Deanne Marie Mazzochi: 2022 candidate for Illinois House District 45

Bio

Party: Republican

Office sought: Illinois House District 45

City: Elmhurst

Age: 50

Occupation: Attorney (partner/founder) and small business owner, Rakoczy, Molino, Mazzochi and Siwik

Previous offices held: Trustee, College of DuPage Board (April 2015 - February 2019); Chairman, College of DuPage Board (December 2015 - January 2019; reelected Chairman 2016, 2017, 2018). State Representative, Illinois General Assembly, House District 47 - appointed July 2018, elected November 2018, and reelected November 2020. Most of House District 47 was renumbered as House District 45

Q&A

Q: What needs to be done structurally to make the legislature more effective? What is your position on term limits in general and for legislative leaders specifically?

A: Madigan's departure was an opportunity to rewrite the House rules giving him unaccountable power. New Speaker Welch promised new Rules and legislative leader term limits, and failed to deliver.

I signed a term limits pledge, largely self-fund my campaign, and preserve my independent judgment. Full time Democratic legislators know special interest groups can, and will, spend big money against them if they don't toe the party line.

Legislative supermajorities generate sloppy legislation. Gov. Pritzker doesn't reign this in. Lobbyists, special interests, and activist groups hand Democratic members legislation to file, and cut deals in the shadows to get a vote. That process yields legislation like the SAFE-T Act, which is wreaking havoc, and will make DuPage County less safe.

Springfield won't work better without more balance.

Q: Federal assistance has enabled the state to make important advances toward improving its budget. What will you do to ensure these advances continue when the federal aid is gone?

A: You can't balance a state budget on a federal credit card.

Printing money plus irresponsible government spending historically creates inflation. Nations whose COVID-19 response included printing money and expanding spending, while supply chain snarls and lockdowns reduced goods, services, and energy supplies, saw high inflation.

Illinois had a unique opportunity to use federal dollars to solve structural problems. It created more.

An example: the feds gave us $12 billion for COVID-19 losses. Federal law requires a threshold unemployment insurance trust fund surplus for claims. We went $4.5 billion in the hole; the feds loaned Illinois the money interest-free, until this year. Responsible states paid off such loans. Illinois Democrats kept the fund $1.8 billion in debt, postponing final payment until after the election, because their irresponsibility will mean cutting unemployment benefits, raising unemployment taxes, and ultimately hurting workers.

Q: To what extent are you happy or unhappy with the evidence-based model for education funding now in place in Illinois? How would you define "adequate" state funding for Illinois schools and what will you do to promote that?

A: The evidence-based funding model works to direct limited state dollars towards the least-funded schools. It doesn't directly help most of my district's schools, who get a penny or less of each new funding dollar.

Our property taxes show that people work hard to support local public schools; and will pay good money for them provided they deliver good value. But precious education dollars are diverted away from classroom teachers, and towards administrators and consultants. That isn't producing better academic outcomes. My legislation empowers local school boards to nix state mandates that aren't improving student outcomes.

"Adequate" funding also can't help teachers preserve classroom behavior standards, and can't solve curriculum that fails to give students key foundational knowledge. Proficiency data in our district has dropped by many metrics. My legislation supports more curriculum transparency and engagement for parents so that they can get the best for their children.

Q: Do you believe elections in Illinois are free and fair? What changes, if any, are needed regarding election security and voter access?

A: If a large number of people do not trust the integrity of the voting process, that's a problem. Democrats voted for legislation designed to help urban turnout, but not rural votes.

Illinois law says our county clerks "may," remove deceased voters from the rolls. My legislation says they "shall" remove them from rolls. The Democratic Ethics and Elections Committee chair repeatedly refused to give the bill a vote.

Illinois' now permanent vote-by-mail program risks more ballot fraud over time. The program creates a mail in ballot list where you "check in" any time you like, but never leave, making it harder to detect voter fraud. DuPage County's State's Attorney had to charge several people for voter fraud in the 2020 election for attempting to pull a mail-in ballot for a deceased voter.

County clerks also must restore polling places to senior residences so that seniors, especially those with mobility and transport issues, easily can vote in-person.

Q: How well has Illinois responded to Supreme Court indications that it considers abortion, gay marriage and other social issues to be state, not federal, responsibilities? What if anything needs to be done in these areas and what would you do to make your vision come to pass?

A: Dobbs v. Jackson's Women's Health returned to states, and the people, all rights and powers not given to the federal government. Illinois years ago followed the Dobbs principles when it considered the question of gay marriage, making it law without need for the Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges case. Illinois laws should be crafted to work for our residents, period.

Policy changes, with strong buy-in from our residents, avoids polarization and extremism. Illinois residents can have hands-off abortion laws for themselves, yet oppose tax-subsidized nonresident abortions. They can support a woman and her doctor making decisions in the first trimester, rape, incest, or the mother's life; yet oppose laws giving cover to human traffickers of underage girls. They can agree to protect infants born alive during an abortion procedure. They can oppose eliminating parental notification for their underage daughters. Legislators must know their districts, and vote accordingly. I do.