North Cook News

Displaying an oversized blank check made out to “Illinois State Workers” that looms in the background behind state Rep. Carol Sente (D-Vernon Hills), a recent online ad campaign is urging voters to “bounce blank check Carol.”

As an added touch, “Pay Raise” was inscribed in the memo section, while Sente’s signature was scrawled in the lower-right-hand corner.

Sente, whose term is scheduled to end on Jan. 10, 2017, is running for re-election opposite Republican challenger Dawn Abernathy. Both women ran unopposed in their March primaries.

The advertisement wasted no time making its point clear as it began with the incumbent representative’s likeness next to the phrase “Highest Paid in the Nation” rendered in all capital letters.

“Blank check Carol Sente voted to make Illinois state workers the highest paid in the nation,” the commercial stated in its opening sequence, citing the Illinois Policy Institute as a source. “She voted to give state workers a 37.5-hour work week and $1.6 million in pension payouts. And blank check Carol voted to increase state worker wages by up to another 29 percent. How is she going to pay for it?”

Among several sources cited in the ad is S.B. 1229, a 2015 Illinois legislation excerpted for the benefit of viewers in an accompanying caption, reading: “Agreement, with accompanying memorandum of understanding, between the State of Illinois and the American Federation of State, county and Municipal Employees Council 31 and AFL-CIO, dated July 1, 2012.”

The commercial went on to use a recorded conversation between the incumbent candidate and an interviewer.

“What tax increases or cuts would you support to deal with paying for all of this?” the voiceover asked. Sente’s recorded response was: “I don’t think it’s going to get to that point.”

"In return for her vote, she got a $15,000 campaign donation,” the commercial continued. “On Nov. 8, vote to bounce blank check Carol.”

Also in response to Sente’s candidacy, Chicago radio talk show host Dan Proft recently took a stand to warn voters of Sente’s underlying ambitions.

“It's important that Lake County voters understand the game Carol Sente plays,” Proft said. “She speaks like (an) independent, fiscal conservative in district. Then she goes to Springfield and does the bidding of the public-sector unions in exchange for thousands of dollars in campaign cash. In her own words, Sente said we don't need to cut state spending and we can still give state workers up to 29 percent raises even though Illinois has $10 billion in unpaid bills and billions more in unfunded pensions and health care benefits. She is either not a serious person or she is lying to Lake County families. Either way, she is a prime example of the problem in state government."

Sente, who graduated from Indiana University in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in business, served as an officer in the Vernon Hills Park District for three years, owned an architecture firm for eight years, and worked for a separate architecture firm in Oak Brook.

She narrowly defeated Republican Leslie Geissler Munger in the 2014 election by a margin of only 1,349 votes (4.8 percent), following a somewhat more substantial win in 2012 over Sidney Mathias, according to online source Ballotpedia.

"I want to transform the politics of the past by passing a new law imposing mandatory jail time for serious government ethics violations and stripping public pensions from officials who commit crimes in office," Sente said in her 2012 campaign. "As a former small business owner, I believe the state needs to account for every dime it spends and am fighting to require the state to budget for outcomes and eliminate wasteful spending."

District 59 includes portions of Wheeling, Vernon Hills and Mundelein in the state’s upper northeastern corner.

Proft also serves as founder, chairman and treasurer for the Chicago-based Liberty Principles Political Action Committee (PAC), which strives to support liberty-oriented policies and candidates. Liberty Principles PAC was founded by Proft in October 2012. Proft is a principal of Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which owns North Cook News.