"Once again, the Illinois legislature has left for the summer without passing a balanced budget for the rest of the year, without ensuring schools will open in the fall, without funding for social services and without making sure our prisons remain safely functioning," Salzberg, who is running for the seat currently held by Democratic Sen. Julie Morrison, told the Lake County Gazette.
House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-District 22) managed to get a budget he proposed passed in the House last month even though it was more than $7 billion in the red. Gov. Bruce Rauner threatened to veto the budget, which would have raised taxes for the average family by $1,000 a year, if it made it to his desk; however, the Senate voted the budget down on the last day of the spring session.
Without a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, Illinois now faces the possibility of school closures due to a lack of funding, additional cuts in social services and layoffs of government workers.
Salzberg said the only services that were funded in the last year were court-mandated. Only an education budget was passed in 2015, which kept the schools open for the 2015-2016 school year.
"The funding that has been released from the state was court mandated, not from the success of agreement between Republicans and Democrats," Salzberg said. "Imagine you were a judge, empowered to appoint a board (or legislature) to oversee the state. What skills and experience would you want to see? Could it be that Julie Morrison and her Democrat colleagues lack the knowledge, experience, political courage and ability to finish negotiations to turn around the state?"
Salzberg said his experience as a business transformation expert makes him uniquely qualified to lead the legislature in turning the state's finances around. He has a bachelor's in engineering, an MBA in quality and a master's degree in education.
His opponent, Morrison, has a bachelor's degree in political science.
With more than 20 years of corporate experience and as the owner of PTD Partners, Salzberg is an expert in turning around failing companies. By gathering information, diagnosing the company's problems and applying statistical analysis and other tools, he has played a major part in the recovery of companies that were facing financial disaster.
Using the same process of compiling information, analyzing that information to find the salient points, finding solutions and putting a recovery plan in place, Salzberg believes he can help the legislature develop a balanced budget and turn the state around.
"Illinois has suffered too long from gridlock in the capital caused by Senate and House leaders stubborn in their convictions, unable to usher in change," Salzberg said.
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