcare, COVID 19 really changed the way people looked at healthcare and public health.

What would you do to make sure Illinois is prepared for, to handle future public health emergencies?

- Well, one of the things, one of the biggest mistakes that we made in the state of Illinois was the super majority other side of the aisle democrats.

They allow out the governor to make all the decisions we should have been we should have been, if we had to go by zoom or we were in person, we should have been meeting the house and the Senate, to help make the decisions, rather than putting all the pressure and putting all the power into one person, our governor, and giving him the opportunity to make all the decisions.

And then we see what happened as far as the debacle, of businesses and that had, that had to close or move out of state and people that lost their jobs.

And then we had the problem with the unemployment and all the different, the mess that happened there.

Then we also had the veteran's home that had the COVID go through it.

And the director of the veteran's facilities, that director was, it was a political appointment rather than being one.

That was someone that really knew what was going on.

And so that became a real problem.

So what we've gotta do in the future from this state forward is two things.

One is we've gotta make sure that we stay the governor, the house and the Senate, those three People work together rather than giving one of them power.

And the other is we've gotta make sure the different departments that we have in the state of Illinois are prepared.

We can't be a knee jerk, a reaction when something happens, we've gotta be prepared.

And I found out also, if I can go into this just a little further, that when these different, when the pandemic came down and the different things that we needed to help with nursing homes and schools and all the different places, we found out that a lot of these things were in warehouses had not been rotated.

So things weren't up to date, they were old and they...

So that's what part of the problem that happened too, is that takes someone that knows how to manage and knows how to be a business person, that you rotate your products.

That just common sense didn't happen.

So that was a problem that a lot of people didn't even realize.

So we've gotta make sure that we work together, not just let one person make all the decisions and hold people accountable and be ready when something happens, not just be a knee jerk reaction.

- Excellent, another problem facing the state is gun violence continues to be a problem in communities.

What would you do to address the violence and how do you balance that with second amendment rights?

- Yeah, so I've been a proponent have been and will continue to always be a proponent of the second amendment.

And so what we need to do, I found that again, being on that Jude Crime Committee is that we're starting the new bill that was passed HB 36, 53.

And this Safety Act is making the state of Illinois soft on crime and we need to be exactly the opposite.

We need to be tough on crime and hold accountable those people that have committed the terrible crimes, rather than just being a slap on the wrist.

And so it's important also, I get phone calls every day in my office for Floyd cards and concealed carry and the problems and challenges.

And it's almost like the state of Illinois is making the people that are law, abiding citizens, making them feel like they're the criminals and so we've gotta make sure that we make sure the people that are being law abiding, they have the opportunities to be proponents of the second amendment as they are own guns, those kinds of things, but go after the people in the drugs and the corruption people that have got guns illegally, we've gotta prosecute those people and be tough on crime rather than being soft on it.

And basically given people an opportunity, to feel safe at home right now, people after that Safety Act, they feel less safe than they have in a long time.

And we've gotta make sure that people feel safe in this state not feel unsafe.

- And speaking of safety, Criminal Justice Reform is a hot topic in Springfield.

Do you support changes to the system, including alternative sentencing options like drug courts?

What changes would you make to ensure safety while also making sure rehabilitation remains an option?

- So the drug courts are important and I, again, being on that Jude Crime Committee has enabled me to learn a lot about.

And I'm the spokesperson on that committee and working with Representative Windhorst we actually introduced legislation to repeal that Safety Act, which was making again, criminals to feel like they can get away with whatever they want to.

Maybe you get a slap on the wrist.

So again, the drug courts are important and you know, something, another committee that I serve on is the Health and Addiction Committee I'm the spokesperson, in the house for that also in Republican side.

And I found out just the epidemic we're having with concerns of people on drugs and those kinds of things.

So we've gotta make sure that we provide the services that we need to do, but also hold accountable.

Those that are breaking the laws and prosecute those people in a proper fashion.

So we've gotta make sure that we are fair, but we've also gotta make sure that we address the problems, prosecute the people that need to be prosecuted, give people a second chance that need to be given that.

And that's so important.

And we're finding that out on a daily basis, if there was ever a pandemic after the pandemic, to me, it is now the concerns of safety, and the drug addiction and those concerns.

- Let's switch gears to a new topic.

Recent event have shown how much Americans can be impacted by global politics as evidenced by supply chain shortages and rising prices due to the pandemic and fighting in the Ukraine.

What would you do to help minimize the disruption of events like these on the people of Illinois?

- Well, something else, you know, again, I talked a little bit about as far, as the current administration in the national picture and also the state, what we've gotta do is make ourselves where we can take care of the state of Illinois and the United States without having to depend upon other countries.

And so we've gotta make sure that we first off agriculture is the number one business in the state of Illinois.

And we've gotta make sure, that we promote that and take care of that.

We should not be in a situation where we're having to depend upon countries halfway around the world for food or fertilizer.

We need to be where we are self-sufficient we have the ability to do that in the state.

What we've gotta do is as legislators is to hold the state of Illinois accountable and give people in the state of Illinois, an opportunity to be successful, and to be able to be, take care of what things need to be done here rather than to be looking to meet our needs from other parts of the world, it does not make sense.

We have the ability to do that here.

We have the technology, we have phenomenal educators in our universities, colleges, schools, and trained people, professionals to do those things.

And so we've gotta make sure that we can do that.

- Let's focus a little bit on the 116.

What would you do to make sure the concerns of your constituents are heard in Springfield considering the population density, skews toward the Northern part of the state?

- Yeah, I appreciate that question.

And, you know, so something that I did again, when I was elected six years ago in my district is I put some different committees together.

