Letters to the Editor - Change in Congress

New direction

Wilmette Life
November 2, 2006

The upcoming congressional election is, in my opinion, an election for a new direction. That is why I am strongly supporting Dan Seals. Dan is an independent candidate that will do an excellent job representing our district in Congress. I have met Dan several times and am convinced that he will work hard in an independent manner to reflect values our district. I hope you agree.

George Pearce
Wilmette

Is Kirk running from his GOP affiliation?

Daily Herald
November 2, 2006

I logged onto Rep. Mark Kirk's political Web site. Nowhere do I see him use the word Republican to identify his political party affiliation. Is Mark Kirk ashamed of running for office as a Republican? Is Mark Kirk ashamed to identify his ties with President George W. Bush? Voters in the 10th Congressional District should not be fooled by Mark Kirk's "shadow politics."

Steven R. Clark
Beach Park

Checks and balances

Wilmette Life
November 2, 2006

When those of us in the 10th Congressional District go to the polls on Nov. 7 we will not only determine who will be representing us in Congress for the next two years -- we will also determine the future of our Constitutional system of checks and balances. The hallmark of the Bush administration has been the exercise of unfettered executive power. As a result, we are governed by an administration that has been allowed to, among other things, prosecute an unnecessary and unwinnable war in Iraq; eviscerate the protections afforded to us by the Bill of Rights; reduce or eliminate the social programs and policies that assist people who truly need the government's help (as opposed to the top one percent of taxpayers who actually receive that help); destroy the environment one tree at a time; and create a fiscal nightmare of unimaginable proportions. Our current representative, Mark Kirk, has been there for Mr. Bush and the right-wing House Republicans every step of the way. Although Mr. Kirk claims that he is a moderate and states on his Web site that he provides "thoughtful, independent leadership," his record belies those claims. Mr. Kirk, as Assistant Majority Whip of the House, is part of the failed and incompetent Republic percent of the time.

Before we can begin to reverse or mitigate the profoundly misguided policies of the Bush administration, we must restore the Constitutional system of checks and balances which is the foundation of our government. In that effort, we are incredibly fortunate to have a candidate like Dan Seals running for the 10th Congressional seat in the House of Representatives. Mr. Seals brings with him a rare combination of policy experience in the public sector and practical experience in the private sector. He grew up in Hyde Park and taught high school English in Japan before earning a Master's in Public Policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Mr. Seals was a Presidential Management Fellow during the Clinton administration and worked on trade issues to increase overseas markets for U.S. goods. He also worked on Capitol Hill, where he focused on economic development and policy. Mr. Seals earned his MBA from the University of Chicago, and is currently on leave from his position as Director of Marketing at GE Commercial Finance while he campaigns for the seat currently occupied by Mr. Kirk. As the thousands of people who have met him over the past few months will attest, Mr. Seals is smart, eloquent, and charismatic. More importantly, he is passionate and knowledgeable about the issues that matter to the voters of this District. It is clear that Dan Seals is the only person in this race who will provide the thoughtful, independent leadership that this District deserves and our democracy requires.

Ruth Krugly
Wilmette

What has Kirk done for us?

Wilmette Life
November 2, 2006

Mark Kirk. What's he thinking?

He might be thinking the less I say about anything the better it is for me. But what about us, the voters and residents?

Six years of Mark Kirk what has he done for us nationally and locally?

None of the bills he submitted have been passed by the Republican Congress.

He is so ashamed of being a Republican that he never mentions it on his radio commercials. Yard Signs, literature, or even on his Web site. (Halliburton's $1000 contribution to his campaign probably helped pay for them.) So what's he thinking?

He says he is a moderate yet he has voted with the Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush administration 90 percent of the time. So what's he thinking?

What are his views on the real issues? Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, the deficit, immigration, prescription drug plan and other important issues including his views on the speaker of the house and the Foley issue. How about some comments on Mr. Abramoff's influence on many of his Republican friends? Yes, what is he thinking?

Dan Seals does not hide his views, his ideas, or numerous disappointments. He will tell you what I and an increasing number or residents are thinking.

Yes, we will tell Mr. Kirk what we think of him at the voting booth.

