North Cook News

Senate Republican candidate Barrett Davie is convinced the state of Illinois needs to overhaul the way Springfield does business to put the state on a sustainable path.

“Status quo politicians have put Illinois into an economic crisis,” Davie told the North Cook News. “We will see a steady increase in both tax hikes and spending cuts unless and until we make structural reforms to our pension and debt crisis.”

Running against Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield) in District 29, Davie points to the $420 million the Chicago Sun-Times recently reported the state has doled out in tax breaks over the last decade to attract more TV and film projects to Illinois as the latest example of a system gone awry.

Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield)

“The $420 million or so the state spent on recruiting the film industry is literally a drop in the bucket to the $128 billion in unfunded pensions,” said Davie, an attorney who has based his campaign on a platform of comprehensive tax reform and balancing the state budget.

The tax breaks are even more maddening because the state is stifled by a shrinking tax base and owes billions in unpaid bills, Davie said.

Approximately 1,817 television and film production companies received such tax breaks, though what they did to earn them remains a mystery. The state has never inspected the books of the companies gifted with the massive discounts, the Sun-Times states.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors recently moved to indict veteran Chicago Teamsters boss John T. Coli Sr. on extortion charges related to a scheme where he is alleged to have pocketed at least $325,000 from Cinespace Chicago Film Studios co-founder Alex Pissios.

Coli “threatened work stoppages and other labor unrest” at the West Side studio where such productions as “Chicago Fire,” and “Empire” are filmed “unless such payments were made,” the Deadline Hollywood website states.

Coli is now awaiting trial and could face up to 20 years if convicted. Several media outlets have reported he introduced Pissios to several of the Democratic lawmakers who later awarded him the $31 million in grants used to build Cinespace, which calls itself the “largest movie production facility east of Hollywood.”

Davie says his campaign is about making a difference for everyday people.

“My opponent is content to manage the decline of our state, I will address the major issues facing our state budget crisis,” he said.  

Senate District 29 includes portions of the North Suburbs of Chicago in Lake and Cook Counties.