Name: Mike Leheney
Age: 41
Town of residence: Bourbonnais, IL
Office sought: State Treasurer
Party: Libertarian
Website: www.leheneyforillinois.com
Questions:
1. What will be your top legislative priorities during your term, and why?
My main goal is to get Illinois on a fiscally sustainable path. I would have three top priorities while in office to help accomplish this. First, I would ensure prudent investment of the taxpayers' funds. This should be at the core of every Treasurer's objectives and cannot be overlooked. Second, I would expand the reporting mechanisms of the office to help give Illinois residents a better look into what is happening with their tax dollars, as well as an understanding of what state programs are broken and how we might go about fixing them. Third, I would increase the profile of the office and serve as a financial advocate for the people of Illinois. I would do this by building relationships on both sides of the aisle and helping the General Assembly to craft fiscally responsible policy and programs. I believe of all the candidates for this office, I am the only one who can effectively do this, as I am not trapped by the two-party affiliation and can be an independent advocate for the citizens of our state.
2. Should the offices of treasurer and comptroller be combined in Illinois? Why or why not?
The goal of combining these two offices would be to create overhead cost savings. I am all for responsibly cutting costs wherever we can, and there is plenty to go after in our bloated state budgets. However, I do not believe that combining these offices is a responsible move at this point. There are three main reasons I feel this way. First, many of the savings we can get by combining the offices can be achieved without the removal of an elected official. There are many opportunities for shared services which have not been addressed, and I would aggressively pursue those opportunities to create savings. Second, the separation of these offices provides a system of checks and balances that can help us avoid the sort of situation that led to the mass fraud in places like Dixon, IL. Yes, there are other ways to create checks and balances, but until I see a plan that is cost effective in doing so, I would hesitate to remove the one we have. Third, it is likely that any combination of these offices will remove an elected official and replace them with an appointed one. I prefer our state officials be accountable to the people.
3. How would you assess the Legislature's and governor's approaches to addressing the state's fiscal crisis the past four years? What more should be done?
The fiscal crisis in Illinois has been created over decades, not just the past four years. Frankly, the Legislature and Governor have only made the problem worse. We have faced increasing taxes at every turn, and even with that, they still haven't delivered a balanced budget. They knowingly let our unfunded pension liabilities grow and have done nothing to reform the issues. And they have done this because the leadership of both parties simply do not care about the welfare of the people of Illinois. They have created this mess with no intention of fixing it. We need a financial leader, who has both the expertise and the integrity, to set Illinois back on the right path. We need someone in our Treasurer's office who can seek out the legislators on both sides of the aisle, who are there to do the right thing, and help them craft legislation that leads to real change and a better future for our state.
4. What is your philosophy when it comes to investing state funds? Is Illinois getting the best return on its money?
Overall, our investment policy in the state isn't terrible. I may have a few tweaks I would implement but I wouldn't call for sweeping change. I do believe we can do better on the fees we are charged by third-party firms who handle many of our investments, and I would aggressively pursue them. However, beyond that, I believe the Treasurer's time would be better spent fighting to create legislation to improve our economic environment in the state, as that will pay far greater dividends in the long run.
5. What should the Legislature do to resolve the pension funding shortfall? Can lawmakers constitutionally reduce pension benefits?
The first thing that needs to happen is to stop the bleeding. We need to change all new employees away from a defined-benefit system to a defined-contribution system, like a 401k or 403b savings plan. This would at least stop the growth of the problem. After that, we would need to make some very hard budget choices, and have real conversations about how we proceed with existing pensions. We would need to take a look at the growth formulas, and also close some of the loopholes which allow ballooning pensions towards the tail-end of an employee's career. There are no easy answers here, but we must address this now. If we don't, this will undoubtedly lead to the state's eventual bankruptcy.
6. Should marijuana be legalized for recreational use in Illinois? Why or why not?
In short, yes. The War on Drugs is a failed policy that has done far more harm than good. Nationally, we have spent trillions of dollars and our drug problem is bigger than ever. Prohibition leads to higher crime rates, hurts our economy, and has any number of harmful unintended consequences. This is a complicated topic that deserves more discussion, but at the end of the day, legalized recreational marijuana is far overdue in our state.
7. Which areas of state government need to endure more budget cuts than they have thus far?
There is unwise spending happening in literally every part of our state budget. Listing all of them here would be extremely difficult but let me talk briefly about my overall philosophy on this topic. I believe if the programs of our state, and those at the federal level for that matter, were structured better, they could be far more effective at a far lower cost. We spend trillions of dollars every year fighting poverty in one form or another, yet a large number of Americans can't afford to feed their kids breakfast. This is due to many of these programs being structured poorly and wasting precious tax dollars. We need structural reform across the board to focus on the root causes of the many issues we face. When that happens, the budget will be much more easily balanced. But this takes creative thinking and sound fiscal leadership to happen, and we need to start electing people who will act in the best interests of our citizens, rather than those who line politicians' pockets.
8. Are the state's two 529 college-tuition savings plans being utilized by enough people? If no, how can participation be increased?
No, they are not being utilized by enough people. But the problem isn't the plans themselves, the problem is that people are having a hard time affording to save for things like college or retirement, because they simply run out of money to do so. We need to focus our efforts on creating a stronger economy with rising wages. Instead, we have tax policy that drives business and people out of Illinois. When that happens, the savings tool doesn't matter, because people are figuring out how to pay their rent or mortgage first. The 529 plans are great tools, but most of the people using them are the ones who need them the least. Create a stronger economy, and you will see participation increase.
9. Should Illinois' tax structure be changed to bring in more revenue?
Allow me to be extremely clear on this topic, if I haven't been already. We do not have a revenue problem in Illinois. We have a spending problem. Our overall taxation rate is arguably the highest in the nation. More taxes are the problem, not the solution. We need to reign in out of control spending policies in Springfield. We should be looking for every opportunity to lower taxes in Illinois to drive growth. People and business are fleeing Illinois, and it is not a mystery as to why. It isn't the weather. It's a lack of opportunity in this state. Those opportunities are being driven out of Illinois due to the mess than Springfield is creating. It has to stop.
10. What should the Legislature do to limit tuition increases at the state's public universities?
We need to take a close look at how those tuition increases are being spent, and whether they are leading to better educational outcomes for students. Not just in universities, but in schools across the nation, we are spending more than ever on layers of administration and overhead, and less on the students' actual classroom experience. That needs to stop. Every dollar we spend on education is important, and we need to make sure it is spent responsibly. We need to make sure the leaders at our universities have that same mindset, and act on it.
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