Norma Kolisch
Deerfield

Country needs fresh start

Pioneer Press
November 2, 2006

I'm voting for Dan Seals in the 10th congressional district this Nov. 7 and here's why: we need a fresh start with a representative who has not been part of the problems -- and our problems, at this point, are many. I want a candidate who is committed to fiscal responsibility and Dan Seals is. Dan is committed to narrowing the trade deficit and bringing down the national debt. His experience on Capital Hill included working to open foreign markets to more U.S. goods. Dan is committed to fixing the prescription drug plan in a way that simplifies it for seniors and is cost-effective. Iraq continues to eat up billions of dollars, and if Republican Senator John Warner is correct, we will need to withdraw from a civil war that we unleashed but cannot win. The current Congress has had six years to get it right on the economy, on health care, on Iraq and they've failed. The tenth district has a moderate, pragmatic candidate for Congress in Dan Seals. We'd be foolish not to seize the opportunity to elect Dan Seals.

Eunice Addelson
Lincolnshire

Seals -- presence, ideas win this vote

Daily Herald
November 2, 2006

I find it ironic that Dan Seals, candidate for Congress in the 10th Congressional District, was the sole candidate on WTTW's Chicago Tonight program last month. It was announced that Mark Kirk, the incumbent, was invited to participate, but according to his staff, "his schedule would not permit it."

The irony lies in the fact that Mr. Kirk was not too busy to call me at 7:10 p.m., as Mr. Seals began his interview on television. It was one of those telephone conference calls they call a "Town Meeting" that reaches hundreds, if not thousands of people at the same time. How insulting it is to learn that Mr. Kirk declined to be face to face with his opponent. I'm not really surprised. Mr. Seals' interview showed how intelligent and courageous he is. His thoughts and ideas must cause Mr. Kirk to pause and think about his next job -- that of ex-congressman. Mr. Seals showed his leadership to the WTTW television audience.

My vote goes to Dan Seals for Congress in the 10th District.

Steve Rosenzweig
Buffalo Grove

Seals listens

Wilmette Life
November 2, 2006

Thanks to all who have written letters about the Congressional campaign in the 10th district. Thanks to those who have pointed out the way questions were framed on immigration in one of Mark Kirk's rare e-mails to residents of the 10th district, limiting one's responses to A or B but providing no opportunity to offer their thoughts on the subject. Thanks to all who pointed out Kirk's reluctance to debate Seals, his turning away people who sought to meet with him and not holding open meetings where people of the 10th district could raise questions on any subject.

I have met Dan Seals and found a man who listens, even when the topic is controversial, a man who wants to talk with the people of the 10th district and who will continue that open communication when elected. A vote for Dan Seals is a vote for a man who cares about the people of the 10th district.

Colleen Jersild
Wilmette

Why will Kirk not face voters?

Daily Herald
November 2, 2006

Is Rep. Mark Kirk a coward?

Is he afraid to meet voters during this election season and answer questions about important issues related to war, the economy, record deficits, education and the Foley scandal among other matters?

Kirk is even afraid to meet his constituents face-to-face, preferring conference calls to them from his Washington, D.C., home. Of course, Kirk has appeared at closed-door, invitation-only events with audiences sympathetic to him.

This is how his mentor, President Bush, handles public appearances. This allows Kirk to talk about loud train whistles, new stoplights and other issues of importance to him but avoid answering hard questions about his questionable votes on important issues.

Kirk ducked a WTTW-TV debate with his opponent, Democrat Dan Seals, in what would have been an excellent opportunity to compare the views of the two candidates.

But Seals was not afraid. He made a very strong case for himself in this TV interview and answered some very tough questions.

That Kirk refused to debate his opponent shows just how afraid he is to defend his record and his Republican Party.

What is Kirk afraid of? Vote for Seals and his inquiring zest for the truth!

