Lieutenant Gov. Sheila Simon says that, years after his death, she continues to hear from constituents about her father, Sen. Paul Simon.
"As I go around the state, the thing I hear most frequently about Dad was, 'I didn't always agree with him, but I appreciated his honesty.' That's an important message that I get all the time: You've got to be honest and you've got to be transparent. It makes a difference, and helps me do a better job if I have more information about me out front.
It's a message she wants as a central part of her campaign to be Illinois state comptroller.
Simon, an attorney and professor who had long been active in local politics in her native Carbondale, said that, while she's been serving as Lieutenant Governor, she has become acutely aware of the role money issues have played in determining the effectiveness of the state government. Hence, she's set her sights on the comptroller's office, which has been occupied by Republican Judy Baar Topinka.
The election has been difficult for Simon, who has been consistently trailing Topinka in the polls. But Simon said she's confident that she can run the Comptroller's Office with more transparency and vision than Topinka has. Libertarian candidate Julie Fox is also running for the office.
Windy City Times sat down with Simon recently to discuss the her plans for the office, her work as lieutenant governor, and her relationship to the LGBT community.
Windy City Times: Your campaign says you will be "the most aggressive fiscal watchdog Illinois has ever seen." What does that really mean for you?
Sheila Simon: The comptroller is the person who pays all the bills for the state, so I think they have the best access to information about where the money is going, and can be much more aggressive about making that information available to residents of Illinois and journalists. The same thing with local government spending informationevery local government turns in an annual financial report to the comptroller's office. We've got over 7,000 [local government units]. Right now the information goes on [the comptroller's] websitethey put it up there and that's where it ends.
One of the things that can be done is polling local government information and establishing benchmarks, such as spending per capitawhat's the spending range per capita of a county, a city or a library district? Then we can get information back to the residents of that area and to local government leaders. … It's also a way of putting a lid on corruption as soon as possible. Think of Dixon, Illinois, where the treasurer stole $53 million. If the local government leaders knew earlier that they were spending a lot of money and not getting what a lot of other towns were getting, maybe that would have raised a red flag sooner. It's about being smarter and more aggressive with the information.
WCT: Do you think the comptroller's office already has these resources? Local governments are very balkanized. Would this be something your administration would be able to implement quickly?
Sheila Simon: The report already comes in. It's just a matter of what you choose to do with it. The other part of it is making sure those reports actually do come in.
WCT: How would you help the state address its sizeable backlog of unpaid bills?
Sheila Simon: One thing we need to do a better job of is calling attention to the fact that we have this backlog. There's a little bit of dispute as to how much we owe that is overdue, but, bottom line is that it's in the billions. That's unacceptable. None of us would allow that to happen in our family budget and the fact that we are imposing on not-for-profit agencies, small businesses and schools on a regular basis is unacceptable. So I think the comptroller has to be the voice for why we need to get those bills paid on time.
WCT: What do you think has been lacking in the comptroller's office under Topinka's stewardship?
Sheila Simon: I think, at many levels, the office has done what the office has done before. What's lacking is the vision to move forward. I think we need to use the resources of the office more aggressively to engage the residents of Illinois more in the discussion about where we're spending the money. One of my heroes was the late Dawn Clark Netsch, who was comptroller for a while. I got to talk to Dawn about this office before she died. She said her favorite part about being comptroller was being the 'state's best educator about the budget' and I look forward to that role.
Also, because the state is so far behind in paying its bills, some people need to get "scooted up" in line. And right now when that is done, there are no visible standards from the outside. … I think that an expedited payment should be made infrequently, but when it is made, it should be done according to standards that everyone can see. Otherwise, that fuels distrust of government.
WCT: How would you characterize the relationship between you and Gov. Quinn?
Sheila Simon: It's been a good relationship. Our staffs work well together. When we first started, we said, "Let's plan to meet every week." Within the first several weeks that was lost, because we're always going in different directions. We stay in touch by phone for the most part and I've really been proud of the things he's done, like signing the bill to end the death penalty.
WCT: How would you say the lieutenant governor role has prepared you for the comptroller's role?
Sheila Simon: It's been a great education in terms of understanding the state government as a whole. The one part of my duties that comes from the constitution is to be ready to be governor. So that gives me the official right to be nosy about everything in the state government and I use that. It's allowed me to see that so many of the challenges that we have as a state fall down to money issues, and that points back to the comptrollers office.
WCT: What are the largest fiscal challenges Illinois has right now?
Sheila Simon: I think the pension question is number one, and our income tax rate is a significant question that will be dealt with this campaign. Another issue related to money is our school funding formula. Sen. Andy Manar passed a bill out of the senate that would significantly improve our funding formula. That would make sure that state funding goes towards actual student need and reduce the system that we have right now, which says, depending on your zip code, you're going to get either a really great education or possibly a really poorly funded one.
WCT: How would you characterize your support for the LGBT community?
Sheila Simon: It's something that goes back a long way. As a lawyer in private practice, I represented a large number of clients in the LGBT community, back in the days before we had amended the Human Rights Act. I once met a young woman who came to me and said, "my landlord told me she found out I was gay and she wants me out of there." I still remember how horrible it felt to tell her, that your landlord can do that.
Thank goodness, the law has changed and that can no longer go on. I represented children in the first second parent adoption case in Jackson County, which was really exciting. It's something that makes sense to me and always has, on a personal level. I've supported marriage equality back when everyone was talking about civil unions. I performed a [same-sex] wedding for a friend just a few weeks ago … a couple who never really thought in their lifetimes, that they would be in a wedding for themselves. So there are a lot of reasons to celebrate, and its really cool to be a part of it.
But while our laws might be strong, that doesn't mean that behavior will follow. We've outlawed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, just like we've outlawed it, on the basis of gender and race. But we know that these continue so we have to be ready to enforce the laws, make sure people know about the laws and promote not just a change in the law but a change in the culture.
Simon's website is sheilasimon.org/ .