Libertarian candidate wants in for 14th District race

Voters could be spoiled for choice in the 14th Congressional District race in November.

Libertarian Dan Druck announced Monday that he is planning to run, if he can get the required number of signatures to be on the ballot. If he does, Druck would join Democratic incumbent Rep. Bill Foster, Republican Jim Oberweis and Green Party candidate Robert Hill, who announced his candidacy last month.

However, unlike the other three candidates, Druck will have to put together nearly 10,000 signatures to get his name on the ballot. In contrast, Hill only needed 600 signatures, while Foster needed 863 and Oberweis 793.

Druck knows that’s a tall order, but he’s done it before — he ran against Phil Crane in 1996 in the 8th Congressional District, as an independent write-in candidate. And he believes that voters in the 14th District are hungry for change, and he points to Foster’s upset victory as proof.

Druck, a business owner from Huntley, is a staunch constitutionalist. He believes the federal government is too large, and has its fingers in too many pies. He is against nationalized health care, and would limit spending to those items specifically outlined in the Constitution.

“Pulling the federal government out of issues gives local government more opportunity to go in and fix them,” he said.

While Druck agrees with Oberweis on immigration, vowing to secure borders and end federal services for illegal immigrants, he agrees with Foster on the war in Iraq. He believes the war was started under intentionally false premises, and would vote to withdraw troops immediately.

Druck knows he has an uphill battle to get his message out. Foster and Oberweis spent millions on the March special election, and are gearing up to spend more for November’s general election. Druck said his funds would come from grassroots donations, and though he knows he won’t be able to compete when it comes to spending, he plans to stay away from negative campaigning.

“It’s certainly tough to go up against that kind of money,” he said, “but if you look at what they spent it on, it was mostly negative ads. I’m not into negative campaigning. I’ll just try to get the message out the best I can.”

The filing deadline for third-party candidates is June 23.