Cook Co. Dist. 17 Dem hopefuls wrangle over resumes

Victor Forys and Patrick Maher have similar positions on the issues in the District 17 Cook County Board race. What differentiates them are their resumes - and their geography.

Each candidate seeking the Democratic nomination believes his background is best suited to represent the long, thin district, which stretches into Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Wheeling, Prospect Heights, Rosemont and Elk Grove Village on its north end and Orland Park on its south end.

Forys, a 55-year-old physician from Park Ridge who ran for Congress last year, is challenging Patrick Maher, a 38-year-old real estate appraiser who is president of the Orland Fire Protection District.

Also in the race is Donna Sanders, an Orland Hills Library Trustee, who has not responded to repeated requests to be interviewed.

Forys says his medical background would bring unique expertise to the board, and he'd be able to help the county reform its problem-plagued health care system, which accounts for one-third of the county's $3 billion budget.

"If you're not in medicine, it's extremely hard to decipher what's going on," Forys said. "I could be a resource on the board on this very, very important issue."

Maher, on the other hand, says his experience reforming the Orland Fire Protection District would help him cut waste from the county budget.

Maher, the son of Orland Park Village Clerk David Maher, said he had to ruffle feathers and make some unpopular decisions while straightening out the fire district, but in the end, it helped eliminate the fire district's multimillion dollar deficit and streamline operations to make it more efficient.

The result was a 20 percent decrease in the tax rate and a $1.3 million refund to taxpayers, while increasing the number of firefighter/paramedics and reducing response times by 45 seconds, he said.

"This was all done at no additional cost to the taxpayers. It's just changing priorities," Maher said. "You don't understand how things work if you haven't been on a board before. It can be tricky. People get angry ... and change isn't easy ... but I wasn't there to make friends, I was there to do a job. I can do the same thing at the county."

Mudslinging in this campaign has been minimal, although Maher claims Forys is a one-issue candidate and Forys says Maher's fire district experience is small-time compared to the job he'd face at the county level.

Both candidates favor rolling back the county's sales tax, consolidating the forest preserve police into the Cook County Sheriff's office, and scouring the budget for common-sense cuts.

One of Maher's proposals is to get rid of unqualified patronage hires. He wants to get a list of every person hired by Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, and fire those whose qualifications don't match their jobs.

One of Forys' proposals is to improve the prison and juvenile justice systems through better staff training and increased support.

Forys has been endorsed by Cook County Commissioners Forrest Claypool and Larry Suffredin, as well as state Rep. Mike Quigley. Maher has the backing of several unions, Sen. Ed Maloney, and the Democratic committeemen in Wheeling, Maine, Elk Grove, Lemont and Palos townships.

The winner of the Feb. 2 primary election will face off Nov. 2 against the winners of the 17th District Republican and Green party races.