The two candidates vying for southern Illinois' 115th district State House seat discussed a number of issues including state pension reform and higher education funding during a forum Thursday night in Carbondale.
Democrat Marsha Griffin says higher ed should remain publicly funded. She says she supports use of a so-called millionaire's tax to help make that happen. Griffin criticized her incumbent opponent for essentially being silent on the full funding issue by not voting for higher education funding bills on 8 separate occasions. Griffin says the lack of full funding has hurt SIU as well as forced John A. Logan college to lay off nearly a quarter of its faculty. Bryant says she is incensed over the lack of full funding for SIU and blamed the democratic leadership and House Speaker Michael Madigan for not offering a balanced budget bill that would have provided full funding for higher education.
The candidates also discussed how they would approach pension reform for state employees. Griffin says employees didn't create the pension problem and reforms must not come at the expense of state employees. Griffin referred to the pension reform plan that the state supreme court declared unconstitutional. She also claimed Bryant was silent on the issue. Terri Bryant says she was not silent on the issue and does not agree with her party's governor. Bryant says the court ruling is clear that reforms can not harm current retirees or change the system for state employees already in the system. Bryant says there are a number of proposal that would help shore up the state's ailing pension system and still comply with the Supreme Court ruling. Bryant says she wants to see the state continue to fully fund pensions. She says she waived her legislative pension and will only receive her state pension from the Department of Corrections.
The forum was held Thursday night at the SIU Law School. WSIU's Jak Tichenor moderated the discussion.