Jackie and Jim Holland
Wilmette

Time for a change

Winnetka Talk
October 26

The current scandal in the House of Representatives is emblematic of a party that has become arrogant, careless, and intoxicated by its own power. It's time for a change. The Republican Party has given us five years of a disastrous foreign policy and a domestic program that has been no better. The No Child Left Behind Act and the prescription drug plan for seniors have created more problems than they have solved, and what little action they've taken on the environment and energy has done more harm than good. Now, in what can only be called a perfect storm of misplaced priorities and fiscal irresponsibility, the current Republican Congress has budgeted $20,000,000 for an Iraq War Victory Party. The absurdity of planning for another Mission Accomplished PR stunt while Iraq disintegrates just boggles the mind. The same budget cuts $7 million in funds for research and treatment of brain injuries caused by bomb blasts, the signature wound of so many soldiers returning from Iraq. These are current day Republican values. The November election gives us a chance to sweep the House clean. The 10th district is fortunate to have a real alternative in Dan Seals. Dan will bring experience from both the private and public sectors to bear on the problems created or neglected by Mark Kirk's Republican Party. Dan is pragmatic, principled and ready to restore the moral and ethical standards that this Congress has abandoned. Quite simply, Dan Seals is a much needed breath of fresh air.

Brenda Robert
Lake Forest

GOP intoxicated with power

Winnetka Talk
October 26

The Illinois 10th Congressional District has an opportunity to send Dan Seals, a competent businessman with excellent credentials, to Congress. His positions on crucial issues facing the district and the nation reflect his concern about the direction our present congressman and his incompetent administration have been following.

As a father of young children, Dan Seals is committed to increased federal funding for federally mandated school programs and restoring recent cuts to higher education scholarships. Strengthening the educational system will strengthen our economy and our civil society.

Dan will also be an advocate for a basic health care program that will be portable and affordable for individuals and corporations.

As foreign nations continue to finance our huge national debt, Dan will join efforts to make fiscal responsibility a congressional priority so we don't endanger our national security and burden future generations.

Dan supports the development of measurable goals in order to provide a responsible withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, as well as more sensible allocation of resources to increase our national security.

As the 10th's Congressman, Dan will vote to reverse the under-funding of environmental programs and the lowering of environmental standards by our present Congress. We are all at an increased risk.

There is no doubt in my mind that Dan Seals will be a good friend to Israel, the only mid-eastern democracy and our ally.

I believe it is time for a change to Washington and I also believe that change will occur one congressional district at a time. We have a chance to send a moderate to Congress, a moderate who reflects the views of the 10th Congressional District -- Dan Seals.

Arline Paul
Highland Park

Time to clean house and sweep out Kirk

Daily Herald
October 4, 2006

Before the United States invaded Iraq, Mark Kirk told constituents, “If you knew what I know, you’d support our going into Iraq.”

We now all know there were no weapons of mass destruction, so we can only wonder why Kirk misled us.

The National Intelligence Estimate — a consensus document of the 16 spy services in the government — finds that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped create a new generation of radicalism and has increased the overall terrorist threat since Sept. 11, 2001. Yet, Kirk continues to support President Bush’s foreign policy in Iraq.

Kirk says he believes in fiscal responsibility. He supported the president’s tax cuts benefiting the wealthiest 5 percent of the population, and voted to cut costs when he voted in favor of the Budget Reconciliation Act.

The cuts included money for food stamps, for Pell Grants so needy students could get a college education, Medicaid which serves the poorest, and money to pursue parents who are not paying child support.

The cuts were proportionately so small, there was no possibility of their curing the deficit caused by massive spending in Iraq and the many tax cuts for the rich.

Kirk says he is a friend of the environment, yet he has voted for subsidizing the oil companies in a time of record oil profits, against improving air quality, and twice for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He has spent time promoting his cleanup of the Great Lakes (by 2026!), but did not mention that he has never authored a bill that has been passed into law.

Please join me in voting for Dan Seals on Nov. 7. He stands for integrity, fiscal responsibility, a new plan for Iraq, implementation of the 9/11 Commission’s report, health care to benefit all Americans, and so much more.

Please don’t miss the chance to see and hear him speak, and seize the opportunity to change the direction this country will take.

It’s time to clean house!

Kathy Fishman
Northfield

Balance needed

Lake County News-Sun
October 4, 2006

Last week, Congress passed the president’s proposed Military Commissions Act of 2006. The bill was widely recognized as a political ploy, an attempt by the administration during election season to force Democrats into looking weak on terrorism.

