House Spotlight: IL-10

If you’re looking to give a last minute donation or are simply interested in what House races to watch on Tuesday, Demockracy will be looking at a few competitive House races over the next couple days. Today, we’ll look at the the 10th District of Illinois.

Challenger Dan Seals is running for the second time against incumbent Republican Mark Kirk. This district stretches the majority of affluent North Shore suburbs of Chicago and more working class cities closer to the Wisconsin border. This district is a perfect example of party affiliation changes in well-educated suburban upper-middle class areas over the past 10-15 years. Many of these voters are fiscally conservative, but liberal on most social issues. As the Republican party has shifted to the right on social issues, many of these voters have started to identify more as Democrats. This district now has a slight Democratic Lean.

IL-10. Source: GovTrack and the Open Planning Project

However, Mark Kirk, the current representative, is a moderate Republican. Challenger Dan Seals, virtually ignored by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), managed to surprise most observers by only losing by a few percentage points in 2006. I had the honor to meet Dan in 2007, and I was very impressed with his vision and communication skills. Barack Obama is currently winning by 15-20 percentage points in this district. Will his coattails be enough to pull Seals over the top?

Chicago Sheriff Refuses to Evict Renters

Cook County Sheriff, Tom Dart, has become the first metropolitan sheriff in the country to refuse to evict renters from foreclosed properties.  Cook County, Illinois, which includes the city of Chicago and numerous suburbs, is on pace to have around 4,500 foreclosure notices this year compared to about half that amount only two years ago. Illinois law allows renters 120 days prior notice to move out after a property that they are living in has been foreclosed. However, Dart claims that in practice many banks are evading the law and issuing foreclosure notices claiming the renter is actually the owner in order to get around this law. He believes that up to one third of all foreclosure notices that his office gets are in fact illegal.

Not under Sheriff Dart

In order to deal with this problem, Dart has made an executive order that none of his deputies are allowed to issue a foreclosure  notice on any home until after the bank has provided the sheriff’s office with a court affidavit verifying that either the home is not occupied by renters or that any renters have been given proper notice.

Dart claims, “What isn’t part of our job, however, is to carry out work on behalf of multibillion-dollar banks and mortgage industries.” As such, Dart has shifted the burden of proof to the banks who own these properties.

Being a renter in Cook County, Illinois, it is nice to know that I don’t need to worry about being evicted from my home tomorrow if the owner of my building doesn’t pay his or her mortgage this month. In all reality, most renters don’t even know who owns their building. Generally, you pay your bills and deal only with a property management company, not the real owners. This lack of transparency creates problems for ordinary citizens in this tight credit market. Therefore, although this may produce a high burden to banks that are already in trouble, the first duty of a sheriff is to enforce the law and to protect his or her citizens. In times of crisis, this duty often extends beyond crime and punishment to issues of social justice.

Banks, take notice because Chicago has a new sheriff in charge.

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Read more, directly from Sheriff Dart, here.