Progress Illinois

The two-month race to replace Rahm Emanuel in Illinois’ 5th Congressional District has provided ample fodder for horse-race coverage, with its rapid fundraising and constant flurry of press releases.  This isn’t surprising, as the victor may well be determined by the strength of his or her ground game.  Nonetheless, there are numerous sharp, accomplished Democrats competing in the primary and their policy positions deserve greater scrutiny.

In that vein, the Progress Illinois team dug through these candidates’ disparate policy-based statements to give voters and political observers a better idea of where they stand on the most pressing issues facing Congress.

As of today, February 20, five Democrats top the fundraising charts: Sara Feigenholtz, John Fritchey, Tom Geoghegan, Mike Quigley, and Charlie Wheelan.  As such, we’ve limited our voter guide to just this top-tier group.

The first section of the guide provides a snapshot of the distinctions between the candidates on each issue.  The subsequent section uses the candidates’ own words – pulled together from their questionnaires, campaign websites, and comments at public forums -- to provide a full representation of their positions.  Early next week we will publish a broader candidate assessment that takes into account other factors, such as the candidates' professional and political backgrounds, as well as our own judgments about how the policy positions detailed below stack up from a progressive standpoint.

Of course, with 11 days until the primary, the candidates are still talking and providing more detail on their policies they support and oppose.  As such, we reserve the right to edit and update this document going forward. 

Scroll down to read the online version or download the PDF here.

POSITION SUMMARIES

Below are summaries of the top-tier candidates’ positions on a variety of issues, as gleaned from their Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, IVI-IPO, and ABC 7 candidate questionnaires, as well as their candidate websites, forum appearances, and voting records.

Social Security:

- Geoghegan wants to increase Social Security benefits.
- Feigenholtz and Fritchey would consider lifting or adjusting the cap on payroll taxes.
- Wheelan is open to reducing benefits for future retirees.
- Quigley wants to leave it alone for the time being.

Health Care:

- Geoghegan wants single payer, at least in phases.
- Feigenholtz, Fritchey, and Quigley want to build on the employer-based system.
- Wheelan also wants to build on what we have, but is open to single-payer if a "politically-feasible" bill comes up for a vote. 
- Feigenholtz says she will push for federal legislation requiring health insurance companies to cover mammograms for women 40 and over.

Medicare:

- Feigenholtz wants to reform HMO's and prescription drugs.
- Fritchey wants to rework Medicare Part D.  
- Geoghegan wants single payer.
- Quigley wants to cut waste by introducing competition to doctors, suppliers, prescription drugs as well as improving health of seniors.
- Wheelan wants cost containment and strict limits on reimbursements that aren't cost-effective.

Financial Industry/Troubled Asset Recovery Program (TARP):

- Feigenholtz wants CEO restrictions, foreclosure mitigation, and transparency.
- Fritchey wants to neutralize toxic assets rather than simply provide equity.
- Geoghegan believes government must re-capitalize or start new banks, cut down consumer debt, and increase usury laws.
- Quigley wants more transparency and wants to require banks to add liquidity to market. - Wheelan wants more aggressive foreclosure prevention efforts.
- Both Geoghegan and Quigley say they would have voted against TARP.  
- Feigenholtz, Fritchey, and Wheelan say they would have supported it.

Stimulus:

- Quigley and Wheelan would have liked to see more transit funds in the economic recovery package.
- Feigenholtz likes that the bill provides aid to Medicaid providers.
- Fritchey complains that only 60 percent will be spent in first 18 months.
- Geogheghan says it should have had greater funding for unemployment insurance and no tax cuts.  

Taxes:

- All candidates want to preserve the estate tax except Fritchey.
- Geoghegan wants marginal tax rates raised to 1950s levels.  
- Feigenholtz, Fritchey, and Wheelan want to let the Bush tax cuts to expire.
- Quigley will not vote for a tax increase during a recession and supports letting the Bush tax cuts expire in 2011.
- Wheelan supports phasing out payroll, income, and corporate taxes in favor of a carbon tax.