Senators Durbin and Obama proudly stood up to the Bush administration and voted against the bill. Representative Mark Kirk, unfortunately, did not.

Numerous legal scholars sent letters urging Congress not to pass the bill on the grounds that it violated the Constitution — warnings that went unheeded by Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate.

As a result, there will be years of confusion over the legality of the military commissions, and when the Supreme Court agrees with the law professors and holds the bill unconstitutional, the moral basis of our fight against terrorism will further suffer.

The Bush Administration promised that the military commissions bill would not apply to American citizens. Yet, as Yale Law School professor Bruce Ackerman argues in a recent Los Angeles Times editorial, the law allows the executive branch to detain any person indefinitely merely by finding that any person — citizen or otherwise — is an “enemy combatant.”

Those who think it ridiculous that our government would round up and detain American citizens forget the more than 100,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans interned by the American government during World War II.

This law makes us no safer. It provides no additional protection from detained individuals or future terrorists. And it will now be far more difficult to distinguish real terrorists from those innocent Guantanamo detainees traded by unscrupulous Afghan warlords in return for large bounties — bounties Rep. Kirk had hoped to increase by $20 million in 2004.

The Bush administration will remain in power until 2008. We need a Congress that will provide a check and a balance against an unpopular, wrong-headed administration. We need Dan Seals to provide that balance in Washington.

Tom Ferrone
Libertyville

Vote Seals to end politics as usual

Daily Herald
October 3, 2006

In his Sept. 15 letter, “Kirk the easy choice in 10th District,” Luke Praxmarer argues that Mark Kirk should be re-elected because he is “a third-term incumbent” while faulting Dan Seals, the challenger, as “having no experience in government.”

Dan Seals does have government experience, having served as an economic adviser to President Clinton. But one thing is true: Dan Seals is not a career politician, while the same cannot be said of Mark Kirk, a GOP incumbent who has marched along practically lock-step with both the Bush administration and the Republican-led Congress who have governed so poorly over the last six years.

As a Republican, Kirk has advanced to become Assistant Whip in the House of Representatives. In other words, his job is to twist the arms of the GOP rank-and-file to get them to vote the way of the hard-right Republican leadership. I find it curious that he won’t advertise this fact in any of his campaign literature, yet he claims to be a “moderate.”

I think we need some new blood in Congress, because I’m really tired of having incumbents like Mark Kirk being a puppet of the Bush administration and the inept Republican leadership in Congress. It‚s time to show him the door. The fact is that Dan Seals will be bringing a new, fresh perspective to Congress that is sorely needed, not simply more of the same politics as usual.

His views on how to deal with the Iraq war, our ballooning federal deficit, rising health care and energy costs, as well as methods for making our nation energy-independent are refreshing and necessary.

Learn more about Dan Seals and why he should be our next Congressman at his Web site, www.dansealsforcongress.com.

Matthew Lowry
Vernon Hills

Who is Mark Kirk?

Winnetka Talk
August 31, 2006

Will the real Mark Kirk please stand up? There's an awful lot of flip-flopping going on here.

Either Mr. Kirk has changed his ways, is now under the influence of the Rovians, or has always been super-conservative. I'm inclined to believe that in his heart of hearts he's always been the far-right and now he's showing his true colors.

His Suburban Agenda certainly doesn't fool me. What exactly is he offering you. Let's see: an education savings plan? How generous, we already have one, and he's allowing you to save your own money, that is if you have any left after paying around $50 for a fill-up at the pump or when you refinance your interest-only loans.

The mortgage companies have been allowed to offer jumbo mortgages with no qualifications, and the credit card companies have been allowed to charge you usury rates on multiple credit cards, but Mr. Kirk voted for the new bankruptcy law that cracks down on you when you can't keep up with your debt. How about cracking down on the mortgage and credit card companies that encourage you to keep buying beyond your means.

When it comes to education, instead of pushing the adminstration's "No Child Left Behind" disaster, which is a sure-fire guarantee to destroy pubic education, Mr. Kirk should be an advocate for funding a good, solid public education for all with excellent teachers and a diverse curriculum.

