Former Chicago alderman and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Edwin Eisendrath visited the University on Wednesday night and discussed his primary race against Gov. Rod Blagojevich with students. Topics ranged from the governor’s State of the State address to reforming ethics within Illinois.

“Number one, I’m running to restore public trust,” Eisendrath said to a room of more than 20 students.

Eisendrath fielded questions from students on education, which he said Illinois comes in dead last in state support and suffers from large economic and racial gaps.

“You have to attack the whole revenue system in the state,” Eisendrath said and added that in terms of real dollars, the funding for public universities is still at 1997 levels when adjusted for inflation.

The College Democrats hosted the event as part of a series of Democratic candidate speakers. The event was for members and the University student body. President of the College Democrats, Justin Cajindos, said he liked how Eisendrath was not focused on just the current governor, but also on relevant issues.

“I like that he’s talking about education funding, health care and ethics reform in government,” Cajindos said, who said he personally supports Blagojevich’s re-election. “All three of those things are issues that are very important not only to students but to voters of Illinois.”

In response to the governor’s State of the State address, Eisendrath agreed that the state should pursue avenues to build infrastructure in Illinois and also benefit from a matching $3 billion in federal funding, but stressed that finding the money should not come from revenue sources such as Blagojevich’s proposal for keno gambling.

Eisendrath said that Blagojevich should stop raiding pensions.

“These are constitutional obligations of the state,” Eisendrath said. “There aren’t any options there.”

Eisendrath also openly admitted that Blagojevich has a distinct advantage in the primary election – money – but said he has tricks of his own.

“They’re not unethical, but they’re funny,” he said.