Energy and Environment:

- Fritchey and Feigenholtz support further regulations on the energy industry and more energy independence.  
- Quigley, Geoghegan, and Fritchey support a cap-and-trade policy.  
- Geoghegan and Wheelan support a carbon tax.  
- Fritchey supports coal liquification with carbon sequestration. 
- Quigley and Wheelan oppose tax credits for biodiesel mixtures and agro-biodiesel production.
- Wheelan is critical of the Kyoto Protocol, an international environmental treaty establishing restrictions on greenhouse gases, because it leaves out developing countries.  He supports a stronger version of the treaty.

Education:

- All candidates support increased federal funding for public education at all levels and are critical of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
- Quigley and Wheelan are vague on how to fix NCLB.  
- Wheelan supports school vouchers.
- As a legislator, Fritchey supported a bill that created a 25 percent tax credit for families paying at least $250 and as much as $2,000 on school supplies in a year. The teachers unions opposed it, arguing that it encourage school choice.
- As a legislator, Fritchey co-sponsored HB 750, a bill that sought to end the inequitable reliance on property taxes to fund local schools.

Immigration:

- All five candidates support offering a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States.  
- Wheelan supports the construction of a fence or wall along the Mexican border if it were a political necessity as part of a comprehensive solution on immigration..
- As a legislator, Fritchey voted against a bill restricting the use of the problematic E-Verify program in Illinois.
- Fritchey and Feigenholtz co-sponsored HB 1100, which provided for an Illinois resident to obtain a drivers’ certificate and auto insurance without a Social Security number.

Iraq:

- Geoghegan wants to adhere to withdrawal timetable endorsed by the Iraqi government.
- Feigenholtz, Quigley, Wheelan, and Fritchey favor President Obama's plan.  
- But Wheelan opposes using a specific timetable.

Israel/Palestine:

- Feigenholtz, Fritchey, Geoghegan, and Wheelan pledge their support for a two-state solution.
- Quigley says we must "unequivocally support Israel's efforts for peace, stability and security."

Afghanistan/Pakistan:

- Geoghegan opposes troop surge in Afghanistan, supports economic and diplomatic efforts.
- Feigenholtz, Quigley, and Fritchey support increasing number of troops in Afghanistan.  
- Feigenholtz also says U.S. must support local governance and development aimed at weaning villagers away from Taliban influence.
- Wheelan says he needs to learn more.

Other notable positions:

- Wheelan opposes the Employee Free Choice Act, a federal living wage law, and granting federal employees the right to strike.
- Quigley supports mandatory drug-testing in public employment.
- Fritchey and Wheelan oppose a wholesale ban on the manufacture and sale of all handguns.
- Geoghegan opposes faith-based initiatives.
- Wheelan opposes congressional investigations into government contractors that have participated in human rights violations/renditions.
- Geoghegan supports term limits.
- Wheelan supports abolishing political action committees (PACs).
- Geoghegan supports eliminating earmarks.
- Fritchey wrote a letter-to-the-editor in 2005 supporting a "defined contribution" pension plan over the current “defined benefit” plan used by the state of Illinois.

Full disclosure: The SEIU Illinois Council -- which is the sole sponsor of Progress Illinois -- has endorsed Sara Feigenholtz in the 5th Congressional District race. 

Below are comparisons of the candidates’ broader answers on the various issues listed above.  The large majority of the text is taken directly from their questionnaires, forum answers, or websites.

Feigenholtz: Supports lifting or adjusting the cap on payroll taxes subject to Social Security (currently set at approximately the first $100,000 of income) as part of keeping the program solvent for the long-term.

Fritchey: Believes in order to maintain workable entitlement programs, we must eliminate mismanagement, fraud and poorly thought out policies that inflate costs … Supports proposals to fully fund Social Security by moderately lifting the cap on payroll taxes for higher income Americans.

Geoghegan: Supports expanding Social Security, our public pension system, to replace, not overnight but in stages, the private pension system which has collapsed ... There is one legitimate way that government can stimulate our globally competitive industries that will also have the effect of keeping consumers out of debt. That way is the assumption by the government of non-wage labor cost -- or put another way, the provision by the government of a real public pension people can live on.

