By Patrick Ferrell
MOKENA -- Octogenarian Agnes Greene pulled up to the gas pump Wednesday morning to buy a few gallons for her lawn mower.
After Marty Ozinga III, the Republican candidate for the 11th Congressional District, pumped $9.21 worth of gas into her red container, she, perhaps unaware of the actual $4.17 per gallon cost, handed him $3.
"I'll cover the rest for you," Ozinga told the woman, giving her a pat on the back. "But, there won't be any change."
The GOP candidate, who runs his family's concrete company, spent four hours Wednesday pumping gas and talking about his energy policy with customers at the Gas City in Mokena.
"Everybody that I talked to today, from an 80-year-old lady to the businessmen filling up their trucks, are feeling the pinch," Ozinga said. "I'm running a company ... and I'm affected by the economy like everybody else."
Higher gas prices, Ozinga explained, means more overhead for his business. And a slumping housing economy means less work for his employees.
"It really has a ripple effect on everybody," he said.
"I told him I might just go get some goats," she said.
Ultimately, Greene said she would vote for the man who pumped her gas and covered part of her bill.
"I told him we need somebody new," she said. "The politicians are letting things run hog wild."
Ozinga faces Democrat state Sen. Debbie Halvorson and Green Party candidate Jason Wallace on the November ballot.
Among Ozinga's energy ideas are drilling for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge using new technology that will limit damage to the landscape; increasing refining capacity; getting rid of the need for federally mandated "boutique" blends that, he said, limit supply and drive up prices; suspending the diversion of oil to the strategic oil reserves; and transitioning to alternative fuels and energy such as wind, solar and biomass energy.
Ozinga also supports eliminating the 6.25 percent state sales tax on gas, a charge that an Ozinga spokesman calls "double taxation" because there is already a motor fuel tax instituted to pay for road repairs. Critics of the sales tax suspension say it has little effect and does not guarantee savings will be passed to consumers.
"His phony plan simply leaves middle class families at the mercy of big oil companies who will simply raise gas prices to maximize profits," said Ryan Rudominer, the Midwest regional press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Slow change?
"There's no magic solution to, say, knock $2 off a gallon tomorrow," Ozinga said of his overall plans. "I don't want to mislead people. There are incremental ways we can take the price down a little bit."
More effectual change, Ozinga said, "will take 5 to 10 years."
"Our current crisis didn't come overnight, but the warning signs were there, and Congress let us down," he said
For his part, Green candidate Wallace supports expanded funding for alternative fuel research.
"The technology of solar, wind, and geothermal energy is a great start, but there may be alternative sources of energy that we have not discovered, therefore more funding is needed in programs like these," Wallace's Web site states. The site also pledges Wallace's support for better funded public transportation, including light rail between major metropolitan areas.
To reverse "seven years of Bush-Republican energy policies," Halvorson's campaign supports creating tax incentives for companies that devote resources to research and develop renewable energy; creating tax credits for companies and individuals who use solar or wind power; offering incentives for motorists who purchase fuel-efficient vehicles, and increasing refinery capacity, according to a position paper released by her campaign.
