Democrats: Illegals a hot topic in 14th District
AURORA -- A military veteran, a nuclear scientist and a business lawyer walk into a news bureau. During campaign season, few would mistake that information for the beginning of a bad joke.
Much like their Republican counterparts, Democrats running in the special election for the 14th Congressional District bring with them a variety of professional and personal experience.
(Marianne Mather/Staff Photographer)
• Video: Candidates in Aurora
Former Fermilab scientist Bill Foster, Navy veteran John Laesch and Geneva-based attorney Jotham Stein gave endorsement interviews Tuesday at The (Aurora) Beacon News, sister paper to The Courier News. A fourth Democratic hopeful, Joe Serra of Geneva, did not appear.
Even as the three locked horns on a number of issues, all said they were optimistic about their chances of winning in a congressional district that kept a Republican -- former U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert -- in power for 20 years. In the Feb. 5 primary, one candidate from each party will win the nomination for a special election to be held March 8. That winner will serve out the rest of Hastert's term -- through early January 2009 -- but will have to be voted in again during the regular November 2008 election to hold the seat for the next two-year term.
For the Democratic candidates, like those seeking the GOP nomination, the pinnacle issue appears to be immigration. They said they recognize that immigration is a particularly hot topic in cities such as Elgin and Aurora, which have a high percentage of foreign-born residents. Laesch, Stein and Foster all said most of the 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. should at least get a shot at citizenship. But as demonstrated by Tuesday's interviews, "comprehensive immigration reform" is a very broad term and means something different to every candidate.
"The key is effective workplace enforcement," Foster said. "These people came here to work."
Foster added that he would be willing to compromise with those who take a hard-line approach to illegal immigration, which Republican candidates Illinois Sen. Chris Lauzen and dairy magnate Jim Oberweis have done. No matter how it unfolds, coming up with effective legislation isn't going to be easy, Foster said.
"When it passes, it will be as thick as a telephone book, and it will be complicated," he said.
Stein said true reform will include an updated visa process and securing all borders. Along with illegal immigrants, drug traffickers and terrorists can come in through Canada or U.S. seaports, not just Mexico, he said.
Foster said he favors widespread implementation of worker identification cards, in keeping with the Department of Homeland Security's "e-verify" program. Stein said he is open to ideas but is at least somewhat uncomfortable with requiring worker ID cards. Laesch said such a program is a clear civil rights violation.
Diplomatic dealings
On the foreign policy front, Laesch -- a veteran who spent three years in the Middle East as a military intelligence analyst -- and Stein both said they would push for an immediate troop withdrawal in Iraq. Foster said a pullout should be gradual and would probably take about a year to do safely, depending on what military experts decide.
All three candidates said they do not view Iran as a serious security threat. Laesch said he goes so far as to oppose pre-emptive war on principle, a position Stein called "extreme."
"I believe war is a failure of diplomacy," Laesch said. "The way to approach Iran is to open up a dialogue. Politically, we need to send a message to the Iranian people. There's a door that we can open there."
The Democratic candidates will participate in a debate at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24 in Aurora University's Crimi Auditorium. The debate will be moderated by CBS-2 news anchors Rob Johnson and Diann Burns and is being co-hosted by The (Aurora) Beacon News.