Quigley: Believes it is far more important right now to address problems with Medicare as Social Security is solvent for decades before major changes have to be addressed.

Wheelan: Supports enacting some combination of the following four policies to ensure social security’s long-term solvency: 1) Reduce benefits for future retirees, 2) Increase the payroll tax, 3) Allow more young immigrants into the U.S., 4) Increase worker productivity.

Health Care

Feigenholtz: Supports building on the framework already in place. This means allowing workers and families to stay with their employer-based provider if they prefer, or to enter into a national health insurance exchange along with those who don't have employer-based care. ... Says she will push for federal legislation requiring health insurance companies to cover mammograms for women 40 and over.

Fritchey: Supports broadening coverage by expanding the existing system with added quality assurance while using tax credits and cost containment to ensure all Americans have access to plans they can afford.

Geoghegan: Supports moving to a single payer health care program, at least in phases ... That's not because single payer is the only ethical and efficient way to protect us all. It's also because it is crucial to making us competitive globally.

Quigley: Supports moving towards universal health care. We must first, however, build upon -- not tear down -- our preexisting healthcare system. … Will work to ensure that health insurance providers are required to cover pre-existing conditions.

Wheelan: Supports moving towards universal coverage through the current employer-based system, but would also support a single-payer system if there was a politically-feasible proposal pending in the House of Representatives.

Medicare

Feigenholtz: Believes it is wholly unjustified and insupportable that HMOs currently are provided with a multi-billion dollar subsidy to participate in Medicare and that the method by which prescription drugs are tiered is arbitrary and varies greatly from one plan to another.

Fritchey: Believes a reworking of Medicare Part D could enable large savings.

Geogheghan: Supports replacing it with a single payer system so that we can reduce the costs of medical care we now pay to seniors while providing government-funded care to all citizens.

Quigley: Believes there is tremendous waste in Medicare due to the costs of our medical equipment, subsidies to private insurance, and the prices of pharmaceuticals. … We need to introduce competition to Medicare doctors and suppliers … The same goes for prescription drugs … Reducing the costs of Medicare also involves improving the health of our seniors.

Wheelan: Supports the same kind of cost containment for Medicare that he has embraced for health care reform. There must be fair but strict limits on reimbursement for medical procedures that are not cost effective.

Financial Industry/Troubled Asset Recovery Program (TARP)

Feigenholtz: Believes any proposal to stabilize our banking system must set restrictions on bonuses for the executives of participating firms, make foreclosure mitigation mandatory, demand greater transparency by forcing banks to report how government funds are being used and close other existing loopholes.

Fritchey: Supported federal intervention through TARP, though he believes our program should focus on neutralizing toxic assets rather than simply providing equity, as in the current Obama proposal and the original Paulson plan.

Geoghegan: Believes TARP has been a failure ... When the government eventually takes over the insolvent banks and takes action to re-capitalize them or start new ones, it should use its to cut credit card rates in half -- no more than 15 to 17 percent -- and start canceling debt where consumers have paid back principal at a reasonable rate of return. ... In general we have to focus on direct write-off of private consumer debt and greater investment in manufacturing.

Quigley: Believes the TARP funds should have been required to be utilized to put liquidity in the market … the complete lack of transparency in the use of TARP funds has, rightly, troubled the American people about the ability of their government to spend money wisely.

Wheelan: Believes the TARP program has been reasonably effective so far in dealing with a difficult and uncertain situation …Two of the major challenges remaining are the reluctance of banks to lend, and the ongoing cycle of foreclosure and falling real estate prices. I support more aggressive government assistance for homeowners at risk of losing their homes.

Stimulus Package

Feigenholtz: Supports Obama’s effort to create jobs here at home and address our crumbling infrastructure … Encouraged that the White House and Congress have made energy and environmental issues a priority in this stimulus package. … Supports the inclusion of additional Medicaid funding to help providers weather this economic storm, keep their caregivers employed and keep their doors open while protecting vulnerable residents who simply cannot afford to see a reduction in their quality of care.

