This is the debate. This is from the league of women voters. Moderator ofyour tonights debate between the candidates for governor of illinois. Are pat quinn of chicago, who is seeking his second term as chief executive and the businessman. Part in thet taking debate. Minimum required participation. Our candidates will be questioned by a trio of journalists. They are jamie done. We are going to start with a one minute Opening Statement from each of the candidates. Lets start with mr. Quinn. What makes you the best candidate for the job . When i took office it was a tough time for illinois. We had one in jail and another going for going to jail. The recession caused great harm to many people who lost their jobs. We had a huge deficit. I asked the people for their prayers. We are able to cut our budget and remove unnecessary spending by 5 million. We also made reforms that made our state that there. I have to suspend legislative paychecks, but we got the job done. Right now our state has unemployment at the lowest level in six years. Jobs are up. Unemployment is down. It is important important we Work Together, investing in education. Tohink the best way to go is stay in this direction and do the right thing. Thank you to the panelists. Thank you to the people. Thank you to the viewers at home. I would love to go to work for you. I love illinois. I have been blessed in my career with terrific results, first working with teachers and police officers. Then by giving back to our community, donating to our schools, our red cross, better and services. We have driven results, and i want to do the same to turn our government around. The state has lost its way. Machinegroup of politicians got control of our government in springfield, and they have led us down a bad path. Crime, we have lost our way at the state. We need to turn around. I am the one who can bring big change. I cannot be bought, bribed, or intimidated. I am going to dedicate my work to restoring prosperity to the families of illinois and bringing back the American Dream to every family in having the best schools in america. The candidates will each get a minute to answer the questions. To be an this is going easy question. In these days of hyper partnership partisanship, compromise is often seen as a dirty word. Which member of the opposite party do you most admire or until you can best work with . That is interesting. , i havethe process taken time to get to know members of the General Assembly. I spent a lot of time getting to know the democrats. I worked closely to solve problems on a bipartisan basis. I worked with hutchinson. I look forward to working with and othercation issues. I have a history of working with people from all backgrounds to get things done. I was asked by the mayor of chicago to take over the changes , to make sure we are for convention business. Then the mayor asked me to take over the Tourism Bureau and put staff. W board, a new chicago is one of the Fastest Growing tourist destinations. We will solve problems together. I get along with everybody. I believe in civility. Someone from my hometown is going to be part of the transportation authority. My mom worked at a junior high school. We dont always agree on every single issue, but we have worked on bipartisan reforms. Pension reform was bipartisan. We had democrats and republicans working together. I think it is important to do so. The best thing is to do what we have done. We passed a bipartisan bill for jobs in illinois, for construction jobs. We build roads. We did that in a bipartisan way. I worked with the leaders of both parties. A the senator is no longer senator . He is still a member of the party. Worked withleader us. I enjoy working with him. Do you care to add to that . There are many members and the General Assembly i have gotten to know. Onill work closely with them a personal basis. The website was open to questions from the public. The number one topic they submitted by far was about jobs. From aurora to decatur. The company has delayed the announcement. Did governor,ike what would you do to make sure manufacturing creates job growth in illinois . Enough. Acturing has we have so many auto supply jobs in illinois as well as Companies Like christ there. Governor chrysler had 200 jobs. They now have 2500. The same thing with four. Now they have three shifts around the clock. I have worked with each of the companies. There is a reason why so many mall business is have begun and grown in illinois and the last five years. We emphasize education and working with these companies. I think thats the best way to make it grow. Illinois has lost over 40,000 jobs. Imanufacturing was able to risk the a personal endorsement from caterpillar. He has been an outspoken critic of the business by met. Cannot really grow our economy as long as this is true and cannot solve the many problems facing us in illinois. Manufacturing jobs have 64,000. Obs is critical. I will work closely with manufacturing firms to make sure they stay here in peoria. I want to make sure caterpillar invests here by making sure the Business Climate is driving. Bym honored to be endorsed the Illinois Chamber of commerce. We need to make illinois probusiness and progrowth to be able to fund our schools and turn our state around. States would play a large role in rules to cut carbon emissions. Do you believe Climate Change is happening, and what is your take on the obama administrations plan to cut carbon . They allowe broadbased options. I do not believe betting too much on any one sector is prudent. We need energy independence. See that alsoo for illinois. I believe we can have Renewable Resources here. We should have further development of renewable energy. I also believe we can be prudent for Energy Development for more resources. Hydraulic fracturing. It can be a massive tax revenue generator if we have broad options. I will push every capability in that regard. We have to reduce emissions and take on Climate Change. The winter we just had an terrible tornadoes in washington and other places, i think they are a signal to all of us Severe Weather is something we have to Pay Attention to. Reducing emissions is part of the job. Since i have read and governor of the state has erected many Wind Turbines across illinois. Many have been on the roof of the Shedd Aquarium in chicago, where they have solar collectors that are worldclass. We have to believe in Energy Efficiency. Our state is the only state not on the coast it is in the top 10 of Energy Efficiency in the country. We have been able to do that in my time as governor. One of the best way to reduce emissions and help grow jobs. Clean energy jobs that create good paying jobs for people by reducing the need for energy wherever possible. I think the state of illinois can be a leader in this area. Areave good workers who welltrained. We have a question for governor quinn. Too many incumbents are more concerned with reelections and than voters. Ns in 1994 when you are campaigning to bring term limits to illinois. Now you are running for office to complete 10 years as governor in 16 years in the executive branch. What has changed . You often brag about your lack of government experience. When was the last time you hired a novice to work as a ceo . I led the effort for term limits in 1994. I believe having term limits for each office is a good thing for illinois. I think i demonstrated early on my support for term limits have never wavered. The issues we used was the importance of term limits for each and every office. Pass abeen able to recall in illinois as well as reducing the size of the legislature. Those are things i got past. I dont think anyone should be an office for too long. I think it is important to have reasonable term limits for each office, and i work hard on that. They did notnted help me when we were petitioning for term limits. He had an opportunity to join us. He refused to do it now. All of a sudden he is a bornagain term limits advocate. I look forward to getting it passed. It took years to get the recall done, but we got it done. We need term limits. Up on thisr give issue. Pat quinn had a chance to drive the bill on term limits. I will drive term limits with the General Assembly to get it on the ballot and let voters decide. That is one of the most important reforms we can make. That can really transform the culture. You asked a question earlier about experience. Been a ceo for decades. I have let one of the most companies in the world. I have driven Great Results in many other organizations in the not for profit world as well. I have worked on pension reform, Good Government in many regards. I have Proven Ability to solve problems and get things done, and i will work on a bipartisan basis to do it. Have you ever hired anyone with that little experience to work in one of your companies . I think we can look at rick snyder who became governor, won his first election, and is turning michigan around as well. We can look at rick scott who won his first election in florida i and is turning that state around. We can look at Michael Bloomberg who did dramatic reforms in new york. Business leaders can solve problems and get things done. Its all about executive leadership, teambuilding. You have 30 seconds to wrap that up. What is your response . My opponent talks about successful results. He has been involved in 12 different bankruptcies involving different companies. There have been six of his executives indicted and sent to jail. Two are under indictment now. And 1ve 150 lawsuits billion worth of claims for wrongful death in those Nursing Homes lodged against his company. It seems to me those are not terrific results. Lets turn to education. Statewide advisory collection number three. As the School District should receive additional revenue from an additional 3 tax on income greater than 1 million. Do you support the proposal . How would you ensure the money would go to schools . If you do not submit the proposal, from what source would you seek additional money for education . The politicians in illinois have said every time they want to raise taxes it is for schools. We put the money in illinois. It is for schools. The money doesnt end up in schools. Our Current Governor raise their income tax. Then he cut half 1 billion from school funding. Politicians use schools an excuse to raise taxes. I am opposed to putting further income tax on illinois. I would rather like to see income taxes roll back to where they were in 2010. Beingggest reform becoming a pro growth state generates tax revenues. I am a strong believer we need to increase Education Funding. Other spending can be cut, but education must be increased in its support. I will make that a top priority as governor. Funding when it comes to Education Funding my opponent makes things up. We have increased spending by five and a half Million Dollars. Independent Fact Checkers have proven that. I have paid the pensions and increased funding and education. I think we need to do more. There is a referendum i put on the