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Jesse White vows this will be his last term – again

When he ran for election to his fourth term as Illinois secretary of state in 2010, Jesse White told the Daily Herald editorial board it would be the last time he ran for office.

“This will be it,” he said at the time.

But White, 80, is running for a fifth term as secretary of state in November, again saying this term would be his last.

“I believe in commitment to duty. That's how I've lived my life,” said White, a former Army paratrooper with a 38-year career in politics, who was recently dubbed “Illinois' most popular politician” by a downstate newspaper.

“I'm the longest-serving secretary of state in Illinois, but I also want to go down in history as one of the best they've ever had. I will work every day toward that,” said White, a Chicago Democrat.

Challenging him is Republican Michael Webster, an attorney, CPA and father of four who lives in Hinsdale. Webster, 54, is president of Darien's Cass School District 63 school board.

Viewing his lack of political experience as a plus and saying he's not tied to anyone in Springfield, Webster is running for office because he “doesn't feel like he's getting his money's worth” from the state. He says he knows many people who do business with the secretary of state's office and are frustrated with what he says are unreasonably high user fees and poor service.

“You can complain about it, or you can do something about it. I want to do something about it,” Webster said. Webster describes himself as “a small government kind of guy” who is fed up with Illinois' politics as usual. “I'm running against an institution,” Webster said, acknowledging his underdog status. “He can't have a free pass.”

Webster wants the secretary of state to do more to improve safety on the roads and crack down on bogus drivers' licenses. If elected, he vows to use technology to streamline business services and create one-stop shop for entrepreneurs and other companies.

Webster also wants to reduce user fees and eliminate spending on things like unnecessary secretary of state's staff. He likened it to emptying out a garage, saying there's a lot of stuff people don't use anymore and should get rid of.

“I get calls from (White's) staff saying, 'I have 10 bosses and none of them do anything,'” Webster said.

White defends his track record, saying his $390 million budget hasn't increased and he's reduced his staff, in part by using technology for services like license plate renewals. The secretary of state's office will soon debut a smartphone app, White added.

“We're doing more with less,” White said.

Since taking over the troubled office in 1998, White says he's weeded out corruption, improved the driver's license process, cracked down on drunk drivers with measures including a zero-tolerance policy for school bus drivers and adding thousands more Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Devices. White's helped pass several laws aimed at reducing teenage driving accidents and deaths and hopes to make even more progress with a new campaign against texting while driving. He started printing driver's licenses vertically for people age 21 and under — an effort to alert bar and liquor store owners.

Since he can't lower the secretary of state's user fees without the General Assembly's approval, White's been working with state Sen. Heather Steans, of Chicago, on legislation to lower fees for LLCs, or limited liability companies, from $500 to $39.

The office has raised millions of dollars for schools through vanity plate sales, and White continues to coach the Jesse White Tumblers, a group of young gymnasts from Chicago who perform at parades and events around the country.

  Illinois secretary of state candidate Michael Webster discusses what it is going to take to beat the wildly popular Jesse White in the upcoming election. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
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