Hamilton Chang - For State Representative 17th District

Government Transparency & Innovative Solutions

There must be pure transparency in the awarding of state contracts. I have spent the past ten years of my career as an independent business consultant helping not-for-profits understand the complicated financings being sold by banks. My job is to help my clients (hospitals, senior living centers, etc.) decipher the fancy pictures and projections presented by banks. I then work side by side with management and board members to make an educated and purely transparent decision regarding a vendor. We compare things such as experience, services, pricing, and terms and then management makes the decision in the light of day!

Forcing business to be conducted in the open encourages ethical behavior. In my own practice, once the banks are made aware that their pricing and terms will be open and analyzed and that the financing may be awarded to another bank, the client wins.

Fighting Corruption

We all deserve better. I am committed to REAL ethics reform in Springfield. Any concentration of money or power creates the opportunity for corruption. Such corruption is evident in both congressional and state politics. The bigger the concentration of money and power, the bigger corruption. We need to take away some of the "absolute power" currently held by long term career politicians.

Campaign Finance Reform

On it's surface, the campaign finance reform law of 2009 appears to be an important first step towards true reform. It limits the amount of money individuals and interest groups can contribute per election and the amount of money party leaders can contribute during a primary election. The law does not, however, limit the amount of money that party leaders can transfer from their funds to various candidates during general elections. In essence, the law limits the influence of all interested parties, individuals and interest groups in the campaign finance process, but does nothing to regulate the influence of political parties and party leaders. This ultimately strengthens the amount of control that legislative leaders can exert over members.  Voting history and campaign contribution records indicate that candidates receiving the largest amounts of party funding are more likely to vote along party lines. In allowing major party leaders to give unlimited funding to candidates during general elections, we essentially allow party leaders to buy the candidates’ future votes. This must stop. REAL reform takes place on all levels of the campaign finance process and DOES NOT exempt powerful legislative leaders.
 

A Fair Map

Illinois is the punch line of national comedians, partly because of the jigsaw puzzle like voting districts. Neighborhoods and villages are broken-up street by street into different districts to achieve the desired political outcome. This must stop. We need more regularly distributed districts that promote competition for elected office while taking into account communities.  When incumbents are challenged, we all win.
 

Term Limits