Fritchey: Was disappointed to see that only 60 percent of the funding in the current bill will enter the economy within 18 months, and would have worked to increase that percentage. … With both the stimulus and TARP, aggressive accountability measures must be much stronger priorities.

Geoghegan: Supported the stimulus bill that has come out of Congress, with reservations. There should have been even greater funding for unemployment insurance -- and there was no need for the tax cuts.

Quigley: Believes the stimulus package offers direct benefits to struggling Americans by reinforcing the safety net for our entitlement programs such as food stamps to help struggling families, upgrading our schools, providing funds for first time homeowners and creating or saving 3-4 million jobs … More funds should be targeted to improving our infrastructure.

Wheelan: Believes a federal stimulus, if done correctly, should cushion the effects of the downturn on the most disadvantaged and focus on investments that will make the country more productive in the long run.  … Believes the stimulus originally passed by the House did not include enough transportation infrastructure.

Taxes

Feigenholtz: Opposes a total repeal of the so-called estate or inheritance tax. … Believes that the Bush tax cuts, which disproportionately benefited the very wealthy, should be allowed to expire.

Fritchey: Supports allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire as planned in 2011 … Believes that, without a more defensible reasoning, the estate tax represents an unfair double taxation.

Geoghegan: Believes marginal tax rates should be raised to the rates that prevailed in the 1950s and 1960s. … Supports maintaining the estate tax.  

Quigley: Will not vote for a tax increase during a recession and supports letting the Bush tax cuts expire in 2011.  … Believes the estate tax should be extended. … Supports eliminating income taxes for seniors who make less than $50,000 per year.

Wheelan: Is comfortable with a modest increase in the marginal tax rate for people who earn over $200,000 a year, provided that rates do not go any higher than they were during the Clinton Administration … Would accept a modest estate tax provided that there are protections for farms and small businesses … Is most committed to introducing some kind of carbon tax with offsetting cuts in the payroll, personal income, or corporate income taxes.

Energy and Environment

Feigenholtz: Believes curbing excessive energy speculation is one step to preventing the type of price hikes motorists encountered last summer … Will fight to promote water conservation, oppose any effort to divert water from the Great Lakes Basin and champion tighter water quality standards to reduce contamination and protect humans as well as native aquatic species … Will oppose any effort by oil companies to drill in the Gulf Coast or the outer continental shelf.

Fritchey: Believes we must vigilantly prevent price gouging and ensure continued competition in the oil and gas industry. … Supports greater land preservation efforts, tougher emission standards and a comprehensive plan to move us toward energy independence. … Supports coal liquification, but only if implementation occurs in conjunction with carbon capture and sequestration. ... Supports cap-and-trade.

Geoghegan: Strongly in favor of conservation and the use of rail and mass transit as an alternative to the automobiles ... Strongly favors both a carbon and gasoline tax, with the receipts to be used for aiding those who would be most adversely affected by higher energy prices ... Would also be a strong advocate for both an aggressive renewable energy portfolio standard and an energy efficiency portfolio standard like we have in Illinois … Support cap and trade legislation to reduce carbon emissions.

Quigley: Supports a cap and trade policy aimed at reducing pollution from greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020 and an 80% reduction by 2050. … Opposes tax credits for biodiesel mixtures and agro-biodiesel production. ... Believes we should direct tax credits towards truly renewable energy sources like wind and solar, instead of food producing crops like corn.

Wheelan: Believes high gas prices can also have huge long-term benefits and has publicly called for the institution of a carbon tax because it is the most significant and powerful tool for changing behavior, conserving energy, and protecting the environment, including weaning ourselves off our dependence on foreign oil. … Believes investing in public transit is probably the single most important thing we can do for Illinois' environment. … Opposes tax credits for biodiesel mixtures and agro-biodiesel production. ... Opposes the Kyoto Protocol because it leaves out developing countries and supports a stronger version of the treaty.
Education

Feigenholtz: Believes that unfunded No Child Left Behind mandates have become increasingly problematic. … Believes supporting effective programs and demonstrating fiscal responsibility will allow us to give worthy educational programs the proper federal support they deserve … Supports incentives for public colleges and universities in Illinois to reduce tuition costs in exchange for increased state or federal funding.

