Rob Bisceglie for State Representative 45th District

Background:

After earning an accounting degree from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Virginia, Rob managed business development and democracy projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C. More recently, Rob worked as director of planning and development for an area health center, providing affordable healthcare to low-income, uninsured children and women. Today, Rob is a consultant helping to improve local organizations that work to better our community.

Rob and his wife Deb met in grade school in nearby Bensenville. When they later married and started family, they chose to live with their young daughter in the place they love and call home.

Goals:

My vision of Illinois government is a simple one in which our state legislators listen to our concerns and then act to ensure that the state works on behalf of the people first. Working with others from both parties who care about the real issues now impacting us, we can create a truly representative government that represents the wishes of the people, eliminates wasteful spending and improves our communities. It can be done!

Issues:

Rob will
- Place families first by focusing on issues that improve our quality of life - safe communities, a clean environment and job growth with balanced economic benefits for all. We must dedicate our 45 billion tax dollars to benefit working families first.

- Work for high-quality, affordable health care that does not strain families or local businesses. Today, there are 1.8 million people in the Illinois who cannot afford medical insurance, and 800,000 live in the collar counties surrounding Chicago. The quality of medical care you receive should not be determined by your wealth, but that is the situation we face today.

- Invest in a well-funded public school system that meets the highest standards. Our schools are millions of dollars in debt, and there is no answer in sight. The situation is so dire that some of our high schools were recently forced to eliminate classes to save money. These are lost opportunities for our kids. We need to do better.

Grassroots Support:

Grassroots organizing is critical to the success of this campaign, especially for name recognition and financial support in a very expensive media market. We have reached out to and mobilized support from Illinois DFALink/DFA Meetup groups and continue to cultivate and expand our grassroots reach. During the petition signature gathering stage and primary campaign, we successfully mobilized members of DuPage DFI and Christine Cegelis for Congress supporters. Since the primary, we have added volunteers from the Sixth Dems (formerly Cegelis for Congress), the former Lindy Scott for Congress campaign, the Young Democrats for Bisceglie, local township Democratic organizations and local environmentalists, among others. Our current key staffing positions include Illinois DFALink/DFA Meetup group members.

DFA Values:

In addition to my educational background in international human rights and humanitarian affairs, I have spent my entire career working to promote and achieve socially progressive causes, both internationally and in my own community. Among other progressive causes, I am strongly dedicated to expanding economic opportunity; providing quality, affordable healthcare; ensuring quality education for all; and protecting the environment.

My background in accounting and experience as a director for community organizations that rely on a combination of private and public funding provides me with a unique perspective on public finance. As director of planning and development for a local non-profit, for example, I was responsible for producing accurate budgets and forecasts of future revenue/expense streams to meet the operational needs of the agency. Currently, as a consultant to area non-profits, I advise agency presidents on financial matters and work with them to build the financial foundations of their organizations.

I also am committed to reforming the way state government does business and support Comptroller Dan Hynes' Government Integrity Initiative, which seeks to end appearances of "pay-to-play" contracts and improve state government integrity.