Politics & Government

Dold, Schneider Respond to Ryan Pick

10th District Congressional candidates offer their opinion on Gov. Romney's choice.

and the person hoping to replace him as the member of Congress from the 10th Congressional District, , were quick to react to Gov. Mitt Romney’s selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his running mate.

Dold, who voted for the 2010 and 2011 House Republican budgets authored by Ryan, thinks Romney’s choice of Ryan will get Americans to focus on issues he believes are important to the country.

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“Our country needs strong leadership to put us back on a path to prosperity.” Dold said. “Paul Ryan has worked tirelessly to come up with solutions to the enormous fiscal challenges we face.  I am optimistic that Mitt Romney's choice for vice president will put the national discussion back onto these key economic issues and the future of our country."

Schneider, who has criticized Ryan’s ideas in the past and Dold’s support of them, did not change his attitude when the Janesville native became the Republican candidate for vice president.

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“The new Romney-Ryan-Dold ticket is going to have a tough time explaining their misplaced priorities—making seniors pay more while extending unnecessary tax breaks to those who need it the least," Schneider said.

Critical of specific elements of the House Republican budget, Schneider criticized Dold’s support of Ryan’s ideas about college aid, taxes and Medicare.

“Congressman Dold voted, not once, but twice for Paul Ryan’s flawed plan which gives tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and pays for it by cutting college aid and ending the Medicare guarantee, turning it into a voucher system” Schneider said.

Dold told Patch in April he sees the House Republican budget as the starting point for a discussion. He thinks a budget proposal is necessary and has faulted the United States Senate for not passing one in several years.

“This budget blueprint takes a comprehensive approach to pro-growth tax reform and puts every special interest and lobbyist loophole on the table.” Dold said in April. “I am willing to look at any serious proposal when it comes to comprehensive tax reform.”

Meanwhile, Dold released his first television commercial last week calling for an independent approach to resolving the issues facing the United States free of partisan politics. Click on the video link with this story to view the entire message.

Schneider has yet to put a general election television commercial together but in his primary campaign against three other Democratic candidates, he criticized Dold while touting his own business experience.

In his advertising message, Dold highlighted his business experience as well. Both candidates have a background in the commercial world and both plucked MBA’s from Northwestern University.

The independent streak of both candidates has also led to some unusual endorsements with Dold gaining the backing of the Illinois Education Association and Schneider getting the nod from the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Both unions represent approximately an equal number of educators in the state.

Schneider also won the endorsement of the Associated Firefighters of Illinois July 31. In past campaigns that union has supported Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Highland Park) when he was the 10th District representative.


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