9 months to change the world
In six days, voters of the 14th District will decide who gets to be their congressman, representing a region of northern Illinois from the Fox River Valley to the Mississippi River. And whether it's Democrat Bill Foster or Republican Jim Oberweis, they're going to be the new kid in school.
According to two men who have been there, it will be a disorienting experience.
The March 8 special election, triggered by the early resignation of former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, will determine who will fill the rest of Hastert's term. The winner will take office in April, and unless he wins the general election in November, he will leave office in January.
That's not a lot of time, and it raises the question -- just how much can the winner of the special election hope to accomplish in such a short time? Or can winning this election be seen as just a political advantage for the November election?
There are few better equipped to weigh in on that than Hastert himself. Hastert was elected to Congress in 1986, and his memory of those years is sharp. He recalls making his way to Washington after serving six years in the Illinois legislature -- going from "the top of the hill to the bottom of the rung," as he said.
Establishing priorities
Both candidates have talked at length about their priorities in Congress. Both have suggested sweeping changes to the nation's immigration policies, for example, with ID cards, secure borders and guest worker programs.
Foster wants universal health care for all children, and Oberweis wants a shift away from employer-based health care to a more flexible system driven by choice and the free market.
While it's all well and good to let the voters know where you stand on certain issues, Hastert noted that it took seven years for him to get his first piece of legislation through. He said Congress is a place built on teamwork, and your job as a freshman congressman is to meet people and build those teams.
"You work with people, sell your ideas and get people to join you," Hastert said. "That's how you get things done."
Republican freshman Peter Roskam, whose 6th District stretches from Mount Prospect to Naperville, says the mid-year arrival of the 14th District's winner is "not unlike coming in during the middle of the school year." Of particular note to Roskam is how either Foster or Oberweis won't be able to benefit from the extensive orientation period afforded to newcomers who take office after a normal election cycle.
"Welcome to Congress, you're voting on this issue this morning," he said. "It's basically, jump on in, the water's fine."
When he arrived in Washington, Roskam had years of experience in the Illinois legislature and working on Capitol Hill, but that didn't prepare him for the steep learning curve.
"A lot of things are coming at you -- and that's in the orientation period," he said.
But there is help, and plenty of people offering it, Roskam said, suggesting that if Oberweis wins, he could benefit because of his ties to Hastert. Roskam speaks from experience, having been endorsed by his predecessor, longtime Rep. Henry Hyde. Roskam says he received goodwill and support because of it.
"I was sort of the benefactor of that jet stream," he said.
Hastert said there are definite advantages to winning the special election. As a freshman congressman, Hastert said, you would walk in the door with 40 or 50 other incoming freshmen, and committee assignments would be luck of the draw. But the winner of the March 8 election will have a leg up on his colleagues.
"It puts you in the mix," Hastert said. "You get to know people, and you come in all by yourself, so people will all come up and talk to you."
According to Hastert, initial committee assignments may put a newcomer in unfamiliar territory. Hastert was assigned to work on health care, after having no experience in that field, but he said he dug in and built a team, and together they put together a health care bill that was the first step toward health savings accounts, something he remains proud of.
Oberweis said that if elected, he would be up and running on day one, with Hastert's help. He said he would make passing the Taxpayer Choice Act, which allows people to choose the old tax system, or a new simpler one with only two tax brackets a priority. He noted he has "never been the guy who sits quietly in the corner," and said he would be a leader in setting the agenda on issues like the economy.
Foster, meanwhile, took a more reserved approach, saying he doesn't expect to be on his feet in the first week. Perhaps noting that he will not have the benefit of taking the torch from Hastert, Foster said he would spend time putting a team together and setting up a district office. But he also expects to be a strong voice on important votes, including the upcoming override vote on President Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance bill.
Instead of trying to change Washington, Hastert advised the winner of the special election to focus on the 14th District -- get your office here up and running, he said, and pay attention to what the leaders of your communities tell you.
"So much of what I did was taking care of the district," Hastert said. "You have to listen to county boards, city legislators, school boards, and find out what their problems are. Spend a lot of time in your district, because you're not going to make any great waves in Washington."