Economy dominates race for Congress

The players may be the same, but the arena is entirely different. Sure, the race between Rep. Bill Foster, D-Geneva, and his Republican challenger, Jim Oberweis, is a reprise of last spring. It was then that the retirement of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Sugar Grove, prompted a special election, which Foster won. Yet, in the shadow of a historic economic bailout, 7 months' time has shifted the candidates' focus away from issues such as immigration and conflict in the Middle East. Now, the two men are voicing almost sole concern for repairing America's economy and the industries it affects. Economy For Oberweis, there's no question as to where his immediate attention would go if he's elected for Illinois' 14th Congressional District. "Right now there's only one issue," Oberweis said. "[People] are concerned about the economy, about credit being available, being able to make their mortgage payments and being able to hold a job and building retirement income. The economy is it." It's for that reason he said voters should have no trouble distinguishing his policies from Foster's, who voted earlier this month in favor of a $700 billion economic bailout package for the country's ailing finance sector. Oberweis said he never would have voted for the bill, which grew from a three-page proposal by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to a 400-plus-page package, "with all kinds of special interest legislation wrapped into it," he said. "That does not represent change in Washington. That represents more of the same." Foster remains steadfast in his support for the bailout package, and acknowledged that he's been no stranger to criticism from constituents who opposed his decision. "In terms of the volume of phone calls that our office got, they were sort of evenly split between 'No' and 'Hell, no,'" Foster said before adopting a more serious tone. "I think that has to do with whether or not you understand the financial system well enough to see the emergency here," Foster said. "Banks were just not lending to each other, not to mention all of the businesses that couldn't stay afloat," Foster said. Instead of the bailout, Oberweis said he would liked to have seen more policy changes made, which would include things like issuing a new type of stock that would be exempt from capital gains taxes for 5 to 10 years. "Whatever is necessary to bring private equity capital to these institutions, so that private capital would be risked in bailing out the financial institutions, rather than taxpayer dollars." He also said he'd support making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent. That would help boost economic catalysts at a time when entrepreneurship and business growth is desperately needed, Oberweis said. If those cuts aren't permanently written into law, Oberweis said the U.S. will face its largest tax increase in history. "Knowing that that's out there possibly a year or two from now certainly is not the kind of message you want to send if you want people to invest in the economy." Instead of adopting similar options, Oberweis criticized Foster for "rushing" to approve the bailout, which had too many complex factors behind it justify approving it as quickly as congress did, he said. "This administration convinced congress that we had an absolute crisis and had to make a decision in 48 hours, or the world would collapse. Foster said he does sympathize with constituents who said Congress' reaction to the collapse of financial groups like Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG happened too quickly. "But that [foreclosure] process, once it starts, it doesn't reverse," Foster said. "It just starts sucking all of the blood out of the economy. "I think not voting for it would have been grossly irresponsible. Voting for the original proposal from Bush and Paulson would have been." Energy Oberweis said Congress needs legislation to produce more energy in the U.S. while also consuming less of it, following an "all of the above" energy policy that supports alternative energy and more drilling. Oberweis said there is "very substantial amount of oil offshore" between 25 and 50 miles offshore he'd like to see tapped that the Democratically led Congress won't allow. He said Foster's claim of supports for more offshore drilling clashes with his endorsement of legislation that only allows for tapping oil sites with existing Federal leases. Most of those sites have already been tapped or are physically impossible to turn into drill sites. However, Foster said that improved drilling technology in recent years could yield more oil still from previously tapped sites. Foster also emphasizes the importance of testing new forms of fuel and energy use, including geothermal energy, which has great potential that still hasn't been thoroughly tested, he said. "But that's a perfect example of where I think the government should go and invest in a demonstration facility and see if we could actually do this, because that could be a breakthrough." Agriculture Foster said part of his plan to keep American agriculture strong is to keep his eye on biofuels like ethanol or biodiesel. "Almost everyone understands that corn-based ethanol is a bridge fuel," Foster said. Technologies for things like fuel cells and ethanol based fuels that have limited success in controlled environments need to be pushed into real, working environments, he said. "They work in the laboratory but they haven't been demonstrated on the industrial scale, so I'm going to push very hard to make sure that happens." Foster proudly supported the farm bill that helped secure government subsidies for farmers who grow corn based ethanol. As the chairman of Oberweis Dairy as well as an asset management company, Oberweis believes farmers have been forced in recent years to diversify their skills due to an increase in corporate competition coupled with tightened lending practices. "It's making the family farmer become a business man instead of a farmer, if you want to call it that." It's an evolution Oberweis has witnessed first-hand, he said, dating back just a few years ago to generous offers by banks to help expand the dairy business, which would now be faced with doubly-high interest rates and offered only a fraction of upfront money. "We'd have one bank tripping over the other bank to come get us the money," Oberweis said. "It's an entirely different situation today." Race for 14th Congressional District - Seat up for grabs: U.S. representative for the 14th Congressional District of Illinois - 14th District includes: Parts of Henry, Whiteside, Lee, DeKalb, Kane and Kendall counties Incumbent: Bill Foster, 53, Democrat Key issues: Technology use, new energies testing History: Started his own lighting business with his brother in 1974. Worked for 22 years at Fermilab in Batavia conducting state-of-the-art physics experiments. Elected to Congress in March 2008. On the Web: Foster08.com Challenger: Jim Oberweis, 62, Republican Key issues: Market reform, diversifying energies History: Former junior high teacher. Chairman of Oberweis Dairy and chairman of Oberweis asset management. On the Web: JimOberweis.com