Schakowsky is best pick for Senate seat

The best choice to fill President-elect Barack Obama's United States Senate seat is U.S. Rep Jan Schakowsky, a strong leader on Capitol Hill, where she continues to work hard to better the lives of citizens of all ages.

She has championed issues important to Illinois and the entire country.

Many legislators worked with me in attempting to ban a dangerous toy in Illinois. This was eventually successful with Gov. Rod Blagojevich signing SB1960 into law in June 2005 making Illinois the first state of several to do so. On a federal level, both Senator Richard Durbin and then Senator and now President-elect Barack Obama have supported a ban. It was Schakowsky who introduced legislation to ban this dangerous toy and to protect children on a national level. She was also in bringing into law The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 that will ban lead in children's products and toys and will mandates safety testing and removes unsafe toys from the market. In addition, Schakowsky continues to advocate for the needs of senior citizens who can't afford their prescription drugs and continues to work toward medical coverage for children.

Through my advocacy work, I was given the opportunity to see how passionate Schakowsky is about the issues that affect ordinary citizens like me. As a consumer advocate, citizen, and most importantly a mother, I know that she is an individual who would represent this state and nation in a way that exemplifies the meaning of public service. I know that she would continue the traditions of effective and caring senators that have represented the State of Illinois.

I hope Gov. Blagojevich appoints Jan Schakowsky as our next United States Senator from Illinois.

Lisa Lipin

Skokie