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Illinois State Senate Candidate Michael Bond

Hopeful Bond is looking forward
Democrat preps for race in 31st district

By Russell Lissau
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Sunday, March 05, 2006

As veteran state Sen. Adeline Geo-Karis tries to hold off a Republican primary challenge from former protege Suzanne Simpson, Democratic hopeful Michael Bond hasn’t exactly been idle.

He’s formed a volunteer staff of more than 100 people, opened a campaign office, launched a Web site, met with hundreds of potential voters and raised money for what could be a million-dollar campaign.

Bond said it doesn’t matter that he’s running unopposed in the March 21 primary for the 31st Senate seat. The effort is needed.

“There are 250,000 people in the district,” said Bond, 35, of Grayslake. “It will take every minute of every day between now and November to reach out to those folks and to find out what their issues are.”

Bond has the support of his party’s local and state leaders, including state Sen. Terry Link, head of the Lake County Democratic organization.

Although the district historically has been a Republican mainstay, Link said he believes demographic shifts and other factors could contribute to a Democratic upset in the Nov. 7 general election.

“The district is not what it was when (Geo-Karis) was first elected,” Link said. “It’s a changing, new district with a lot of new needs.”

The 31st District encompasses nearly all of northern Lake County, including some or all of Antioch, Avon, Grant, Lake Villa, Warren, Waukegan and Zion townships. The seat carries a 4-year term.

A finance director with Allstate Insurance Co. in Northbrook, Bond doesn’t have the political resume of either GOP candidate. He’s campaigned for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean and two-time state legislative candidate Sharyn Elman, but his own elected experience is limited to Woodland Elementary District 50, where he’s been a board member since 2005.

In contrast, Geo-Karis, 87, of Zion, has been a senator since 1979 and spent six years in the state House before that. Simpson, 51, of the Grayslake area, has been Warren Township’s supervisor since 1997 and served about a year in the state House after the GOP nominated her to fill a vacancy.

If Bond wins, he would be among the state’s youngest legislators. He’s confident his relative political experience and youth are strengths, not weaknesses, and that voters want a change from the status quo.

“I don’t think they’re looking for a career politician,” said Bond, who doesn’t intend to step down from the school board if elected to the Senate. “They’re looking for someone who can bring a fresh perspective.”

Bond cited the need to better fund school and road improvements among the state’s top challenges. He said the 10-plus years he’s spent working with limited resources at Allstate would be a strength in Springfield.

Although he won’t face a Republican until November, Bond already is winning one race: the one for money. Founded only in November, Bond’s campaign committee collected nearly $71,000 in the last two months of 2005, Illinois State Board of Elections records show.

That’s more than three times the roughly $22,000 Geo-Karis’ committee received during the entire last half of the year, records show, and significantly greater than the $47,500 Simpson’s supporters donated to her campaign during the second half of 2005.

Among Bond’s financial backers are the campaign committees for Link, former state Rep. Lauren Beth Gash and state Rep. Kathy Ryg. Two-time state House candidate Nancy Shepherdson has thrown money Bond’s way, too.

Bond personally lent his campaign about $27,000, records show. A competitive campaign at this level needs $800,000 to $1 million for advertising and other expenses, Bond said, and “we expect to be competitive.”

Bond may also benefit from Lake County’s changing political climate. Democratic candidates are faring better than they once did in the historically Republican area, winning several legislative and countywide seats in recent years.

Perhaps the biggest Democratic win came in November 2004 when Bean unseated longtime U.S. Rep. Phil Crane in the 8th District, which serves parts of Lake, Cook and McHenry counties.

The GOP still holds a majority of seats on the Lake County board and in the county’s delegation to Springfield, but some of its victories here have been notably narrow. President Bush won the county with less than half the vote in 2000 and barely received 50 percent in 2004.

Those results reflect an influx of new residents with different political leanings, Link said.

“You’re seeing people of different genders, different ethnic origin and economic backgrounds moving into this area,” said Link of Waukegan. “It makes it a completely different type of voting pattern.”

Bond has seen the changes as he’s campaigned door-to-door in the district. He said he’s connecting with the young parents asking the same questions he is about taxes, roads and other political issues.

“There’s a remarkable match there,” he said. “What it comes down to is, do you want something new or more of the same?”

Bond’s campaign strategy for the November election depends on which Republican wins the primary, Link said. He was coy on the details.

“There are two game plans that we’ve got laid out,” Link said. “But it’s a chess match and you don’t want to let the other side know what your moves are going to be.”

Many Republicans fear the Democrats will play dirty in the general campaign if Geo-Karis wins the GOP primary.

“The popular term is ‘getting Beaned,’ć” said Republican state Rep. Ed Sullivan Jr. of Mundelein.

Simpson is similarly concerned.

“Things I’ve been polite about, I know the Democrats aren’t going to be polite about,” she said.

Geo-Karis isn’t worried.

“I am not afraid of the Democrats,” she said. “I get along with both sides.”

Bond said he doesn’t need to run a negative campaign, regardless of which Republican wins in two weeks.

“This isn’t really so much about (Geo-Karis) or Sue Simpson,” said Bond, who — like both Republicans — signed a fair-campaign pledge. “This is about bringing new leadership to the problems we face in Lake County.”

Source: Daily Herald 3/05/06


	© 2006, Michael Bond for Illinois State Senate