Bill Seith likes to ride motorcycles, water ski and drive fast cars when he’s not busy helping clients of his 4-year-old business, Total Environmental Solutions.  He said his upcoming 30th reunion at Hinsdale Central doesn’t make him feel old at all. “You’re as young as you feel, and I’m very active,” he said.   (Jim Slonoff photo)

60 SECONDS

The Hinsdalean • August 16, 2007

BILL SEITH BORN IN CAMBRIDGE, MASS. • HAS TWO SONS AT U OF I • IS AN AVID MOTORCYCLE RIDER • HAS A PRIVATE PILOT’S LICENSE • IS PRESIDENT OF THE BOY SCOUTS DES PLAINES VALLEY COUNCIL

 

Both were Eagle Scouts. Both earned philosophy degrees. Both ran for public office. Bill Seith has followed in his father’s footsteps in many ways. “When I went to college it was just a foregone conclusion that I would major in philosophy, just like my parents,” he said. He went on to become a lawyer, like his father, and started working in private practice. When he had trouble settling on a specialty, someone suggested environmental law and said the attorney general’s office was a good place to get experience. “Long story short, I ended up enjoying it so much I stayed there for 10 1/2 years,” he said. “It’s an area of law that I think I’ve just really found to be very interesting, very satisfying. It allows me to use my litigation skills but it also allows me to have the ability to help develop policy in that field. It’s just very gratifying to be able to do that.” Seith left the attorney general’s office in 1999 to become deputy director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. He enjoyed that post as well, and appreciates the positions on both sides of environmental issues. “I have a great deal of respect for environmental organizations that push very hard and very fervently on these issues, but there are times where I come to see them as having blinders in terms of looking at the overall economic impact of what their proposal is. I think you have to find a balance between good business and good environment. I think the state agencies and federal agencies attempt to do that.” Four years ago, he formed his company, Total Environmental Solutions, to help companies navigate environmental regulations. “It’s been a great experience. I’ve very much enjoyed it,” he said. His wife, Carol, whom he met while both were students at Hinsdale Central in the 1970s, is his office manager and paralegal. Her father, who owned an open cockpit plane, got him interested in flying. But it was his own father, Alex Seith, who got him interested in politics. His dad ran for U.S. Senate in 1977 and twice more in the early 1980s. Seith himself ran in the 2006 primary for the 82nd Illinois House seat, departing from his father’s example and seeking the Republican nomination. He lost to Jim Durkin. “I always knew it was going to be a challenge,” he said. “It is not an easy process. I don’t care who you are or who you think you may be. If you think it is, then you need a reality check.” Being misinterpreted and misunderstood is the toughest part and can be really hard on a candidate’s family. “I tend to have a pretty thick skin so it doesn’t bother me as much as it does Carol or the boys,” Seith said.  “It’s unfortunate that it’s that difficult, because I think there are a number of people who would be excellent in leadership roles in government who just don’t feel like putting themselves through that process,” he added. “I can’t say as I blame them.” But that doesn’t mean he’s through with politics. “I will likely do it again, given the right opportunity.”

 

—by Pamela Lannom