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8 | June 20, 2019 | the lockport legend news
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Fricilone announces candidacy for
U.S. Congressional District 3 seat
Will County
Board member
enters race for
Republicans
Thomas Czaja, Contributing
Editor
W i l l
County
Board Min
o r i t y
Leader and
District 7
Member
Mike Fricilone,
of
Fricilone
Homer Glen, announced
June 11 that he will run as
a Republican candidate for
the United States Congressional
District 3 seat currently
held by Rep. Dan
Lipinski, a Democrat.
The Primary Election
will be March 17 next year,
and Fricilone, 64, said he
decided to run because “it
was time for a credible,
honest candidate” on the
Republican ticket, noting
that self-avowed neo-Nazi
and white supremacist Arthur
Jones was the party’s
representative in the same
race for the previous election
cycle last year when
no one else was on the ballot
for the party.
“My experience at Will
County with financing
gives me a good base that
I can represent well,” Fricilone
said.
The politician has
served on the Will County
Board since 2012 and has
been the Finance Committee
Chair and Vice Chair of
the Capital Committee.
He said “the economy
is rocking right now” due
to policies put in place by
the current administration,
and that he plans to help
keep the economy rolling
if elected.
“The thing about this
district is it is good, hardworking
individuals,” Fricilone
said. “When you
work that hard, you need
to keep more of what you
make, not give it away
to people not wanting to
work as hard.”
The Will County Board
member went on to note
that while in his current
role, the Republican caucus
has looked at how
to help people the most,
pointing to the County
having reduced the tax rate
for the past four years.
He said a key was looking
at a budget and being
able to allocate resources
where the biggest bang for
the buck could be had, citing
an example of reducing
overtime in the Will County
Sheriff’s Office and putting
a few more people on
staff, costing less than the
overtime spending.
“We want to make sure
every penny spent by the
government is efficient to
reduce burden,” he said.
“People take a look at a
budget and say how do we
decrease it next year, but I
don’t see anybody looking
at the budget to say what
duplication of effort do we
have and what waste do
we have?”
That call for efficiency
will be a main point of his
campaign platform, also
working to reduce regulations
so small businesses
can grow while avoiding
different departments doing
the same things to reduce
costs.
Other main campaign
focuses will be strengthening
workforce training
opportunities, providing
for veterans and improving
sustainability efforts
in the district, according to
Fricilone.
“I believe in sustainability,”
he said. “I’m a
very green person. I think
we need to have two components,
that things are
financially beneficial, as
well as environmentally
beneficial.”
A County example he
gave in that regard was of
solar energy panels for the
new Will County Courthouse
that will provide 7
percent of the energy for
the building, showing they
make sense from both an
environmental and financial
standpoint.
As he is just starting
out in the early portion of
the race, he plans to start
reaching out to friends
and organizations in different
communities across
the district and start having
events and meet and
greets.
He said it was a combination
of his own interest
in running and others encouraging
him to jump in
the race that helped him
make the final decision to
run.
“People in the party are
excited about the fact of
having somebody credible
for a change, somebody
they can get behind,” Fricilone
said.
Fricilone is the executive
director of Midwest
Office Interiors in Woodridge
and has been involved
in community service,
including serving as
president of the Lockport
Township High School
Foundation, a member of
the Finance Committee
Please see Fricilone, 12