Voters in Illinois’ 10th U.S. Congressional district are going to have another choice for U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. Veteran Navy officer David Kalbfleisch will represent the Green Party to “broaden the usual field of quasi-identical candidates.” The 10th includes far northern and northwestern Cook County and the eastern half of Lake County.

“Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans represent my values,” says Kalbfleisch, an ex-submariner who spent most of 2003 in the Arabian Gulf. “Rather than pick the lesser of two evils, I choose to run for office.”

Wheeling businessman Mark Schlagel welcomes Kalbfleisch’s inclusion in the 2008 race. “We need more choice in our general elections,” he says. “Politics today seems like, if you don’t screw up, you get re-elected. That’s not what I want; I want somebody who’s going to do something.”

Kalbfleisch espouses universal public healthcare, explicitly repealing the legal precedent of “corporate personhood,” and a host of other initiatives to promote basic participatory democracy. He hopes his campaign willinspire people to challenge their elected officials at all levels of government. “The theme for my campaign is TAKE THE POWER BACK!” smiles Kalbfleisch. “Until many more citizens are willing actively to be involved and demand accountability, we should expect more of the same.”

Marla Fish of Gurnee said she likes having another choice in an election to “shake things up.” She voted for Republican incumbent Mark Kirk in 2006 but isn’t sure anymore how she feels about the Iraq occupation that he has repeatedly voted to fund. Kalbfleisch, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, definitely isn’t equivocating on that issue. He wants the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq. “This is an ethical and moral, not tactical, decision that has nothing to do with the troops,” he says.

Ben Kuhlman of Arlington Heights also wants the immediate end of the Iraq occupation. He voted for the Democratic challenger in 2006 out of anti-war sentiment and is disappointed that little has changed since the November elections. “I expected a Democratic Congress to take meaningful action to end the war,” says Kuhlman. Unlike the Democratic Party, which
could end the war promptly by de-funding it or overturning Bush’s 2002 war authorization, the Green Party has been against the war since before we started it and has been calling for the impeachment of President Bush since he first began speaking in 2002 about a “preemptive attack.”

Kuhlman, a teacher, approves of Kalbfleisch’s call for exclusively local control of education and the repeal of Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act. “I would rather teach critical thinking skills than just what is on the ISAT test,” explains Kuhlman. The Act also mandates giving information about minor-aged students to military recruiters.

Kalbfleisch isn’t accepting any money from corporate political action committees, and he says he already knows his campaign committee will not spend anywhere close to the millions of dollars the Democrats and Republicans will spend. He shrugs off criticism that this precludes his winning. “My campaign strategy depends on building massive volunteer support among people who desire real progress. Even if I could buy an election like my corporate-sponsored opponents, I wouldn’t. That’s not what the Green Party represents, and that’s certainly not what I’m about.”

-- To learn more about David Kalbfleisch’s campaign for U.S. House of Representatives, including how to volunteer or donate, visit www.electdave.org.