ballot asking whether or not the lien errs should pay higher income taxes. We go to the School Districts and classes of illinois. I think that is a good idea. My opponent who is a billion or doesnt want to raise his income tax, but he wants to cut funding for schools across illinois. His budget plan would slash our layation budget. It would off teachers and cause great to teachers. He wants a Million Dollar tax cut for himself and education across illinois. I think it is important to send a message to millionaires and billionaires that they ought to pay more. Illinois School Districts cannot make it on state aid a loan because their property tax bases are so low they cannot provide the minimal amount of spending needed per pupil. A minimum proposal would redistribute more state dollars to districts based on their ability to pay. Do you support the plan, or is there a better way of ensuring local districts have the funding they need to ensure that their spending for each student better spending for each student . One is the referendum we just talked about. Another is the budget. It would put more money in classroom education than anytime in history. It would also put money in Early Childhood education as well as scholarships. Ith respect to the proposal, think it needs a lot of oversight and review. Debate. More i do not favor reducing funding in a particular School District. To gok a much better way is increasing funding for all district. I think that should be done first and foremost. I havent studied the details. I probably would not support that particular bill, although i believe we should come up with a new state Education Funding formula. We are 48 out of 50 states for funding for education. That is not right. We should increase our state support for schools. I wife and i believe education is the most important they we do as a community. There is nothing more important. When you look at the challenges we face as a state and the nation, unemployment, low wages, high crime, poverty. Education is not the soulfulish in, but it is a major part of the solution. My wife and i have dedicated to improving education for decades. In thisery active issue. Governor quinn has been in government for decades. He has been zero on education, completely lacking in any regard, except he has increased income taxes and cut Education Funding. We need an education governor, and i will lead in that process. The next is from amanda. Claim the state cannot afford the current level of Retirement Benefits. Do you think the framers made a mistake by including the pension protection clause that says Retirement Benefits shall not be diminished, and should illinois and amend the constitution now to remove that amendment . Dont think that language is a mistake at all. Are ak pensions contractural obligation. It should be honored by all parties. I was opposed to Pension Changes pat quinn put through last november because i believe they were unconstitutional. I dont believe it is right to change the payment to a retiree after they were already retired. That is what governor quinn did in that pension reform will. I dont think that is the right thing to do. I think the fair thing to do and the constitutional thing to do is to freeze the pensions where they are today. Do not change anything. Pay those benefits, but starting tomorrow we should create a second pension plan that is more affordable. Of moneyt save a lot in the short term. It saves billions in the long run. My opponent wants to privatize pensions in illinois. Arisky 401 k plan that has 100 billion haul. I dont think thats the right way to go. I think the provisions protecting pensions is a good one. It is now going to be for the supreme court, and they will make a decision regarding our constitution. Myant to go to one thing opponent persists on misstating. We have raised funding for classroom education by almost 500 million. Amountspaid the pension every year. Me have notfore done this. I have complied with the law. That is the best way to go. Did signnsion law you he finds unconstitutional because of that clause. Should it be removed from the constitution . My dad told me, dont take an aspirin unless you get a headache. I dont think its wise to take something both the legislature and i feel our constitutional provisions before the court acts. If the court acts in a way that is contrary, we will take is a serious steps, but we have to deal with liability problems i inherited. Problem,create this but i am solving this problem by putting the proper amount into pensions. Wilson has a question. State advisory question number one on the ballot asks if minimum wage should be raised to 10 per hour by january first. The Congressional Budget Office says the minimum wage of 10 10 cents per hour would cost the nation to lose a minimum of 500,000 jobs. You have described yourself as a jobs governor. How does that square with that position . If the ballot measure is approved, would you seek such a change . Why or why not . That study they speculated there would be a job loss. There have been other studies the indicate raising minimum wage is the best way to our create jobs and help economy. 