Sommer, Perry Look to Take Over New 88th Assembly District
By: WMBD/WYZZ-TV
Updated: March 16, 2012
MORTON/BLOOMINGTON - It's going to be a much different year for Illinois' 88th District.
The newly re-drawn boundaries are putting long time previous 88th Representative Dan Brady of Bloomington in a race by himself in the 105th.
While the two republican candidates eying the seat have similar views, one's somewhat of a veteran, the other a newbie.
And there's one spot in the political arena where they disagree.
Illinois Representative and real estate broker Keith Sommer of Morton has a few years under his belt.
He's served in the state's 106th district since 1999.
His opponent in the 2012 primary is Steve Perry, a Bloomington District 87 board member and mass communication professor at Illinois State University.
This is Perry's first run for the State House, but he says he knows what Sommer needs to change.
"You see very little that he's ever come out and said and advocated for. When you're in the minority party, you can't just vote and win. You've gotta be out advocating and articulating your positions. I feel like I do better at that," says Perry.
Sommer begs to differ on Perry's approach to the people.
"They don't need any more politicians who are full of air. They need people who work and I'm proud of working with people. That's how you get things done, you work with people," says Sommer.
The argument of reaching constituents aside, these two seem to line up when it comes to running the state.
"First thing we have to do is get the legislature to be business friendly, or job provider friendly. Which Illinois certainly is not. We have to turn that around," adds Sommer.
Sommer is pointing to already existing companies like Caterpillar, State Farm and businesses in between. He says he'll work with them to grow the economy.
Perry echoes a "business friendly" Illinois while working on coverage for employees.
"We've gotta deal with unemployment, unemployment insurance issues that often put more liability on employer and no burden of proof on employee. There's workman's comp, same type of thing," explains Perry.
Another key issue, tackling massive debt.
"Government over spends. Government over taxes, government over promises and then over regulates our lives," says Sommer.
Perry adds, "Our Pension obligations is about the worst in the nation. We have done better with the budget this least year. We need to do better still because we need to pay our backlog of bills."
Perry and Sommer will face in the March 20th primary, on Tuesday.
There's no Democratic candidate running for the 88th district.
The newly re-drawn boundaries are putting long time previous 88th Representative Dan Brady of Bloomington in a race by himself in the 105th.
While the two republican candidates eying the seat have similar views, one's somewhat of a veteran, the other a newbie.
And there's one spot in the political arena where they disagree.
Illinois Representative and real estate broker Keith Sommer of Morton has a few years under his belt.
He's served in the state's 106th district since 1999.
His opponent in the 2012 primary is Steve Perry, a Bloomington District 87 board member and mass communication professor at Illinois State University.
This is Perry's first run for the State House, but he says he knows what Sommer needs to change.
"You see very little that he's ever come out and said and advocated for. When you're in the minority party, you can't just vote and win. You've gotta be out advocating and articulating your positions. I feel like I do better at that," says Perry.
Sommer begs to differ on Perry's approach to the people.
"They don't need any more politicians who are full of air. They need people who work and I'm proud of working with people. That's how you get things done, you work with people," says Sommer.
The argument of reaching constituents aside, these two seem to line up when it comes to running the state.
"First thing we have to do is get the legislature to be business friendly, or job provider friendly. Which Illinois certainly is not. We have to turn that around," adds Sommer.
Sommer is pointing to already existing companies like Caterpillar, State Farm and businesses in between. He says he'll work with them to grow the economy.
Perry echoes a "business friendly" Illinois while working on coverage for employees.
"We've gotta deal with unemployment, unemployment insurance issues that often put more liability on employer and no burden of proof on employee. There's workman's comp, same type of thing," explains Perry.
Another key issue, tackling massive debt.
"Government over spends. Government over taxes, government over promises and then over regulates our lives," says Sommer.
Perry adds, "Our Pension obligations is about the worst in the nation. We have done better with the budget this least year. We need to do better still because we need to pay our backlog of bills."
Perry and Sommer will face in the March 20th primary, on Tuesday.
There's no Democratic candidate running for the 88th district.
