Ahern emerges as top Democrat in 71st District

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In a tight Democratic race for the state’s 71st Assembly District, Dennis Ahern pulled ahead of his two primary opponents at the finish Tuesday.

“You’re always humbled when you have the opportunity to win in this business,” Ahern said Tuesday night.

“It’s time to take a look at and address the problems in the state of Illinois. I don’t think you raise a tax in a recession and in a jobless recovery ... we need to look at the behavior that got us in this place in the first place,” he said. “We need to start running the state like a business.”

The 71st District covers Rock Island County and western Carroll, Whiteside and Henry counties. Longtime Democratic Rep. Mike Boland, of East Moline, chose not to run again and to instead pursue the lieutenant governor’s post. He lost that bid Tuesday.

Referring to primaries as “interfamily squabbles,” Ahern noted that his opponents, Michael McNeil and Jerry Lack, ran organized campaigns.

Ahern, 42, a salesman from Moline, won 2,677 votes, or 37 percent.

Lack, 47, an East Moline labor union leader and a longtime aide to former Rep. Lane Evans, received 2,315 votes, or 32 percent. McNeil, 50, a public affairs consultant from Moline, took 2,235 votes, or 31 percent.

Ahern will face Republican Richard Morthland in the Nov. 2 general election. The 50-year-old Cordova farmer also is a college professor and a Rock Island County Board member. He was unchallenged in Tuesday’s GOP primary.

“I couldn’t be happier with the outcome of the primary,” Morthland said. “The good news for the 71st District in light of tonight’s primary: We will be assured that there will be a representative and an improvement.”

He and Ahern line up on a lot of issues, but the most important difference is that when it comes time to vote for Speaker of the House, Ahern would choose Michael Madigan, while Morthland said he would cast his vote for Tom Cross.

“The fact of the matter is, I’ll be voting for real change in Illinois, and I’ll be voting to break the stranglehold of Madigan on the speaker’s position,” Morthland said.

Morthland also noted that Ahern opposes federal control of Thomson Correctional Center. He, on the other hand, believes the people of Carroll County want the sale, to improve the area economy.

“When we look at the mood of Illinois and the mood of our nation in 2010, what we see is that we have places that are ripe for change, real change,” Morthland said. “We have to make Illinois a great place to live and work.

“My pledge is to be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.”

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