70 of the economy is consumer spending. I favored raising the minimum wage. I got it done in 2003. In 2007 we are going to do it again. There is a referendum i signed into law to give people a chance to vote for 10 an hour minimum wage. My opponent said, a lemonade minimum wage. A person taking in 53 million a year running around illinois wage, eliminate minimum is adamantly against minimum wage. I am adamantly for raising minimum wage. It is the best way to help thousands of People Living from paycheck to paycheck. Lets give them a raise. That is the best way to have social justice. Pat quinn has been governor for six years, and he has had a super majority of his party in the General Assembly and has not increased minimum wage in that time. If he was serious he could have gotten it done. He is playing political football with peoples lives and with our economy. Here is the way to deal with minimum wage. Illinois today is not competitive. We need to go to grow our economy. Been a failure on jobs. We have become the lowest date on job growth in the midwest. We are failing on jobs. There are two ways to be competitive and raise minimum wage. One is to increase National Minimum wage. Today ours is higher than the national. The other is to raise it as high as 10 but do it with reforms so our Small Business owners can afford to pay higher minimum wage, our competitiveness is there, and that would help all families. I have a twoparter as well. To point to successes in other states, but Sam Brownback cut income taxes in an moret to make the state business friendly, and now it lags behind the rest of the country and has to cut funding. Explain how your plan to lower taxes would have different incomes outcomes in illinois. Senator, you have rejected the plan to expand sales tax on services, even though it could avoid being regressive. Why do you oppose what many see isnt needed change to make it stable in the future . Governor quinn today is playing political football with this issue. In the past he has supported a sales tax on services. I would like you to address the cuts in kansas and revenue issue. Tax dont agree with the policies put in place in kansas. I have advocated we look at our entire tax code in illinois and reform our entire tax code to make us more competitive. We have got to grow our economy. Bycannot solve our problems raising taxes on families. We need to grow. We need a progrowth tax code. Rapidly growing states have a broad base and low rates. I believe we should keep the rates down but rod in the base. We should expand sales tax to include services that are more business oriented rather than on low income families. We need to close tax loopholes. We need to modify ontaxes should be available ability to pay. , everyday people are going to have to pay a tax on garbage pickup, or does they adopt a child. Those are on their taxes. Myople who are not opponents plan will give himself a 1 billion tax cut. It will shift the burden. That is not right. We ought to have a fair tax system that invests in education. My opponents plan will cut 4 billion out of education. How do you grow jobs if you are cutting 16 teachers in illinois . Our kids need to learn. We need a proper education god education budget. Suggestedampaign you are trying to buy the black vote. How is that any different than announcing taxpayerfunded construction programs like the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative . I was i believe in competing for everyones votes. I have been to washington, illinois after several occasions. I think it is important our state rise to the occasion. With respect to the violence that has occurred in chicago, it is important that we act. I will never apologize for making sure we help keep families safe and kids on the right track. Im happy with the Jackie Robinson success. Parents Work Together what their kids for a common good. Great things could happen. Then can you explain why you havent made an investment before running for office . If youre elected as governor do you plan on continuing to make those investments . I am using why personal money. Money been using taxpayer , dropping it in certain communities to try to give voters influence. We have been involved in the Africanamerican Community for decades. To earlyjor donors childhood education in the black community. My wife and air care deeply. We have been involved for decades. It is not politics. I learned about this credit union on the campaign trail. Someone brought it up to me at an event. I made an investment there. Im honored to have done it. Businessking to leaders across the area, the express concern over Workers Compensation and the tax rate. Bill whichupport a establishes a state fund for employers to purchase cheaper insurance policies . Eyes i have traveled the state, in every county meeting with tens of thousands of voters, Small Business owners have told me their problem is the Workers Compensation system. Brokenrogram it is and full of abuse. The concept that you have laid out here in your question is interesting. I dont know enough to say for sure that is the problem i will pursue. It sounds appealing based on what i have heard. I know we can drive reform by looking at what other wellrun states do. Our politicians in springfield, including governor quinn, said they get workers comp reform a few years ago. It wasnt real reform. A reduced rates a small bit. Even today the ceo of caterpillar is trying to wrestle whether to build headquarters here told me workers comp costs five times more today in illinois and as indiana. They are growing jobs out of illinois. We have to change that. We havent had reform in a bipartisan way. I work with the illinois manufacturers association. The reforms enacted have reduced the money paid for work wisconsin by 450 million. 