By Miriam Y. Cintron

Over his 14-year tenure as state representative for the 2nd District, which encompasses Pilsen, Bridgeport, Little Village, and McKinley Park, Edward Acevedo has made combating crime a top priority. The former police officer has sponsored legislation making automatic jail sentences mandatory for known gang members caught with firearms. He also supported legislation under which older gang members who provide guns to minors who commit crimes are charged with the same crime as the minors.

Born and reared in Pilsen, Acevedo said he “chose not to run to the suburbs” and instead become “part of the solution, not the problem” for issues affecting the area. “There’s no such thing as superheroes; what you need is experience,” he said.

If re-elected, Acevedo said serving children, the elderly, and the disabled will remain priorities. He wants to regain funding for Healthy Minds/Healthy Kids that he said former Gov. Rod Blagojevich removed from the budget; the program provides eye exams and eyeglasses for needy children.

He also would seek funding for new schools to relieve overcrowding; health care assistance for the elderly; and community programs such as Alivio Medical Center, the Resurrection Project, Mujeres Latinas en Accion, and Instituto Progreso. He also supports starting a construction pre-apprenticeship program at the Institute for Workforce Education, helping homeowners learn how to avoid foreclosure, and banning assault weapons. With new leadership in the governor’s mansion, he believes these issues can get solved.

Since his first election to the post in 1997, Acevedo became assistant majority leader and cofounded the Latino Caucus. He serves on the Elementary and Secondary Education, International Trade and Commerce, Registration and Regulation, Telecommunications, Executive, Financial Institutions, Pay Day Loans, Pension Fund Management Procurement, and Broadband Infrastructure Committees. Acevedo also served on the Impeachment Committee investigating former Governor Blagojevich.

Former precinct captain and retired Chicago Transit Authority worker Richard G. Schultz decided to run after becoming frustrated with how the state government is run. The state spends too much and does not paying its bills, he said, and “we can’t defer these things any longer.”

Schultz said the state must “do more with less” and proposed that Illinois intensively review each of its programs. He said some districts “overlap” in funding local organizations, and the state should ensure no duplication occurs. He also supports increasing the income tax because the state faces a potential deficit of $12 billion in 2010-11, but he opposes creating a service tax or raising other taxes. He thinks new state employees should have lower pension benefits and current employees should pay slightly higher contributions due to Illinois’s pension fund deficits.

If elected, Schultz would make campaign finance reform a priority and seek limits on campaign contributions by individuals and interest groups to create a level playing field for all candidates. A Vietnam veteran, Schultz earned a BS and a Masters of Public Administration from Roosevelt University.

Candidate Robert Martinez could not be reached for an interview.

Josip “Joe” Trutin, a small business owner and Local School Council community representative for Holden School, said the district’s community centers suffer from lack of funding, which he attributed to the incumbent. The 2nd District, he said, ranks near the bottom for community program funding compared to other districts.

Besides working to raise funding for education and youth programs, if elected Trutin would work to bring in the 31st Street bus route that has been approved for funding but not implemented and which would provide a better way to get to Little Village High School and Mercy Hospital, he said.

Regarding outdated coal-fired power plants in the area, Trutin noted Fisk Generating Station at 1111 W. Cermak Rd. in Pilsen and Crawford Generating Station at 3501 S. Pulaski Rd. in Little Village release dangerous chemicals into the air and should be shut down. Before that can happen, however, the area needs a backup plan, with renewable, green-friendly energy replacing old power plants in the city and state.

Trutin advocates changing how public schools are funded because relying on local property taxes is “unfair” but that leaders should stop using tax increment financing zones because they push money that could have gone toward education into “slush funds” instead. If elected, Trutin would extend office hours because “no one lives in a 9-to-5 world anymore” and connect with residents through Facebook and other social networking sites.