Candidates for the DeKalb County Board’s Seventh District were present at Douglas Hall’s Big Blue Room Monday to speak with political science majors and any others who wished to attend.

The forum was sponsored by NIU’s political science department.

Tom Smith, Republican; Cliff Simonson, Democrat; and Frank Van Buer, Democrat; answered questions for those in attendance.

The candidates began by introducing themselves and saying a little bit about themselves and their main issues.

Tom Smith, one of the incumbents running for re-election, used to be an editor for the Chicago Tribune and was the night photo editor when John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

The big county issues for Smith are preservation of farmland and a comprehensive plan for the county.

Smith joked that the only issue, he and his fellow incumbent Cliff Simonson disagree about is their opinion on tax caps. Smith is in favor of the concept while Simonson is not.

Wind farms on the border of Lee and DeKalb counties being proposed was a hot issue for Smith. Seventy wind farms being built will be considered by the county board in November.

Simonson talked about his history with the military and having studied soils in two different countries.

“Every other country in the world has put the issue of farmland at the top of their list of issues,” Simonson said.

Simonson also talked about water shortages across Illinois and the country.

“We don’t seem to have respect for natural resources,” Simonson said.

This is the first time Van Buer is running for county board.

He attended NIU and received a Ph.D. in economics from NIU. In 1966, Van Buer joined the NIU faculty.

“My background is looking at governments financially,” Van Buer said.

Dan Kempton, professor of political science and head of the political science floor, asked all three candidates about what they thought of impact fees and about the effect the DeKalb County Board has on NIU.

Smith thought the County Board had nothing to do with impact fees as it was a matter of municipalities and not of the county itself.

“We’re putting the burden of education on the person’s home,” he said.

Simonson was opposed to these fees.

“We fought impact fees,” Simonson said.

Van Buer agreed.

“Property tax is the wrong way to fund education,” he said.

All of the candidates agreed that the DeKalb County Board had little to do with NIU.

The questioning was then turned over to the students in attendance. Most of their questions were about NIU’s effect on the water supply.

The candidates were unable to give the students hard numbers but all three agreed that the problem was county wide and needed to be addressed as such.

Elections for county board, along with other state officials will take place on Nov. 5.