42nd House candidates trade jabs on ‘experience’

One Republican candidate says she’s an outsider who can shake up Springfield.

Her three opponents have spent years working on behalf of other GOP candidates — experience, they say, that isn’t a bad thing.

That’s been one of the themes of the Republican primary race in the 42nd House District, which includes parts of Wheaton, Winfield, Carol Stream, Warrenville and Lisle.

The field of candidates features Dave Carlin, Chris Hage, Jeanne Ives and Laura Pollastrini.

With only days remaining before voters go to the polls Tuesday, the candidates say they’ve been pounding the pavement, knocking on doors and putting up signs.

The seat has been up-for-grabs after a statewide remapping process shifted the 42nd District west out of the residence area of five-term incumbent Glen Ellyn Republican Sandy Pihos, who is running unopposed in the 48th District.

Ives, a member of the Wheaton City Council, says she isn’t fazed by anything in Springfield, and she didn’t go to Republican leadership to “ask for permission to run.”

“(My opponents) are competing with me. I’m not competing with anybody but myself,” Ives said. “I think they’re just kinda annoyed that I haven’t been in Republican politics for my whole life.”

Carlin, the College of DuPage board president and district office director for U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, has charged that Ives is trying to sell herself as an outsider, while still having received the support of GOP consultant Dan Proft and his Illinois Liberty PAC, which has contributed $5,000 to her campaign.

The Naperville resident has said he or the other two candidates in the race — Pollastrini of Carol Stream or Hage of Wheaton — would be better suited to serve in the legislature than Ives.

Pollastrini, an attorney and government relations specialist, was the one-time press officer for former DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett, and previously worked for former Senate President James “Pate” Philip. She is currently a member of the DuPage County Regional Board of School Trustees and a former Carol Stream library board member.

Hage, a lawyer and former assistant state’s attorney under Birkett, also spent time working on political campaigns for DuPage County Republicans. Birkett’s wife, Patti, is chairman of Hage’s campaign.

The winner of the Republican contest will advance to the November election to face Democrat William Adams, who is running unopposed in his party’s primary.