Lake County Gazette

Illinois Senate GOP candidate Dan McConchie has razor-sharp focus on what he hopes to accomplish in Springfield, if elected.

"I’m running for state Senate to cut spending, lower taxes and fight corruption. Together, we can reform our state for us and our children’s future," McConchie said on his website.

The District 26 Republican candidate has racked up a slew of endorsements from more than 20 conservative legislators, the Pro-Life Victory PAC and was leading the polls across all demographics by 10 points in a We Ask America poll conducted on Feb. 16.

McConchie expressed his gratitude for the overwhelming support on his website.

“The overwhelming support across the 26th Senate District and from our conservative state leaders is humbling,” McConchie wrote. “It is clear that my lifelong conservative values, 20-year record of conservative policy solutions and vision for a new Illinois is connecting both with voters and those leaders who are going to be part of the solution to get our state back on track.”

The conservative candidate is running against Casey Urlacher and Martin McLaughlin to fill Republican Sen. Dan Duffy’s soon-to-be-vacant seat. Duffy is retiring at the end of the year to honor a self-imposed two term limit. Duffy has endorsed McConchie to succeed him.

McConchie shared Duffy’s endorsement on his Facebook page.

“Dan is an intelligent man of integrity and has the courage to fight the status quo," Duffy said. "Dan will be an outspoken advocate for our district and bring his unique problem-solving ability to the fight to make Gov. Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda a reality. I fully support Dan.”

If elected, McConchie, a former member of the Army National Guard, hopes to reduce government spending across the board, lower property taxes, protect the state’s transportation funds and continue to support the move to expand education vouchers.

Illinois’ pension crisis has led legislators to examine the state’s pension system in an effort to not only solve the current problem but to prevent it from rearing its ugly head in the future.

“We’re going to have to have fundamental reform long term in our state,” McConchie told the Lake County Gazette. “The governor has indicated a willingness to sit down and work off of that template. If they’re able to come up with something that’s going to be upheld by the courts and really does begin to address the unfunded pension liability that we have, I think that’s great. I don’t think that it’ll be enough, though.”

Illinois is currently providing only 40 percent of the amount required to pay pension benefits because the state’s contributions were neglected for years. Now, the state’s annual payments have catapulted to approximately $7 billion, which is about one-fifth of Illinois’ general fund budget.

Aa a result, a growing number of legislators and candidates have chosen to opt out of the pension program. McConchie is one of them.

“Illinois’ house is on fire,” McConchie wrote on his website. “Reforming our state’s pension system must be our No. 1 priority. For years, Illinois legislators have failed to adequately fund the state’s pension system creating a massive unfunded liability on taxpayers. It is imperative that we move all future benefits from a defined benefit system to a defined contribution system and end the practice of spiking salaries at the end of a public employee’s career to boost their pension payout. I will refuse the legislator pension.”

McConchie has spent his 19-year career advocating for legal protections for the most vulnerable by joining the fight against sex trafficking and helping to preserve the rights of human beings at the beginning and end of life.

“Every human life is precious,” McConchie wrote on his website. “Whether it be an unborn child, an adult who is developmentally disabled, or someone who is terminally ill, our policies need to encourage and value the innocent and vulnerable among us.”

McConcie currently serves as vice president of Government Affairs for Americans United for Life, and has been a frequent speaker at events around the country and has been quoted in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, NPR, MSNBC and FOX News.

The conservative candidate also serves on the Public Works Committee for the village of Hawthorn Woods, the board of Informed Choices Pregnancy & Parenting in Grayslake and Crystal Lake, and the board of regents for The Fund for American Studies, an international organization training young people for leadership and teaching them the ideas of freedom and free-market economics.

In 2007, McConchie was injured in a hit and run accident in Mundelein while riding a motorcycle. He suffered a spinal cord injury which confined him to a wheelchair. The incident, however, didn’t keep McConchie down. He bounced back and continues to travel extensively, even taking up sports like adaptive skiing. His personal motto is “Adapt and Overcome.”