State Sen. Carole Pankau, R-23rd District, of Itasca, has devoted more than half her life to public service.

Pankau, 61, has spent four years in the Illinois Senate. Before that, she served 12 years as a state representative, and had spent a combined 16 years on the DuPage County Board and on the Keeneyville District 20 School Board.

Q: What inspired you to become a public servant?
A: My husband, John, and I had four kids in six years. When they started going to school, I ran for the school board to make sure they got a good education. We had moved to the Waterbury neighborhood in Roselle, which was a growing area at the time. They were always adding to schools and building new schools, and I wanted to make sure my kids were getting a quality education.

Q: What would you say are the top issues Illinois voters should pay close attention to right now?
A: The Illinois Medicaid program. This year alone, Illinois spent more money on Medicaid than on elementary and secondary education combined. In four years at the current rate, more money will be spent on Medicaid than on elementary, secondary and higher education combined.

The governor is out of control with Medicaid spending. We’re finding ways to rein it in. For instance, this year we introduced a couple of bills to manage Medicaid better. Medicaid is a great program, but Illinois doesn’t manage it correctly.

If you’re disabled or elderly and you apply for Medicaid, you must fill out an immigration status form, you must present whatever documentation you used to get into the country.

In the All Kids program, 40 percent of applicants show documentation of immigration status and then the federal government matches half of all expenses. But 60 percent do not.

Therefore, we cannot submit these costs to the federal government for matching funds; all of these costs are born by the state. This is one example of why costs are through the roof.

We also need a capital bill in this state. We haven’t fixed the infrastructure in nine years; roads, bridges and other infrastructure are starting to deteriorate. We’re the fifth largest state. We should have a better infrastructure system.

Q: What legislation are you currently working on?
A: The Medicaid legislation, and I’m working on some projects right now in the area, such as the resurfacing of Irving Park Road from Rohlwing Road (Illinois Route 53) to Barrington Road. We got the Illinois Department of Transportation to move it up a year.

I’m also working on legislation for autism. I gave Senate Bill 1900 to (state Sen.) Jimmy DeLeo (D-10th District, of Chicago) to get it out of (the Rules Committee). It got caught in the crossfire of Medicaid and Senate President Emil Jones, and it never made it to the governor’s desk.
 
The bill dealt with insurance coverage of autistic services. We’ll just have to wait until January. It’s a good bill.

Q: What are some of the most rewarding things about being part of the Illinois General Assembly?
A: Helping people with the small things is very rewarding.

The bureaucracy in Springfield is so cumbersome. When we help people get through to the right department, agency head, to the right person to talk to, that’s a victory. Otherwise, they might spend hours on the phone, getting transferred from person to person until they get frustrated and hang up.

Someone might have an issue about a license or a refund check, and we say, “Let us do the initial legwork and you take it from there.” They plead their own cases, no one can do that better than themselves.

We actually help people at times and that thrills me.