Illinois Review

Rauner's lack of social agenda pushes Personal PAC to endorse Quinn

CHICAGO - Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner can't catch a break on the abortion issue.

Over the years, his wife Diana has given thousands of dollars to Illinois' pro-abortion political action committee Personal PAC. While his wife Diana says on ads that Rauner has "no social agenda," her husband told Crain's he is "for abortion rights." The GOP nominee told Women for Rauner that he's for a "woman's right to choose" - a position one would expect Personal PAC would to applaud.

But that's not how Personal PAC's literature reports on the two candidates for governor. Personal PAC says, "The facts and the choice are clear: If the Rauner/Sanguinetti ticket wins - the Women of Illinois lose!"

Personal PAC partially bases their endorsement of Democrat incumbent Governor Pat Quinn on these points they see as negative about Rauner: 

115th House District: GOP candidate Bob White

Profile based on candidate's questionnaire. This is not an endorsement.

MOUNT VERNON - Jefferson County Board Chairman Bob White is interested in following State Rep. Mike Bost's steps to the State Capitol. The Republican is facing an opponent - Terri Bryant - in the March 18th primary. 

White, who along with his wife established an insurance agency, is involved in southern Illinois business networking group that offers support to small businessmen in the area. White says he's seen firsthand the devastating effects of poor state management.

110th House District: GOP Candidate Reginald Phillips

Profile based on candidate's questionnaire. This is not an endorsement.

CHARLESTON - Charleston's Reggie Phillips owns and has built several growing Illinois businesses that employ 400 people. He's been a builder, a landlord of student community housing and is now reaching out to senior citizens' housing needs.

Phillips, 60, along with two other GOP candidates, are vying in the 110th District's March 18th GOP primary to succeed State Rep Brad Halbrook, who will not be returning to the Illinois House in 2015. Phillips' is Halbrook's choice to fill the seat he's vacating.

Phillips' website says he is running for State Representative because he is "a concerned citizen that is tired of watching career politicians carelessly diminish our future." His concerns include "engaging the people that live within the 110th, having their voices heard in Springfield, ending the corruption and addressing the high cost of Illinois government." He wants to make Illinois run like a business and be more family friendly.

37th House District: GOP candidate Gayla Smith

Via video, Gayla Smith of Frankfort answered Governor Quinn's recent State of the State speech

Profile based on candidate's questionnaire. This is not an endorsement.

FRANKFORT - "We definitely need change in Springfield. We need to hire fresh new voices, people who aren't politically connected, people that care about the average taxpayer and business owner in Illinois," says Gayla Smith of Frankfort in her video response to Governor Pat Quinn's recent State of the State address.

Those comments sum up the reasons for Smith's primary bid in the far southwest suburbs to succeed retiring State Rep. Renee Kosel. The 37th House District has a three-way race in the March 18th GOP primary. 

Smith works with small businesses to automate their bookkeeping after being in the insurance field for several years. Her familiarity with small business owners has earned her financial support from a substantial number of those businesses.

34th House District: GOP candidate Fatimah Macklin

Fatimah Macklin was introduced with 17 other 2014 Chicago GOP candidates

Profile based on candidate's questionnaire. This is not an endorsement.

CHICAGO - Adjunct biology professor Fatimah Macklin says she's running for the Illinois State House in 2014 because she wants to "rebuild the state of Illinois" so that it provides her 3 year old daughter with "a world of opportunities." Macklin's 34th House District - with Chicago's southside 75th Street as its northern border and rural Kankakee County as its southermost boundary - is now represented by Democrat State Rep. Elgie Sims, Jr. 

Macklin holds an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management, an MA in Biology from Chicago State Univerity and a BS from the University of Illinois at Chicago. 

94th House District: GOP candidate Randy Frese

Profile based on candidate's questionnaire. This is not an endorsement.

QUINCY - Adams County Circuit Clerk Randy Frese came within seven points of defeating Democrat incumbent State Senator John Sullivan in 2012. In 2014, he's vying to succeed State Rep. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy), who's stepping away from her 94th District House seat to run for lieutenant governor.

Frese worked for White Farm Equipment as a salesman before starting several small businesses in Central Illinois. In his second term as Adams County's circuit clerk, he and his wife of 29 years (pictured above, with their 3 daughters) are involved in civic causes such as Adams County Farm Bureau, St. Thomas Catholic Church at Camp Point, and the Quincy Exchange Club. Randy has erved on the Board of Directors for the Adams County Fair, as well as the Quincy Catholic Charities Board. 

