Updated June 29, 2004 at 11:20 pm
This week's (Week of June 28) suburban edition of "Public Affairs," features Julianne Curtis (R- Wilmette), Candidate for 18th District State Rep., debating and discussing with show host and legal recruiter Jeff Berkowitz whether the Affordable Housing legislation, which was co-sponsored by Curtis’ opponent, Democratic incumbent Julie Hamos (D- Evanston), is an appropriate and sound public policy, for the 120 villages, or so, that are likely to be affected by it through-out the state.
Other topics debated and discussed include taxes, real estate assessment caps, gun control, background checks, an assault weapon ban, abortion, parental consent, same sex marriages, civil unions, legislation banning housing or employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, the impact of minimum wage differentials across states, the business climate in Illinois and tort reform/pain and suffering damage caps.
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Next Week's Guest: Gary Skoien, Cook County GOP chairman
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Partial Transcript of Show with Julianne Curtis:
Jeff Berkowitz: Gay Rights, you favor same sex marriage?
Julianne Curtis: ...Like most Americans, I support the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.
Berkowitz: You favor civil unions?
Curtis: I don't think we should have them.
Berkowitz: ..You favor laws that ban discrimination in housing and employment based on ...sexual orientation?
Curtis: No, we have a Civil Rights Act, acts against steering, we have acts against--
Berkowitz: So, you don't favor any legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation?
Curtis: No, because we already have laws on the books. We need to be enforcing civil rights.
Berkowitz: Do we, Do we [already have such laws]? somebody who is Gay, somebody who is Lesbian- they could be denied a job and they could go and
Curtis: How can you say--
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Berkowitz: ...Okay, so what you do with your colleagues in the State House and Senate wouldn't have any impact on property values here in Winnetka, Kenilworth and Glencoe and so forth?
Curtis: It may well because currently there is a new state mandate that Julie Hamos has pushed through which would have an impact on property values in the immediate vicinity of what is affordable housing.
Berkowitz: What is that legislation called?
Curtis: It is an affordable housing mandate that was passed last year that requires 120 villages across the state of Illinois to have a minimum of 10% public housing--
Berkowitz: By
Curtis: Well, they are measuring it this October...there will be a state list published.
Berkowitz: Is there a time by which they have to have 10%.
Curtis: No, but what they have to do is that they have to have plans in place by next year that demonstrate how they are going to get there.
Berkowitz: to get to 10% [affordable housing]?
Curtis: Yes
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Berkowitz: There also is something called the Appeal Act or appeal portion of the Act. It is the [Affordable Housing] Planning and Appeal Act.
Curtis: It is the State Housing Appeals Board that has been instituted and what that means is if a village or community would like to use a particular plot of land for one purpose and it doesn't give any public housing and a developer wants to put in public housing and that developer is denied for whatever reason, that developer and their lawyer friends can go to a state housing appeals board that is now in place and appeal and essentially cry foul that the Village did not let them--
Berkowitz: And, the state appeals board, if it rules favorably to that developer.... the Appeals Board rules in his favor, ruling that the village residents [Say, Winnetka] don't have a housing plan, you are not dong what this developer thinks is appropriate, the Board rules that-- then Winnetka would be required to permit that development as the developer has in mind, including whatever requirements might be for a certain amount of low income housing as a part of that development. Do I have that right?
Curtis: That is the way people are interpreting that law.
Berkowitz: And, you object to that.
Curtis: I object to the fact that state mandates are put down upon villages without local input. There was no referendum on this. There were no village hearings on this. This law has been put through very much under the radar screen.
Berkowitz: Should there always be referenda before the State acts legislatively? Because, they pass a lot of laws. That would be a lot of referenda across the state of illinois.
Curtis: I think something that has such consequences on the make-up and character of the village, of any village......
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Julianne Curtis, Republican State Rep. Candidate (Wilmette, 18th Dist.), interviewed on Public Affairs, recorded on June 19, 2004 and as is being cablecast this week (Week of June 28) in the suburbs and as will be cablecast in the City of Chicago on Monday, July 5, 2004 at 8:30 pm on Cable 21.
