58th District Democratic Rep. Bob Morgan Seeks Reelection: Patch Candidate Questionnaire

DEERFIELD, IL — Incumbent 58th District State Representative Bob Morgan, a Deerfield Democrat, is seeking a fourth term in Springfield in the Nov. 5 general election.

Morgan faces a challenge from Highland Park business owner and Moraine Township precinct committeeperson Carl Lambrecht.

The two men participated in a remote candidate forum last month hosted by local chapters of the League of Women Voters.

Read more: Bob Morgan Defends Legislative Record, Carl Lambrecht Makes Dubious Claims In 58th District Candidate Forum

As part of our commitment to providing voters with information about local elections, we shared identical questionnaires with both campaigns and are publishing each candidate's responses in their entirety and in the order it was received, without edits or alterations.

Morgan's answers, offering insight into his policy positions and priorities as he seeks to represent the residents of the 58th District, are below.

Name:
Bob Morgan

Town of Residence:
Deerfield

Party Affiliation:
Democrat

Family:
Wife Sonia, two young children, dog Teddy

Education:
Juris Doctor, Northern Illinois University College of Law; Bachelor’s of Arts, Political Science, University of Illinois - Urbana/Champaign

Occupation:
Attorney, nineteen years.

Previous or current elected or appointed office:
Illinois House of Representatives 2019 - present

Why are you running for office?

I am driven by the desire to help as many people as possible, and have always believed public service is an opportunity to harness our collective power to improve our community. I want to continue the progress we’ve made together in Illinois since I was first elected in 2019, and I know there is much work left to do.

The single most pressing issue facing our district is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Gun violence prevention. My community experienced a dramatic mass shooting during the Highland Park Fourth of July parade, and preventing gun violence is one of the most pressing problems on the minds of the 58th District. Our community fueled a statewide push to address this issue, and I led the legislation which banned assault weapons and high capacity magazines in Illinois. Yet, my district knows gun violence persists including in domestic violence or self-harm situations. As Chair of the House Firearm Safety & Reform Working Group I will continue to push for Karina’s Law, better self-storage regulations and education, and funding of community violence interruption.

The most pressing issue facing our state is _______, and this is believe we should do about it.

Illinois has dug itself out of a morass of bad choices over the past several decades and our greatest challenge is to continue the disciplined approach we’ve adopted under Governor Pritzker to balance our budgets and invest in the future. We’ve been a national leader on two extremely important issues related to the transformation of our economy: clean energy and advanced computing. I’m proud to have supported a 100% carbon free energy standard which has spurred work across our state creating renewable energy sources and saving consumers money that can be spent on additional goods and services. With the most recent announcement of a quantum computing lab in Chicago, our state is preparing for the next generation of technological advancement where lightning fast computing services provide an entire new way of conducting day-to-day business. I am always open to supporting additional ways to spur economic growth in our state, and will continue to work with my colleagues to close the gap with the rest of the country.

We’ve invested more in our schools and paid more into our pension obligations, while holding the line on new areas of spending that have earned us several credit upgrades by Wall Street ratings agencies. We have to stay the course on the progress we’ve made.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

My opponents positions on the major issues facing our community are unclear, so I will share why I believe I deserve the votes of the 58th District. Whether it is on issues of healthcare, gun violence, insurance, or combatting hate and discrimination, I am viewed as a leader in the Illinois General Assembly. Each day as a State Representative has required me to build consensus amongst stakeholders and tackle the most difficult issues facing our community. I will always be responsive to my constituents and take their concerns to Springfield as I advocate for legislation amongst my colleagues. I am proud of the work I have accomplished in my three terms as a State Representative, and will continue to work for a better 58th District and State of Illinois.

Describe any other issues that are most central to you campaign platform:

I am strongly pro-choice and trust women to make their own healthcare decisions in concert with their doctors. We have never faced such a threat to reproductive freedom until the Dobbs Supreme Court decision. We are one of the only states in the Midwest offering comprehensive care to women in need, while our neighboring states are threatening to prosecute residents in search of healthcare.

Should you win the election, what measurable accomplishment would define your term in office as a success?

There won’t be one accomplishment that defines success. It is a combination of progress on all the issues discussed above. In the next legislative session, if I’m successful with my reelection, I will be focusing on access to behavioral healthcare and rebuilding the healthcare workforce.

Is there any legislation that has passed while you have been in the General Assembly that you do not agree with?

Yes, I would have preferred some of our budgets take more dramatic steps reining in corporate tax abuse.

Explain your attitudes toward fiscal policy, government spending and how taxpayer dollars should be handled by the General Assembly?

We should never spend more than our revenues and that requires some hard choices. But discipline and transparency are the best way to prove fiscal responsibility to the voters. That’s a necessary component before voters will trust you to embark on new programs, taxes, fees, or any major change to state government.

What would you do to ease the property tax burden on middle class residents of your district?

Illinois relies on a flat tax system with a fixed rate of personal and business taxes. This forces onerous property taxes as a means to make up revenue for community needs. I was a supporter of a fair tax constitutional amendment. That amendment would have allowed lawmakers more flexibility to structure the tax code to balance the burden in a progressive fashion amongst ratepayers who have the capacity to support our state in a higher fashion without bearing a larger burden. The best way to reduce the reliance on property taxes is to modernize the tax code to reflect the 21st century.

