If positions on the major issues aren`t enough to sway Republican voters in the March 17 primary, they can look at the host of trivial differences between four GOP contenders in the new 21st Senate District, covering southwest Du Page and southeast Kane Counties.
For example, voters can choose a candidate from Kane or Du Page County;
one from Aurora or Naperville; a man or a woman; or a political rookie, or an organization candidate.
The candidates` occupations include: attorney/County Board member;
homemaker/township supervisor; certified public accountant/businessman; and corporate executive turned small-business owner.
But there also are similarities. For example, none of the candidates is an incumbent. Current Sen. Forest Etheredge of Aurora is retiring.
Small things could make the difference in the district, which includes areas of rapid growth and many new residents.
No Democrat is on the primary ballot, but the party could slate one before the November general election.
The Republican field consists of Gail Dunham, David Hipp, Chris Lauzen and Robert Schillerstrom.
Attorney Schillerstrom, 39, of Naperville, has been a member of the Du Page County Board since 1986 and a member of the county Regional Planning Commission since 1988.
Although he tends to downplay his political ties-he has been a GOP committeeman for 10 years and the Naperville Township GOP chairman since 1990- Schillerstrom is generally regarded as the choice of top Du Page party officials.
Schillerstrom touts his legislative experience and is focusing his campaign on ”quality of life” issues such as growth, law enforcement and traffic, which he says transcend political and geographical lines.
”I`m from Naperville, but basically the issues are district-wide issues,” he said. ”There is a line that goes between the two counties, but it`s just a line. The issues that are affecting West Aurora or Geneva are basically the same issues that are affecting Naperville.”
Lauzen, 38, is a lifelong resident of the Fox Valley and is making his first bid for public office. He is president of Comprehensive Accounting Services and a certified public accountant with a master`s in business administration from Harvard. Lauzen is a member of the Kane County Building Commission. He lives in Aurora.
”This is where my roots are. I`ve lived and worked in this district since I was born,” he said.
Lauzen`s door-to-door campaign has reached more than 1,100 homes. He has focused on what he describes as family issues and at reducing the size of state government and its reliance on long-term debt.
Lauzen has been endorsed by the Family Taxpayers Network, a pro-family, anti-tax coalition based in Carpentersville.
”I think I`ve staked out the (position of being) the clear conservative choice in this race,” Lauzen said.
The 52-year-old Hipp is new to the political scene but not to Aurora, where he was born and raised. He and Lauzen and Etheredge all live within a few blocks of each other in Aurora and attend the same church.
A locally well-known businessman, Hipp owns a job placement agency. His dossier of community involvement includes various business groups as well as the Paramount Arts Centre, the Aurora Civic Center Authority and Aurora University. Hipp has degrees in law and engineering.
”I`m one of those fortunate small businessmen that have good managers and the flexibility to do this job,” Hipp said. He said the thrust of his campaign is to offer ways to improve the state`s business climate.
”The real reason I`m running is jobs,” he said. ”Since 1969, when I became a corporate officer, Illinois has lost 287,000 manufacturing jobs and gained 450,000 government jobs.”
Before starting his own business seven years ago, Hipp worked for Barber- Greene Co., a road equipment manufacturer formerly in Aurora.
”To have a competitive economic environment means we have to make changes in our whole basic governmental structure,” Hipp said. ”And we need experienced people down there with new ideas.”
Dunham, 47, of Aurora describes herself as ”a longtime GOP activist . . . with years of experience in the corporate working world and
government.”
She has been a resident of the new district since 1980 and was a member of the board of Indian Prairie Unit School District 204 from 1983 to 1987, including two years as finance chairman. In 1989, Dunham was elected to her current post as Naperville Township supervisor.
”I have a sterling record of sound fiscal management,” she said. ”I`ve started additional programs for seniors and youths and found alternative funding sources for those programs. Obviously, we need to restore some faith in our government, and sound fiscal management is part of it.”
Dunham`s involvement with the Du Page GOP dates to 1982, when she was first elected committeewoman. Although she isn`t a single-issue candidate, Dunham`s abortion rights stance won her an endorsement from the National Organization for Women.
Dunham says she is ”the only candidate who has pledged to be a state senator. I have no other business to run.”
The boundaries of the newly drawn district are substantially different from those of the area Etheredge now represents, mainly through the exclusion of much of rural Kane County and a Hispanic area in southeast Aurora.
The district`s population is roughly 57 percent in Du Page and 43 percent in Kane, with an edge in GOP voting strength going to Du Page.
It runs southeast to northwest, from Lisle Township, near the Will-Du Page border and Illinois Highway 53 to St. Charles Township, near Roosevelt and Randall Roads.
