Democrat Schneider has a district drawn in his favor but an underfunded campaign [Chicago Tribune]

Oct. 18--Brad Schneider was under doctor's orders not to move his head when he decided to run for Congress.

The Democrat from Deerfield had a procedure to repair a detached retina in January 2011. Forced to keep his head stationary during recovery, Schneider found himself watching a lot of C-SPAN just as the Republicans took over the U.S. House.

"The debate that immediately took place -- (defunding) Planned Parenthood," Schneider said. "I said, 'We've got these big problems, and we're just not getting the solutions we need.'"

Emerging from a four-way March primary, the wealthy first-time candidate now faces the tall task of introducing himself to North Shore voters while defending against a wave of Republican-funded TV ads attacking his business experience.

Schneider hasn't gotten as much help from national Democrats as other suburban congressional candidates, but he does have the advantage of running in a 10th District that his party redrew to elect one of its own. To that end, Schneider has spent time making the argument that freshman Republican Rep. Robert Dold is a conservative masquerading as a moderate and should be dumped from office Nov. 6.

Though he's never held office, Schneider was familiar with politics from working with pro-Israel groups active in Washington. His license plate, TIKUN1, refers to a Hebrew phrase that calls for repairing the world.

Schneider worked to sway legislators as a volunteer with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a major lobbying group. Over lunch last year, former Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean, who lost to Joe Walsh in 2010 in the 8th District, encouraged Schneider to run. Bean said when she was in Congress, she sometimes turned to Schneider for advice on small-business matters.

"I think whenever you can get a person who has a strong private-sector background but also has an appreciation for the nuance of governance ... I think that's a good thing," said Bean, who is now president and CEO of the Executives' Club of Chicago.

Schneider first had to spend campaign cash, including some of his own, to win a primary. Starting the stretch run, Dold had almost 10 times as much in his political fund. Outside groups have spent four times as much on Dold's behalf compared with Schneider's candidacy, according to federal campaign finance records.

One of the prime areas of attack is against Schneider's resume. He's billed himself as a successful small businessman. Though Schneider's work history and financial records show a decades-long business career, he has taken on few paying ventures in recent years. Dold said Schneider's claim to recent business success is an "embellishment."

Schneider now has a one-man consulting company and an investment firm. Cadence Consulting Group is listed in mandatory financial disclosure statements as having a value of less than $1,000. Lead Out Third Solutions has investments in only one company, a startup developing digital receipts, Schneider said.

The candidate said he's looking for the right company to partner with for the long haul. In the short term, Schneider said, he can live off income from the long careers enjoyed by him and his wife, Julie Dann. She is a managing director at Mesirow Financial, which bought out her family's insurance firm in 2006.

It's impossible to pinpoint Schneider's financial situation because he has refused to make his tax returns public, unlike his opponent. Schneider said his wife's income is irrelevant to the race and argued that his candidate disclosure report adequately details his finances.

The disclosure report details scores of investments spanning from mutual funds to north suburban apartment complexes. The report shows the Schneider family has assets valued between $8.4 million and $25.4 million.

Building permits show the Schneiders spent $88,000 in 2006 to remodel their master suite, a project Schneider said also included adding a new home office.

On the campaign trail, Schneider tells voters he would be guided in Washington by a willingness to compromise.

"I'm not coming with a book of plans, like I have the answers to all of our problems," he said.

Schneider has painted Dold as a lock-step Republican vote, but the challenger has struggled to name positions on which he disagrees with Democratic leaders. Asked to name where he breaks with party leadership, Schneider answered that he hoped to lead Democrats on spurring hiring by small businesses, including with incentives to hire and train employees.

That led Dold to say, "If we're looking for the partisanship to happen, he's your guy." Schneider said he would look for good ideas from both parties and lives his life by "a moderate tone."

National Republicans have slapped at Schneider's stance on Bush-era tax cuts. Before the primary, Schneider said during a "Chicago Tonight" debate on WTTW that he would let all the tax cuts expire. Later, Schneider said he would only allow the cuts to expire for those making more than $250,000 a year. That's similar to President Barack Obama's position.

Schneider chalked it up to his status as a political rookie.

"I certainly could have been more artful about how I said it and I'm getting better at framing," he said. "I've never advocated for raising taxes on working middle-class families."

dhinkel@tribune.comjbryan@tribune.com

Brad Schneider

Party: Democrat

Current job: Managing principal, Cadence Consulting Group

Age: 51

Born in: Denver

Lives in: Deerfield

Personal: Married to Julie Dann, two children

Education: Bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, Northwestern University (1983); master's degree in business administration, Northwestern (1988)

Previous positions: Life insurance agency owner

Campaign website: schneiderforcongress.com

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