Freshman Rep. Tom Lachner (R-Lake Bluff) joined other Lake County lawmakers during the General Assembly’s spring session in supporting the Republican Party’s “fast-track” agenda for tort reform and welfare reform-items strongly opposed by Democrats.
And in supporting the GOP-sponsored proposals, it’s likely Lachner angered some residents of his 59th House District, which includes the richest and poorest areas of Lake County, including Democratic-voting North Chicago and Waukegan.
Now Lachner, in an attempt to let the Democrats in his district know he will represent all the interests of the 59th, is opening an office in North Chicago’s City Hall-certainly a novel move by a Republican lawmaker.
“From where I live in Lake Bluff, in 10 minutes I can be in North Chicago where there’s gangs and drive-by shootings, or I can drive to multimillion-dollar mansions on the lakefront in Lake Forest,” Lachner said in a recent interview after addressing the North Chicago Chamber of Commerce.
“So one of my initiatives is to spend time up here to address the needs of the city, the mayor and the school boards,” he said. “It’s in the interest of the entire district to have a stable North Chicago, and I think if that occurs, we’re all going to come out a winner.”
Lachner, who already uses a friend’s office in Waukegan to assert a presence there, said that beginning in July he plans to start out spending at least one day at week in his rent-free office in North Chicago’s City Hall to answer constituents’ questions and concerns.
The office, which will be in the ground-level space now occupied by the police internal affairs and public safety officers, also will be staffed by legislative aide Ann Carpenter and Waukegan school board member Charles Willms, Lachner said.
Mayor Bobby Thompson, whose city is one of the poorest in Lake County, said he was looking forward to Lachner’s arrival at City Hall.
“I think it will be beneficial to the citizens, the city and him,” Thompson said, noting he also liked the idea of having immediate access to a state lawmaker. “We’ll be able to get updates from Springfield anytime.”
Thompson said the fact that Lachner is the former president of Lake Bluff District 65 also could bode well for the chronically underfunded North Chicago school system.
“I’m certain he’ll understand the problem about the schools,” Thompson said.
In fact, Lachner said he is very familiar with the trouble the North Chicago schools have faced in the past, and could face in the future without reliable funding mechanisms.
Lachner also is familiar with the amount of public-assistance money funneled annually to the district, primarily to the North Chicago and Waukegan areas.
For a nine-month period ending last March, the district received about $15 million in income assistance, food stamps and Aid to Families with Dependent Children, according to statistics recently obtained by Lachner.
“The needs are very different here than they are in Lake Forest or Lake Bluff,” Lachner said. “Just look at the socioeconomics. The district has the richest and poorest areas in Lake County.”
Lachner said another reason he planned to open an office in North Chicago was to fulfill a campaign pledge that it would be possible for one person to represent such a diverse area.
“This is part of a promise I made,” he said.
