Election 2018: Bustos faces challenge from Fawell in the 17th Congressional District

Oct. 23--ROCKFORD -- U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, faces a Nov. 6 election challenge in the 17th Congressional District from a Galena real estate broker.

A former newspaper journalist who also spent a decade working in public relations in the health care industry, Bustos is seeking a fourth two-year term. Bustos said she will fight for reduced health care costs, and to rebuild America's infrastructure and protect Social Security and Medicare.

Her opponent, Bill Fawell, 64, previously ran for the congressional seat as a Libertarian write-in candidate in 2014, but is running as a Republican in 2018. Fawell compares his politics to that of former Texas Congressman Ron Paul. But he has faced criticism for his seeming affinity for conspiracy theories and was disavowed by Illinois Republican leaders over his views on the 9/11 terrorist attacks and 2012 Sandy Hook mass school shooting.

Bustos serves as co-chairwoman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. She was re-elected with 60 percent of the vote in November 2016. She calls tax cuts implemented by President Donald Trump and Republicans a "tax scam" that was a "massive giveaway" to the wealthiest Americans. She said the tax cuts are saddling future generations with $1 trillion in additional debt and are a pretense for gutting Medicare and Social Security.

"It's straight out of the Republican playbook," Bustos said during a phone interview. "Now they can scream bloody murder that the deficit is out of control and go after what they call 'entitlements.' That is totally their game plan."

Bustos has been touting her "Cheri on Shift" outreach, in which she visits workers on the job from across the 17th District -- an area that encompasses Carroll, Fulton, Henderson, Henry, Jo Daviess, Knox, Mercer, Rock Island, Stephenson, Warren and Whiteside counties, in addition to portions of Peoria, Tazewell and Winnebago counties, including part of Rockford.

Bustos has done 74 shifts and says it's a great way to learn what is on the minds of some of the 711,719 residents who live in the district. She usually limits her visits to a couple of hours to avoid creating too much of a disruption.

"You realize when you job shadow somebody just how hard some jobs are, and it's a better way to get to know the people I represent," Bustos said.

She also can be found on many Saturdays chatting up regular folks at grocery stores across the district.

Bustos is advocating the Democrats' "Better Deal" plan that calls for:

--Reducing prescription drug prices by cracking down on companies that jack up prices on "lifesaving drugs," negotiating for lower Medicare drug prices and requiring drug manufacturers to justify significant price increases.

--Protecting residents from efforts to disenfranchise voters; strengthening ethics laws "to rein in the influence of high-powered Washington insiders," and breaking the "stranglehold" of the wealthy and connected through campaign finance reform.

--Creating a $1 trillion environmentally conscious infrastructure and jobs program that would rebuild roads, bridges and highways across the United States while expanding access to high-speed internet, improving energy infrastructure, and modernizing drinking, storm and wastewater systems. Bustos said the plan wouldn't increase the national debt because it would generate billions in new economic activity.

Fawell says his worldview was forever changed on June 5, 1968, the day that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.

"That may sound strange from a lifelong Republican," Fawell said. "But it was two months after Dr. King was murdered and with the murder of John F. Kennedy, I realized that everyone is lying to me. The entire world is lying to me. I said, 'I don't believe this stuff anymore.' I started building my world based on what I could prove to myself."

If elected, Fawell said, he would fight for "constitutional liberty."

Fawell advocates for the "orderly removal and replacement of the Federal Reserve Bank," supports private industry unions but opposes public employee unions and wants to strip federal agencies of power while empowering the public and state governments.

His website highlights three of his proposals:

--The Liberty Act, which would reorganize "our bankrupt federal government to allow the people to rule over our government once again as our Constitution originally established."

--The Social Media Regulations Act, which would do something "to even out the leftist tilt to the self-serving, unequal and politicization of the social media giants" like Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter that are "a threat to our First Amendment."

--A Volunteer Fire Department Act that would address what he says is a critical shortage of volunteer firefighters by creating insurance and a "modest pension" for volunteer firefighters.

Jeff Kolkey: 815-987-1374; jkolkey@rrstar.com; @jeffkolkey

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