None of the four Republicans who are seeking to unseat incumbent Democrat David McAfee in the 47th House District are political novices.
Most, in fact, are counting on their experiences as locally elected officials to propel them to the top in the March 17 GOP primary, and then carry them to victory in the November general election.
The district includes all or part of Western Springs, La Grange, Lyons, Bedford Park, Summit, Justice, Cicero, Stickney, Brookfield and Hodgkins. Its eastern portion is home to former manufacturing giants, and its western portion is heavily Republican, populated with commuters.
Because of redistricting, the district encompasses territory farther north than before. And as a result, McAfee, a 44-year-old freshman
representative from Indian Head Park, must move to stay in the district. He is unopposed in the Democratic primary.
On the GOP side, almost all the candidates agree that the state should give businesses tax breaks or incentives to help them expand. All agree education must improve.
The bickering begins when they address tax caps.
William Wilson, a 37-year-old attorney, has been a Lyons Township trustee since 1989. He was a key in founding Concerned Citizens About Taxation, a tax watchdog group, in 1986.
Brookfield resident Bill Russ, 37, runs a family-owned car dealership and was a Brookfield village trustee for almost three years.
Russ and Wilson favor a tax cap in Cook County, similar to the ones imposed in the collar counties last year by the legislature. A law limiting property tax increases to 5 percent a year across the state would still give local governments plenty of money, Russ said.
If local governments do fall short, they could hold a referendum to approve a tax hike, Wilson said. If that failed, the state could find the money by becoming more efficient or by leasing empty facilities such as schools, he said.
A third candidate, James R. Donoval, is a 32-year-old attorney and certified public accountant from Cicero who served on the Republican Platform Committee and is now a member of the Morton College Board of Trustees.
He supports tax caps, but with qualifications. Caps restrict local governments` ability to raise money, so if the state imposes caps it must be prepared to provide money for state-mandated programs run by municipalities, he said.
The fourth candidate, Diane K. Landry of Western Springs, opposes tax caps, saying she refuses to hop on the ”tax cap bandwagon.”
Landry, 44, spent 11 years as a trustee on the College of Du Page board. She said tax caps are too restrictive for local entities and are not a magic cure.
There appears to be little animosity among the Republican candidates, most of whom have known of each other for years because of their longtime involvement in community activities.
”We all would support whoever won,” Wilson said. ”I feel like we`re friends.”