Fritchey: Believes No Child Left Behind laid a framework which, if fully funded, could become effective for students and school districts. … Believes the federal government must invest to create universal early education access, and fund its mandates as it continues to foster innovation and demand accountability in K-12 schools. … Supports broader access to higher education by increasing the funding and scope of the Pell grant program, and offering tax credits that make the first year of college affordable for all families. … Supported a school choice bill that created a 25 percent tax credit for families paying at least $250 and as much as $2,000 on school supplies in a year (HB 999/SB 1075, 1999). ... Co-sponsored HB 750, a bill that sought to end the inequitable reliance on property taxes to fund local schools.

Geoghegan: Would require full funding by the states for any learning standards that they impose on local districts. … Strongly opposed to a pay-to-the-test standard … Supports increasing the Pell Grants.

Quigley: Believes there are provisions of No Child Left Behind that need to be improved … Supports President Obama’s initiative to provide tax credits for higher education in exchange for community service.

Wheelan: Believes the best long-term approach to improving access to college would be expanded access to early childhood education, particularly for children from disadvantaged families. … Supports vouchers, tuition tax credit, and other direct public support for parochial or private schools. … Supports improving teacher quality by eliminating ineffective teacher certification laws that keep many excellent teachers out of the classroom.

Immigration

Feigenholtz: Believes our country should continue this tradition by providing immigrants with a path to earn the privilege of citizenship. … Supports establishing a new worker visa program that ensures due process and prevents abusive employer practices. … Supports putting an end to ineffective workplace raids. ... Co-sponsored HB 1100, which provided for an Illinois resident to obtain a drivers’ certificate and auto insurance without a Social Security number.

Fritchey: Supports a fair and reasonable path to citizenship for undocumented individuals residing in the United States and contributing positively to our communities. … Supports a plan that redevelops the application process and preference system to eliminate visa backlog, creates a responsible guest worker program, cracks down on abusive employers, strengthens our borders, includes the DREAM act and creates a fair, respectful path to citizenship for the undocumented individuals contributing in a positive way to our communities. … Voted against a bill discouraging the use of the problematic E-Verify program in Illinois (SB 1878, 5/30/08). ... Co-sponsored HB 1100, which provided for an Illinois resident to obtain a drivers’ certificate and auto insurance without a Social Security number.

Geoghegan: Supports a path to citizenship for economic refugees. But in all these proposed tests of good citizenship, an obvious one is missing – a requirement that new citizens register to vote.

Quigley: Supports providing a path toward citizenship for law‐abiding immigrants who have been in this country for many years -- while, at the same time, protecting the integrity of America’s borders. … Supports lowering the cost of citizenship for immigrants.

Wheelan: Supports a comprehensive immigration bill that includes both border enforcement and a path to citizenship for undocumented individuals that currently reside in the U.S. … Supports building a U.S./Mexico border fence if it were a political necessity as part of a comprehensive solution on immigration. … Supports increasing the number of visas granted to family members of U.S. citizens and permanent U.S. residents. … Supports an increase in the number of HB-1 visas (those issued to highly-skilled foreign workers), in order to strengthen our workforce and move our economy forward.

Iraq

Feigenholtz: Supports a phased withdrawal to begin in the next few months, with the goal of removing all combat troops by Spring 2010.

Fritchey:  Supports a phased redeployment that continues the first troop reduction initiated in September 2008.

Geoghegan: Was against the war from the beginning and agrees with President Obama that American troops must leave. … Believes we must work with Iraqi government to bring our troops home and supports the timetable endorsed by the Iraqi government.

Quigley: Supports the President Obama’s approach of immediately withdrawing troops in the safest possible manner.