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The suburban edition of "Public Affairs," is broadcast every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Bannockburn, Deerfield, Ft. Sheridan, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods and Winnetka.
The suburban edition also is broadcast every Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northfield, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Wilmette and every Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. on Comcast Cable Channel 35 in Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Glenview, Golf, Des Plaines, Hanover Park, Mt. Prospect, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Skokie, Streamwood and Wheeling.
The show with Republican state rep. candidate Julianne Curtis will also air through-out the City of Chicago on Monday night, July 5 at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 *******************************************************************************
Hamos is a six year incumbent, but only two years of that time have been spent representing the 18th District under the 2002 re-districted boundaries. The 18th District currently includes a small portion of Rogers Park, all of Evanston and Kenilworth, east Wilmette, most of Winnetka and a small portion of Glencoe- what Rep. Hamos likes to call a “regional district,” due to its combination of 95,000 North Shore Suburbanites [if Evanston counts as North Shore, or a suburb] with 10,000 residents of the City of Chicago.
So, to close out the story of the evolution of the 18th Dist. into very safe D territory, the Democrats’ decision to modify the 18th from including part to almost all of the People’s Republic of Evanston in the 18th meant that it would be unlikely that a Republican would win the 18th in this decade (Julie Hamos’ old district included the southern portion of Evanston). In 2002, State Rep. Julie Hamos beat her Republican opponent, James O’Hara, 71% to 29 %.
So, boys and girls, I leave you with this. If you want to understand why Lisa Madigan [and not John Schmidt] is Attorney General and perhaps the next Governor, why Rod [Mell] Blagojevich [and not Paul Vallas] is the current Governor, why Richard M. Daley is Mayor, why Dan Hynes is Comptroller, why Jesse Jackson [and not now State Senate President and 23 year state legislator in 1995 Emil Jones] is the Congressman from the 2nd District and why Julie Hamos, a strong candidate and campaigner in her own right, can be expected to win the 18th pretty handily- just remember, "if you don’t have Family in Illinois politics, you don't have anything."
This week's (Week of June 28) suburban edition of "Public Affairs," features Julianne Curtis (R- Wilmette), Candidate for 18th District State Rep., debating and discussing with show host and legal recruiter Jeff Berkowitz whether the Affordable Housing legislation, which was co-sponsored by Curtis’ opponent, Democratic incumbent Julie Hamos (D- Evanston), is an appropriate and sound public policy, for the 120 villages, or so, that are likely to be affected by it through-out the state.
Other topics debated and discussed include taxes, real estate assessment caps, gun control, background checks, an assault weapon ban, abortion, parental consent, same sex marriages, civil unions, legislation banning housing or employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, the impact of minimum wage differentials across states, the business climate in Illinois and tort reform/pain and suffering damage caps.
*************************************************************
Next Week's Guest: Gary Skoien, Cook County GOP chairman
**************************************************************
Partial Transcript of Show with Julianne Curtis:
Jeff Berkowitz: Gay Rights, you favor same sex marriage?
Julianne Curtis: ...Like most Americans, I support the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.
Berkowitz: You favor civil unions?
Curtis: I don't think we should have them.
Berkowitz: ..You favor laws that ban discrimination in housing and employment based on ...sexual orientation?
Curtis: No, we have a Civil Rights Act, acts against steering, we have acts against--
Berkowitz: So, you don't favor any legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation?
Curtis: No, because we already have laws on the books. We need to be enforcing civil rights.
Berkowitz: Do we, Do we [already have such laws]? somebody who is Gay, somebody who is Lesbian- they could be denied a job and they could go and
Curtis: How can you say--
*******************************************************
Berkowitz: ...Okay, so what you do with your colleagues in the State House and Senate wouldn't have any impact on property values here in Winnetka, Kenilworth and Glencoe and so forth?
Curtis: It may well because currently there is a new state mandate that Julie Hamos has pushed through which would have an impact on property values in the immediate vicinity of what is affordable housing.
Berkowitz: What is that legislation called?