19 reduction. We are always interested in working more. I got that done. My opponent talks. We get it done. He just mentioned about the african immediate american executiveshe has 51 at his investment firm. Not one was an africanamerican. I dont think that is right. If you really care about the community of illinois everybody should be in very nobody should be denied to work. There are many qualified africanamericans. It is important to understand our state goes forward because of our diversity. We have a diverse population. I dont think its right to leave folks behind. That is what my opponent did. Would you support a competitive marketplace for cheaper policies . We need as much competition and workmans comp as possible. More competition the best rates we can get. Would you support that . It sounds like an appealing program. I would have to study it. Something like that could make a lot of sense. Supportedr quinn, you custom medicaid that were supposed to save billions. They have failed to meet targets. He opposes the Medicaid Expansion under the Affordable Care act but in some states a third of the residents are currently uninsured. How would you ensure the poor have access to medical coverage while keeping medicaid from squeezing out funding from other areas . We did have to restructure medicaid. It was difficult. We passed a bipartisan bill to do that. This past year we rebel to restore a number of the programs. Our economy is doing much better. Having said that i did sign the bill to make sure that we got money from washington to ensure that many more people aware in our healthcare system. 685,000 people have received Health Coverage under the Affordable Care act. My opponent would have denied that funding to our state. Thousandsave sent to of families who have now had Health Insurance under this law that he would have denied that did them like they did in texas and indiana and wisconsin. How do you plan to keep the costs in check. The reforms we have enacted have done that. They are good reforms that keep the cost to a reasonable level. We have received more money for washington to cover more people. My own it would have denied that. 400,000 people. As i have said i would not have expanded medicaid under the Affordable Care act the way it was done. It is the lawn now. It is here. I dont advocate rolling it back. I do advocate eliminating the waste and fraud. It is a mismanaged program under governor quinn. Ive met with nurses who work inside the department and deal with medicaid. They told me they wanted to meet in private because they were worried they would be fired. The waste and fraud is out of control. Some of that came to light when it was a private investigation required under legislation. They were finding that as many as 40 of and royalties enrollees were not able to get that program they were enrolling in. There was waste and fraud. I support a substantial highquality wellfunded medicaid program. But we dont have that. We have mismanagement. Amanda. Both of you like to tell your accomplishments, and i dont blame you. Some of my colleagues have done a good job to display your failures in your leadership positions. You as the ceo of the state, what is your biggest regret . Have a ride in our accomplishments. Business, not in every company succeeds. That is unfortunate. I wish that were true. That is the Free Enterprise system. Capital, it is extremely risky. Not every company succeeds. Executivesy some engaged in bad behavior. That is unfortunate but it is a fact of life. Where we have found that to be true we have taken action to correct it. Overall our track record of success is outstanding. One of the top of any firm in the united states. We have invested on behalf of illinois pensions and in 22 other states. We have generated double stock market returns. We were honored to work for teachers in illinois will be generated when he 5 compound annual link. We have manage money for Corrections Officers, police officers, and government workers and have done a outstanding job. Im deathly not perfect. I dont think any human being is. One regret along the way as governor, i suspended the pay of legislatures and my own pay to get important fiscal reforms to move our state forward. If i had to do it over again i would have done it earlier. It would have saved more money. It is important that responsibility of anything going in the wrong direction. You have to take responsibility and act very you put in reforms. I tried to do that in every challenge i have had as governor. By contrast, my opponent never takes responsibility when things that went wrong in his empire. The nursing home scandal what people lost their lives, 1 billion worth of verdicts for wrongful death of seniors killed in their Nursing Homes. All he does is think of the money. He never took responsibility or straightened it out. Same thing with all these businesses under his watch. It is important to understand that six of his executives are now in jail for bad behavior. State services does illinois need to reduce, eliminate, or privatize in order to help the state meet fiscal constraints. Be specific. Privatizing, i think you have to be careful. Public the work of our employees. Is i honor and all those who are firefighters, police officers. Those are work for the public. It im not for privatizing our teachers. All of this about the charter schools. I believe in public education. That is a we should invest in. It is important to understand that tonight, my opponent took in 53 million in one year. He is not for raising the income tax on millionaires like himself. What he wants us to have the same tax rate that he has for minimumwage workers. What service would you cut . We have cut a number of services. 