STATESENATE PRIMARY SELECTIONS
Today, the Sun- Times Editorial Board offers endorsements in three competitive Chicagoarea state Senate races. We will continue to make endorsements in the March 20 local primary elections over the next two weeks. To read the endorsements we have made so far and to read candidate questionnaires and watch video introductions, go online to
chicago. suntimes. com/ elections/ voting- guide/. Early voting at satellite facilities begins March 1.
20th District, Democratic primary
In 2002, Iris Martinez became the first Latina elected to the Illinois Senate. Since then, she has been an advocate in Springfield for immigrants and the working class.
We respect her long track record of serving vulnerable people in her district, and that is why we endorse her over her challenger, Bart Goldberg, an attorney who made an unsuccessful bid for 38th Ward alderman in 2011.
Martinez, though, would be wise to bone up on other issues of importance to her constituents, such as pension reform and rent control. In an interview with the Sun- Times Editorial Board, her challenger schooled her on those topics.
Rent control, in particular, is a hot- button issue these days in a district that includes part of Logan Square. Property values are going up, which is terrific in many ways, but that’s putting the squeeze on long- time renters, who can’t afford the higher rents, and homeowners, who can’t afford the higher property taxes.
If Goldberg had done his homework on immigration, which really matters in a district that is slightly more than 50 percent Latino, he would be a more viable candidate.
8th District, Democratic primary
State Sen. Ira Silverstein is damaged goods, and he hasn’t proven to be much of a repairman.
Silverstein bumbled his way across the ethical line last year when he sent inappropriate, private Facebook messages to a victims’ rights advocate whose legislation he was sponsoring. The Illinois legislative inspector general got it right last month when she ruled that Silverstein was not guilty of sexual harassment but had behaved “in a manner unbecoming a legislator.”
The inspector general also got it right when she wrote that Silverstein “does not appear fully to accept that the [ Facebook] messages went beyond joking around.” That’s certainly how it looked to us this month when Silverstein met with the Sun- Times Editorial Board. He had an odd way of couching his mea culpa, of ’ fessing up without ’ fessing up.
The time is right for a new state senator to lead the 8th District on the North Side, and we believe the voters have a capable, knowledgeable and progressive choice in labor union activist RamVillivalam.
Villivalam has been a strong advocate for improved health care and child care services as well as a $ 15 minimum wage. He is extremely well versed on such issues, which should surprise no one given that he was a legislative coordinator for Service Employees International Union, Healthcare Illinois- Indiana. This union has an ownership stake in the Sun- Times.
SEIU Healthcare is backing Villivalam financially, which begs the question of how independent he will be if elected. Villivalam’s response is that, realistically speaking, almost no candidate can win a competitive election in Illinois without a lot of cash. If the candidate is not super wealthy, like two or three of the folks running for governor, he or she must raise money elsewhere. Villivalam says the union is backing him because they share his views, but he’ll be his own man. We can hope. Villivalam’s record of standing up for the interests of working people makes him the easy choice in this race, and we endorse him.
“They need someone that’s going to go there on Day 1, not someone that’s an insider but someone that understands the process, been through it and can start to pass legislation in their first year,” Villivalam told the Editorial Board, speaking of his efforts in Springfield in the last year to raise the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour, which passed in the General Assembly but was vetoed by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Villivalam was working for the union back then, but a better hourly wage is a matter of utmost importance to all hourly workers in Illinois. On this and other issues, we look forward to Villivalam staying true to his values while extending his legislative reach.
Villivalam is endorsed over Silverstein, first elected in 1998; Caroline McAteer- Fournier, an associate director at DePaul University’s Career Center who is passionate about health care, and attorney David A. Zulkey.
27th District, Democratic primary
Two very capable Democratic candidates in musician Joe Sonnefeldt ofMount Prospect and Ann Gillespie of Arlington Heights are trying to advance to face firstterm Republican Sen. Tom Rooney in November.
Both have been active in the northwest suburbs. Gillespie is a retired vice president of a mail- order pharmacy who worked to generate support for Cook County’s $ 13- an- hour minimum wage and sick- leave ordinances. Sonnefeldt is a musician who has been on the Mount Prospect School District 57 School Board since 2011, including serving as president for the last two years.
In a nod to how evenly matched they are, both candidates have earned endorsements from organized labor. The Service Employees International Union is backing Gillespie, and the AFL- CIO is behind Sonnefeldt.
It is his work with the school board that gives Sonnefeldt a slight edge over Gillespie for our endorsement. He has a solid understanding of the issues facing schools and the property owners who have been strained to fund them because of the state’s shoddy job of funding education.