Candidates clash over state budget, Kane County Health Department

When the politicking against the state budget ended inside the Kane County Board chambers Monday, the stumping for office began.

In a coordinated campaign stump, Republican State Sen. Chris Lauzen and former State Sen. Steve Rauschenberger teamed up outside the board room to blame Democrats for state budget woes and the looming county health department's downsizing.

While not using names, Rauschenberger said his opponent, State Sen. Mike Noland, and State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia overstepped their roles by calling on the county to stop the transfer of human services programs to the private sector.

"It's wrong to politically put pressure on other units of government, particularly if your actions as a public official are the cause of the problems they're facing," said Rauschenberger, a Republican from Elgin. "It's wrong to stand up here and to threaten to bully or call into question the decision making of Kane County."

Lauzen piggybacked on that statement by chastising the union representing county health workers for offering to help free up state money for Kane County.

"It is really wrong to have politically powerful interests be able to run in front of the line and get payments because they have self-interested jobs on the line," Lauzen said.

Both Republicans agreed the answer is a state government with more Republicans in it.

"While there was divided government, the state of Illinois ran pretty well," Rauschenberger said.

Noland called the statements an attempt to shift the conversation away from Kane County endangering 6,000 local residents by downsizing the health department. If private businesses take over the programs, he said, the state will lose much of its ability to help those residents. "They're going to be depending on the federal government," Noland said.

As far as the state budget, Noland said Rauschenberger and Lauzen are the last two people who should be talking about how to fix the problem.

"These two individuals are basically the Dr. Frankenstein of our budget monster here in Steve Rauschenberger to Chris Lauzen's Igor," he said.

Noland said he favors an income tax hike tied to property tax relief. He also publicly agreed to a series of debates with Rauschenberger.