1) City Pensions
Q: Chicago's fire and police pensions are greatly underfunded, and the city is required by the state to make a $550 million payment into the pension funds by the end of 2015. Do you support restructuring the pension systems, inevitably reducing benefits, to put the funds on sound financial footing?
Yes or No:No
Please Explain: Retired cops and firemen earned their benefits, and it isn’t their fault that payments to the fund weren’t made by our irresponsible elected officials. I support raising the revenue needed to fully fund Chicago’s Fire and Police pensions. I do not support reducing benefits.
Q: Chicago's pension systems for municipal workers and laborers already have been restructured, reducing benefits, but the city has yet to identify where it will find the revenue to sufficiently fund those systems. Under what circumstances would you support a property tax increase to raise the needed revenue for the fire and police pensions and/or the municipal workers and laborers pensions? I would only support raising property taxes as a last resort. We need to first look to more progressive forms of taxation in order to fix our city’s fiscal woes. That’s why I support:
• A downtown casino to capture gaming revenue
• A LaSalle Street tax of $3 per trade (Springfield approval needed)- A city income tax on those earning more than $150,000 per year (Springfield approval needed)
• A head tax on large, profitable employers
• A $15 minimum wage to help spur the economy. The result will be more sales tax revenue collected.
• A kiosk tax (automated kiosks don’t currently pay for a business license depriving the city of millions)
• An immediate review of all contracts with outside consultants. Our City spends too much on some of these clout-heavy deals.
• The legalization and taxation of marijuana for recreational use (Springfield approval needed)
2) Chicago Public Schools pensions
Q: Large and growing payments required to keep the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund solvent are squeezing CPS' budget, forcing cuts elsewhere and limiting investment. The Chicago Board of Education has increased property taxes, but it is not enough to keep up with the high annual costs. What measures do you support to ensure a solvent retirement system and to improve the district's finances?
A: We need to first look to more progressive forms of taxation in order to fix our city’s fiscal woes. That’s why I support:
- A downtown casino to capture gaming revenue
- A LaSalle Street tax of $3 per trade (Springfield approval needed)
- A city income tax on those earning more than $150,000 per year (Springfield approval needed)
- A head tax on large, profitable employers
- A $15 minimum wage to help spur the economy. The result will be more sales tax revenue collected.
- A kiosk tax (automated kiosks don’t currently pay for a business license depriving the city of millions)
- An immediate review of all contracts with outside consultants. Our City spends too much on some of these clout-heavy deals.
- The legalization and taxation of marijuana for recreational use (Springfield approval needed)
3) Revenue
Q: In light of the financial issues discussed above, do you support any or all of the following measures, each of which would require, at a minimum, approval by the Illinois Legislature?
* A statewide expansion of the sales tax base to include more consumer services
Yes or No:No
* A tax on non-Chicago residents who work in the city
Yes or No:Maybe
* A tax on electronic financial transactions on Chicago’s trading exchanges, known as the “LaSalle Street tax”
Yes or No:Yes
Please explain your views, if you wish, on any of these three revenue-generating measures. I don’t like sales taxes because they are regressive and disproportionately hurt working people. I would support a commuter tax if it was a graduated, progressive tax that hit commuters from Kenilworth harder than those from Berwyn.
4) Crime
Q:Do you support hiring more police officers to combat crime and gun violence in Chicago?
Yes or No:Yes
Please explain: 12th Ward neighborhoods continue to be plagued by violent crime and burglaries. Residents across the Ward are demanding more that more police officers be hired and so am I.
Q: What legislation in Springfield would you support to try to stem the flow of illegal guns into Chicago?
A: I support legislation that requires employees in gun stores to undergo background checks and complete training to help them spot the common signs of gun traffickers. I also support legislation that requires that firearm retailers be subject to a quarterly inventory audit in order to reduce theft. Finally, I support a 72-hour waiting period to buy handguns and a 24-hour waiting period to buy rifles and shotguns.
5) Elected school board
Q: An advisory referendum on switching Chicago to an elected school board, rather than an appointed board, is expected to be on the ballot in more than 30 wards on Feb. 24. Currently, the mayor appoints all seven board members and the Schools CEO. Do you support a change to an elected school board?
