Insert Clever Ballot Series Name Here

By Sam Bakken in News on Nov 1, 2004 7:33PM

Here's some information on the race for Illinois' 4th congressional district. Incumbent Democrat Luis V. Gutierrez has held the seat for 12 years and looking at his competition, Republican Tony Cisneros and Libertarian Jake Witmer, he'll serve at least another two.

Witmer is a classic Libertarian (everyone should own guns, the government is a thief, etc), but his rhetoric reeks a bit like Keyes'. He says our current drug policy "...makes us a society of slaves and slave masters."

However, Witmer does stump on one interesting issue, petitions for a redress of grievances. He says the practice was eliminated before the Civil War because Congress didn't want to deal with so many petitions to end slavery. He says the right is guaranteed by the First Amendment and he wants reinstate it. Chicagoist supports accountability, but petitions would probably bog down the legislature and they probably aren't a pragmatic approach.

While Cisneros' web site rocks the midi fantastic, he doesn't seem to stand for much besides the usual Republican strategy of commandeering patriotism.

Both the Tribune and the Sun-Times endorse incumbent Democrat Luis V. Gutierrez. Gutierrez's web site could use an update (or maybe he hasn't been up to much lately), but he's quite active in shaping immigration policy.

In November of 2003 a proposal to study discrimination in credit scoring that he sponsored was overwhelmingly passed. And hey Cubs fans if you need a reason to vote for him what more could you need besides a bill he sponsored in June of 2003 "Congratulating Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs for hitting 500 major league home runs." It's great to see our elected officials working hard to congratulate millionaires that hit things hard with bats. To be fair though, Gutierrez seems to get the job done.