Story posted Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Sente, Sugrue To Face Off In 59th
By RICHARD MAYER Assistant Managing Editor
With all precincts reporting in Lake and Cook counties, interim State Rep. for the 59th Dist. Carol Sente, of Vernon Hills, overwhelmingly defeated Buffalo Grove Village President Elliot Hartstein in Tuesday's primary election to represent the Democratic Party this November.
Gages Lake resident Dan Sugrue defeated Mohan Manian and Vernon Hills trustee Cindy Hebda on the Republican side and will face Sente in November's general election.
Sente unofficially received 676 votes (68.56%) in Cook County and 3,441 (68.06%) in Lake County compared to Hartstein's 310 votes (31.44%) in Cook and 1,615 (31.94%) in Lake.
"I worked very hard and walked a lot of doors and hoped my constituents would come out and vote, which they did," Sente told the Journal yesterday (Wednesday) morning.
"We need to focus on job creation and getting people back to work and also bring more jobs back to Illinois," said Sente. "This is also the wrong time to raise taxes and I am against that."
Hartstein blamed House Speaker Michael Madigan's financial support of Sente's campaign as one reason for his loss.
"It's difficult to challenge someone when all that money is given to a campaign to get that person's message out," Hartstein said, referring to his raising $20,000 for the election compared to almost double for Sente. "When you have money being put behind one candidate, it's almost impossible to win. In addition, she sent out four negative pieces about me tearing me down and distorting my record."
"You need money to run a campaign but not to walk door-to-door," said Sente. "The last couple days of the election there were negative campaigns against me about guns that was very distorting and I got out there and corrected the situation. I made sure it was clear what the differences were and what my positions were."
Hartstein said he is willing to sit down and talk to Sente, but would not publicly say if he would support Sente in the general election.
In regards to running again for village president in Buffalo Grove in April 2011, Hartstein said it's too early to decide.
"I am proud of the campaign I ran and I'd rather lose and be honest than win by having to pander or deceive," Hartstein told the Journal.
On the Republican side, Sugrue received 355 unofficial votes (67.49%) in Cook County and 3,135 (60.39%) in Lake County compared to Manian's 51 votes (9.7%) in Cook and 337 (6.49%) in Lake.
Hebda, who was removed from the ballot for signing Sente's candidate's petition last fall, received 1,719 (33.12%) votes in Lake and 120 (22.81%) in Cook. However, her votes do not count since she was removed from the ballot.
"I am gratified for the number of votes I received and the confidence people gave me," said Sugrue. "People want to see a return to free market principles. They see the mess the Democrats have made in Illinois and they have responded to our message consisting of less government, less regulations and bringing more jobs to Illinois."
Sugrue said he will be more responsive than Sente to people's concerns.
"Unfortunately for Carol, she owes her position to Mike Madigan and she is in a tough spot," said Sugrue. "She has to respond to what Madigan's agenda is in Illinois."
Sente said she doesn't intend to focus on campaigning for the general election, citing she would like to spend more time on being a "great public servant," and campaigning takes away from that.
The 59th District includes portions of Buffalo Grove, Green Oaks, Gurnee, Indian Creek, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Long Grove, Mettawa, Mundelein, Northbrook, North Chicago, Park City, Riverwoods, Vernon Hills, Waukegan, and Wheeling.
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