Frese faces a 2014 GOP primary challenge for the 94th House nomination by Monmouth's Marshall Schrader. State Rep. Jil Tracy endorsed Frese as the best candidate to fill her vacancy. "Randy’s integrity, work ethic, and love of West Central Illinois are the exact qualities we need...his agriculture and business background will serve the residents of the 94th District well!" she said.

81st House District: Keith Matune, GOP candidate

Profile based on candidate's questionnaire. This is not an endorsement.

DOWNERS GROVE - Sixteen years ago, Downers Grove's Keith Matune left his post-college job with former U.S. Congressman Harris Fawell to pursue a master's degree in education. Matune then started teaching high school social studies, for which he was recognized in 2012 as High School Teacher of the Year by the Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago, a nonprofit dedicated to civic education in the classroom.

In 2011, Matune was elected to the Community High School District 99 Board of Education. Married and father of four children, he is now interested in representing the GOP-leaning 81st House District at the State Capitol. 

Matune's backers include conservative Family PAC, Illinois Leadership Project and Liberty PAC. 

He is challenging incumbent State Rep. Ron Sandack in the March 18th GOP primary.

37th House District: GOP candidate Margo McDermed

Profile based on candidate's questionnaire. This is not an endorsement.

MOKENA - A three-way GOP primary race in Will County's 37th House District is likely to determine who will represent the heavily-Republican district in 2014. State Representative Renee Kosel is retiring after this session, and Margo McDermed (in blue in the above photo), hopes to succeed Kosel in 2014.

Part of the Republican caucus on the Will County Board, McDermed has represented District 12 since 2012.  Others in growing number of Republicans on the board include Jim Moustis, Steve Balich, Suzanne Hart, Jim Maher and McDermed.

A former Frankfort Township Clerk and trustee, McDermed spent 30 years working in the legal department of Amoco, later BP. One of her main responsibilities was to train client groups in legal compliance with antitrust law and international law. She managed a team of 31 legal professionals. She received her Juris Doctorate from DePaul University College of Law.

McDermed and her husband, Will County GOP Chairman Ed Ronkowski, are not only leaders in the local GOP,, they are also active with the powerful Will County Tea Party Alliance.

45th House District: GOP candidate Daniel Brinkman

Profile based on candidate's questionnaire. This is not an endorsement.

CAROL STREAM - Four GOP candidates are vying for the chance to fill State Rep. Dennis Reboletti's soon-to-be-vacant 45th District House seat, and Daniel Brinkman (far right above) of Carol Stream at age 26 is the youngest, but most familiar with House politics.

Once employed by the House of Representatives, Brinkman is finishing John Marshall Law School at night, after attending Loyola University after Glenbard North High School. He serves as President of John Marshall Law School's Federalist Society, where he met U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at a 2012 event.(pictured above)

Brinkland left the Illinois House in January 2013, and now works at saving businesses money through various forms of energy efficiency, including LEDs and direct source natural gas.

Brinkman impressed the Daily Herald editorial board enough to grab their endorsement in the 4-way race. He was former State Rep Randy Ramey's district office director after managing the Ramey campaign in 2010 and 2012. He serves on the Wayne Township GOP's executive committee, but has yet to file contribution records for his 2014 campaign with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Through his answers to Illinois Review's 2014 candidate survey, Brinkman shows himself to be conservative fiscally as well as socially.

34th House District: GOP candidate Mark Ekhoff

Profile based on candidate's questionnaire. This is not an endorsement.

GRANT PARK - Mark Ekhoff is one of two Republican candidates vying to represent one of the most diverse House districts in Illinois. The 34th district's northern border is at Chicago's southside 73rd Street, and its southernmost border is in rural Kankakee County. 

Ekhoff is one of 18 Republican candidates the newly-revived Chicago GOP introduced to the press shortly after petitions signatures were filed last fall. And so is Ekhoff's GOP primary opponent, Fatimah Macklin. 

The 34th House district's unusual boundaries - drawn by Chicago Democrats determined to keep the majority - causes the district to lean Democrat. Chicago's southside heavily-populated black community dominates the voter bloc from Kankakee County's conservative, rural area included in the 34th.

The winner of the GOP primary will face in November the winner of the March 18th Democratic primary - a contest between incumbent State Rep. Elgie Sims, Jr. and Chicago police officer Richard Wooten.