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THE DAILY ILLINI The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
28˚ | 19˚ Vol. 143 Issue 82
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Rosenberg, Ammons face off at 103rd debate Rosenberg wants better Springfield representation for C-U community
Ammons and Rosenberg debate at candidate forum
Carol Ammons and Sam Rosenberg, answered questions posed by members of the community at the third and final candidate forum, held Friday night at the Champaign City Council Chambers. The two are democratic candidates for the 103rd district’s House seat.
ty can prepare one for the experience that is Springfield politics,” Rosenberg said. “Being a prosecutor allows me to see not only where laws are applied, in the truest sense of the administration of justice, but additionally it requires you to work with a variety of individuals and apply the laws to people who do not see the situation from the same perspective as you do.” He has received endorsements from local leaders, like current representative Naomi Jakobsson, Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing and Champaign Mayor Don Gerard. He noted a comment Rietz had made in regards to him earning the endorsement of Prussing and Jakobsson. “Julia said she had the abil-
BY ELEANOR BLACK STAFF WRITER
Although this is the first time 28-year-old Sam Rosenberg has run for public office, he has served the ChampaignUrbana community through his law career. After graduating from the University of Illinois’ College of Law in 2010, he was offered a job by Julia Rietz, a former professor of his and the state’s attorney for Champaign County. As an assistant state’s attorney, Rosenberg prosecuted DUIs and domestic violence but also worked on a variety of cases becausue of the office’s smaller size. He now works for a law firm in downtown Champaign, although he is currently on a leave of absence so he can campaign full-time. “Nothing in Champaign Coun-
Rosenberg
Priorities: • Job creation and retention • Increased education funding • Opposition toward Senate Bill 1, the state’s pension reform legislation
SEE FORUM | 3A
SEE ROSENBERG | 3A
13TH DISTRICT BY THE ISSUES ERIKA HAROLD REPUBLICAN PARTY
MICHAEL FIRSCHING REPUBLICAN PARTY
RODNEY DAVIS REPUBLICAN PARTY
DAVID GREEN DEMOCRATIC PARTY
GEORGE COLLINS DEMOCRATIC PARTY
ANN CALLIS DEMOCRATIC PARTY
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BY ELEANOR BLACK STAFF WRITER
As a current member of the Urbana City Council and former member of the Champaign County Board, Carol Ammons has spent six years in elected public service to the Champaign-Urbana community. Now running for representative of the 103rd district, she is looking to widen the scope of that community. Her career in public service has led to endorsements from local organizations and community members, including the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the Service Employees International Union, Local 73, and the Graduate Employees Organization, Local 6300. Despite these
BRIAN YU THE DAILY ILLINI
Sam Rosenberg and Carol Ammons applaud after the completion of the candidate forum held at the Champaign City Counsel Chambers, in Champaign, on Friday. endorsements, Urbana mayor Laurel Prussing, who serves with Ammons on the city council, endorsed her opponent, Sam Rosenberg. “We very rarely endorse as an organization, but the GEO decided to endorse Carol Ammons,” said Stephanie Seawell, GEO spokeswoman. “She has experience both in com-
munity causes that are very important to our members, but also as an elected official. “Whenever we need people from the community to support us as a union, one of the very first people we turn to is Carol Ammons.” As representative, Ammons
SEE AMMONS | 3A
BY ELEANOR BLACK STAFF WRITER
Candidates running for the 13th congressional district met Thursday night for a public forum to discuss both national and local issues at the Champaign City Council Chambers. All candidates beside the incumbent Rep. Rodney Davis were in attendance. Michael Firsching, a veterinarian from Midway, and Erika Harold, an attorney from Urbana and former Miss America, are running against Rep. Davis in the Republican primary. The candidates for the democratic primary are David Green, who works at the University’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs; George Gollin, a physics professor at the University; and Ann Callis, a former judge from Edwardsville. The primaries are scheduled for March 18.
MINIMUM WAGES
ENVIRONMENTS
IMMIGRATION
HIGHER EDUCATION
“I wouldn’t favor raising the federal minimum wage because I think that it would have the economic consequence of having employers reduce the number of people that they employ. If states feel that that’s something they want to do, they always have the ability to raise their state minimum wage above the federal.”
“You cannot mandate people to be more productive. If you make a minimum wage law and raise it to $30 an hour, do you think everyone’s going to start making $30 an hour? No, anybody who can’t produce $30 an hour is going to lose a job. That’s true whether it’s $30, $20, $15 or $12.”
“I would want to seek a balance between making sure that we have an upholding of the rule of law, but also celebrating the fact that we are a nation of immigrants. So two specific things that I would support is enhanced guest worker programs and also enhanced high-tech visa programs.”
