(gentle music) (camera shutter beeps) (upbeat music) (tablet beeps) - This is "Meet The Candidates."

I'm Jennifer Fuller.

Today, we're talking with state representative Paul Jacobs who represents Illinois's 118th State House District.

Now, that's a district that's been redrawn because of the remap process.

It now covers all or parts of Alexander, Jackson, Union and Williamson counties.

Representative Jacobs, thanks for joining us.

- You're very welcome.

Thank you for having us.

- Let's start a little bit with a bit of an introduction.

I know you've got some new constituents in the new district.

So, tell us a little bit about how you came to be state representative and why you're running for re-election.

- Well, the direction in the state is going has just been upsetting for years, and as a business, and actually for years in the...

I've started four different practices throughout the areas throughout Southern Illinois.

I started Myakka Vineyard 28 years ago was a restaurant and winery, and so many of the business things that we do.

And it was just getting harder and harder to be in business and with tax increases, tax increases, more regulations.

So, I decided I was at a point in life where I should run, and that's what I did, and I'm running for re-election because we've done some pretty darn good stuff so far.

- You mentioned some tax issues and I'm sure the economy is a big deal.

What would you say is the biggest issue facing Southern Illinois?

- The biggest issue is probably the things that cause people to leave Illinois.

I think energy at this point, we're just getting into the area where we're going to have tremendous amount of increases in the cost of our gasoline, which we already have, cost of our electricity, there are many reasons, but I think population loss due to the things that are hap- - People often feel that Southern Illinois is disconnected from the city of Chicago and some of the larger economic engines for the state of Illinois.

What role does collaboration play in working with lawmakers from across the state in bringing things to Southern Illinois?

- Oh, you're not gonna get anything done if you don't collaborate with the majority party and the minority party together.

We were able to get many bills passed that were... As we fondly called it was the bills, it was the trailers that we all have.

The pontoon boats, our boats and lawn mowers, et cetera.

Some are used for business, some are used for pleasure.

But they went from $18 a plate per year to $118.

So, if you had had three or four of these things, it was no longer 75 or 100 bucks.

It was 500 bucks, 600 bucks.

So, we got that down.

I had a bill, a couple other bills were there.

They did not get outta committee, but we got one through the Senate and which I co-signed on as soon as it came through the house and it was a senate democrat.

(audio glitches) So, that was big savings.

Some of the other things, we had a catalytic converter bill that I did with La Shawn Ford, representative Ford, up in Chicago.

The catalytic converters, I think people are becoming more and more aware of how bad that whole business is.

I mean, they're stealing, and stealing, and stealing.

So, this was a method for us to get a bill passed that increased paperwork.

They could not bring in a catalytic converter anymore.

That's 2,500 to $4,000 to replace your catalytic converter.

It's a big business.

I just was reading in The Tribune the other day, Chicago's the flux of catalytic converter thefts, even with the bill pass and it's law.

So, that's what you have to do.

You have to collaborate.

There is no doubt about it.

- We've seen a lot of announcements over the last several months about capital improvements, whether it's at the Rend Lake Visitors Center, or at Rend Lake Resort, or perhaps the Cairo Port District that has been worked on for several years now.

How would you work to bring more capital improvements?

And what capital projects would you prioritize?

- Well, I think you'd need to understand first (audio glitches) the whole thing was just lack of repair, lack of care.

Five, six, seven years ago, when it closed down, it brought in millions of dollars.

So, we need to have more of those.

The Cairo Port Project is... That project is so important for all of Southern Illinois because it will become the largest, the absolute largest port in the area.

Now, some of the other things though, look at the projects we're getting in at SIU just the Communications Building coming up and that's many, many millions of dollars.

We also have... Oh, there's (audio glitches) 4.4 million dollars to Little Alto Pass.

And there are water and sewage treatment.

We've gotten close to a million dollars for improvement down in (indistinct) So, those are things we're bringing in.

It's extremely important to bring those in.

The other products are maintaining the State parks, or Murphysboro.

The State park at Murphysboro Lake, the electric is bad.

We're trying to bring all those things in, and we're getting the money down here to do it.

That's the biggest thing.

One of my pet projects really is the historic nature of Southern Illinois (audio glitches) or signing an agreement between John A, and Shawnee, for some educational things that they're gonna do down there.

The historic port that will go in there will also be in a historic town with payroll.

You'll think of Magnolia Manor and all of the different buildings that are down there, historic buildings that are down there.

They're throughout Southern Illinois.

If we can also bring those back up, get 'em on historic grounds again, and museums, we have just a tremendous amount of history.

- One of the things that we hear quite often is that Illinois is bad for business.

So, I have a two part question here.

Do you agree that it's bad for business?

And if so, how would you change it?

- Yes, (laughs) I do think that we are far from business friendly.

Some of the things... Oh, just off the top of my head.

