State Sen. Chris Lauzen’s new district is different–it’s more rural and doesn’t include any of Naperville or DuPage County–but he said it suits him.
The Aurora Republican, who now represents District 21, said that when he ran for state comptroller in 1998, his vote totals in what is the new District 25 were encouraging. He lost the statewide bid, but said those votes suggested he was well-regarded by “traditional conservative Republicans.”
“It’s not new for me,” Lauzen said of the district, where he is being challenged in the March 19 GOP primary by Kendall County Coroner Ken Toftoy of Yorkville and electronics technician Scott Sutterlin of Geneva.
“In this race I’m the only one who has run in this [entire] area before,” Lauzen said. “Seven out of 10 voted for me.
“If you were to take all 59 [new] Senate districts and [ask,] `Which is your favorite because of who voted for you most?’ It’s the one they gave me. I’m delighted,” said Lauzen, 49, a certified public accountant.
The district includes most of Kane County west of the Fox River, far western Aurora, nearly all of Kendall County and three northeastern LaSalle County townships. No Democrats have filed to run for the Senate district nomination.
Although he has represented only a small portion of the area, Lauzen said that he has worked, played and competed as a high school track athlete throughout the new district. “This is home to me,” he said.
“My base is traditional, conservative Republican voters, and there’s a whole lot of them here. We’re very optimistic, but we’re working very hard,” he said.
Lauzen describes Toftoy, 43, who poses the stiffest challenge to his decade-long Senate career, as “a very popular guy, a nice guy, a fellow Republican.”
“But this isn’t about popularity. It’s about who is going to represent you better. Who, when they promise they are going to vote `no’ on tax increases, actually has the experience [of having done it,]” said Lauzen, who gained political friends and foes as a result of some well-publicized differences with Gov. George Ryan concerning state tax increases and spending.
“The heart of the decision in our race is: Do you want 10 years of experience as coroner or 10 years of experience in the Senate representing you at the table in Springfield?” he said.
Coroner’s quest
“Everybody has to start somewhere,” countered Toftoy. “[U.S. House Speaker] Denny Hastert was a coach and teacher, and [state Sen.] Steve Rauschenberger was a furniture salesman. I think the time is now.”
Toftoy has been coroner since 1992. He doubles as an Oswego Fire Protection District paramedic, a job he has held for more than 25 years. Affable, plain-speaking, politically tested and well-connected, Toftoy said his entry into state politics is neither serendipitous nor premature as Lauzen is trying to suggest.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people and, if this was a bad idea that Kenny Toftoy is running for state Senate, I would have had people say: `Don’t you do this. This ain’t your turn. Kenny, you’re crazy.’ No one has said that. So that gave me the go-ahead,” he said.
“I’ve enjoyed the political arena and I like getting things done for people. I love it when somebody says, `Kenny, you can’t do that.’ Watch me. I like challenges,” he said.
Hastert and Yorkville attorney Dallas Ingemunson, treasurer of the state GOP organization and long-time Kendall County Republican chairman, are among Toftoy’s longtime associates. Neither is making an endorsement in the primary. Because Hastert has endorsed Lauzen in the past, Toftoy said he is encouraged by his neutrality.
In Kane County, where Toftoy acknowledges he needs to become better-known, Sheriff Ken Ramsey has endorsed his candidacy. Toftoy also has broad-based support from organized labor, which Lauzen contends is out of step with the conservative Republican district.”Not only do the majority of the members of those organizations not vote in a Republican primary, but when that [endorsement] list goes out, it’s going to scare the typical Republican voter,” Lauzen said.
But Toftoy, a one-time heavy equipment operator and member of the International Brotherhood of Operating Engineers Local 150, said: “I’m for the working man. I’m just a common guy. I’m not a fake. I’ve worked for a lot of candidates and I’ve made a lot of friends.” He is president of the Illinois Coroners Association.
“We’ve worked on a lot of different legislation, and I’ve dealt with lobbyists and legislators. I can work with a Democrat or I can work with a Republican. You’ve got to bend a little and get along with everybody,” he said.
Independent streak
In making his second run at Lauzen, Sutterlin, an independent Republican, is using the same modest but provocative kitchen-table campaign he waged two years ago when he finished a distant third in a three-way contest that was won handily by the incumbent.
Sutterlin’s seemingly solitary effort offers a marked contrast in style and substance to the more organization-based efforts of Lauzen and Toftoy.
Sutterlin, 44, again is railing against what he calls the country’s “wide open borders [and] near socialist state.” He is calling for, among other things, a crackdown on the number of illegal immigrants coming into Illinois, for state toll ways to be converted to freeways and for the elimination of the state income tax in favor of higher sales taxes.
Outer-belt expressway
Sutterlin opposes the state’s proposed corridor protection plan for an outer-belt expressway that would cut through 33 miles of the district, saying a roadway would accelerate suburban sprawl.
Toftoy has taken a “go slow” approach to the pending plan and wants “all sides to have a say in the proposal.” He contends the need for a new north-south artery is too well-established to ignore. An alternative route to the one proposed by the state might be preferable, he said. Lauzen has called for the Illinois Department of Transportation to postpone the recording of its preferred corridor because of the stiff local opposition to its location. “IDOT ought to present a different alternative to all of us,” he said.
