AP Interview: Gov. candidate Whitney defends big government

Rich Whitney makes no apologies for believing in big government and higher taxes.

The Green Party candidate for governor told The Associated Press on Monday that Illinois has been moving toward smaller government and that it has led to dangerously overcrowded prisons, less care for the mentally ill, higher college tuitions and furlough days for state employees.

"You know, for all the people that have been saying for years 'small government, small government, small government,' hey, you're getting it," Whitney said. "It's getting smaller right now. How do you like it?"

The Carbondale attorney said Illinois, which is struggling with a record $13 billion deficit, could afford to pay for much-needed government services if it overhauled its tax system by imposing a sizable bump in the state income tax, a new tax on complex financial transactions and fees for pollution, among other things.

In two or three years, he said, the budget would be balanced and Illinois could offer free college tuition, which Whitney estimates would cost almost $4 billion annually.

"It's something I think we can afford, and I think we have to afford it," he said.

If elected, Whitney said he would turn to liberal advocacy groups to find aides and agency directors. Someone from the Sierra Club, for instance, might be named to run the Environmental Protection Agency.

He also defended his proposal to legalize marijuana but said it was not a centerpiece of his campaign. A former socialist who left the Socialist Workers Party in the 1990s, Whitney said he has come to see that there are "good aspects" to free enterprise.

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn has pushed to raise the state income tax to help rescue the state's finances, but lawmakers haven't signed on. Quinn's latest proposal was a 1 percentage point increase -- from 3 percent to 4 percent -- to help generate money for education.

Whitney would raise the personal income tax rate to 5 percent while protecting poorer families by offering bigger tax credits. He said homeowners also would get property tax relief through larger exemptions on their income taxes.

He said he would also impose a financial transactions tax on speculation, such as derivatives trading. Whitney said it would feel like a "pinprick" to the Chicago financial exchanges while generating $4 billion for the state.

"If we can have a sales tax on food and clothing, why not have a sales tax on this big-money gambling that goes on there at those two exchanges?" he said.

He estimates another $2 billion in government waste could be cut in part by ferreting out political patronage and identifying other savings through a comprehensive audit of the state's finances.

Whitney, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006, said a vote for him won't be wasted because it could affect the tight contest between Quinn and Republican Bill Brady, a conservative state senator from Bloomington.

"I can't be a spoiler because you can't spoil something that's fundamentally rotten," he said.

The Greens earned their place as an "established" political party in Illinois after Whitney's 10 percent showing in the 2006 race. But that hasn't paved the road to victory for Whitney, who struggles to get the attention of voters. He is hoping to raise more than $100,000 in the race for governor, a pittance compared to the millions Brady and Quinn have raked in.

Whitney does get people's attention when he talks about legalizing marijuana and taxing it like tobacco. But he warns that's just one plank of his platform.

"I'm not saying I'm going to ride cannabis into Springfield," he said.

The state could come up with another $5 billion by imposing fees on greenhouse gas emitters, like coal-fired plants and the sale of gasoline, although Whitney said he wants to funnel at least $3 billion of that back to consumers through rebates to help them offset the jump in energy prices the fees would spark.

He understands the skepticism about his candidacy but thinks his election would create a shockwave that would force legislative leaders to work with him.

"My message to the General Assembly will be, 'Look, the people have spoken. You know, there's a populist movement that got me elected. You need to listen to what the people want you to do,'" he said.