Kane County Reporter

Illinois Rep. Sean Casten’s refusal to side with law enforcement should be a major point of discussion in his bid for reelection.

That’s the view of Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva), a lawyer and business owner who represents the 65th District in the Illinois General Assembly.

Casten, a first-term Democrat who represents Illinois’ 6th District in Congress, refused to vote to condemn efforts to defund police departments. He was among 231 Democrats who voted that way on June 25, while 175 Republicans and one independent voted to condemn defunding police departments. A bill calling for police reform passed on an almost straight party-line vote but stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate, the New York Times reported.

A defund the police movement has started across the country, and Rep. Sean Casten's Republic challenger criticizes him for not opposing it. | By Elvert Barnes/Wikimedia Commons

“It should be the central issue of this campaign at all levels of government because legislators are elected to create laws, so how does a legislator create a law then remove the mechanism to investigate and enforce violations of the law?” Ugaste told Kane County News. “I believe it is a violation of a lawmaker’s oath of office to vote to defund law enforcement.”

Jeanne Ives, the Republican who is challenging Casten, said his vote shows he does not grasp the reality facing families in the suburbs and Chicago. Ives said the vote was especially tone-deaf in the wake of more deadly shootings in Chicago.

“Congressman Casten is out-of-touch. We live in a time of increased uncertainty and lawlessness,” Ives said in a statement on her campaign website. “The first role of government is to provide for public safety. In Chicago, anti-police efforts – like those Casten advocates – have failed. Many families in IL-06 know that because they moved to the suburbs to escape the violence and lawlessness that has overwhelmed the city. We need to have conversations about how to make our police forces better, not to further reduce the protection, safety and stability that law enforcement provides.”

Ugaste said it’s apparent whom Casten is listening to and why.

“Sean Casten is bowing to the will of the far left that Democratic leaders fear will not come out to vote unless they agree with every idea, workable or not, logical or not,” he told Kane County News. “Most everyone I have talked to and heard from want to improve their police departments, not eliminate them.”

Ugaste said part of the problem is the media not accurately reporting what Casten and other Democrats say, think and do. If it did, voters would realize they do not agree with those stances.

“I think the public is concerned but also confident that no responsible public official would advocate defunding/abolishing law enforcement,” he said. “It doesn’t make the idea any less dangerous, and the fact that it is getting so much publicity means we have to take seriously the effort to defeat the idea, as well as any resolutions or laws supporting it (or in Casten’s case, not opposing it).

“Even the politicians running Minneapolis are now discussing radically ‘reimagining’ the police department instead of ‘abolishing’ it, and if they follow through, I predict they will all be turned out of office by the majority of people who vote and pay taxes at the next opportunity.”

Ugaste said he is aware of law enforcement’s problems and is in favor of reform.

“I do not support eliminating the police. However, I do support working to improve our police departments,” he told Kane County News. “In fact, I am in favor of all reforms that make our government systems and employees more effective and efficient when applying the law equitably to every American. Defunding government doesn’t reform it, it abolishes it.”