Bruckner challenges Boland

THOMSON -- Lawrence Bruckner, the Carroll County GOP committee vice chairman knows his opponent, Rep. Mike Boland, D-East Moline, will prove a tough opponent in the race for Illinois House District 71. That is why the Carroll County native is trying to draw as many connections as possible between Boland and Rod Blagojevich, whose 13-percent approval rating, according to pollster Ipsos, is the lowest of any governor in the country. Bruckner, a Thomson resident who practices law in Dixon, kicked off his campaign Thursday morning at the Thomson House Cafe, a diner he started a few hundred yards from the $143-million Thomson Correctional Center when it was built in 2001. He sold it when the Illinois Department of Corrections left the prison's 1,600 maximum-security cells vacant. "He's a nice man; I've worked with him desperately on the prison issue," Bruckner said of Boland. "But he believes in a policy of appeasement -- giving up too many concessions to Chicago." Boland, a seven-year incumbent, believes Bruckner is naive. "When it comes time to work with Speaker Madigan, we work with Speaker Madigan; when it comes time to oppose Chicago interests, we do that," Boland said. "How could (Bruckner) come in as a freshman representative in the minority party and hope to achieve anything if he's going in with an antagonist attitude?" Another plank in Bruckner's campaign platform is a pledge to represent the entire 71st District. He accuses Boland of neglecting the needs of rural voters. "We see Boland only when he wants us to elect him," Bruckner said. The Thomson Correctional Center fiasco is much of the reason he's making another run at Illinois politics, Bruckner said. He and his wife, Luanne Bruckner, co-wrote "American Gulag" a book published in 2006 about the politics of prisons in Illinois and waste in the criminal justice system. He has repeatedly lobbied state representatives and governors to make use of the brand-new facility, rather than fritter away hundreds of thousands a year on bond payments and maintenance for the vacant cells. "Rather than be a hypocrite and just complain, I thought I'd stand up and do something about this waste," he said The 71st District covers most of Carroll, Rock Island and Whiteside counties, and much of Henry. Winning the race will require Bruckner to turn some traditional Democrats in the Moline area -- he estimates the district to be 12,000 Democrats to 9,000 Republicans. "We could take every vote in Whiteside and Carroll counties and still lose the election," Bruckner said. He's hoping an endorsement from Moline Mayor Don Welvaert will help upset that trend. Bruckner's campaign kickoff took him into the city Thursday afternoon, where Welvaert encouraged voters to support the Republican candidate. He endorsed Bruckner because "I've seen nothing from Mike Boland, in terms of work for Moline, and just think that after seven terms in office it's time for someone who won't be a puppet to Mike Madigan," D-Chicago, speaker of the Illinois House and a frequent critic of Blagojevich. Boland counters that Welvaert, a Republican, made the endorsement more for the GOP than the city of Moline. "That's just silly," Boland said of Welvaert's reasoning. He points to a $200,000 grant for the Moline Public Library system, successful opposition of tighter gun control and Blagojevich's decision to open half of the now-vacant Thomson prison as recent political victories -- battles he claims to have won with political give-and-take against the Chicagoland juggernaut. Bruckner has made a few unsuccessful runs for public office in the past. He took fourth in a field of five Republican candidates in the 2006 primary for lieutenant governor, and failed to make the Republican ticket in the 1986 race for Illinois 73rd District before legislative districts were redrawn to include Thomson in the 71st. Reach Sam Smith at 815-625-3600 or 800-798-4085, ext. 525.