I also believe local municipalities and school taxing bodies need to be held accountable for property tax increases. I have continued to support efforts to better fund our public schools, while advocating for dollar-for-dollar property tax relief from local taxing bodies benefiting from these new dollars.

Are there any state laws that you don’t think are constitutional and shouldn’t be enforced?

We cannot pick and choose which laws to enforce. That would be substituting our judgment in place of our supreme court. It's their role to determine constitutionality.

Do you think Illinois’s SAFE-T Act/no cash bail has been effective?

Within the last few years, Illinois has made great strides in improving our criminal justice system.
The SAFE-T Act introduced comprehensive measures to address systemic issues, enhance police accountability through training and use-of-force guidelines, establish a certification system for officers, and reform pretrial detention to ensure a fairer process. The Act's commitment to diversion programs, mental health resources, and support for crime victims reflects its dedication to creating a balanced and humane criminal justice system in Illinois. All the fearmongering of the SAFE-T Act has been disproven during implementation, and the state has evidence to show the SAFE-T Act is working as designed.

Despite this initiative, there is still much more to be done to alleviate the disparities and injustices within our criminal justice system. Reforming the criminal justice system involves a critical examination at the local level, ensuring that districts are strategically investing in their communities. I have strongly supported the investment into community violence prevention and interruption programs that were defunded during former Governor Bruce Rauner’s reign. Rauner’s defunding is directly tied to the surge in crime in Illinois, and we’re now seeing year-over-year reductions of crime as we invest in our schools and our communities under the Prizker Administration.

Should the state stiffen gun laws?

As we discussed above, I have been a strong supporter of enhanced gun safety legislation and believe we have much more work to do. Gun violence is a complicated problem that requires comprehensive solutions - including but not limited to firearm safety laws.

Should the state consolidate CTA, Metra and Pace?

I support reforms that must come to all of the major transit agencies that serve the Chicagoland region. There’s no denying that a well-functioning, efficient, and cost effective public transit system is a tremendous asset to economic growth - and we are falling short so far. Affordable and reliable transportation saves commuters money and provides certainty to businesses that their employees can get to work. Reforms must be made before taxpayers contribute additional funds to solve problems created by the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Work-from-home shifts have led to less users in the system and we have to be honest about the financial challenges ahead. A comprehensive solution that involves governance reforms, better coordination between agencies, efficiencies, and enhanced service will be necessary components to reach a deal leading to additional funding.

Do you think more state taxpayer money should be provided to ease the migrant crisis and burden on Chicago and its suburbs?

The answer to this problem is comprehensive immigration reform enacted at the federal level. Our immigration system has been broken for more than two decades and MAGA Republican efforts waged by politicians like Donald Trump continue to break things further in order to score political points.

How do you feel about school funding? Do you think school funding is fairly distributed using the current tiered funding system?

Illinois comprehensively rewrote our school funding for the first time in decades and we are making greater investments in our schools to the tune of hundreds of millions of additional dollars. It will take time for us to get to the position to fully fund all of our schools the way the law envisions, but we are improving and on a much better track from where we were just a short few years ago.

Illinois now has a law that penalizes public libraries for banning books for “partisan or doctrinal” reasons — do you agree with the law? Should a school district be allowed to ban books in certain instances, such as books seen as pornographic? Is the mere mention of LGBTQ topics considered pornographic?

Yes, I voted for the law. It contemplated a variety of scenarios and respects the balance between freedom of speech, age appropriate content, and educational needs.

What should be done to reduce the state’s $140 billion in pension liabilities?

I have led the way to reduce our legacy pension debt through a voluntary cost of living adjustment (“COLA”) buyout program, on pace to reduce our liabilities by $2 billion. My legislation from several years ago, House Bill 4292, extended the state employee pension buyout program which I first advocated for nearly 10 years ago while working as an attorney for former Governor Pat Quinn. I firmly believe that the best way to shore up and secure our state's finances is to pay down our pension debt in a moral and constitutional way, which is exactly what this program does.

We've made responsible financial choices and must continue to be disciplined in paying our pension payments, investing in the areas that need us the most, and not spending more than the revenues we have coming into the state.

What would you do to help constituents struggling with the ever-increasing cost of living?

We’ve held the line on new taxes and fees for our past several budgets while making critical infrastructure upgrades to make our economy strong. We also cut one of the most regressive taxes we levy in Illinois - on groceries. That will make a real difference in people’s lives. I passed legislation in the House this Spring that would ban deceptive junk fees in Illinois, costing the average family over $3,000 per year in hidden fees. I will keep pushing until this legislation is passed into law.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I will always take positions that land firmly on the side of making people’s lives better, even if that means going against my own political party. I have been a leader on ethics reform including when I helped remove former Speaker Madigan from power, standing united with the “19” House Democrats who ushered the way for new leadership and a new era of reform. Though not popular with special interests at the time, it was the right thing to do.