For Congress: Retain Foster in 14th District

In March we offered a tentative endorsement of Jim Oberweis over Bill Foster in the special election to replace Dennis Hastert for Congress in the 14th District. Neither had held elective office, but Oberweis was more confident in his views. That has changed in the seven months since Foster won that special election.

Foster has proved to be a quick study in Congress. He's spent his nights boning up on policy and weekends at home talking with constituents. He understands that as a Democrat in a historically Republican district he must work with his Republican counterparts. He did so in pushing a nuclear forensics program that would aid in investigating the source of nuclear explosions and provide a deterrent to terrorism.

While he has voted with his party 95 percent of the time, he points out that he has voted no several times on the budget and with Republican Mark Kirk 60 percent of the time.

During his short time in Congress he won funding for Fermilab and he voted yes twice for the economic bailout plan. He supports shifting our military focus to Afghanistan.

Oberweis in recent years has toned down his rhetoric, saying now that he believes efforts to curb illegal immigration are working. He feels that while some type of economic bailout was necessary, the approved plan was deeply flawed. He says we can't let up in Iraq and publicizing a timetable for withdrawal is ill advised.

In endorsing Foster, we encourage him to maintain his bipartisan ways and not simply fall in line with what's likely to be an increasingly Democratically controlled federal government.

Also running is Libertarian Dan Druck of Carpentersville.