Curtis: It is an affordable housing mandate that was passed last year that requires 120 villages across the state of Illinois to have a minimum of 10% public housing--
Berkowitz: By
Curtis: Well, they are measuring it this October...there will be a state list published.
Berkowitz: Is there a time by which they have to have 10%.
Curtis: No, but what they have to do is that they have to have plans in place by next year that demonstrate how they are going to get there.
Berkowitz: to get to 10% [affordable housing]?
Curtis: Yes
**********************************************************
Berkowitz: There also is something called the Appeal Act or appeal portion of the Act. It is the [Affordable Housing] Planning and Appeal Act.
Curtis: It is the State Housing Appeals Board that has been instituted and what that means is if a village or community would like to use a particular plot of land for one purpose and it doesn't give any public housing and a developer wants to put in public housing and that developer is denied for whatever reason, that developer and their lawyer friends can go to a state housing appeals board that is now in place and appeal and essentially cry foul that the Village did not let them--
Berkowitz: And, the state appeals board, if it rules favorably to that developer.... the Appeals Board rules in his favor, ruling that the village residents [Say, Winnetka] don't have a housing plan, you are not dong what this developer thinks is appropriate, the Board rules that-- then Winnetka would be required to permit that development as the developer has in mind, including whatever requirements might be for a certain amount of low income housing as a part of that development. Do I have that right?
Curtis: That is the way people are interpreting that law.
Berkowitz: And, you object to that.
Curtis: I object to the fact that state mandates are put down upon villages without local input. There was no referendum on this. There were no village hearings on this. This law has been put through very much under the radar screen.
Berkowitz: Should there always be referenda before the State acts legislatively? Because, they pass a lot of laws. That would be a lot of referenda across the state of illinois.
Curtis: I think something that has such consequences on the make-up and character of the village, of any village......
********************************************************************
Julianne Curtis, Republican State Rep. Candidate (Wilmette, 18th Dist.), interviewed on Public Affairs, recorded on June 19, 2004 and as is being cablecast this week (Week of June 28) in the suburbs and as will be cablecast in the City of Chicago on Monday, July 5, 2004 at 8:30 pm on Cable 21.
********************************************************************
The suburban edition of "Public Affairs," is broadcast every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Bannockburn, Deerfield, Ft. Sheridan, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods and Winnetka.
The suburban edition also is broadcast every Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northfield, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Wilmette and every Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. on Comcast Cable Channel 35 in Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Glenview, Golf, Des Plaines, Hanover Park, Mt. Prospect, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Skokie, Streamwood and Wheeling.
The show with Republican state rep. candidate Julianne Curtis will also air through-out the City of Chicago on Monday night, July 5 at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 *******************************************************************************
Hamos is a six year incumbent, but only two years of that time have been spent representing the 18th District under the 2002 re-districted boundaries. The 18th District currently includes a small portion of Rogers Park, all of Evanston and Kenilworth, east Wilmette, most of Winnetka and a small portion of Glencoe- what Rep. Hamos likes to call a “regional district,” due to its combination of 95,000 North Shore Suburbanites [if Evanston counts as North Shore, or a suburb] with 10,000 residents of the City of Chicago.
So, to close out the story of the evolution of the 18th Dist. into very safe D territory, the Democrats’ decision to modify the 18th from including part to almost all of the People’s Republic of Evanston in the 18th meant that it would be unlikely that a Republican would win the 18th in this decade (Julie Hamos’ old district included the southern portion of Evanston). In 2002, State Rep. Julie Hamos beat her Republican opponent, James O’Hara, 71% to 29 %.
So, boys and girls, I leave you with this. If you want to understand why Lisa Madigan [and not John Schmidt] is Attorney General and perhaps the next Governor, why Rod [Mell] Blagojevich [and not Paul Vallas] is the current Governor, why Richard M. Daley is Mayor, why Dan Hynes is Comptroller, why Jesse Jackson [and not now State Senate President and 23 year state legislator in 1995 Emil Jones] is the Congressman from the 2nd District and why Julie Hamos, a strong candidate and campaigner in her own right, can be expected to win the 18th pretty handily- just remember, "if you don’t have Family in Illinois politics, you don't have anything."
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