Candidate forum summary

[Ted]

  Here is a summary of what was said at the ABC candidate's forum.  It was a good and informative forum.  There were about 60 to 70 people in attendance and Susan Anderson did her usual wonderful job. Here is what happened.

A) 3rd District Congressional race - All 4 candidates running for the Democratic nomination appeared at the forum (Jerry Bennet, Jim Caparrelli, Dan Lipinski and Mark Pera) along with Green Party candidate Jerry Poehlen and Republican candidate Arthur Jones.

  Here are their backgrounds:

Jerry Bennet - Grew up on the southwest side of Chicago. Moved to Palos when he married. Current mayor of Palos Hills. 30 years of experience in municipal government. Helped form Southwest Conference of Mayors, President of the Illinois Municipal League and Chairman of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency of Planning.

Jim Caparelli - Grew up on southwest side of Chicago. Worked as a prosecutor in WIll County; Currently works in the Illinois Attorney Generals Office handling veterans affairs. Former lietenant colonel in the military. Has 24 years experience in the military

Dan Lipinski - Son of former Congressman, Former professor at University of Tennessee. Lipinski spent most of the introduction talking about projects in Berwyn he was able to get money for, including the Depot District parking garage; money to repair 26th street, Oak Park avenue and Ridgeland; money to move forward with building an underpass on Harlem at the Burlington station.

Mark Pera - Lyons Township School Board President. Has served on the LT school board since 1997. He is an attorney who works in the field of environmental protection. During his opening statement, Pera alleged that Lipinski shared an office with a transportation lobbyist and that transportation lobbyist have undue influence over Lipinski.

Jerry Poehlen - Berwyn resident. Serves of Board of Trustees of Berwyn Library. Has worked in Africa to help poor people in Africa. Left a lucrative career to become a 3rd grade teacher in the Chicago Public schools.

Arthur Jones - Sells health insurance. Claims he is a Vietnam veteran. Has been involved in Nazi activities in the past.

  Here is what they said on issues:


1. Iraq -

   Caparelli - Believes we need to stay in Iraq long term (just like we did in Germany and Japan after WWII and in Korea) because if the US pulls out, the country will destabilize and Iran and Saudi Arabia will try to take over Iraq, which will cause problems with access to oil, which in turn will drive of energy prices and hurt the economy

   Lipinski - Supports the surge; Voted for a bill that would put a deadline for troops in Iraq, which Lipinski said Bush vetoed. Says he will not vote against funding because that would endanger the troops.  Stated that he believed a complete withdrawal would de-stabilize the area

   Pera - Would cap funding of the war. Believes troops should be withdrawn within a year. Stated that there is no evidence that withdrawing the troops would de-stabilize the area and that having troops in Iraq may be causing de-stabiization of the area.

   Bennet - Supports immediate withdrawl of troops from Iraw. Believes that the President has messed up a political solution in Iraq, causing U.S. troops to stay longer then they need to.

   Poehlen - Supports a complete and total withdrawal. Says we should never have been there in the first place.

   Jones - Says we are in Iraq only because of Jews and the Israeli lobby.


2. Abortion and Embryonic Stem Cell Research

   Caparelli - Pro-life. Against use of embryonic stem cells for research.

   Lipinski -  Pro-life.  Opposes abortion even in case of rape and incest. Upheld Bush veto of embryonic stem cell research bill..

   Pera - Pro-choice. Supports use of embryonic stem cells for research

   Bennet - Pro-choice. Supports use of embryonic stem cells for research

   Poehlen - Pro-choice. Said that Lipinski is injecting religion into research issues

   Jones - Pro-Life; Opposes use of embryonic stem cells for research


3. Employment Non-Discrimination Act (act that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation)

   Caparelli - Supports ENDA
   Lipinski - Voted against ENDA
   Pera - Supports ENDA
   Bennet - Supports ENDA
   Poehlen - Supports ENDA
   Jones - Went into a raving lunatic rant about homosexuals


4. No Child Left Behind

   Caparelli - Supports ideas behind NCLB.Unfunded mandate. Federal government should provide more funding to take onus off of school districts.

   Lipinski - Supports ideas behind NCLB. Says more funding is needed. Says districts shouuld be measured on yearly progress rather than an absolute number

   Pera - Says NCLB is largest backdoor property tax in history. Says by 2014 no district will be able to meet unrealistic standard of 100% compliance.

   Bennet  - Says NCLB is unfunded mandate. Thiks federal government should support more capital projects to free up local money for education

   Poehlen - Says NCLB shoudl be scrapped completely. Says federal government should not be telling local districts how to run their districts.

