The race for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate is officially still at two candidates, with one saying she’s not concerned about “splitting” the African-American vote with another potential challenger.
Andrea Zopp is the only declared challenger to U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Hoffman Estates). Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin has opted not to run, and while Zopp applauds his decision, she says that’s not because of any worry about having another African-American candidate in the race.
Another candidate, State Sen. Napoleon Harris (D-Harvey), is still exploring a bid. The seat they’re competing over has special significance for African-American, as three of the seven black U.S. Senators have held it, including President Obama.
Focusing on Duckworth for now, Zopp admits the policy differences between the two are “not significant,” but she does consider herself a better leader than Duckworth. Zopp criticizes Duckworth for having “limited experience and no particular policy engagement” on issues like criminal justice reform and violence prevention.
In other State news, no state budget equals an ever-increasing stack of unpaid bills.
Comptroller Leslie Munger estimates the backlog will stand at $8.5 billion by the end of 2015, up from $6.6 billion from a year earlier, and that’s assuming more payments aren’t approved or forced to be made by court order without a budget being passed.
Despite warning the situation is becoming more dire, Munger maintains Gov. Bruce Rauner’s so-called “turnaround agenda” should be included in the budget discussions.
Munger says the fact that around 90 percent of the budget is being funded through piecemeal appropriations and court orders isn’t a positive, as the state is paying at levels comparable to the last fiscal year, when the income tax rate was still at 5 percent through December.
When specifically asked about enacting tax hike similar to the one which lapsed at the beginning of 2015, Munger says a tax increase alone wouldn’t be able to balance the budget at this point in the current fiscal year.
