June 7, 2007
Contenders for U.S. representative seats
emerge
A husband-and-wife team and a village president are
planning to challenge McHenry County’s two U.S. Representatives in the 2008
election.
Barrington Hills Village President Robert Abboud says he is
“fairly certain” that he will run as a Democrat against 16th District incumbent
Don Manzullo, R-Egan. And while third-party candidate Bill Scheurer, of
Lindenhurst, plans once again to run against 8th District incumbent Melissa
Bean, D-Barrington, his wife, Randi, plans to run against Bean in the Democratic
primary.
All three challengers said they were running because the nation
needed a change in direction, particularly regarding the Iraq war.
“I’m
concerned that we’re not going in the right direction as a country, and I’m at a
point in my life that I can no longer sit back, throw things at the TV and
complain,” Abboud said.
Abboud’s stances share similarities with the
Scheurers, such as opposition to the Iraq war and eliminating the national debt.
Abboud, a nuclear engineer who co-owns RGA Labs Inc., also wants to pursue
alternate energy, because he said dependence on foreign oil was dominating
foreign policy.
Abboud said he had spent the past several months
traveling the 16th District to gauge his chances and voter satisfaction with
Manzullo.
Manzullo, elected in 1992, defeated his Democratic challenger
in November with 70 percent of the vote.
“I have nothing personal against
him. I don’t even know him. That’s kind of one of the problems, actually,”
Abboud said. “I’ve been village president for three years, a trustee four years
before that, and as far as I know, he’s never been to the Village of Barrington
Hills. Melissa Bean was not even a Congresswoman for two weeks, and she came
here for a whole day.”
Bean had a closer race last year to hold onto the
seat that she won from 35-year GOP incumbent Phil Crane in 2004. She carried 51
percent of the vote to 44 percent for Republican challenger David McSweeney.
Bill Scheurer pulled in only 5 percent of the vote.
But the total was a
victory of sorts for Scheurer. His 5 percent total just met the minimum to
become an established party in the district, meaning he will need to collect a
handful of petition signatures to assure a space on the ballot, rather than the
13,950 that he needed last year.
Randi Scheurer said collecting
signatures for a Democratic primary run would be easy by comparison. Illinois
State Board of Elections guidelines last year required 868 signatures for
Democratic candidates and 766 for Republicans in the 8th
District.
“Compared to our signature gathering we had to get for the
Moderate Party, it’s a drop in the bucket, and I think it can be done,” Randi
Scheurer said. “I’ve already had good responses from people from the
[Democratic] base who are also quite upset with [Bean’s]
record.”
Spokespeople for both incumbents said they were busy on Capitol
Hill addressing the concerns of their constituents, and that it was too early to
focus on elections.
Manzullo spokesman Rich Carter specifically addressed
Abboud’s accusation that he is not attentive to Barrington
Hills.
“Congressman Manzullo is known for his communication and has a
very veteran staff that prides itself on responding to constituents,” Carter
said.
Likewise, Bean spokesman Brian Herman said her voting record would
speak for itself in 2008 to win her a third term.
“She’s concentrating on
her job and representing the people of the 8th District, as she’s done for 2 1/2
years,” Herman said.
The 16th district covers south and west McHenry
County, and all or parts of eight other counties west to the Iowa border. The
8th district covers northeastern McHenry County, much of Lake County and
northwest Cook County.
http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2007/06/07/news/local/doc4668d772f26e0094402558.prt