We have money for Iraq and Halliburton, but we have no money for education. Amazing. A democracy needs an educated citizenry and many of our young people are being priced out of the system. This should be a rite of passage from Head Start through college. Instead, Mr. Kirk is looking for teacher-predators, the numbers of whom are less than miniscule, and joining with the administration to force the demise of public schools as they push their plan for parochial schools vouchers.

Mr. Kirk's improved health plan calls for a computerized database about us and our health? I somehow doubt that putting all our medical records in the computer is going to enhance the well-being of a very sick health system or take the greed out of the pharmaceutical and medical industries. In fact, pharmaceutical companies are some of his biggest financial supporters and he has voted against restrictions on price-gouging in the government's drug program, which had been touted as a great benefit for seniors and isn't. It's one more disaster by the Bush administration.

Mr. Kirk wants drilling on government lands and new oil refineries. What happened to renewable resources. He talked about them, but that's it. The oil industry that owns our country is his friend. We could be producing various ethanols to replace our reliance on fossil fuels or we could import sugar ethanol from Brazil, but he voted to keep the tariffs at an unreasonable level so that other countries can't sell these products to us. He also voted against "boutique fuels" for ridiculous reasons. Boutique fuels are a variety of renewable resources for our cars. Who's against this: the oil industry.

And finally, on the issue of church-state: Mr. Kirk has now voted with the conservatives several times in the past couple of months to endorse a state religion by voting to keep the Soledad cross on the government property, and saying the courts shouldn't hear any cases which dispute the word "God" in the pledge of allegiance. The reason the Jeffersonians were so adament about the wall of seperation between church and state was not because they were against religion, but because they were great supporters of all religions and the right of the individuals to practice as they choose. In addition, they said federal lands are paid for with taxpayers' money and, therefore, a particular religion should not be endorsed or advocated on these lands. This was to protect the rights of all of us. Perhaps its time to make a change in Congress.

Sharon Sanders
Northbrook

Curb Imperial Presidency

Winnetka Talk
August 24, 2006

Recent Letters to the Editor urging a vote for a favored candidate in the Seals v. Kirk contest have been almost invariably issue oriented. In my opinion, this is the wrong focus. Regardless of how you view a candidate, regardless of the weight you may attach to a particular position, where is one salient fact which is determinative: the Democrats require a gain of 15 seats to control the House through election of the Speaker and any single congressional contest may be the one required to achieve this objective. It is therefore unfortunate but imperative that the focus not be on the individual but on the only means available to curb the adventurous, destructive and divisive ascendancy of the Executive Branch so aptly described as the new Imperial American Presidency.

Paul Homer
Glencoe

Kirk not truly representing 10th

Winnetka Talk
August 24, 2006

Voters of the 10th District have to ask themselves if our current "moderate" U.S. Representative is fulfilling his obligations to this district. The record is clear that he has not:

1) Representatives should welcome feedback from any constituents. Yet, early in his term, Kirk refused to even open his door to peace activists trying to register concerns about invading Iraq. Indeed, he seems to go to great lengths to avoid conversations with those he sees as opposing him.

2) Representatives must bring vial information to constituents about important changes in government programs. Mr. Kirk did little to inform 10th District seniors about the new Medicare Part D drug program. He never held hearings to receive public input before voting on this complex, controversial bill. The he held only two meetings to explain the program, both for select supporters only. Yet district seniors stood to lose thousands of dollars if they made the wrong choices about enrolling.

3) Every Representative should keep promises made on the campaign trail. Kirk has broken at least one promise- about protecting Social Security. In January of 2005, his Web site said Kirk would "protect Social Security." Yet the day after a letter to the editor ran in this paper congratulating him for opposing his President on this issue, his Web site changed significantly. The new posture? That he would "carefully review the President's proposals."

