House District 59 candidates favor campaign finance limits

Money talks. In the political arena, it shouts.

All four candidates running for state House District 59 in the Feb. 2 primary say they favor limits on campaign contributions, though some say recent reforms haven't gone far enough.

Democrats state Rep. Carol Sente and Buffalo Grove Village President Elliott Hartstein and Republicans Dan Sugrue and Mohan Manian responded to the issue of ethics reform in a recent Daily Herald questionnaire.

Sente, 48, of Vernon Hills, said she's pleased with recent reforms, but says they didn't go far enough.

"I was proud that one of my first actions in Springfield as state representative was to help pass Illinois' historic campaign finance reform law - a measure that had the backing of Change Illinois," she said. "I think this initiative, especially the limits on leaders' and party expenditures during primary campaigns, was a major step forward. I would like to find a way to extend those limits to general election campaigns, while ensuring that outside special interests groups are not given an unfair advantage in terms of their abilities to spend money on campaigns and influence election outcomes."

Hartstein, 61, of Buffalo Grove, said out-of-control donations can discourage potential candidates from running.

"I believe having the limits on the parties and the funds controlled by leaders is an essential element of meaningful campaign finance reform," Hartstein said. "Under the current system and even the newly adopted reforms, the ability of parties and their leaders to dole our funds without reasonable limitations, impedes and certainly dissuades many individual legislators from independently making many of the decisions they need to make to address the challenges facing our state."

Manian, 46, of Green Oaks, says current rules should be made stricter.

"Limits should apply to contributions made by political parties and by funds controlled by the leaders of the House and Senate so that all parties would have the same advantages," Manian said. "We need an ethics law that is much stronger than the one we currently have and a transparency law that disallows backroom dealing behind closed doors. I have signed the transparency pledge offered by Illinois Policy Institute."

Sugrue, 46, of Green Oaks, favors strict rules to keep people from strong-arming.

"I am in favor of campaign finance limits for legislative leaders and political parties, because it is the threat of withholding funds and funding primary opponents that legislative leaders use to force House and Senate members to vote the way the leadership wants, rather than according to the will of people in that member's district," he said.

Cynthia Hebda's name will appear on the ballot, but she is no longer a candidate.

The winners of the Democratic and Republican primaries will face off in the general election in November. The 59th District includes portions of Buffalo Grove, Green Oaks, Gurnee, Indian Creek, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Long Grove, Mettawa, Mundelein, Northbrook, North Chicago, Park City, Riverwoods, Vernon Hills, Waukegan and Wheeling.