And one of the strengths that our office has is, and I know that not just because I'm the legislator and wanna brag about what we do, but what we hear on a regular basis is that people know that we're accessible and that we're available to hear it and work on problems as people have them.

But again, when I was talking about when I was first elected, we put several different committees together and I will do that in the hundred 16th to give people an opportunity to voice their concerns.

And we'll work very hard at making sure that people know we're accessible and we'll address concerns as they come across the phone lines or emails or however they would reach out to us.

And so that's something that we're already doing as far as going out in the community, meeting people, letting them know who I am, what I'm about.

And then I think the most important thing is to let people know that I'm accessible.

I'm an ear and I don't, you know, a lot of times politicians, what they do is they listen, they put together a committee and then they don't do anything.

What we've done is we've listened, put committees together, but then we've acted and we're continuing to act on a daily basis and in fact, they've already been in conversation with my office this morning and different things that we're addressing.

And so it's important for people in the 116th, to know that we will address concerns as they come across phone lines, or we meet with them.

And the other thing, as far as meeting with people, that's something that I work really hard at is meeting with people on a regular basis, face to face, not just calling them or not just getting an email, but people want to know that you care.

They, I see you.

And that's exactly what I'm doing.

And I take great pride in that.

- And another thing that people are concerned about is what would you hope to, what would you do to help ensure fair elections and access to voting for all the people in Illinois?

- Another great question, and you know, something that, that has come up on the other side of the aisle that we voted on again in the last session was that it's important that people are given an opportunity to vote.

It's important that they're given an opportunity to be a part of the process, but also that they do things correctly.

And so we wanna promote as many people as possible to be a part of the election process and be a part of those kinds of things.

But also to be aware of that there are people out there that wanna skew the system.

They wanna do things incorrectly.

They wanna do things, that they've enabled to enable them, to pull off some things that unethical.

So it's important that we hold people to the fire, so to speak.

And we've had ethics reform.

We've tried to have ethics reform committees in the state.

And actually the speaker of the house was the chairman of that committee.

And he canceled committee meetings.

So what we're doing in our side of the hour Republican side is the holding the people accountable that during the elections, that it isn't something, we just look to the side, and kind of just hold our don't hold people accountable.

So I think that's the most important thing is that we do that.

- And the pandemic taught us that internet access is becoming increasingly necessary for people to go to work and to go to school.

What would you do to make sure rural areas can add access the high speed internet they need?

- That's something actually that is going on as we speak.

And there are more opportunities now than there have been in the past.

There's been some grants that have come down, from Springfield that are enabling actually, as we speak, there is fiber optic being put in the rural areas now because it is a problem it is a challenge.

A lot of times, if people can, they in their homes, they can't get on.

So they have to go to their schools or go to their libraries, which are some answers now, but working to make sure that we have opportunities and there are grants available for local entities to be able to have access to the internet again, in the communities and the new district that I have, that is one of the big challenges.

And again, I'm proud to say that we are addressing that and we'll continue to address that forward until we are able to meet those needs.

That's a big challenge.

And again, we won't just give an eye to eye to that.

We'll continue to work on that.

- Another topic that statewide is COVID 19 depleted, the state's Unemployment Fund.

What would you do to address this?

- So with the unemployment fund, we had the funds, the federal funds were given to us, the state of Illinois to pay off that unemployment insurance but instead of taking and spending that money wisely and paying the bills, what we did is we saved about three billion.

We being the state of Illinois, I wanna make sure that someone doesn't think we as the Republicans, but we as the state of Illinois, the other side of the aisle, the Super majority Democrat party chose to say $3 billion out of those ACO funds.

Instead of paying off the unemployment insurance debt that we have with the federal government chose to take $3 billion of that and give that to their Democrats, for them to spend on pork projects.

So that was a two things that's happened with that.

One is the small businesses it'll increase their fees as far as their unemployment insurance.

And the other thing it'll decrease the opportunity.

If someone does go on unemployment, the benefits that they'll receive.

So we brought that attention to the other side of the aisle in Springfield, fell on deaf ears.

Ans so we've gotta continue to work and let people know in the community that for us to be successful for businesses to be successful, we've gotta pay those things down.

- [Benjy] And Illinois has some of the highest property taxes in the country.

What would you do to provide relief to homeowners?

- Well, another great question and what we've gotta do is we've gotta stop as money comes in the coffers, rather than start new programs, we need to pay our down our debt, pay off our bills what that does that enables us as the state of Illinois legislators to decrease the taxes in the state of Illinois, rather than new money comes in, we start new programs.

That's absolutely the wrong way, to run the state as a business.

And so if we will pay off our debts, that is an opportunity for us to be able to decrease the cost of taxes to our taxpayers here in Illinois.

- We're almost out of time representative Severin.

And so this is gonna be our last question.

Social services are another area that have seen funding depleted during the pandemic.

What would you do to make sure Illinoisans can get the help when they need it?

- Great question and again, having been in the nursing home business are half of my life with our family, and also serving on the Health and Addiction Committee, the challenge that we've got, what we've gotta do is be able to find ways and to make sure that we fund those needs with people with social service needs.

And so the opportunities that we have, there's some different prisons that are actually closing and what we can do with those is open the those up for healthcare needs.

And so we've gotta make sure that we bring to the table, not only the challenges and all the other things going on, but okay.

We need funds for the healthcare and social services.

We've gotta address those things.

So I'll continue to do that.

Serving as the spokesperson on the Health and Addiction Committee, are actually, we're working as we speak to address those concerns.

(upbeat music) - Okay, all right, well, thank you for joining us today.

Representatives Severin, I'm Benjy Jeffords, and this is Meet The Candidates Tune in next Thursday at seven for the next episode.

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