Endorsement: Johnson for House Dist. 42 GOP nomination

It's a tough call in the GOP primary contest for Illinois House District 42. There's a lot to like about first-term incumbent Jeanne Ives: She's smart; candid, probably to a fault; and understands finances. We like her background in the military and as a former member of the Wheaton City Council. She pushes hard for government transparency. Her opponent is Adam Johnson of Warrenville, a Harvard grad who works in the revenue department of the DuPage County clerk's office. He knows his stuff, too, but a key component of his campaign is calling out Ives for what he characterizes as her intractable, hard-line, confrontational approach. Johnson points out Ives has passed no legislation during her first term, and that her style makes enemies, further damaging her effectiveness in a Democrat-controlled legislature. "It's not simply the case that Democrats can't be worked with or nothing can be accomplished," he said in his Daily Herald endorsement interview. A telling example of Ives' line-in-the-sand approach came last March when she said on a radio show that same-sex marriages are "disordered" and couples are trying to "weasel their way into acceptability." Ives later said her remarks were misinterpreted, but many weren't buying. We think Johnson could be a more effective legislator. He is endorsed.