Social Security divides Dold, Seals

Of all the issues Republican Robert Dold and Democrat Dan Seals have debated in their race for the 10th Congressional District seat, they may be the furthest apart on Social Security.

The candidates have done everything they can to let voters know their stances are miles apart, explaining their views in three head-to-head forums, on countless campaign stops, at newspaper offices and in campaign advertisements.

Dold, a pest-control company executive from Kenilworth, believes the government must gradually raise the retirement age to keep Social Security solvent. He supports allowing people to put part of their Social Security savings in private accounts.

Seals, a business consultant and university lecturer from Wilmette, maintains the Depression-era retirement program is on solid financial footing and opposes changes.

The three-time Democratic candidate is so confident in his position that he's repeatedly attacked Dold's stance on the issue. So has the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which paid for anti-Dold ads about Social Security.

Dold and Seals are running to replace Republican Mark Kirk in the 10th District. Kirk is giving up the seat to run for the U.S. Senate. The district includes parts of Cook and Lake Counties. It stretches from Lake Michigan into the North and Northwest suburbs.

Dold is concerned about the future of Social Security and wants to make sure full benefits will be paid to seniors beyond 2037, a year after which some experts say benefits no longer will be able to be paid at 100 percent.

“Social Security is a huge issue,” Dold told the Daily Herald editorial board. “The entitlement crisis will eventually become enormous.”

During the GOP primary, Dold told the media he backed allowing people to place up to 25 percent of their Social Security payments into individual accounts.

That figure changed during the general campaign, however. By the time he met with the Daily Herald editorial board in late September, he was recommending “5 (percent) to 7 percent.”

Dold got more specific about the type of accounts he was envisioning as the campaign wore on, too. He told the Daily Herald the accounts should be government-controlled trusts invested in 30-year Treasury bills.

Dold also suggested raising the retirement age for workers 54 or younger. When Social Security was established, he's said publicly, people didn't live as long as they do now, and the system should change to address that.

Dold suggested raising the retirement age two months a year until it reaches “the appropriate point.” He didn't identify what point he finds appropriate.

Changes must have “broad, bipartisan support” to move forward, Dold said.

Seals believes Social Security will be solvent through 2037 and has recommended no changes to the program. He criticized Dold's description of individual accounts invested in Treasury bills, telling the Daily Herald that Social Security already makes such investments.

“So I don't know what creating a second account would do,” he said.

Seals said he wants to protect the accounts of current retirees, as well as those of anyone who's soon approaching retirement age, but he didn't specify a cutoff mark.

However, at a September forum in Arlington Heights, Seals proposed cutting retirement benefits to the wealthiest Americans, saying they don't need Social Security checks as much.

Seals received an endorsement from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.