14th Congressional District candidates discuss most important federal issues

• Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories showcasing the opinions and policies of the candidates for the Republican nomination in the 14th Congressional District.

The seven Republican candidates running in the 14th Congressional District met with the Northwest Herald’s editorial staff in the past week and were asked what federal issue or issues were most important to them.

Ted Gradel

“[House Speaker Michael Madigan’s leadership] has led to an enrichment of the ruling class at the expense of taxpayers, and when you see at the federal level, as well, congressmen and women are comfortable in their roles, generally speaking.

“They’re not willing to take on the risk of difficult legislation and solving problems, so I believe term limits would help alleviate some of that and allow people in Congress to work for the American people.”

Sue Rezin

“Well, certainly the No. 1 issue is immigration. As I said before, we have the right to protect and defend our border. We need to once and for all put a policy into place that allows for legal citizenship [and] a pathway where people who are here want to become citizens, and we need to enforce it.

“There’s technology out there, as I talked about before, that will allow us to defend and secure our border.

Jerry Evans

“I would suggest that we should actually lower our middle-class tax rate from 22% down to 15%, which, again, would provide almost a $6,000 tax break for people in the middle class, or up to that much.

“I would also want to fight for small business. Small businesses have to work very hard to limit how much taxes and how much expenditures they have because that really does matter, [and] $200 or $500, that makes a difference.

“And so what I would suggest is that we would actually lower that small-business tax rate from 21% down to 17% for small businesses that gross $1.75 million or less.”

Anthony Catella

“Coming up this election is the referendum on whether we should vote for a graduated income tax or a flat [income tax], and I certainly am voting against [a graduated tax] because I think that penalizes thrift and wealth.

“The more people can earn, the more people will have in their pockets to invest and spend, and that will boost the economy. That’s the real road to progress.”

James Marter

“We need a flat federal tax rate that benefits everybody [and provides] tax cuts for everybody, not just the middle class, not for the rich, not for anyone else, but for everybody.

“That will drive economic growth like it did when President [Ronald] Reagan cut the taxes, and we had three decades of growth that followed that because we lowered those tax rates.”

Catalina Lauf

“Right now, the immigration conversation is far too politicized. We need to ensure that we’re not only having better voices on the side of safe and secure borders, and supporting President [Donald] Trump in having those safe and secure borders, and closing illegal immigration loopholes.

“But right now, it’s far too politicized. There’s a lot of false facts that are happening on the border.”

Jim Oberweis

“I have pledged, by the way, that when I’m elected, the first bill that I’d like to file would be a term-limits bill.

“I believe that term-limited legislators tend to vote in ways that they believe are good for the country [and] good for their state, whereas career politicians are more likely to vote in ways that they think are good for their own reelection.

“But I will admit that’s a long shot.”