IADO Endorses Daniel Biss for State Senator of 9th
Illinois District
April 2012 - by Mridu Sekhar
Daniel Biss is an old and loyal friend of the IADO and the Indian Community in and around Chicago.
Born in Ohio, raised in Bloomington Indiana and educated at Harvard and MIT, Representative Biss started his career in mathematics as an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago. He was a candidate for the Illinois house in 2007, but he lost at his first attempt. At this time The IADO invited him to be on their board. He stood for and won the 17th Illinois house seat in 2010.
(http://danielbiss.com/about)
Welcoming Representative Biss at the fund raiser, Harendra Mangrola, President of IADO spoke from the heart when he described Representative Biss as an uncommon representative who calls his constituents and supporters regularly, not waiting for them to call him.
Representative Biss discussed his work in the Illinois house since he was elected in 2010. The issues surrounding the Illinois State budget looms over all aspects of state government . Until the structural problems are solved, the best the legislature can do is to try to keep the pile of unpaid bills from growing . He discussed the trajectories of growth in the expenses related to pensions for state employees, medicaid and education. These cannot be solved without the cooperation of all parties involved. The audience asked him questions on the affordable care act and its impact on Medicaid, funding for education. He was pessimistic on the future of Medicaid if the affordable care act is struck down by the supreme court. He shared the inequities cause by funding education through local property taxes with state support and the pension system layered over it.
Representative Biss lead a thoughtful discussion of the complex problems faced by our state. None, he lamented were simple. He thanked the group and shared his gratitude in being able to represent us.
