Q&A with Healy

1. Why are you running for this office, whether for re-election or election the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you, and if so, what? What will be your main priority?

The County Board confronts you with challenges beyond your imagination. These challengers are why I am running: because I can, and will, continue to make a difference. My experience and education in local and regional planning, law, transportation and local government, allow me a unique opportunity to solve problems confronting our County. I have been an effective Board Member because I am able to develop consensus on problems. I believe that by opening lines of communication, and opening government to all our residents, we can identify, and solve, any problem. I will be concentrating my efforts in the areas of budget accountability, financial planning, transportation, trails, open government and improving our quality of life in this District.

2. If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of important initiatives you've led. If you are not an incumbent, tell us what contributions you would make.

I am very proud of my accomplishments on the Board. While space is limited to 200 words, I will highlight a few of the most important. Budgeting: Reduced County portion of property taxes by $300+ million in 9 years; demanded a line by line budget review, full accountability, and required the Board look 3, 5 and 10 years into the future. Transportation: Naper/I88 interchange; revived Eola Road interchange funding and planning; funding for improvements to Hobson, Ferry, 75th Street and Eola roads; working at the national level for DuPage; pushing for a "Safer Roads to Schools Program" which has now ben adopted by the State. Safe Drinking Water: served on task forces that brought clean water to Lockformer and Nike areas, and served on the Army Corps' Resident Advisory Board. Southern DuPage Regional Trail: Created and worked to push completion of this vital 46 mile trail system bringing our residents together, and promoting its use to train stations, schools, and parks, thereby reducing cars on the road. Open Government: Lead the drive to get all Board minutes, agendas, budgets, expenditures and a whole host of information on the County's Webb site; helped draft the County's ethics ordinance. Environment: Pushed for the Ferry Creek watershed study, Country Lakes acquisition; 400 additional acres of open space in this District; and an alternative fuel fleet of vehicles at the County. Prescription Drug Discount Card: At no cost to the County, worked with NACo to bring this program to our residents. To date County residents have saved several hundred thousand dollars on their prescription drug purchases.

3. What are your thoughts on how to best make use of revenue from the county sales tax increase approved by the state legislature? What should be done with any surplus from the sales tax increase?

Any surplus funds must be immediately returned to the taxpayers. This is best accomplished through a rebate of property taxes (as we did last year). The additional revenues should be used for the purposes specifically allowed for in the legislation: transportation and public safety. While it would be easy to set up a strict 50/50 formula, we should be flexible and allow the yearly percentage to very; as long as the aggregate over the years is fair. These revenues should not be lumped into the corporate fund, but should be segregated and accounted for separately (like MFT funds). We must resist over-obligating these funds in the first couple of years, which makes us look good, but is short sighted and handcuffs future Boards with debt and other financial obligations. We need a 20 year spending plan for these funds, not just a plan for the next 1-2 years. Finally, we must resist using creative accounting for these funds, like the State did with Lottery revenues. I will propose that before preparing the next budget, the Board meet with the Chairman, Countywide officials and staff to discuss how the funds should be used that year. The Board should then send a policy message to the Chairman advising him of the areas, projects and percentages the Board believes should receive funding that year. This would allow the greatest amount of flexibility from year to year.

4. Should candidates for county board and other elected offices accept campaign contributions from companies that do business with the county? If so, why? If not, why not and how should this be addressed? If you have accepted campaign contributions from county vendors, please list them by name and amount.

As one of the drafters of the County's Ethics Ordinance, the strictest in the country, I am proud of the work we did, and how it is used as a model for others to follow. Now we must show the same type of leadership regarding campaign finance reform. For the past several years I have talked about limiting the amount of campaign contributions a candidate or elected official can accept from any person or company doing business with the County. While trying to balance freedom of speech issues against the perception of favoritism, I believe we should limit campaign contributions from any such individual or company to $500 in any calendar year. The question remains, whether the Board has the authority to enact and enforce such an ordinance. We have been advised in the past that only the State Legislature has this authority. If we have the authority to limit such contributions, we must; if we do not have such authority, we should ask the State Legislature to grant us that authority, or ask them to enact/impose such limitations. The following is a list of contributions to Citizens for Healy (total received over the last 7 years), from companies whom I believe do/did work for the County: Christopher Burke Engineering $1,750 Burke Engineering West $1,200 Wolfe & Company $ 750 V3 Companies $ 600 Day & Roberts $ 800 Gorski & Good $ 300 Patrick Engineering $ 200 (previously did work) Wight & Company $ 500 (previously did work) Citizens for Healy Funding Sources (2002-2008) Personal loans to my campaign: $35,000 Total of Above Contributions: $ 6,100 Family, Friends Contributions: $45,107 Total 2002 - Present: $86,207 7% of total came from companies that do/did business with the County.