5 billion in our state and i have been governor. Today is thatel 2008 levels. I have had to close 50 facilities. It is difficult. My opponent says to reopen the facilities. That is no way to save money. Under governor quinn illinois has been one of the worst run states in america. We have rampant misspending of taxpayer money. Massive waste. One large example is the department of Central Management services. It is the bureaucracy that is supposed to run the state government. His own people have said there is over half 1 billion of wasted spending in the procurement process inside Central Management. He doesnt do anything about that because that is part of the that isl of cronyism endemic in such our state government. He relies on that for his election and for campaign cash. That is rampant throughout the department. He has been caught hiring illegally inside the department of transportation, changing patron is can save a lot of money. Experts estimated that we pay half billion dollars in a corruption tax because of the bad behavior the governor has engaged in. Changes to Retirement Benefits aside, should the state continue on the payment schedule or should the state consider it into the future to lower the not it has to pay. Should they lower funding level from 100 to 70 to ease the strain . Could you repeat . Should the state continue on the pension plan that we have on the schedule or should we extended refinancing the debt and taking the pressure off . Should we look to 100 funding 80 level to0 or ease the strain . I believe the right answer for the pension is to create a second pension plan for the future. That is constitutional, it is fair to workers. Benefits aside, when we make payments now, should we change that . Here is the problem. Politicians in illinois have been playing kick the can down the road. We should not do that anymore. It is not fair to workers or retirees. What our policy can do in illinois is make promises to workers and then dont honor the promises by paying in. We have to change that. ,e should freeze the system honor the obligations that have been accrued and create a second plan. It can have options for employees. More the find contributions. It should be different than the one that has been a starkly done. Historically dumb. Whats governor quinn . Paying the pension amount every single year i have been governor, im the first in memory to do exactly that. Previous governors did not pay the proper amount. Liability grew to 100 billion. We passed the reform bill. It is not before the court. This time we pay the appropriate amount every year. I am not for what my appropriate what my opponent is advocating. He wants a risky for a one key system that1 k will cause great harm to Public Employees and people of illinois. Wererowd at wall street the ones coming up with these games. Should we reconsider the schedule . Im complying with that. I pay the proper amount. The first governor doing it. You have to do that for Public Employees. But also for the taxpayers. We enacted some reforms. They will be best for the people of illinois. Governor, i know that you proposed a balanced budget that relies on an extension of the current income tax level. That didnt happen. You called the spending plan submitted by the General Assembly in complete and said it postponed tough decisions. You signed into law nonetheless. Why did you not veto it . Did that have anything to do with this campaign for reelection . A bit a budget is a 365 day exercise. We have to go back to this fiscal year when they resume in springfield. What i wanted to do is make sure schools are open and everyone was seen with Proper Health care. I believe our budget that i spoke of is the best one for illinois. Said itit Rating Agency was affordable and will pay our bills. , helpl probably invest veterans, and get illinois to a good spot. Using the income taxed to fund the government is the fairest way to go. My opponent has a tax on Services Like picking up your garbage. That is what billionaires do. They take tax breaks for themselves. That is not right. Budgetcourse of this year we have got to get a fair budget that is properly investing in schools. Feel free to address some of what the governor has said. Outside of your own campaign no one seems to make the numbers in your blueprint at a. You want to give more money to state parks, and education, at the same time cutting revenue and rolling back the income tax to 3 . Lets try again to make that add up. We have got to set our goals and priorities and then manage them. We need a competitive tax code. We will get there. We need to reduce the tax code. We will get there. We need to grow our economy, we are failing miserably under pat quinn to grow our economy and create jobs. Nothing else will get fixed until we are growing and creating jobs. Here is the tragedy in illinois. We have been controlled now for 12 years by a group of chicago. Achine political leaders those three has controlled our government for 12 years. It hasnt led to massive debt, taxes, and the worst run state america. We need big change. We have to come at this on a bipartisan basis with outside the box thinking and drive real results. We cant fix our problems just by raising income taxes on families. That wont solve our problem. The next question is from h wayne wilson. You have proposed reopening prison. What do you propose to truly rehabilitate inmates