Roskam, Morgenthaler spar over governor, Rezko

U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam ripped Democrat Jill Morgenthaler's connections to the governor at a debate Saturday while she painted the Republican as anti-health care and an abortion extremist.

"(Roskam) has really only put his own personal agenda first" in Washington, Morgenthaler said at the brief faceoff in Mount Prospect.

Roskam, the GOP incumbent, is against legalized abortion even in the cases of rape and incest. Roskam shot back that Morgenthaler's attacks were "negative style, Blagojevich-type" campaigning, referring to Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Morgenthaler, a retired U.S. Army colonel, served as the governor's homeland security chief until last year.

"I think the folks in the 6th District are frankly weary of that," Roskam said in reference to Morgenthaler's Blagojevich work.

Roskam also brought up a letter Morgenthaler penned as homeland security director endorsing a plan for a company to lease a military facility in western Illinois to train security guards for work in Iraq.

The company, Companion Security, had ties to convicted influence peddler Tony Rezko. Morgenthaler says she didn't know that at the time.

The Des Plaines Democrat said after the debate that she thought the company was only run by retired police officers. She said she did minor research on the company before writing the letter at the urging of Blagojevich's staff, and didn't see a Rezko connection.

Rezko was convicted this spring in federal court for using his connections with Blagojevich to orchestrate a multimillion kickback scheme that bilked companies seeking to invest state funds and build suburban hospitals.

Linking Morgenthaler to Blagojevich has been a running campaign theme for Roskam, who defeated another Iraq war veteran, Tammy Duckworth, in 2006.

Morgenthaler also blasted Roskam Saturday for voting against measures that would have increased children's health care funding.

"We are wealthy enough to take care of our children," she said.

Roskam said he ultimately supported a plan that extended the existing coverage, and he voted against the other plans because they included coverage for illegal immigrants.

10th Congressional District

Incumbent Republican Mark Kirk of Highland Park and Democrat Dan Seals of Wilmette sparred over the recent $700 billion financial sector bailout, which Kirk voted for twice.

Kirk chastised Seals for saying he wouldn't have voted for Monday's proposal, but would have voted for Friday's.

"My opponent was against it before he was for it," Kirk said during the debate.

Seals said taxpayer protections "weren't good enough" in the first proposal, but were later strengthened by the Senate in a second vote on Friday.

"The risks of doing nothing are simply too high," Seals said.

Seals worked to portray Kirk as a Republican stalwart. He pointed out that Kirk voted for the Iraq war and for deficit budgets approved by President Bush.

"This is not the mark of someone who is doing a good job of representing the district," Seals said.

Kirk said he has bucked his party repeatedly. He has the backing of traditionally Democratic-leaning groups, including the Sierra Club and Planned Parenthood.

"Did they make a mistake in endorsing me?" Kirk asked rhetorically.

In closing the debate, Kirk questioned Seals' previous work for GE Capital as a marketing director. GE's subprime mortgage arm, WMC Mortgage, was financially wrecked when the subprime market fell apart.

Kirk implied Seals played a roll in creating the current financial crisis.

"I would like to learn more from him bout how this happened, what went on at GE and what warning signs were there," Kirk said.

Seals' campaign has said his work at GE had nothing to do with subprime loans and only dealt with loans for commercial real estate.