Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board questionnaire responses
Legislative priorities:
Q) What are your three top national legislative priorities for the country?
A) Jobs, Education, and to shut down the Border to Black Community pipeline of illegal guns and drugs.
Q: What are the three most important issues in your district on which you believe the federal government needs to act?
High unemployment rate, increase educational funding, and less regulation on Cook and Will County small farmers.
Q) What is your biggest fundamental difference with your opponent(s)?
I have the ability to equally serve and bridge the communities in the 1st Congressional District from the urban and middle-class communities in Cook County to the rural and bedroom communities in Will County.
Transparency:
Q) Will you pledge to make public: a) your campaign schedule; b) your fundraiser schedule and the names of all fundraiser hosts ; c) if elected, your daily schedule of meetings? If not, why not?
a) yes b) yes
yes
Q) Please list all relatives on public or campaign payrolls and their jobs on those payrolls.
A) Our campaign is operated with all volunteers. No payroll staff.
National security:
Q) What are the most important actions Congress can take to reduce the threat of ISIS abroad and at home?
A) The most important actions our Congress can take is to arm the President with the necessary tools and resources to take the fight to ISIS on their shores and not ours.
Q) What bans, if any, do you support on Muslim admissions to the United States? Please explain your position.
A) We are not threatened by the peaceful religion of Islam, nor its followers who are called Muslims, however we must not ignore the threat of Radical Islamist who may use our current immigration policies to their advantage. Until more safety measures are put in place we should not allow admissions from anyone from countries that are hostile and known havens for radicalism.
Q) Specifically, how would you have, or how did you, vote on the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act of 2015 and its efforts to make it harder for Syrian and Iraqi refugees to enter the U.S.? Please explain your position.
A) I would not have voted in favor of it because its is only for refugees from Syria and Iraq only. There are surrounding countries like Turkey that can easily become an entry for someone trying to bypass this law.
Q) Do you support a Syrian no-fly zone or the U.S. enforcement of Syrian humanitarian safe zones? Why or why not?
A) Yes, we must defeat ISIS on its home turf in Syria and support its people who are caught in the cross fire.
Q) Regarding the House Benghazi Select Committee, should its investigation remain open-ended, or should the panel be given a deadline to complete its work? Please explain.
A) I believe the Committee should keep its investigation open-ended. By putting a time frame on the investigation the Committee will limit itself from getting to the root of what went wrong, as well as what went right.
Q) What measures, if any, do you support to give U.S. authorities access to encrypted or “dark web” communications about potential terrorist plots? Please explain.
A) I will not support any measures that will create a backdoor that could potentially make less secure citizen's information available to hackers. We have a system in place to deal with wiretaps and gathering information.
Q) Do you support transferring the detention of terrorism suspects from Guantanamo Bay to the United States? Why or why not?
A) No because it may place the U.S. cities that host them at high risk for local terror attacks.
Gun violence:
Q) What is the single most important action Congress can take to reduce U.S. gun violence?
A) There in no law that can stop gun violence with the exception of banning all guns, which I am against. Congress must take action to shut down the Border to Black community pipeline of illegal guns and drugs that are the major cause of gun violence in the U.S.
Q) Do you support or oppose the ‘‘Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act?” Please explain your position.
A) I oppose this Act because it gives the Attorney General too broad authority.
Climate change:
Q) Do you believe there is scientific evidence of climate change, and is it caused by human activity? What is your position on the Paris climate change agreement?
A) Yes. While the Paris climate change agreement is a step in the right direction, we must note that the ideas, philosophies, and courtesies of politics are different from laws of atmospherics physics and the laws of nature.
Economy:
Q) What changes, if any, to the U.S. tax code do you support and why?
A)Eliminate the tax code. I would support eliminating the payroll tax and replacing it with a flat tax or a tax on services and goods.
Q) What are the most important actions Congress can take to ensure the solvency of Social Security?
A)Congress can make sure Social Security is funded.
Q) Do you support a “risk fee” on big banks? Why or why not?
A) Yes, it is sound economic policy. It will end practices that cause the banks to fail.
Health care:
Q) Should Obamacare be overturned, left intact, or changed — and if so how?
A) I support changing Obamacare and replacing it with the public option and to eliminate the penalty on citizens who do not have health care.
Q) Do you favor stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood? Why or why not?
A) Yes because I am Pro-Life.
Immigration:
Q) President Obama used his executive powers to prevent the deportation of "DREAMers—youths who came to the U.S. illegally as children with their parents. Would you support legislation to prevent DREAMer deportations? Do you support putting DREAMers on a path to citizenship?
A) No. No.
Education:
Q) What congressional reforms do you favor to address America’s student loan crisis?
A)Congress can place a cap on the student loan interest rate, put a cap on percentage of income; expand Pell Grants, and give tax deductions for student loan payments.
Jimmy Lee Tillman, II
District running for: 1st Congressional District
Political/civic background: 2014 Republican nominee for 1st CD, 2010 Republican nominee for MWRD
Occupation: Urban Political Strategists, Blogtalk Radio Host
Education: B.S. Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio
Campaign website:www.jimmylee2dc.com