Benjamin Salzberg: Candidate Profile

Back to 29th State Senate 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: Highland ParkWebsite: www.voteforben2016.comTwitter: Candidate did not respond.Facebook: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: 29th State Senate District Age: 45Family: Candidate did not respond.Occupation: Business Transformation ExpertEducation: Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), Secondary EducationNational-Louis University, Chicago, IllinoisMaster of Business Administration (MBA)Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IllinoisBachelor of Science in Mechanical EngineeringUniversity of Illinois, Champaign, ILCivic involvement: Shriners of Illinois. Helping to support Shriners Hospitals for Children.Elected offices held: Board of Trustee at Oakton Community CollegeQuestions 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?Speaker of the Illinois House, Michael Madigan, and Illinois State President John Cullerton bear responsibility for the stalemate, along with the Democratic legislators. We need to use problem-solving strategies to identify inefficiencies and design and implement cost-saving solutions. I support term limits for both legislators and legislative leaders. I want to encourage people to serve as legislators for a limited period of time and then return to other work so that they continually bring fresh ideas and experiences to public service.Would you vote for an increase in state income taxes or sales taxes? Would you vote for new taxes, such as on services? What is your position on a graduated income tax?First we have to identify inefficiencies before we can discuss raising taxes. However taxing services would be one way to provide more income to Illinois at a reasonable rate.What changes, if any, do you support in education and education funding in Illinois? Please be specific.Education is extremely important to build talent and attract and retain businesses in our state. We need to assess options for increasing efficacy and affordability.On Illinois' budget, specifically, where do you believe cuts need to be made?Before looking for a new revenue sources we need to identify and correct inefficiencies in our State government.What approach do you support toward fixing the public pension systems?Research suggests only a small percentage of our state school funding reaches our children. We need to examine how much our current pension system burdens State school funding.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?Bring back manufacturing companies/jobs and find a solution to our high property taxes.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.President LincolnWhat is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?To pay my bills on time and respect people.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?To donate more of my time to help people.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Engineering was my favorite subject and it helps me out to think out of the box.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Don't do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.