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District 3 county board GOP candidates outline issues

Posted January 17, 2010 10:00 pm

Three newcomers are competing in the Feb. 2 Republican primary for their party's nomination for a two-year term on the DuPage County Board from District 3.

Greg Abbot of Woodridge is an attorney; Dennis Brennan of Hinsdale is president of a realty corporation; and Brian Krajewski of Downers Grove is an attorney and CPA.

The winner will advance to the November general election to compete against Karol Sole, an environmental consultant from Westmont, who is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.

District 3 covers all or portions of Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Woodridge, Darien, Westmont, Downers Grove, Willowbrook, Burr Ridge, Lemont and Bolingbrook.

The Daily Herald asked candidates in the contested race a series of questions and some of their answers are below. For a look at the full questionnaires for all the candidates, visit www.dailyherald.com later this month.

Q. What is your top campaign issue? Abbott: Ethics reform. Brennan: Maintaining the quality of life in DuPage County. DuPage is the number one county in the state in which to raise a family and live. We need to make sure we retain that quality of life by supporting good schools, attractive parks, good roads, low crime and a low tax burden on families and businesses. Krajewski: Economic development and job creation is my number one campaign issue. I will work with the other county board members to promote DuPage as a place to do business. We need to get businesses to locate here to create more job opportunities for our residents and more tax revenues for the county. I will use the experience that I gained during the eight years I served as mayor of Downers Grove, during which we saw thousands of jobs move into the village. These jobs came from the likes of Sara Lee Corporation, ARMARK Corporation, The Hub Group, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Ford Motor Credit, New York Life, Met Life, Fry's Electronics, SAAB and Bentley Car Dealerships to name a few who choose Downers Grove as a place to have their business.Q. What is your second-most important campaign issue? Brennan: Reducing the tax burden on property owners. The DuPage Board of Health successfully redesigned its programs and reduced the amount of county funding for programs from approximately $22 million in 2004 to about $18 million in 2009. We can use this same kind of program review to reduce expenditures or redesign county initiatives. Krajewski: My next campaign issue is to reduce taxes. I will work to promote tax cuts to give residents and businesses more money to spend. This will result in the county creating more good-paying jobs. During my eight years as mayor, Downers Grove had one of the lowest overall tax burdens on its residents and its businesses when taking into account property taxes, gas tax, electric tax, telecommunications tax and water rates. These low tax rates were one of the reason many large corporations with high-paying jobs located in Downers Grove from 1999 to 2007. Abbott: Pension reform.Q. What is your third-most important campaign issue? Krajewski: Another campaign issue is transportation and infrastructure improvements. I believe we need to accelerate the improvements to our roadways in the county. We need to allocate a large portion of the new sales tax revenue for improving the transportation in DuPage County. Abbott: Job creation for DuPage County. Brennan: Increasing communication between district residents and the county. Most residents cannot name their three county commissioners and are not aware of issues arising in the county. I will introduce a District Alert system to provide e-mail updates to residents regarding issues such as area disasters, the release of sex offenders in the area, available county programs, county board proposals and other items of interest to residents.False14822000Dennis Brennan False Who's whoGreg AbbottAge: 46Town: WoodridgeOccupation: AttorneyEducation: University of Notre DameCivic involvement: Downers Grove Area Chamber of Commerce; Woodridge Park District Cub Scouts, Pack 101 Elected office: NoneWeb site: <a href="http://www.abbottforcountyboard.com" target="new">www.abbottforcountyboard.com</a>Dennis BrennanAge: 48Town: HinsdaleOccupation: President, Brennan Realty Corp. Education: St. Xavier University, The John Marshall Law SchoolCivic involvement: Burr Ridge-Willowbrook, baseball; Westmont Babe Ruth League Elected offices: Hinsdale Township High School District 86 school board, 2007-present; Maerker school board, 2003-07 Web site: None Brian KrajewskiAge: 47Town: Downers GroveOccupation: Attorney and CPAEducation: Law degreeCivic involvement: Education Foundation of Downers Grove District 58; Downers Grove Rotary Club member; youth baseball and basketball coach Elected offices: Downers Grove mayor, 1999-2007; Downers Grove Township Republican Organization, 2004-present; DuPage County Republican Central Committee, 2004-present Web site: <a href="http://www.Krajewski4countyboard.com" target="new">www.Krajewski4countyboard.com</a>

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