Journal & Topics Media Group

Elleson To Build Bridges If Elected In 9th District


John Elleson. (Journal photo)

John Elleson, 56, isn’t running an average campaign for Congress in the 9th District, but his regular job as pastor of the Lakewood Chapel in Arlington Heights gets him out among the people.

When a fire devastated a nearby apartment complex in Prospect Heights this summer, he volunteered to house the homeless, lending them spaces to sleep on his church pews.

Earlier this month, after one Rogers Park man was killed, Elleson traveled to the lakeshore community on the far eastern edge of the district. Returning for a second day, looking for residents to talk with, he and the first police car arrived just after a second shooting victim’s body was discovered.

He said he waited on the sidelines as police researched the crime scene, and stood vigil in pouring rain until the medical examiner came to collect the body, just so someone would be there. He also went to the funeral.

A passing photographer snapped his picture and he was discovered by local and national media focusing on multiple murders.

But caring about people on a one-by-one basis is just what he does, Elleson said, part of the ministry that fills his life.

He believes he will be able, if elected, to come back each weekend to preach in his church, despite the sometimes hectic Congressional schedule.

During his childhood, his father ran a series of small bakeries, moving the family in several stages from Iowa to Morris, Illinois. They had to help, and they all were usually up at 2 a.m. when the baking started. That unusual schedule in a relatively rural community made it harder to fit in as a teenager.

He said he went through a wilder stage of life coming out of high school, dropping out of college and hitchhiking across America. Several patient preachers took him under their wings. He needed that guidance to get back on track and go back to college.

Seeing news coverage of the Tiananmen Square massacre in China in June 1989, when government troops sent tanks against pro-Democracy protesters, inspired him to move to China and teach in a university there for two years.

Back in the states, he turned to the Christian church as a career, starting as a very junior pastor among a dozen in his first congregation. He and his wife, Sue, later started Lakewood Chapel in Arlington Heights. Now he tries to offer the same type of mentoring to others as he once received.

Running for Congress is a new challenge, and Elleson isn’t convinced that he would stay more than one two-year term. His goal is to “build bridges.”

He said he considers himself a “conservative” more than a Republican, and would be willing to work with both major parties to get things accomplished.

One of his goals is to get more stable middle class jobs available again. He said he doesn’t believe in high taxes, but he would even out the tax system for everyone with property and state taxes.

Other concerns are sufficient health care in local communities, with doctors able to treat all ethnic groups, health care coverage for pre-existing conditions and lower premiums for lower-income earners.

He said he believes in competition and the free market and isn’t disturbed by President Donald Trump’s initiatives in global trade.

“People want results,” he said. “I’ll build relationships with people. We need representative government close to the ground. You’ve got to be for the people. I believe the government’s got to work together. We all bleed the same. You have to have good policies. You’ve got to be able to deal.”

Everybody’s allowed to fight, he said, “but you’ve got to govern in the middle.”

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