Democrat

Mark Kern

Belleville

Age: 48

Married

Children: 3

Job: Owner, Belleville Mechanical Inc.; St. Clair County Board chairman

Phone: --

Web: www.chairmanmarkkern.com

Facebook: facebook.com/ChairmanMarkKern

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E-mail: info@chairmanmarkkern.com

Education: Belleville East High School; B.S. in business administration, Millikin University; J.D., M.B.A., Washington University

Previous offices: Mayor, City of Belleville

Qualifications: I am proud to run on my record during the past eight years as county board chairman. During the past three years during this recession, we have cut $36 million out of the county's budget, while preserving essential services and keeping critical road and infrastructure projects moving forward. These cuts have allowed us to continue to abate the county government tax levy and tax at a rate less than half allowed by law. I'm proud of the way the county board works together to put the needs of the entire county first in the decisions we make. On a regional basis, I have worked closely with a bipartisan group of area political leaders to move forward on fixing the area's levee system in order to protect residents from flooding and prevent the imposition of expensive flood insurance mandates. We also stopped Missouri from putting tolls on the new Mississippi River Bridge.

Top issues: Jobs and economic opportunities are the main issues in this campaign. St. Clair County is a great place to raise a family, but we need to continue to work to make certain there are the kinds of jobs and economic opportunities here we need for future generations. My economic development team and I work every day to attract new businesses to the county -- and we're succeeding. With river, rail, highway and air transportation, we have been able to promote our county as a major transportation hub, a factor in the new businesses that have located near the riverfront, new trucking facilities along the interstate and North Bay Produce at MidAmerica. With the addition of Boeing, the announcement of new passenger services and growth at Scott Air Force Base, we are making progress at MidAmerica. More needs to be done as we continue to turn the airport into a cargo hub, but MidAmerica already has become an economic generator for the area.