49th district Republican state representative challenger Jim Krenz has released a poll that shows incumbent Tim Schmitz pretty much unknown in his legislative district.
The district covers much of northern Kane County, including Sun City and a large part of Carpentersville School District 300 and stretched down to St. Charles along the western side of Kane County.
It found two-thirds of Schmitz’ constituents had no opinion of him or had never heard of him.
But neither is Krenz well known. His poll shows 75% have no opinion of him or haven’t heard of him.
So, the race could almost be considered a “blank slate” race.
I wonder if that is unusual for a suburban Chicago district.
Springfield politics does not have the importance to Chicago-area voters that it does to voters elsewhere in Illinois.
Most Downstate legislators are well-known, because they appear on TV. No such luck for most Chicago state representatives and senators.
In fact, when you see your local state legislator on Chicago TV, you know he has made the big time. That’s precisely what I thought when I first saw Crystal Lake’s two-term State Representative George Lindberg on Chicago television for the first time. Lindberg went on to be elected Illinois’ first State Comptroller.
Using that criterion, the only suburban legislator to make the “big time” today is Democrat State Rep. Jack Franks.
The poll, by the way, was taken by Carbondale’s Communication Express. Here are the questions and detailed results.
Positive opinions were found among 23% of those called for Schmitz and 15% for Krenz. Negatives were 10% and 9%, respectively, for the two.
Probably trying to find out what role former U.S. House Speaker Denny Hastert could play if he endorsed Schmitz, the poll found 60% had a favorable viewpoint of the former congressman. 20% had negative feelings and 20% no opinion or had not heard of him.
Six issues were probed in the automate telephone poll, two in more depth than the rest:
- Discounted, in-state tuition rates for non-citizens [a law that Schmitz supported]. 84% opposed the idea; 10% favored it.
- Term limits. 69% supported term limits. [Schmitz is in his fifth term.]
In the last of six questions, people were asked to rank the importance of four more issues. Here’s how it came out:
- 36% – Taxes
- 29% – Immigration
- 21% – Education reform
- 14% – Ethics in government
Jim Krenz press release follows:
SCHMITZ LOW
APPROVAL RATING
CARPENTERSVILLE, IL January 9, 2008 A recent poll shows 49th State House incumbent, Tim Schmitz with only a 24% positive rating, and with 67% of the voters having no opinion or saying they have never heard of him.
Jim Krenz, candidate in the Republican primary for the 49th State House, states, “These numbers accurately reflect what voters have been venting as I have been walking this district since August 2007.
“Tim Schmitz is a career politician who has obviously stopped representing the people of this district and concentrated instead on keeping his job. You would not expect these numbers from an elected official in office 9 years, and in leadership.”
In another part of the survey, taxes and immigration were the issues voters feel is most important to Kane County.
Jim Krenz responded, “When Schmitz voted for State ID cards and college tuition breaks for non-citizens, he voted against the wishes of his constituents. But if he never calls them, writes them, or visits them, it is easy to see how he had no idea what was important to them.”
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Jim Krenz is on the top left. State Rep. Tim Schmitz is on the upper left. The black and white head shot is of former State Comptroller, now Federal Judge George Lindberg, when he was state representative. Thanks to Leona Nelson for the photo. The large picture was taken at the Northwest Herald’s 2006 8th congressional district debate between Melissa Bean and Dave McSweeney. It shows State Rep. Jack Franks pitching a story about his bill to license contractors to panelist Mike Flannery, WBBM-TV’s political reporter, who was on the panel asking questions.