“I would not cut Federal Pell Grants because I want to make sure that on-ramp into our economy and our educational system is something that’s important. ... If we start to cut Pell Grants, then we make it impossible for a young person who has the academic potential but not the financial means to be able to attend college.”
“When you look at actual risks to communities and environmental risks, It’s really important that you give businesses (and people) that might be subject to the regulations the ability to weigh in and then do a cost-benefit analysis. I would want the debate to be brought much more to a concrete, finite matter.”
“We can’t fix (global warming) just by putting a carbon tax on the United States. All across the world, societies are getting better at using fossil fuels to get ahead because it’s a good, cheap form of energy. We can’t tell them not to do that because we’ve gotten this country ahead about it.”
“I would reduce much of the paperwork and bureaucratic nonsense we have in regards to immigration. I’m not quite saying we’re at the point where we can have open borders, but the process of people traveling in this country needs to be much freer. ... We need to change our whole philosophy of how we’re handling immigration.”
Firsching said the skyrocketing education cost and too much loan money available from the federal government has allowed universities to charge excessive rates for education. “What we need to be doing is to bring universities back more into a market model where there’s more competition.”
Though Davis was not at the event, his campaign website relays his caution against overregulating businesses. “Creating an environment of certainty where businesses can afford to take a risk and expand their payroll is something I am focused on with nearly every bill I cosponsor and vote I take in the House,” he said in an online statement.
Davis wrote an Op-Ed with Rep. John Shimkus, R-15, on Sept. 30, 2013 expressing his concern with the EPA’s New Source Performance Standards, which limits the release of carbon dioxide for new power plants. He also supports the Keystone XL Pipeline.
In a Feb. 6, 2013, interview with The Daily Illini, Davis spokesman Andrew Flach said, “Congressman Davis believes that any immigration reform proposal must begin with strengthening our border control. Unless we can prevent people from entering this country illegally, any attempt to reform our immigration system will fail.”
Davis’ website states his position on higher education. “I want to work with the colleges and universities in my district to find ways the federal government can help them control costs. Most importantly, we must grow our economy so our college graduates can find the jobs they need to start careers and begin to repay their loans.”
“The federal government needs to create living wage jobs for everyone who wants one ... All these jobs at living wages of $15 per hour.”
“Carbon tax, good idea. Cap and trade, bad idea. We need to move toward a post-fossil fuel future with conservation, retrofitting, solar energy, wind and creating a cost-structure which encourages renewable energy resources.
Green said he would vote for the DREAM Act, though it “provides too expensive, too long and too onerous a path to citizenship. It should be much easier. Immigrants in this country contribute to our economy, and they need to have their rights, and their children need to grow up with the same rights as we have.”
“College needs to be free like it used to be; we can well afford it. $150 billion would make public higher education at the state-level free on a nationwide basis. It’s chump change for the 1 percent to fund free higher education.”
Gollin was not asked about this position at the debate; however, on Dec. 5, he came out in support for the “Fight for $15” campaign at a protest in front of McDonald’s. “To get cheaper hamburgers, cheaper goods, we’re having to put tax revenues into important programs like food stamps and other forms of aid,” he said.
“We need to move away from a carbon-based economy. ... We really need to imbed questions about specific energy policies into a much larger program involving new forms of energy production, how to deal with the wastes that come about from nuclear and other things.”
Gollin said the DREAM Act is a good start, but it needs to be improved in certain ways, including the formation of a fast-track to citizenship for students who come to the country as young children and immigrants who are serving in the military.
“The community college system is key to the whole ballgame in affordability. We see discussions in Tennessee about making the system be free, we see ways of doing concurrent enrollment with high schools, we would like to also have accrediting organizations in the federal government to pressure the schools to identify their costs.”
“It is something that we could do immediately, even incrementally. If we raise our minimum wage immediately, it will raise two to five million Americans out of poverty. That’s thousands of Illinoisans, and I think it’s something that could happen immediately and would help the poverty in our area.”
“People are denying climate change exists because it’s cold outside, denying 30-year trends, an abundance of scientific evidence. So I do believe we have to make some changes and really be cognizant of what’s going on with our environment, and protecting our groundwater and keeping our air clean for our children and our grandchildren.”
“The comprehensive immigration reform supported by Senator (Dick) Durbin must be brought to the House, and I would vote for that. It has a very measured pathway to citizenship, and I also think it strengthens our borders, and I think it would do an enormous benefit to our economy.”
“It’s important that we increase and strengthen Pell grants ... I also support Senator (Dick) Durbin’s Student Bill of Rights, I think that the burgeoning student loan debt and predatory student loans are going to be the next huge financial crisis with our nation.”
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Ammons brings experience to the electoral ballot
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