26th District state Senate candidates debate economy

Concerns over the economy dominated the conversation Sunday between candidates for the state Senate seat in the 26th district.

The seat has been left open with the retirement of William Peterson.

Republican Dan Duffy contended that his opponent, Democrat Bill Gentes, mayor of Round Lake, does not have a grasp of the economic situation because Round Lake has had an excess of homes built in the past few years with the help of deals made with builders.

"Round Lake is now a mess," Duffy said at a forum in Lake Zurich sponsored by the YWCA.

However, Gentes said the town has decreased its building to 200 homes in the last 2½ years and that its residents are suffering just as much as others in the nation.

Gentes said the problem with the subprime mortgage crisis is that banks won't work with homeowners to renegotiate loans.

"We need to force that," he said.

Duffy, a small-business owner, said the solution to economic problems lie in that area. He said that the majority of employees in the state work for small businesses and lowering taxes for those companies will only encourage job growth.

He said that will also make Illinois retain its small businesses.

"Companies are leaving the state in droves," Duffy said. "They can't compete here in Illinois."

He said the plans that Gov. Rod Blagojevich has proposed - such as a gross receipts tax plan or a payroll tax plan - only end up punishing businesses.

Gentes agreed the state doesn't do its job in retaining businesses and proposed tax credits to discourage companies from moving across the border into Wisconsin, which has become a problem for Lake County.

Gentes and Duffy both agreed that the state needs to approve a capital bill, which has not passed for nine years.

Gentes said that will free up money for roads and infrastructure, which is one of his main focuses. He said several roads, such as Routes 60 and 31, need to be widened to relieve traffic congestion and that Route 53 has to be expanded.

He also touched on more trains taking workers from the suburbs back to Chicago at the end of the work day.

However, Duffy and Gentes agreed that roadwork and infrastructure will be hard to come by until Gov. Rod Blagojevich stops diverting funds away from road improvements to cover other state costs.

The 26th district encompasses 42 suburbs in Lake, McHenry and Cook counties.