ILLINOIS VOTERS VIEW NEW HOUSE DISTRICTS

Alexander County and Union County voters will see some new names on the congressional ballot this year.

A remapping of congressional districts in Southern Illinois eliminated the familiar 21st District and moved incumbent Democrat Glenn Poshard to the 19th, where he will face newcomer Douglas Lee, a Decatur Republican, in a district that consists of 27 counties.

Poshard's district includes Pulaski County, but Alexander and Union now fall into the newly remapped 12th District, where two-term Democrat Jerry Costello of Belleville is seeking a third term against challenger Mike Starr, a Carbondale Republican.

The entry of Starr into the 12th District race was a late one.

Costello, who was first elected to Congress in 1988, was unapposed in the primary and had no opposition for the general election until Starr launched a last-minute campaign in May, just a few days before the deadline.

Starr, an associate professor of radio-television at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, is a former lawyer and was involved in politics during the early-to-mid 1970s when he unsuccessfully ran for the Louisiana State Senate in 1974. He launched a campaign for Congress in 1976 but later dropped out.

Costello and Starr disagree on how to solve the country's problems, but both identify many of the same issues as crucial to the nation and district.

Costello stresses developing the district's infrastructure as the main method of creating both short- and long-term jobs, while Starr favors a combination of tax credits as a way to boost the economy.

Both men believe the budget deficit is crippling the nation and support a balanced budget amendment as a partial way to solve the problem. Starr is against additional taxing but favors trimming the defense budget by $69 billion over the next five years. Costello believes the only tax hikes should to the very wealthy, those making $150,000 to $200,000 a year. He favors cutting the defense budget by $100 billion over the next five years.

Costello favors some kind of single-payer health plan. Starr favors some kind of reform, but does not yet know what kind of legislation he will support.

Both men favor federally backed financing of higher education, which could be repaid through community service work or long-term loans.

Starr believes PACs should be eliminated, or at least that PAC contributions be limited to within the district. Costello introduced legislation in May that would eliminate all political action committee contributions.