Marti Deuter, District 45 State Representative Candidate
ELMHURST, IL – Marti Deuter, an Elmhurst alderwoman, is the Democratic candidate for the District 45 state representative seat.
In the Nov. 5 election, her opponent is Republican Nick Reboletti, supervisor of Addison Township.
Here are Marti Deuter's responses to Patch's questionnaire:
Martha "Marti" Deuter
Town of residence
Position sought
Illinois State Representative, District 45
Husband Dave, children Nora and Henry, stepchildren Sydney, Alec, and Sam
Master's degree from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and undergraduate degree in social work from Ohio University
I work for Bridge Communities, a nonprofit based in Glen Ellyn that provides housing and supportive services for families experiencing homelessness.
Previous current elected or appointed office
City of Elmhurst Alderman, Ward 1 Campaign website
www.martiforil45.com
The single most pressing issue facing the state is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.
After knocking on thousands of doors, I know the economy and high cost of living are top concerns for voters. The state needs to grow its economy to ease the tax burden on residents. Expanding economic opportunities is one of the key issues of my campaign. At the state level, economic opportunities should be built on the state's existing strengths: highly educated workforce, global transportation hub, world-class universities, and national laboratories. Illinois has opportunities for growth in many fields, including quantum computing, clean energy manufacturing, and life sciences. At the household level, expanding economic opportunities is about education: access to well-funded public schools and access to technical training and apprenticeship programs. There is currently a shortage of workers in skilled trade positions, including welders, carpenters, and electricians. The state needs to invest in the training programs that can connect young people and transitioning workers to these high-wage jobs.
What are the critical differences between you and your opponent?
Dennis Reboletti and I differ on two key issues for voters: women's reproductive rights and gun violence prevention. Reboletti is a career politician who's been running for office since the 1990s, and he doesn't support women's reproductive rights. He opposed every reproductive health protection that came up while he was serving in Springfield. I trust women to make their own healthcare decisions, and I will always protect a woman's right to reproductive care. I will strengthen access to reproductive healthcare, birth control, fertility treatment, and maternity care.
Reboletti opposes common sense gun safety. In Springfield, he opposed an assault weapons ban and voted against limits on handgun purchases.
I will fight for common sense gun safety protections that save lives. I'll defend Illinois' ban on assault weapons, and I'll push to strengthen extreme risk laws to keep guns out of the hands of people who pose a danger to themselves or others. I'll also fight to strengthen safe storage requirements.
Do you think Illinois's SAFE-T Act/no cash bail has been effective?
It's important to acknowledge that the SAFE-T Act was a massive overhaul to our criminal justice system. Notably, Illinois became the first state in the nation to end cash bail, so that now, pretrial release decisions are based on an individual's threat to public safety, rather than access to money.
There were valid concerns with certain provisions in the original bill. I heard about some of the concerns from the Elmhurst police chief at a meeting I chaired. He presented several proposed changes to the act that he and other police chiefs were advocating for. I applaud the stakeholders, like the Elmhurst police chief and the DuPage County State's Attorney, who engaged productively to shape the amendments that improved the original bill.
Bail reform has been in place for one year. We now have data that can be used to evaluate the reforms and guide improvements. Decisions can now be based on facts (data and evidence), not fear or politics. The DuPage County State's Attorney and our judges did an amazing job with the implementation. We haven't seen more crime, and we haven't seen an increase in failures to appear in court. I'm committed to diligently monitoring the data and maintaining regular communication with prosecutors, court administrators, law enforcement, and criminal justice advocates to continue to strengthen our criminal justice system.
I'm also committed to increasing investments in our local police departments to make sure the officers who keep our communities safe have access to every tool, technology, and training opportunity. This is the approach we take in Elmhurst.
What changes, if any, would you make to the state's gun laws?
