A Democratic state representative defended Attorney General Neil Hartigan’s education plans in a meeting Wednesday with the NIU Faculty Senate.

State Rep. Woods Bowman, D-Evanston, said Hartigan is looking more realistically at education funding than Republican gubernatorial challenger Jim Edgar. Secretary of State Edgar does not have the backing of his own party for the continuation of the temporary income tax surcharge, he said.

Bowman said Edgar has “no plan B to fall back on if the surcharge fails.”

In contrast, Hartigan has detailed plans to fund education without the continuation of the surcharge.

Among these are an overhaul of the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. Bowman said DCCA is “the biggest boondoggle in the state of Illinois.”

Hartigan also can make cuts from his own staff if elected governor, Bowman said. Gov. James Thompson employs 60,000 workers, 1,500 of which were added in the last 18 months. Hartigan should have little trouble cutting 2,500 employees as he pledges, he said.

When asked why Hartigan had not specified which employees would lose jobs, Bowman said it would be unwise to create 2,500 complaints.

Bowman also said Hartigan’s apportionment power will persuade representatives to give up their pet projects to provide more education money. “The next governor will have an enormous lever on the legislature next session,” he said.

Hartigan has pledged to make education the main priority of his term in office despite his opposition to the surcharge extension, Bowman said.

“If his principal objective is simply to capitalize on antitax sentiment, he could have let it go at that,” Bowman said.

Bowman said even if these reforms are not passed, Hartigan has not specifically ruled out a tax increase. “Hartigan has not made a categorical opposition to tax increases. He just sees taxes as a last choice, not a first choice,” he said.