to reduce recidivism . We need to perform our Corrections System. It is broken. It is badly missed manages mismanaged. We have a tragic situation in illinois. On safe prisons. We have Corrections Officers with their lives and safety and risk. We have inmates with personal safety at risk because we have not properly staffed and invested. We incarcerate nonviolent offenders very often here. We do a poor job for providing alternative routes to deal with nonviolent offenders that they are more likely to receive help and avoid falling back into life of crime and helping them find ways to get back in society be productive citizens. We dont think outside the box. We have got to change our system. Governor quinn is failing on this. Our Corrections Officers and inmates are at risk. Haveion representatives endorsed me, not him. With respect to our Corrections System we have reduced the number of repeat offenders. One thing we use is a bill adult redeployed. Alternative ways of punishing people for bad behavior. So they dont have a life of crime. We have invested in that. My opponent is wrong about that. When people do come out of prison we have programs of reentry to help people that made an offense, paid their debt to job, and then we are able to do that as well. We have invested greatly in that. Bills to give tax credits to higher offenders. I think those are important things. In the area juveniles we have reduced the number of juveniles incarcerated by using these techniques. My opponent is wrong. He is proposing to make radical cut. The candidates are going to make closing statements. The order was determined by earlier drawings. Governor quinn with the closing statement. I appreciate your virginity to be here. I thank everyone for being here. I appreciate everyone for being here. The heart of illinois, the heart of america is the heart of a volunteer. We have had lots of People Volunteer to change direction in illinois. When i came into office we were going in the wrong direction. We are not going in the right direction. We had an appointment we had an appointment go down faster than any time in 20 years. Jobs or upgrade that is what we want to have. My opponent is a job outsourcer. He has laid off people and outsourced jobs, american jobs to foreign lands. He is opposed to raising the minimum wage and wants to cut education. I dont think that is the right way to go. I want to the future for our kids. That is the right way to go. Im honored to be here with you tonight. Thank you for all of you here for hosting us. I look forward to going to work for you. I love illinois passionately. This is home. We raised our six children here. I have built here. I love illinois. Theyt stand to see what have done to our home. Our homes are at risk. The future for our children is in jeopardy under the failed leadership, the corruption, the cronyism, the job losses, the high taxes. We are failing as a state. I wont let it happen. We need bipartisan solutions, real leadership. We can make illinois the greatest state in the greatest nation on earth. I can drive that process. People in illinois are fantastic. We have the most fertile farms. We have the best location. We are the heart of america. We can drive with strong leadership that solves problems on a bipartisan basis and brings integrity back. And to go to work for you. This is a terrific audience. You have held your applause. But give a big round of applause. [applause] thank you again. We appreciate time tonight. E want to thank our panelists this is a production of illinois public broadcasters and a partnership with the league of women voters. Thank you for watching. Good night. You been watching Live Campaign 2014 coverage. We just saw illinois governor bruceinn who is a facing rauner. In kentucky, Mitch Mcconnell is in a tight race for reelection against Allison Lundgren grimes. Debate on monday. Monday. Here are the ads airing in the state. You or mitch . Who is doing better . He has voted himself six pay 200,000 interest park street incomes are down 9 . Kentucky has fallen to 44th in jobs and lost 43,000 manufacturing jobs rate mitch has washington working for him. I Mitch Mcconnell and i approve this. Im not barack obama. Obama set a vote for allison is a vote for his policies. Im not on the ballot this fall but make no mistake these policies are on the ballot. Every single one of them. Obama means grimes. Im Allison Lundgren grimes and i approve this message. Mitch mcconnell skipped meetings. Where was he . He didnt vote on troop funding. He found time for lobbyist fundraisers. The rest of the time he created gridlock. 30 years is long enough. Ads the media call her false. Allison grimes keeps attacking. As a Senate Leader mitch doesnt just serve on committees. He can appoint Committee Members making sure kentuckys voice is heard. It is a powerful thing she will not have. 99 . Allison grimes, no experience, false attacks. I approve this message. Coverage of the kentuckys in a debate between Mitch Mcconnell and Allison Lundgren grimes monday. In oklahoma, James Lankford is running against Connie Johnson for the state open u. S. Senate seat. This is a special election. Tom coburn is retiring. This comes to us courtesy of Oklahoma State university. Oklahoma state university, im a professor of Political Science here. It is my pleasure to moderate the u. S. Senate debate. This has been a joint effort between the is league of women voters and Oklahoma State university. Lets introduce the candidates. And jamesnson lankford. [applause]