Paul Serwatka: Candidate Profile

Back to 66th State House District

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioQA Bio City: LakewoodWebsite: www.TakeBackIllinois.orgTwitter: Candidate did not respond.Facebook: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: 66th State House District Age: 47Family: Married with four childrenOccupation: Former Firefighter/Paramedic - Currently, Managing Real Estate BrokerEducation: Washburne Trade School - Carpenter Apprenticeship ProgramApplied Sciences, City colleges of Chicago - Emergency MedicineApplied Sciences College of Dupage - Fire ScienceCivic involvement: Prior to launching my write-in campaign to become a Lakewood Village Trustee, I had long been a voice, as well as a force, for holding government accountable. I regularly attended, and spoke out at, local government and committee meetings and even monitored statewide legislative sessions.As a founding member of both McHenry County Citizens for Better Government and VotersInAction.com I have volunteered literally thousands of hours as part of a concerted effort to create an awareness of local government issues, to encourage residents to become engaged in local government affairs and to call-to-action, local residents when necessary.Elected offices held: Village of Lakewood TrusteeQuestions Answers What needs to be done structurally to make the legislature more effective? Will you vote for your current legislative leader? What is your position on term limits in general and specifically for legislative leaders? Do you support the ongoing drive for a constitutional amendment on redistricting? What will you do to promote implementation of any changes you recommend?The General Assembly has become a captive of lobbyist money and public employee labor-union PAC money. Despite their reluctance to become liberated from that money, we need to separate the politicians from the flow of political money in order to get them to work on our behalf, rather than on behalf of special interests. That reform will come about through additional campaign finance laws. We also need to eliminate the ability of legislative leaders to have their own separate campaign funds designed to control their members. This will help ensure more independent votes by individual members of the General Assembly. I think Jim Durkin has done what he can in trying to curb the worst abuses of Speaker Madigan, particularly since the election of Governor Rauner. But, at this point I cannot commit to supporting anyone for any leadership position. I worked extensively on the last term limits initiative and will continue to fight for term limits for all legislators and legislative leaders. I absolutely support the creation of an independent commission to draw the State Senate and State Representative districts so that they are not gerrymandered to insure lopsided elections in favor of Mike Madigan or any future Chicago Democrat political bosses. I will push for a referendum, and if it fails to get on the ballot, for a Constitutional Convention.What approach do you support toward fixing the public pension systems, not just for teachers but for public safety personnel as well?We need to create a private sector type 401k plan for all future employees. We also need to put an end to the General Assembly Retirement System. Serving in the General Assembly was never intended to become a career and I don't believe it should be treated as one. Once elected, I have pledged to waive all pensions and benefits and I will work toward legislation to end them for legislators. I would support raising the retirement age for employees enrolled in public sector pensions, capping total yearly pension payouts to an individual and increasing co-payments. Any abuses of the system like double-dipping, and pension-padding or spiking need to be prohibited and if possible, reversed. All new pension legislation should be examined by a Certified Public Accountant/qualified actuarial expert certifying that the legislation can be funded without an eventual state bailout.On Illinois' budget, specifically, where do you believe cuts need to be made? Specifically, what tax increases, changes in tax policy or other opportunities for revenue growth do you support? What is your position on a graduated income tax?I believe that Illinois can balance the budget without a tax increase, but it will be painful to all Illinois residents. We need to establish zero based budgeting and eliminate waste, fraud and corruption. Illinois does not have a business productivity or tax revenue creation problem â#8364;#8220; it has a spending problem. I also oppose any revenue increases before we make a sincere effort to cut wasteful, redundant, and obsolete programs and spending. I oppose a graduated income tax structure and any income tax increasesWhat changes, if any, do you believe the state should make in the area of education and education funding? How will you act to promote the changes you wish to see?Education funding should be uniform across the state on a per student / per capita basis, but it isn't. All educational funding, including the earmarks to build brand new multi-million dollar charter schools in Mike Madigan's district, should be counted toward the total amount of education spending and factored into the per student distribution. More money is provided to Chicago from the state, per student, than any other community. This is not fair to suburban and downstate kids. Equity in education funding will only come with a big legislative fight that forces all non-Chicago legislators to band together to insure a fair share for our kids.Please list any elected office you have ever run for and what the result of that election was. Have you ever been appointed to fill an unexpired term?I ran as a write-in candidate to become a Village of Lakewood Trustee. I won this election, receiving more votes than all sitting incumbents and, in fact, set an all-time historical record for the highest vote count ever received by an elected official in the village's history.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?We need to establish a framework for a sustainable financial structure for our state government which fixes our current insolvency problem and prevents future insolvency. The level of financial malfeasance and nonfeasance committed by the politicians who control Illinois should be prosecuted as a criminal conspiracy no less damaging than Enron or Goldman Sachs. I believe we need to have a Constitution Convention to limit the power of our legislators to raise, borrow and spend money since the corruption on our state prevents the honest stewardship of our government.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.I'm always reminded that all men are fallible. I am most inspired by my four children, who are a constant reminder to be my best.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Pay it forward. As was done for my family, when I was young, I've since been devoted to paying it forward whenever the opportunity arises.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?Getting to better know my father, while I had the chance.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Learning the carpentry trade at Washburne Trade School has played an integral role and proven to be an invaluable skill in my life.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." Find out why!