4) Moderate representatives should vote against highly conservative policies. Kirk has had ample opportunities to do so in this very conservative administration, but has voted with Bush nearly 90 percent of the timeâ?¦on Iraq, on cutbacks in health insurance for the poor, limiting in Veterans, benefitsâ?¦the list goes on and on. It is clear that Kirk wants to follow the Bush administration's party line, while hoping the people in the 10th district will continue to see him as the moderate they thought they were electing. It is time for a change, both in Washington and in the 10th District. Vote for Dan Seals and we'll have a Representative we can be proud of.

Nancy Zweibel
Northbrook

Checks, balances needed

Mount Prospect Times
August 17, 2006

Your Aug. 3 Forum editorial, "Restore checks, balances," is right on.

President Bush and his supporters have thrown the traditional view of democracy out the window. They rewrite congressional laws with "singing statements." The ignore Supreme Court decisions on the unconstitutionality of military torture. What happened to the Democratic and liberal Republican America I grew up with, the one that used the Marshall Plan to construct a world with economic growth and democracy?

I used to be proud of an America that was hopeful, compassionate and hardworking, that had a positive vision of tomorrow. Now we have become a country that uses our military and economic power to try to force submission to the Bush-Republican perspective. This is a world of fear, self-centeredness, and repressions of science, in which government policy remains addicted to oil corporations, and a world in which family planning is limited to abstinence.

Republican Congressman Mark Kirk supports this mind-set and the Bush-Republican control of America. He has become more and more radical to fit into the Bush power structure. Kirk must go. I support Dan Seals for Congress.

Douglas Gerleman
Northbrook

Time for a change in the 10th District

Daily Herald
August 16, 2006

Our representative in Congress, Mark Kirk, goes to great lengths to sell himself as a moderate.

Have you received his latest piece of campaign literature?

The word "Republican" doesn't appear once.

Yet Kirk votes more than 91 percent of the time along the strict Republican Party line.

Does that sound like a moderate to you? Kirk is also beholden, like much of his party, to the big oil lobby.

Our representative voted twice last fall to oppose giving the FTC the power to investigate price gouging in the oil and gas business - hurting the American consumer to protect giant companies while they were making record industry profits.

Does that represent your views and values? If your answer is no, please know that we have an alternative: Democratic nominee Dan Seals.

Dan is talking about our huge national debt and how it hurts both our economy and foreign policy, about the need to decrease our oil dependence and develop technologies for the future and about the need for national health insurance... all issues the Republican Congress has not had time to wrestle with.

And by the way, did you know Mark Kirk is assistant whip for the Republican party in Congress?

So he really can't argue that he can't control what legislation goes to the floor for debate; that's exactly what he does. Think about it.

Whom should we trust with our future?

I think we need a change.

I hope you will join me in supporting Dan Seals for representative from the 10th District.

Ann Ryan
Arlington Heights

Give Seals a chance

Arlington Heights Post
August 3, 2006

I was invited to participate in a town hall meeting over the telephone with Rep. Mark Kirk. The call came to my home without warning around suppertime, and being unprepared to speak with Rep. Kirk about some of the issues I have concerns about, I am disappointed that I did not learn much.

This does not come as much of a surprise to me, however. On several occasions, I have phoned Mark Kirk's office to voice my concern over various issues. I have always asked for some sort of response from the representative's office on his voting record on the issue at hand, and I am always summarily blown off by Mr. Kirk and his staff. I have never received a letter or a phone call in response when Mr. Kirk's vote is contrary to my opinion.

Mark Kirk likes to tell us he's a moderate Republican, looking after our best interests in Congress. But he consistently ignores or even votes against our interests on major issues that affect us all.

Mark Kirk voted twice last fall to oppose giving the FTC the power to investigate price gouging in the oil and gas business. He also voted for more than $10 billion in subsidies to oil and gas companies in 1995, a year of record industry profits. In the town hall meeting, Kirk stated that he thinks we need to change minimum miles-per-gallon standards on all cars to 30 (just as Al Gore suggested in the mid-90's). However, there is nothing in his voting record to reflect this.

Dan Seals supports FTC investigations of price gouging at the gas tank, and he promises to get real prescription help for seniors. Why don't we give him a chance? Mark Kirk may say he wants to protect our interests, but his voting record says otherwise.