Yes or No: Yes
Please explain: CPS has been a disaster with the Mayor’s appointed school board. Schools were closed despite adamant community and parent opposition, fortunes have been lost through risky investments, and current CPS policies favor teaching for standardized tests rather than allowing teachers to actually practice their craft. To make matters worse, CPS cooks the books in order to bolster the Mayor’s privatize everything political agenda and in the end, we all lose. We need an elected school board now.
6) Tax-increment financing districts
Q: TIFs are the primary economic development tool of the city. In a TIF district, taxes from the growth in property values are set aside for 23 years to be used for public projects and private development. Do you support increasing the annual TIF surplus that the mayor and the City Council have declared in each of the last few years, money that goes to the schools and other city agencies?
Yes or No: I favor emptying the TIF funds, sending the money to parks, schools and city services and ending the hopelessly corrupt TIF program altogether. It is nothing more than a mayoral slush fund that allows the Mayor to wield control over the city council.
Q: What reforms would you propose for the city's TIF program?
A: I think we need to scrap TIF and put money for development in the general budget. That way it is more transparent and rich wards won’t continue to receive disproportionate funding, leaving poor Wards (like mine) fighting over crumbs.
7) Neighborhood economic development
I want to see the Central Manufacturing District in McKinley Park obtain Federal Landmark Status. Such a status would bring Federal funds to the area for smart, sustainable re-development that would take into account the important history of the CMD. The next step would be to attract small high tech manufacturing and logistics firms to the CMD. The opportunity is there, but we need an Alderman who will be proactive and work with potential employers to bring the right kinds of jobs to the area.
We also need to give our youth the tools they need on the Southwest side to succeed in today’s high-tech manufacturing economy. I believe that we can work with CPS to bring appropriate vocational education to the Southwest Side and we can work with employers to ensure that they play a vital role in the process as well. After all, these employers need qualified workers as badly as our youth and displaced workers need good, living wage, manufacturing jobs.
Finally, I support a $15/hr minimum wage. A $15/hr would increase spending in our neighborhoods and spur our economy, and bring jobs to the Southwest Side. $13/hr in 2019 is not good enough. Chicago workers need $15/hr now.
8) Size of the Chicago City Council
Q: The City Council has 50 members, but civic groups and other regularly argue for reducing the size of the Council. What should the size of the Council be? Please provide a specific number. And why?
A: I think the City would be fine with 25 Aldermen. 25 City Council members would bring us more in line with other large cities in the US and allow for the more cost effective delivery of City Services. There would also be significant savings with 25 fewer Aldermanic salaries to pay. That being said, I think there is even greater cost savings to be had in Chicago by making Aldermen present the city’s annual budget to their constituents in a community forum at the Ward level. Sure, Alderman are expensive, but the clout heavy consultants that suck millions from the city’s coffers each year are the real drag on our municipal budget.
9) A Chicago casino
Q: Do you support, in general concept, establishing a gambling casino in Chicago?
Yes or No:Yes.
Please explain: I hate gambling or “gaming.” I really do. I have worked for unions that represent Casino workers before, and I find that Casinos mostly prey on the poor. That being said, I like to play the ponies once in a great while, and given the number of Casinos available to Chicago residents just a short drive away, we should have one downtown to capture that revenue. If the City was flush with cash I would vote No but that obviously is not the case.
10) Red light and speed cameras
Q: Does the city have an acceptable number of red light and speed cameras currently, and are they properly employed?
Yes or No:No.
I think the Red Light and Speed Camera program is a disaster and I have pledged, in writing, to work towards its complete elimination. The residents of the 12th Ward hate it, it’s a regressive tax on working people, it’s unconstitutional and it hasn’t been proven to make the streets any safer. It is time to go after the bankers, speculators, and clout peddlers who got us into our current economic crisis and leave working people alone. The 12th Ward is against Red Light and Speed Cameras and so am I.
11) Ward issues
Q: What are the top three issues in your ward — the ones you talk about most on the campaign trail?
A: The 3 most important issues in the 12th Ward are:
1) Public Safety
2) Education – Residents want full funding for neighborhood schools and more opportunities for youth
3) City Services (potholes, rat control etc.)
Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board questionnaire responses
Pete DeMay
Office running for: Alderman, 12th Ward
Political/civic background: I have been involved politically through the
unions I have worked with for the past 18 years.
Occupation: Union Organizer
Education:BS in biology, SUNY Brockport
Campaign website:
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