North Cook News

Mel Thillens, the Republican contender for the Illinois state Senate seat in District 28, was recently featured in a new campaign ad.

The 30-second spot focuses on business and education, pointing out the positive aspects of Thillens and his candidacy.

"The American Dream, I think it's being killed by politicians that really don't care," Mario Palacios said. "I think Mel Thillens cares about the community like I -- like I care."

Like Palacios, Thillens is a business owner. The Des Plaines resident understands the complexity of running a business in Illinois; as the vice president of family-owned Thillens Inc., he navigates the regulations that impede the resurgence of businesses in Illinois.

One Thillens Inc. employee, Tara Hergott, spoke highly of Thillens and his leadership.

"He's a compassionate and fair leader," she said.

Since the Great Recession of 2007-09, Illinois has struggled to retain existing businesses and encourage new business growth. The onerous load of business regulations hampers businesses, particularly small businesses.

While attending a meeting of the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) in Springfield in April, Thillens commented on social media regarding the multiple layers of business regulations.

"Every small business feels the slow suffocation from layer after layer of new rules and regulations that keep being added to our task list," he said. "Sitting on the NFIB Illinois Leadership Council, I'm happy to be part of the group fighting for what every small business wants, the freedom to turn their dreams into a careers for themselves and those who work with them."

Thillens' platform includes measures to turn the business climate in Illinois around and encourage new businesses to open and entrepreneurs to relocate to the state. His three primary goals are to reform workers' compensation regulations, make it more difficult to file lawsuits against businesses, and eliminate unnecessary business regulations.

Thillens remains committed to Illinois and fighting for positive changes in the legislature. As businessman Tom Zimmerman said in the campaign ad, "If we keep going in this path, there's not going to be much to speak of."

Thillens was recently endorsed by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the NFIB. The chamber supports both large and small businesses in a variety of industries, while the NFIB focuses on small businesses.

“As a small business owner and member of the NFIB, Mel Thillens will immediately go to work in Springfield to help employers reboot our state’s economy,” NFIB and Illinois State Director Kim Maisch said.

In addition, teacher Roula Abajian appeared in the 30-second spot and spoke positively of Thillens and his support of education.

"We need a change in Illinois if we want to move forward," Abajian said. "I am a teacher ... He's a friend to education."

Thillens  is adamant that every Illinois student deserves a world-class education, no matter where the student resides in the state. His platform pushes for funding at every level of education, including early childhood education, K-12, higher education and vocational training.

Thillens opposes all efforts to increase funding at schools located within certain ZIP codes at the expense of the suburban school districts, and he will fight to prevent funding reductions at school districts.

Furthermore, Thillens opposes unfunded state mandates that drive costs up for school districts and local governments. When costs go up, municipalities turn to property taxes to bridge the gap between funding and expenditures. Thillens has proposed freezing property taxes and rolling back mandates that drive up costs for local government.

Thillens will face incumbent Democrat Laura Murphy in the Nov. 8 general election. Both candidates ran unopposed in their respective primaries.

The campaign commercial was paid for by Liberty Principles PAC. Liberty Principles PAC was founded by Dan Proft. Proft is a principal of Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which owns North Cook News.