Below is what the Chicago Tribune says in its endorsement of Dave Syverson:
Republican Sen. Dave Syverson has represented this far northwest suburban area including part of Rockford and localities to the east such as Harvard, Marengo and Huntley, since 1993, meaning he’s one of the few state senators who can say he served with Barack Obama when he was a member of the body. In 2016, the president spoke to the General Assembly in Springfield and singled out Syverson, among others. “We didn’t call each other idiots or fascists who were trying to destroy America,” Obama said then. “Because then we’d have to explain why we were playing poker or having a drink with an idiot or a fascist who was trying to destroy America.”
Oh, to have those days back!
Syverson, 68, hasn’t seen a general-election challenger since 2010, but he’s got one in Sarah Mertens, a substitute teacher. The Democrat says she grew up in Romeoville and graduated from the University of Illinois in 2011.
Her campaign platform seems both progressive and weirdly rote. One example: “shifting the tax burden away from working families and onto Billionaires’ international corporations.”
Syverson, though, is a veteran lawmaker who understands in detail how state government works. He offered us a litany of good ideas. One: fixing the electronic-monitoring issues by ending the law’s automatic two days per week of untracked freedom for those on ankle bracelets to making violations grounds for new detention hearings. Another: forbid end-of-career salary spikes that lead to gold-plated pensions for big wigs in the bureaucracy.
As to the transit rescue bill, dramatically increasing tolls, he said he opposed it even as he’s supported past tax hikes like the gas-tax increase. And this point resonated with us: “A small fare increase would not have filled the entire gap but would have at least told downstate taxpayers, ‘we did our part.’ Instead, they just did a big ‘in your face.’” Exactly.
Syverson’s decades of experience in Springfield are invaluable when we need pragmatic Republicans. Mertens has a very thin record. Dave Syverson is endorsed.
Here is what the Chicago Tribune wrote in its endorsement of Danielle Penman:
Illinois Democrats see an opportunity in this west suburban district, which runs from St. Charles through Elgin to Crystal Lake. Respected Republican Sen. Don DeWitte is retiring at the end of this term.
The Democratic candidate is Algonquin resident Michele Clark, 54, director of development at a local food pantry. She faces Republican Danielle Penman, a 49-year-old labor-and-delivery nurse from St. Charles who won a vigorously contested primary against Jessica Breugelmans.
We endorsed Breugelmans in the primary, but thought Penman was also a good option. Republicans have a solid candidate carrying their banner to keep this seat in the GOP fold.
Penman is focused on property tax relief with practical suggestions such as increasing the homeowners exemption and tying it to inflation so the value doesn’t erode over time.
We agree with her, too, that Illinois must put the brakes on premature closing of fossil fuel-fired power plants while there are questions about electricity reliability in the near term — a step Springfield Democrats refuse to take.
Clark tells us she an advocate of making “the wealthiest corporations and earners pay their fair share.” At 9.5%, Illinois corporations pay one of the highest income tax rates in the country. Seems like a “fair share” to us.
A vote to flip this seat to the Democrats is a vote for higher taxes and spending. We endorse Danielle Penman.
