14th Cook board GOP candidates agree on sales tax repeal

In challenging Gregg Goslin for the GOP nomination for the Cook County Board's 14th District, Patrick O'Donoghue supports three long-stated Republican principles: tax reduction, less spending and smaller government.

The 30-year-old Northfield resident has not held elected office. He works in right-of-way construction management and has served on the Zoning Board of Appeals in Northfield.

O'Donoghue believes Cook County can trim some jobs and that the county's 2008 1 percent sales tax increase should be "rolled back at least 100 percent." However, he favors updating county forest preserve facilities to make them more usable by the public.

Goslin, 56, who works in real estate and holds ownership in Abbington Nursing Home in Glenview, is an eight-year incumbent from Glenview.

Last year, he was made chairman of the finance committee of the Cook County Forest Preserve District. He's been endorsed by Republicans in Barrington and Niles townships.

Goslin helped lead the repeal of half of the county's 1 percent increase in sales tax, and also favors eliminating the rest of the hike.

Goslin also calls for cutting pension benefits for new workers and favors creating a single county department to oversee information technology.

The 14th district runs from Glenview and Northfield on the east, through Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows and Wheeling, to Barrington Hills on the west.

The winner is expected to face Jennifer Bishop Jenkins, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary.