By Editorial Staff, Chicago Daily Southtown, September 24, 2007

24 Sep 2007 // The Issue: U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller announces he won't seek re-election.

We say: Weller put his own interests ahead of his constituents'. The district will be better served with him in retirement.

Jerry Weller announced Friday he would not seek re-election to represent Illinois' 11th District in Congress. The fact is, Weller stopped representing the 11th District long ago. For too many years, Jerry Weller's lone job has been to represent Jerry Weller.

The people of the 11th District should be grateful there now is a chance to be represented by someone who will look out for their best interests, who will not let partisan politics and self-interest dictate each move and who will serve nobly and ethically. The voters should demand no less when they go to the polls next year to pick Weller's successor.

Weller was elected to the House in 1994 when the Republican Party gained control of Congress after decades of Democratic rule. Weller loyally toed the party line and throughout the years became valuable to the GOP as one of its top fundraisers. Even as his once-solid Republican district has become more Democratic, Weller's vote was one on which the Republicans could always count.

Staunch party loyalty can be accepted in the political arena. What cannot be accepted is political behavior that stretches the limits of propriety. Just last week, Weller was named one of the "most corrupt members of Congress" by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. A subjective list, true. But with the clouds of suspicion over Weller's head becoming darker and darker lately, it's no surprise the clock struck midnight on his Congressional career.

The most recent controversy centered on land deals Weller made in Nicaragua. The congressman's dealings in Central America in general have come under scrutiny since 2004, when he married a Guatemalan legislator whose father was a former dictator in that nation. Weller never could adequately square his personal life with his role as a congressman as it pertained to Central American issues.

As the CREW report also noted, Weller in 2005 co-sponsored legislation favorable to Puerto Rico business interests shortly after receiving thousands of dollars in campaign money from businessmen on the island.

On the local front, Weller has done his district no favors with his stance on the proposed third airport near Peotone. Though he claims to support the idea, in reality he has been more of an obstructionist. There is nothing he can show to indicate he has forwarded the airport proposal.

Weller's seven terms in Congress were not without some positives. He worked to eliminate the marriage tax penalty, and he was able to secure millions of dollars for a veterans cemetery, a national tallgrass prairie and an industrial park at the former Joliet Arsenal. This paper did endorse him several times. But in the 2006 election, we did not. We wrote that it was time for a change.

That change now is long overdue. We hope Weller's replacement will be better in tune to a district that includes part of the Southland. The key issues in our part of the district must be addressed. Several Southlanders, both Democrats and Republicans, have been mentioned as possible candidates to replace Weller. Republicans would do well to back someone not cut from the same cloth as Weller. And Democrats should take advantage of the opportunity they have to gain a seat by backing a candidate who can appeal to a district that still is largely Republican.

It's too soon to handicap the race, but voters should insist their next congressman be accessible, attentive and in touch with issues important to the district. In other words, someone who's not like Jerry Weller.