Well, number one, we've gotta make Illinois business friendly.

We're not at this point.

We all own an insurance that is just astronomical.

You know, you've gotta pay it off.

The trust fund has not been paid off, the majority party chose not to pay it off.

And we had COVID money, we had all sorts of money to pay that off.

They didn't pay it off and it was unfortunate that they didn't pay it off because they were stuck with that.

Then if you go on, you could also have the port liability.

Businesses are so easily sued in this state.

We need some port liability reform.

The others, workman's comp, I've paid, I don't know, how many hundreds of years in business with optometry and then with the winery.

It's amazing.

And then on top of that energy costs, they're just out of control.

If you look at Ameren, they do not produce any electricity.

They have to buy their electricity.

In the auction that happened, I think this last spring, they went from 6 cents a kilowatt hour to almost 20, 21 cents a kilowatt hour.

That's a three and a half times increase in what their bills are gonna be, and you're starting to get those.

Then if you look at the co-ops, the co-ops don't have that same problem.

They have...

They own some of their production.

(audio glitches) So, maybe the 19 to 20, 45, it depends.

But if you look at the property values, the taxes, if your electric bill is going astronomically high, you're not going to be able to sell your homes.

Your values are gonna go down in the Ameren areas.

In the co-op areas, it may very well stay the same or go up.

So, we have to get the business friendly atmosphere back.

And its includes energy, includes taxes.

We can't raise taxes.

- On a more personal economic level, people are dealing with the high cost of inflation.

You've talked about energy prices, gas prices, and things like that.

That coupled with COVID-19 and the pandemic have really caused a lot of strain for a lot of people.

How would you make sure that services are available to people who need it most and that the recovery can continue?

- Well, the gas, you know, it's really reckless the way we're doing our energy.

It's killing jobs.

Let me give you just a quick example and then I'll tell you how well it's the same thing.

You've gotta cut taxes.

But when they cut or when they put the energy bill through, the (audio glitches) ended up where their coal miners is closed down.

They have 1.3 million coming into property taxes there.

Shawnee, over in my district, Shawnee School District over by Grand Tower where they shut down the natural gas plant there.

And that happened to be the same amount, 1.3 million where they came to us and said, "Look, we need to get this in the budget.

How can you do that?"

Well, we got it in the budget.

We got it passed.

I did not vote for the budget, but they did still let me put that in there.

And that was some of that collaboration.

It was working, but we got those in there, but what do we do next year?

We can't put that on the (audio glitches) they can't do it.

So, if you can't, you've gotta take the taxes again.

You've gotta make it where they can be in there.

As far as COVID, it's in two parts, I get two minutes.

(laughs) As far as COVID, we learned a lot in COVID.

We did a number by the bills dealing with telehealth.

My wife and I were home, that you know, almost three years ago when everybody's in their house and they're holding up, and Rhoda says, "Well, you know, Mrs. so-and-so is coming in."

She has a hemorrhage and she's diabetic.

She has the hemorrhage.

She's head back into business.

I'm sorry, but vision and site is I think, extremely important.

So, we went back in, we did our business, but we passed bills concerning telehealth.

I found that the telehealth was actually probably a pretty..

I couldn't check her retina, but I could find out how her vision was just by talking to her.

So, we did telehealth for optometry, we did telehealth for dentistry, we did telehealth for medicine, and all of those things are extremely beneficial.

And we learned them directly out of COVID.

And those are things that we can help in the future without a doubt.

- Telehealth is one of the things that came out of the COVID pandemic, or at least an expansion of that.

We also saw that a lot of schools had to have their students learn online.

All of that illustrated, especially in this area, a higher need for broadband access.

Can you talk a little bit about the need for expansion of broadband in rural areas like Southern Illinois?

- Oh, absolutely.

Broadband, it's essential from everything from schools to firemen, Good Wi-Fi, we have to have good Wi-Fi.

But the broadband is being addressed at a federal level, and it's also being addressed on a state level.

There are millions and millions of dollars going into that.

Now, we have to just get out there and get it installed so that we have it.

One of the things we also have is a number of grants that are involved with broadband.

It's sometimes difficult to get every little city, township, village to fill out the paperwork to grant money.

So our job, as legislators, is to get our offices (audio glitches) grant that you can apply for, get the paperwork done, it's there.

25,000, 30,000, 50,000.

I mean, there's a lot of money that sometimes goes up to the side and they need to do it.

- Certainly.

We have time for just one more question.

And that has to do with higher education.

Higher education has been cut dramatically over the years when it comes to state support.

How would you build that support back and ease the burden on families?

- Well, higher education, I'm on the appropriations for higher education.

(audio glitches) I don't think that tax dollars are necessarily the correct way to do it.

I think that the way Chancellor Lane is doing, he's going to visit every high school in Southern Illinois and even further north.