   Jones - Give power back to local districts.


5. Economy -

   Caparelli - Act of tax reductions that are about to be sunsetted and extend them; Prosecute unscrupulous mortgage lenders

   Lipinski - Voted for changes to Alternative Minimum Tax to offer relief; Working on bi-partisan stimulus package

   Pera - Says economic problems due to sub-prime lending. Supports a tax rebate program

   Bennet - Says recession being cause by war in Iraq. Opposes economic stimulus package because it would cause the federal deficit to grow larger

   Poehlen - Opposes federal bailout of banks

   Jones - Says we should get rid of the income tax completely; that would free up around $5,000 per family.


B) Water Reclamation District Commissioner - 5 Democratic candidates showed up at the forum

   Cynthia Santos - Currernt commissioner. Owns home in Berwyn on 34th street. On budget commitee. Is proud that budget has always been in the black.

   Diane Jones - Community activist from Austin; Works as an assistant for a current commissioner. Believes black communities on south side and west side are not getting the same level of service from the district.

   Dean Maragos - Current attorney for district. He is a lawyer and an accountant; Wants to serve on the board to decrease taxes; Believes the board needs a lawyer on the board.

   Mary Ann Sporopoulos - Environmentalist who is concerned that other states will try to take away Lake Michigan water. Member of the Sierra Club and endorsed by the Sierra Club

   Frank Avila - Current commissioner; He is a civil engineer who is on the engineering sub-committees. Says that district needs a civil engineer on the board.


C) Cook Country States Attorney - 2 Democratic candidates (Tommy Brewers and Anita Alvarez) and one Republican (Tony Peraica) attended the forum

  Anita Alvarez - Career prosecutor in the states attorney's office for 22 years. She has worked her way up through the ranks. Claims she is not a politician and claims she is the only person running who works in the states attorneys office. She grew up in Pilsen; She is married and has 4 children. Specializes in domestic battery cases, child abuse cases and child predator cases. She wants to create neighborhood offices for the states attorneys office to make it easier for people to contact the states attorney. 

  Tommy Brewer - Former FBI agent who has previously worked in the Cook County states attorneys office.  Claims that the only two people with experience in the race are himself and Anita Alvarez. Headed the Civil RIghts division in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Today, he is a criminal defense attorney.

   Tony Peraica - Current Cook County commissioner. Says he will be independent of any political party and will investigate both Democrats and Republicans in what he called "Crook County" Says the states attorney is the legal advisor to the Cook County Board President and that he wants to be elected so that he can  "give cheap legal advice to the Cook County Board President."
   

   1. Closing down gun shops

       Alvarez - Supports tracking of guns; does not want to infringe on gun owners rights
 
       Brewer - Says gun control is a federal issue because people can buy guns in Indiana if you close down gun shops in Cook County
 
       Peraica - Opposes closing down gun shops in Cook County because it would be a violation of the 2nd amendment


   2. Handling drug trafficking
 
     Brewer - Says the current states attorneys office comes down too hard on users. Users are sent to jail as felons which makes it harder to get work when they get out of jail.

       Peraica - Peraica agreed with Brewer, saying that users should be sent to programs, not jail. According to Peraica, Cook County prosecuted 60,000 cases in 2004. 35,000 were drug use cases and of those 25,000 were cases involving marijuana use. Periaca believes the system is being over-burdened with prosecution of drug use cases and that drug users should be sent to treatment programs, not jail.

       Alvarez - Believes that low level dealers need to be prosecuted so that they can get to the higher level dealers

[Bonster]

thanks for the recap, yet again, Ted

[L8N]

     Cynthia Santos - Currernt commissioner. Owns home in Berwyn on 34th street. On budget commitee. Is proud that budget has always been in the black.

I thought Santos said she owned property in Berwyn, but doesn't live here. I guess you didn't explicitly say she resided in Berwyn, though. Excellent recap, nonetheless. I wish I would have brought a clip board with me. I was trying to take notes on the little note cards they handed out, but it was too hard.

[Ted]

     Cynthia Santos - Currernt commissioner. Owns home in Berwyn on 34th street. On budget commitee. Is proud that budget has always been in the black.

I thought Santos said she owned property in Berwyn, but doesn't live here. I guess you didn't explicitly say she resided in Berwyn, though. Excellent recap, nonetheless. I wish I would have brought a clip board with me. I was trying to take notes on the little note cards they handed out, but it was too hard.

I agree.  She said she owns a home in Berwyn but rents it out.