Laura Devaney
Arlington Heights

Real choice in 10th

Winnetka Talk
July 27, 2006

This past weekend I went to a friend's house gathering to meet Dan Seals, the Democratic candidate for Representative from the Illinois 10th Congressional District in this fall's election. I think we have a race and a real choice this time.

I was a big supporter of our long time representative John Porter (a Republican). John's passionate and effective championship of NIH and biomedical research funding was of particular interest to me. John was known as a moderate Republican in our marginally Democratic leaning district. Out of respect for John, we he retired I voted for his chosen heir, Mark Kirk. This decision was made easier for me in the last two elections because the Democratic candidates were weak.

However that has now changed. Mark Kirk's tenure in the House has been unremarkable in initiative. I was dismayed to learn that Mr. Kirk has voted over 86 percent of the time with controversial leader Tom DeLay. This Congress has brought us a mess in Iraq costing us priceless American lives and a $6 billion/month bill, a $534 billion hopelessly complicated prescription drug plan, $7 billion in tax subsidies for oil companies while recording record profits by charging me $60 to fill my gas tank, poor follow-up on rebuilding those lives affected by Katrina, questioning the science of global warming in favor of political ideology and a naive and simplistic immigration bill. All this while supporting additional tax cuts for the most fortunate among us and reducing funding for NIH, education and cutting $11 billion in Medicare/Medicaid for our most vulnerable neighbors. This has resulted in an $8.4 trillion federal debt. Even my most ardent Republican friends agree the country is on the wrong track.

So I listened carefully to Dan Seals and in came a breath of fresh air. He's got new ideas that more consistently mirror my values. He sees a responsible exit strategy for Iraq, a realistic solution to our burgeoning healthcare costs, a plan to restore fiscal discipline with spending cuts of earmark projects and rethinking future tax cuts, reducing oil dependence by formulating a comprehensive energy policy and an even handed approach to immigration. Dan also has something practical; a growing war chest to mount a viable campaign and get his vision out.

I think we have a race and a real choice in the election for our representative for the Illinois Congressional 10th District. I'll be listening more carefully to Dan Seals and not just rubber stamping my vote this fall.

Bob Gregory
Lincolnshire

Kirk 'too busy;' his vote going to Seals

Daily Herald
July 17, 2006

I'm an independent-minded Democrat, having voted Republican almost as much as Democrat. In the 2000 election, I voted for Mark Kirk, but I now regret that vote.

Last year, I was part of a group of concerned citizens who met with Kirk's aides to air our concerns on President Bush's proposal to privatize Social Security.

We were told, "the Congressman has no position on this issue." Excuse me? Our representative, the man we elected, had "no position" on the most important domestic issue of the day?

Worse, when we suggested that Kirk emulate his mentor, John Porter, and return to his district to hold town hall meetings on Social Security to elicit feedback from the voters, we were told, "The Congressman will be too busy for the next few months." I followed up with a phone call to his office about 3-4 months later, and I got the same response: "Too busy." I was stunned.

This kind of response is simply unacceptable from the man who is supposed to be my representative in Congress.

Fortunately, there is an alternative: Dan Seals.

Dan is a vibrant, well-educated, and articulate young man who has good, fresh ideas about how to address the problems facing our nation. He is not afraid to stake out a position and clearly explain the logic of his thinking.

His views on our economy, health care, how to bring our troops home from Iraq, and how our nation can be energy-independent are very refreshing. Better yet, having seen Dan in action, I can tell you that he is someone who will meet with and listen to his constituents, rather than just say they're "too busy" in Washington, D.C., to listen. America can do better. I suggest learning more about Dan Seals at his Web site, www.dansealsforcongress.com.

Matthew Lowry
Vernon Hills

The real constituents

Wilmette Life
July 13, 2006

It must be election time, Mark Kirk is paying some attention to the 10th District. His actions say he thinks his constituents are the White House senior leadership, Defense Department senior leadership and the House of Representatives senior leadership. We need to send him a message, the residents of the 10th District are his constituents, we are the people he reports to, and he needs to find a new job.

In November, fellow constituents, please vote in your best interest, vote for Dan Seals for Congress.

Robert B. Emerson
Glenview

Paid for by Dan Seals for Congress

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