Wheelan: Supports Obama's plan to withdraw our troops gradually over the next two years, but believes the withdrawal should not have a specific timetable, as it would be a mistake to withdraw precipitously in a way that further destabilizes the country and the region.

Israel/Palestine

Feigenholtz: Believes stability is best achieved through the pursuit of a two-state solution that allows Israelis and Palestinians to live peacefully, side-by-side. … No peace can exist, however, if Hamas continues its barrage of rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. … Believes the U.S. must keep intense pressure on our allies in the Middle East to crack down on weapons smuggling into Gaza and provide Israel with the support it needs to protect its own people.

Fritchey: Believes the best and most viable option is a two-state solution and a path similar to the one laid out in the Oslo Accords.

Geoghegan: Believes in the long run there will be no peace between Israel and Palestinians without some kindof two-state solution. The urgent question is how to get Hamas (or the leading part of Hamas) to renounce violence just as part of the IRA in Northern Ireland finally did – that is, how to pull at least the “political” people in Hamas into the peace process, and peel them off from those who will never give up their guns. … Would press the Obama administration to rely on those who can tell us how to bring about this result.

Quigley: Will unequivocally support Israel’s efforts for peace, stability and security. … Will fight to hold the Palestinian leadership accountable for their actions.

Wheelan: Believes all U.S. policies regarding Israel and the region must be consistent with the long-term goal of creating a durable, two-state solution to the Palestinian situation.

Afghanistan/Pakistan

Feigenholtz:  Believes any “surge” of troops to that country must be accompanied by a new strategy to support local governance and development aimed at weaning villagers away from Taliban influence.

Fritchey: Supports a troop increase in Afghanistan that will neutralize the resurgent Taliban
and allow a strengthening of the central government.

Geoghegan: Believes more troops are not the solution to the problems in Afghanistan and that we must bring stability to region through economic and diplomatic efforts. … Is most concerned about Pakistan. The global financial meltdown has severely impacted its economy and created greater instability within a nuclear nation. Until we have a stable Pakistan, more troops in Afghanistan will do little to stable the region.

Quigley: Supports a troop surge in Afghanistan … We cannot forget that Afghanistan shares a border with Pakistan and terrorists are flowing freely across their borders. Pakistan is a nuclear power and we cannot allow rogue groups to have access to weapons and create havoc in region.

Wheelan:  Does not feel sufficiently informed on the issue to know how effective our current military strategy has been. The military strikes have killed dangerous militants, but they have also angered local populations, which in the long run, may promote radical groups. … Would have to learn more about this issue as a new member of Congress.

UPDATE

This document was updated on February 24, 2009 to reflect the following clarify the following stands: Quigley’s position on taxes, Quigley and Wheelan's position on biodiesel tax credits, Fritchey’s position on cap-and-trade, Fritchey’s position on school funding inequities, Fritchey and Feigenholtz’s positions on drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants, Wheelan’s position on the Kyoto Protocol, and Wheelan’s position on a border fence.

SOURCES

Feigenholtz
Campaign website
Tribune questionnaire
Sun-Times questionnaire (PDF)
IVI-IPO questionnaire (PDF)
ABC7 questionnaire

Fritchey
Campaign website
Tribune questionnaire
Sun-Times questionnaire (PDF)
IVI-IPO questionnaire (PDF)
ABC7 questionnaire
Citizen Action/Illinois 2008 Scorecard (PDF)

Geoghegan
Campaign website
Tribune questionnaire
Sun-Times questionnaire (PDF)
IVI-IPO questionnaire (PDF)
ABC7 questionnaire

Quigley
Campaign website
Tribune questionnaire
Sun-Times questionnaire
IVI-IPO questionnaire (PDF)
ABC7 questionnaire

Wheelan
Campaign website
Tribune questionnaire
Sun-Times questionnaire
IVI-IPO questionnaire (PDF)
ABC7 questionnaire

Full disclosure: The SEIU Illinois Council -- which is the sole sponsor of Progress Illinois -- has endorsed Sara Feigenholtz in the 5th Congressional District race.