5. With the high price of gasoline, what should the county board be doing to improve energy efficiency in government operations? What, if anything, should the county board be doing to encourage mass transit options in the county?

As Chairman of the Forest Preserve's Operations Committee, I proposed, passed and helped implement an initiative to make the District's fleet of vehicles a "100% Green Fleet" within 7 years (vehicles only use alternative fuels). The District was the first of its size in the nation to implement such a plan. The District is now reaping the financial rewards this plan, with cost savings from fuel, operations and engine wear. I have proposed a "Green Fleet" plan for the County fleet. Due to budget restraints it has not gone very far, but I'm hopeful the budget will now allow expansion of the program. I have also supported the County's implementation of other programs that will help us reduce our energy consumption: Modification to our heating and cooling plants; Installation of energy efficient windows in the County complex; Modification of lighting controls and switching to compact fluorescent lights; A community weatherization program for homeowners; Installation of LED lights in our traffic signals which use 85% less energy; Implementation of a traffic signal coordination program which synchronizes lights. The Board has worked with others to create a mass transit plan for the County. The County is seeking to implement this plan including BRT (bus rapid transit), and expansion of suburb to suburb bus routes. The County has also continued its partnership on the Ride DuPage program. Train service to Chicago is our biggest mass transit system in the County. I believe the County should use some of the sales tax revenues to work with Metra to expand the parking facilities at train stations. This can be done directly at the station, and also at satellite parking lots (further away from the station) with reliable shuttle bus service to the stations.

6. What are your thoughts on the Canadian National Railway's proposal to purchase the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Co. in order to reroute some freight train traffic from lines in Chicago and inner suburbs?

I am opposed to the merger of the Canadian National and EJ&E. This disastrous plan will have a negative effect on our quality of life, public safety and traffic congestion. Coupled with the $1 - 2 billion dollars needed to mitigate these effects, the negative effects far outweigh any temporary benefits to the movement of freight in this area. This merger will only help a foreign corporations bottom line, at the expense of US taxpayers and jobs. The fight to stop the merger is a bipartisan effort. Each and every local democrat and republican leader is against the merger. As a co-founder of TRAC, I have worked closely with democrats and republicans to help bring together this diverse group of people and communities who are TRAC members. I have enjoyed working closely with democrat and republican national leaders such as Durbin, Obama, Biggert, Bean, Oberstar, Mica, Roskam & Foster; our area democrat and republican State Senators and Representatives, and our locally elected officials, all of whom support TRAC and are against the merger. In addition, the TRAC bill is presently being debated in Congress, and has bipartisan support from coast to coast. Wow, what we can accomplish when we put our partisan rhetoric aside. My opponent favors the acquisition of the EJ&E by the Canadians, but he has also chastised me for speaking out against the merger. What he fails to understand, it is my job to speak out on behalf of our residents. Thousands of residents in this community have attended meetings in the last 30 days, and thousands more have written letters against the merger. I have listened to our residents, our local officials and public safety officers, and heard them all loud and clear; this merger will dramatically and negatively impact our homes, our families and our community. My opponent wants us to give up and quit fighting for our homes and families. He wants you and me to shut up, and put up our tax dollars to mitigate the problems caused by this merger. I refuse to give up without a fight! I'm not naive - could the Canadian National win? Yes. But our community demands I not give up without a fight. Every day we are gaining ground in Congress, and sending a positive message to the STB. Even if the merger ultimately takes place, the amount the Canadians will have to pay for mitigation work continues to go up. We are being proactive, and already working out the engineering and costs required to mitigate the effects should the merger take place. If we gave up already, the Canadians would only pay $40 million on a $1-2 billion dollar bill. Guess who has to pay the rest!