Ed Gallagher: Candidate Profile

Bio

Name: Ed Gallagher

City: Lindenhurst

Website:

Twitter:

Facebook: facebook.com/FriendsofEdGallagher/

Party: Democrat

Office sought: Lake County Board Member, District 3

Age: 27

Family:

Occupation: District director and policy adviser for State Senator Melinda Bush

Education: B.A of Science in Political Science and Communication from Illinois State University

Civic involvement: Member of Round Lake Area Bringing Everyone's Strength's Together (BEST), Member of the Policy, Legislative, Legal Issues Committee of the Lake County Opioid Initiative and former AmeriCorps Volunteer In Service To America (VISTA).

Elected offices held:

Questions & Answers

Question 1: What would you bring to the board and what would your priority be?

I will bring my compassion for serving others, my policy knowledge, and a hard work ethic. My number one priority would be working to find real solutions to high property taxes. We have had enough promises and misinformation. Our residents deserve a fairer property tax system and true restraint when it comes to taxation.

Question 2: What is the single biggest need in your district?

When I am out talking to residents, property taxes are the single biggest issue. I am committed to working with other taxing bodies to honestly tackle this burden. Equally as important is our aging infrastructure, flooding issues and traffic congestion.

Question 3: Should the county government eliminate procurement cards, or p-cards, for county board members? Should county board members even have expense accounts? County board members in some other counties don't, their salaries cover work expenses. Should employees' p-cards be eliminated, too?

County Board member p-cards should be eliminated. Just like in business, some expenses may be necessary but should be handled through a strict reimbursement process. County Board expense accounts must be reduced and strict polices established on what purchases are reimbursable. The need for and number of employee p-cards should be evaluated.

Question 4: Is the county doing enough to control expenses? What additional, specific steps do you recommend?

County expenses have been in the news recently. I would like to be part of an adhoc committee that examines the entire p-card process and makes strong policy recommendations to prevent future miss use. All purchase transactions should be on the county board website.

Question 5: Historically, county board meetings have been free of partisanship and political antics - but party-line fighting has become more noticeable in recent years. How do you feel about that?

I am running for the county board because I care about creating strong policies that benefit the people of lake county. Getting real work done requires working across the isle. We have seen what extreme partisanship has done at the federal and state level. It is not my plan to bring that to lake county.