He brings the kids down from South Side Chicago, from St. Louis, from everywhere.

Increasing, we don't only have to go have 26,000, but if we can have the shared cost of even getting to about 16,000, I think we have a really, really good university at that point.

For us, I'm speaking more locally.

And then the additional... (audio glitches) The community colleges, the community colleges can fulfill a number of different things.

One of the things that they were doing when we were down in Cairo the other day was the idea that you don't necessarily have to go to college for a four year degree, too.

You can be a plumber, or electrician, et cetera.

So that was what the general hint that was.

- Representative Paul Jacobs represents the 118th House District in Southern Illinois and is running for re-election.

Representative, thanks for your time.

- Oh, you're very welcome.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

- The challenger in the 118th House District is Van Ikner, a Democrat out of Carbondale.

Welcome Mr. Ikner.

- Oh, it's my pleasure.

Thank you for having me today, Ms. Fuller.

- Let's just kind of jump off with a little bit of an introduction.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your decision to run for office?

- Oh, absolutely.

You know that I am a transplant.

I came down here in 1992.

I came from Chicago to become a student down here at Southern Illinois University.

bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and found myself 30 years down the line.

Now, taking all of that experience, everything that I went through as a freshman here, all the way until my journey now is this 30-year time machine I've been riding in, and I find myself wanting to wear the next hat as public servant to my community, because I've learned how to truly give people every consideration.

I work currently now as a professional mover, and for a living, I walk up to strangers' doors, and I actually introduce myself and say, I'm here to help.

(chuckles) - All righty.

What would you consider some of the top issues facing this district in Southern Illinois in general?

- Well, I think that one of the things that I really worry about in our area is making sure that we provide economic opportunities for everybody in our community.

I think that's the way that we really produce diversity, equity, and inclusion is being able to put people in a position where they are no longer the have-nots, but they all of a sudden are put into a position where they're able to acquire and attain some stable means of being able to provide for themselves around here.

We have one of the highest poverty rates in the community here in our five most southern counties in Illinois.

We definitely have to send everybody the MDU, Money Due University.

We have to take advantage of the opportunities to participate in the trades, to participate in having a chance to go to school here at the university and making sure that we continue our education.

- People often feel that this part of the state is overlooked.

You mentioned that you, yourself came from the Chicago area.

How would you bring the issues facing Southern Illinois to higher prominence if you're elected to Springfield?

- Well, I think that we need a really great opportunity to tell our stories down in Springfield.

That we need people that actually are going to lean in and work with all of our political aspirations and help us achieve group politics and group economics.

We have to be able to really highlight our elderly community.

We have to highlight our student community.

We have to highlight those Millennials that are here, that are ready to take the charge from a generation that has been holding on to it.

And I know the Baby Boomers are ready to pass it to the next generation.

So, we have to continually be ready to shine the spotlight on somebody else here in Southern Illinois.

Give them a platform.

I believe that this is just a place for it.

- Certainly.

There have been a lot of announcements of late, about capital projects.

Things at Rend Lake, for example, or the Cairo Port Project.

What are some capital improvements that you think the State could invest in that would benefit Southern Illinois?

- Well, we were...

It's amazing that I just was having a telephone conversation with a friend of mine up north, and he was talking about Illinois being the number one for AG.

And we are really in the belief that there are lots of opportunity for us to plant, and grow hemp, and to manufacture, and to have an opportunity to open up those doors that bring in more industry and that provide more job opportunities for people right here in our community.

- Certainly.

On a more personal economic front, we still see people struggling with the high cost of inflation, whether it has to do with housing, food, or other essentials.

Are there programs or ideas that you'd would have that would help kind of ease the burden for those people who need the help the most?

- Yes.

Well, you know, I think one thing that we've gotten away from is that ability to have that potluck society.

That kind of do-it-yourself mentality between all of us as a community that makes us closer and tighter neighbors, and that we understand that we are resources to one another.

I grew up on the block when I was in the city of Chicago, where it was hard to even know that you were poor.

You know, even though that you lived under really poor...

I lived in really poor conditions.

Everybody on my block knew one another.

I knew every neighbor.

I would take the trash out for Ms. Aida.

I would go and check on Ms. Williams up the street.

We always had the ability to lean in.

And I think that a lot of our issues are issues about us not really being connected.

We've gotta start making an effort so that we do a proper inventory one another.

That we find out what we're capable of without that extra price of inflation.

- There's been a lot of criticism over the last several years that Illinois is bad for business, or that businesses don't want to locate here.

Kind of a two part question here.

Do you agree that Illinois is bad for business?

And if you do, or even if you don't, what are some things that you think the state could do to attract more business?

- One thing that I'd like to point out, I think Illinois is a great place for businesses that really don't mind giving their fair share.

We have some businesses here in Illinois that, really lean in, and they take care of the people around them.