Assault weapons make our families less safe and have no place in our communities. I wholeheartedly support the recent state legislation to ban the sales of military-style assault rifles, extended magazines, and rapid-fire modifications. We need to enact legislation to keep firearms out of the hands of people who are at risk of harm to themselves or others, improve safe storage laws, and invest more in mental health resources. We also need to provide law enforcement with the support they need to remove or ensure the safe storage of weapons when an owner's FOID card is rescinded. Gun violence prevention is a key issue for Illinoisians, regardless of party, and I am honored to be the candidate in this race with the endorsement of Everytown for Gun Safety, the country's largest gun violence prevention organization.
Do you support your party's candidate for president? Why or why not?
Yes.
Are there any state laws that you think are unconstitutional and shouldn't be enforced?
No.
Do you think state taxpayer money should be provided to ease the migrant crisis and burden on Chicago?
Above all, immigration and border security are federal issues. We need our federal legislators to act on the bipartisan agreement that was negotiated earlier this year. While the flow of migrants being bussed to Illinois from other states has slowed, previously more than 45,000 migrants were bussed to Illinois since 2022. Responding to the humanitarian crisis of thousands of arriving adults and children put an extraordinary strain on local and state resources to meet the basic needs of these individuals. The burden of these costs should be borne by the federal government. The State of Illinois should coordinate the tracking of expenses and lead the effort to seek reimbursement. The state also needs to continue to call on federal action to address immigration and border security.
How do you feel about school funding? Do you think school funding is fairly distributed?
I believe all our kids deserve a world-class education. I will push to strengthen funding for local public schools to maximize individualized instruction in our classrooms while reducing our reliance on property taxes. One way to address education funding is to ensure that the Evidence-Based Funding model is fully funded for high-need schools and major education programs, including early childhood education, special-needs education and doubling a tax credit for the money teachers spend on classroom materials.
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?
Public libraries should be a safe space for the free expression and transmission of ideas. I support the effort to eliminate book bans within our publicly funded libraries.
What should be done to reduce the state's $140 billion in pension liabilities?
The state has an obligation to honor its existing pension agreements. The challenge is how we'll meet that obligation without increasing costs for families, cutting essential state services, or negatively affecting the state's competitiveness to attract businesses. It's no secret that our pension system is woefully underfunded. This is the result of short-sighted decision making by previous governors and general assemblies. Going forward, I'll support budgets that prioritize full pension payments.
To manage the existing pension obligation, we need to have real conversations about the state's financial health and our obligations to working families. The time is right for those conversations because, for the first time ever, there are multiple plans to address the state's pension crisis. As an experienced policymaker, I'm ready to dig into the details of those plans with all the stakeholders at the table to shape a path forward that makes the most sense for our state.
What would you do to help constituents struggling with the increasing cost of living?
The high cost of living is the top concern I hear from voters. The person may be referring to taxes, healthcare, childcare, housing, or higher education.
As it relates to property taxes, the state can rein in high property taxes by continuing to strengthen its funding for public schools and essential services. As a state representative, I'll work with municipalities in the district to ensure they are directly connected to state funding for infrastructure improvements that would otherwise be funded by property taxes. Lastly, the senior citizen homeowner exemption has not been adjusted since 2018. I'm eager to join other state representatives on discussions underway to make property taxes more affordable for seniors on fixed income.
As it relates to healthcare, I'll fight price-gouging for essential medications, and I'll stop health insurance companies from artificially raising their rates to boost profits.
As it relates to housing, I'm ready to utilize my background in housing policy to create incentives to local communities and developers to increase the supply of housing and to diversify the types of housing being created.
At more than 6,000, Illinois has more local government bodies than any other state, even those much larger. Should Illinois reduce the number? Why or why not? How would you go about doing that?
Illinois would be better off with fewer units of government. Consolidation should primarily be locally driven, with ballot initiatives and referendums supported by the voters and taxpayers of the consolidating districts. To encourage/incentivize consolidation, the State of Illinois can pass legislation to make consolidation legally permissible to more jurisdictions throughout the state. The state can also provide incentives for consolidation, such as grants to fund comprehensive studies on the effectiveness and cost savings of consolidating local units or tax credits to property owners within newly consolidated districts.
