Bill Foster for U.S. Congress (Kendall County Record/Oswego Ledger-Sentinel editorials)
March 6, 2008
(Kendall County Record/Oswego Ledger-Sentinel) - This Saturday, voters in the 14th Congressional District will head to the polls to elect a Congressman to fill out Denny Hastert's unexpired term in an unusual special election.
Bill Foster is looking to be the first Democrat since Tim Hall in the
mid-1970s to hold the seat, while Republican Jim Oberweis is working
to keep the seat in the GOP's hands.
In the February primary, when Oberweis was battling State Sen. Chris
Lauzen for the chance to run in Saturday's special election, we said
we could recommend neither Oberweis nor Lauzen. In the subsequent
campaign, Oberweis has done nothing to change our minds. As a result,
we endorse Bill Foster for Congress in Saturday's special election.
This campaign has devolved into little more than name-calling,
something that has been a hallmark of all past Oberweis campaigns.
Unfortunately, but inevitably, Foster has been forced to give as good
as he has gotten in an effort to overcome both the Oberweis campaign's
negative attacks and those of the Republican Congressional Campaign
Committee, which are now running around the clock on local and cable
television.
Lost in the vitriol is a discussion of why either would make a good
U.S. Representative. We believe Foster is more attuned to the needs of
the 14th Congressional District, and would be a more independent voice
than Oberweis, who has embraced Bush Administration far right
positions on virtually every issue, from the horribly misguided war in
Iraq to the insistence on tax breaks for the wealthy as the national
debt soars out of control.
It's an odd situation when the conservative in the race-the candidate
who believes government ought to pay its own way, keep out of the
private lives of citizens, and make sure protecting the U.S.
Constitution and upholding the nation's laws are paramount-is a
Democrat. But that's the case this time around.