They know that because they have a certain amount of profit margin they're willing to share in the responsibilities towards helping develop opportunities for other people.

Those are the type of businesses that we want here in Illinois.

The best way for us to continue to attract other businesses outside of our great state is to be able to let them know that we're ready and available, and that we have space for them, and that we want people that want to come and benefit from not only our agricultural opportunities, our tourism opportunities, but also to take advantage of the greatest resource that we have, our Illinoisans.

- One of the things that was made clear during the pandemic and the harshest parts of the pandemic when people were forced to stay home was a lack of broadband access, particularly in rural parts of Illinois, like Southern Illinois.

Do you have ideas on how you could expand broadband access, so that people would have access for things like school, work, and other items?

- Well, you know what?

I actually don't have a plan about how to expand broadband, but I think it's a great idea.

I've seen a lot of guys working in the community here as of late, working through...

I believe it was at XStream Company that's been around here right now.

And what's amazing is that they have really been working fast.

I've seen the lines go in the ground, and I'm waiting to see what the difference in the service is going to be once we get a chance to see what the comparison is between Mediacom and what Extreme was providing.

- You mentioned that you came down to Carbondale to attend Southern Illinois University.

Higher education has seen dramatic cuts in funding over the last 10 or 15 years.

And while the public universities and community colleges are working to scrape things back together, much of that cost has had to be passed on to students and their families in the form of tuition and fees.

How would you help make public higher education more affordable for students and their families?

- Well, I really believe that it's about us taking the time to realize that education is a gateway for opportunity.

Those people that we train, they are becoming our public servants.

Much like we have a teacher's program that rewards teachers for teaching for a certain amount of time.

We need to implement other type of opportunities that will offset the cost of college for people that are in service industries.

We've got a lot of people that would benefit from it, and I'm sure that they would be excited about knowing that we had it on the table.

- Area families feel squeezed when it comes to property taxes, particularly.

What would you do to ease the burden on property taxes?

- I think that's another thing that we need to possibly find out what are the possibilities.

We need to have a referendum where we are able to pull together the people in our community that are most vulnerable.

We were talking earlier today, The Tom Miller Show earlier.

I did a radio event and we were asked the very same question, and people were calling in and they were saying, "My taxes are 4,200," or "My taxes are $5,000 a month."

And it just seems like an overwhelming amount of money.

But I think about the people that are most impacted by, not by us, middle income families, that like my wife and myself that are two house incomes that are working every day and contributing together, trying to tackle this task of managing our finances.

But we're talking about the people that don't have it in their budget, and that are getting behind in their taxes and might potentially lose their home.

We gotta try and come up with something.

- One of the big economic engines for Southern Illinois for decades and generations was in the energy sector through coal mining and energy in those forms.

Now, there's a push toward green energy, but still people are saying, "Well, what about the people who knew normally would work in the mines, or work at power plants that use fossil fuels?"

How do you strike the balance between using the resources available to us here, but also pushing toward a greener future?

- I ran into a coal miner that had retired from the coal mine, 73 years old.

And he was telling me that the coal mines provided him with the means to feel like he was a human being.

That it gave him the money that he needed in order to provide for his family to buy toys that he liked to really start enjoying life.

And that's what a job is for us.

I think that we have to let folks know that are doing the coal mining, let them know that there's still an opportunity for you to fulfill that blank, cause that's what they're looking for.

They're trying to check a blank to make sure they're still gonna be able to pay the bills.

So, we gotta make sure that we put 'em in a position to be trained in that renewable energy.

- One of the big topics in the statewide races this year is criminal justice reform.

How would you change criminal justice in the State of Illinois to make sure that people are brought to justice, but they're also given an opportunity once they've paid their debt to society.

- Yes.

Well, you know, I really feel as though that there are a lot of programs that are actually working on behalf of the 3 million Illinoisans that are justice impact, and you have 2.2 million of those Illinoisans that are eligible for some type of sentence relief, that once they complete their term of imprisonment, and once they complete parole or whatever the circumstances might be, they call it parole or sometimes they call it a supervised release.

Once you complete those things, those hurdles, you're supposed to have paid your debt to society.

And we should take the stigma off of those nonviolent offenders so that they have better work opportunities.

They have less of that feeling of feeling like as though they've been walking around with a "Scarlet Letter" A on them for the rest of their lives.

I understand what it's like.

Every time I'm asked about my own felony, I have to pull that scab off of that wound.

(chuckles) - Van Ikner is the Democratic candidate for the 118th State House District in the state of Illinois.

Mr. Ikner.

Thanks for your time.

- Thank you so much, Ms. Jennifer Fuller.

You have a great afternoon.

- You too, as well.

You've been watching, "Meet the Candidates" on WSIU.

You can find our content by going to our YouTube channel, WSIU Public Television and find us online at wsiu.org I'm Jennifer Fuller.

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